June Happenings

A lot has happened since my last post at then beginning of June.

Summer School
I taught a week of summer school for second graders going into third grade that focused solely on math, specifically mental math and math strategies. Which is hard for me since upon teaching summer school, I realized I don't have many mental math strategies. I always do the standard algorithm in my head and I just assumed that everyone did that. 
Nope. 
Hardly anyone does that. 
News to me.

Everyone has these super clever strategies that involve rounding, compensating, estimating, etc. 

I still like the standard algorithm though and will probably continue with it because I tried to use other strategies. Really tried. But I always got stuck somewhere in my head when using a clever strategy. 

But anyways, it was hard for me to teach mental math because I don't really do it the way we're supposed to be teaching kids. But we started off doing a mental math problem every day to get the kids' brains working. They would solve the problem in their head and then talk about how they solved it/the strategies they used with a friend. 

These two girls are discussing the strategies they used to solve the problem. Which sounds tricky. But the kids actually did a great job explaining what they did in their heads to get the answer. Obviously, first graders would need a lot more scaffolding to be able to successfully share. Because my kids' favorite strategy was "I did it in my head."

Then we would make a list with the strategies they used, starting with the most basic and going to the most sophisticated. The kiddos would then record their thinking in their math journals.

Next was a minilesson where we taught the kiddos some more strategies they could use besides counting on, which was by far the most popular (but least sophisticated) strategy. We taught them about making tens, doubles, and tens frames. The students would have time to practice the new strategies with the teacher, with partners, and independently.

Here we are working with part-part-whole mats and manipulating the cubes to make groups of tens.

We also made posters that we hung up around the room for the kids to look back to whenever they needed.

Last, we ended the day with centers that reinforced these skills. The kids loved centers since they were playing games and having fun.

All of that happened in the mornings. In the afternoons, the teachers had PD about how to teach math so it was more meaningful for students. We then took our new learnings and planned for the following day. I learned a lot from teaching summer school and I am super excited to take a lot so much of it back to first grade. Things that I definitely am going to incorporate are math journals, mental math time, and a math strategies/vocab wall. 

Phoenix --> Milwaukee

I also returned to Milwaukee on a red eye flight. Which was, of course, delayed. It wouldn't have been too bad except with the time change, I didn't arrive until 1:30 or something? Thankfully, I have wonderful parents who came to get me even though it was super late at night. Plus I feel bad about leaving Evan and Marlee. But with less than a month to go before wedding day, someone has to get this planning going. 

Wedding

Thankfully, Pinterest and Etsy have been amazing resources. What would I do without them? Here are some of my ideas/inspiration.

From Pinterest: Here

From Pinterest: Here

Etsy: Here

Ampersand: TJ Maxx

From Pinterest: Here

Busy days for sure! 

June Already?!

Ahhhh, the sweet sounds of summer vacation! I have officially been on break for one week, and it is glorious. Short lived though since I am doing summer school next week and then heading back to Wisconsin where the real work will began aka getting this wedding all set.

But since it is June, that means Currently!

Listening: When Monk was still making new episodes, my family and I would watch them together. Brings back some good memories...

Loving: That I am on summer vacation. Although I still feel like I should be doing something school-related. So much so that I started making library labels for my books. It's a big job since Microsoft Word doesn't seem to like cooperating with me and the label template. But I'm making it work.

Thinking: We have a busy day tomorrow. We are going to look at (and hopefully purchase) Evan's wedding ring tomorrow. I already have mine since it came as a set, but he needs one. And since we are getting married in 35 days, we better get a move on with that. And we have to go to Target to get a few things too and this apartment won't clean itself which leads into...

Wanting: I really don't know how so much dust accumulates in one apartment. And I hate dusting. And since it's so much hotter now (it reached 108 today!), we have so much more laundry!

Needing: I feel like I say this every time, but this time I mean it! I really need a massage. My neck and back are killing me beyond belief. And I have to get a move on wedding planning. Luckily, a lot of the big things are done, it's just the little details left.

