Flowers!

It has been an interesting couple of days so far...my new group is a V.E.R.Y. chatty bunch of bananas. Don't get me wrong...they are very cute!  Ok...on to my real point...

I love getting flowers.  Handsome Husband loves to get me flowers and I love to get them.  We went to a gathering on Saturday where he won a gift certificate to a local flower shop I said that I would love for him to send me flowers at school some time.  He gets me flowers at home all the time, but during the school year I am able to enjoy them more at school more than at home.  He made a very good point and stated that it would cost almost double (if not more!) for him to have them delivered.

I got an email today that said I had something in the office and I hoped...hoped...hoped it was flowers...and it was!  He drove all the way to my school (40 minutes from home) to deliver flowers to me.  Unfortunately, he was worried that my new principal wouldn't allow him to visit me in my classroom and didn't ask to be able to bring them to me, so he was unable to meet my new nuggets. :(

I was super excited and skipped all the way to my room!  Well, I skipped in my mind because I am a clumsy fool and would have probably tripped and messed up the whole deal!

They are so pretty.  I'm excited :)
See my A.W.E.S.O.M.E. plan book to the left of the gorgeous flowers?  That will be later this week or next week.

I have the best husband...go him!  He even folded my laundry for me last night.

Mind you, he did it all wrong (...ok. Differently than I would have.) but I didn't have to do it!  Sweet guy.

Laters,

Mrs. B

Thankful...

Today marks the second day of school (with kids).  I'm tired.  Tired.  I can't imagine what it's going to be like with kids of my own.  A personal goal for myself this year is that I try to stay positive.  I am pretty positive anyway, but sometimes I need to try harder to stay positive about my class and students.

Here we go:

I'm thankful:

that even though Friday and today were yucky, rainy days it cleared up long enough for our little nuggets to have outside recess at lunch.  They needed to run as much as I needed the fresh air.

for my team.  They are an amazing bunch of women who have only made me better and made me challenge myself over the last two years.

that I have had the same team for the last two years!  One member is misplaced this year, but still in the building (so far!) and I still get to see her every day.

that I perfected roasted veggies and fish over the summer so that Handsome Husband and I can still eat a healthy meal when all I really want to do is sit down and stare at a wall for a while.

Totally cooked the acorn squash in the microwave.

that Handsome Husband reminded me that I DVR'd Batman and Robin over the weekend so that I have an awesomely horrible movie to grade papers to.  (I have REALLY, REALLY, REALLY bad taste in movies.)

that I only have 22 new nuggets to start the year with.  3rd grade has 26 (which is what we ended with) and kindergarten had 27, 28 and 31!  Holy cow!  Luckily we decided to add another Kinder section today.

that I have a job with a permanent contract.  It makes life a lot less worrisome.

that I can hear Handsome Husband washing the dishes in the kitchen as I type.  He's awesome.

What are you thankful for?

Laters!

Mrs. B

Sunday mornings

I love lazy Sunday mornings. My pastor (and father) gave me the day off from singing in the church band. I wanted a lazy weekend before my first full week of school.

I got my wish! I woke up at 10:00, played my new Professor Layton game for a while and came to a local diner for some Sunday morning grub. This diner was completely renovated last year and has only 3 tables and some bar stools and can seat around 25 people at one time. Cozy! We love to support local businesses. :)


Laters!

Mrs. B

High Five for Friday!

It's Friday, Friday!  First day of school!  My new little nuggets are an interesting bunch to say the least. I'm going to have an interesting year! 

1.  This is our class hamster.  I have re-named her...are you ready??!!  Her name is...Hermione.  Yes, yes.   I am a ginormous Harry Potter fan (although, I don't dress up OR own a wand :)).  We are calling her Hermie for short.  My students were OBSESSED with her today.  "Can we hold her?  

when can we play with her?  Why is she sleeping?  When does she play on her wheel?" 

2.  On the left are the new puzzle pieces that my new students have created for our class puzzle.  It's amazing to see how different they all are, but how they still fit together so well!  (This was NOT a Pinterest idea, btw.)  The picture on the right is the puzzle that last year's class created.  We left it up all year and added to it as we got new students.  It's such a great story and conversation starter!

3.  We started the year off right with one of my favorite authors.  My new nuggets were laughing their tooshies off as I was reading.  They interacted well!

4.  These were waiting for me when I got home (at 7:45 pm).  Oh Handsome Husband!  You R.O.C.K.! 

5.  Check out this new endeavor by the granddaughter of a woman at our church.  She's in FIFTH GRADE!  She is an amazing young woman with some terrific ideas!  She was tired of the B.O.R.I.N.G. athletic socks out there in the world and decided to do something about it.  Rock on!  Check out www.supersillysports.com!

Don't forget to check out Lauren's HF4F post over at From My Grey Desk blog.

Now, I'm off to bed so that I have the energy I need to do some school work this weekend!

