Five for Friday

Well, well, well - here we are again! Fridays have a lot less appeal in the summer than they do during the school year. I've come to the very real truth about how quickly my summer is dwindling. There is still so much to do! Oh, jeez.

To calm myself down, here's a quick look back at my week! I'll remind myself how much fun I've had this summer and that all of that school business will be there waiting when I'm ready to tackle it.

I started the week with a dinner hosted by four of my loveliest friends. We celebrated my birthday a few days early because of travel schedules and whatnot. If it's my birthday, you can be certain that there were chips and salsa, as well as Minion balloons involved. And, of course, the cupcakes weren't anything to complain about - seriously, pink lemonade cupcake. Yes, please. 

Speaking of Minions - their new movie was released today! So, naturally, like every soon-to-be-27-year-old, I just haaaaaad to see it the night before for its opening! What could be better? In this movie, my very favorite yellow friends are in England. Yes, Minions in London. Uh, hello.

Here's our creepy back of the dark movie theater selfie! 

I've tried really hard this summer to tend to Kristen's needs, rather than Miss Cannady's needs (let's face it, if you're a teacher, you have at least two personas: you and you as a teacher - I sometimes have a difficult time separating the two!). Anyway, I've been cleaning and organizing every corner of my apartment. A couple of weeks ago, I successfully cleared out and sorted my pantry. But, the labels I wanted for my spices were at school, and I kept forgetting to grab them whenever I was there. Well, this week, I finally remembered! Yay! I'm very pleased with how they turned out. I'm convinced that a KG font and a mason jar can fix most of the world's problems. 

Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale started. 

You know what? Nevermind. Let's not talk about it.

And, with all of the #tptvegas15 and #teachersNOTinvegas and #fomo action happening this week, I totally jumped on the Periscope bandwagon. Okay, friends - I'm in love. My head is spinning with ideas for the classroom! Seriously - so excited. The possibilities are endless. Ice cream social! Meet the Teacher! Pen pals! Book buddies! Science experiments! Recess fun! Oh, my heavens - what an exciting new tool for teachers. Yay! 

This is my "professional" account - I plan to keep my classroom account separate and more protected in terms of viewers. You know - safety first :) 

I am sure that I will have a lot of posts throughout the school year about this! Stay tuned! 

How was your week? Link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching and let us know! 

Make Your Masterpiece!

I'm crossing the TpT Seller Challenge's third week finish line at the very.last.second! In fact, I may be a little late. Oh, well. #betterlatethannever - right?

The third week's challenge was to Make Your Masterpiece! This is a lot of pressure, right? I have so many products and ideas on my to-do list that I struggled all week to really commit to one. Well, ladies and gentlemen, last night just before midnight, I had a spark of inspiration. So, naturally, I was up until the wee hours putting this product into place.

I am really excited about this product because it's the biggest I've ever uploaded - 46 pages! - there's a lot to this little baby! And, it's the first product for which I created a separate preview file. Seriously, it's getting real over here.

I wish I had real photos to share with you of these products in use - butttttt, my room is completely packed up for summer and bulletin boards have not yet been recreated. My plan is to add real photos to the actual product once I'm able to take some!

So, what's in it?

Birthday Bulletin Board Materials

The first week of school, I take a photo of each month's birthday group. So, every student with a January birthday smiles together. Each student holds up the number that corresponds to his or her birth date. I then input each month's photo to the correct birthday month template and display them on our birthday bulletin board. 

Student Birthday Treats

My school does not allow birthday treats from parents for a child's special day. That's actually a huge relief form as a teacher. But, I do like to give them a little somethin' somethin.' Displayed next to the birthday bulletin board, I have a collection of crazy straw balloons that each child receives on his or her birthday. I also let them take a birthday coupon of their choice! 

Class Birthday Book Options

As a part of my classroom birthday display, I have a cute birthday gift bag sitting next to the birthday balloons. In the bag, there's our class birthday binder. I include a list of student birthdays and enough copies of our birthday book pages for each student to complete the night of his or her birthday. They bring back the binder the next day and share their work with the class. 

Click the photo of the cover below to head on over to my TpT store. This pack is on 20% off through tomorrow night! Yay! 

