tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19463528190261848812024-03-21T21:42:30.922-04:00Learn, Laugh, GrowWelcome to my teaching blog :) I'm a 1st grade teacher who absolutely loves to teach!Amanda at Learn, Laugh, Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11401143456303334046noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1946352819026184881.post-70560598811140500362016-08-03T21:09:00.003-04:002016-08-03T21:09:56.310-04:00Flexible Seating Accountability<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So, one thing that I found tricky last year, when I piloted small-scale flexible seating in my classroom was <b>accountability</b>. Students would flip-flop seats; they would switch when students were out of the room for interventions or even the bathroom. When tardy students came in, they didn't know which seats were truly open, and which were temporarily vacated. It was tricky!!<br />
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Then I would have students who (for a short period of time) would lose the opportunity to choose their seat due to lack of responsibility. I wanted to place that particular student in an assigned seat, but it was difficult to do that without doing that in front of other students, which often embarrassed that student. I wanted a discreet way to place that student in an assigned seat.<br />
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I racked my brain ... how could I fix this problem??!! I read a TON of blog posts and articles about flexible seating... Then I stumbled upon an old blog post by <a href="http://www.literacylovescompany.com/" target="_blank">Literacy Loves Company</a>. In her post on <a href="http://www.literacylovescompany.com/2016/04/flexible-classroom-seating.html" target="_blank">Flexible Seating</a>, she discusses her journey towards flexible seating, some of the specific seating options she uses, AS WELL AS how her students clearly choose their seat.<br />
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<img alt="Literacy Loves Company: " border="0" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/7f/05/c1/7f05c164d77ff8afbbec7a37cc42a0ac.jpg" title="" /><a href="http://www.literacylovescompany.com/" target="_blank">Literacy Loves Company</a></div>
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Be sure to check out her blog post (my inspiration) for these awesome table signs!!<br />
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This would fix my problem with seating accountability!! I decided to alter Literacy Loves Company's idea to fit my classroom!<br />
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Basically... there is a table sign on each table that is open for students to choose. This is simply a printed sign that is in a clear, plastic picture frame (I got these 5x7 frames at Walmart for 97 cents a piece!!). Each table is named - I decided to use shapes for my first graders; hopefully this will help solidify shape names and attributes for my kiddos.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI9xDcuaxwRE3xyDR3PHSV8mCKevcKcnhzNbgnKbzF1stGdy6b1EqHDzV0SInDuElhmZNI9nmnWQPG7ecnbjPiLfpHASGqclVl5fYSJ45RX6vjTeLUyBjbx-qWvQhgdOScmbWD7LaeGc4J/s1600/FlexibleSeating.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI9xDcuaxwRE3xyDR3PHSV8mCKevcKcnhzNbgnKbzF1stGdy6b1EqHDzV0SInDuElhmZNI9nmnWQPG7ecnbjPiLfpHASGqclVl5fYSJ45RX6vjTeLUyBjbx-qWvQhgdOScmbWD7LaeGc4J/s400/FlexibleSeating.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Also on the table sign are six colored squares. These six squares correspond with the six available seats at that table. Students will have a clothespin with their name on it; this will be kept in their personal book bin, when not in use. In the morning, students will get their clothespin and clip it onto the table sign of the table that they would like to sit at. If I am selecting a seat for a student, I would simply let them know that I put their clothespin at a table.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXZf3bds7yQM4kgCJEVisHnhQKGVXWbpHs3wFmspTPBFMo_s387apl18Pns4KxgKHh3EJb4_H2p0hjQ6fcrfuMBNlWlUXOhx4rqJrigLDEn_cXsIjNgjv-yDBvs-gTY3XLASD726cOrQYs/s1600/FlexibleSeating2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXZf3bds7yQM4kgCJEVisHnhQKGVXWbpHs3wFmspTPBFMo_s387apl18Pns4KxgKHh3EJb4_H2p0hjQ6fcrfuMBNlWlUXOhx4rqJrigLDEn_cXsIjNgjv-yDBvs-gTY3XLASD726cOrQYs/s400/FlexibleSeating2.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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SO! What do you think? Would this idea work for you and your classroom? Do you have a different idea to keep students accountable and responsible for their seat choices? What are your thoughts on flexible seating?! Thanks for reading!! :) </div>
Amanda at Learn, Laugh, Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11401143456303334046noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1946352819026184881.post-71480428416473933232016-08-01T23:28:00.000-04:002016-08-01T23:33:25.589-04:00Classroom seating!!I am SO excited for some big changes in my classroom this year! We am going to be doing flexible, alternative seating. I tried out some ideas last year, and it worked so well with my kiddos, that I'm jumping in with both feet!<br />
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My students do not start until after Labor Day so I've got a ton of time, but I have been shopping around and pinterest-ing all summer to find some really cool stuff for my students.<br />
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I'll do a classroom reveal once it's all ready but here are some things that I am just too excited about that I have to share.<br />
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Last year, I crammed 32 desks into my room. Now my room is a decent size, but when you add in all the STUFF that we need for learning there is no space for 32 desks and chairs (not to mention a meeting space, guided reading table, library, coat rack, etc, etc, etc...?). This year, I'm using tables!! I've got six student tables, plus a four "islands". I've found that some students *need* an island every now and again!<br />
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Each day, my students will come in and choose a seat. There are a ton of different options, my hope is that they learn what kind of seat really works for them!! At the beginning of the year, I'll have their name tag in a spot each morning, this way they get a chance to try out all the different seats at all the different tables. It's a lot of teaching procedures and expectations, but SO worth it!!<br />
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<b><u>Below is a breakdown of how my tables will work...</u></b><br />
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One table is a long dining room table that the legs have been shortened on. It will fit six students in regular chairs.<br />
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One table will be lowered almost all the way. Students will sit on wobble stools <a href="https://www.kaplantoys.com/product/24495-BL/hokki-stool-12-inch-blue?c=7%7CKTCP03&WT.mc_id=roirev&WT.mc_ev=click&WT.srch=1&zmam=22703357&zmas=1&zmac=15&zmap=24495-BL&gclid=CjwKEAjw5vu8BRC8rIGNrqbPuSESJADG8RV0wC58je7mNjdQaJ0jVzuYDcbvpqFgn7GetSHabdjA_BoCTuLw_wcB" target="_blank">(These are sooo cool - wobble stool)</a> or an upside-down crate with a pillow on top. The wobble stools are on loan from my district. They are pricey but so worth it. I've heard a lot of teachers get these with grant money!!<br />
