4mulaFun

How To: Keep a Blog Calendar

Jennifer Smith-Sloane — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:30:40 +0000

Many times over I am asked how I plan out my blogging so far in advance. Well, let me fill you in on some magical secrets I have learned over the past NINE years of blogging.

1. You have to let your mind work in a way that accepts ideas whenever they come. Be open to inspiration from all around you and JOT IT DOWN!

2. Keep track of upcoming features, Linky Parties, etc. and participate!

3. Keep a calendar so that you don’t forget things such as the upcoming features, Linky Parties, date specific blog posts, giveaways you want to hold, regular features, etc. Google Calendar has been SO helpful for me in keeping all my blog post ideas in one place. And another great thing, if for some reason that blog post needs to move, I just drag it around to a new date! Simple as that!

Yep, three simple and easy steps to getting on the ball with blogging. If you saw my Summer Bucket List post, you know that I am aiming for 2-3 blog posts a week over the summer. Some weeks will have more, some will have less and that is okay! It’s your blog and NO ONE can tell you when or how to write!

Need some more inspiration on keeping up a blog calendar? Check out Lemon and Raspberry’s post on How to Maintain your Editorial Calendar.

Now, if you are like me and need a paper planner as well, I’m sure you will love the Personalized Planners that my friend MissMathDork is making not only for Teachers Pay Teachers sellers but has also started making them for Teachers as well. Check out her latest post that includes a giveaway! Or, if you are like me and can’t wait, just buy one from her as she has amazing customer service and makes them personalized JUST FOR YOU!

Making Interactive Notebooks “Fit” in your Schedule

Jennifer Smith-Sloane — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 09:00:00 +0000

As a part of my continued effort to help get everyone on the Interactive Notebook bandwagon, I am sharing a post about being able to fit in Interactive Notebooks into your classroom in the classroom.

Come join me over at All Things Upper Elementary as I share a day in the classroom with Mrs. S. Grab some coffee, or your favorite beverage, because it’s rather lengthy and detailed!

And give some love to MissMathDork who graciously created my graphic above while I was having a crap-tastic week.

Book Blogging Buddies- What’s Your Math Problem? Chapter 1

Jennifer Smith-Sloane — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 09:00:30 +0000

Are you as excited as I am for the Book Blogging Buddies first chapter to begin? Jump on over to MissMathDork’s blog to jump in on the conversation about The 5 Ws and H of Problem Solving.

And, if you are looking for a way to guide your students into creating word problems of their own, feel free to pick up my FLASH FREEBIE (6/12/2013 only) of Word Problem Expectations. Click the picture below, download your FREEBIE and don’t forget Feedback=LOVE!

Monday Made It: Washi Tape Binder Clips

Jennifer Smith-Sloane — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 09:30:01 +0000

I am so excited to finally be linking up for Monday Made It! I’ve made things over and over again but never linked up! Silly me!

So this week, I am taking my love of organization and love of Washi tape and finally making something that I “pinned” over a year ago for sure. (I know this because I featured it on my blog last summer as a Friday Fav.) And with that, I am also going to link up with Optimum Organization!

So let’s get on with today’s project! What you will need is simple: binder clips of ANY size and Washi Tape (or if you are at my house, it’s Wasabi Tape… he, he)

So, now that you have your materials together (what? you don’t own dozens of rolls of Washi Tape in all different patterns? Well, you need to fix that! Some of my fav places are here, here and here for some killer deals!) you will simply need to do the following steps…

1. Tear of multiple strips of washi tape slightly larger than the binder clip. For the 1″ binder clips, I needed two strips and the larger binder clips needed four strips.

2. Fold back the clips and stick the first piece of Washi Tape all the way down in the crevice with edges hanging over both sides.

3. Snip the tape at the bend in the binder clip.

4. Fold the “tails” of the tape inside your binder clip. I pushed mine inside the clip with the end of a mechanical pencil.

