Weekly Summer Link-Up: My Teaching Quirks

Me? Quirks?  Never.  Ha!  I'm linking up with I Heart Grade 3 for her Weekly Summer Link-Up.  This week is all about teaching quirks.  

#1- Calendar Kate
My hallway refers to me lovingly as Calendar Kate.  If someone wants to know without pulling up their calendar on their laptop if we have an assembly that day...I know right away (the time and where).  I like knowing when drills, assemblies, and things are.  I hate being surprised and feeling silly for not knowing.

#2- Early bird 
I occasionally beat our building engineer (custodian) and sometimes even the cooks in the mornings.  Yes, I get to the school at about 6:15am or 6:20.  We start at 7:35am.  Most teachers get there after 7:00am.  I'm a morning person and I would rather come an hour early than stay an hour late. I just work better bright and early!  Plus, I hate rushing around in the morning...starts my day off funky.

#3 Stickies!
I have a sticky note obsession.  I think this is a quirk.  They are EVERYWHERE in my room.  At my teacher table, on my desk, on my teacher cart (whiteboard cart), on my laptop stand, by the sink in the back, and on the file cabinet by the door when kids walk in so I can jot down notes talking to a parent or stick it on lunch money.  It's a very rare occasion that I run out, but it has happened...and it is terrible!

Those are my main teaching quirks.  They match right along with my type A personality.  

Teaching With Intention Chapter 2 Linky

Today I am linking up with Mr. Greg and the 3 lovely chapter hosts for the Teaching With Intention book study!  Whew.  I don't know about you, but chapter 2 makes you think!  Here's what I took away from the chapter.

Chapter 2 is called Defining Beliefs and Aligning Practices.  It's short but more powerful than you'd first think.  I jotted down some notes and even tried to write down my beliefs.

* The anchor classroom teacher (from Chapter 1) that Debbie visited had a vision of what she wanted for her classroom.  This classroom took well thought out planning and putting her vision into action.  It showed by Debbie's reaction to the classroom visit.  I highlighted this phrase in the book in reference to that teacher:

"and she's made conscious decisions and taken deliberate actions to get them there ever since."

Wow!  I feel like sometimes I have these ideas but immediately shoot them down or wonder if I have the time or the space.  This chapter has made me realize that I really need to sit down and list what my beliefs are and make it match my classroom practices.  Here's how Debbie Miller suggests going about doing that:

1. Develop your belief statements.
2. Align those statements with your classroom practices.
3. Find evidence throughout your day of those beliefs you listed.

At the end of the chapter it is suggested to take 15 minutes after each day and jot down your reflections of the day. Keep those states short, clear, potent, and powerful!  Um, let me go find an awesome journal to keep these in ASAP!  (seriously, it's on my list of things to buy)  I think this is a great idea. I keep hearing "be reflective, be reflective".  Oh I reflect, but I never write it down...therefore 3 days later I have no idea sometimes what I wanted to change or things to remember about a lesson that went well or didn't.  A key thing here for me will be keeping them SHORT.  Um, Debbie Miller...I don't talk short nor do I write short!  That will be my challenge is not going into stories and keeping it simple!

Can I get an amen for the very last paragraph?  "Take the high road. Don't let them defeat you.  Do what you have to do; in the end no one can mandate how you feel about children, the ways you interact with them throughout the day, and the things you say and do that reflect who you are and what your believe about teaching and learning."  - page 20 Teaching With Intention by: Debbie Miller.  I'm not going to say much other than, how do I insert the hands in the air emoji?!

Things I am most definitely taking away from this chapter:
1. Develop my belief statements and match my practices to them.
2. Reflecting at the end of the day, must jot it down!

Now, I wrote down a very ROUGH draft of my beliefs.  This was easy but at the same time hard...if that makes any sense at all.  I know what I believe...but I'm a talker.  I want a narrowed down list that hits all the main beliefs.  I am going to be thinking on them and when the book study is over I will post them on here!  I also want to post them in my classroom as well.

