I'm alive!

Okay, y'all, this is basically just a super fast blow in to let you know that I'm alive and I'm not quitting. 

December was OUT. OF. CONTROL. I was having some morale issues and just overall was having sort of a funky attitude about teaching. That happens to everyone, right??  

And since we don't go home for Thanksgiving we always see both our families at Christmas time so we've been criss-crossing the Midwest since Christmas Eve. It's tiring, but it's also really fun. Especially since both of our siblings still have kids young enough to believe in Santa. Two of the sweetest little loves.  We'll be back in the heart of it all until Sunday. I'm excited to see friends, family, and go to a wedding--all before Sunday! And somewhere in there I'm going to have to actually plan the lessons that I'm going to teach next week. 

I promise I'll be back again in the next few days to share some back to school, post winter break ideas. I hope y'all had a great Christmas and that you have a safe and happy new year.

Xoxo

Christmas Par-tay!

Hi, friends!

Y'all, the first blogger I EVER followed ever is having a super cute Christmas party and I'm super excited to join up.
                             

Hot chocolate or egg nog?
I'm with Michelle on this one--definitely hot chocolate!  I especially love to make it with milk, and put marshmallows and whipped cream on top.  LOTS of whipped cream!  Yummm! (And if we're being totally honest, sometimes I tip a little Bailey's into the hot chocolate.  Double yum!)

Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree?
I have to be totally honest with y'all here--I actually had NO idea that sometimes Santa didn't wrap presents until THIS YEAR when people were talking about it in their blogs.  Santa always wrapped our presents growing up, and we always wrap our presents now.  Although, to be fair, the only kids I'm giving presents to are nieces and nephews so that's not necessarily a "Santa" present.  

Colored lights or white?
Honestly, I have really mixed feels about this one.  Growing up, we always had colored lights, and my dad always scoffed at white lights.  When I first graduated from college, my roomie and I always decorated with white lights (much to my dad's dismay).  Now, the hubs and I decorate with colored lights at home, and I take the clear lights to school with me.

When do you decorate?
Growing up, we always decorated early mid-December...probably about 2 weeks before Christmas, and would leave our tree up until New Years.  Now that I live out of town and travel home for the holidays, the hubs and I always get our tree the day after Thanksgiving and decorate it right away so that it's worthwhile, since we have to undecorate before we head home.

Real or fake tree?
REAL.  100% real, baby!  When we were kids, we used to go out to a Christmas tree farm and it was a day long production.  We went with several family friends and would spend a few hours looking for our tree, chopping it down, and tying it to the car.  We would pay touch football, and then head back home and stop at my grandma's house for chili on the way home.  Growing up there was only one year that we didn't cut down our own tree:  it was the year I had chicken pox.  Now, the hubs and I buy a tree from a local gardening store, but if we had a more appropriate vehicle for tree chopping I would totally head to West VA or Maryland to chop a tree every year.  It makes the house...well, apartment, really...smell so delicious!  =)

What tops your tree?
Honestly, nothing this year.  :(  We don't have a tree topper, yet.

Favorite Christmas memories or traditions?
When I was young, my dad used to take me to see The Nutcracker every year.  We used to do a lot of holiday things as a family; I mean, we still do.  But hands down that was always my favorite.  I loved being able to dress up and go out just me and my dad to see the ballet.  Two years ago, when we were engaged, the hubs took me to see The Nutcracker at Christmastime.  *Swoon* That is a man after my heart.

Do you remember your favorite gift as a child?
I really don't.  I remember when I got a fishing pole and taking it outside right that night in the freezing cold to practice casting, but I wouldn't necessarily name that as my favorite childhood gift.

Do you prefer giving or receiving?
I love the hunt of the perfect Christmas gift for everyone on the list, and I love wrapping it up for them, and then seeing how excited (hopefully!) they are when they get it, and I like to RACK.

What's your favorite Christmas song?
This is a tricky one for me; there really are so many Christmas songs that I just love, love, love!  Which is why I also love to listen to Christmas music from Thanksgiving until a day or 2 after Christmas.  I think if I had to pick it would be a dead heat between God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen and O Come, O Come Emmanuel.  But I also really love What Child is This?  And O, Holy Night.  Ugh.  See the problem here?!

Candy canes--yuck or yum?
Big time YUM-O!  However, I'm a candy cane traditionalist and I only like the peppermint ones.

Favorite Christmas movie?
I think a Charlie Brown Christmas.  Although more recently, I do love both Elf and Love Actually.  And in the interest I've never seen all of It's a Wonderful Life.

Do you shop online or at stores?
I used to exclusively shop in stores for Christmas gifts.  (See previously mentioned thrill of the hunt.)  However, now that I live in DC and there's not really an actual mall in the District I do much more shopping online.  It does make my life so much easier.

Photo cards, letter, or store bought cards?
I generally send a combination of store bought cards with a personal note on the inside.  Personally, I feel like photo cards aren't acceptable until you have children.

Thanks for sticking with me for so long!  You can party down, too by clicking here.
xo

I'm nothing, if not a woman of my word.

Even though the Cyber Monday sale was literally a week ago, I just now finished my unit 3 word work activities.  As promised, they are 20% off in my TpT store today and tomorrow.  You can grab them by clicking right here!  I'll also give it away to the first 2 people to leave a comment with their email address.

Happy (faux) snow day!
xo

My Truth Monday

Okay, y'all.  Today I'm doing some weeknight blogging to link up with Denise at Sunny Days for a HILARIOUS party.


The topic for My Truth Monday this week?  Lyrics that you thought you knew, but you didn't!

I was born in the 80s, and grew up in the 90s, but the first songs I knew were the classic rock that my parents always listened to...Moody Blues, Led Zeppelin.  You get the idea.  The Steve Miller Band has a song called "Big Old Jet Airliner".

