| The Teaching Reef

Archive for June, 2012

Jun 30

Oh. My. Word. I got and Award!

Okay, so I am really darn excited this morning! I think I am going to have to take you play by play in this post. It wont take that long….promise.
So first I work up {8:30} and my husband woke up with me, which is never the case {he is an 11:00 rise and shine on a Saturday kinda guy}! Then he made me french toast! Yummy, right? This was a surprise and a great tasting one. I just love my husband. Well the day just kept getting better because then I went onto my blog and found that I had a new comment. But this was no ordinary comment. This comment was special. It was to inform me that a fellow blogger was awarding me the Versatile Blogger Award. How amazing is this? I think I must have reread it at least 3 times before I headed over to her blog and checked out the award. You know those moments in life when you think to yourself, “is this really happening?” Well, that was me. So check out my new award! So cute! Now I am going to have to create a new catagory on the side of my blog {that’s a good thing}!

So you are probably wondering who awarded me this blog award, well it is from a brand new blogger! She has been teaching for 12 years but has just started her blog. It has been up and running for 2 weeks now. Tammy is just so friendly. She has commented on my blog and checks back in when I respond! She takes the time to engage in conversation with fellow bloggers and that is so refreshing to me! So thanks Tammy for being such a friendly blogger. I couldn’t have asked for a better person to award me this award. Please go check out her blog by clicking here, Mrs. Flickinger’s Butterfly Oasis.

Now with an award there is always rule you need to follow and I am not one to break rules. Here is what the rules are:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you – Thank you Tammy!!!

2. Include a link to their site – Check!

3. Include the award image in your post – Yum, how could I not?

4. Give 7 random facts about yourself – Check them out below!

5. Nominate 15 other bloggers for the award- I need to think about this one!

6. When nominating, include a link to their site – coming soon!

7. Let other bloggers know they’ve been nominated – Done.

So here are some 7 very random facts about myself.

1. I have a blue Chihuahua {she isn’t really blue, but that is what color her coat is described as} that is the other love of my life! She is my creating buddy and loves to be in my lap when I am working on new units.

2. Mark proposed to me at the Gaylord Palms Ice Show. This is so no like my husband {he doesn’t like to get up in front of people he doesn’t know} and I was totally in shock. I really turned into an awkward and nervous person this night when all eyes were on me. (I forgot to look at the camera in every photo)

3. I love Greek Salads and will usually order one whenever I get the chance! The one that I had on our honeymoon was my favorite, one of the best that I have ever had. It wasn’t your traditional Greek Salad.

4. I am blessed to work with teachers that are not only the best colleges ever, but some of the best friends a girl could ask for.

5. I love ice cream! My favorite flavor is Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough!

6. I have a younger brother named Michael. We are 2 years apart and both born on the 2nd of a month.

7. Last, I love flowers but I really enjoy sunflowers. One summer Mark and I grew sunflowers at his parents house.

Alright so before I go I wanted to let everyone know that I am editing my Daily 5 Classroom Pack.

Tammy had asked me if I would create cards and things for computers since that is a part of the Daily 5 for so many teachers. So Of course I said, “yes”! But that is not all I am adding. There are also fellow teachers that have to send their students to the library during their reading block so I am also creating library cards for the rotations display. I am in the process of making them and will have the new pack up and ready to download by the end of the weekend at the latest {I am hoping to squeeze a little surprise into the pack as well}. Okay well have a relaxing weekend. I can tell this is going to be a great day for me, I hope it will be a great day for you.

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Posted in About the Teacher, Award, Daily 5

Jun 26

A Daily 5 Freebie!