My Favorite Quote

Happy, happy holiday weekend! I hope that you all had a fantastic Fourth of July - mine was full of family, laughter and sun! I may or may not have a killer farmer's tan. I'll take it!

Today,  I'm linking up with Monica from I Heart Grade 3 for her weekly summer link-up! Each week presents a new topic. I'm coming in at the last minute for this week's topic.

I'm a quote monger. I love them. I put a different quote each week for my classroom newsletter, I often post fun images of them on my Instagram and have them constantly changing on my phone wallpaper.

My Very, Very Favorite Quote

This quote speaks for itself. I am a big believer in smiling and acting positively. Yes, of course, I have my moments, my days, my weeks, etc. BUT, even a quick "Hello!" in the hallway can brighten someone's day. Why not always try to be a rainbow for someone else? 

This is just darling. It makes me smile so much. In fact, it's actually the quote that I put on the back of my teacher planner this past school year - see?

He Melts My Heart!

I cannot speak highly enough of my friend Kid President. His videos, his quotes, his book, his tweets - seriously, I'm obsessed. I adore him. His quotes are frequent fliers on my classroom newsletter. If you don't know about Kid President, please please please STOP EVERYTHING right now and watch this video. Please. Why are you still reading? Stop. Watch the video. Now! 

I couldn't find a graphic for my very favorite quote from him, but I have to share it anyway:  

"No matter who you are, someone is learning from you."

For obvious reasons, I love this for the classroom!

A few other fun quotes from my main man: 

Isn't he precious? 

To see other teachers' favorites, click here!

What's your favorite quote?

TpT Seller Challenge: Dare to Dream

This week for the summer TpT Seller Challenge, the topic is Dare to Dream. My hopes and motivations for joining the teacher blogging community are to do just that: be a part of the community. These dreams don't necessarily reflect my dreams as they pertain only to TpT. As I see it, the TpT, Instagram, Facebook, blogging and Twitter world of teachers is all intertwined. So, my dreams relate more to that community, rather than just as a seller with TpT. Yikes - I hope I'm not breaking any rules!

I just finished my third year in my first grade classroom. In that three years, I've learned a lot - more than I ever imagined. I've grown into a confident teacher with my own ideas. One of the reasons I haven't yet immersed myself completely into this community is that I hadn't yet truly identified myself as a teacher. I didn't feel confident with my ideas and my philosophies. I'm to the point where I am comfortable with myself as a teacher, and I'm ready to learn and share completely with this amazing community of teachers.

LEARN

In my experience, teaching is one of only a few careers in which the professionals are in a constant state of learning, growing and changing. Truly, teachers never stop! Even just a quick scroll through my Instagram feed confirms that teachers are always reading, researching and creating to better their teaching environments. Part of my dream is to continue to learn and grow into the best teacher that I can be. 

SHARE

Beyond creating resources to share on TpT, I want to comfortably and confidently share small bits about my teaching style that make my classroom unique or more effective. This is a big goal for me - to be able to pickup on characteristics of my classroom that can truly be beneficial for others.

INSPIRE

Even further than confidently sharing, I think that it would be just so fantastic if I were able to inspire just one person to better his or her classroom environment. I am so passionate about teaching and doing the best for every single child. By learning and sharing, I hope to continue to grow into a successful professional who's able to help, guide and inspire another teacher. 

So, there you have it - a quick peek into my motivation and desires with my TpT and blogging journey. To look at others' dreams, check out this week's links! 

My Teaching Quirk

Quirks. Oh, boy.

There is not enough space in all of the dub dub dub (world wide web) to describe my quirks. As my very favorite teaching friend The Crazy Schoolteacher once told me, "It will take a special, special man to put up with you and all of  your quirks for the rest of his life." Seriously. That happened.

So, naturally, I'm linking up with I Heart Grade 3 and her Weekly Summer Link-Up. This week, you guessed it, is all about teaching quirks!

I'm sure that my first grade teammates, my past students and their parents can tell you a laundry list of quirks about me as a teacher. But, I'll narrow it down to two quirks.

