~Twinkle Teaches~

Getting to the Core!

2013-04-12T21:34:00.001-05:00

Our Reach Coach Lindsay, shared this wonderful method of going through the Common Core State Standards and highlighting to discover those you are already familiar with, familiar with but with a little higher level of rigor expected, and unfamiliar. I think it helps to make Common Core not seem so overwhelming!

Testing!!!

2013-04-09T03:40:00.002-05:00

Waaaahhhhh! This is how I felt last week and will continue to feel this week and the next!!!

Me everyday until May

Okay, fess up...who was spying on me and took the photo above? ;)

Oh...it was you!

Snow White is a spy

To get our kids motivated for testing I made a nifty bulletin board with a countdown section and tips on testing. I totally stole the concept off Pinterest. Thank God for Pinterest!!!So here is my board:

And yes, most of the streamers shooting out of the rocket have mysteriously disappeared.

Happy testing! And try your best not to lose your mind!

SNERP it up!

2013-04-02T14:37:00.000-05:00

Is this SNERP??!?!?

I spent some time earlier in the school year learning about SNERP. What's that? Some kinda slime? Nooooo.

Mrs. Fran Sylvester invited me to go to observe her teach the reading strategy to her students.

SNERP stands for

Skim (highlight the title first, then numbers/number words, then proper nouns, then any "strange-looking words" like italicized, bolded print, etc).

Number the paragraphs (and she had her students highlight the numbers)

Then they highlighted words they did not know, and shared with the class. Mrs.Sylvester did a really great job of making the words come to life by sharing or pointing out objects around the room!

Examine questions (finger/brain...some questions you can find the answer to by skimming the book with your finger, others require knowledge from your own brain)

Read the selection

Prove answers (find and label)

Fran has a chart posted on the way for the students to refer to. They would verbally remind each other about each step.

I love how they did the procedure whole class and every step of the way Fran questioned the students so they had to prove why they felt or thought that way. Bravo Fran!!! :) I could have stayed in your room all day. :) I have attached the posters below !

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B12_uq4zsaMSdU1fc1p2aVdwM2c/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B12_uq4zsaMSTlZUWXJZTnFnWWs/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B12_uq4zsaMSRGpZNEJEdDZUdFU/edit?usp=sharing

Warning: Ginormous posting ahead!!!

2013-03-31T21:47:00.000-05:00

Just sayin'....

I got our school a subscription to readinga-z.com . And since the teachers at the Early Childhood Center cannot print I printed some at the elementary....and organized them into a binder (yes, my desk is a mess!).

I used index dividers to tab them by reading level. One thing I want teachers to remember is that a child can be reading on more than one level at a time--for example level M, O and R. Also, they move up and down the levels--hopefully more up than down but leveling should be flexible and not static.

Look at this fun Peeps! science experiment one of our Kindergarten teachers did! The class put the Peeps into different liquids to see which will make them dissolve the fastest.

Then they charted the materials used and tallied their guesses. Everyday they checked on these little guys. I believe the fabric softener won.
Try it for yourself (especially since Peeps are on clearance) and see!!!

A second grade classroom turned into the land of Chewandswallow from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

That second grade teacher is just so stinkin' creative! I love to see what her class is always up to.

Now let's walk on over to PreK. They are studying dinosaurs.

We have the awesome volcanoes made from newspaper, flour and water, then dried. Then the kids painted them. I love how they made white dough dinosaurs with cookie cutters and painted them. The best part of course is the "explosion" of baking soda, white vinegar and some red food coloring.

Their teacher's sister is a science teacher and she got a box of dinosaur bones the kids could look at and touch! Our local science museum of natural history has all kinds of stuff like this available for checkout. So I suggest you see if you local one does the same!

And I wanted to share some PreK letter/word stuff. Here is their word wall. I am so proud there is a visual with the word (for the words you can do that with).