Have a lovely week everyone!  If you're still in school...hang in there.  I don't know how you do it!

Teaching With Intention Chaper 1 Linky

Today I am linking up with Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten for Mr. Greg's (from Kindergarten Smorgasboard) book study! Lots of teachers are reading and linking up each week focusing on one chapter.  This week is the first week!  I'm so excited for this book.  When I met with Paul Bloomberg (with Core Collaborative) with my teaching partner for an Impact Team...he gave me some experts and some books I should read.  This book was one of them!  Debbie Miller did a great job opening up this book with chapter 1.  Let's dig in!

I am going to answer the questions that Mrs. Plemons provided to guide my discussion on what I got from this chapter of Teaching With Intention.

You can see it right?  I think when everyone closes their eyes they can see their ideal classroom (now we are thinking if we had all the money in the world and got to decide how big it was...that's my dream!).  When I close mine...there is always one are that stands out, or that I see first.  That area of the classroom is the library.  I'm a book lover.  I teach kindergarten.  I'm supposed to not make reading a chore but show kids what a love of reading looks like.  So I immediately see this big area in a corner of the room filled with tubs of books, warm, inviting, seating options.  Oh my, I could go on.  

Here is my list of things I jotted down when I thought of my ideal classroom:

- large and inviting library

- large and open classroom space with learning areas throughout the room

- windows, lots of windows

- cozy meeting space

-a loft (I've always wanted one!)

- more student run (compared to what I'm doing now)

- the "hum" of learning

- focused students

-smiling students

Back in May/June of 2011 I went as an alumni with a group from the education department with MSSU to Southampton, London, Paris, and Barcelona.  In Southampton, England, we spent two days in a school with a teacher to observe them.  I was in a class at a primary school that would be our equivalent of a kindergarten.  The room was HUGE.  At each 4 corners were an area divided by half walls or shelves.  These 4 corners were four different classes.  The teachers team taught and the students all day went to different areas, different teachers, and there was a TON of choice.  Most of it was learning through stations or play.  But several times a day they were with a teacher in their little meeting areas.  They also had an amazing outdoor classroom area.  It was so cool to see.  The K & 1st teachers in my building have joked about if we could all combine to a big area and team teach it'd be amazing.  It's a dream of ours...

Here's a few pictures I could find from that experience in England.  The second pictures shows very well one of those meeting areas...the teacher is standing in the doorway of it.

In my ideal classroom, I am working with students at my table and occasionally walking around observing and asking questions about the students working at their station, area, or table.  The students are smiling, discussing their learning, focused, and you can easily tell what they are learning.

I have expanded my library.  Check out my library from my first year of teaching to my third year of teaching (this past year)! Wow!  I would love to make it slightly larger but simply do not have the space.  Students can sit on the bench (with the red cushion), at the two red pillows by the wall, or on the chevron bean bag (which is now flatter than a pancake, Target fail).  My ideal library would be twice this size if I had the room!

This year I changed my literacy stations to where the students got to pick each of their 4 stations they went to.  This was a lifesaver.  Now, it certainly was scaring giving 5 year olds a choice of where they wanted to go. But after about a week of practice, they had it.  Each student has a clip with their name on it.  Each of my 5 stations have a sign with a certain amount of dot stickers along the edge.  Students can only go to a station if it has an empty dot to put their clip on.  My off task behaviors and other not so great behaviors have gone down tremendously since.  I think choice is key!  

I need to work on less teacher led and transition to more student led.  This has always sort of made me nervous.  I know in kindergarten it won't happen right away.  This is one of my goals for the next few years is give them more tasks to lead in the classroom.

I'm excited for next Wednesday for Chapter 2.  If you haven't bought Teaching With Intention yet...go do it!  :) 

See you next week!

Why I Started Blogging...

Today I am linking up with I Heart Grade 3 for her weekly summer link up!  This week's topic is "Why I Started Blogging" (click the link to go to her post).

