Currently October

It's time for Currently!  Thank you, Farley (Oh' Boy 4th Grade), for hosting each month!  If teacher bloggers were eligible for Emmy's Farley would certainly be nominated, win and rock out the speech.

What is currently happening in my life is very different 

than what has happened to me in October for the past 16 years.

Listening - We have two goldendoodles.  Kalli likes me better. Daisy likes my husband better.  I don't know why.  They should both like me better because I am the one who takes them on walks, lets them on the bed, buys them treats and throws the tennis ball for them in the backyard. It's a mystery.  

Loving - I started a new job as an Instructional Coach this year.  In my new role, I work as a member of the Instructional Support Team in our district.  We each have different roles and our leader (boss) is fabulous! I know I'm going to learn a lot from her.  It was really hard for me to leave my elementary building to take this position, but as I get to know my team it is clear that I made the right decision. 

Thinking -  When I packed up my classroom, I brought 32 of those giant rubbermaid bins home.  In addition to that I brought home 12 big pieces of furniture that belonged to me (book shelves, tables, chairs).  I need to keep lots of it, in case I return to the classroom anytime soon.  But, let's face it...the chances of me ending up in the same grade level if I return are slim.  Time to start digging through the bins, sorting into save/sell piles and posting some of the things that I really don't need.

Wanting - Two weeks ago, I sprained my ankle.  I fell down the basement stairs backwards while trying to carry groceries in from our garage.  The door to our garage is right at the top of the basement stairs and when I stepped to the side to open the door...I accidentally stepped backwards off the top step.  The result - I skinned my knee, sprained my ankle, bruised my elbow and sprouted a giant bump on my head.  For real.  The doctor called it a bad sprain and said it would take about 6 weeks to heal.  She was about 104 and seemed to be barely hearing what I said, so I was hoping she was wrong.  It's the beginning of week 3 and I am probably going to get struck by lightening for judging/doubting her soon.  It still hurts.  It's still swollen at the end of each day.  I spend a lot of energy each day trying to pretend like I am not hobbling. No wonder she laughed when I asked if I would be able to continue my running routine by the next weekend.  

Wanting - I actually already bought the rolling thing.  Once upon a time, I worked as a speech-language pathologist who traveled to 8 different buildings in a week.  After experiencing my cart of speech and language tricks dumping over the in the snow for 2 years, I decided I would NEVER own a rolling cart again.  My new job will require me to travel from building to building to work with teachers.  I broke down on Friday and bought a rolling bag (like the giant briefcase really).  The extra bonus is that it kind of works as a crutch too. :)

I have an appointment to get my nails done today and I'm sure I'll need to grab the ice pack for my dumb ankle by the end of the day.

TREAT!

Earlier this week, I posted a set of October Daily Messages for Kindergarten. If you'd like to try the daily messages, they are on sale from 10/5 (today) to 10/8 in my Tpt store!

In addition to the October Daily Messages for Kindergarten, the following fall themed products are also on sale from today 10/5 to 10/8 in my Tpt store. 

Funky Football Fan Fun

Fall Math Work Stations

Fall Themed Writing Stationary

It's Halloween Emergent Reader

Fall How to Writing Pack

Fall Math Journal Prompts

Be sure to visit Farley to find out what is currently going on with teacher bloggers around the world. 

Off to get ready for my son's soccer game.  It's 41 degrees in Michigan this morning, so I'll be breakin' out my lava seat for sure.  Happy Sunday!

Fact Power!

Dunnuh nunnuh nunnuh nunnuh nunnuh nunnuh FACT POWER! 

 Wow, that was hard to type and who knows how ya spell all that?

 My students are working on developing fact fluency for addition and subtraction facts up to 18. Each of my students has their own Fact Power Folder to help them practice. I'm not sure if it's the superhero theme or cute little folders we made, but my students are more motivated than ever to develop Fact Power!

Here is a picture of the front of one of our Fact Power Folders. 

 I use regular 2 pocket folders. 

The instructions, labels for the folders and flashcards

 to practice the facts are included in my Fact Power Folder Set.

*The actual folders are not included.

 

 You can click on the image below if you'd like to check it out. 

This set and everything else in my Tpt store will be 20% off on Thursday, 2/27 and Friday, 2/28! Don't forget to use the code TPT3 for extra savings when you shop on those two days!

