Currently- April

I'm loving the template for this month's Currently

Listening

To the Voice, but I actually just finished the series finale of How I Met Your Mother.

                 SPOILER ALERT........ anyone else disappointed :(

Loving

that I had the day off, the last month has been crazy busy.

Thinking

seriously about going to the TPT conference in Vegas this summer, but I'm a wee bit nervous about not knowing anyone (who am I kidding, I'm totally nervous, which is why I'm hesitant :)

Wanting 

My Google connect to work already, I can't join/follow any new blogs, so annoying seeing error try again later :(

Needing 

Spring break to arrive, can you believe it's 3 weeks away?  Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

Hours & Last Day

May 29th will be an incredibly wonderful day!  Not only is it our last day of school, but my sweet girl and step son will graduate,....JOY!

Be sure to check out what everyone else is up to

Open House 2014

Open House was last week, but I was so wiped out, I'm just getting around to posting pix.

Here's what you see when you open the door.

To the right of the door is our library area, behind our book boxes.

Love our book boxes, I don't know why I have such a hard time committing to permanent labels.

My guided reading table...ahhh...look at how clean it it :)

This is the wall immediately to the left.  I'm really happy with the way our AR wall turned out.  You can read more HERE.

Ok, these are actually our mini-biographies.  It was supposed to be a timeline, but I thought little books worked out better. Crazy how some of my kiddos look exactly the same as babies :)

And now for our wonder animal projects:

 Love the detail and it's homemade :)

Our plant review and buzzing bees.

And lastly, I thought I would give my parents the chance to find as many ways to show 25, I should have taken a pic of the after :/

I have to say, it was a fun evening.  I always love seeing kids with their families.  Our dual classrooms always feel more like family.

What a week!

We had an awesome Open House turn out!

I'll post more pix later, but here is a cute Math About Me in español :)

You can find this fun activity below :)

Success With Stamina

We celebrated Read Across America Last week.

One of the fun activities we always do is a Read-A-thon.

Students take pledges and raise money for pages read.

Let me tell you, my kiddos have been reading,

a

lot!

For the Read-A-thon, my kiddos sustained their reading for 30 minutes.  And let this proud teacher tell you, they read the entire time :)

We have been building our stamina in reading.  You can read more HERE about it.  My kiddos do a great job for 20 minutes, then someone gets restless or the potty breaks begin, but today they were focussed!

We have examined the traits of a super reader and those of a blah reader.  

And these kiddos know, you're never going to be a super reader if you don't read.

Doesn't this pic make you want to cuddle up with your favorite book?

And this sweet girl brought her own bag of books to enjoy, (loved her bag :)

I didn't take many other pictures of our the activities, Open House is next week, 'nuff said :)

Adios amigos!

To Reading Log Or Not To Reading Log?

So...I've been teaching 19 years now.
(Ah hem, wow, wait I have to catch my breath, I say it but I just don't believe it). 

Anyways, I've had reading logs for 18 of those years.  Mostly because it was on our report card and it would let me know who was reading.

Since my return to First Grade though, I've stayed away from them.

I really didn't like the way my kiddos would read a lot of books just to fill out the log, so I stopped rewarding them a long time ago, (hence my hesitation with AR, but that's a different story).

I really didn't like how I would see several simple titles or chapter books to fill up the reading log.  I mean, come on, it really took you 20 minutes to read 3 chapter books?  And punishing kids for forgetting to fill out the reading log?  The terror in my kiddos eyes!  Isn't it funny how it's always our best students who get so worried about not being our perfect lil' students?

So in order to keep my frustration level low, (always a priority ;)
I decided I would still require 20 minutes of reading, but only a parent signature be necessary.

Do I wonder if some of my kids are really reading 20 minutes each night?  Sure.

Do I wonder if students are using any comprehension strategies?  Sure.

Do I wonder if parents are just signing and not reading with their child?  Sure.

But I've accepted the fact that I can't control any of it.
I always tell my parents and students that teachers can ALWAYS tell who reads at home and who doesn't.  So it's up to them if they want to be an eh, so-so reader or a ta-ta-chan....Super Reader.
 And to become a Super Reader you have to read, read, read!

So what to do? What to do?
Tune in for more info and freebies :)

Lovin' My New Bag

So in case I haven't mentioned it,

I love, LOVE all things organization!

And in case I didn't mention this before, I absolutely love purses and cute bags!

So imagine how happy I was to order these two from 31 bags.

I was worried the floral print might be too bold for me, but I love it!  Makes me feel so happy every time I see it.  It's actually a collapsible file holder that fits perfectly inside my bag.

The bag has 5 outside pockets and my name.  Now I'm not a big look at me type person, but gotta say, love the bright red on my new polka dot bag.

Next on my list: tackle my To File drawer.  

With this cute bag and file holder, I have no excuse to empty out my file drawer.  I can just take that stack home, organize in front of the TV, bring back and return to its proper place.

 I really shouldn't have a to file drawer, I had to take a pile out just to open the drawer.  But my chaos is sorta organized.  It's a journey I enjoy, more excuses to buy more organize anythings ;)

Dr. Seuss Math

We'll celebrate Read Across America next week, can't wait!  I love Dr. Seuss :)

I thought some of you can use this freebie.  

I used it in Kinder to reinforce sums of 5,6,7,8.

Just clicky pic above, let me know if it works for ya.

I plan to work on more for first grade :)

First Currently

Yay! My first Currently Linky with Farley!

I always love to read these snapshots to see what everyone in bloggyland is up to, so here we go!

I got an emergency alert at 3:26 a.m. about a Tornado Warning, in Southern Cali!

Really?!  I just told my kiddos we're so lucky to live here because we don't have to worry about tornados :/  Well, I certainly couldn't get back to sleep until 6 a.m.  Luckily, all was fine, whew!

I love seeing everyones new blog designs and I think I'm ready for a change.

I usually change it up myself, but I barely have time to blog, let alone design.

Can you guess my last line? Pretty easy and very true... it's been a tough week.

Wanna join the fun or catch up on some bloggers? Clicky below.