I mean, really, I can't even explain that.  Big Old Chad a light on?!  What does that even mean?!  I challenge you to listen to that song though and NOT hear Big Old Chad had a light on.  Even now, I can still hear it.  

And, of course, this Jimmy Buffet classic.  

I mean, really, I knew the song was called Fins.  I don't know why I thought they said Dance to the left, Dance to the right.  BUT if we're being 100% honest I actually didn't even realize the true lyrics until about 2 years ago.  It was the year my husband and I were engaged and we were driving home for Christmas, listening to Jimmy Buffet's greatest hits and Fins came on and I was singing and dancing (as I usually do) to that song and as soon as I wailed "you gotta dance to the left, dance to the right" the hubs was like "uh, say what?!  It's FINS to the left, FINS to the right".  That's a real thing that happened in my life.  (Awkward face)

Alright, y'all.  I hope my idiocy has lightened your Monday a bit.  Have a great week!

xoxo

I have the best intentions.

Happy Sunday, friends!

Really, I have great plans every week to NOT just blog on Sunday nights, but then it seems that things constantly pop up during the week and then suddenly it's Sunday night again and I haven't blogged since the last Sunday.  :(  Whomp, whomp, whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

Did you get lots of great stuff during the Cyber Monday sale last week?  I cleaned out my wishlist (mostly) and then made 1 impulse purchase.  (Darn you, Cara Carroll and your cute fonts!)  I'm really jazzed to start using this next week with my little nuggets who are struggling with their number sense.  This packet is chock full of superb activities designed to help littles identify number words, numbers, and the quantity that corresponds to a number.

I actually think that this RTI pack will tie in really nicely with this assessment that I created last week.  

I know that my assessment goes to 30, but as it's a baseline assessment (and I actually teach first, not kinder) I think that it will still match up and give you an accurate idea of what your firsties need to focus on.  Or, if you teach K you can just stop your assessments at 20, instead of going all the way to 30.  In fact, since it's the holidays and I've never given anything away before ever I'll give away this assessment to the first 4 people to comment on this post.  That's the way this works, right??  =)  Just comment and leave your email address and I'll send the assessment your way.   

I'm off to lay in bed and watch football.  I somehow pulled a muscle in my back.  Which is ironic since I haven't been to the gym or gone running in over a week.  Have a great start to your week, everyone!  (And if you're on the East Coast stay warm and safe!)

xoxo

Sweet Mother of Pearl!

Friends--IT IS TIME FOR THE DECEMBER CURRENTLY.  How is that even possible?!  Can there really be only 25 days until Christmas?!  YIKES!

Well, since I love a good party, and have ridiculous FOMO I'm here to share my December Currently.

I think that generally everything on my Currently this month is pretty self-explanatory, but it was hard for me to pick my favorite tradition.  I really love the way that we celebrate Christmas with our family in the day time, and then all of our family friends or friends who don't necessarily have family in the area come over in the evening.  We usually end up with close to 30 people at my parents' house on Christmas day.  It's so fun.  But really, I think that my favorite tradition is the wreath laying at Arlington National Cemetery.  The hubs and I have been doing it every year, since we started dating, so I think that I probably also like it for that reason.  It's one of the first Saturdays in December and tons of volunteers come out to Arlington and lay a wreath on every single grave at Arlington.  People travel huge distances for the event; there are active military members, foreign military members, veterans, ROTC, motorcycle groups, regular civilian schmoes, like me and Mr. Spouse...it's so inspiring to see so many people bundle up to honor our veterans who gave their lives for this country.  I'm so excited to read other people's favorite holiday traditions!  I'm such a nerd. 

Happy holidays, sweet friends!

xoxo

Cyber Monday is TOMORROW!

Hello, friends!

I hope that everyone had a safe, delicious, and relaxing Thanksgiving.  I know that I definitely did.

Here in DC, we only get Thursday and Friday off for Thanksgiving, so the hubs and I stay out here for Thanksgiving and celebrate with other orphans.  But this year, we celebrated Thanksgiving with my aunt, uncle, cousin, her husband, their adorable twinnies, and a friend.  It was a great time, and I always think it's nice to build new traditions.  Not to get too sappy, but holidays are a time to spend with your family--actual, or adopted.

Every year, the day after Thanksgiving the hubs and I go out to get our Christmas tree, since we have to take it down before we travel home for Christmas.  We go to this gardening center that's in our neighborhood-ish and found a great tree.  We got a Fir tree this year; I've never had one before, but I really like it so far.  We finally finished decorating the tree yesterday, so now I just have to start finding time to write Christmas cards.  With all that extra free time I have, right?  Ha.  I do really enjoy holiday cards, though.  Sending and receiving.

The main purpose of my post today, friends, is to tell you that tomorrow is Cyber Monday!  TpT is throwing a huge site-wide sale and tons of sellers are participating!  I definitely am, and it's likely that many of your other favorite sellers are, too.  I'm putting my entire store 20% off and if you use the code CYBER at checkout TpT will give you an additional 8% off.  I'm hoping to have my Fundations unit 3 activities up by the time I go to bed tonight, but I'm also trying to work in some more family time so we'll see what wins (it might be family time).  The Cyber Monday sale is a great time to clear out your wishlist!  I know that I'm planning several purchases.  =)

Enjoy your Sunday, sweet friends!
xoxo

I got a little work done. ;)

Hi, friends!  I know I've been off the radar for about a week, but I was getting some work done.  ;)  Not personally obviously, but my cute little blog.  Well, I like to think it's a cute little blog.  Maybe you disagree?  I hope not.  =)

Y'all, I'm having major holiday brain.  I had a great post planned out, and I sure can't remember what it was about.  (Reason #703,208 I should write EVERYTHING down)  So instead, I'm just going to tell you all 2 things.  One:  I did some Shared Reading this week with my literacy coach and it's been so adorable to watch my kids get into it next week.  I don't know how many of you do Shared Reading, but basically it works the way it sounds--you choose a brief passage (I generally stick with a poem) and then you teach kids how to read it.  We've been doing really cute things this week, like asking kids to read a selected word, pointing out trick words, using a flashlight to "highlight" certain words, and reading to the rhythm of the poem.  The kids have been having a good time, and they've even been into reading the poem at other times of the day, like when they're fast finishers.  It's endearing to see them so jazzed about reading.

