Wordless Wednesday {10.29.14}

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It's that time again! A picture can say it all. What does this picture say to you? Leave your feedback!!

How do you plan your small groups?

Visual Plans {10.26.14}

So I have done visual lesson plans for quite some time, but I got away from them for a bit because I was trying really really REALLY hard to use my Erin Condren planner. I love all the organization, but I love the way I lesson plan better. I would love to take part in Peek at My Week, and maybe that will be a goal of mine in the future. For now, feast your eyes on my visual lesson plans. Sorry if they are a bit blurry. I will work on that. Don't forget to leave your comments. :)

The Sunday Scoop: {10.26.14}

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Here is my Sunday Scoop for this week. Lesson plans always seem to be at the top of my list. I was very optimistic yesterday in my plans for this weekend up until I had to spend the last several hours updating all of my blog posts because SOMEONE decided it would be a good idea to delete pictures of her drive in order to free up some space and avoid paying for extra storage. Sooooo...there's that!

Now I am back in routine and ready to plan for this next week. I am looking forward to next week because of our PUMPKIN PALOOZA. I bet you are too!! What do you have planned for your little sweeties?

Fall Favorites Blog Hop

Happy Fall Y'all!!!

I am so excited to be a part of another cool blog hop. In this blog hop I am linking up with some amazing bloggers as we all go through and talk about our Fall Favorites.

I have said it before, but I will say it again... I L-O-V-E FALL Y'ALL!!! While I may not decorate my mantle and go crazy on decorations like my friend, Dianna at Sassy, Savvy, Simple Teaching, I do love everything about Fall. The cooler weather, the jeans and BOOTS, scarves, pink cheeks on my munchkins, and FOOTBALL!!!!! Check out the decorations I typically do around my home. Our poor little scarecrows that symbolize our three munchkins have not held up very nicely, but the kiddos have managed to improvise to make sure they are all out in front of the house for the Fall season.

I have already posted so many of my Fall Favorites from school in posts this week, but I wanted to share my bulletin board with you:

Because I teach at a Magnet School of Technology and Innovation, I am always looking for ways my little sweeties can actively interact with technology. Here, we read snippets of stories and made QR codes. Parents were able to scan their child's QR code during a recent Back to School Night and hear their child reading. Parents were so excited to experience this activity with their child.

My husband is currently away running the Spartan Beast this weekend in South Carolina and all I can think about is a family message board. Fall always means projects to me for some reason. Take a peak at what I plan to head to Lowe's for a little later today or tomorrow...and yes it is because I am procrastinating writing lesson plans!

Thank you for stopping by today to see some of my Fall Favorites. Head on over to my little TPT Store to snag my items during my fall sale. 10% off my products until Monday! Enjoy!!!

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Hop on over to Kelsey's blog at Aloha to Second to see some of her amazing Fall Favorites!

Five for Friday! {10.24.14}

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Hey y'all!

Welcome to Friday...we made it... and my very first Five for Friday Link Up! This week has been a fun week full of many firsts. I am really getting into my routine in the blogging world and I am putting the finishing touches on a product I hope to roll out this weekend. Be on the lookout for a flash freebie...maybe? :) Let's get this party started!



FALLabulous Bulletin Boards

Fall is by far one of my favorite times of the year. Having the privilege to work in the primary grades makes this time even more special. While walking down the primary hall this week I stopped to take a picture of one of the Kindergarten bulletin board. This classroom is undeniably one of the coolest classrooms, and Mr. Gordon does an amazing job with all of his minions. His bulletin board transformed from Assemble the Minions at the beginning of the year to Assemble the Pumpkins for the kiddos' fall activities. The skills present on this display made me stop dead in my tracks. I hope you find the display as impressive as I did...

Fall Fun With Poetry



I would like to bring more poetry into my classroom, but I need ideas. I wrote this poem for my little sweeties when we started studying fall at the beginning of last week. I have been going crazy thinking about fun poetry activities to help them understand the concepts embedded in poems. I want my kiddos to have a love for reading all genres. What do you do with poetry in your classrooms?