Vacay Essentials: My parents love to travel and they took my sister and me on wonderful trips. And usually beach lounging was not on the agenda. So my essentials are items that are more for the journey and city trips. First, gotta have a good book to get through long plane rides. And ideally, I take a book that I don't want to bring home so I can leave it somewhere for someone else to read. Then I feel less guilty buying new ones! Second is a travel buddy. When I studied abroad in Australia, I didn't know anyone very well so I spent a lot of time traveling and exploring the city alone. And although I enjoyed parts of that (doing exactly what I wanted), it definitely got lonely at times. So traveling with friends/family/someone is an essential for me! And lastly, a cross body bag. I hate carrying purses and I find them cumbersome when shopping or taking the subway.

Happy Weekend!

Next School Year...

So I have officially survived my first year of teaching!! And I didn't jump out of a window or drive off the Grand Canyon! 

Woooo!!!

But is it sad that I am already thinking about next year?? I can't help it. I mean, this year went really well overall, but there are some things I definitely want to change for next year. Lucky for me, Kim at Finding Joy in 6th Grade is having the perfect linky party - What Will You Do Differently?

I was definitely too sweet with my kids at the beginning of the year. Luckily, I had an amazing class so it wasn't too detrimental, but I might not be as lucky next time. So I need to toughen up right away and let them know that there are consequences to sad choices.

I still can't get over how much paper accumulates over the course of a day. So. Much. Paper. All. The. Time. Before school ended, I tried to get my filing cabinet somewhat organized and I have gotten a ton of plastic paper trays to help combat the paper monster. I also need to recycle things that I don't need right away too instead of stacking it up somewhere in case I "might" need it later.

Fluency is a big deal in Arizona. In fact, a new law was recently passed that if a 3rd grade student is falling far below for fluency/RCBM, that student will automatically be retained. Just like that. Parents and teachers have no control over it. So it's really important that my students make their fluency goals so they have an easier time reaching fluency goals in the later grades. Fluency at my school is a struggle for kids. Only 8 of my 21 students achieved their fluency goals and I had the most growth in first grade!! Not too hot at all.

So right away, fluency is going to be a huge focus of mine. I've got some ideas mulling in my head so hopefully it will help out my kiddos!

I was a lot better with math journals in the beginning of the year, but as the year continued on, we did them less and less until never using them. Next year, I want to do them (ideally) daily, but at least a few times per week. I've got some great resources from TPT that I am planning on putting to use.

What will you do differently next year?!

Classroom Library Organization {Part 1}

I have a confession. I, Liz, am a children's book-aholic. I don't really know how it happened. Well actually I do.

Ever since I got into the School of Education and saw my first practicum teacher's beautiful book collection, I knew that I had to start finding and collecting quality books for my future students' library.

So I began to scour library book sales, my old books, thrift stores, and basically anywhere else to start finding awesome books. I never paid more than $1 per book (unless it was a truly special/favorite book of mine) and my collection began to grow and grow.

I am really proud of my classroom library, Suzy, especially being a first year teacher. I can thank my cooperating teacher for showing me the huge importance of having an extensive classroom library. She was on the committee for picking the Charlotte Zolotow (I think that was the one...?) award winner and she got heaps of books to review. I learned a lot about high quality lit from her.

Now the problem with having an extensive library is how to organize it. Suzy didn't really organize her books for the kids. She just had assorted books in various tubs and each kid would take one tub and be able to read a huge assortment. Books that were not out for looking at were alphabetized by author in a cabinet. I knew that I wanted some more organization, mainly so I could find books quickly when I needed them.

This year, I did book colors. Each book had some colored dots on the black that matched a genre tub. Yeah, didn't really work well. It was difficult for the kids to put away and books were often not in the appropriate bins. So yesterday, we scraped (and by we I mean my kids) off all the dots.