And number two.  (Tee hee.  Permission to chuckle.)  I'd like to give some mad thanks to other bloggers tomorrow, because fellow bloggers are basically planning my partay/saving my hinney tomorrow.  We're making the "pumpkin pie" that Corinna blogs about here while making these ADORABLE turkeys.

Alright, friends--one more day.  One more day!  We can make it!  I hope everyone has a safe, happy, and relaxing Thanksgiving.  =)
xoxo

What? Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK?!

Holy moly.  I can't believe this is the last week of school before Thanksgiving.  That means November is basically over, y'all.  I can't even handle it.  I've been cooking up this post for a while, and I finally feel semi-organized before 9:00pm on a Sunday so I'm here to share some ideas with you today.

First, before I forget I wanted to let you know that I just made some table points trackers, if that's a thing you're into.  You can snag them for a measly $1.50 right here.  My littles this year are having a hard time seeing the big picture.  They keep getting caught up on fussing at each other, and if we're being completely honest it's driving me NUTS!  I'm a teacher, not a referee, yo!  So I'm hoping that this will be helpful to us.  I'll make sure to let you know how it all shakes out.

I also wanted to get in on the work station posts that everyone does.  When I started this blogging experiment I talked a lot about how I teach math in my classroom, but I wanted to take a break from that and talk about how guided reading and work stations looks in my classroom.  First, they look REALLY different from last year for several reasons.  1.) My kids last year had a crazy high stamina and were great at working together, so I frequently did 3-4 guided reading groups in one day.  And 2) my distract revamped their expectations for guided reading and literacy work stations (LWS), so I'm trying to fall in line like to good little worker bee that I envision myself to be.  =)  Basically, the way that we're doing work stations this year is that we have 5 different work stations--fluency, word work, independent reading, writing, and inquiry and investigation (otherwise known as the work station that keeps me up at night).  The activities in each work station are up to you, but you should have all 5 of them up and running and kids should cycle through them each week.  The big change that's been giving me the 1-2 punch this year is that we're only supposed to pull 2 groups each day.  That's right.  Just 2.  I've also been having a hard time balancing that because I also have a Fundations Double Dose group right now that's supposed to meet 3 times a week (M, W, F).

I will say one thing that has really helped keep us on track this year is a visual work station rotation board.  I always kind of scoffed at them and had never used one before, but I have to say that I really am on board for it now.  So helpful.  It's also really helped me shift responsibility to my little nuggets.  Plus, it's great for kids who transition back into the classroom during work stations.  They just get their folder, check the board, and then go to meet their group.  The other tool that I'm in LOVE with is our Scholastic guided reading library.  DC bought it for all their elementary schools last year and it is amaze-balls.  It has reading behaviors to teach at each level, and it has a matrix that lists each book, the level of the book, and what the book is designed to teach for word work and comprehension.  It makes planning for guided reading a snap.

How many groups do you pull in a day?  What resources do you use to plan?
Happy Football-watching!  (Who-dey!)
xoxo
Rachel

The Best Laid Plans

Friends.  I'm shaking my head at myself.  On Monday, when I was home getting myself organized I really thought to myself "Heck yes!  I am going to blog EVERY day this week as part of this Bloghoppin' linky party".  Spoiler alert:  I failed.  :(  But, I ended up being surprisingly busy outside of school this week and I didn't realize that was happening ahead of time.  Like, Wednesday one of my super besties was last minute in town for just one night and I couldn't really say "No, I can't meet you for drinks tonight because I have to blog".  I mean, I guess I could have done that, but I just never see that Libb and I really wanted to hang out with her.  So I'm sorry that I was a minor fail, but I'm going to link back up today, get back on the wagon, and share some new(ish) ideas.

This is 100% a recycled ideas, but it's one of the best ideas I've ever heard of.  Give your children numbers.  I'm going to say it again because it's so awesome:  give your children numbers.

I like this idea for several reasons.  1) Everyone only has one number, so if even kids have the same name when you call numbers it eliminates confusion.  2)  My particular school has a lot of transience, so it makes it easy to re-use materials if one kids leaves and another comes in.  It's hard to reuse a folder or notebook labeled "David", but if your pencils and folders say "18" then it's easier to recycle that for students.  3)  It gives students a space in line and eliminates all those busting/cutting arguments.  (I suppose this isn't necessarily inherent in assigning numbers, but I always tell my students to line up in "line order", which means that they line up numerically.)  I really cannot emphasize enough how positively I feel about giving children numbers in a classroom.

