SNOW DAY (No Snow!) and Other Fun Stuff

So for the last few days the news has been talking about this horrible storm that was coming most our the countries way. Well, I live in Bowling Green and we have a force field bubble that keeps us from getting real weather. I woke up this morning to a text that our school system had closed as a preventive measure. Well, guess what? It rained all day. I was glad to be home but I really dont want to make up a snow day.
     Today I have played with my kids and cleaned the kitchen. Oh, and been potty training. AWE, the glamorous life of a teacher. LOL! While playing with them, I kept thinking about my classroom and what my students needed when we returned on Monday. I have noticed that my kids are struggling with the simple of task. I have a few students that NEVER try in my classroom. What do you with those kids? I have taught for 13 years but they sure do stump me.
     I am currently working on a my sight word study unity. It will be big. I did do volume 1 of my sentence builders. I hope that you guys will love it.
    OK, one for thing and I will go! I have an elf on the shelf in my classroom. I love this concept. I have a 5th grader in my building who comes in in the morning and moves the elf around. Its been so fun because the kids keep telling me that I have touched him. I just joke that I have not touched him. (which is true). At home, we have Percy the penguin. I'll share that later.

Everyone have a great weekend. I get to do some much needed scrapbooking. I am so excited. I won't be excited for the mess my house will be in but I will be excited to get some Christmas presents finished. Ok, I will holla later.

Mel

CYBER MONDAY AND MY VISUAL PLANS

What at week!!!! I only had to work 2 days last week and it seemed like the longest week of my life. I need this break because I needed to regroup when it comes to my kindergarten writing class. They are progress like I need them to progress. This common core is so much more intense and I am just trying to teach to the best of my ability. Anyway, enough of that! I'm so excited because Monday and Tuesday is a big sale on TPT. I am throwing my store on sale with a 20% and with TPT giving close to another 10%. You can get 28% off. You can't beat that.

Also, I thought I would go ahead and link up with Deedee Wills and post my visual lesson plans. I spent the first day of my break in my classroom working and doing my plans. I also decorated my classroom for Christmas. The kids will come in to find Chris our Elf hanging in the lights. I will be fun to play with this group of kids. I hope those students who have a little behave troubles will have a great 15 days.

Sorry it looks crazy! Im learning this google drive format. Its a work in progress. Okay, I am off to fill my cart on TPT and get ready for tomorrow.

My Visual Plans

So I decided to link up with one of my favorite bloggers Deedee Wills. She has inspired me to do visual plans. With my district doing CIITS, I can upload these plans to that system as well. This week my 2nd graders will be writing scary stories(funny that it falls after Halloween), 1st grade will be writing about their family, and my sweet kinders will be starting sentence school. It is a fun way to help them to understand how to put words together to make sentences. The first 12-14 days will be a daily activity and then after that we go into 3 days a week with word work activities after that. Well, I am off to get ready for the next week. Can't wait to hear from you about your week.

Fall Break

Well, today is my second day of fall break techniquely because yesterday I spent the whole day at school working on a hall display for a little competition between my hallway of teachers. :) Anyway, today has been really fun hanging with my kiddos and visiting my favorite doctor. It was that yearly time but seriously, I LOVE him. He is an amazing doctor.

Today, while my sweet babies are napping I have begun a new unit. I am making a sight word study activity. Here is a sneak peak! Well, of the cover at least. LOL!

I have an idea and I just need to get it down on "paper". Well, I am off to work some more. Remember you can follow me on twitter @SassyTeacher75, instagram @sassyteacher75,  and facebook. See ya there!

New Project

I'm so excited to say that my second unit Fix it up and more is completed and uploaded on my TPT and TN page. I have been working on this project so hard. I have also created a bundle pack with the original Daily Fix It and the Fix It up and more. I have enjoyed working on this and I hope that you will enjoy it.

