Happy New Year!!

My oh my....

The end of 2014 really got hectic. I know you've all been through those times when you're getting through day by day, looking forward to a nice relaxing break!

Right before break, my district also decided to introduce a NEW spelling program and have us Pilot it starting AFTER break! So, yes, I've been busy. But as the usual traditions I have set some new years resolutions! Aside of the personal ones, one of my resolutions was to really get into a routine and dedicate time to my blog and TPT! I have plans of hopefully owning my own home one day, and if I can get my TPT strong and efficient, hopefully that will help me out! I even worked with a wonderful blog designer to get my new unique, custom made bog design! She was absolutely wonderful and I HIGHLY suggest you check her out if you need a new look for your blog!!! Her link is at the bottom of my blog!

So I am back! and hopefully able to supply you with some helpful, useful tips, new ideas, and great products!

Starting today, on my "cold" day off as the midwest has another below freezing day, I am linking up with The Hickman 5 for "What's new Wednesday!" This is a great link parties that help TPT authors get out their newest paid and free product! Head on over there to check out what other people are offering!

First up, I have my newest paid product! Right before winter break we were working on skip counting. I am a huge fan of task cards, I feel they are a fun way of getting students up and practicing a skill. They also help inform the teacher of any parts of a skill that may need some more help. So check out this product!

Skip Counting Scoot - CCSS aligned!

Next up is my FREEBIE! Again they are task cards. These are my Missing number task cards. They are a great introduction to teaching students how to  figure out the missing number. They even have a QR code for students to check their answers. Sound like something you or a colleague could use in their classroom? Go check out!

Missing Number Task Cards FREEBIE! With QR codes!

Like what you see? Please PIN it to help me get it out there! Also consider following my TPT store for more great products and updates. I also like to emphasize I am a huge believe of making my followers happy! If you see a mistake, or feel that if it was tweaked a little it would better fit your needs, please let me know! I want my products to be exactly what you expected, so please do not hesitate to contact me.

Well that is it for now! I am off to see if I should work on my plans for tomorrow, or if we will be receiving yet another "cold" day!

Thanks for stopping in! Come back soon!

Surviving Parent-Teacher Conferences

We all know that hustle and bustle when a grading period is ending, report cards are due, and parent-teacher conferences are right around the corner. Well I have survived all of this madness these last couple of week.

Our first quarter ended October 10th, Report card grade and comments were due the next week, and we had our Parent-teacher conferences this last week! So yes, I have been busy busy juggling this, and of course still moving on with our second grade curriculum.

After finishing up conferences, it got me to thinking with my experiences with them so far, and I thought it would be fun to write about:

Most conferences are pretty routine, parents know the drill, they come in and talk and are pretty much very agreeable and appreciative. But of course, we all have those conferences that have us feeling some sort of way when they're done. Either we are relieved that they're over or confused on what even happened, we know it won't be the first, or last time that we experience it. So I have picked my Top 4 Parent-Teacher experiences to write about that I am sure many of you could relate to!

#4:

It is sad to say, we do have those parents who simply come in because they know it is the responsible thing to do. However, they really just want it to be over with. Whether it is just nodding as you talk, some occasional "oks" to get you along, or the parents who literally have nothing to say at all. These of course can sometimes be uncomfortable, but just appreciate them making the effort to be there, and do your best to relay the message you are there to do!

#3:

Do you ever have those students that you just haven't quite figured out yet. The ones who are unique and definitely make each day interesting. Well it is one of my favorites when I meet these student's parents... and I have that "ah haa" moment... these are what I call the ah-ha parents. The parents that once you meet them, it makes perfect sense why their child is the way they are! I am not saying this is a bad thing! But sometimes as a teacher, it is nice to know that you are losing it, but this child just comes from a family that has led to who he or she is!

#2:

These are one of my favorites, and can definitely be one of the most difficult conferences to get through. To try to address parents with serious concerns and ideas to improve their child's education, and they don't seem to understand the concern or the suggestions because they feel they're child is a genius, the cream or the crop, the brightest crayon in the box. You of course don't want to totally ruin these parent's idea of their child, however, you do want to make a point that there are some aspects that need to be addressed, and what more we can do to help the child.