This is my other "new idea" that probably also qualifies as a helpful hint.  I started this last year, and to be perfectly honest with you, it was more successful last year than this year, but I think that's because my loves this year are much more DEpendent and much needier than my group from last year.  In any case, I'm going to stick with this idea because I know it will ultimately pay off for me.  And here it is:  The Question Box.  Say, whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?  The Question Box is a large square that I tape off on the floor near my table using blue painter's tape and I label it "Question Box", and make sure to draw question marks on it.  The way the Question Box works is that if you have a question during any type of work station time and you ask your group members and they don't know you come to the question box.  The rules of the question box are that there can only be one kid in the box at a time, and that you  have to wait quietly in the box until I can pause my teaching to help you.  It works really well once you teach it...or at least it has for me.  It's really nice because it gives kids a way to get your attention quietly without distracting themselves and other kids.  Another really nice fringe benefit of the Question Box is that you can leave kids in there indefinitely.  What I mean by that is that if you have kids who come to the box all the time for silly or unnecessary reasons (or non-question reasons) you can make them stand in the box longer, and sometimes they will get bored and leave.  Last year I had one sweetheart who came to the Question Box every. single. day.  So I started making her wait longer than I would make other kids wait, which was also really helpful for me because I knew that if she waited it out that she really did need me.  It was a nice silent signal.  Honestly, it takes about 30 seconds to tape down a Question Box and it saves so much time.  I don't have a picture of my Question Box because I'm a terrible blogger and I always forget about pictures.

That's about it for me, friends.  Tomorrow is Smithsonian Teachers' Night (yessssssssssssssssssssss), so I hope to be back tomorrow with some more treats, but I can make no promises.
Happy Friday!
xoxo
Rachel

Time Savers

Hello, friends!

Before we go any further, let's take a moment to remember why we're all at home blogging today:  Veterans' Day.  If you know someone who's an active in the military or retired, or a family who has someone serving thank them.  I don't want to get too political here, but we have a lot of great freedoms in this country that not everyone in the world has and our military defends those rights and protects us.

And now I'm excited to participate in Blog Hoppin's linky for this week.  It's a cute little play on Thankful.
                                                      
See, I told you.  Cute, right?  I'm going to give you my top three time savers.

#1
Classroom timers!
Whether you use an egg timer, the timer on your cellphone, or some other secret timer option I feel like timers save my behind multiple times a day.  Timers help me make sure I'm not keeping my little nuggets on the carpet too long (yes, I set them for myself when I call my kids to the carpet), and they make sure I'm not spending too much time on an activity.  One of the first things I teach my kids on the first day of school is what they should do when they hear a time in our classroom.  (And in case you're curious, it's put down whatever might be in your hands, zip your lips, touch your shoulders, and look at your teacher.  It sounds like a lot, but we practice.  It takes about 5 seconds now.)  I even set timers for Brain Breaks and transitions, starting Morning Meeting, and when we go out to recess.  I have been known to get so into Fundations that I forget about recess.

#2
Keep your eyes on the prize!
This sounds weird, right?!  But stick with me here.  This is something we've done in my grade level band that has REALLY helped us in meetings.  As teachers, it's easy for us to become distracted by details, minutiae, and what ifs.  We start talking about these things during a meeting, and then suddenly our meeting is over, and we haven't resolved the issue that brought us to the table.  (Please tell me that's not just our school?!)  We've used 2 solutions that have been helpful for us making meetings the most useful they can be.  First, we've been very strict about using a Parking Lot for questions that aren't 100% connected to what we're discussing at the moment.  Even if there isn't a physical parking lot we'll write the question down, or email the person who has the answer to said question or could help us find the answer.  It's really helped us stay on track and be more focused in meetings.  Another thing we've done, and I'm going to be honest--I really wasn't on board with this at first because it felt so artificial to me, but we use protocols to discuss student work.  It helps save time because there are specific steps with times attached.  So rather than just discussing student's work, you get 5 minutes to talk about the assignment and what the student produced, other teachers have 5 minutes to ask you questions about the work, you work together to pull out this student's "glows", or things they did well, and then you take 5 minutes to discuss what this kid needs to move forward.
#3
Make your students do as much as they can.
Say, what?!  Before you think that sounds completely obvious, stick with me.  Here's what I mean:  rather than always collect the papers and pass them out yourself, make that children's jobs.  Instead of cleaning up the scraps of paper after you were cutting and gluing make a kid do it.  Now I hear what you're saying--it takes them so long, it's actually wasting time, I'm too uptight for that.  (No, you're not saying that?!  It was just me??)  I was with you.  I thought there was no way I could release that much responsibility to my kids.  Now, when we clean up, my kids get 1 minute (2 if we really made a mess), and the kids who have jobs perform them and the kids who don't have jobs take a brain break.  When the timer goes off we're ready to move on and everyone has had the opportunity to move around.  It's a win-win-win.

Don't forget to thank a veteran or active military member today.  =)
xoxo
Rachel

What a crazy year it's been

Hi, friends

This time last year, this is what I was doing.

It's so crazy to think that it's been an entire year since our wedding.  It was so much fun!  So today, Mr. Spouse and I are just unplugging, reminiscing, and enjoying our first anniversary.  Allegedly, the hubs has some plans up his sleeves, but he refuses to discuss them.  

I'll be back later this week to talk about our literacy work stations and guided reading.  And maybe even some math, if I start this week as organized as I'm planning.  =)  

Happy Sunday, y'all!

xoxo

Rachel

My Truth Monday (on a Tuesday)

I super love Denise's topic for My Truth Monday this week.  (Which is why I hope she'll let me link up even though I'm one day late!)  It's all about becoming a teacher.  I tried to condense the story--which I'm sure you'll laugh at when you see how much I wrote--but I'm a talker.  What can I say?!
                                     
I also have to have a super, mega, nerd out moment.  When I linked up with Susan, over here, at her brilliant little blog she not only decided to COMMENT on my blog, but she started following my sad little blog.  Y'all.  I felt like a celebrity had called me on the phone!  I geeked out so hard in my classroom this afternoon.  NERD ALERT!

Okay, friends.  Enough Rambling.  Here's My Truth for this week.

Two Posts in Two Hours?!