Laters,

Mrs. B

Here is a quote from one of my nuggets that happened at the end of the day:  

As we were getting to leave at the end of the day I noticed that one of my students had a puddle of "hanitizer" (as second graders seem to call it) in his hands and was attempting to rub it in.  As we walked into the hallway I noticed that he had his hands cupped in front of his face and was inhaling deeply.  I asked, "Do you like the smell of hand sanitizer?"  to which he responded, "I love the smell of hanitizer...nail polish...and permanent markers!"  I just about lost it in the hallway!  I chuckled, grinned and just walked away.

I love second graders.

Objectives

Tonight we had our "Meet, Greet and Eat" night at school.  It's pretty easy to understand. :)  The parents come to our school, we meet them and our new students and then they eat dinner.  It also marks the night before the first day of school.

I am super nervous!  I told my teammate Sch. that I feel better than I have the past two year, but about as good as I'm ever going to feel!  I am ready and wicked excited to have my first day with my students, but scared that I will totally forget something that I will need.

Back to the title of the post...objectives.  My school adopted the TAP program (an alternative assessment program for teachers in Indiana) last year and one of the Indicators on our rubric is Standards and Objectives.  What it looks for is if your content aligns with the standards and if the objective for the lesson displayed.  I struggled with having the objective listed each day where the students could find it so decided to see if I could make it any easier.

Here is what I came up with:

Language Arts (soon to say "Reading"), Math, Writing, Grammar.

I bought some frames from the Dollar Tree, printed the content areas that I needed onto some card stock, placed the card stock in the frames and affixed them to my board using 3M Command picture hangy thingermajiggers.  (I can see that they have a real name, but this is what I call them.  I describe them as 3M plastic-y velcro-y thingamajiggers.)  I will write the objective(s) on the glass of the frame with a dry erase marker.

I thought this was pretty nifty (as did this person.  I hated that this link didn't go to the actual site, but this is what I had to work with...sorry.) and so did the rest of my team!  I described it to them, but they needed a visual...as I usually do as well...and they wanted them, too!  Now, the students in second grade know EXACTLY where to look to find the objective for the day! :)

Wish me luck on my first day of school!!!

Laters,

Mrs. B

Curriculum Organization

My school corporation adopted a new reading curriculum this year.  We knew that there would be a lot of materials involved, but we didn't realize that they were spread out over a toooooooonnnnn of boxes, books, and manuals.

While browsing the wonderful world of Pinterest I stumbled upon this blog link where she explained how she organized all of the curriculum.  I was inspired, to say the least.  My team members decided to board the crazy train with me, however, and do theirs too!

Here are some photos to show what we did:

I went to Staples and bought 1 1/2" file POCKETS.   We chose the pockets so that nothing would fall out the sides like would happen with a file folder.  They cost around $30.00 total.  We color coded them by unit.  Each unit has 5 "lessons" (weeks).  The last week is rainbow because there were 6 folders of 5 colors.  

We bought Post-it label tabs (color coordinated, of couse) and labeled each lesson.  Lesson 1, Lesson 2, etc.

The Grab and Go booklet.  It has blackline masters, reproduceable materials, running records, assessments, etc.  There is one for each lesson (week).

We have 3 reading levels (below, on, above) and a vocabulary reader for  each lesson (week).  The lesson plans that go to each book are provided for us (woo hoo!!) so those are included in each folder as well.

Each 2nd grade lesson had 10 High Frequency Word cards

The cards were numbered, so it was easy to check and see if I was grabbing the correct ones for the lesson.

There were 4 retelling cards for each lesson.

There were 8 vocabulary cards for each lesson.  My only gripe with these are that they are NOT  labeled as to which lesson they go with so they will be a bear to file if they ever get out of order.

Here is the finished product.

So much neater! 

I have a picture of what it all looked like before, but it is being held hostage by my camera at school.  To be posted...

Laters!

Mrs. B

Dessert!

This dessert is wicked easy!  (I'm sensing a theme...?)  I made it for a gathering that was supposed to be on Saturday (according to Handsome Husband) but ended up being on Friday (ugh!!).  This dessert was such a hit that even my father-in-law had seconds.  **I'm told that this is a V.E.R.Y. rare occurrence.

Here is what you need:
2 boxes sugar free/fat free Cheesecake flavored pudding by Jello (I made 2 boxes but only used 1 1/2)
1 container Cool Whip (your choice...I've used fat free, sugar free, regular...I like sugar free the best)
your choice of fresh fruit (I used strawberries and blueberries)

 Make the pudding according to the instructions on the packaging.  I only used 1 and 1/2 boxes so I made both boxes and then scooped some out.  (I eyeballed it.)  Let it set in the fridge.

Once it has set (I waited overnight only because I thought we were going on Saturday...long story) take your pudding and mix one container of Cool Whip (of your choice) in completely.  (It will make the pudding into a sort of mousse.)

Leave the berries separate unless you want it to be more of a trifle.  When I served it I served them separate.  I scooped some of the pudding into a bowl and then put the berries on top of it with a little bit of the leftover Cool Whip (the second container).

This dessert is very light and easy to make and makes for a great summer dish!

Laters!

Mrs. B