Also, we always did a creative letter for the one we were studying and this is the one they did for Uu and Tt:

Cute!

So I was able to visit another school in a separate district. I love being able to do that but I love bringing stuff back to share even more.

This school had the sight words color coded by grade and in the hallway so the kids could practice reading them while waiting in line. Genius!

One of the Kindergarten teachers there used dog dish bowls to hold supplies because they are non-skidding and she says they have lasted like 18 years! Genius!

School-wide they had a simple rubric for great writing. The teachers hung examples of great writing so the students had a guide. This was in Kindergarten.

Another fun bulletin board from Kindergarten. This was something the class went over daily before writing.

My biggest pet peeve as an educator is when people say "But Kindergarteners can't read or write!". Um, yes they can. I have taught them! So can PreK and in some cases three year olds can be taught to identify letters and simple sight words. If your expectations are high the kids will truly astound you. I had to learn this first hand by working with Prek, K and 1st that they can do so much more than what is even normally expected of them! Okay, rant over....

My next post will be about Common Core and after that--how to make your literacy centers RAWK.

Inquiry

2013-03-16T13:29:00.001-05:00

DQ: How is the profession of teaching shaped by teacher inquiry? How does this impact teacher professional growth?

Inquiry is a very important process in education. When teachers ask questions and try to problem-solve this leads to a better monitoring of academic progress, more informed decision-making, and professional growth. Inquiry also gives teachers better access to knowledge because they actively seek out resources. Inquiry inspires creative solutions to some of the problems educators face. Take for example the computer. The computer is a valuable resource and helps the educator and student in so many ways, but the screen size of the monitor inhibits the computer's multiple uses. An inquiry on how a teacher could expand the monitor so that students could view and interact with the technology lead to ideas such as the Smartboard.
So how does inquiry impact professional growth? It makes us strive to be better at our jobs. When we problem solve, we take ownership of the situation. InTeacher Leadership there was a wonderful quote by Wilmor (2007)... in order to achieve a vision teacher leaders must be willing to search "their souls to truly identify what is of lasting value to them as educators and citizens."

ReferencesWilmor, E. L. (2007). Teacher leadership: improving teaching and learning from inside the classroom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Quotes to think about!

2013-03-16T13:19:00.001-05:00

Seuss stuff and rhyming

2013-03-03T06:22:00.001-06:00

Lots of Spring cleaning has been going on in my life lately! I make room for new stuff!!! Lately, I have been hanging out a lot at my local antique stores and thrift stores, and cruising for deals online. So you know how you start one small project and it just snowballs into a home re-decorating or renovations? Yeah, I am so there right now. Re-decorating our living room and now I want to tear a wall out and expand it into my office/scrapbook room.
And of course, you can find a million and one ideas on

Pinterest!!!!

I like houzz.com , too for ideas.

These loverlies are mine now!

So this week was Seuss week and our school celebrated in a HUGE way.

Free download from CK

I found a really cool download of Dr. Seuss quotes from Creating Keepsakes scrapbook magazine. Every Friday they also have a new free font to download! You can download the Seuss quotes HERE. And the Free Friday Fonts can be found HERE.

Since Seuss and rhyming go hand-in-hand, let's talk about ways to encourage your child to learn how to rhyme. The easiest way is to start with classic nursery rhymes like those from Mother Goose books. You can also play a game where you say a word and your child has to say one that rhymes. You can print clip art out and glue the pieces onto index cards and help you child sort and match the rhyming pictures. You and your child can keep a file folder of rhyming pictures cut out from magazines. You can label these for your child, too. Ask a librarian or do a web search for children's books that have rhyming in them--like:

Peanut Butter and Jelly by Nadine Bernard Westcott

Jake Bakes Cakes: A Silly Rhyming Children's Picture Book by Gerald Hawksley

Elmo's Rockin' Rhyme Time by Naomi Kleinberg

Now don't get me wrong I totally adore my job but around this time I think many teachers will agree with me we get Spring Break Fever, too. It is highly contagious and the only known cure is Spring Break...

