One Lovely Blog Award

A big thanks to Mrs. T at Teaching Mrs. T for bestowing upon me the One Lovely Blog Award!

I must be doing something right, as this is the 2nd one I've received. <grin>

The rules for the award are as follows:

1. Follow the person who gave you the award  

2. Link back to the person that gave you the award

3. Pass the award on to 15 new bloggers. 

Letting you know right now, that 15 bloggers is A LOT, sooo, I'm going to choose 5  lovely blogs.  Here they are (Congratulations!):

Mrs. Saunders' Lovelies

Teise's Tidbits

Ms. G. in Grade 3
Reading With Miss D
I Teach 

Another Fabulous Giveaway

Corinna at Mrs. Allen's 5th Grade Files is having an awesome giveaway to celebrate her 50th follower, although at the rate she's going, she'll be celebrating 100 before she's done! She's also got some really good boards on Pinterest organized according to grade AND subject. Check her out!

Kiss First Day Jitters...Goodbye! Linky Party

I am linking up with Mrs. Saunders' Lovelies for the Kiss First Day Jitters. . . Goodbye! Linky Party.  A most relevant topic as we start heading back to school or think about heading back to school.  Having been a teacher for the past 17 years, I don't really get first day jitters but that is partially mostly due to the fact that I have learned to plan and overplan exactly what I will be teaching for the first few days (and teaching procedures figures prominently!)

Having said that, I remember, quite vividly, the first couple several years, having 'teaching' nightmares a couple of days before school started.  You know. . . the ones where you come to school . . . . LATE,  and have nothing prepared or forgot what you were teaching, or the kids don't listen to you. . . AT ALL, or, my personal 'favourite'. . . you lose a student! I'm sure you can all relate! LOL  Phew!. . . thank goodness, I don't do THAT anymore!

So here are some of the most important procedures (although they're ALL important) I teach that first day:

• morning routine
• quieting the class 
• hand signals
• recess and lunch dismissal
• end of day routine
• lining up

I wrote about classroom procedures a few posts ago and am posting a link to the document I created here.  Check it out if you get a chance. :)

Liebster Award!

 

Thanks to Heather from Wild About Words for the Liebster Award!  So what is a "Liebster?"....

This award is named for the German word "Liebster," which translates to "beloved" or "favorite," and it is given to "new, up and coming bloggers."

The rules:
1.  Link back to the person who gave it to you.
2.  Post the award to your blog.
3.  Give the award to at least 5 bloggers with less than 200 followers.
4.  Leave a comment on the 5 blogs to  let them know that they have been offered this award.

Here are my picks :)

CAFE Book Study - Reflections on Ch. 1

I wanted to share my thoughts about the CAFE book on the We Read, We Blog, We Teach site but because I tend to be long winded and didn't want to hog the space, I've decided to do my own post about Chapter 1!

First, I absolutely LOVE the CAFE book . . . mainly because it puts all those seemingly disparate bits and pieces I was doing in the classroom into a very succinct and focused manner.  And it's written in a very practical, hands-on type of way.

Here's where I was at BEFORE I decided to embrace Daily 5 and CAFE:

• used a workshop approach in both reading/writing
• had a reading assessment binder where I recorded student reading levels, reading assessment test results, books they were reading (Status of the Class) and individual conference notes
• whole group mini-lessons (which weren't so mini and sometimes took up a reading period)
• individual conferences (when I found the time to squeeze in students...very inconsistent!)
• occasionally pulled groups that needed help with comprehension (I tried the Guided Reading thing, but just couldn't figure out how to make it work)

Here's what I DID NOT like about what I was doing:

•  not enough time for individual conferences (which I totally believe are invaluable)
• "loosey-goosey" ongoing (formative) assessment structure
• mini-lessons that weren't mini
• no structured group/guided reading

**After reading CAFE, I actually felt like I was not doing a very good job teaching literacy**  Can you say "feelings of inadequacy"

After reading CAFE --
Here's what I'm most excited about:

•   The Pensieve! Although I used an assessment binder to keep students' reading data in, the Pensieve just totally kicks it up a notch . . . I actually went to the Zazzle website and ordered a custom made one! . . . that's how excited I am about it!

 Here's what I'm most comfortable with:

• whole group instruction - despite the fact that many of my mini lessons tend not to be so mini and that is something I will need to definitely tweak,  I have a good repertoire of mini-lessons (especially if I break them down even further!)

Here's what I'm cautiously optimistic about:

• meeting with students on an individual basis - implementing Daily 5 will allow me the time (which was so desperately lacking before) to conference regularly with students which they actually loved to do, too. :)

Here's what I'm downright scared most concerned about:

• strategy groups!  I didn't feel comfortable with Guided Reading, so this area is totally outside my comfort zone and will be the one area that I will stress about.  Having said that, the CAFE book gives lots of suggestions and examples of what it looks like AND I'm sure there will be lots of suggestions from fellow bloggers about how to address this . . . I HOPE! :)

Feel free to leave your 2¢ :)

Classroom Procedures

I've been tempted to link up with the To Do List linky that is going around but I was afraid that if I started to write down ALL the things I wanted/needed to get done for school,  I'd start panicking! LOL. . . and I've just started my summer break . . . I don't go back until after Labour Day!  I am feeling a little under the gun though, because I'm going away in 2 weeks for a fab 3 week vacay to Europe (OMG,OMG!) which leaves me a week after I get back to get organized before school starts.

So. . . I've started by revamping my classroom procedures & routines (thanks to the influence of Clutter Free Classroom) into a more cohesive and thorough document that I can keep in my teacher binder AND in my sub binder AND in a copy for students to access. :)

It took me 3 days (they were leisurely days, but anyway...) but I'm quite happy with  what I ended up with.  If you'd like to check it out and perhaps use part or all of it you can download it here.

Up next. . . revamping clipboards, start putting together my Pensieve, teacher binder and sub binder, revamp an old easel into a clip chart stand, create Daily Math lessons for the SMARTboard. . . oh, geez . . . I'm making a list! . . . NOOOOO!......LOL

Newbie Blog Hop!

If, like me, you are relatively new to blogging, you may want to link up with this blog hop.  A great opportunity to meet bloggers who are still trying to figure out this blogging 'stuff' (like:  how to create a grab button, how to link up <grin>, how to create a cool signature...) LOL.  For all the details, check out the link above to Grade 3 Is The Place For Me.  You have to do a little bit of work, but you're on summer break, right?! LOL

    1.  what state you are in I'm actually in a province (British Columbia)

    2.  your current teaching position   Gr. 3/4

    3.  your teaching experience  I'm going into my 17th year having taught  

             everything from Gr. 3 to Gr. 7 with a bit of Learning Assistance thrown in :)

    4.  when you started blogging  This blog in March, officially 2010

    5.  share a blogging tip / blogging resource Pinterest is a great way to

             find great teaching resources/ideas AND teaching blogs. Participating in Linky parties is a 

             great way to get your blog out there and to find new blogs. :)