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One table will be lowered most of the way and six students will sit on balls! I have been looking for cheap exercise balls, but they are so pricey. I found some very cheap, perfectly sized balls at Walmart. I'm going to try these out before I invest too much money into this idea!<br />
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One table is raised higher. It is our stand-up table. Students who want to stand while they work can go here. Only about 4 kids fit at this table.<br />
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The last two tables are so cool. I took extendable part of the leg off completely and covered the part that remains with a tennis ball. Students who want to sit here can sit on a cushion (very cool fruit cushions from 5 Below) or a Dollar Tree placemat (basically a place-marker for their bottom).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU8XOQNbJjS2hGZkNss8BJ4-AKr_Dc-XC409ujmQ_a8IKz3phY8sv9jxTr8HceUHO37IKsl1P-S1qsRqK9xShsH3Ics0RxrcrTLxf1tNs33fh2EDBJ3ZEytwd2hocgRXuZVeiPHRKjnz0g/s1600/FloorTable.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU8XOQNbJjS2hGZkNss8BJ4-AKr_Dc-XC409ujmQ_a8IKz3phY8sv9jxTr8HceUHO37IKsl1P-S1qsRqK9xShsH3Ics0RxrcrTLxf1tNs33fh2EDBJ3ZEytwd2hocgRXuZVeiPHRKjnz0g/s320/FloorTable.jpeg" width="240" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjujFYeD0jG9T12Yq5AF47-u-ThrXn8GQv5PhTKkzyDrmtx6Ed2XiK7UpSEg3LYlmX2YI76O5coEmOQ6TlQ06cVjzgvc4cMO0kPW2YW6VnhgOa9_wxehfgZPQml2_fs6-UQ7e9dt8KRD-uV/s1600/5BelowCushion.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjujFYeD0jG9T12Yq5AF47-u-ThrXn8GQv5PhTKkzyDrmtx6Ed2XiK7UpSEg3LYlmX2YI76O5coEmOQ6TlQ06cVjzgvc4cMO0kPW2YW6VnhgOa9_wxehfgZPQml2_fs6-UQ7e9dt8KRD-uV/s200/5BelowCushion.jpeg" width="150" /></a></div>
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The other thing that I've found (for kiddos that need to move) is an exercise band tied around the chair legs. I found this long 6' one for $5 at Walmart, but cut it in two pieces! So two "Foot Bands" for $2.50 a piece, not bad!!<br />
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What are your great classroom seating ideas?? Are you trying out flexible seating this year, or have you done it in the past? Any advice? :) I love comments!!</div>
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**Tomorrow I'll post about how I plan to hold students accountable for their seat choice!**Amanda at Learn, Laugh, Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11401143456303334046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1946352819026184881.post-59266217525248706742016-07-30T21:30:00.002-04:002016-07-30T21:30:30.019-04:00Number TalksDuring the 2014-15 school year I was able to participate in a book study about Number Talks. It was amazing. I'm going to give you a quick intro to what I learned during the study, and how I've used it in my classroom since then. I really wish I had a video to show you of my students doing a Number Talk but I didn't take ANY video of my teaching last year!? I will try to link some youtube videos that I have seen of Number Talks in action!<br />
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Anyway... Here is the book: </div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Number-Talks-Computation-Strategies-Connections/dp/1935099655/ref=dp_ob_title_bk" target="_blank">Number Talks on Amazon</a></div>
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<img height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/517d8OX2-fL._SX394_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" width="253" /> </div>
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The newest version is $60... but you can get older versions for a lot cheaper! The newest version comes with a DVD (maybe the older ones do too?) which really helped me to understand how to facilitate a Number Talk. </div>
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So the idea is that you, the teacher, facilitate a discussion with your students about math. The key to facilitating this is to give your students the language to use during a Number Talk and then to back off and let them discuss. Teach students the framework of a Number Talk, including hand signals! </div>
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Hand Signals that I use:</div>
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I'm still thinking about the math = fist by their heart</div>
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I have an answer = thumbs up by their heart</div>
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I have more than one strategy = hold up fingers by their heart</div>
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I got the same answer (me too) = this is ASL for 'me too', make your hand into a "Y" and move it from your chest outwards</div>
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Teach students the phrases you want them to use including vocabulary: solve, sum, difference, addend, count on, count all, </div>
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Teach students the names of tools and strategies that will help them to get to the answer. At a 1st grade level, many of my students worked hard to solve it in their head by the end of the year, but during the year, we learned how to use and later visualize tools like a ten-frame, rekenrek, abacus, counters, etc. </div>
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Topics can range from numbers/numerals, number identification, addition, subtraction, patterns, or anything else you might want to focus on in math (reminder, I teach first grade, so my experience is doing Number Talks at a lower-el level, but you can absolutely do these with any grade). This book actually gives you ideas for LOTS of Number Talks with your grade level, which I think is so helpful. </div>
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So.. here is a video that might help you to see what a Number Talk might look like:</div>
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This video is a little quiet, but it does a really nice job of showing a Number Talk.</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PH5RG4zmmHE/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PH5RG4zmmHE?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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Here is another good video from YouTube:</div>
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At the start of my school year, depending on my students, I will start by showing them 5-frames or 10-frames and asking them to subitize the dots. My goal will be for them to use strategies besides counting all. </div>
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Once my school year gets rolling, I will write more about Number Talks and add some video from my own classroom. </div>
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Feel free to comment with questions or remarks about Number Talks!!</div>