5. Repeat steps 2-4 on the the other side of your binder clip.

Voila! It’s as simple as that and there is really NO MESSING this up! You can create until your heart’s content, or until your run out of supplies and have to buy more binder clips… or more washi tape!

Extra tidbits of info: If you have thin washi tape, you might want to do a second layer so the color of the binder clip doesn’t peek through the tape.

Hope you enjoyed this little Monday Made It project! Don’t forget to head on over to 4th Grade Frolic’s blog to check out the other lovely projects this week! Hope to see you back for another Monday Made It soon!

Summer 2013 Bucket List…

Jennifer Smith-Sloane — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 10:45:29 +0000

I’ve never been one to make a Bucket List after all that I have seen about them online or in person but I feel this year MUST be different. I need direction and guidance for the Summer as there are just SO MANY things that I want (and need) to do/get done. So, maybe it’s a goal list, maybe it’s a list of direction but gosh, darn it… I need to start somewhere!

Where does that leave me? Oh yea, I need to make my list.

Well let’s start with things I want to get done on my blog…

While we are talking things online, what about things I want to get done for 4mulaFun…

And since I predominately work from home, maybe some household things…

And since my hubby lives with me, maybe some things to do with him…

I’d say that makes for a pretty full Summer and that’s not counting various things I already have planned (can’t put already planned items on your Bucket List since you already have them scheduled).

So what are you plans for the summer? Have you blogged about them? Share them with me so I can hold you accountable as well!

Making Connections Everyday: Thomas

Jennifer Smith-Sloane — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 12:30:21 +0000

A few years back I had the privilege of being an instructional aide for a 6 year old who was blind, deaf and autistic. Thomas was a delight not only in my everyday at work but has taught me so many things about myself.

You may be wondering, how did he communicate? How did he tell you his basic needs?

Thomas was fascinated by light of various forms. He had such limited sight that being able to respond to light was one of his IEP goals. We had several therapy tools that would light up when touched and u made it a game. I started with all of the objects lighting up and praising him when he chose one that did with a pat on his back. Eventually we moved up to 4 of 5 lighting up and down to 1 of 5 being a light up tool. The amazing changes over just a bit of time where he originally would get frustrated, and scream, to where he would grunt at the wrong toys and pat me when he picked the right one.

Why do I share this story? Because just the other day I was reminded how making a connection with our students and relate their personal experiences and future goals to their IEP goals, and standards mastery, can make the world of difference.

What have you done on your classroom to relate a goal, or standard, to a student who is struggling?

Currently for June!

Jennifer Smith-Sloane — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 01:27:20 +0000

Another month of Currently from the fabulous Farley at Oh Boy 4th Grade! Feel free to leave a comment, hop on over to the linky, grab the photo and make a post yourself! Love meeting everyone!

Five for Friday for 5/31/13

Jennifer Smith-Sloane — Fri, 31 May 2013 17:00:45 +0000

Another week has come and gone and just a little bit to share with you this week for the Five for Friday Linky that Doodle Bugs is so gracious to host.

This week was pretty slow when it comes to actually getting out and doing things because I was working from my parent’s house while helping my mom after her most recent round of chemo.

So in clockwise order starting at the top…

1. Started a monthly Interactive Notebook Linky Party here at 4mulaFun and am so happy with the participation as well as enthusiasm we have had about this Linky. Can’t wait to see how it grows over the course of the summer as more teachers are planning for next year.

2. Introduced Book Blogging Buddies earlier this week and also received my book in the mail! I am so happy to get started on this and I already have my highlighter and Post-Its ready!

3. Received several requests this week and completed the 7th Grade ELA TEKS I Can Statements as well as the 8th Grade ELA TEKS I Can Statements and loaded them into my store. So happy to help customers prepare for their next school year!