It's because I'm a sucker for a good linky party.  And, of course, my paralyzing FOMO.  An old roommate gave me FOMO and since then it has really negatively interfered with a lot of my productivity.

In any case, Susan over at Thank God it's First Grade just moved from Las Vegas to Mass, and is hosting a super interesting linky.
                                          
And, since I have a paralyzing fear of missing out on fun, I of course need to participate.  Despite that the fact that I have already blogged once today and despite the fact that I have a grand total of zero lessons planned for tomorrow.  Actually, that's not true.  I have one lesson planned for tomorrow.  I planned my whole week of Fundations before brunch this morning.  Without any more babbling here's my schedule:

And here are some preemptive answers.  My grade level partner and I set this schedule together, and our admin team approved it, so we have roughly the same schedule, but we set our blocks.  Some times (GLM, specials, lunch, etc) are set by admin, but outside of those times we set our daily schedule, which is a nice piece of autonomy.  We have duty 4 times a week--3 lunch and 1 breakfast.  I didn't mark this on my schedule, which I also didn't realize until now, but when I go to GLM my students go to 2 consecutive specials.  If there's no GLM one week then I have all of that as personal planning time (which is really nice, but doesn't happen terribly often).  Earlier this summer I blogged about Responsive Classroom and the RC structures that our school uses.  Morning Meeting is one of them, so MM has a very distinct structure and the kids really get into the structure/routine of it--greeting, share, activity, morning message.  I've also added in calendar math this year, which isn't really part of RC, but has been helpful for me and building in some additional math time for my littles.  

If you have any other questions about my daily schedule I'd be happy to answer them.

Happy Sunday, y'all!  (And go Colts!)

xoxo

Rachel

How is it time for another Currently again?!

Hello, friends!  I can't believe it, but somehow both my calendar and my Bloglovin' feed are telling me that it's time for another Currently, so here we go.

Listening:  my in-laws were in town visiting this weekend (hence the NASCAR), so I've been trying to balance being a good hostess and preparing for school.

Loving:  ah, fall!  Yesterday, for my MIL's birthday we went out to some VA wineries and it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!  Crisp sunny day, fire pits out to stay warm, gorgeous fall colors, and excellent company.

Thinking: even though yesterday was a great day I really neglected school this week/weekend.  I've been meaning to put a new Fundations product on TpT for almost a month.  :/

Wanting:  seriously.  Who does NOT always want a 3 day weekend?!  I mean, sometimes it feels more necessary than other times, but I feel like teaching is definitely one of those professions where you hardly ever feel caught up.  Or maybe that's just me?!?  (Please say it's not!)

Needing:  as I've been feeling a time crunch lately I've also been thinking a lot about this gem from my childhood.  God, Saved by the Bell--you were such a great show.  But really, I think the only better than this clip is that when I went to search YouTube for it as I was typing in "saved by the bell", You Tube auto supplied "saved by the bell i'm so excited".  What's even better is that the clip is titled "Jessie Spano Caffeine Pill Freakout".  Everything about this is completely awesome.  

A Yummy Pin: Y'all.  THIS pin is so flippin' delicious you won't be able to stand yourself.  It's so delicious you'll want to lick the pan.  And it will probably leave you leftovers as well.  Or maybe I just always end up with a mound of leftovers because it's just me and the hubs?  Either way.  Make it.  Love it.  

Happy Sunday, y'all.

xoxo

Rachel  

More Truth!

Y'all.  I'm so into this series with Sunny Days in Second Grade.  I promise I'm going to be back with some content sometime soon.  I'd like to commit to this week, but my in-laws are coming in on Thursday, so that may or may not be realistic.

Alright, friends--here it is.  My creepy truth.  I dare you to look me in the eyes and tell me that snakes aren't terrifying.  

Hope you have a great week, and that you get more treats than tricks on Thursday.  =)

xoxo

Rachel

I LOVE this new series!

Hey, y'all

Denise over here at Sunny Days in Second Grade has a GREAT new idea for a blog series that's less about instruction and more about life outside of school.  She's going to focus on one truth each week--and even though my current truth is that it's 8:06 on Monday night and I have zero lessons planned for school tomorrow--I'm totally getting in on the first My Truth Monday.

                                          
Plus, what a cute little banner?!  Okay, the first Monday focus is fitness.  Yikes.  Fitness.  Way to get in there and get aggressive with the very first week.  I'm trying to share honestly here with this, as I do across the board, but I'm feeling nervous.  Fitness brings up a lot of icky feelings.  Here's my official stance:

  I mean, I'm really trying to stay committed to my goal of losing 20 pounds before I turn 30.  Honestly, I'm just trying to lose the right amount of weight that will make me feel healthy.  Because I figure you're only as healthy as your feel.  Yes?  Okay, friends, and without any further ado I'm going to head on and get those lesson plans working for tomorrow.  Whoop, whoop!

xoxo
Rachel

Spur of the Moment Sale!

In case you haven't seen yet, TpT hit 100,000 followers on Facebook and to celebrate they're throwing a sale!  I'm joining in the fun!  Everything in my store is on sale until Monday evening--15% off.  If you use the code FB100K TpT will give you an additional 10% off.  That means almost everything in my store is under $2!

Happy shopping!
xoxo
Rachel

Five for Friday ON FRIDAY!!!!!!

Friends!  I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday ON FRIDAY!  I'm so proud of myself.
                                                   
Without any further babbling, I bring you our Five for Friday.  **Important Disclaimer:  the camera on my phone is broken, and I can't find my actual camera, so there are no pictures in my 5 for Friday this week.  :(  Major bummer.

This week, we had our first round of parent/teacher conferences--APTT, which stands for Academic Parent Teacher Teams.  It's this really cool, data driven type of conference.  It went well; we had about 20 parents show up the first night, and have been able to catch up with more of them since. 

