Category Archives: Blog

Let’s Get Acquainted Linky (April 7th)

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Latoya from Flying Into First’s Let’s Get Acquainted Linky is still going strong!

 

 

This week’s theme is:  Stranded!

“If you were stranded on a deserted island, what three things would you take?”

1. I would have to take hubby and dear daughter….I couldn’t be anywhere for a long period of time without them!  A weekend….probably….but longer than that I’m sick…..

2.  iDevices…..I can’t go anywhere without my iPad, but I would need my iPhone to tether so that I could have internet access.

3.  A BIIIIIIIIIGGGGGG umbrella connected to a nice comfortable chair, lol.  I don’t mind being active and out in the sun, but when it’s time to rest – I want to be comfortable!

 

What would be your three items?

Wanna link up?  Click on the linky pic and it will take you right over to Latonya’s site. Don’t forget to click on the link before and after yours and leave a nice comment!

 

Happy linking!

 

Spark Student Motivation Saturday

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Happy Sunday, folks! Today is my last day of Spring Break and I’m spending it on the road heading home from Maryland. Traffic……Uggghhhh.

But, I found a linky that I thought would be very helpful and it would help me pass the time as I ride along. Joanne over at Head Over Heels is hosting the Spark Student Motivation Saturday linky party. And yes, I know it’s Sunday, but better late than never, right?

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I use Class Dojo as my classroom management tool. The points that students earn from Class Dojo are switched into money (which I call Jefferson’s Bucks). At the end of the quarter I have my Jefferson’s Jam. Students that have earned enough money get to order subs or pizza, play games, and dance to music. This system costs me ZERO dollars. The kids bring in treats for the party and the money for the food!

If you’re interested, click on the link here to read more about Class Dojo and my last Jefferson’s Jam!

Until the next time!

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Reading Olympians – An Awesome Resource!

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Get Ready for Bloggy Olympics!!!

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Join The 3AM Teacher, the Reading Olympians, and over 80 SUPREME education bloggers as we take you through a tour of the Reading Olympians Root Study Program!!

I was so fortunate to hook up with teachers all over the nation to participate in the Reading Olympians project hosted by The 3AM Teacher and Krista Miller and Julie Kiss, The Reading Olympians! I must say that this is an awesome resource and I can’t wait to use it from Day 1 next year.

I have worked on Greek/Latin roots with my students, but very sporadically. I used them mostly during my bellwork lessons, with little connections during the regular classroom day. The Reading Olympians provide a constant connection with these roots and in a no hassle way! In our current standards we have a set number of roots/stems that we are required to teach in each grade. But what if they’ve missed them from the previous year….*shrugging*

Since we were on Spring Break last week, I was able to complete one unit with my students. We have our state standardized test in 4 weeks, and since I only have 60 minutes with my core classes, I decided to use this resource with my elective class. They jumped right into it!

This week was very teacher directed – on Monday, I showed them examples from the packet and they worked in groups to create their own. I actually uploaded the unit into a flipchart for us to use together. Tuesday – Wednesday, I had them work together to complete their graphic organizers, I shared my examples, and they shared theirs. They used the dictionary and thesaurus correctly and their hard work paid off! Our of 14 students, 5 didn’t score 80% or better the first time! Out of those 5, only 1 needs to do another re-test.

I gave them the following criteria on the scoring rubric for their graphic organizers:

1. Complete all four squares in the organizer

2. Make sure you have three words in your word box.

3. Be able to explain your words.

4. Add color to your graphic organizers.

Three of the five stayed after school with me that day, created their flashcards and quizzed each other until they were comfortable retaking the test. One students (who is really low) went from 20% to 80% just after spending thirty more minutes with a partner quizzing each other using the flashcards.

I also created a quizlet flashcard set for the Nike Unit…find it here….Nike Unit Quizlet set. I will continue to create those for students to practice with. I’m using my bulletin board to highlight our Reading Olympians program this year. Teaching so many students (110), I don’t think I will be able to do the necklaces, but I’m looking into figuring out a technology interactive way to do it. It will be one of my summer tasks. Since each child will have an iPad next year, I may buy one necklace and then create it as an Edmodo badge to assign to students. Eureka!

I want to work on creating an additional test for those students who have to retake the test. My sixth graders are verrrry slick (well, they think they are!) and I don’t want to hassle of trying to figure out if they are trying to cheat.

My top concern is time. Last week, it took pretty much 30 minutes to work on the program. I am interested in seeing how the time decreases as we continue to work. I can’t afford 30 minutes a day in my 60 minute class period. If you have an ideas for a departmentalized classroom, please leave me a comment or drop me an email. Also, make sure you follow my blog and the other blogs in this series to be in the running for some amazing prizes!