Amanda at Learn, Laugh, Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11401143456303334046noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1946352819026184881.post-6391282378744211992016-07-30T16:49:00.003-04:002016-07-30T16:50:12.216-04:00I'm back!<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Hello!! Apparently I took a little break from blogging, FOUR years?! A lot has changed in the past four years but not my love for teaching 1st graders. This year I'm hoping to get back into the tech-side of being a teacher that I used to love: blogging, classroom website, student tablets/apps, etc. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I'm going to work to revamp my blog a little bit, but I have completely forgotten how to work this thing. I'm sure Blogger has changed a bit too. But it's like riding a bike, right? </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Let me fill you in on a little bit about me, now! </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I turned 30 just a few weeks ago!! Woo hoo! I'm not big into numbers so the only reason it bothered me (a little bit) is that S, my hubby, is 2 years younger, so he is still a youthful twenty-something ;)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">My ADORABLE baby girl just turned one! How can it be, one already?? She's amazing, and I absolutely love being a mom to Little Miss. It is the greatest thing that has happened to us. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I have not been on my TPT site as a seller in a long while... I just went through today and made everything FREE. I know there are things that need to be updated but I figure I'll get to that later this year :) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I'm looking forward to the upcoming school year but I'm also a little apprehensive. I'm so grateful to be continuing to teach my favorite grade, FIRST, but there are a lot of other changes happening. My grade-level team is changing a little, which always makes me anxious (not sure why, in 7 years, I have only once had the same team of teachers to work with); we are also getting a new principal and secretary! Woo, big changes!!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">What kind of changes are you excited/nervous/anxious/apprehensive about for this school year?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, sans-serif;">Leave me a comment to let me know!! :) Hope you're having a great summer!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Amanda at Learn, Laugh, Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11401143456303334046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1946352819026184881.post-69783185940568945232012-11-01T22:45:00.002-04:002012-11-01T22:45:40.902-04:00Assessments, Assessments, Assessment!!!<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Are you in the midst of crazy amounts of assessments?! We are too!! I also try to create my own tools to save time, and I'm here to show off some of these tools, along with some of my ideas!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At my school, we use the Fountas and Pinnell BAS Tests to assess reading levels, so I've created a few templates to use along with these for a couple reasons: to save <u>time</u>, <u>paper</u>, and <u>energy!!! </u> </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These templates I created to match the Foutas & Pinnell BAS Assessments but can really be used by any teacher for running records. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first two pages are standard running record form, with the addition of a strategies box at the bottom, the final page has boxes for teachers to record accuracy rate, fluency rate, and comprehension scores. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Running-Record-Template-1" target="_blank">This template</a> specifically matches the Fountas & Pinnell BAS Assessments for the levels A-K and <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Running-Record-Template-2" target="_blank">this template</a> matches the assessments for levels L-Z (due to changes in the comprehension scoring). </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What I do then is the following... I created a binder with a page of my template for each student. I record the running record on my template page - including marking strategies I noticed students using, rating a fluency score, calculate the accuracy and self-correcting rate, and noting the student's comprehension. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I then keep a copy of the F&P running records for each level A-Z in my binder as well. I refer to these pages for the specific questions for comprehension and the calculations for the accuracy score. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Please contact me with any questions, this turned out a bit more complicated sounding then I intended...! Please check out my templates and leave me a rating if you purchase/use them!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have a great Friday :-) Amanda</span>Amanda at Learn, Laugh, Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11401143456303334046noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1946352819026184881.post-91698751801269446392012-10-30T16:51:00.003-04:002012-10-30T16:51:57.717-04:00Word Work Ideas<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hello friends!! It's been a long time! </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I never anticipated the HUGE change I would feel when moving grade levels. At the end of last school year, I had second graders.. second graders who were almost ready for third grade!! Fast forward through the busy but lazy summer.... I meet my new (WONDERFUL) class of firsties - but they seem to be a bit more like Kindergarteners!! This all translates to me, feeling a bit crazy! </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I absolutely love my first graders, I love teaching first grade, it's just taking a while to adjust. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Anyway, my firsties seem to need a lot of practice with word work. I've set up stations and a rotation for my kiddos to use during my guided reading time. Each rotation is about 15 minutes, with about 4 students at each station. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />My rotations include:</span><br />
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<li><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Read to Self</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Read to Buddy (or "stuffed buddy" - they love this!)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Listen to Reading - Listening center and Computers on ABCya or Starfall</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Wikki-Stix</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Magnet Letters</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Salt Boxes</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Letter Stamps</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and most recently PLAY-DOUGH!!!!</span></li>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So my post today is to walk you through the recipe that I used to make my play-dough!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><u>Ingredients include: </u></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 c. White Flour</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/4 c. Salt</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2 Tbsp. Cream of Tarter</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 c. Water</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 Tbsp. Oil</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 tsp. food coloring</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikACB0IUrIgmhUMy5SpebZDmXU6Nf7EJp9L4Z4qNAmsDAKQ0PeTa07vzyD1wfmzNRvMpXet-HgAlkedGG6EfKulKyNZTLHoOz_I8GZwN7RYAaUbysKLCteiETQ6Kzn-hsdZxg_3nllfr7F/s1600/IMG-20121030-00651.