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Sunday, April 21, 2013

God Bless Texas



West Texas is a small town in Region 12 where I used to work. I have been to the town's West Fest (a Labor Day tradition) and I have taught and worked for the teachers in that small community.

Last week while the world was watching Boston, a small town in Texas faced a tragedy as well.  There was an explosion at a fertilizer plant. They are still looking for the missing in the wreckage of the plant.  Their middle school was destroyed and other schools damaged.  Connally ISD is actually taking in students who do not have classrooms to go to.

I was so happy to see Kreative in Kinder's fundraiser for the teachers in West! I have already donated my $25 (all proceeds go to the schools/teachers in West) and am waiting to receive my $150 of FREE TpT materials.

Hurry over to Kreative in Kinder's blog and read more!

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Thursday, April 18, 2013

Show and Tell at Murch in DC

Another day and another dollar, but a day spent in a school and with kids! I love days like these. I had my camera at the ready- and I found some things worth a Show and Tell post! Woo-hoo! Thank you Murch for a day of teaching and learning!

Here are just a few pictures for you from my day at Murch.

This is something I always did as a classroom teacher! We made a BOOK of it for each student though rather than a bulletin board. The idea is from Patricia Cunningham's book Phonics Their Way. I love seeing variations of it out in other classrooms! 

I am not sure if this shows up in the picture- but there are THREE- yes THREE frogs in this aquarium! Yikes! That's a lot of frogs. On closer inspection I also saw LIVE crickets! Ewww! I know it is science in action, but still Ewww! My reason for taking this picture however was to capture the three names of these frogs and the description of which is which! I love Kindergarten kids!

Just a cute and kid friendly posting of the classroom rules.

You KNOW it is summer in the city (old schools with little air conditioning) when you see the bin of water bottles! 


This was just funny! If you tilt your head to the left and look... it is actually a pretty good drawing! 

Status of the class! Love it! It is so colorful and cute! I am going to have a hard time when I go back to the classroom! Everything is so CUTE these days!


What a great way to show writing that has been published by young authors in your classroom.

LOOK AT THIS! I just adore this reading area! A cool bench! A fun circus tent! Chalkboards to label Just Right Books and Browsing Boxes! Love!

I have always loved this expression to describe for kids what "fair" means in a differentiated classroom.  Makes me want to think of other things "Mrs. Leach always says..." and post them in appropriate places in the classroom.  

I always had new "words" of the week, but I just stuck them in a boring way up on my easel! This is so much better! 

I had to take a picture of this! Live and learn! This could have been MY classroom carpet. I wanted to make lines for kids to sit on. So I did! I used colored duct tape. Live and learn! It doesn't come OFF the carpet! Oh boy! Betsy learned the hard way too! A girl after my own teaching heart. 

It's a little blurry, but do you see the book this boy is reading!? I got so excited! Encyclopedia Brown! He told me "My dad had to convince me to check it out from the library!" LOL! I told him he was super cool for reading it and he gave this toothy (or lack of toothies) smile. 


Cutest job chart I've ever seen! 

I love this! It makes me want to include teacher language/phrases in my next Guided Reading Gazette!  


I will close with my TWO favorite things from the day! This Daily Schedule won me over! I always had a Daily Schedule, but it was the kind with clip art and was clearly computer made! This one was decorated by kids! I just love it! Actually if I could describe Betsy's classroom in one way it would be KID CENTERED! The evidence of kids learning was prominent. I loved it and wish I had a classroom- I'd redo my Daily Schedule tomorrow! 

Last, but not least... look at this cute way to say Happy Birthday to kids in the class! A big cupcake and every kid made her a candle. So many unique candles! Love! Love! Love! 

Hope you saw something that sparked a teaching idea for your classroom from all of these classrooms at Murch Elementary School in DCPS!

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Prayers for West, Texas


I am so sad to hear of the explosion in West, Texas! West is a small community in Central Texas. Everyone knows everyone! This entire community is feeling the pain of the plant explosion. I just want all of my friends in Texas to know that my heart is praying for you and grieving with you today!

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Thumbs Up Thursday


Tagging onto my last post about Fluency... look what I found!


The Poetry Theater found on this site is perfect to add to the Fluency Work Station!
Poems for Two Voices is certainly worthy of a Thumbs Up Thursday!


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Thursday, April 11, 2013

Show and Tell at H.D.Cooke

Another day out in DC Public Schools! I was snapping away! I hope you enjoy some of the sights from H.D. Cooke Elementary, the same way I did.

DCPS (and the research) says that kids should know their own reading level and then make goals for their reading progress. This was a very cute display of reading levels in a Kindergarten classroom. 

Great anchor chart! 

I love this! You have to spell it out for kids! Teach kids how to advocate for themselves and let them know that they are responsible for sticking up for themselves and that everyone should treat classmates with respect. 


Would you not KILL for a room with WINDOWS like this? And with the art on the window panes, this looks like stained glass!

 
I loved this teacher's plan for rereading at the table.  When you reread- circle the word play. When you reread- underline the word like.  Another reason to use books from Reading A-Z! 




Check US OUT! I love it. I needed a board like this when I was in the classroom! 

Another anchor chart to explain and help students understand one of their                                   Common Core State Standards.

The three Bs! Bullied, barfing or bleeding! (sick is a nicer way of saying barfing right?)

You know you wish you had a reading habitat in your classroom! How GREAT is this! 

TIGHT is RIGHT! 

Clever way to post Guided Reading Objectives.  
Plastic sleeves- colored card stock- and voila- dry erase!

This is the LIBRARY! It was stunning! A-MAZ-ING!


I love this too! Kids ARE stressed. Some kids more than others. But being a 3rd grader is hard work! So how do we help them? This teacher has listed all the things a 3rd grader has to be stressed about in school and then what helps.  Brilliant. Thank you to this DCPS teacher for knowing that you teach heads AND hearts as a teacher. 

SWAG! What's not to love about that?! :) 

The music classroom had it going on too! Look at this Word Wall. 
Those were real records! 
I was groovin' on this! 

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Friday, April 5, 2013

Shout Out Linky

As if we don't already all have enough blogs to read... I want to SHOUT OUT a few more! Thanks to Growing Firsties for this fun LINKY.

My first shout out is to a woman I have started to call my "Teacher-Kid-Sister".  If you have been reading my blog, you know I've linked to her a few times. If you haven't checked it out officially, you need to now!  Every time I read her posts, I laugh out loud. She shares practical ideas, laughs at her own failures, is humble about her own success (and she has a lot of it) and her strike through writing style is full of voice that I am kind of jealous of hilarious! Check out The Frizz in First


Next, shout out is to a blog I happened upon about a year ago! This is Joyful Learning in KC. It says a blog for Kindergarten teachers, but the things she does with her Kindergarten students could easily stretch to other grades!  I love her ideas for Writer's Workshop! One of my favorite posts lately was on Nonfiction Personal Narratives. WELL DONE Mrs. Clancy!  



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Thursday, April 4, 2013

This Touches My Heart

I just saw this fundraiser and wanted to share with others... please consider contributing. Looks like the best $10.00 of products I've ever seen! If you are able, and if you want some free teaching goodies, please consider contributing.

You can read more here..










http://www.myheartbelongsinfirst.blogspot.com/2013/04/you-me-fighting-eb.html

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Monday, April 1, 2013

May the SCORES be with you!

Saw this on a facebook post of a school in Texas. I want all Texas teachers to know that I am with you in spirit this week.

May the FORCE be with you!


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