It's been a while..

Hello everyone! It has been quite a while. I've been so busy with getting ready for the first day of school. Our first day of school was Monday! It went so well. My team and I have been practicing with students the rotation schedule amongst classes. If you remember from an earlier post, I'm responsible for teaching reading and writing. This week we have done fun, short, writing activities. I'll be taking some pictures today of a fun activity I did this week with my class.
I drew on a large poster paper, puzzle pieces. I then cut them up and placed them in a bag labeled CAYER'S CLASS. We created a wonderful anchor chart together about what the puzzle piece activity is about and what are some ideas of design we could put on our puzzle pieces. This puzzle piece is to represent them! They also did a small writing piece of what is on their puzzle piece and WHY they chose what they did. Some students felt comfortable reading their paper out loud (which I was really proud of considering it was the third day of school!) We then put the puzzle together on another piece of poster board and I pasted with a glue stick the puzzle. I then need to laminate it today at school. The students put together their puzzle in 10 minutes! It was a tough puzzle, I was so impressed with their cooperation and teamwork!! I'll post pictures later today of this project..very fun!! :)
-Happy Thursday Everyone!!!

I'm Back!

Well everyone, I've been MIA from the blogging world for over a week. This is due to me recovering from bronchitis and having a few splintered ribs (thank you uncontrollable coughing). I've been taking it easy. However, I am starting to feel like I'm turning a corner with all of this. It's about time! There is much to be done, I start work the 23rd...and the students come on the 27th!

Something BIG has changed since last time I've posted:
*My team and I decided to try "departmentalization" this year. I will be teaching Reading and Writing to all 5th grade students at my school. I couldn't be more thrilled. The literacy block during the day is my absolute favorite. I often wished it could last all day...well, now it will :).

A few things I need to do to prepare for this:
*Create 40+ more writers notebooks (I've already done them for my class)
*Create 3 big binders for each class, for running records and notes, each student has their own section.
*I need to work on color cordinating all materials for the three groups.  Our colors are: Green, Blue, and Purple!
*I need to plan for the first week, meet with my team, and decide when we want to introduce the process of rotating. This is something that will be new to many, and it was decided during the summer. None of the students know.
*I need to find an amazing book to start the year off. 

That's about it, the room is pretty much decorated and ready. :)

Any followers/readers out there that departmentalize in the elementary grade levels? Any advice? Ideas? 


 

Last Mini Vacation Of The Summer!

Well everyone, I'm feeling a little better with this bronchitis. It's still here a bit but hopefully gone soon. Thanks to everyone that has wished me well. The last time I posted I mentioned how I was going to read The Book Whisperer: Awakening The Inner Reader in Every Child, by Donnalyn Miller. Well, I'm just about finished with it and I am really impressed with this book. It's written very well and is a fun read.

Three Big Ideas From This Book:

*Reading should be fun and exciting!

*Students need choice!

*There are no "struggling" readers..just dormant, underground, and developing. 

(Loved these terms she used..she went into detail and examples of each of these types of readers, these three terms are much more positive!)

The BIG idea I agree with Donnalyn is students should have choice. They NEED choice! If a child feels as though reading is "work" there is no joy in that. She goes into examples of interest surveys that students complete at the beginning of the year to readers notebooks. Donnalyn also goes into how she as a child discovered the love of books. It was an enjoyable read and I reccomend it to anyone who is looking to revisit how they teach their reading workshop. Donnalyn teaches 6th grade, I teach 5th..I found it to be a great fit. I think any grade level would benefit from this.

The first day of school is approaching (the end of the month) so my fiance and I went on our last little mini vacation of the season! Maine is a large state, I'm from Western Maine and have never traveled too far East. Well, we went on a road trip....and four hours later we arrived in blueberry country! Check out some of the pictures: 

We then made it to Beals Island, a small lobstering village! It was so beautiful and fun to watch the boats. I enjoyed walking on the beach when the tide was out looking at shells. So beautiful!

 We also went to Boston, MA for two days.. I rode the T for the first time! 

Phew..after four days of road trips I am ready to do a little refocusing on the teaching front. Many of the blogs I follow have already started school. I have a few more weeks to go. I'm at an interesting place currently with my classroom...I'll be posting more soon! I'm glad to be back and to have 33 followers! Can't wait to reach 50..100..?? :)

Bronchitis...Yuck!