Quirk #1

The first teaching quirk that comes to mind is my classroom signals. My other first grade teachers make comments regarding my signals. "Oh, I bet you have a signal for that!" Seriously, whatever they're referring to, I do probably have a signal. In my classroom, I love signals! Why would I want to interrupt our learning flow to address something silly like allowing a child to use the restroom? Also, with signals, students can express their very, very, very, very important ideas without us interrupting our learning twenty-six times. Most of the signals each year arise naturally, and they're often kid-created. For example, this past year, I found myself saying "It's your job to worry about you. It's my job to worry about everyone." So, finally, one day, I said that I was tired of saying that all the time. The students suggested that we come up with a signal. So, voila! We decided that when I tapped my brain and then my chest, it meant, "Worry about yourself."

That's just one example! We have signals for bathroom breaks, pencil sharpening, "I'm thinkin' what you're thinkin'," "I didn't know that!," and sooo many more. Signals help keep our learning flowing naturally, and it helps reinforce our classroom community with signals that act as "talk moves" and help us to deepen our discussions.

Quirk #2

The other big teaching quirk that sticks out to me is my overuse of the word "friends." I refer to my students as "friends." I didn't realize this until last school year after my principal was in my classroom for an observation. At the end of the day, as we were walking to the buses, I heard my principal call a group of students "friends." Then, she said, "Oh! I just called you all 'friends' - I sound just like Miss Cannady!"

I assume that this quirk came about because I do not like addressing my students as "kids." I certainly am not a fan of "kiddos." Please, don't hate me if you're a kiddo-er. It's just not my cup of tea.

I use this word without even knowing that I'm doing it now -- both in and out of the classroom, among children and adults alike. The cashier at Hobby Lobby? She's a friend. The baseball player on TV? He's a friend. The crazy lady pumping gas in her pajamas and wet hair? Also a friend. My actual real-life adult friends? Yes, I call them friends. Out loud. To their faces. Oops.

What's YOUR teaching quirk? Can you pick just one?

TpT Seller Challenge: Makeover Madness

Happy Monday!

I am so excited to begin the TpT Seller Challenge! I've recommitted myself to my blog and TpT store for the summer, and this challenge came about and provided the perfect opportunity to do just that!

The first week's topic is Makeover Madness! The challenge is to choose an existing product in your TpT store that could definitely use a makeover. Well, friends, I chose two items to makeover this week. You can call me an overachiever. I won't be offended.

The first product I gave a little facelift to is my very first product EVER on TpT! When I look back at this product, I just want to cover my eyes. Yikes! I'm sure that many of you TpT sellers out there can relate to this!

I updated the cover (woah, nelly, did that need to happen badly!), and I also changed the fonts and the layout of each game's page. I'm thinkin' the new version looks a little bit more user-friendly with the dice images, rather than the words at the top of each column. The updated version now includes color pages, as well as black-and-white friendly options!

The second product to which I gave a makeover this week was my first paid product on TpT! I simply gave this product's cover a facelift. I'm loving the new look!

My entire store is now on sale through Thursday, June 18! Yay!

If you're interested in other teachers' makeovers this week, click here!

Five for Friday

Happy, happy summer to all of my friends!
I've had two full weeks of summer, and I have loved every second! Here are a few fun random tidbits from my summer so far!

The very first day of summer, my teaching team worked together to plan out our curriculum map for the upcoming school year. We like to do this while we are still in school mode. I was really proud of us! We planned out all of our literacy units, matched up our science and social studies standards with the units. Yay, us! 

Then, of course, because I am a control freak like to be helpful, I compiled all of our ideas into one place for us to have and cherish during the year. 

After three years of trying, my teammate finally convinced me to clear out my teacher's desk from my classroom. To be honest, I am a fan of having my own space. Don't get me wrong, my classroom is totally kid-friendly and it's all of their mess. But, I do like having my own little slice of heaven in the corner of my classroom. 

Last week, I decided to clean the desk out and realized that all of the stuff inside was stuff that I rarely used! OR, it's stuff that doesn't really belong there. There may or may not have been an entire drawer dedicated to Goldfish crackers and Peanut Butter M&Ms. You won't tell anyone, will you? 

There will definitely be another blog post on this topic later in the summer, once my school's tech guy gets my new computer area set up! 