My current motto!!!

Because once we come back we get into testing!!!!

Until Spring Break I can take solace in my pretty rockin' nails!

St. Patrick's Day is coming up! So that means I see green craft projects in my future and oh look at this!!!

Laurie at Tip Junkie has tons of great St. Patrick's Day decorating ideas! 26 to be exact!
You can find out about it here: http://www.tipjunkie.com/diy-decorating/diy-decor-st-patricks/

I still remember when Harrison and I made a leprechaun trap!!!

Harrison made a handprint rainbow! We gathered the leprechaun's stuff
like his hat, boots and cup he had left behind. He left our house in a rush!

We even gave him back his (plastic) gold coins.

We knew he liked green and gold! We decorated a shoe box to trap him!

The next morning our trap was empty and he took his stuff
BUT
he did leave us yummy chocolate gold coins to eat!!!

I wonder if he will visit us this year???

I Speak for the Trees!!!

2013-02-27T23:08:00.000-06:00

One of Kindergarten teachers, and two of our ELL teachers made this!!!!

Beatboxin' with Kindergarten

2013-02-20T17:58:00.002-06:00

Mr. Argot, our Kindergarten para, brought a special visitor to the Early Childhood Center for music time!
Awesome, right??

I am so proud that I was able to be a guest writer on the Reading Horizons blog. I wrote about the Nurturing Brilliance webinar. They offer free webinars and everyone I have attended has been a true learning experience for me. I really think webinars are the professional development of the future! My blog post is here: http://www.readinghorizons.com/blog/

One of the webinars that is my favorite is the one on The Power of Explicit Instruction. But they have so many more!!

Today one of the teachers from my school sent us an inspiring YouTube clip:

Can I just say I want this boy to be my life coach?!?!

This morning I saw the dentist and got three wisdom teeth pulled out. The experience was not bad but right about now the pain is! So I am calling it a day and going to bed early. Talk to you soon!

Chicka Chicka BOOM BOOM!

2013-02-20T00:39:00.001-06:00

This is my wonderful hand model aka my mom holding a Chicka Boom activity we did in my Kindergarten class. There were pre-cut rectangles of green paper, a brown rectangle and the kids cut and glued it. Then they hand to count the letters they had added--the ones on the tree and the ones on the ground. This was a beginning of the year activity.

I want to share my online Chicka files with you! Maybe you can find something you like!
The link is here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?d5a18odkygzmb

Featured Friday!!!!~Jen from Studio Petite

2013-02-20T00:38:00.000-06:00

Here is a post I found in my DRAFT box and I am putting it here just in case it was never posted...meet artist Jennifer Lambein!!!!
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This week's featured artist is Jennifer Lambein from Studio Petite!!! Read more about her and see her wonderful creations below. :)

1. Tell us a little about yourself:

My name is Jennifer Lambein. I'm a self taught commercial freelance artist living and working in New York City. I moved from Westlake Ohio to NYC about a month and a half ago. I've downsized from a rather spacious apt. to a small studio. That's what inspired the name "Studio Petite"!

2. What inspires you? What speaks to you??

It can honestly be a person, place, OR thing. I'm an eclectic girl all around, so it really varies. For example, maybe it's something someone is wearing or using in a wonderful old movie such as "All About Eve". It could simply be a bed of flowers I pass by, a chapter in a Jane Austin or Dickens novel, an awesomely pretty shirt I put on, a conversation that puts me in a whimsical mood, or even a piece by another artist. My guy Ethan inspires me all the time;)!! He's an architect who has a very strong work ethic. That can be very motivating as well as inspiring. Also, having someone who believes in you as he does me can make amazingly magical things take place from with in. Three things that never fail: An amazing cup of coffee, people watching, and being around those I love..