I did my first blog post last June...June 6th to be exact.  This was about the same time I decided I wanted to make resources for Teachers Pay Teachers.  I also am a huge Pinterest lover and through that I have came across many awesome blogs.

For two years I had been seeing these awesome kindergarten blogs (such as Kindercraze, Kindergarten Smorgasboard, Little Minds At Work, and more!).  I wanted to be a part of that.  I wanted a place where I could share ideas, post pictures, and do fun link ups/giveaways with other teachers.  I actually admitted in front of Paul Bloomberg when he asked who my favorite lower elementary experts are...I said a few names but I told him that I get most of my ideas from bloggers.  I love reading and also sharing information.  I just knew starting my own blog would be a fun adventure.

In January I contacted Kassie with Designs by Kassie.  She was awesome to work with!  She gave me a blog look that I was incredibly excited and proud of.  Now that I have the way I want it to look, I'm excited to use it more.

Yes, I'm still trying to get a hang of this whole blogging thing.  My goal this summer and the coming school year is to blog more...to make it a fun habit!  :)

Year End Reflection Linky

Today I am linking up with Big Time Literacy for her Year End Reflection Linky (click the link to go link up).  My last day of school was May 20th.  I woke up the next day with crazy allergy issues and ended up resting Thursday-Sunday and now am on 2 prescriptions for it.  This week I had a curriculum team work Tuesday-Thursday.  So today truly feels like the first day of summer.  Here's my reflection of this past year!

Best Memories

Some of my best memories this year have been school events.  Our field trip to the Christmas tree farm was so fun!  Our 100th day of school is always a hoot...we have the kinders dress up like 100 year olds.  The last day was great...this has been such a challenging year in and out of the classroom and I wasn't sure if I would even be sad on the last day of school.  Surprisingly, I was.  One of my kids who has struggled all year with behavior and home life issues gave me a hug before he left then I turned around to lead the car riders into the cafeteria and felt little arms wrap around my back.  I turned around and he said he just needed to get me another hug.  My heart melted.

Missed Opportunities

I really wanted to start Math Tubs after their independent work is complete.  I frankly just didn't ever put the effort into getting it started.  I am going to this coming school year.  I even bought an awesome cubby shelf and getting tubs for it.  This will house early finisher tubs for Math & ELA.  Students will be able to grab a tub when finished with their work and work on the activity or task in the tub.  Here's the shelf!

Game Changers
I have learned that all students can learn, but not at the same time or in the same way.  This group has really challenged me to differentiate my teaching.  I had some reading chapter books and some who by Christmas finally wrote their name.  I had to find ways to challenge a really gifted student (thank goodness for flexible 1st grade teachers who took him in for some subjects).  I also had accept that a couple of very low kids would eventually get there, they just needed more time and more of my help and confidence.

Focus

Honestly, my focus during the first few months of school was all over the place.  I had some personal life distractions and hard times this past fall.  Once I gained my school focus again I was really focused on Writer's Workshop (conferencing with students, goal setting, and new ideas to implement).  I also was very focused on literacy and getting my kids to meet their reading level goals.  

Forgot

I wanted to incorporate more science (we do not officially have science curriculum and they want us to throw it in there if we can).  I did some science experiments and activities but I definitely forgot to do more.  :(  I'll work on that next year.

Reflections

* I am so glad I expanded my classroom library area.  My students couldn't seem to get enough of it this year.  I'm even thinking of adding more book bins and things this summer.

* Goal setting and students being able to talk about their learning is going well.  I hope it continues to get better next year as I become more comfortable with this new success criteria and learning intentions that we are doing (part of our visible learning PD this year).

* My third year of teaching is finished.  I feel like every year I am becoming more confident in what I am doing and how to best teach my kinders.  Hoping to learn more this summer and get new ideas to continue to improve!

Here's to a relaxing and fun summer.  I'm taking it easy for a little while, then I will be back at it creating some new resources for my TPT store and hopefully blog more!

A "Me" Weekend

Today's post isn't too teachery.  Yes...teachery.  