I am SO JAZZED that we have a long weekend coming up.  These past few weeks have been a little crazy. I'm also super jazzed to see the Zac Brown Band in concert on Sunday.  I don't generally love county, but I do love that Zac Brown Band.  

Even though I live in DC quite close to the Mall, I haven't been down in that area since the shutdown began.  Earlier tonight, the hubs and I were driving to VA and we drove down past the Mall, Independence Ave SE/SW, and the Tidal Basin area and it was totally surreal to see NOT A SOUL anywhere.  Even in the torrential rain there's always a few tourists running around who won't be stopped.  It was completely bizarre to see no one.  

Today, I went to a labsite at another school and it was POURING rain here.  I mean, I thought I was going to have to build an ark.  So, before our meeting started we ran out to get lunch.  I didn't really plan for the weather and my bag didn't close; I did have my rain coat but everything in my bag was getting soaked.  We only had to walk like 2 blocks back to the school and in that short time our paper bags got so wet they started ripping.  I mean, it was really nuts.  It was also equally pouring when the labsite ended, and we had to walk back to the car.  Then, I was dropped off a few blocks from my house to walk home and I was wondering where I happened to put my umbrella.  I opened my bag and it was Right. In. Side.  The whole DANG time!  Ugh.  Total palm to forehead moment.  

I'm so excited about some forthcoming blog makeovers!  My brother's best friend is doing some graphic design for me, and I've only see the preview of the button, but I'm feeling pretty excited about what's coming my way.  

Alright, y'all.  I have a lesson plan due tonight (that isn't finished), and a speech (that isn't written) to give tomorrow at my sorority's Founders' Day lunch so I need to get down to business.  Have a great weekend!

xoxo

Rachel

APTT & The *@!%$ Shutdown

Hey, y'all!  I hope you're as jazzed as I am that fall has finally come.  Here in DC today was the first cool, rainy fall day.  It really made me want to drink tea and spend the day curled on the couch ready.  That's pretty mutually exclusive with actual teaching, though.  =)

I wanted to share a few ideas with you, and promise you that I'm still chugging way on items for my TpT store.  The first thing I wanted to tell you about is APTT.  Say whaaat?!  APTT stands for Academic Parent Teacher Teams, and it's a really data driven version of parent teacher conferences.  (You can read an interview with the creator of this model here.  It's less lame than I just made it sound.)  It was created to be more meaningful in schools with high populations of low(er) income families to share data in a meaningful way, despite the education level of the parents involved.  If we're being 100% honest the first year I did APTT I HATED it.  (In retrospect, I think that's because I was putting a TON of time into the conferences, but not getting the return back.)  However, I'm now in my third year of using this conference model, and I absolutely L-O-V-E it.  Now, I want to be honest with you, it's the same amount of work as it was the first year, but now I'm working with other teachers to put on the meeting, so it's divided among a team, AND the turn out is so much better.  Let me tell you a few reasons I love APTT.  First, it only focuses on academic data.  (I know what you're thinking, but honestly, I find conferences to be so much more positive when we don't discuss behavior.) The basic gist of APTT is that as a teacher, you select one long term goal for the year in reading and one in math and then basically you measure each student's progress toward that goal every 60 days throughout the year.  The other thing that I really like about APTT is that these are group conferences and we share all the kids' data, with all the parents, but we share the data anonymously.  It's really powerful, because it give parents a clear idea of a) exactly where their kids are, b) where all the other kids in the class/grade are performing, and c) what the current expectation is, and if their child is above or below it.  One last thing--APTT was originally created to share data with parents in lower income schools/districts, but I don't think that's the only environment in which this model would be successful.  That's basically the quick and dirty version of APTT.  If you have any questions I'm happy to answer them.

In other news I have to take about 45 seconds of your time to rage about this stupid federal shutdown.  It's so crazy; I mean, really I can't even talk about it.  I mean, it's so ridiculous that yesterday our principal had to send an email out that we can't order any more supplies/materials until the shutdown ends/budget is passed, so we all have ONE PACK of copy paper until whenever it is that the shutdown ends. Whether that's 2 days or 2 weeks.  Also, after next Friday schools will (likely) have to shut down because DC's rainy day fund will be dry and there won't be money to run the physical buildings.  The whole thing is such a mess.  Not to mention that federal employees (like the hubs) aren't getting paid at all right now.  Okay.  I have to move on.

Last, I'm hoping to glean some knowledge from y'all.  So I have a group of about 7 boys this year who are really struggling to get on the classroom community train.  They're just garnering a lot of negative attention, and slowing down the learning of the entire class.  Two of them are currently on a behavior plan that, honestly, seems at times to be extremely helpful and at times a huge time suck.  I think I'm going to launch table points on Tuesday, but does anyone else have (relatively easy) any ideas to help them settle/simmer and successfully participate in the class?

That's it.  Thanks so much for sticking with me!

My FIRST EVER Currently!

Hello, sweet friends!  I'm feeling really tech savvy because I FINALLY figured out (with the assistance of some googles) how to link up for this month's Currently.  I'm a bit late, but it's a month long thing so hopefully I'm not so late that I get kicked out.  (Crossing my fingers here.)

Listening:  The hubs spent his formative years in Indianapolis, and while he loves the Colts he really LOOOOOVES Peyton Manning.  Honestly, I joke sometimes that if he had to choose between me and Petyon he might choose Peyton.  ;)  So we're watching the Broncos/Cowboys game right now, and every once in a while there's some shouting/advice giving/cheering/coaching coming from the couch.