Next year, I want to do sticker labels that I've seem on other teachers' blogs. It seems like it's a much better way to find and categorize books plus it seems easier for kids match the sticker label with a picture and words to the right bin than a color. 

Look how sad my room looks! It is getting so empty! I haven't gotten that far yet, but I did sort and box up my books by category. Basically, my room was a hot mess after school since I wanted to create more categories for my books. For example, instead of having an animals bin, I want to have more specific animal bins. Like dogs, cats, bears, etc. Instead of having a blanket non-fiction bin, I broke that up and matched by category so students will find mixtures of fiction and non-fiction in the bin about dogs. 

 Yikes, it was such a chore. Thankfully, all the books (with the exception of the books that fell in the sad box called Random Books) now have a home and a new category and have been neatly put away in the closet for the summer since my room is getting painted (and the LAST thing I want is for my books to get all painty!!)

I will also need to get more bins and baskets too but I'll cross that bridge when I get there. Plus all the labeling and stickering of the books. Yikes, I am tired just thinking about it. It truly is a labor of love, but so worth it. I love seeing my kids get excited to read books that I read to them already or see them, especially my lower friends, reading books for fun that they picked.. When we were picking off the color labels and sorting together, kids kept coming saying "Remember when we read this book?!" or "I loved this book!", Music to a teacher's ears. 

But I only have two more days of school (both of them being short days too!!) until summer. Then I start summer school in a week and then head home to get everything in order for the wedding!

Happy last days of school!

Weekend - Scholastic Warehouse Sale

I don't know about anyone else, but did this past week seem to drag on and on forever??? Needless to say, I am so glad it is Saturday! 

Evan is away on a conference near Boston until Wednesday (he left this past Wednesday at the crack of dawn) so it's just me and this cute face until then.

We have spent a lot of quality time cuddling and spending time at the dog park. We both love the dog park. Marlee loves it because she gets to run and play with lots of other dogs. I love it because it wears her out and I get more sleep. 

Corina at Surfin through Second blogged about the Scholastic Warehouse sale that she went to last weekend and that's where I went too!!

From what I gathered, the book sale happens a few times a year and I noticed that almost all of the products I had seen earlier at our school book fair (which I think was two weeks ago but I don't really remember...?). Anyways, everything was 50-80%, which was awesome! It was really difficult to not throw everything into my bag. Especially YA fiction. Even though I'm too (technically) too adult for YA fiction, I think I will always love it. I didn't get any though.

There are aisles and aisles of books - all sorted - plus they had some novelty school supplies and adult books too. 

I tried to really limit myself with the fiction books, but I got a few of my favorites plus some non-fiction books and three adult books for me. Marlee, of course, was oh so interested in them. Actually, after I restacked them, she proceeded to lay down on them. Silly dog!

And I was super pumped to see that What does the X-Ray say book was written by second graders at Longfellow Elementary School in West Allis, Wisconsin, which is super close to my house! So of course I had to get that one!!

Tomorrow is just housework and cleaning and some school stuff. I was able to get report cards finished today and my awards for the awards ceremony on Monday. Hopefully I remember to take pictures of that!!

Happy Weekend!

Five for Friday and Winner!

My first Five for Friday! I have always wanted to do F4F but I never get my act together during the week to take enough pictures. 

1. Winner of my Giveaway!! Congrats Kelly Beam Brown!! I will be emailing you soon!

2. We made these for Mother's Day. After searching the 99cent store for ANY sort of craft-y type thing, one of my teammates and I decided on flower pens. Here is the finished product:

They turned out pretty cute. We also made mini notepads (just stapled paper that the kids decorated), a thank you letter, and a picture of Mom. We then decorated a brown lunch bag to put everything in and then we stapled it shut to stop any curious Moms from sneaking a peek!

3. We have been doing some How-To Writing and one of my kiddos wrote about how to make a gingerbread man cookie. And then flip it over and I see that it's the runaway gingerbread story. Yep. He wrote that in the directions. 