Discover the program IN ACTION in more K-6th grade classrooms as you Pass the Torch!! Get ideas, discover the progression of the program, and enter the Raffle for a chance to win ONE of the three prizes listed below!!



First Place Winner : Gold Medal



Prizes: Complete Reading Olympians Program

$50.00 Amazon Gift Card

50% off Discount Code for a 1-Day shopping spree at The 3AM Teacher’s Etsy store!



Second Place Winner: Silver Medal



Prizes: $25.00 Amazon Gift Card

40% off Discount Code for a 1-Day shopping spree at The 3AM Teacher’s Etsy store!



Third Place Winner: Bronze Medal



Prizes: 30% off Discount Code for a 1-Day shopping spree at The 3AM Teacher’s Etsy store!

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Thanks for stopping by! Next stop, Sweet Rhyme – Pure Reason, a 5th grade teacher who has put her own awesome spin on the Reading Olympians project! Click on the torch at the bottom of this post to visit her page!


Pass the Torch!!!

Click the image below to visit the next blog

Kindergarten:









Grade 1 & 2













Grade 3 & 4













Grade 5 & 6




a Rafflecopter giveaway

Until the next time!

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Be There or Be Square…Freebies Galore!

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Teaching Blog Addict is turning two years old! Hooray! TBA is hosting an ultimate freebie celebration filled with freebies for different grade levels, and you’re invited to grab as many freebies as you’d like!

Get your printer ready, make sure your ink cartridges are full, and that you have plenty of space on your hard drive to download all of these awesome freebies! I’m posting quite a few for middle school teachers that are very helpful to me.

Click on the picture link below to find the freebie resources.

There are already a huge amount of freebies on the site so who knows what awesomeness will be there on the 5th? Hope to “see” you there!

Until the next time!

Hanging Out My Shingle!

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I promised myself that I would work on opening my TN and TpT stores this week…..and it

is done!  Although it only has a few items, it’s a start! My goal is to tweak things and

continue to add a few things on a regular basis.  If you have some time, click on my widgets

and take a look around.  More to be added soon!

 

 

April Currently

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Yes, it’s 12:51 and I have no business being up!  Yes, I’m on Spring Break, but I still need to be asleep.  But I had wunnerful, wunnerful day with my family today yesterday, and after a great meal, I took a loooong nap.

So now I’m awake and I’m hungry but DH fell asleep on the couch watching basketball and I don’t want to wake him – because he does have to go to work tomorrow!

I was thinking that maybe I could sneak down and grab something out of the fridge to snack on – but then I thought to myself, “Well, Let’s see what Farley‘s up to?”  And low and behold her currently for April was already up and running.  So here goes…..

You should link up too….Don’t forget the rule of 3…comment on the 2 links in front of you and the one after you…it’s so rude if you don’t…:-)

Until the next time!

The Paperless Classroom???!!!

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I’m drowning in paper! Progress reports, writing assignments, homework assignments, classwork assignments, data handouts……HELP!  I am on case 4 of paper for this year and that doesn’t even count the packs of colored paper that I’ve used for other assignments.  I have a difficult time keeping up with things and recently I’ve been trying to find a better way to at least keep track of items that I know I will need to refer back to constantly.

I have a Dropbox account, a Box account, and an Evernote account, and that’s helped a bit, but I have to admit that my Evernote account has been grossly underused.  When I went to the SCIRA Conference this year and I finally figured out how to create Evernote “stacks”, which has helped considerably.

In my goal to improve upon my paper cluttered classroom, I’m joining up with Eberopolis and her Go Paperless Classroom Challenge linky!  I teach 100+ students, so being able to find a way to reduce those weekly 1000’s of sheets of paper floating around will be a great help!

While I’m out for Spring Break, I will work on adding notebooks for each of my 110 students and adding data that I already have.  The goal will be to figure out how to add new data quickly and efficiently.  I do not want to scan in 110 groups of assignments!

Interested, click on the link or picture to visit Eberopolis and join in!

 

Until the next time!

Let’s Get Acquainted Linky (Week 4)

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Happy Resurrection Day! I had a wonderful day with my family. My DD actually did her Easter speech this year and her grandparents were able to make it to see it. My dad is a pastor, so they aren’t able to make Sunday activities that frequently because he’s already booked! 🙂

Here’s a picture of Hubby, DD, and me today!

I am loving Flying Into First‘s weekly Let’s Get Acquainted Linky! I’ts amazing to see how many things we have in common, or how we find new ideas from other teachers in so many different places.

This week’s theme is……

Favorites Survey

Favorite Place to Shop

Despite my love for clothes, I really hate to shop! This place allows me to walk in, pick up clothes and walk back out. My second favorite would have to be Old Navy…..for the same exact reason!