Rain, rain go away come again some other day! I am really wishing that song worked its magic right about now….. Is anyone out here in teacher blog world in Florida and trying to make it trough this awful weather curtsy of Tropical Storm Debbie? Well let me just tell you it has been a WEEK! I mean if bad weather lasting 4 days isn’t enough to drive someone crazy just add a beach trip rained out, and a flooded classroom to the list! YUCK! Luckily my school things survived and nothing was damaged. But my best next door teaching buddy, well her room is a different story! My heart goes out to her. Needless to say that we have been teaching both of our summer school classes in my room this week. So enough about that…

I am excited to say that after a long awaited arrival my Daily 5 book, it finally came in the mail! Yahoo! There was a little bit of a mix up on the delivery location Amazon set it to, for some reason it defaulted to my second address {which is my school address} so it got delivered there. So I was able to pick it up Monday….. when I could of had it on Friday. So I read chapters one and two already and my mind is buzzing with ideas. I have to be honest I am really enjoying the sister’s whole philosophy, especially in the areas of sense of urgency and STAY OUT OF THE WAY! I mean I am kinda guilty on the last one but I will touch on that in a minute. I feel as though once the students understand the purpose or the big {why} then they will be willing to give it their time and best effort. I just love that. No more centers that are like busy work so that they stay out of my hair during guided reading. I have a purpose for meeting with groups and they have a purpose for working at their centers. Just seems right. I really can’t wait to read the next chapters and really get a picture of how I am going to achieve this!

Okay on to my text to self connection, which I am not quite sure if this is a good thing. So a big rule during the center implementation is for us the teachers to STAY OUT OF THE WAY as the children practice. However the encourager in me just loves to walk around the room giving specific praise for what my good little readers are doing. I reinforce their on task behavior. However, when you are not there to give that praise because you are now busy with groups it becomes a problem. The students are lost without that reinforcement. They are used to completing things for your feedback. So lesson learned, have students practice centers for THEM not for ME! I have to admit it makes total sense now and as I was reading, it was my total Ah ha moment for the day.

I am linking up a little late so I will try and get my reading done and other freebies created by next Monday. But for now I will share what I have done. I have been a busy little bee creating my own daily 5 classroom pack for the up and coming school year. I am going to be offering it as a freebie at my TpT store. I made a lot of different options because I have a feeling I will change my mind 1,000 different times by the end of this book. So I’ll tell you what is in the freebie, hopefully you can find something useful for your classroom.

So I wanted to show you how I set up each card. If you are familiar with the book you know that she uses quick ways to write down the 5 daily choices {Sorry I am a total skim and scan for eye catching things first, then read after kind of reader}. So I thought it would be a great idea to incorporate these quick symbols throughout all the materials I create. So far I like that way it looks.

In this preview I have made large Daily 5 posters to hang up in the room. I don’t know where this is going to be at the moment but I am excited about how they turned out! There is also student name cards for choice options if I display it that way. But I was inspired by some of the other photos I have seen, so there is more to show you.

BTW I also made hanging choice cards as well as mini center rotation cards with round 1, 2 and 3 cards. I just am not sure what I am feeling will work in my room right now so I am still trying to envision it working. So if you are like me this might be a good little freebie for you to get until we can get deeper into the book.

However, just so you can get inspired along with me, here are some of the photos and resources that I have found on Pinterest. I have linked them up to the original teacher blog so check them out. They are all pretty great if I do say so myself.

I love this big display, but I am not sure I have the room for this. If you check out this teacher’s page you will find a ton of free downloads in pdf. =)

This is the type of rotation choice I think I am going to choose to use in my classroom. I am really liking the minimal space that I takes up.

Okay so last photo that I found is super cute! I love this ribbon that she used to hang the cards. I have to figure out a way to get a little ribbon in there!

Make sure you check out the linking party {here} for the Daily 5: Chapter 2!

Before I call it a night I wanted to update you on the status of my Mystery unit! This unit is going to be great but it is just taking a while to get finished. Check out the detective case file I have created as part of the unit. I made these my first year {only these are super cute and mine are, well not, especially when you compare them to my new and improved version} and the students L-O-V-E, love them. They think they are so cool and it makes feeling like a detective that more real.

Okay well, I hope everyone is enjoying there summer and not having bad weather like we are in Florida. I will try and put the finishing touches on my Mystery unit ASAP.