Well, now on with my day. This week is a very short week. The kids and I will be on Fall Break beginning this Thursday. This is CRAZY to me. I really dont want the children to go on break. Since I teach writing to 3 classes, They are not retaining like I feel they should. So, in this Title 1 school that I work for, this means a lot of reteaching after they come back. I am working so hard and working them so hard. I am going to hope and pray that when they get back they will remember everything. Also, with my kinder class, I am hoping that the thrill of an ice cream party will really help them to remember their letters and the sounds they make. I'll keep you posted on that. I am going to start a new project. I am thing something with sight words. Anyway, I hope you guys have a great rest of the week.



OH WAIT! I forgot, if you are getting read for the Fall season and Halloween, I have a unit on pumpkins that would be great. My first grade will be getting the chance to do this unit this year. Just click on the picture below and it will direct you to my TPT page.

My Week So Far

What a week so far! I returned to school today after the Labor Day holiday and found myself in a meeting for an hour and a half. It was so hard to sit and talk about test scores. Anyway, I was curious about other states and their common core evaluation system for teachers. My school is currently being the guinea pig for this pilot program in our district. Im very thankful for Erica Bohrer's Evidence Binder. I really feel it will help me during this evaluation year. I love that it will cover how hard I am working in my class. What is going on in your district?
    Also, I am still working on my Daily Fix It and more. I hope to get it finished in the next few days so that I can uploaded to my TPT and TN store. Well, I just wanted to stop in and say I was thinking about you guys out there. I hope you have an awesome week. I must now go and think about Whole Brain Teaching with my classes tomorrow. See ya soon!

A week of 2nd grade Writing

This has been a whirlwind of a week. I will say that I have awesome 2nd graders. They have really been trying to show those those 7 habits of the leader in Me. I have been using my class dojo to give green "positive" leader points. They love using my phone to help collect points. This week we having been workin on the action part of a sentence. They had mastered the naming part and even impressed my principal  (if you knew her, you would know that is hard to do, especially when it comes to me.) Anyway, next week we will be focusing on the types of sentences and deciding if something is a sentence or not. 

I did have a meeting this week (third wk of school) and my sweet babies made me proud. I told them on the 1st day of school that our goal was WHEN A SUB IS IN THE ROOM, ACT AS THOUGH MRS. KING IS STILL HERE! Well guess what! They did it! I'm one proud teacher. I feel like this is a great start o a great year. 

Next week, ill talk about my 1st grade writing class. Have an awesome weekend!

Epic fail

So I was challenging myself to blog everyday for the month of August. As you can see, I did not to well. Anyway, I'm gonna start small and try and blog this week about my adventures with my home room (2nd grade). I hope to share some insight on my new love of Whole Brain Teaching. I hope to make a video to see how I'm doing and hopefully my mentor Nancy will give me some feedback. I hope to make a few videos on WBT so that you can see how awesome it is with students. Well I'm off to plan a little more. Happy Sunday!

Blog Challenge.....WHAT?

Well, today I decided to give myself a blog challenge. I am going to try and blog something everyday(school weekdays) for the month of August. This will be a big challenge but I think that I can do it. So this morning I thought I would share with you about my first few days of school. My district had our Opening day on Monday. I just have to say that I absolutely love working for Bowling Green Independent School District. There are just no words to describe how awesome my district is. Just click on our name if you would like to check out our website. Anyway, I dont know how your opening day goes but ours starts with a vendor fair and several presentations, ending with a pep talk from our superintendent. This year our focus is "The Importance of a Name". A little later I'll share the 12 items that students said that they wanted from us teacher everyday. It is a great reminder.
     So the first 2 days have happened and I dont know why but I always get a little nervous even though I already knew my students. The hardest part of the day is all the procedures that have to be reviewed. By the end of the day, my legs were swollen. This is not good when you have to go for a 3 month check after having a gastric sleeve surgery. Anyway, the first 2 days have been good. I have met a few new faces. I absolutely love them. I am so ready to see them learn and grow. It will fun to see them become independent learners. Well, I am off to school to get ready for my sweet angels. :)

Five for Friday....

except I'm doing mine on Saturday. LOL!!!

http://doodlebugsteaching.blogspot.com/

So here are my five

1. I did my first 5K/2 mile walk today. My district does one every year. Most of the time I don't do it because it is always schedule the weekend before we go back to school. This year, however, I decided that I am proud to be a Bowling Green Purple and I really want to get more involved in our district events. I may even convince my husband to go to a football game. 