Favorite TV Show

Ohhhhh…..I am so a Gladiator! I’ve been addicted to Scandal since Day 1! When it’s on, I can’t even sit down….I stand up and pace the entire time (in addition to constant tweeting the entire hour)! Olivia Pope is a bad….shut yo’ mouth!

Favorite Sweet Treat

Hands down…..a 10 or 12 layer chocolate cake. When we have that cake in the house, I don’t eat anything but that! LOL! Friends say, “Girl, let’s go out to eat!” and I’m like….”Naw, I’m just gonna stay home this time…” NOTHING will get between me and that cake. Breakfast….lunch….dinner….oh yeah. 🙂

Favorite Food……Food

I love to eat! Which is why I have to exercise….which I haven’t been doing a good job of lately….:-o And I could eat the Chick-fil-A #1, no salt fries, and Coke zero almost every singlet day! I want it the strongest on Sunday (of course, because they’re closed)…. Last time I went, I did better and got the Chargrilled Chicken sandwich….should have gotten the fruit instead of the fries….but I just……couldn’t…..do……it!

Favorite Restaurant

Longhorn is my favorite and we only go there for special occasions….like today! They have the best steaks, but today I wanted to do the right thing health wise and got the Salmon. It was sooooo good! I just grabbed pieces of steak of my mama’s plate! 🙂

Now it’s your turn! Click on the linky pic to be transported over to Flying into First’s page. Make sure you visit the 2 people that linked up before you and leave them a comment or follow them. What a neat way to build your PLN!

Until the next time!

Let’s Get Acquainted Linky (Week 3)

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I had the greatest time participating in Flying Into First’s “Let’s Get Acquainted” linky party!  This week’s linky is….

 The NOUN Game
The noun game is where you simply just name your favorite person, place, thing, and animal.
Person
Gosh that’s a toughie!  I have such wonderful family, friends, and sorority sisters.  If I have to name just one, I will have to say my daughter!  I am so proud of her.  She is autistic and wasn’t even talking at the age of three.  But now she is seven and is talking her (and my) head off!  She has had a wonderful group of teachers and therapists and is blossoming so much.  She is moved out of a self-contained placement into a resource and is killing 1st grade!  And first grade is hard (I’m sure you first grade teachers would agree)!

My Terrific Kid!

Place
My favorite place is wherever my family is.  Every year we vacation somewhere together and have the best time!  This year we’re going back to Disney World only because my dear daughter insisted on going.   We just went two years ago when she was five. Her papa was determined not to disappoint her.  He’s already made all of the arrangements.

The Fam! <3

Thing
Any and all things technology – especially my iPad and phone.  With these two babies I can do pretty much anything.
Animal
Growing up I had two dogs.  They were both killed in accidents. 🙁 But the dog is not my favorite animal.  My favorite animal is the panther.  It is so beautiful, sleek, and dangerous!!  Plus, it’s the mascot for my Alma mater – Claflin University! 🙂
Now, that you’ve learned more about me, I’d love to learn more about you!  Head on over to Flying Into First by clicking on the pic and link up!
Until the next time,

 

Two Truths and a Lie Reveal

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Last Sunday I linked up with Flying Into First for her “Let’s Get Acquainted” linky party. This week’s theme was Two Truths and a Lie and now it’s time for my BIG REVEAL!

#1 – I lived in Italy for a year. TRUE
My Dad was in the Air Force, but my mom wanted us to have a stable home, so I technically wasn’t a military brat. Since she was a teacher, we spent our summers wherever he was and he came home on his leave days. My dad’s last overseas stay was in Aviano, Italy. As the story goes, my mom went over to Italy for a year and came back with me as a bun in the oven. When I was almost two, we spent the year in Italy with him. Of course, I don’t remember it, but I do have pictures to prove it…..at my mama’s house…..

UPDATE! Found a pic

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#2 – My girl group performed at the Apollo Theatre when we were in college. TRUE
I sang on my college choir the entire time I was at Claflin. On our yearly tour my freshman year, we met someone who had an inside with Showtime at the Apollo. Although we were a concert choir, we sang all genres of music…..verrrrrrry talented if I do say so myself. Our groups name was ENCORE. The idea was that we would kick it off and then other groups within the choir would then go. We were so sure that we were going to the Big Apple to be superstars (move over EnVogue), but it was not to be. We didn’t win at the Apollo, but turned out to be a BIG hit on the Atlantic City boardwalk….but that another story to tell!

ENCORE

#3 – My husband and I dated for 10 months before we were married. LIE
My husband and I were college sweethearts and we dated for 10 YEARS before we got married. This year is our 10th anniversary, but I have spent my entire adult life lovin’ that man! And it’s been more than worth it! 🙂

Our Wedding Portrait!