3. What advice would you give to a beginner?

Research, research, research. Patience, patience, patience. Really pay attention to what trends, etc. are hot and selling in your market. Look at other artists work for guidance and inspiration. I'm obviously not telling you to steal their look, but simply learn from what they're doing right. Regardless of what area of art you're pursuing, trends come and go. This is a tough yet rewarding field. Success doesn't happen over night. Cliche? Yes. Yet remember, something is categorized as cliche because rings true. That's where patience is a crucial asset. Remain persistent and prolific. However, produce quality over quantity. Also, I really can't stress this next bit of advice enough. Artists must not only have a creative mind, but should also have a business mind.. The problem is that most of us just simply don't! Don't have the "Field Of Dreams" mentality..."If I create it, they will come". Uh, most likely they won't. First and foremost love what you're doing, but have an idea of how to make money at it in the process. The harsh reality is that if you don't, then you'll most likely never be able to do it full time. So, if you just can't fit business in to that dreamy artsy brain of yours, find a business brainiac who has! Lastly, go to the bookstore and look for the Artist's & Graphic Designer's Market book. They come out with a new one every year.. There are different versions depending on what area of the art world you're involved in. It's a helpful tool, and it's how I found my first agent. Believe in what you're doing. Know it's a subjective field. There will always be lovers AND not so lovers of your work. Stay strong. Stay crafty. Stay you.

4. What is your favorite medium or tool to work with?

Right now I love to work with watercolors, acrylics, markers, colored pencils, pen and ink, and pretty paper(collage). My favorite watercolor paper is Jack Richeson 140 lb Acid Free Cold Press. I love Holbein Artists' Water Color and Gouache paints. I'm also a fan of Liquitex Acrylics. Penny Lane/My Mind's Eye has some beautifully whimsical scrapbook paper.

5. How do you find time to create?

I'm fortunate enough to be able to pretty much focus in full time on my craft. I'm also a night owl, so I'm very prolific late at night...or maybe it's all the coffee I drink that's keeping me up;)

6. Where do you spend most of your time creating?

I really spend all of my time in my little studio area in my apt. At times I do sketch while on the couch. I try and keep all of my materials confined to my work space. However, that never really lasts lol. I'm hoping with greater success to afford a larger area.

7. What got you started?

My mom and other artists. My mom Deborah Lambein has been a cross-stitch designer for Leisure Arts for years. I was fortunate enough to grow up with someone who not only had supplies and an art room, but was very supportive of the inconsistent life of pursuing an art career. I originally did a couple of cross-stitch leaflets myself. While I enjoyed it, I still wanted to pursue other artistic paths. Artists such as Mary Engelbreit, Holly Hobbie, Deb Hron, Sue Dreamer, and Eric Disney(Hallmark designer) all began to inspire me. I loved the whimsical aspect of their designs. I guess I've never really lost the child with in. I also loved that they had the opportunity to place their work on products, greeting cards, calendars, and in books for the world to enjoy! Such a universe of open ended inspirational opportunities!

8. How would you describe your style?

As I said earlier...eclectic. I always tell people it's difficult to explain what my work looks like. They simply need to see it. It mixes freshly modern with retro whimsy. I like creating things that bring cheer, warmth, comfort, fun, and the feeling of home. I want to give my customers a reason to smile sweetly, connect deeply, and laugh loudly;)!

9. What do you enjoy most about creating?

I enjoy the ability to express myself. Another fun way of expressing myself? Karaoke...it's so great lol! I also adore the idea that this will hopefully bring joy to another;) I love that when I'm gone, my creations will live on as a part of who I was. Plus, it's just so fun!

10. List your site or sites we can see your gallery on:

Etsy: www.studiopetite.etsy.com

Linda McDonald: www.lindamcdonald.com

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/studiopetite/

Maker Spot: http://studiopetite.makerspot.com/

The American Craft Guide Community: http://americancraftguide.ning.com/profile/studiopetite

Silkfair: http://studiopetite.silkfair.com

Blog: http://studiopetite.blogspot.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/studiopetite

My personal website www.studiopetite.com is currently under construction, so check back!
Thank you Jen!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

2013-02-15T02:01:00.002-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

I am a few hours late so happy belated v-day! Today was such a pretty day outside. When I came home I found some sweetness waiting for me...