 

Winter Themed Freebies

Looking for some winter themed freebies?

You can find them in my Tpt store by clicking on the images below.

Please follow my store if you like these freebies.

I'm heading out to dig out AGAIN!

I do love winter...but the kind where it's not too cold for kids to play outside.

This is bonkers.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Fall Themed Classroom Activities

Fall is by far my favorite time of the year! My own kids are going to decorate the house for fall this afternoon while I work on some school stuff. I'm going to try really hard not to move the decorations to the places where I think they should go. Ha!

I have several fall themed things in my Tpt store and my Teachers Notebook shop. If you're interested in checking them out, you can check them out by clicking on the links to one of my stores on the sidebar or you can click on the images below.

Fall Math Work Stations

Fall Math Journal Prompts 

(I have a winter and spring set as well.)

Fall How to Writing 

Fall Themed Writing Stationary

After I go to my son's soccer game tonight and IF I ever finish this bin full of school work that I brought home...I am going to prepare a few of the posts from my "list" that will be ready to post later this week.  Slowly...I will get back into the swing of things.  These first few weeks of school were busy enough to make me BONKERS.

Happy Sunday!

 

Game Storage & Funky Fun Vowel Games

Here it is July 1st and the world did not end with Google Reader.  The thought of waking up with no followers had me more worried that Y2K (remember that craziness).   So, thank you for sticking with my blog and/or stopping by to visit!

As I was packing up my room for the summer, I reorganized all of my word work games. I would love to show you a picture of the shelf that all of my games go on, but they move every piece of furniture from our rooms into the hallway for the summer. Which means I used a whole forest full of bulletin board paper and 3 rolls of masking tape to cover up every shelf so those little dumplings who use our building for camp during the summer don't sneeze on, touch, look at or breathe near any of my precious belongings.

Most of my games are stored in photo storage boxes. I buy them for about $2 each at JoAnn Fabrics with my coupons/teacher discount. I like them because they are clear and I use clear packing tape to attach the title and/or directions to the lid of the box. My students have been using them for about 5 years and not one has ever broken (so far). 

Here are a few pictures of one of my games in one of my photo storage boxes. 

This game is from my Alien Zap Dolch Sight Word Games set.

You can find the Alien Zap Dolch Word Games by clicking on the image below.

I also recently scored these polka dotted reusable sandwich bags at Target.  They came in a pack of 3 for $1.  Yippee!  They are made of vinyl and have a velcro closure (easy to use  and windexable - double yippee). 

I'm going to try these for my new Funky Fun Vowel Games.  The bags are nice and thin, which would allow me to store lots more in each of the bins on my word work shelf.

You can find my Funky Fun Vowel Games by clicking on the image below.   I have several short vowel products and long vowel products.  There are 5 different games in this set.  The games were made for students who are ready to sort long vowel words and pictures and for students who need practice discriminating between long/short vowels.

Here are photos of 2 of the games.

 Vowel Sticks from the Funky Fun Vowel Games.

Short and Long Vowel Clip It! from Funky Fun Vowel Games.

I'd love to hear about how you store your games.

Still packing for that 17 day camping trip.  Yes, I will have a shower, running water and electricity.  But, doesn't 17 days in the woods still count as roughin' it?  It does for me.

Are you following my blog at Bloglovin'?  You can click on the icon in the top right corner to do that, just in case all this craziness is for real. 

And...please share how you store your games?

Every Teacher Appreciates a Sale

We're celebrating teacher appreciation day/week by having a sale!  

 You can use the code TAD13 for extra savings!

Here are some of my math related products.

Common Core Monster Math

Doghouse Doubles Addition Game

Spring Math Journals

(I also have a fall and winter set.)

I also have several freebies related to math in my Tpt store.  

Please consider following  my store if you see something you like.

 

Spring Math Boxes Freebie

Happy Tuesday! 

 I have a little spring themed math box freebie for you today!  

If you like this version, you might want to go back to this post (here) to grab the winter version that I shared as a freebie a few months ago.

Enjoy your day!

 

Bring on Spring Sale!

I love sales! I think you're supposed to clean in the spring...

but I decided to bring on spring in a different way.

I'm having a sale at my Tpt store!  If you've made purchases from my store in the past, please know that I truly appreciate it.  The money I earn in my Tpt store allows my two teacher family to give the college savings accounts for our children a big boost.  The Gillow family is grateful. Thank you!