With my team's work day session, we also divided up all of our typical copies for the beginning of the school year. We also decided to give a facelift to our portfolio pieces. I'm currently working on these to make them look a little bit more modern and make them more uniform. Here's a peek at a student self-reflection for math! 

My last two tidbits are not school related. Let's face it, every teacher needs a little non-school fun during the summer! 

I found these t-shirts for one of my dearest friends' son. He turned 12 last week, and he's a huge fan of silly t-shirts and of course, zombies. I may or may not have laughed out loud when I was in the store. So, naturally, I was giddy as I watched him unwrap his gift! He loved them!

This week, my second family went strawberry picking. I am so thankful that they didn't invite me - I am not one for much manual labor [insert charming laughter here]. They did, though, invite me to help bake yummy treats to use the mass amounts of strawberries. Here's a quick picture of my favorite treat we made - fruit pizza! 

Now, this high quality of photo does not happen all by itself. It's a direct result of strawberry-stained fingers and a request of a 10-year-old taking the picture with your phone. In his words, he was trying to be "artistic." He failed. Oh, well. It was still delicious!

Word Study Assessment

This week, I'm linking up with Miss V's Busy Bees and Mrs. D's Corner for their Back to School fun! Each week, our bloggy friends are sharing useful experiences and ideas specific to a back to school topic.

On the agenda this week: assessment!

As we all know, there are a million and one (or so it seems) assessment pieces throughout our weeks in the classroom. For this post, I chose to write about word study assessment.

One of my very least favorite things about elementary school is spelling. Now, don't get me wrong. I am totally in favor of children learning how to spell, and for those of you who know my grammar freak tendencies, that's not a surprise to you!

In our classroom, we don't have your good ol' fashioned spelling list each week. Instead, we have a phonics pattern (short a, long u, etc.), like most classrooms. But, rather than students "studying" a list of these words at home each night, we work with these words throughout our week in our classroom. We list these words together (and then students are encouraged to add more that they think of throughout the week), we play games with these words during Daily 5 word work, we read poems with these words during class time and at least once a week, we complete a homework piece that deals with this phonics pattern. Students have exposure to these words throughout the week, and these experiences are more meaningful in the long run than studying a list.

Then, on Friday, I administer a word study assessment. This probably looks a lot like most teachers' spelling tests. However, the words are a surprise each week. I always choose words that we've brainstormed as a class that week, so I know that they've had ample opportunities to explore these words in various ways. I love this assessment so much more than when I did traditional spelling lists. I'm able to see which little friends are able to APPLY their phonics knowledge, which is so crucial to their reading and writing success.

I can also DIFFERENTIATE this assessment seamlessly! The tenth word is always a free choice word — the students may choose any word that fits the pattern. So, with Long I, some students might choose to write bike, a word that we've probably talked a lot about that week. OR, some higher-level friends might decide to write decide. That is instant differentiation. And, with the dictation sentence, students are able to create their own if they choose — I always give a fairly simple dictation sentence. I always encourage "stretching your brain," though!

I've found that my students perform better when we're able to apply our knowledge, rather than just memorize a list.

Check out the pictures below for a deeper look at what I do for this assessment!

How do YOU do spelling in your classroom?

Don't forget to follow on Blog Lovin'! — I'm in need of some good teacher lovin' over there!

Daily 5 & Behavior Management

I am absolutely loving the Back to School Weekly Linky from Miss V's Busy Bees and Mrs. D's Corner! I think that the idea is brilliant! Lots of teachers sharing ideas about specific components of our classroom. Perfect!

I decided to jump in this week with a post regarding behavior during Daily 5. Now, you may be thinking, "But, wait! Daily 5 is all about students engaged and on task. They will never, ever, ever, ever, ever misbehave during Daily 5. You are absolutely able to work with small groups without worrying about the others in the room."

Okay…if you're thinking that, and you've never had a problem with behavior during Daily 5, then you deserve a gold medal!

No matter what we try, our little friends sometimes just can't get along with their group mates, or they can't find that perfect "Level 2" partner work voice. Or, they have an issue with truly staying on task, no matter how much time YOU put into ensuring each activity's meaningful and engaging nature.

So…I thought I'd pipe in this week's linky to share a couple of ideas that I have found super useful during Daily 5.