2. I have been in love with laying out and swimming. Once a week my babysitter has come over and watched the kids so I can have mommy time. You ladies know what I mean.These are not my legs.

3. I have am so excited because I have my classroom completely finished and ready for the first week of school. I have been teaching for 13 years and I have never had that happen. I have really planned this year. I'm excited. 

4. I am loving the following app on my phone. It has been the best thing for me. I have been walking every day since summer break began. This app has been a life saver. Its called Map my Walk. LOVE IT!!!!

 

5.Lastly, I had a gastric sleeve surgery and it will be 3 months on August 9th. I am so excited because I have already lost 71lbs!!!!! I am loving that I can cross my legs. It is the little things that make me happy. Once again not my legs! LOL!

Well, I have enjoyed this. I hoping to add more of these Friday fives as the school year progress. 

Back to school time

Well the room preparation has begun. I have awesome custodial staff. They put most of my furniture back so now it's just bulletin  boards and  planning. I thought I'd share some pictures. 

Goodbye Google Reader....Hello, Bloglovin!

Well, I have converted over to Bloglovin. Im very excited to join the fun!
<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/8272443/?claim=2qx5n3rtkq5">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Summer is half way finished for me,while some of the teachers that I follow are just starting their summer break. I really would like to be starting my break rather than finishing it. I have a lot of projects that I am working on and I hope to have them completed. I set a goal for myself this coming school year for my blog and my TPT, TN page. I plan to join lots of linky parties and hope that I have more friends to join my teaching fun. Well, better go, My camping theme awaits!!!!

Instagram Linky Party

I am so excited. What the teacher wants and Apples and ABC's blogs is having a linky party. Teacher Talk Tuesday is coming. I have joined the fun. My name is @sassyteacher75. Come and join the fun. It should be a cool day.

Southern Kentucky Book Fair

We had such a fun field trip Friday. Every year our public library and the local Barnes & Noble have a Southern Ky Book fair. It is a chance for authors and illustrators to share how and why they do what they do. This year we saw illustrators Mark Wayne Adams and Stacy Curtis. We also listened to Mary Alice Monroe. The students got to make crafts and shop in the "book fair". We had sooo much fun. Here are the pics from our time. Hope you enjoy!

A Neat Idea

So I was at school this morning and reading my lessons for the day. I was very curious to see that the new writing series that I was using didn't have any thing for writing a great lead or hook. So of course I immediately go on a search for something. I happened upon a really cool blog call Second Grade Sparkle. Well it was like Manna from Heaven Mrs. Daniels had AMAZING ideas for teaching the hooks. Anyway, I was reading her blog about writing and I notice a neat activity about Stretching your sentences. At that moment, a light bulb came on. I immediately thought what if this activity could be put on power point to be used on your smart boards or interwrite boards. The process began. I am offering a free download of her really cool idea. I contacted her today and she was super nice to help me with this whole blogging thing. I am soooo new to it and I didn't want to upset anyone.So, I am give you a link to a downloadable unit for 40 weeks of school. I am linking it to her idea on her website. I really hope that you will love it and will go and check out her site as well. Mrs. Daniels if you are reading this. Thank you again for your help and kindness. I really appreciate it.

Click here for a free copy.