Product Preview

I have been working hard on my SMARTIES math rotation pack. I started with a chalkboard background with a light blue theme and loved it. When I printed it, I realized I needed more POP and added frames then reprinted. Then I wanted some circles for the rotations instead of squares, so I made the changes and reprinted. The list keeps going...you get the picture. A LOT of ink and A LOT of cardstock. I really want this pack to be special and effective in any classroom. The students love these rounds and I even have a colleague incorporating them into her classroom now with the same results. I need more feedback to be sure it is everything teachers expect in a rotation management system. Provide some feedback on my page or email if you have ideas on what you are looking for in a rotation management pack! :)



Comprehension Challenges

What do you do with your children at home? My second grader is having difficulty with complex text questions and delving deeper into fictional text. We bough a Spectrum workbook from the local B&N that has been helping. We complete one page nightly, and believe me that takes A LOT of time. {This may or may not be because I require her to always find text evidence for every answer! :)} This is a special time for me and my little munchkin. It is like our own little guided reading session. We are able to have text conversations that I can make meaningful for her. It truly is my most special time of the day.

Time for your FREEBIE!

As a thank you for reading through my first Five for Friday I am offering a FREEBIE. Head on over to my TPT store and pick up your free set of Visual Directions. These cards are invaluable in my classroom. Use them to sequence events in your classroom and ensure students understand what they need to do to complete their assignments. I hope you enjoy them. If you want even more visual directions, please support my little store by purchasing the full pack. Link is on the freebie page. Click the image below to snag your freebie. ENJOY!

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Wordless Wednesday: We're Really Regrouping 10.21.14

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Well friends....it is that time again. What time you ask? Well regrouping time of course! I learned a lot last year teaching second grade for the first time. I learned these little sweeties need lots of time and practice to get this concept down! In retrospect, I did not allow the students last year enough manipulation time in order to master the skill of regrouping. Therefore, we are taking things nice and slow this year. Maybe it is because I have an inclusion class this year, or maybe it is because I have become wiser with age (ah-hem), but time needs to be spent on mastery and not just covering everything on the pacing guide. Can I get an AMEN?!

I adjusted my plans this week to reflect a longer unit encompassing addition and subtraction with regrouping. We have spent two days on modeling tens and ones and modeling making a ten from ones. This visual using the document camera and SMART board really helped keep my students engaged and help them understand how to solve these types of problems. When I sent my sweeties to their seats to demonstrate their understanding using their own base ten blocks...well let's just say I was amazed and disappointed. I was amazed at how excited they were and how well they were doing, but I was disappointed that I did not take the time to do this with last year's class. Sigh!

The goal is to live and learn with these sweet kiddos I have this year. Inclusion is teaching me more and more about what's important...the needs of the students. 

So I ask you this...what are some of your most favorite ways to teach regrouping to your sweeties? Until next time...

The Sunday Scoop: Feltsie Firstie! 10.18.14

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Welcome back!

I know....two blog posts in a week! Whatever will you do?! Let's just say I am starting to get the hang of this blogging thing.

I feel like my lists could have been soooo much longer than what I typed. My to-do list is never ending. How does your list compare on the weekends?

Wordless Wednesday: "Fall"abulous Text Features 10.14.14

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Happy Fall Y'all!!!

What do you do to review after a long break? Today was our first day back from intersession, and my first day back to blogging! Yay us! In order to keep routine and some spice to first nine weeks topics for review, I decided some Fall action was in order.

We began with a read aloud of Awesome Autumn by Bruce Goldstone. This book is top of my list when it comes to helping students understand how the senses are used to describe autumn. I wanted students to be able to identify words that are indicative of Fall as well as tell me the text features they notice during the reading. We came up with "fall"abulous words, which turned into some phrases. This allowed me to see which students remembered text features, and which may need additional support in the coming weeks. The students really enjoyed this review and we even extended the learning with some written comprehension practice! Double score!!

Not super fancy, but helped with some difficult standards. We will be working with this book the remainder of the week. Stay tuned on my blog for more!