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikACB0IUrIgmhUMy5SpebZDmXU6Nf7EJp9L4Z4qNAmsDAKQ0PeTa07vzyD1wfmzNRvMpXet-HgAlkedGG6EfKulKyNZTLHoOz_I8GZwN7RYAaUbysKLCteiETQ6Kzn-hsdZxg_3nllfr7F/s320/IMG-20121030-00651.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-align: left;">Combine all ingredients in a pot on medium heat and stir. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw381sBBsZtfs-sAirvFzHIErS_mfyBeN3w0gqToXZQ7KGaFG0flt45B1DA2ftJTsJ9OSWc_XxKmQSdgfSItaKqRemQDAvWRHIcsEiRM6BYk2gpEdZthwwxtaChgsLKNpKiZ3E4cfs7voD/s1600/IMG-20121030-00652.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw381sBBsZtfs-sAirvFzHIErS_mfyBeN3w0gqToXZQ7KGaFG0flt45B1DA2ftJTsJ9OSWc_XxKmQSdgfSItaKqRemQDAvWRHIcsEiRM6BYk2gpEdZthwwxtaChgsLKNpKiZ3E4cfs7voD/s320/IMG-20121030-00652.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It will start looking nasty and clumpy [yes, that's the technical term ;)] It kind of smells at this point too! </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT22t-MW6OkRuECCRUQTATrUgJ4DIgsIUtPmQBxBVMKuNQoKx4yeCpNbWq3uN-Od5ApAKnnacHWxvO_-fG-_t9Ww_7HnmCLSsBX7tyamee6wGLnoTvQ1T2w9nJLwIdD4ryV6IoGuIJLYz7/s1600/IMG-20121030-00653.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT22t-MW6OkRuECCRUQTATrUgJ4DIgsIUtPmQBxBVMKuNQoKx4yeCpNbWq3uN-Od5ApAKnnacHWxvO_-fG-_t9Ww_7HnmCLSsBX7tyamee6wGLnoTvQ1T2w9nJLwIdD4ryV6IoGuIJLYz7/s320/IMG-20121030-00653.jpg" width="238" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-align: left;">It will only take 3-5 minutes before it starts to clump into one solid ball.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSFwJv3VWzbjq7fENcjfb6I54gRrn4ocqwtz6TAAE6eJZeJPRj2QOctbuZGsBvUtZsypcrEV0TmDSHWLBoMW6_CNcjmwHYxd2W58cR9e1l-Vd_NUZkgnwQfuqocl2UHuZApc4G9uCVCqTA/s1600/IMG-20121030-00654.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSFwJv3VWzbjq7fENcjfb6I54gRrn4ocqwtz6TAAE6eJZeJPRj2QOctbuZGsBvUtZsypcrEV0TmDSHWLBoMW6_CNcjmwHYxd2W58cR9e1l-Vd_NUZkgnwQfuqocl2UHuZApc4G9uCVCqTA/s320/IMG-20121030-00654.jpg" width="238" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-align: left;">Turn out the ball of play-dough onto a floured table-top. Knead the ball to work out the stickiness; use floured hands. The color will lighten up.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZlJ8fJB_9Oi2wb0oC_4Awf31Wcqyx-wvOaJfe1h0EZbdbn4OOVim-w-dtbPfCpxAIhGEmpmuvlMVS_qYxfPpHFHo1dVVW4uaOqnSnsDldKlP0T7puc_wqM8HoLNe5u32FJhzIgWIWoTG/s1600/IMG-20121030-00655.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZlJ8fJB_9Oi2wb0oC_4Awf31Wcqyx-wvOaJfe1h0EZbdbn4OOVim-w-dtbPfCpxAIhGEmpmuvlMVS_qYxfPpHFHo1dVVW4uaOqnSnsDldKlP0T7puc_wqM8HoLNe5u32FJhzIgWIWoTG/s320/IMG-20121030-00655.jpg" width="238" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-align: left;">Each "batch" made one large ball or two orange-sized balls of play-dough. I made three batches [purple, green and blue] and separated each batch into 2. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYvZuJsJU6v6tswWt7fB3wlnegxEGZvIIikDf5x8Z93oVHIL7yKXQ6ZmvwgzR0sMq3lOx6UbcHz1KMnJcP6LcHilnsq0Y0PWK2Jpc8YssWuUrf1VqiC8Rhz9qyYrMpmvc5ehZRPuo_Q6l7/s1600/IMG-20121030-00659.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYvZuJsJU6v6tswWt7fB3wlnegxEGZvIIikDf5x8Z93oVHIL7yKXQ6ZmvwgzR0sMq3lOx6UbcHz1KMnJcP6LcHilnsq0Y0PWK2Jpc8YssWuUrf1VqiC8Rhz9qyYrMpmvc5ehZRPuo_Q6l7/s320/IMG-20121030-00659.jpg" width="238" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I packaged each ball into a separate zip-lock bag. I am looking for the *PERFECT* sized containers to store these in; ones that are easy enough for 5, 6, and 7 year olds to open and close on their own. Students will use play-dough to spell out their spelling and word wall words. This play-dough is "edible" but NOT tasty... so hopefully to deter students from snacking while they spell!</span></div>
Amanda at Learn, Laugh, Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11401143456303334046noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1946352819026184881.post-70877531610364140992012-08-08T17:37:00.002-04:002012-08-08T17:37:17.381-04:00Being handy!!<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, my latest project... </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Started with an awesome garage sale find ($20 for the bench and bins w/ casters):</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgay1L77xIVWYmuqFtOxCzJbuumLels-J75mh_9TS6XF2Np0kAosgRQ3n3RbAjG2WlzfP2z8LctM2G9nJbf55E9LTyM7dgubYY-kSz4IZd-vf10Iw9dFE0QQywpZiCKeiM8JSmDDaGz-DvS/s1600/IMG-20120803-00591.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgay1L77xIVWYmuqFtOxCzJbuumLels-J75mh_9TS6XF2Np0kAosgRQ3n3RbAjG2WlzfP2z8LctM2G9nJbf55E9LTyM7dgubYY-kSz4IZd-vf10Iw9dFE0QQywpZiCKeiM8JSmDDaGz-DvS/s320/IMG-20120803-00591.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I sanded down all the surfaces with an orbital sander so that the paint would take. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then, I painted the bench with a textured grey spray paint, and then again with a solid grey paint. Gave it a great texture which will hopefully keep dents from showing!!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjaE5DaOkgSk5XnEmSddEeC97b_pfvHlGbe9YhDZQm0WojEN8IoZdxCC42-6ALldmcR3lGLz96E0oZfv3Jcbi8DcMs0uJ3OfrP7-58PpoJvpHBGepa0vGxx5PW-ns-_O8YxDVeEcspVvId/s1600/IMG-20120803-00592.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjaE5DaOkgSk5XnEmSddEeC97b_pfvHlGbe9YhDZQm0WojEN8IoZdxCC42-6ALldmcR3lGLz96E0oZfv3Jcbi8DcMs0uJ3OfrP7-58PpoJvpHBGepa0vGxx5PW-ns-_O8YxDVeEcspVvId/s320/IMG-20120803-00592.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Then... I painted the boxes blue!! I left the insides their original color (pink/purple) because you wont really see it!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOo0puNNRozs1sAS9_hfEJDyMe1hAutMCrymlZsveSIBR40vz-pqyIUtb6xZbLMDyiOwrmg1uh4bZj5W7BuOBkkbsHNOcuZjQ2MlFcaM3ClnJjPy9ESBzCySEnOV8ILJSaZ-w04mP_TNSx/s1600/IMG-20120803-00593.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOo0puNNRozs1sAS9_hfEJDyMe1hAutMCrymlZsveSIBR40vz-pqyIUtb6xZbLMDyiOwrmg1uh4bZj5W7BuOBkkbsHNOcuZjQ2MlFcaM3ClnJjPy9ESBzCySEnOV8ILJSaZ-w04mP_TNSx/s320/IMG-20120803-00593.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Enlisted my wonderful hubby to help with the construction parts.. :) Using OSB we made an "H" frame to fit inside each box... this frame will hold the cushion up to the top of the box. Hubby is cutting with a Circular Saw:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc6VLJU0O7kPdghA7FGnIuyalNuM_GvHHABM1sBYCGE6Rfxr-KjDFBMS55oaFZl69vyTXBOI6Lje-GOcgx4Ajbd4gYLzUQma7Bq_M-UAnoP6FIObOJ6xy1YVzm8r0gxsoMoiT1gLhAzJGc/s1600/IMG-20120805-00594.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc6VLJU0O7kPdghA7FGnIuyalNuM_GvHHABM1sBYCGE6Rfxr-KjDFBMS55oaFZl69vyTXBOI6Lje-GOcgx4Ajbd4gYLzUQma7Bq_M-UAnoP6FIObOJ6xy1YVzm8r0gxsoMoiT1gLhAzJGc/s320/IMG-20120805-00594.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I am cutting the slots with a Jig Saw!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1NNKOgL0fflHYA5aUmADyScaoybwavsgzpcHpmGNR9dwX-cZFb72JYKTjvRQhli1atoC0uRkprpwK7rbbbQuou64FUxj25zlOYgRyTeQPzUdGfrLzF8hQawrfy59VTyAj7zIyKFHQ8M00/s1600/IMG-20120805-00596.