4. One of the (few) enjoyable things about living in Phoenix is the beautiful weather. Evan and I have been eating meals outside since like April...?

5. So I may or may not be the only teacher still doing reading groups. But they are my favorite time of the day! I always include sight word work, especially for my lowest sweeties. I love these letter tiles!!

Your turn! Go link up!

How I Became a Teacher

After reading Abby's post and with it being Teacher Appreciation Day/Week, I am writing about why and how I decided to become a teacher.

Like most kids growing up, I definitely wanted to be a teacher at many points during my life. But I also wanted to be a plethora of other things including a farmer (my sister and I had this whole plan to buy an old barn near our house...and then it got torn down), a librarian (because I wanted to scan and stamp books) and a fashion designer (since I am a fashionista). But I never really felt a true calling for anything or felt that I was destined to do anything. 

I was all set to enter college in Fall 2007 going in undecided and just working on some gen eds until I could figure things out. However, before I started college, I went to Nicaragua with my church on a mission trip to teach a combination of ESL and Vacation Bible School to residents of one of the poorest cities in the country. Two of my good friends were going too so I thought it would be a great time spent with friends. Boy was I wrong. It was a great time, but it was so much more than that. It changed my life.

While there, I developed a love of teaching and giving knowledge to people who don't have it and need it in order to be successful. 

All I wanted to do was help these wonderful people in any way that I could. And the best way for me to do that was to help them learn English. 

We did basic English words like days of the week, colors, numbers, and worked with Biblical stories. Everyone was so hungry to learn.

 I worked with kids and adults and they were some of the kindest, most grateful people I have ever met; they just wanted to learn and absorb everything that they could. Although I was only there for a week, I felt such a calling to pursue education and teaching when I got back to America.

So when I got back to Wisconsin and went to college orientation, instead of doing undecided majors sign up, I went to the School of Education with the pre-education majors. I signed up for classes and got information on applying to the School of Ed. 

After having a tough time with the first three semesters of college, both academically and emotionally, I got my act together and started being more successful and getting decent grades. I started volunteering at a local elementary school as well as joining Jumpstart through Americorps. Jumpstart is a program that sets of college students with preschool "buddies". These preschoolers are at risk for falling behind in kinder so we worked with them on beginning literacy skills.

My adorable Jstart Buddy Luv'ly!

And in the summer of 2009, I was accepted to the School of Ed!! I was so excited that pretty sure I acted like these people: 

I started in the program in Spring 2010, all pumped and ready to learn how to be a teacher! That semester was a rocky one though. I actually withdrew from the program for a day. We had been going on school visits and I just could not believe what I was seeing. I was shocked to see these poor kids learning in environments that were so boring and uninspiring. I felt that it wasn't for me at all and I dropped out of the program. Well, of course, God had other plans and the very next day on our very next school visit, I see an amazing teacher teaching fractions in such a way that was engaging and fun for students! So after frantically calling my advisor  I was able to withdraw my dropping of the program before it went through. 

I continued to go through the rest of the five semester program, having no doubts that I am meant to be a teacher.

I graduated from UW in Spring 2012 and luckily had a job teaching first grade in Phoenix after attending a job fair put on by my school. Evan and I moved down here and it's hard to believe that my first year of teaching is almost over!

Thanks to everyone who has helped me along the way. I have had lots of teachers from my elementary, middle, and high school teachers to college professors and TAs. Thank you also to my wonderful cooperating teachers who have shaped me into the teacher I am today. Thanks to the wonderful mentor teachers who have shown me the ropes of having my own classroom. 

With Teacher's Appreciation Week, thank you to teachers everywhere for working so hard for the needs of your students. For staying after school late, spending your own money so your students can have a little bit more, for what feels like herding cats, for smiling when you feel like screaming, and for everything else that you do. 

Just remember that although it doesn't always feel like it, you are making a difference in someone's life every day.

Thanks for all you do!