Here are some of my best sellers...

Animal Research Book (can be used with any animal)

Informational Text Unit

Short Vowel Centers

Sight Word Stories for Beginning Readers

And here are some spring products 

that might be helpful...

A memory book for your students to complete and take home as a keepsake!

A Mother's Day book that your students can give as a gift 

(or you can use the individual pages).

Spring Math Journal Prompts (I have a fall and a winter set as well.)

My most recent additions...

Zippin Down the Freebie Trail

I'm excited to be joining an amazing group of bloggers for Zippin Down the Freebie Trail! Brenda, from Primary Inspired, organized this week full of freebies for all of you. 

We're gearing up for baseball season at our house! In the spirit of opening day, I'm sharing a baseball themed common core math pack today. You can click on the image below if you'd like to download it.

Next stop on the freebie trail is Little Literacy Learners! When you visit Julie (from Little Literacy Learners), she'll direct you to the next stop on the freebie trail. 

Happy hopping!

 

Winter Math Journals and Common Core Morning Work

Happy Saturday! Ahhhh...it is so nice to be blogging in a quiet house, while sitting in my new chair with a fluffy dog at my feet. 

We have a new math program at my school this year. As far as the new (which is really an old program pulled off the shelf) goes, I have nothing nice to say...so I won't say anything at all (in writing). My students do love math time though. Here are some of the things they love (which are not part of our "program", but help kids be successful in terms of the common core standards).

Math Journals

We work in our math journals a few times each week.  The children solve problems in their math journals and are encouraged to show their mathematical thinking in a variety of ways.  We do partner sharing and whole class sharing each time we work in our journals.  This is not the best picture, but as you can see the pages are "bursting" with mathematical thoughts. 

The prompts we are using at this time of the year are from my Winter Math Journal Prompts set.  You can find them at my Tpt store or in my Teachers Notebook shop.  I have a fall and spring set as well.

Monster Math (morning work/daily review)

Right now, we are using pages from my Monster Math Common Core Review pack as morning work, daily review or just warm up at the beginning of math our math time.  The skills we are focusing on come directly from the common core standards (addition, subtraction, telling time, comparing numbers and place value).  You can peek at it in my Tpt store by clicking on the image below.  It is also in my Teachers Notebook shop.  My kids love the cute little monsters on each page.  

Next on the agenda...

planning for adjectives, small moment stories and compound words at school

laundry, sledding and more relaxing at home

Enjoy your day!

 

Doubles Addition Rap & Games

I am happy to report that Friday was much better than Thursday. My kids worked super hard and we had lots of fun.  I'm a firm believer that teaching and learning should be fun. I get grouchy when something ruins the fun.

Yesterday, I had one of my surprise "here comes the boss with the iPad" observations.  I think that went well.  I'm working super hard.  My kids are learning and I have data to prove it.  I am honestly doing what I'm supposed to be doing.  We'll see what the boss has to say when I get the "formal written report" next week.  Not gonna stress about it.  My boss was recently named "Michigan Elementary Principal of the Year" for our region.  We're lucky in the boss department.

We worked on doubles addition facts this week.  According to my pre-assessment, my students knew 0 + 0 through 5 + 5 fluently.  They really needed practice when it comes to the doubles facts for 6  through 9.

I taught them the Doubles Rap.  I have no idea who the original source of the rap is...and I changed to the words (at the bottom) a bit.  Here is version we use in my classroom.  We rap the bottom part first and then rap our way through the facts.

My students also played Doghouse Doubles (which is a game that I made to help them practice doubles addition facts).  You can find it at my Tpt store and in my Teachers Notebook shop.

We also played Slides and Ladders Adding Doubles game by Kathy Law (one of my favorite bloggers).  My students loved this version of one of their favorite board games!  You can visit Kathy at First Grade a la Carte.


OLW update...My OLW this year is relax. I started my day today with a 2 mile run (which was relaxing because we are having freakishly warm temperatures for January in Michigan - it was 44 degrees for my run). Then I chose 5 students and sent their parents "happy mail" (a nice email to their parents about how they are doing).  I'm going to limit myself to 1 hour of school work today and them I'm going to take a relaxing walk with my kids to the library.  When I get home, I am going to sit in my new chair and read something fun.  I will not eat the chocolate brownies that my husband received from one of his favorite students.

Happy Saturday!