#1:

However these parents.... these are the parents that we need more of. This year's conferences reminded me how important these parents are and how it's nice to experience them. This year I had a mother sit down, and when I began with my usual, "How is everything on your end, is there any questions and concerns before we get started...." is when she laid it all out. She expressed how grateful she was for the work myself and my co-teacher have done this year. She explained how last year and at the very beginning of this year, her son did NOT like school, he never wanted to come, and he just didn't want anything to do with it. Someway, somehow, we were able to change this child's opinion to the point that he is very excited to come to school, he is excited about everything he is learning, he shows enjoyment for reading now, and looks forward to getting his homework done. But the kind words this mother used to express how thankful she was, and how appreciative she is for all we do. She relates that she knows her son can be difficult, how he can be very stubborn, but she can't thank us enough for still getting through to him and helping change his view on school.

  These are the conferences that remind me why I am doing what I do. I can only hope that all of you out there have a chance to experience these parents to remind us of the power we really have over these children. To remind us that these parents do understand what we are dealing with because these are their children at home and they know them best!



But finally P/T conferences are done! Don't have to worry about them again until March!

Now just getting ready for a chaotic Red Ribbon week leading up to a Halloween celebration on Friday!

Hope you are all hanging in there! Have a fantastic week!

Teach, Craft,.. and be SCARY!

WELCOME to the Halloween Bash Blog Hopper! I am so excited to be a part of it!

I have lots of offer in this blog post as well as a bunch of other bloggers do! Also, check out the giveaways too!!

Need something fun and hands on that fit in with the halloween theme? Well here is a fun creativity for students! They get to create their OWN monster and then write about them. It is so much fun to see these students use their imagination as they create their monster. What a perfect time to create monsters then around halloween!

 

You can find this product in my store HERE! But you can also enter the 2-5 giveaway below for a chance to win this along with many other amazing products! Make sure you enter and enter often!

Have you figured out what you are going to be for halloween yet? Do you dress up at school with your students? I always find it so much fun to do, at least at the primary ages. The kids get so excited to see the teacher in on the fun with them. My second grade team likes to try to do themed costumes! Last year we had to dress up and actually present in front of the school, so we dressed up as the wizard of oz, and of course I was Dorothy! It was a lot of fun!

Our team has changed a lot this year, and we don't have to present, so we decided to do something else! At the beginning of the year the students made super heroes for the hallway for SUPER IN SECOND! So I thought, why not be super heroes?!? The best part is.... super heroes in TUTUS! You have all seen the fun tutus on pinterest right? Well we bought our super hero shirts with the capes, went and bought tulle to match, are in the process of making super cute tutus, all we need is to get the leggings and BAM, second grade super hero teachers!

I am going to be Wonder Woman! I have already made my tutu, nice and fluffy and BIG! I am really excited to see what the kids think of it. I will definitely be back to post pictures once I get it all put together!

Now in honor of this great blog hop! I am offering a fun Halloween FREEBIE!!! Check out my TPT store HERE for this download!

If you like what you see there, make sure you rate it, pin it, and spread the word!

Now to continue the FUN!! Enter this awesome giveaway below!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now go and check out some other amazing bloggers! They have some great things to offer!

An InLinkz Link-up

More giveaways!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Illinois Reading Conference!

So, I have been VERY fortunate and my district sent me to the Illinois Reading Conference (IRC)!

It was a pretty awesome experience! To see so many big names in the world of literacy for teachers.. all in one spot, it was a blast!

I was able to compare Timothy Shanahan and Richard Allington on their views of reading in the classroom with student learning, as well as complex texts! It's interesting to see their points of view, as well as compare it to my setting and what we are doing at our school. Shanahan is completely against teaching children at their instructional level, that all students need to be taught at grade level and must be challenged. Allington things that students should receive instruction at their grade level by a very well trained teacher! Wouldn't I love to see these two in a room together and watch them go at it!

I was also able to see Linda Dorn and her views on Text complexity as well as Vocabulary!
Maria Walthers great such great advice and motivation for transforming literacy instruction for the common core! The examples and ideas she brought to the table were wonderful!

These were just a few among MANY!

However, I would have to say that one of my favorites was watching and meeting the author and illustrator Steven Kellogg! His presentation was AMAZING! To sit and watch him work through his story telling thoughts, plus illustrating it right before our eyes, it was magical and inspirational. The passion you could tell he had was great too! He really enjoys what he does. He even read student letters that were written to him, HILARIOUS! This really wrapped up the whole conference and made my week!

So in honor of him! I am sharing my Jimmy's Boa activity pack too!!!!

Come back soon because I have some wonderful events coming up! (cough cough, BLOG HOP! yay)

Come back and check this event out!!! See you soon!

Love me some Giveaways!

I have just recently started to get involved with giveaways and participating with other TPT stores! Honestly, I love this idea and I think it is so much fun! It is such a great way to spread the word and really network with others.

Today I am celebrating with Countless Smart Cookies for her Birthday celebration!