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1NNKOgL0fflHYA5aUmADyScaoybwavsgzpcHpmGNR9dwX-cZFb72JYKTjvRQhli1atoC0uRkprpwK7rbbbQuou64FUxj25zlOYgRyTeQPzUdGfrLzF8hQawrfy59VTyAj7zIyKFHQ8M00/s320/IMG-20120805-00596.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Didn't take any pictures of the upholstering process, but I basically upholstered (with foam, thick ugly fabric and thinner cutsie fabric) a rectangle piece of OSB. These cushions fit right inside each bin, and is supported by the "H" frame. *Also, used a hole cutter (drill with a giant circular drill "bit" on the end) to cut two holes in the back. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilTwF7didNZtpUJzZ4c42sfRY45zDhPKy206lrs9zd_PpE6CANwvb4pUWAeNwY57rK6VEnKxQjhyDi5PTNBWrQ9ZtE5-Kd6bUrc2hzBvvyHX88GvFSL_MxHmgWeV0PS73FNxPzwal8HFRz/s1600/IMG-20120807-00597.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilTwF7didNZtpUJzZ4c42sfRY45zDhPKy206lrs9zd_PpE6CANwvb4pUWAeNwY57rK6VEnKxQjhyDi5PTNBWrQ9ZtE5-Kd6bUrc2hzBvvyHX88GvFSL_MxHmgWeV0PS73FNxPzwal8HFRz/s320/IMG-20120807-00597.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I plan to use this in my computer area, the 2 monitors, keyboards and mice/mice pads will be on the bench top, while the towers will be tucked underneath. The holes in the back of the bench are for the cords to pass through. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I just LOVE it, but what do you think?? Any crafty blogger friends out there? </span></div>Amanda at Learn, Laugh, Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11401143456303334046noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1946352819026184881.post-4001904974898144392012-07-24T17:33:00.000-04:002012-07-24T17:38:01.443-04:00Craft of the day!<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Reading is TOAD-ally awesome, especially when your classroom has a great reading bench!! </span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I was inspired by Pinterest (original pin and post by <a href="http://msgingrade3.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">Ms. G in Grade 3</a>, found <a href="http://msgingrade3.blogspot.ca/2012/07/show-me-sunday-classroom-themes.html" target="_blank">here </a>) to make a bench out of crates for my classroom. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How did I do it? Found crates for $3 at Target. It doesn't matter that they are cheap, the weight of a child sitting on the bench is not put on the individual crates. Got the fabric from my mom - she made me some great curtains when I first started teaching, and had lots of cute teacher fabric left over. Using zip ties, I connected the three crates together - it only took about 6 large zip ties. Next I cut a piece of OSB wood to fit over the top, with a little bit hanging over the edges. I actually upholstered the wooden piece twice - once with an ugly but tough fabric, and a second time with my cute frog fabric (which is a little bit more light-weight). The bins are Martha Stewart from Home Depot or Lowes (can't remember..) 2 for $8.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Here's my final project, what do you think?? </span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc6kjio-eaotkt3nK9qtttdsP9NzBA6n2lfZC3HdYWMHQo-acYUta1b3zu1D_WmpmYxWDe1UHuKTrGpATmmuBzHUuhacpok0wGSS05GamxXVDmj0vmr1f0HJ_zvieFxFZ1vXQtjKuSdKfO/s1600/IMG-20120724-00575.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc6kjio-eaotkt3nK9qtttdsP9NzBA6n2lfZC3HdYWMHQo-acYUta1b3zu1D_WmpmYxWDe1UHuKTrGpATmmuBzHUuhacpok0wGSS05GamxXVDmj0vmr1f0HJ_zvieFxFZ1vXQtjKuSdKfO/s400/IMG-20120724-00575.jpg" width="300" /></a> Do you have any great furniture in your classroom that you love? </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Amanda</span></div>Amanda at Learn, Laugh, Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11401143456303334046noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1946352819026184881.post-58836480276308939842012-07-22T09:58:00.000-04:002012-07-22T09:58:00.120-04:00Classroom Updates<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ok, so I am totally over the whole moving classrooms thing (three times in three years) BUT I do have to say that each time I move, I get a little more organized with my classroom, I get a chance to be in a different part of the school, I get to try out another room and I find wonderful things that I had forgotten about! :) </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most recently, I found an old plastic set of drawers. They were dusty, grimy and kind of gross. The plastic drawers that are supposed to be transparent... are not so see-through anymore! As soon as I found it, I was inspired (by Pinterest of course!!) </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I went to Hobby Lobby to find some scrapbook paper. I wanted some fun designs that kind-of matched. This is what I picked:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Four designs - I bought a bunch of each kind: dots, bunting, monsters and ABCs. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then I got to work with some Mod Podge. I ended up covering the front and sides of each drawer, plus I put one page on the top of the whole unit, because like I said, this set of drawers was pretty icky...! </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's my final product!! What do you think??</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think they turned out pretty cute, and to be honest, I am just glad that I started and finished my project!! </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have a great Sunday,<br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amanda</span></div>Amanda at Learn, Laugh, Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11401143456303334046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1946352819026184881.post-1251980930097317612012-07-20T18:34:00.003-04:002012-07-20T18:34:28.054-04:00Calling all teachers of FIRSTIES! :)<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well I am super pumped to be teaching first grade this year!! I just LOVE first grade, something magical happens there! In Michigan, we are implementing coooooooommon core! Are you? So far we have standards for ELA and Math. We're still using GLCEs (Grade Level Content Expectations) for Science and Social Studies. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every year, I always print off the standards and they are just so lengthy, or wordy, or in some weird format... so this year, I created checklists for each subject - Reading/Literacy, Writing, Math, Science and Social Studies. All the standards are listed, with a shorter, para-phrased meaning along with a place to mark the date and lesson/unit when the standard was focused on. I plan to put these into my subject binders and refer back to them for planning. This is my very first NOT-free TPT item... so, please, if you're interested, it's only $1 for all the subjects, buy them?! I don't usually <strike>beg</strike> ask but this is my first one and I am so hopeful that it sells! They are so-not-creative, just excel spreadsheets turned PDF files, but the font is pleasant and they work for me, so I hope they work for you :-)</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Common-Core-Standards-Checklists" target="_blank">1st Grade Standards Checklists</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a preview, AND because you're all so wonderful, here's the <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B05VCHNpdDNUa1FyV1g1eVhLNzg" target="_blank">Writing Standards</a> checklist as a freebie! </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Happy Friday, all!! </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Amanda</span>Amanda at Learn, Laugh, Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11401143456303334046noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1946352819026184881.post-7244865986442620162012-07-05T18:34:00.000-04:002012-07-05T18:34:30.706-04:00Hello SUMMER!I won't pretend that I've been trying really hard to get caught up on my blog... in fact I haven't even checked out my FAVORITE blogs in like weeks!! Since school ended, I spent a few days moving my classroom (back downstairs, just down the hall from my first classroom two years ago), I co-led a mission trip of 32 high school students from my church to Marquette, MI to work on three Habitat for Humanity Homes, I traveled for a second time to Marquette with my husband and a friend to do some more work on the houses a week later, and I've helped my parents begin building their garage that we demolished over Memorial Weekend. WHEW. Is it summer for real yet??<br />
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Today was the first day that felt like I am truly "off" work, and I spent 5 hours this morning trying to get organized for my first graders... yes, first grade! I am so very excited to move back down to first grade for next year, just love those firsties!! I do have to admit, I didn't JUST work today... I also began shopping with my birthday money from my hubby, parents and in-laws. Got a great pair of running shoes (hopefully they will encourage me to get up and run in the mornings) and a fantastic one-shoulder bl<br />
black dress for a friend's bachelorette party only 1.5 weeks away..!<br />
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I really did miss blogging, as you can see my first paragraphs have nothing to do with blogging, sigh... I just had to catch you all up on my life (cause I know you're dying to know everything I've been up to!)<br />
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OK. but now I need some help. My first year teaching, I taught a 1st/2nd split class... and being in my first year, I really had no clue what I was doing, I mean I tried my best, and they all turned out ok, but looking back... I was very unorganized. :-/ Last year I moved to 2nd grade, which was great, but I also got married last summer (so another excuse to be unorganized)... but now, I'm breaking the cycle. I WILL be organized! I am having a hard time prioritizing my time though. I want to begin unit planning and long-term planning - what is the best way to do this though? Do you use calendars? Separate binders for each topic, or all your planning together in one place? How detailed are your plans before the school year begin?<br />
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Being that I am moving to a new room and a new grade, are there any things you wish you had done "in the beginning" that would have helped organizational-wise.. does that even make sense?<br />
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I also want to make sure my classroom is organized. At the moment, all my belongings are shoved into my closet space, and hopefully in a few weeks I can get into my room to organize. Does anyone have any brilliant organizational suggestions.<br /><br />
Where do I start??? Well... this post was not so productive... I swear, my next post will actually have something of importance, not just spewing questions LOL :)<br />
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Glad to be back! Hope you're all having the most wonderful summers!!!<br />
<span lang="en-US" style="background-color: #fcffee; color: orange; font-family: 'dandelion in the spring'; font-size: 28pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 44px; text-align: center;">*</span><span lang="en-US" style="background-color: #fcffee; color: orange; font-family: 'AR CHRISTY'; font-size: 22pt; line-height: 34px; text-align: center;">Amanda</span>Amanda at Learn, Laugh, Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11401143456303334046noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1946352819026184881.post-55695173288488035022012-05-05T11:53:00.003-04:002012-05-05T11:53:57.221-04:00Bathroom Expectations?!<br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">WOW! Have I been away for a while, or what? Life sure got busy there, but I did miss blogging. I’ve been checking in on all of your blogs during my absence.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am here for some help. We are really struggling in our second grade hallway with bathroom expectations. Each of the three teachers has a pass for girls and a pass for boys, and we are all SO conscious of who’s going when… BUT all of a sudden, so-and-so will have an emergency and HAVE TO USE IT! Or we’re busy tending to some other classroom issue when so-and-so asks and gets permission when someone else is already out. Some how, every day, it happens. The kids escape to the bathroom, there is someone drawing on the stall, there is someone peeking at someone else, there is mass chaos.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am begging for you best ideas about bathroom management. We have three girls stalls and two for boys, so really just enough for one from each class. What can we do??!!</span></div>Amanda at Learn, Laugh, Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11401143456303334046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1946352819026184881.post-72425691573683437342012-03-07T21:58:00.002-05:002012-03-07T21:58:47.636-05:00Quick Post<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ok... I promised myself that I wouldn't go so long in between posting, and I guess the important part of that all is that even when I'm sleepy and falling asleep on the couch, a quick post is better than no post!!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We had our presentation today for our district and state. I was so nervous but it went wonderfully!! We had created (over the past exhausting weeks) three tri-fold boards with our data for Reading, Writing and Math and then we presented to a group of our peers and our evaluate-ers! We received really wonderful remarks about our work on the boards and our presentation, which is awesome!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not too bad for my first year on School Improvement!!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tomorrow, I'm off again for a Numeracy conference. I am thrilled to have this opportunity because I am *TOTALLY* in love with math. I cannot wait to share some things with you about what I learn!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Currently, our district (and most neighboring districts) is using Everyday Math. But we're finding a lot of lessons that don't apply to common core, and also a few common core standards that aren't taught (or aren't taught very well) in our curriculum. I have been doing a lot of supplementing! </span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />[If you teach second grade, make sure to check out my <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Amanda-Olson" target="_blank">TPT store</a>- all free unit reviews for our math curriculum]</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anywho.. excited to learn about more ways to supplement my math program! I am currently developing my math journals (and math workshop program) for next year!!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Happy Wednesday :)</span><br />