4. Finished up another Solve and Snip for my 4th grade series. This time it was Factor Pairs Word Problems. Let me tell you, this one was tricky! Definitely could be used in 5th and 6th grade as well!

and last, but not least…

5. Spent some time playing with my dad’s dog Newt. He is a precious Chocolate Lab who is barely a year old and has endless amounts of energy. He craves attention and I think will be having some play dates with Sookie and Maddy in the near future.

Book Blogging Buddies Read What’s Your Math Problem

Jennifer Smith-Sloane — Wed, 29 May 2013 13:30:38 +0000

Summer is quickly approaching which means I’m not going to have fun classroom stories to share with you! Â SOOOOO, I’ve teamed up with three other AWESOME ladies to form a math book club:

Jamie Riggs fromÂ MissMathDork

Meg Anderson Â fromÂ Fourth Grade Studio

and Jennifer Findley fromÂ Teaching to Inspire 5th Grade

We are super excited to announce that our first book for out book club reading will be NCTM President, Linda Gojak’s book What’s Your Math Problem?. Â Click on the book image below to go straight to Amazon and purchase your book!

Make sure to pick up your book and have the first chapter read by June 12th! Â Then check back in to read our post and join in the discussion! Can’t wait to hear your thoughts!!

And because we have such awesome readers and caused Amazon to sell out, here are some other resources to purchase the book:

Shell Education Ebook

Barnes and Noble

INBs for You and Me!

Jennifer Smith-Sloane — Tue, 28 May 2013 12:00:04 +0000

Over the course of the past three years of my teaching, I have used Interactive Notebooks to help interact with and engage the learners in my 7th and 8th grade classrooms. During this time I have learned so much not only about myself as a teacher but also about myself as a learner while observing my students.

When I think back on it, back when I was teaching 2nd grade in 2006-2009, I used interactive learning and we did a lot of various types of Flippables that we stored in our Math and Writing Bags. Who knew my love for ORGANIZED and INTERACTIVE learning would develop so much!

Last Spring, I knew I wanted to change my Interactive Notebooks to make them the BEST for the upcoming school year. I started planning in April for this school year and I kept that momentum all year as I continued to use Interactive Notebooks in the classroom. I filmed a few videos where I showed the prior years notebooks and beginning stages of this years notebook, my 7th Grade Math notebook and also my 7th and 8th Grade Resource Math notebook.

Where does that bring us today?Â

I have decided that with all the talk about Interactive Notebooks I have seen in various forms online, the daily contact I receive via email, Facebook, Twitter, etc. asking questions about how to implement Interactive Notebooks and even as a follow up for the upcoming workshops that I am teaching, that it was just evident I needed to start a monthly Linky Party!

So here we are! It’s the 28th of May and we are starting a montly linky party for Interactive Notebooks. Feel free to link up any blog posts you have written, videos you have created or pictures that you have taken over the past 2-3 months. Starting next month, we will take posts from the past month.

I want to keep this fresh and help others who are looking for ideas on how to implement Interactive Notebooks into their classroom. All subjects and grades are welcome!

I would love for you to follow the Farley Rule of 3. Read and comment on (at least) the three people before you to share the love. You never know when an idea from another subject/grade will spark a thought in your mind on how you can implement it into your classroom.

Please share the love of the Interactive Notebook Linky Party! Blog about it, tweet about it, Pin It, throw it out on Facebook! The more you share, the more we all grow together in our professional development!

4mulaFun

How To: Keep a Blog Calendar

Related posts:

Making Interactive Notebooks “Fit” in your Schedule

Related posts:

Book Blogging Buddies- What’s Your Math Problem? Chapter 1

Related posts:

Monday Made It: Washi Tape Binder Clips

Related posts:

Summer 2013 Bucket List…

Related posts:

Making Connections Everyday: Thomas

Related posts:

Currently for June!

Related posts:

Five for Friday for 5/31/13

Related posts:

Book Blogging Buddies Read What’s Your Math Problem

Related posts:

INBs for You and Me!

Related posts: