July Goals

I came across this link up hosted by Jess over at I {Heart} Recess and just knew I had to join in.  I firmly believe in setting goals with my students and yearly goals for myself as well.  However, I tend to be a little loosey-goosey with those long term goals so thought this monthly set might fair better (especially since they are actually written down and others can see them LOL)  It's all about accountability right?

So here are my July goals:

Personal- I recently tore apart my upstairs bathroom  and stairwell to do a little remodel.  I have finished up painting in the bath, now need to make a curtain (I can't sew to save my life!) and do some texturing/painting in the stairwell.

Family- we have many quick places of interest I want to take the kids to before it is time for school.  They are growing up so fast and busy with their own interests, it is hard to find time to squeeze in when we can all just hang out together.

Health- My summer goal is to loose 15 pounds.  I did well this Spring-I gave up soda for Lent, but completely reverted to old habits once Easter was over.  Trying to drink more water or green tea instead of my favorite Dr. Pepper is something I have to really get back to.

School- Seems I can't get away from thinking/planning for next year.  We will be focusing on ELA Common Core this year, so I want to get through my materials and get things ready to go.

Blog/TPT-  I have actually just started blogging myself.  I've been doing a lot of blog stalking and can't wait to connect with other teachers out there. My TPT store is pretty bare, so hoping I can create/tweak some of my materials to get them ready for the store.

Outside the box: My Pinterest boards are MESSY.  I need to go through those and get it reorganized and put those great pins to use.

                                                               Until next time....

Colored Folders Galore- {Optimum Organization #4)

I can't believe it is the last Saturday of June! Where has the time gone?  Since it's Saturday, you know it's time to link up with Kristen and Elizabeth for the Optimum Organization tips and tricks.  I don't know about you, but I am getting lots of ideas and inspiration as I stalk through the blogs linked up for this linky. I am soooo thankful these ladies decided to host this!

Ok today, I want to share one way I try to help my students stay organized.  I am a color coordinator.  I mean I am obsessive about color coordination.  (There I said it- that's the first step right?)  My students come at the beginning of the year with 5 folders: red, blue, green, yellow and one of their choice.  I used to have the students write the subject on each folder but you know those nice heavy folders with the shiny covers...the marker tends to rub right off, so....in comes my handy dandy folder labels.

(I went through a stage where I was making cute labels for everything under the sun...these I actually kept up).  I pass out a strip of the labels to each student and we put them the top of each folder as we place them in their desks in the order we will do the subjects throughout the day. For those of you interested, I have put these labels up in my TPT store.  They are FREE for the time being.

Now about the color coordination.  We use the red folder for reading.  Anything I print off for the students, I copy on pink paper (red is to dark and hard to read).  They know pink papers go in the red folder.  Science is the green folder and all science papers are green, we use the blue folder and blue papers for Social Studies, the yellow folder and yellow paper is for math and the folder of their choice is for writing (I copy all the things for language arts on purple paper).  The visual match of the paperwork with their folder helps the students know where their things need to be.  When I have students who misplace an item we can tell quickly if it is in the wrong folder because the colors don't match.  It is also helpful for me when papers are in my bag at the end of the day, I can tell at a glance what subject I still need to check at home. Plus if something gets turned into the wrong basket, the color of the paper makes it stand out of the rest and we can find missing work that they know they turned in.

Another place I use color is in my student files.  I use a 3 folder system to store student information throughout the year.  For each student I have a red, yellow and blue folder. (I use numbers on these to make it easy to use year after year and to insure confidentiality).  In the red folder I keep things like IEP accommodations and goals, any behavior write ups, permission slips, our behavior contract, notes from home; basically they are things that only I need to see.  The yellow and blue folders are for student work.  In the yellow folder I keep all the assessments the students complete throughout the year.  I share these at conferences but they don't go home.  In the blue folder I keep pieces of student work from the current trimester.  This folder is also something I share at conferences,  the difference is all the things in this folder go home with the parents. I keep the two separate folders for student work so that I don't accidentally send home assessments that I need to keep at school.

Well, that's my organizational idea for today.  Hope you have a great Saturday!
                                                                        Until next time....

Fiction Friday- Round 3

It's Friday and time to share some more children's fiction.  I was actually able to get three of the 2013-2014 Iowa Children's Choice books read this week to share today.

The first book I want to share is Ghost Dog Secrets by Peg Kehret.  (She is one of my all time favorite authors! What a great storyteller!)

After Rusty Larson spies a German Shepard chained to a tree with no food or water during a sleet storm, he decides he must do something to help it.  When animal control tells him they can't do anything to help with out proof of abuse, he and his friend Andrew hatch a plan to take care of the dog, they have now named Ra.  One night Rusty notices that Ra has been hurt, so he and Andrew unchain the him and take him back to their clubhouse.  While all this is going on, the ghost of a collie has been paying Rusty visits.  She seems to want Rusty's help in protecting/helping Ra and a new dog at Ra's owner's house.  When Ra's owner finds out Rusty and his mom have his dog, he begins making threats to take the dog and more.  With the ghost dog's help, Rusty finds a way to keep Ra safe and put an end to "Mean Man's" cruelty.

This is a wonderful story that has a great message about stepping up and helping solve problems.  One of the things Rusty's teacher tries to teach his class is that everyone can help solve problems instead of always saying "Someone ought to do something" be the someone who does.

Reading Level: 3-6 grade
Pages: 184

Book 2 for this week is Mallory Goes Green by Laurie Friedman.  This is the 13th book in the Mallory McDonald series.

In this story, Mallory's school has taken the pledge to "Go Green" and Mallory is gung ho to make everyone around her do just that.  She volunteers to be the class representative for the school Green Committee and present an idea for her class to do for the Green Fair.  All doesn't go as planned when her idea for the fair isn't popular with her classmates.  Mallory must learn to listen to everyone's ideas and be a team player if they are truly going to be a Green Team.

Mallory is a very lovable character (think Junie B. Jones, Judy Moody and Amber Brown all rolled up together).  While it is a simply told story, its message to readers about working together and really listening to those around you is an important one to get across.  This would be a fun story for Earth Day or when launching a communities unit to get everyone working together.

Reading Level:  3-5 grades
Pages: 158

Book 3 for this week is an emotional story entitled Love, Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur.  Tissues needed for this one!

After a tragic accident leaves eleven-year-old Aubrey Priestly alone, she believes she has everything she needs to run her household: a house, food and a new family (a beta fish named Sammy).  Aubrey is unable to talk about the tragedy that has so drastically changed her life.  The only way she can deal with her life now and get her feelings out is by writing letters to her sister's imaginary friend, Jilly.

When her grandmother takes her home to Vermont, Aubrey begins to get "unstuck" as she calls it.  With new friendships and the warm nurturing love of those around her, she learns that she is not alone and that she can heal and move on.  Aubrey must make a hard decision when she is faced with the one wish of her heart's desire.

This was a wonderful story.  I laughed and cried with Aubrey as she dealt with her grief and came out the other side of it.  This is a story about loss, but is also a story of hope. I would highly recommend this book!

Reading Level: 3-6 grades
Pages: 262

I'm off to AdventureLand with the kids.
                                                     Until next time...