<span lang="en-US" style="background-color: #fcffee; color: orange; font-family: 'dandelion in the spring'; font-size: 28pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 44px; text-align: center;">*</span><span lang="en-US" style="background-color: #fcffee; color: orange; font-family: 'AR CHRISTY'; font-size: 22pt; line-height: 34px; text-align: center;">Amanda</span>Amanda at Learn, Laugh, Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11401143456303334046noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1946352819026184881.post-30449114349558972922012-03-03T08:38:00.001-05:002012-03-03T08:38:40.343-05:00Paging Mrs. Olson....<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Ok. I'm still here... these past few weeks have been so incredibly jammed packed (and a bit overwhelming) so unfortunately the things that suffered were blogging, working out and sleeping... great plan, huh? I don't know who's still out there but my stats say that I've had a few visitors over the past weeks when I've been "gone", so I know you haven't given up on me!!</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I'm on School Improvement and we've been preparing for a data presentation - so that's been... well, I would have really enjoyed doing it, if I wasn't trying to teach and plan simultaneously. That's on Wednesday, and I'm a little nervous because I'm part of a four-teacher crew doing a 30 minute presentation to our peers in the district and geez, can you believe it, but I'm not a fan of public speaking?!?! :) </b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I feel so lucky to have been able to meet the WONDERFUL Debbie Miller - if you haven't read her book (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Meaning-Debbie-Miller/dp/1571103074/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330781495&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Reading with Meaning</a>), DO IT! She gave a fantastic presentation, and I was just in awe the entire day... Truly one of those PDs that <i>changed </i>me as a teacher. The following day, I revamped my Reader's Workshop, hopefully I can post on that sometime soon...!</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>This week is a big week for conferences!! I am going to the <a href="http://www.numeracyconsultants.com/" target="_blank">Numeracy Consultants</a> Workshop in Troy (any Michiganders out there going to this one?? I am truly excited to go to some MATH Pd :) I <3 Math!</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>AND next weekend, I am going to MRA!!!!!! As a second year teacher, I just know it's going to be an incredible experience (that I am really lucky to attend). I KNOW some of you fab Michigan teachers will be there! I would love, love, love to meet some of you! Please contact me if you'll be in Grand Rapids for MRA - what a great networking opportunity too! </b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Ok.. this was kind of a boring post, but at least it's a post!! :) Have a great weekend, I'll try to post again SOON!</b></span><br />
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<span lang="en-US" style="background-color: #fcffee; color: orange; font-family: 'dandelion in the spring'; font-size: 28pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 44px; text-align: center;">*</span><span lang="en-US" style="background-color: #fcffee; color: orange; font-family: 'AR CHRISTY'; font-size: 22pt; line-height: 34px; text-align: center;">Amanda</span>Amanda at Learn, Laugh, Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11401143456303334046noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1946352819026184881.post-24731556753473133872012-02-11T11:04:00.000-05:002012-02-11T11:04:01.100-05:00The Snowy Day<br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Good Morning!! We got a WHOLE bunch of snow last night... and by that I mean like 2 inches of powdery, fluffy, white stuff!?!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wow… it’s been a while, but in my defense, it
has been CRAZY busy in all areas of my life. Ok, I’ll try to keep this to one
main teaching idea… but I know that won’t last long :)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We've been working on our running record assessments this
week. On Wednesday, we had PD in the morning about the Fountas & Pinnell
BAS assessments we’ve just begun using this year. The district gave us each a
whole day sub, so I was able to test ALL afternoon in a <u>quiet</u> room
without my lovely 25 other students asking questions and interrupting! I was
able to get almost all of my class tested, and between the last two days I have
finished all but one who has been absent! WOOHOOO! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last testing window was back in … November? Anyway, I was
sick of wasting TONS of paper, each assessment is a packet of at least 3 pages
(front and back) and often you go through a few packets. I created a template
to use for this round. Well, now that I’m done with this round I’ve made a
bunch of changes and I would LOVE some feedback! If you have a moment (yea,
right?) to look them over, I would so so so appreciate! Feel free to take use
it, if it will align with your testing too. As a second year teacher, I feel
like I’m missing some of that experience that would tell me what exactly I want
my template to look like. Some of the things on the template are specific to
F&P or to our district, so if you’d like the publisher file - so you can
tweak it to what you need - let me know and I’ll email it out :) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B05VCHNpdDNUY2NiNGMyMzYtMTYyMS00ZWYwLTgxMWItMTFkOWQ2NTIwYzAx" target="_blank">Running Record (Fountas and Pinnell A-K)</a> and very similar <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B05VCHNpdDNUZmQ5OGJmZWMtYjA2My00ZGEwLWFmNzUtOGNlOGMwZTBmOTI2" target="_blank">Running Record (Fountas and Pinnell L-Z)</a> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am so bummed to say it out loud (and through my blog)
because it means that it’s real. My hubby’s job situation has changed and it
looks like I will need to start job searching on the other side of the state
for next year… UGH! I know that my *two years* experience should help a bit,
but I’ve got no contacts over there..! Any advice?? I’m trying to start now,
early enough, to hopefully eliminate some of the stress, but I’m not sure that’s
working too well! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks a bunch to all you wonderful ladies!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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</div>Amanda at Learn, Laugh, Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11401143456303334046noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1946352819026184881.post-4673893628936961832012-02-06T07:10:00.002-05:002012-02-06T07:10:40.764-05:00Feeling Blessed?<br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ever just stop to think about your life and feel blessed?