Loving:  I'm going home for a family friend's wedding in 2 weeks and I could not BE any more excited. (If you just read that in a Chandler Bing voice you're after my own heart.)  I haven't been home since Christmas and I'm so excited to see my family, my friends from high school, and my sweet little baby niece--who's actually not really a baby anymore I guess since she turned 3 last month.

Thinking:  October is about to get aggressive!  This week is our first grade APTT meeting on Tuesday, our first data meetings are this week, and I'm going to a labsite on Friday!  And that's just this week.  Yikes!

Wanting:  An IV drip of coffee is really what I feel I need to get everything done before school tomorrow.  Or the moral fortitude to get over my FOMO and stop going to the bar on Sunday afternoons to watch football games.  I just looooooove football, but I don't care about the Redskins.  At all.

Needing:  Do I really need to say more about this one?  The goal is to drop 20 pounds before the big 3-0.  But it's not going to happen on its own.  Actually going to the gym is going to be a crucial part of achieving this goal.

And y'all, here's my treat:  put. this. in. your. mouth.  It is an extremely delicious smoothie that has a banana, peanut butter, and Greek yogurt in it and keeps me full all the way from 6:30 (when I usually eat breakfast) to 11:30ish (when I'm shoving lunch into my face while making photocopies, stapling, charting, etc.).  And don't freak out about the spinach.  It doesn't taste yucky.  It just turns your smoothie a pretty shade of green.  =)  Promise.

Okay, friends.  Thanks for reading my dissertation..I mean, Currently.  I'll be back sometime this week with more news from room 125.
xoxo,
Rachel

Just Another Manic Monday?

Hi, friends

This is a super short it's past my bedtime, but I really want to share post.

First, I'm SO jazzed!  We finally were able to squeeze in yoga today for the first time this school year!  Two  years ago I wrote a Donors Choose project to get 25 yoga mats to teach my class yoga to help them self-regulate.  Plus, it's a really great way to expose them to an organized activity that isn't aggressive like football.  (Or deathball, as I sometimes like to call the recess version of football.)

And second, I wanted to share this brand spankin' new product with you.  I'm really having a hard time building my nuggets' number sense this year, so I felt like I needed to take a step back and teach them how to extend the counting sequence using tools.  I taught this lesson today and got really concrete, usable data back.  I'm feeling really happy about it.  Also, if you checked out my store yesterday you'll notice that I knocked 50 cents off the price so now this lesson is only $1.50.  I think that's pretty reasonable.

Have a great night!
xoxo,
Rachel

Five for Friday. On A Saturday. Sigh.

Wow.  I'm with my friend Carolyn on this week--there is no possible way this week had just 5 days in it.  Something must have happened to the space/time continuum.  There were definitely extra days added to this week somehow.  But, the upside is that now it's the weekend and I'm sitting on our balcony enjoying some coffee and this beautiful fall weather to share 5 random things about my week with you.  

And I'm so jazzed that Jen from Hello Literacy designed these super cute number buttons for everyone to use!  (You can get them on her blog, on on Doodlebugs.)  If you teach reading and don't follow Jen's blog stop reading right now and add it your Bloglovin' feed.  She has brilliant ideas about literacy and intervention.   No more blabbering.  Here's my 5 for Friday.  (On Saturday.  Of course.)

I'm feeling so thankful for my K-2 team this week.  I had a moment of extreme frustration during a meeting this week and the next day one of my team members came up to me at dismissal and said that there's all times that we feel like that and we're here to support each other and help make each other great.  It was so sweet of her.  She didn't have to say that to me; she could have just let that moment be.  But it really helped to refocus me and remind that I am part of a team, and you can only get out of a team what you're willing to put into it.  I also really need to sing the praises of my real life friend and grade level special ed teacher, Kristin, who helped me cling to my last few shreds of sanity this week.  I have 2 particular little loves this year who need SO. MUCH. SUPPORT and Kristin was there every day after school to help me make behavior plans for them, to listen to me vent, and to give me a 10 minute break from them when I needed it.  Really, y'all, I know this sounds like a cheesy kumbayah moment, but I honestly just feel like sometimes I need to pause and reflect.

I do not know HOW this happened, but somehow the heat in our school kicked on this week.  Uh, it's SEPTEMBER still.  How is that even possible?!  I mean, if I taught in a state that touched Canada I might understand.  I would imagine that maybe at this time of year in Maine or one of the Dakotas or maybe even Minnesota I might wish the heat was on in my classroom.  But here in DC?!  NOT necessary.  On Thursday afternoon it was a pleasant 75 outside.  In my classroom?  A balmy 81.  It felt like the reptile house.  My poor little loves were melting.  At about 2:30 I decided to teach an impromptu origami lesson on how to make a fan.  

This week, I introduced my work station rotation board.  It helped us by 1,000%.  Now I just need to work out the best flow for our work stations and the location of each within our classroom.  I'm hoping to put up the work station rotation cards in my TpT store by the end of the weekend.  I went with seasonal group names--bats, skeletons, ghosts, broomsticks, pumpkins, and spiders.  I deliberately avoided monsters because I didn't want anyone to act like a monster.  ;)  

I'm so excited to take a field trip with the hubs down to Eastern Market today.  It's a fantastic outdoor farmers' market/art market/totally radical market in DC just a few miles from where we live.  I sold him on the idea by promising to be back in time for the Notre Dame game today.  =)  And by promising to buy Honeycrisp apples.  

My classroom printer and I are in a fight.  I'm 95% sure that the fight is over, and that I won, but you can never really be sure.  (Actually, you probably can be sure, but I don't have the technological prowess to be sure.)  To be on the safe side I will be printing most things that I need for Monday at home over the weekend.  I hate that moment of panic when I have to start going classroom to classroom to print what I need for the day.  