Bronchitis isn't a fun thing. I've been having this awful cough for over three weeks and I finally forced myself to visit the doctors office to have it checked. I thought for sure allergies or something. Nope, I have bronchitis to my surprise. Extremely random and yucky. Therefore I've been taking it pretty easy on the teaching front. I'm looking forward to doing a little reading from the couch tomorrow. I was given The Book Whisperer at the end of the school year by someone I work with. My colleague told me that Donalyn reminded him of ME! I have done a little reading on her, finding that she believes reading should come from..well, BOOKS. That we should read for enjoyment. All of these stations and cutting and pasting of "word work" can only go so far. Reading is where it's at. It's a life skill. I cannot wait to dive into it tomorrow, I have been putting it off too long. I'll give a little bit of a book synopsis once I'm done, which may be tomorrow..depending on how I'm feeling. :)
I wanted to also say, thank you so much, I have 28 followers now, I'd love to make it to 50...100! I cannot wait. Take care everyone, I look forward to catching up and reading all of your blogs tomorrow!

Made it Monday!

This is my first "Made it Monday!" I'm pretty excited.

 

 I made something yesterday that I'm pretty proud of. I created my own lesson plan book. To be honest, I was searching on TPT yesterday for lesson plan pages, and I even purchased a lesson plan book created by someone else, printed it off, and bound it together, yet..It just didn't work for me. What was I thinking? I needed to just create my own. 

Here are a few pictures of some of the pages I created:

As you can see I've got this pink and purple polka dot theme going on..which is so me. The one I purchased was black and white..so not me. I'm really happy with the results. I've printed out all the sheets and I can't wait to bind them today or tomorrow! There are many sheets in this including student info sheets, favorite websites, birthdays, everything! It's so fun! I also love the font I chose, there are little hearts throughout. :)

If you like my lesson plan book, feel free to stop by my TPT store and check it out! 

Happy Monday Everyone!

Linky Party!

I have to admit, I've been an absolute sucker for these linky parties, but I can't resist, they are so fun and a great way for newbie bloggers like me to link up with others! I really enjoyed this one because everyone can get to know one another better! Yes we are teachers...but what else makes us..US? Well, Amy at Step Into 2nd is having a great linky party. Check her blog out here: 

So get to know me a little bit better..:)

1. I'm from the beautiful state of Maine. I'm from rural Maine and I absolutely love it here. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. I love being in the outdoors and getting my hands dirty. I love camping, kayaking, and gardening! Yes, I have moose in my backyard...it's really no big deal.

2. I am engaged to my best friend, Jason. Jason and I have been together for a little over 3 years now. Jason proposed to me in March and surprised me at school! He always told me he would surprise me and catch me completely off guard. Jason is a State Trooper and in the Marine Corps. He was in Afghanistan for a year and returned in February! It was a tough year without him, but we did it!

 My sister and I at the homecoming waiting for Jason!

 Jason and I! We haven't seen each other for a year. Really happy!

 Jason with his fellow Troopers. :)

My ring! Exactly what I wanted. :)

3. Jason and I have two dogs together. Timber and Boone. They are our "boys" as we call them! Timber is a German Shepard and Boone is a Yellow Lab. Boone is 2, Timber is about 5. 

 Boone when he was just a little puppy!

 Now he's all grown up!

Timber, he is the keeper of all bones and toys...he has sharing issues.

4. My sister is my best friend. My sister Hillary is about 3 years younger than me. She is WAY different than me, but we balance each other out quite nicely. We sometimes still bicker but we do it with love, of course. I can't imagine my life without the love of a sister. She is something special.

 Hill and I in front of my house a couple summers ago. Timber is pretty happy!

My sister got this tattoo on her upper back...enough said. :)

My mom..she's also my best friend. We can have more than one. :) 

5. I love to READ. I am a book worm. I'm a series reader, meaning, I get absolutely obsessed with characters and all I want to do is continue to read their journey. Series I love include: Fifty Shades of Grey, The Hunger Games, Twilight (YES!), Harry Potter, and Matched. I also love other books..these are just a few favorites! :) 

6. I graduated from the University of Maine at Farmington. One of the best experiences ever, I loved it and wish I could still go back somedays (not because I don't love what I do..I just love going to school and miss taking classes) which is why I'm looking into starting my masters degree courses!

My Sister, Mom, and Dad!

Alright, 6 is enough. I hope you've enjoyed!

One Lovely Blog Awards!

As I mentioned earlier, I needed to search and find 15 new blogs to give this award to! Well I've done some searching and I've found 5 new(er) fabulous, fashionable blogs! *Okay fine, I've changed the rules a little bit, but I had a hard enough time finding 5! I think 5 will suffice. :) Here are the rules for this award!

There are a few rules to receive this award:

~ Follow the person(s) who gave you the award.

~Link back to the person who gave you the award.

~Pass this award on to 15 new bloggers!
*Do the best you can...I did 5! :)

Well here they are, enjoy and check them out!