3-2-1 Teacher Bio: Weekend Warriors Link Up

I so can not even believe June is almost over! Summer is flying by!

Today, I had an amazing day meeting up with some Louisiana Teacher Bloggers! We had an amazing day of sharing ideas and meeting new friends. I can't wait to collaborate with these amazing ladies in the future.

Anyway, back to the reason I am posting, today I am linking up with Creative Lesson Cafe for Weekend Warriors: 3-2-1 Bio Linky to share a little bit about me. Some of you may already know these things, but I tried to include some new stuff about me :)

1. In first grade, I had the most amazing teacher- Ms. Kyame. When I tell you I remember her as *perfect* I am not exaggerating at all. I am sure she had bad days, but I don't remember any of them. I still remember learning about addition and subtraction fact families, listening to The Nightingale, and having student of the day for our journal time. She inspired me to want to learn, and the rest was history. I had so many other wonderful teachers along the way, but Ms. Kyame will always hold a special place in my heart! 

2. I taught a 3/4 combo class for one year. I NEVER want to do it again- it was rough! I had so many times when I was overwhelmed beyond belief, but it forced me to teach in small groups. Now, I love small groups. It is so easy to see who gets it and who needs help. It gives me time to interact with students individually and get to know how they think better. I especially love small groups in science and math, so my students can touch, talk, and manipulate everything.

3. The first day is always something to look forward to for me. However on the night before the first day, I can not sleep a wink. I run through everything I need to get done and over think every minute. I am sure many of you can relate!

1. I never thought I would say this but I am my mother's daughter. I talk to strangers in stores, have regular conversations with cashiers, and do not have a shy bone in my body at trainings and workshops. I love to meet new people and share ideas. I especially enjoy meeting other teachers at random places because somehow being a teacher ALWAYS comes up! 

2. Currently, I live with roommates who have a dog, however I don't have one of my own. I would totally borrow steal their dog in a heartbeat, but my true dream is to have a pig. I don't even care if this pig is one of those little cute ones or a large pig. Hopefully, Jonathan wants this as bad as me-- because its gonna happen!

I have only been on one cruise, but I loved it! It was my senior cruise in college, so IMMA BE HONEST the location didn't matter that much, but I would love to go to Key West and the Bahamas in the future! 

Well thats all about me for now, I look forward to hearing more about all of you!

Happy Summer!!

Hello Again Friends..

So summer is the time when my blogging is usually the most active, but this summer it seems I have yet to have a break! I have been quite busy, and on my days off it seems like I have no problem running errands allll day.

First, there were lots of meetings to get ready for next year. I am so excited and feel so much more prepared going into this next year. Now that I have the hang of common core, I am so excited to get more students more deeply engaged with the curriculum! I can't wait to post some of my new projects that are currently in the works-- including my Standards Based Yearly Math Homework, which I have been working on for almost a year now! I have been also revamping some of my products from the early days.

The original for this baby was in WORD, so I couldn't save hardly any of it, but I am loving the new, brighter final product!

Then, I got to meet Daisy the Reading Pig! I mean I DID go to the library as the ONLY adult without a child. But I'm a teacher so its not creepy, right?! Also, I found out some interesting about Daisy, the most shocking is that Daisy is actually a boy! And Daisy sleeps with the farmer and his wife. I am sure to some people a huge EW comes in right now, but this may be my dream!

Also, I have been busy planning and executing an amazing shower (if I do say so myself) for my cousin Katie with her other bridesmaids. When I tell you these girls are so great at planning and getting everything together, I am not just blowing smoke! We had such an awesome time and everything looked amazing. Now, if only the Louisiana heat would have subsided slightly we may not have had to have so much white sangria. 

Then there has been so much shopping! Mostly window shopping, but man I am loving Target and Home Goods being right next door to each other! This has cost me hours on summer days when what else do I have to do?!

I am also getting so excited for the Louisiana Teacher Blogger meet up next Saturday. I can't wait to meet some other Louisiana Bloggers and network within the Baton Rouge Area! I even got some new business cards to celebrate. Hopefully this will make up for the fact that I won't be going to Vegas this year :(

I hope you are all enjoying your summer! 

Just Imagine How Much Cooler I'll be In Summer

So this is officially my fourth day of summer and I have yet to do any relaxing. What is wrong with me?! I am sure I will get into total veg mode when it comes closer to August but right now I am feeling totally ready to prep for next year!

With some of my Barnes and Noble Gift Cards from my babies (tear!) I got to buying some new books for next year! 

I will be using The Exceptionally Extraordinary Ordinary First Day of School to teach how setting can affect the plot. It also has some really awesome facts and vocabulary in the margins. I also love 11 Experiments that Failed, which I just received today, I will use this to introduce question, hypothesis, and developing procedures to test experiments. It is so cute and very funny! 

I have also been working on some new TpT products. First, a freebie! I know many of you are already out of school but I developed these gift tags for our end of school gifts. You can get them at My TpT Store!

  

I have also uploaded some of my new research products. These worked so well in my class. Though they were time consuming, my students got to be very good at research. It also provided students with so much choice. All of the final products in my class were wonderful! 

Well, I am going to do some summer things. Netflix marathon, anyone? 

Tell Me S'More About Solar Ovens

Well teachers, we have a lot to be happy about this week. First of all, Summer right around the corner. Can you believe it is already May? 

Also, it is Teacher Appreciation Week! My students have brought some super sweet and thoughtful gifts this week AND my boyfriend sent me these beautiful flowers at work. I know he's he a keeper! 

AND, in case I needed more happiness. TpT is having a SALE! So many wonderful things at 28% off. Hold on to your wallets!!

Also, I finished my Solar Oven Unit! My class has had so much fun working with solar energy! We enjoyed some delicious smores today! 