Enjoy your weekend, sweet friends!  

xoxo,

Rachel

Five for Friturday

Hello, sweet friends!  I'm linking up again with Doodlebugs for Five for Friday.  On Saturday.  Again.
                                                        

This week was a crazy week!  I got a new students on Wednesday, and it really turned our class upside down, so I'm taking some time this weekend to make 2 behavior plans.  But enough about that.  Without any more rambling here are my five randoms.
1.  Every day when I sign my morning message like this it feels so weird.

I got married last November, but didn't really push the name change last year.  My AP told me I needed to use my married name this year, so I keep trying to remember to tell people that my name is Mrs. Wilser, but every time I say that I feel like it's not real.  I feel like Mrs. Wilser is really my mother in law.  And my poor little nuggets are so confused about my name--some of them still call me by my maiden name (which totally doesn't bother me), some of them have fused  my maiden and married names together---Wilsener, and I have one poor little confused nugget who thinks I'm Ms. Willis.

2.  This week we launched our place value unit and we learned about number houses and how each digit has a place on Wednesday.  They really seemed to be on the same page with me and when I was walking around during math they seemed spot on.  Clearly, I didn't make it to this little nugget.  :(

3.  This week we also did our first science lesson!  I generally start science by talking about the scientific method and I do a few experiments with them that are super cool, but not necessarily connected to first grade science standards.  I do this chromatography experiment with them every year.  Basically, you just draw a big black dot on a coffee filter and get it wet so that the marker bleeds and you show them the different colors that are inside the black. It's always a crowd pleaser.  

4.  Today, I ran a 5K with my husband, a friend, and her boyfriend.  It was super fun, and I totally PR'd!  Average 10:33/mile.  Woot, woot!!  I was really proud of myself.  And I'm also feeling so thankful for the random stranger next to me who pushed me to my PR.  There was definitely a moment where I was ready to walk it out for a minute and this guy next to me said "Keep running.  You're pushing me, and we're going to finish this race together".  That is why I love running.  It was really awesome.

5.  On our way back from the 5K we stopped at the National Book Festival and I had to buy books for my classroom.  I don't know if you've ever read I Stole This Hat, but I literally laughed out loud in the book festival tent while I was reading it.  I love the Book Festival!  I'm also really jazzed to read the book How Do Dinosaurs Say I'm Mad?  It's a really great book about expressing your feelings, and what to do when you're angry.

Thanks for stopping by for my Five for Friday!  I have to hustle up now and get ready to watch the Michigan State/Notre Dame game.  I'll be back with some more from room 125 tomorrow or Monday.

xoxo

Rachel

Whaaaaaaa?! A Blog Update and It's NOT Friday?!

I have really great intentions every week of blogging more often, but somehow it always seems that all of the sudden it's Friday and I'm linking up with Doodlebugs for Five for Friday.  But today?  Today, friends, I'm coming at you on a WEDNESDAY!!

Previously, I blogged about how we use Responsive Classroom structures is in my school.  One important aspect of RC is that you take the first 6 weeks of school to establish routines and procedures, and then after your routines, expectations, and procedures are established you can generally move forward throughout the year focusing on instruction.  We're in week 4 of the first 6 weeks right now, so we're practicing our routines and structures daily, steadily incorporating more each week, and moving towards small group instruction and independence in 2 more weeks.  So far, we're kicking independent reading's tush, and  we're dominating Fundations.  This week, we launched partner reading, and I'm really surprised with how well it's going.  They l-o-v-e it!  So much!  We've really just been practicing sitting hip to hip, knee to knee, balancing our book, and taking turns as they read each page.  If I was better at remembering to photograph my nuggets I would insert a picture of partner reading here.  We've also launched writing workshop, using our new writing curriculum.

Another structure that I've started this year is calendar math.  It's something that I've never done before.  Right now, we've been adding the date on every day and tracking the days we've been in school, but that's it.  In October we'll start keeping a tally chart of the weather and using the tally chart to make a graph.  Is that all you do during calendar math, or do you do more?  (If we're being totally honest I feel like I always hear about calendar math, but that everyone does it a little bit differently.)  I'd love to hear about the way you do calendar math.

Have a great Thursday!  =)
Rachel

I'm on time!!!

Y'all!  I can't believe I'm not tardy for the party this week! I'm feeling so proud of myself for posting my 5 for Friday on FRIDAY!  Check one in the getting my act together box?  Without any further rambling, here are my 5 random postings from this past week.
                                               
1.  This past Monday was our first class birthday party.  And I had the frosting on the table to prove it.

I mean, did this little nugget even get any frosting into his mouth?!  

2.  I always forget how crazy back to school time is.  I feel so exhausted.  I only worked out one time this week.  And we went to a happy hour tonight and when we came home at 8:30 I was secretly wondering if there was a way I could call it a night right then and there.  

3.  Last year, in a moment of feistiness, I tossed all my seat pockets.  And forgot to request more.  So far I've been using these crates, but I don't love them yet.  

The kids have a hard time keeping them neat, and sometimes they crush their materials when they are trying to put them back into the crate.  I mean, it's been functional to this point, but I'm just not sold on it.  Any other ideas?

4.  Back to School night was this past Wednesday.  I think it went pretty well; I had half of my families show up, and I did a home visit.  A win-win.  I really think it was a great event, and I have an awesome bunch of babes this year who are so excited to learn.  

5.  We did this Fundations assessment today, and it went really well.  In a shameless self plug, this is part of my Fundations unit 1 work stations and it can be yours with several other activities for $5.  It was a great check in of our first week with Fundations.  I know that Level K rolls out letters a little more slowly than Level 1, but I think these activities would be helpful in Level K as well.  Take a peek!

Have a great weekend, everyone!  Enjoy all the football games!  =)