So I'm giving up social media for the weekend.  Yes, giving it up.

Why?

I have been noticing how much I am on my phone.  I was at a friend's house last weekend and we all went to dinner and what were we doing?  Eating and between bites on our phones looking at Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

I know we all know this.  It's absolutely nothing new.  We are a different kind of social being than we were 20 years ago.  Even really 10 years ago.

I absentmindedly check my phone ALL the time.  

I decided yesterday to delete my Facebook app (not my account but the app).  I rarely use social media on my actual laptop.  Part of it was that I was having a rough day and just didn't care to see everyone's stuff.  The other part was me wanting to delete it for a long time.  

Last night while in bed at 9:00pm (it was a busy and rough day!) I deleted my Instagram and Twitter apps.  

So on Sunday at 8:00pm I will redownload my apps.  I hope this will show me to enjoy the little things and that I miss a lot being glued to my phone.  I hope I don't get any crazy texts wondering if I'm alive!  I didn't post anything on Facebook that I was done with it for the weekend and I forgot to on my Miss Kate's Desk Instagram account.  :/  

I'm ready for a nice relaxing weekend.  Today I've already got a tiny workout in and I may go walk some trails later.  I have a date tonight *gasp*.  I have 3 new professional development books that Paul Bloomberg suggested to me on Wednesday that I want to start (well, on one of them)...more on that in a future post.  Tomorrow I will just be doing more of the same.  My friends are busy and for the first time in a month or two and I have no plans this weekend!

Don't get me wrong, I love my accounts.  I do.  But sometimes I feel like I am too attached and I need to just stop and smell the fresh air instead.  I'll do an update to this post after Sunday and tell you how it goes.  

Also, if you have a Fitbit...let me know. We can become friends!  I'm currently doing some weekend step challenges with a friend.  I just got mine on Monday night and I LOVE it.  

Have a relaxing weekend everyone.  Go outside and enjoy!

WHOA! Where has this been?!? A Touchtronic review.

*Disclaimer*- I am not being asked to write this review but I have had many people ask me about these letters or who have sent me a DM on my Instagram asking what in the world these cool interactive letters are.  I just love it and want to share how/why I use this in my classroom.

We have had the letters for almost two weeks and so far I am loving them!  I can't wait to use them in August when the kids are really working on letters/sounds.  The ABC app will be great for the first part of the year!

I still have a few kiddos have just recently mastered all their letter sounds...so this app is great practice for them.  Now, my kids who are reading DRA level 4 or higher...not so much.  But this is a great resource for your kids who are still struggling with letters/sounds or who need CVC practice (the app not shown in the video...but coming soon).

I love how the CVC app says the sounds, helps the students sound out the words, and lets them know if something needs to be changed.  The CVC app is great because the students can build CVC words, it sounds it out, and shows a picture of the word.  I even made some odd words that they may not think of...such as sob, and it had a picture of crying.  I did rob and it showed a thief.  Pretty neat stuff!  

Currently I am using this for my low readers/writers during RTI and station time.  On occasion I'll call a student up to my table to do one of the two apps just for extra practice if they finish early.  I just wish I had more than one iPad!  :)  Don't get me wrong, so thankful for our PTO...I know lots do not even have that.

Here's how it works, you buy the letters (box shown below) and then download the FREE apps (Touchtronic ABCs or Touchtronic 3 Letter Words).  The video down below shows a couple students using the ABC app.  

What I love best about it:

*Hands on

*Very interactive

*Great for individual or partner practice

*Uses technology...we all know how much our kids gravitate towards that.

Hands down amazingness right here!  You can purchase the letters on Junior Learning's website or they also have them on Amazon.com as well.  

Here is a short video of the ABC app in action.  Tomorrow or Thursday I will try to video students using the 3 Letter Word app. 

There is also a numbers set that I will purchasing next. :)  

Hope you enjoyed this little review and those who follow me on Insta who have thought it looks cool...now you can see a little what it looks like.

Be sure to check back in a day or two for the update with the second app (CVC word) video.