She has so many wonderful TPT sellers taking part! You should definitely check it our and enter!

I am of course part of the first and second grade bundle. It is winner's choice from my store PLUS a bunch of other TPT author's have contributed items as well!

Here is the Raffle Copter to enter!

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/25e3b6f36/" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway

Looking for other grades as well?! Here are more bundle giveaways!!

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/25e3b6f35/" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/25e3b6f37/" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

So many great offers here and I wish you all the best of luck!!!

Only a couple more days to go, so enter now!

I shall be returning soon with some more posts!! I am preparing to head down to Springfield Illinois for the Illinois Reading Conference! I'm excited to see what all it has to offer, and I will definitely fill you all in on the details!!

Ta ta for now! 

Working on Wednesday!

I am linking up with Middle School Math Moments to share what we are working on, on this Wednesday!

What am I NOT working on is the question! Currently in my personal life, I am trying to get things ready for my sister-in-laws baby shower on Sunday! My new little nephew will be here in early November, so this weekend we are celebrating with the shower. So trying to get the favors all set and finalize what I am doing for appetizers!

I am also procrastinating on writing my 6-8 page paper for my grad class! I just have no motivation to write this paper. I feel that we are currently doing a lot go repeating ourself in our current coursework, and I feel like this action plan I have to write, I have already written a variation of it twice, in my other classes! So hopefully at some point today I can get that started!

Finally, I am working on finishing up my smart board for our new ELA unit! We just started our new ELA unit with a them of WILD, WILD, WEST!

I think this unit is going to be a lot of fun, and is definitely different from anything I have done before.  Being able to incorporate informational articles, poems, and fictional stories, all with one main theme. I'm really excited that my district has started to implement this, and I am even more excited that I am on the committee that gets to write them! It is amazing how with the right timeline and methods and questioning, what you can guide and teach your students to do. I love to watch them light up as they make the connections as we move through the unit. Hopefully I can get the next couple weeks done in the smart board because next week, I am off to the IRC! (Illinois Reading Conference)

Happy middle of the week! Have a wonderful 2 more days of teaching!

Sunday Scoop!

Happy Sunday!

Today I am linking up with The Teaching Trio with this great Sunday Scoop!

Here is my Sunday Scoop! Enjoy:

3 Things I need to do:

1. We just started to implement Jolly Phonics in the second grade. It is completely new to us, and we have been given some professional development on it. However, as any teacher knows, it can be overwhelming sometimes to organize and start to teach something brand new in your classroom! The only bonus is that our students have been receiving this program since kindergarten. So I am just trying to organize my lesson plans that we created as a team, and am trying to create a visual smart board to help when teaching! Happy to say I am half way done, just need to finish up some loose ends!

2. This year, I am teaming up with one of the other second grade teachers and we are creating a second grade news cast!  Our students will be in charge of the filming and creating, and we will work with them to put together a final news cast to share with the rest of the school. The students will have the opportunity to interview other students or teachers in the school and come up with their own news segments within their media teams! We finally voted on the name of our news station! Now I just need to create a couple different logos to have the students vote on so we can keep this moving forward! I can't wait to see how cute these turn out to be!

3. I am currently in a cohort for my masters in Teacher Leadership! (This is the first step toward my type 75.) My current class has been put online, and sometimes it can be overwhelming to keep it organized! Every week we have a couple discussion questions due, as well as responses to other students. But then of course this coming week, I also have a paper due, and I am not really sure on what. So it is probably a good idea to organize what I need to get done this week for my class, to make sure it all gets done!

2 Things I hope to do:

1. GET ON TPT! I like to check out the forums and network with other TPT-ers! These last couple of weeks at school has been so busy with new curriculum, coaching basketball, going on a field trip, and just trying to get things done! So I really hope today I can sit down and see what other TPT-ers are doing and do some networking! It is so much fun and I wish I could do it more.

2. RELAX! Yesterday I was up and going all day running errands and getting things done. I got to spend some much needed time with my nieces too! However, it is always nice to have some down time to relax before starting another busy work week!

1 thing I am happy to do:

Write this Blog post! Like I said earlier, this school year has just been so busy so far this year. I always feel that once I get ahead, I find another way that I am falling behind! I have not been able to update this blog nearly as much as I would like. So I am very happy to make time to get this done and link up with other great bloggers!

I do hope I start to find more time to blog! I have some great activities planned for my classroom that I really want to share with all of you! So fingers crossed I start to get things done so I can share more with you all!

Check out all of the other great bloggers linking up with this! Have a great beginning of a new week!