I'm Struggling.

I am having a really hard time planning for the week today.  My Language Arts block has been a little schizophrenic this year and I am having trouble getting to everything in my plan book (go figure...). I must admit that teaching Language Arts is not my strong suit.  I am a math girl.  And I have definitely been struggling all year just to get through my Language Arts block.  I have wonderful ideas, but I tend to get sidetracked.  You see... I am not used to planning with a TE, let alone six of them.  In my experience student teaching, I did not even see a TE. My mentors used the state standards and Common Core Standards as their guides.  Their combined experiences, professional books, textbooks, and the internet were my guides.  Not to mention, these books are brand new to my school and 2 of the 3 third grade teachers are brand new to the profession.  So here I sit, reading through all of the ideas and activities in my TE and trying to piece it all together.

For those of you that use Daily Five and CAFE strategies, how do you blend those with your basal readers?  Aaaannndd... how do you incorporate all of the amazingness found on TPT? I could really use some help!

~dani~

UPDATE: My husband had a brilliant idea and suggested that I take a walk or a nap.  I did both and woke up with a new attitude.  I love that man...

My Name is Dani & I Am An Office-Supply-A-Holic

So I was doing some reading over at Clutter-Free Classroom about keeping a clean desk and I am waaaaay off!!  Here is the top drawer of my desk.

Yes, there are trays and rubberbands of similar writing instruments, and the ones that are in current rotation are all in one place (in the small tray on the right). But I have come to the realization that I have a problem.  I. AM. ADDICTED.  I love office supplies.  And today I realized that I have been hoarding pens and pencils like a crazy person.  So much so that my drawer looks like that. But I thought I was organized...

My major missteps (according to Clutter-Free Classroom) are as follows:

• Stop using Post-It Notes.  Instead keep one notebook designated for reminders and to do lists.  (See that collection of them?  Right by the gum? Yeah, there are a bunch! And you should see the top of my desk!)
• Schedule times to clean your desk.  Make this a routine. (I'm pretty good at this, but I could do a lot better. I'm thinking when my kids clean up. What a concept?)
• Stick to one pen (!!!!!!). Pick a brand and color that you like and use it exclusively. Only keep 2-3 on hand at a time. (HOLY COW! Can you imagine how much space I could have in that drawer up there?)

I am totally revamping my desk tomorrow.  My next dilemma... what am I going to do with all of that extra space?

~dani~

Spread a Little Sunshine

I found these on Pinterest this evening and I am totally going to spread the love this week.  I have been feeling a little lonely and my bucket has been feeling a little empty, so I am going to put my money where my mouth is!  I will be anonymously filling buckets all week with these adorable little notes.

How fun is that??

~dani~

Family Math

Finding a teaching job in Southern California right out of a credential program is not an easy task.  Many of my friends and classmates were successful in securing jobs in the area, but many had to wait until the very last minute (2 days before school started!!) to hear back from schools, and I HAD to get to work.  I was lucky enough to land a job in Northern California right after I graduated in August and had a whopping 14 days to move into my new home and classroom. My husband and I moved to a new city on a whim and I wish I could say things are fabulous, but the truth is, I miss my family and friends. I do my best to keep in contact by calling, texting and doing the facebook thing, but sometimes it just isn't enough. I have been using personal story-telling (with an occasional exaggeration) to keep interest high and the kids love it. Plus, I get to remind myself how lucky I am to have such wonderful people in my life.  One thing that has emerged from this practice is what I have dubbed "Family Math."

It serves two wonderful purposes: I get to tell funny, mostly true stories about my family and the kids get really excited about math problems.  This is our most recent chart and they were really concerned with the task of finding the correct number of horseshoes for Morgan's horses.  They even asked me if she knew we were going to figure it out for her, so I actually texted her during our lesson to make sure she knew :).  It's also really fun to share pictures of our charts with my family and friends so that they know I'm thinking about them.  Win/win! 

Charts, charts, and more charts!

We chart a lot in my class.  It is a great way to document student thinking and it has really helped my class to take ownership of their learning and our space.  We chart everything from reading comprehension strategies to math facts and everything in between.  I was lucky enough to have a few amazing mentor teachers in my Credential Program.  They introduced me to Debbie Miller's Reading with Meaning and it has been an amazing tool for me. I was able to learn the art of charting from two wonderful first grade teachers. Things are a little different in third grade, but we LOVE to chart in my class!  Here are a few of our charts from this year.

"Charting holds thinking--it makes our thinking public and permanent, and traces our work together." - Debbie Miller, 2002

Schema Umbrella Chart

The Napping House Connections and Schema

Don't Need Friends Connections and Schema

My lil' Bucket Fillers!

Problem-solving

Non-fiction Text Features (a Pinterest find!)

Plurals --> Changing y to ies

States of Matter

Caribou Schema

Parts of a Letter

MY NEW CARPET!!  (Just had to sneak it in...)

I think they like it!

CURRENTLY! Oh My Gosh!!! I did it!

Alrighty... I am BRAND NEW to this blogger thing and I am pretty sure that I just figured out this whole Linky Party thing!  Yay for me!

Anyway... here is my CURRENTLY from Oh' Boy 4th Grade.

BTW... Check out The Quietest Classroom Pencil Sharpener... I am hoping to get my hands on one soon.  I literally just bought my kids mechanical pencils because mine is driving me crazy!  I get so irritated when my kidlets get up to sharpen pencils (even when they aren't supposed to...).  Not mention the fact that my super-duper $50 electric sharpener doesn't even get their pencils close to sharp anymore!

I'm hoping that this Linky Party will help me to pick up a few new followers and one of those handy-dandy sharpeners!  Happy Saturday!

~dani~

Next on the To-Do List... Emergency Sub Plans!

I spent Thursday and Friday of last week sick as a dog. Not like I had a cold-sick, but like I couldn't eat a scrap of food because I was afraid it was going to make a quick return-sick. It was horrible. I can't event tell you the last time that I was that sick. And each morning when my stupid alarm went off at 5:20 a.m., all I could think about was what it would take for me to write sub plans for the day and get them to school. Just the thought of the prep was enough to get me out of bed and on my way. I did this mental dance both Thursday and Friday mornings, feeling like garbage and doing my best.

As as first-year teacher, I have only written 2 days of sub plans. Total. And they took a while. I have created a Sub Binder with basic info and emergency instructions, but after my icky sick days, I have added planning 3 days worth of emergency sub plans to the top of my To-do List.

How do you plan for emergencies?

~dani~