Here are some pics of my students creating their ovens and trying them out! 

Earth Day Celebrations!

Last week we had a wonderful time celebrating Earth Day! We read some wonderful stories, wrote an informational pamphlet, wrote our own story, created crafts from recycled materials and even created our own paper from recycled scraps in the classroom!

First, our favorite Earth Day books were 

All three of these titles are engaging and information packed! They are great for classes both young and old. 

After reading the Adventures of an Aluminum Can and Adventures of a Plastic Bottle, my students sequenced the steps it took for the bottle to turn into a (SPOILER ALERT) spacesuit, and the can to turn into (DOUBLE SPOILER ALERT) a baseball bat. 

On the next day, we learned about the process of making paper from trees. We watched this video and sequenced the steps as a class. We were careful to use specific vocabulary in our sequencing. 

After, we wrote our very own story: Adventures of a Sheet of Paper. We modeled this book after the Adventures of a Plastic Bottle and Adventures of an Aluminum Can. Since we have been learning about figurative language in Reading, I encouraged my students to use this in their stories. Here are some examples of the pages. 

I will upload the cover and the rubric ASAP! I am so impressed with all the work my students did. Many of their books were both funny and informative! 

The next day we made paper. I used a kit here at school, but all you need is a screen, a mold (cookie cutters work just fine for small pieces), a sponge, felt, a blender, water and small scraps of paper.

1. Students tore scraps of paper into small pieces. We chose to separate them by color so our paper would not be too dark, but you don't have do to this. 

2. Fill the blender about 2/3 full of water. Add the scraps of paper.

3. Blend the paper until it is the consistency of oatmeal. 

4. Place a piece of screen in a bucket filled with water. Pour the pulp into the mold. 

5. Take the screen out of the water and let it drip dry. Remove the mold. At this point, we also added seed to make our paper plantable. 

6. Place another piece of mesh on top of the paper. Press it with a sponge. 

7. Remove the paper from one of the mesh screens, press down with a piece of felt, this process is called couching (KOOCHing).

8. Lay the newly formed paper on cardboard to dry over night!

Another teacher at my school, Ms. Simmons, and her class joined us for our Earth Day. She found this idea on someones blog, which I will ask her about so we can give credit! They came out so very cute!!!

We ended our Earth Week with a yummy treat- dirt pudding. I can't wait to celebrate again next year. Hopefully I will I will have all my printables up on TpT by then as well. Only a year away-- A girl can DREAM! 

Surviving Until Summer

Today I am linking up with Queen of the First Grade Jungle and Fabulous in First to talk about what I am doing to get to summer. 

This week was my spring break and it is commical that I have had absolutely no break! I have been so busy this week and will have some exciting news in the upcoming weeks!! 

Outside the Classroom:

1. Weddings- those of you that follow me on Instagram (@mswinterswildwest) know I had a busy wedding weekend! We road tripped to New Braunfels this weekend to share a special weekend with two great friends! 

  

2. Beach Volleyball- I am playing on a sand volleyball team with @theschoolbelle and some of our other friends. It makes the weeks fly by because we are so busy!! Plus the margarotas don't hurt. 

3. Puppy Time- spending time with my roommates' dogs has been a fun way to spend the afternoon. Especially when they look this cute!!

Inside the classroom 

1. Go noodle- my kids and I benefit from these awesome brain breaks. 

 

2. Hands on Science- can't get much more engaged then some great science experiments!! I love getting into interactive science lessons. The kids are so motivated and into their learning. 

3. Prepping for next year- next year will be my 4th year as a teacher. I am going to have so many materials and resources! I am "cutening" some of them up so next year I don't have to worry about making the one we do together neat. 

Well that's all for tonight!! Finally getting home from the weekend. Wheew! 

Have a wonderful week! Happy teaching! 

Making It Stick: Chapter 1

After reading Chapter 1 of this book, I am still very impressed. I like the style of the book a lot. It integrates stories about different skill sets, not just school related knowledge. It discusses being a pilot and baseball in order to make a point about learning. I will first post a short summary of this chapter, then I will discuss possible implications in the classroom. I am in no way an EXPERT on this topic, and as I read I may have to edit these implications, however this is how I am grasping that I can relate this information in my classroom.

So far, this book is sounding similar to many things I have heard in recent Professional Development and other readings.  In my classroom I am already using some of these strategies, but am I teaching my students how this is helping them learning? 

Some of the implications on teaching would be to continue using the following strategies. 

•Low Stakes Quizzing should be introduced to help student’s metacognition. For Example: 

•Exit Tickets

•Questioning After Reading

•Students should learn how to use self quizzing.  For Example: 

•Accountable Talk and Student Questioning 

•Student Created Tests/ Quizzes

•Teachers should space out practice of topics to keep students at the level of mastery.

•Spiral Curriculum

•Math Tubs/ Stations

•Topics should be related to other topics and interwoven throughout the curriculum.

•Subject Integration

•Complex Projects

•Students should use information to solve hard problems.

•Problem Based Learning

•Complex Thinking

•Differentiated Problems

Teachers should stop stressing rereading for review, teaching concepts in isolation, and allowing students to simply restate the text.

One thing I know I can improve on in my classroom is to teaching my students to learn from mistakes, and not to treat them as failures. Many of my students get frustrated when they get a problem wrong, rather than looking at what mistakes led them to get the wrong answer. I am hoping to integrate a new section into our problem of the day called Meaningful Mistakes. We will review fake student mistakes and determine what the student understands and where the student needs clarification. When students are more comfortable, I will allow them to submit their "meaningful mistake" dry erase boards and we can review them as a class.

Well, that is all for today!

Coming Soon-- Chapter 2: To Learn, Retrieve