The first one: CLASS DOJO!
A lot of teachers use this as a whole class management tool. This year, I utilized it during Daily 5. Rather than each individual student having his or her own characters, each Daily 5 group had its own. In our classroom, we have numbers as Daily 5 groups - groups 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 (don't panic - this year, I plan to spice things up a bit).

Anyway, during Daily 5, the above image was projected on our screen. While I worked with a small group at the back table, I had my trusty wireless mouse next to me. If a group was on task or off task, I was able to click a group, indicate positive or negative behaviors, and the computer took care of alerting the class for me. There's a nifty little sound for positive and negative, and the kids quickly learn which is which. Based on our T-charts that we make during our introduction of Daily 5, I preload the behaviors, and the groups can see specifics of what made them gain or lose points. The best part of this is — I don't have to break away from my small group AT ALL. So many times, teachers are pulled away from their small group because they're yelling across the room or snapping their fingers to redirect students. And, that's not fair to your friends at the back table OR the other students in the room.

Once a group reaches five points, they get to "kick of their shoes" during Daily 5 the next day! Talk about a simple incentive! And, powerful, too. We make a big show of it, of course - the group gets to stand at the front of the room and literally KICK off their shoes! Then, we reset that group's points, and they restart their journey to shoeless Daily 5 glory.

My first graders this year LOVED this. They were very quick to remind me to pull up the "monsters." I'm positive that they started to think of these little furry guys as part of the family! 

The second idea I've used is pretty similar, but isn't dependent upon technology. 

It's super simple: 

On the main whiteboard in my room, I list each group's name (or number, if you're lame like I was this past year). Then, at the end of Daily 5 for the day (we have three rounds each day in my classroom), I choose my STAR groups. Then, I place a…you guessed it…STAR next to that group's name. Multiple groups may earn a star, or no groups may earn one! When a group earns three stars, that group gets to KICK off their shoes! Yay! 

As a side note: I'm all about self-reflection, and my students have the opportunity to do this at the end of each round, as we wait for all of the groups to clean up. Students sit on their desks (yes, this is super exciting for them) and give a quick "self-check." This is three fingers, two fingers or one finger, depending on how they feel that they did during that round of Daily 5. If we have time, I ask for volunteers to share a "proud moment" (something that they feel they did great during that round), a "wish for next time" (a goal for the next round) or a "star for someone else" (if they noticed a classmate making excellent choices). This is just a great way to include a little self-assessment and community building during our Daily 5 rounds! 

So, those are my quick and easy ideas for Daily 5 behavior management. What do you do for Daily 5 behavior? Or, are you one of those who deserve a gold medal? 

BANG!

Hi, friends!

I am so excited because I finally found the courage to upload a non-free product to TpT. Yikes!

This year is our first year in the adoption of National Geographic's Reach for Reading series, so I've spent a great deal of time this summer creating resources to match the material in this new program. One of the staples in my classroom is our high frequency word flash cards. In my classroom, we call these BANG! words. As I tell my first graders, we call them BANG! words because when we come to  these words in our reading, we should know them BANG! BANG! BANG! quick.

Each of my students has his or her own BANG! bag (yes, that's what we call it!) in his or her desk. I copy the pages on card stock to give them more of a flash card-y feel, and so that they stand up to first grade love. Each week, students receive the new words for that week. They cut their own cards (Lord knows they don't have the chance to cut anymore, so some of my friends really struggle with cutting—this is a sad state of affairs). I also have them label the back of each card because we all know that cards WILL end up on the floor, and we'll never know who lost their has or mother or too or have.

Their BANG! cards are ALWAYS an option during word work or during an "I'm done, now what do I do?" situation. Selfishly, they also make a fantastic option for a quick time-filler before lunch or with a substitute. It's so quick to ask them to find their BANG! bags and then perform various tasks with these words:

• find three nouns
• choose four words and put them in ABC order
• find two words that rhyme
• choose two words and write a sentence that uses both

The possibilities are endless! But, it's such a great way to keep exposure for these words constant and varied throughout the day.

Click on the picture to check out my Reach for Reading BANG! cards on TpT!

How do YOU use high frequency words in your classroom?