A card, a Dr. Pepper (yes!) and a little monster from my son and husband.

Plus, some very beautiful pink roses.

It really was a surprise because my husband had bought me a netbook about a week ago and told me to consider it an early Valentine's gift.

My son Harrison is 8 years old and in second grade. He is really getting into pranks. He loves to watch this YouTube family prank each other:

http://www.youtube.com/user/all4tubekidz

Earlier today he tried to prank my husband by writing this and hiding!

What a silly boy I have!

So for my grad class I was setting up our wiki web site (you can see it HERE), and doing a search for pictures of kids taking a test.

Google images of course has the most *random* stuff come up instead. Like this...

What??!? No...Just no!

That poor twinkie!!!

Shaking my head so hard right now!

This reminds me of my middle school doodles.

Saving the best for last!!

The moral? Be careful what you Google for, you may end up with more than you wished for!

Buddy Reading Works

2013-02-12T00:41:00.002-06:00

We use a strategy known as A/B Reading. During guided reading, I had them read with an assigned partner. They sit EEKK! style--elbow to elbow, and knee to knee. Both children have the same text. One child reads while the other follows along. The reader asks the follower a question related to the story to make sure the follower was listening. I have an anchor chart with prompts on it for A/B Reading like:

Who are the main characters?
What is the problem?
What is the setting?
What do you predict will happen?

Would you read this book again? Why or why not?
What was the solution to the problem?
What can you infer from the title?
What was your favorite/least favorite part?

Then the students switch roles and partner B reads while partner A listens and answers questions. Sometimes they choose a prompt from the chart and sometimes they make up their own questions. They really enjoy trying to trick the listener to make sure he/she was following along.

I do use the A/B strategy about twice a week. The technique can be used with first through fifth graders. They really enjoy it when they are able to spread out around the room to read with their partner. I like to use paired reading because some struggling readers are not confident to read independently or in front of a whole or small group. This also gives them the opportunity to learn from their reading partner and to pick up good skills. I like the fact that the two students are learning together to clarify and decode words.

So you've had a bad day

2013-02-12T00:00:00.002-06:00

Because you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around...

Remember that overplayed song?!?!? This was my day. Just one of those Charlie Brown, Lucy keeps moving the football kinda days. We all have them. Then on the drive home something happened. I was thinking about my bad day when I drove by a fatality accident. Seeing the person slumped over the wheel, wiped my bad day away and made me think about how important my family is. Sadly, a few minutes after witnessing the aftermath the radio DJ announced it was a fatality. So I am sharing this with you to remind you to take time for yourself, take time for your family, when someone gives you hate give them love three-fold back, when you have had a bad day realize someone else has had a worse day.

Reaching the limit

2013-02-07T21:43:00.001-06:00

I think successful teachers use non-verbal management without even realizing it. This would include "wait time," the teacher stare, moving around the room, hand on the shoulder, a quiet sign, ringing a bell, or a type of movement. I use it daily in my teaching. I even made signs that have clip art with the word of the behavior I want and hold them up.

My "I've reached the limit" signal would be turning off the classroom lights. All my students know this means a class time out with voices off, heads down. Then we talk about the expected behaviors. Non-verbal signals can also be positive like a pat on the back, nod of the head, thumbs up.

I think it would interesting to film yourself teach and see if there are any unintentional non-verbal signals you make like hands on the hips, arms crossed or snapping fingers. I know I do snap my fingers sometimes when I am in the middle of reading aloud. I think I use wait time the most. How about you?

Teaching Beginning, Middle and End with a Snowman!!