OMG: Whole Brain Teaching

I hope that you dont get too sick of me by the time I get to the end. I am soooo excited. There a "call" on facebook the other night about wanting a mentor for WBT. So, I quickly jumped on there and gave the information that was asked for. I am so excited to say that I know have a mentor. So, Nancy Stoltenberg if you are reading this. I thank you so much for your mentoring and help. I don't know about you but with the pressure that is on teachers and Common Core, I feel that it is important to have as many tools in my tool box as possible.
I am heading back from spring break on Monday and I feel that I will spend Sunday, adding a few slides to my Regions of the World PowerPoint and activities, rereading my plans, and WATCHING LOTS OF WBT VIDEOS. Sorry to shout but I am so in love this technique. My school has been doing this L2L (Learn 2 Learn) walk through. This is where teachers go into other teachers rooms and see if their classroom is engaging and if children understand what they are learning and why. Well, every time we come together as a staff, we all say the same thing. "It looks like we are all engaging our students." I say (in loud shouty capitals), "WHY ARE OUR TEST CORES SO LOW AND WHAT DO WE NEED TO DO TO CHANGE THAT?" I really feel the answer is WBT. I think that my school needs the change to internalize what they are learning and WBT will have strategies and techniques to help in that process. Our kids are starting behind the mark and I have to make sure that I can get them to where they are going (with or without principal support). I just had to say that. SORRY! Anyway, I will be reviewing behavior techniques and  hopefully adding some of the writing ones as well. (MAN, I miss having my 2nd graders all day.)Well, I  leave you with this, these babies need us to try with all our mights to help them to grow up and be the best they can be. I hope that I am leaving them with a legacy.

Long Time No See

So sorry for not blogging lately. With 2 babies under 3 it's been difficult. I am still trying to read In Pictures, In Words. I will be doing chapter reviews. Also, I will continue to tell you about Whole Brain Teaching. It is awesome so I just want to share. I have made myself a calendar with blogging notes and TPT/TN ideas. Ill share with you if any of you would like to have it. Anyway, I thought I would share some pics of my students and my door from Dr. Seuss: Across America week.

Valentine Unit

      I'm so excited to introduce my new unit. I have been working really hard on it. It is on Math and Literacy. I hope that you guys in enjoy it. You can find it on my TPT page.
      In other news, a while (very long while), I said that I would tell you about the Whole Brain Score board and how I use it. Well the score board is a basic Tchart that has a smiley face on one side and a sad face on the other. Every time you see children following your directions, teaching each other, etc, you can give them a big "OH, YEAH!" tally mark. Well, in my room when they get 10 marks in a day, then get a cotton ball in their cup. Once the cup is filled then they are rewarded in some way. Well, my kiddos want my brownies. LOL! The score board is amazing. They do not like getting the "MIGHTY GROAN". It is better to fill that cup. This method works great for all 3 of the classes that I teach. If I forgot to mention, I teach K, 1, 2 Writing. So Whole Brain Has made teaching 70 kids way easier. Well, I hope in the next few days to give you a little preview of my kiddos and their  Partner work and how a lesson runs in my room. See ya in a few days. :)

3-day Weekend is a Coming

Well, it is a 3 day weekend for me. I am sure it is for most of you. I am very excited because it has given me time to upload a new product on my TPT store. It is all about letter review. I hope that you enjoy it.

On a side note. This will hopefully be a good weekend. I am breaking my son of his pacifier. He is 2 years old and is not really talking. So he is now is speech therapy. That is so hard for a momma who is a teacher. Does anyone out there understand that feeling? Anyway, I hope to get to relax and enjoy. I am working on a Valentine project for my next digital upload. if there is anything that you would love to see, let me know. Have an AWESOME weekend!!!!

In Picture and in Words

I am excited. I just bought a new book called In Pictures and in Words by Katie Wood Ray. I had heard different blogs mentioned how it had changes their "teaching life". So I was determined to get it. The last book to so that was Reading with Meaning & Teaching with Intentions by Debbie Miller. I hope it changes my life because this year I have only been teaching writing for K, 1, & 2. Anyway, I'll try and keep you up to date and give you a summary of the chapters as I read them.

Ps. I'm still working on my letter and number review. It is takin longer than I thought. I'll let ya know as soon as it is posted.

New Year Activity

This week we returned from Christmas break. It was three days of excitement. I had made a unit on New Year Activities. It was fun to test it out on my kids. We made headband banners. Then we watch a brain pop video on winter holidays. Next we discussed the word resolution and made a list of goals we wanted for ourselves the rest of the school year. That took a lot of time,because I don't don't about your kiddos, but mine struggle with know that habit 2:Begin with the end in mind. They just understand that in life we all tend to make goals and work towards them. Anyway, I digress, they did real we'll on the unit. We are working on the extended response now.
I have taken a few pics from my hallway display and of a couple of kiddos. I am also have a pic of my hallway door display. I hope you enjoy it.