iPads in the Classroom

While most people enjoyed the day off in honor of MLK Jr., I was lucky enough to have a professional development day. Luckily though the day was uber productive and we got so much accomplished.

Part of our day was spent coming up with some intervention plans for the entire grade level. I am really excited about what we came up with and today was actually the first day that we did it. Unfortunately, I was at home sick so I had to miss out on it. We decided that it would be best to provide the intervention to all of the students. Essentially what we did was split all of our 6th graders into smaller advisories (between 12-14 students in each) and we have a total of 15 intervention lessons that are taking place. The students will stay in the same classroom and the teachers will rotate. There are 6 Language Arts, 6 Math, and 3 Study Skills lessons. I am excited to see how it unfolds during the whole process!

During our PD day, we also worked on our CNA (Campus Needs Assessment) report that we are required to do. I was lucky enough to land on the Technology committee and could not have been happier.I am so excited about the things that we are going to hopefully implement in the next few years. We are going to be visiting several schools around us to see how they are implementing technology. We are hoping that in the next 3 yeas that we could become a 1:1 campus, or at least be pretty darn close.  Our first visit is going to happen on February 5th.

Are you on a 1:1 campus? Do you have mobile technology carts available to you to use in your classroom for instructional purposes? Are you a BYOD campus? How many iPads do you have for your classroom?

I cannot wait to see what you all have to share with me!

January Anchors Away Linky!

I am so excited to be having my 2nd Anchors Away Linky Party! I hope that you will link up and share some of your favorite with us! 

This time I thought that I would take a different route. I am going to share some of my favorite anchor charts that I have found on Pinterest. To be honest, this is where I have found several of the ones that I have used in my classroom. 

Source: julieballew.com via Katie on Pinterest

Source: lifein4b.blogspot.com via Katie on Pinterest

Source: kckindergartentimes.blogspot.com via Katie on Pinterest

Source: aroundthekampfire.blogspot.com via Katie on Pinterest

Anchors Away!

Once again it is time to share some of your favorite anchor charts. The post will be going live on Monday, January 21st. Be sure and take some pictures of the ones you create/use in your classroom this week! 

I hope you will link up!

Normalcy

I am so excited that we are back in school, but I am so ready for some normalcy with my schedule already. Our first day back was Monday after having two weeks off for winter break. Don't get me wrong, the two weeks was fabulous and I was able to really take some me time. I will be the first to admit, I read four books over the break. It was so nice to finally read books that I wanted to read and not all of my textbooks from grad school.

I am just ready for a normal week. Monday was spent retraining my 6th grade friends because it seems that they magically forgot several of our classroom rules and procedures. Today was spent in the library. On my campus we go every three weeks. This just happened to be the 6th grade week. I was actually supposed to go on Monday too, but I thought that was not such a good idea. Tomorrow will be spent taking our district benchmark, and Thursday happens to be an early release for our County Stock Show. Did I mention we do not have school on Friday either because of the stock show? Only in small town Texas.

I am ready for a normal week because both my kids and I need it. It is amazing to me at what a crazy week does to all of us. 

I was also curious as to how district benchmarks work in your district. Are these something that are pre-created for you through your curriculum, do you have to create them yourselves, or does someone in your district create them for you? I am going to be working with our instructional coach over the next few weeks to write a common assessment for my grade level. I am hoping that the process ends up not being too difficult and that it ends up being something that becomes easy for me.

Happy almost Wednesday!

We Have a Winner!!!

 

I was so pleased with the turnout of my 1,000 follower giveaway! Thanks to everyone who entered! I need to give an even bigger shout-out though to all of those who made it possible with their donations!

Without further ado, the winner is...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I will be emailing you shortly Megan with details and to ask you for your choices. :) 

If I do not hear from Megan within 24 hours after my email is sent, I will select another winner.

DIY Classroom Wreath

 I posted this just a few days ago, but I also wanted to link up with Tara for her Monthly Monday Made It!

Thanks to my sweet friend, Lauren, I attempted a Pinterest craft for the first time. I am so grateful that Lauren is back in town. She had been teaching in a town a few hours away, but she took a part time PK job here where I am back in October and she is now being moved to full time Kinder for the spring. She is so crafty and I had seen this wreath outside of her classroom. She told me that she would show me how to make one, so we did just that last night. 

We spent most of our day in San Antonio yesterday hitting up some teacher stores, Ross, and last but not least, Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby was having 50% off of all ribbon so we knew that we had to make the wreaths. We picked up quite a few rolls there and then Lauren had some already that she had collected. 

The best part of these wreaths is that there is no right way to do it. All you need is a Styrofoam wreath (ours were white) and whatever ribbon you would like to use. There is not a certain length that the ribbon has to be except you will want to double knot it around the Styrofoam. In my opinion, you want the pieces of ribbon to be between 15 and 18 inches. 

Here is a picture of mine when I was about halfway though making it. 

The only thing to be aware of though is that you will make quite a mess since there is no real rhyme or reason to the order that you put the ribbon on the wreath. This is what our table looked like about half way though the project. 

I got super excited when I was almost finished and of course I had to take another picture. :)

Here is what the finished wreath looks like. 

I added a glittery K to mine to add some extra character. I could not wait to get to school today so I could hang it up on my door. Unfortunately, the next picture does not do it justice, but I am so grateful to have something fun on my door to break up the nasty tan color. 

I will be posting the Giveaway winner tomorrow sometime...be sure you check and see if you were the lucky one!

Currently...

The good news is that I am already holding up one of my goals for 2013 because I am blogging on the first day of the year. :) Now lets just hope that I can keep this up! 

I just love linking up with Farley (have I mentioned that I have met her twice in person now) for her monthly Currently party.

Listening: Hardly ever do I sit in my room without the TV on because I can not deal with the silence. Tonight's choice is one of my all-time favorite movies Mean Girls.

Loving: I absolutely love my job, but the fact that we get two weeks off for Christmas is pretty darn great too! I also loved that Christmas happened so quickly once we got out from school because I have really been able to relax after the holidays!

Thinking: I have a whole bucket of papers that need to be graded. I do not know what I was thinking! Luckily grades are not due until Tuesday the week we go back. I am usually known for getting them submitted about 10 minutes before our noon deadline. I also need to get some lesson planning done for the first unit when we go back. Luckily I have found some wonderful units on Teachers Pay Teacher to help me out! :)

Wanting: I remember that it was like the first day of school all over again when we went back for the spring semester last year. I am really wanting my students to remember all of our rules and procedures, but I know that we will have to do some reviewing. I already know that I am getting three new students from other teachers, so I am going to be up to 106 students for this semester. I already have a class promise activity planned and we will be doing some WBT review too!

Needing: Some serious organization is what I need! The spring is going to be crazy for me because I am teaching, taking my Principal Certification test, organizing and completing cheerleader tryouts, participating on an ACTS team, doing some staff development for the camp I am working at this summer, and graduating in May with my Masters degree. My new best friend is my Erin Condren Life Planner!

One Little Word: If you just read my needing section, it might be a little more obvious why I need balance. I need to find the right balance between school, faith, outside work, and me time. I have struggled with this and I really want to improve it!