2013-02-07T21:28:00.000-06:00

I want to share a lesson I modeled today in second grade.
I shared about this with my grad class, but this post has pics!

It was about beginning, middle and end using "The Mitten". I started by stating the objectives "According to Common Core today I will learn..." I started out with anticipation by getting out three different sized boxes I covered with white butcher paper. I taped them together, not speaking. Then I added details, a nose, a scarf, etc. I said, "raise you hand if you have ever built a snowman before." All hands went up. "Building a snowman is like building a good story." I pointed to the three snowman sections--head (beginning) midsection (middle) and bottom (end). I wrote those on there and said the details added to the snowman were like details in a story.

I saw the chart above on Pinterest and created my version.

Then I showed several Jan Brett books and stated,
"Give me a thumbs up if you've read this one..." at the very end I showed The Mitten and said this is the book we are studying today. "It takes place in the Ukraine." I showed them on the map how if I got in an airplane how I would fly from Oklahoma to the Ukraine and I taught them to say hi in Ukrainian (pri-vit).I incorporated technology by showing the book on the Smart Board and using the read aloud video from YouTube.

Then we reviewed the sequence of the animals. I handed out story character cards. I had ordinal numbers on my chart paper and they had to hold up the card if they thought it was their animal's turn in the sequence, if the class agreed they made that number with their fingers raised.There was an interesting dilemma that came up with the charting--we had 11 characters but one student had a mitten card. This was how we were able to quickly discuss living and non-living things and characters vs. objects.

We also exercised by touching our heads for beginning, hands on hips for middle and squatting for end.

I had three giant circles on butcher paper and we did an interactive writing on B,M, and E.

Then the kids made their own circle B,M,E snowmen! It turned out so cool!

2013-02-03T16:29:00.001-06:00

How can I make this intimidating aspect of language and grammar into something exciting? I think teachers still struggle with that. My opinion is that if you are teaching and the students are not only actively engaged, but also discussing, teaching each other, and moving around the room, there will be learning taking place.

Teaching students about base words, morphemes, graphemes, prefixes and suffixes cannot be done correctly by just handing them a worksheet. Give students tiny mirrors from the craft store or the dollar store. Have them hold them while saying words slowly or making the sounds. Do "duck lips" where they purse their lips shut while saying the word and feeling the syllables or have them touch their throats to measure the syllables. Give them index cards cut up and have them write the word out the way they hear the divisions ex. mis-con-duct on 3 cards. Give them counters and have them move one up each time they hear a division. These are the skills that will help them decode words, not a worksheet or a textbook. I feel strongly about getting students doing and not just listening to the "sage on the stage." I think I feel so passionate about it because I struggled with reading as a child and had teachers give up on me. It just took one to believe me and then reading and writing came easily.

5 Major Components of Reading

2013-01-30T02:39:00.004-06:00

The five major components of reading are phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. According to the Reading Rockets web site (2013), "When using any teaching strategy, teachers should (1) help students to understand why a strategy is useful, and (2) describe explicitly how the strategy should be used. Teacher demonstration, modeling, and follow-up independent practice are critical factors for success. Student discussion following strategy instruction is also helpful." These components are interrelated because you just cannot have one without the other. When a student become proficient in these areas they become successful readers.

Phonemic awareness is when students identify sounds and are able to utilize those sounds to make words. Today during my PLC meeting with PreK I showed them how to use elkonin or sound boxes. These are simple boxes on a piece of paper usually accompanying an illustration.There is a box for each phoneme--not for ea. letter. The students push a counter up into the boxes as they say the sound. Here is an illustration of one I found on Google Images:

This is a quick and easy activity that would be good to introduce during small group and then put at a literacy center.
Phonics is when students identify letter sounds and the letter itself. Making words with magnetic letters or using poetry or alphabet chants are easy ways to practice phonics.
Fluency starts with letter sounds, moving to sight words and then onto reading text. You are considered fluent if you can automatically do it. A great fluency activity isthe A/B partner reading. I am such a fan of this technique! During guided reading, I have them read with a partner. They sit EEKK! style--elbow to elbow, and knee to knee. Both children have the same text. One child reads while the other follows along. The reader asks the follower a question related to the story to make sure the follower was listening.
Vocabulary is fundamental to reading. Vocabulary words help us to build background knowledge and associations of words in order to communicate effectively. While reading an article by Ruddell and Shearer (2002), a students says, "I used to only think about vocabulary in school. The whole world is vocabulary." That statement resonates with me because we must have the foundation of vocabulary in order to be successful readers and writers. A wonderful way to tie vocabulary into a lesson is to keep index cards or sentence strips with a Sharpie nearby and as the class learns vocabulary in a whole group setting, add the word to the word wall, and question them about its definition.
Comprehension is when students make meaning and connections from the text. To help with comprehension graphic organizers, especially that compare and contrast two different texts, are easy to implement to help with this area.

Works Cited
Reading Rockets.Org. (2013)Classroom strategies. Accessed on January 30, 2013 from: http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/ . Ruddell, M.& Brenda A. (2002). Extraordinary," "tremendous," "exhilarating," "magnificent": middle school at-risk students become avid word learners with the Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy (VSS): asking students to choose their own vocabulary words maintains interest and builds connections with content areas. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 45(5).

Money vacuum

2013-01-27T07:02:00.000-06:00

If you have not been to the web site Very Jane , go. Go now! Well, after reading this post. This site is my money vacuum. I am addicted to this site. I think it would be worse if I had a little girl, but thankfully, I keep myself in check when I say, "What am I going to do with a tutu?" and delete it from my cart.

but I do have this coming my way in orange. And I am thinking of adding this:

but not sure on a color yet. And look at this!!!

Only 5.99!!
I like that most of their stuff is under $20...mainly under $10. And no, I am not getting paid or freebies for talking about this site. I actually found out about it on Mrs. Lemon's 2nd Grade Blog!
Last week, I got a confirmation from Reading Horizons to be a guest blogger on February 5th. Exciting!! We utilize their program at our school especially with our ELL students. They always have really great free webinars and free online training. Check it out!!
So we are painting over our son's old murals in his bedroom. His nursery was Classic Pooh...I have always had a thing for Winnie the Pooh even as a child. Then when he was about two we made his room Eric Carle theme. Don't get me started on my Eric Carle obsession!!! Let's just say this lady has several autographed books (even big books) of his! They are all made out to my old Kindergarten teacher lol but who cares that I bought them at her retirement garage sale.

Eric Carle rocks!!

So bye bye Grouchy Ladybug and Brown Bear and Hungry Caterpillar...the room is now a classic blue. And guess what theme the murals will be??? Super Mario! Itsa gonna be spaghetti-o! Yes, it is fun to type in a Mario accent.
I will post pics as soon as we are done. He has the biggest room in the house so the painting it blue is still going on. Ben has been hard at work! My husband Ben is an artist and a former art teacher (he is taking a life break from that but works part-time at Target). Sooooo he does all the awesome mural work. We also painted my old Kindergarten room at my school with murals from book characters...but I think they are all covered up except one.
Anyway, my little boy is now 8 and growing so fast. He needs to stop! He tells me all the time he will care for me and feed me applesauce when I am old. :) Love being a mom!
I am in my last grad class!! Eeek. Then I have my practicum, graduate, take my test and am an official "Reading Specialist." Is it weird that I have a feeling of "what next?" I tease with the notion of getting my doctorate but my mother-in-law says I am a glutton for punishment and Ben says I would be paying $50,000 to a university to write a book over three years. :) He knows I will do what I want anyway because he married a hard head. Last night we had the debate about how long we had been married! He shaved a year off. I was like, "How could you not know our 11th anniversary is coming up?" He was like--

P.S. Update-he ended up being right!

Fascinating.

2013-01-19T21:07:00.001-06:00

Even my blog is OLD

2013-01-19T20:43:00.000-06:00

Even my blog is OLD!!! My first post on here was 1-11-2007. Six years baby!!! Oh my gosh. Harrison was two years old when I started blogging. I was a stay-at-home mom who really just wanted to keep a journal of life at its best. I am still an insomnia queen. Oh, and a drama queen!! For the record, princess Granny looks totally fierce and yes I will be rockin' a tiara in my old age!!!!

My passion is for teaching

2013-01-19T19:08:00.002-06:00

Thinking about the key to good teaching when it comes to breaking down words...

How can I make this intimidating aspect of language and grammar into something exciting? I think teachers still struggle with that. My opinion is that if you are teaching and the students are not only actively engaged, but also discussing, teaching each other, and moving around the room, there will be learning taking place.

Teaching students about base words, morphemes, graphemes, prefixes and suffixes cannot be done correctly by just handing them a worksheet. Give students tiny mirrors from the craft store or the dollar store. Have them hold them while saying words slowly or making the sounds. Do "duck lips" where they purse their lips shut while saying the word and feeling the syllables or have them touch their throats to measure the syllables. Give them index cards cut up and have them write the word out the way they hear the divisions ex. mis-con-duct on 3 cards. Give them counters and have them move one up each time they hear a division. These are the skills that will help them decode words, not a worksheet or a textbook. I feel strongly about getting students doing and not just listening to the "sage on the stage." I think I feel so passionate about it because I struggled with reading as a child and had teachers give up on me. It just took one to believe me and then reading and writing came easily.

Parental Involvement

2012-12-22T00:45:00.001-06:00

I was thinking about parental involvement and the effect on literacy skills. I read an article that had this interesting nugget on research related to this topic : "A study conducted last spring in over 27 countries and over 20 years confirmed that having over 500 books in ones’ home is more important to a child’s projected academic success than a parent’s education" (Stewart, 2011). So exposing a child to literature is more of an indicator than whether the parents had higher education or multiple degrees. On a personal note, my mom had her GED and my father had a sixth grade education because of the poverty in his country. Every night they read to me. They indulged my love of books. They took me to the library once a week. I think this greatly influenced the path I went down. Books are a wonderful bonding tool but also a good way for parents to give us wings.

Reference

Stewart, D. J. (November 2011). Parent involvement in early literacy is the key to academic success. From the Teach Preschool web site accessed on October 27,
2012 from: http://www.teachpreschool.org/2011/01/parent-involvement-in-early-literacy-is-the-key-to-academic-success/ .

Let's get rich and buy everyone nice sweaters

2012-12-22T00:45:00.000-06:00

Don't you worry there my honey
We might not have any money
But we've got our love to pay the bills...

*LOVE* this song by Ingrid Michaelson, "You and I".

What is comprehension??

2012-12-08T17:47:00.003-06:00

Good link to share!

http://www.literacyconnections.com/WhatIsComprehension.php

~Twinkle Teaches~

Getting to the Core!

Testing!!!

SNERP it up!

Warning: Ginormous posting ahead!!!

Inquiry

Quotes to think about!

Seuss stuff and rhyming

I Speak for the Trees!!!

Beatboxin' with Kindergarten

Chicka Chicka BOOM BOOM!

Featured Friday!!!!~Jen from Studio Petite

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

The moral? Be careful what you Google for, you may end up with more than you wished for!

Buddy Reading Works

So you've had a bad day

Because you had a bad dayYou're taking one downYou sing a sad song just to turn it around...

Reaching the limit

Teaching Beginning, Middle and End with a Snowman!!

5 Major Components of Reading

Money vacuum

Fascinating.

Even my blog is OLD

My passion is for teaching

Parental Involvement

Let's get rich and buy everyone nice sweaters

What is comprehension??

Because you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around...