Not saying that your life is perfect, but just that your optimism outweighs
your pessimism. I don’t really have a great, inspirational teaching post… and to
be honest, I have been slacking MAJORLY when it comes to blogging… but
sometimes life just gets too busy. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My hubby and I just started a Dave Ramsey
Financial Peace class at our church. We just got married in August and we’ve
been doing ok since - but I’m just hoping that thinking about our finances together
and making that plan for the future, we can set ourselves up now with good practices
for the rest of our lives. Anybody else do a Dave Ramsey seminar?? I have heard
wonderful things :)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was feeling pretty icky this weekend but we finally got
the good weather we needed for flying, so we went!! This is the first time I’ve
been up with my pilot-man in THIS plane.. let me tell you. It was tiny! I mean,
elbow to elbow, you move so I move tiny! It was great fun though… beautiful
weather! We actually flew over our hometown and both our parents' houses. His
parents were home, so I sent them a text and they came outside on the street!
It was SO cool to see them, and know they could see us up in the air! I took
control once, but this is an old plane (1978) so no radar, no electronic panels
with all the gauges, just those old-time, tough to read gauges. I could tell I
just didn’t feel as comfortable as I have in the past (he used to fly much newer
Cirrus out in Battle Creek) so I didn’t really want to have the controls very
long!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not a great pic - remember I have been feeling sick lately!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A picture of the neighborhood where our parents live!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3eFetP9u_TtWuyJGbUxXShIk-UzBt_78SqqVy44hAorjxZLbIkU5_QgffUDXDmcDM-REa0LdHeovteU4ISheqMxPnUVT__3hYiTfEJvzotgpM1UfMvMUmVIsuYjFJT_52w0aYjGSurjoD/s1600/Crab+Rangoons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3eFetP9u_TtWuyJGbUxXShIk-UzBt_78SqqVy44hAorjxZLbIkU5_QgffUDXDmcDM-REa0LdHeovteU4ISheqMxPnUVT__3hYiTfEJvzotgpM1UfMvMUmVIsuYjFJT_52w0aYjGSurjoD/s200/Crab+Rangoons.jpg" width="150" /></span></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last night, we stayed in to watch the game. I tried my hand
at Crab Rangoons and we just hung out and played with the kittens - I had that
overwhelming feeling of gratitude for the blessings in my life. Sometimes we
get so busy and stressed out by the tasks we have each day and it was nice to
just sit back and think about all the GREAT things in my life!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Definitely included in the great things category would be
this supportive and kind bloggy family! Thank you to each of you for your
thoughtful comments and inspiration. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span lang="en-US" style="background-color: #fcffee; color: orange; font-family: 'dandelion in the spring'; font-size: 28pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 44px; text-align: center;">*</span><span lang="en-US" style="background-color: #fcffee; color: orange; font-family: 'AR CHRISTY'; font-size: 22pt; line-height: 34px; text-align: center;">Amanda</span><span style="background-color: #fcffee; color: #222222; font-family: 'Coming Soon'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"> </span><span style="background-color: #fcffee; color: #222222; font-family: 'Coming Soon'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"> </span>
</div>Amanda at Learn, Laugh, Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11401143456303334046noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1946352819026184881.post-85659589170245551942012-02-01T22:17:00.002-05:002012-02-01T22:17:32.086-05:00Quick Update - what day is it??!<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't know what happened this week... I didn't even blog this weekend, it has just been CRAZY! When I woke up Tuesday to a flat tire and a ride to work from the hubby on the worst day to be late (staff meeting with the superintendent) ... sigh... I just should have known. </span><div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I saw a post on Christina Bainbridge's blog about Lunch Bunch and I just had to post a quick update about my new program!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This week, I started a program with my students called Munch Math!! I am super pumped about it... and day one went well, so I've got that going for me! I've noticed that many of my little guys are really very low in math, missing a lot of of basic math skills. To help these kiddos, I decided to start a lunch-time math tutoring program. We do Munch Math three times a week, and each time students are invited to work on a certain skill. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today was my first day and as soon as I sat down with my little sweeties, one of them (mouth full of Pizza bread) says to me, "So, Mrs. Olson! Why don't you tell us about yourself!". Haha, she just cracked me up! The whole time we ate, she facilitated the conversation, asking people questions and what not :) Too dang cute!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tell me about any lunch-time programs that your school offers, OR if you have special prizes your students can win or earn like lunch with the teacher!</span></div>
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<span lang="en-US" style="background-color: #fcffee; color: orange; font-family: 'dandelion in the spring'; font-size: 28pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 44px; text-align: center;">*</span><span lang="en-US" style="background-color: #fcffee; color: orange; font-family: 'AR CHRISTY'; font-size: 22pt; line-height: 34px; text-align: center;">Amanda</span><span style="background-color: #fcffee; color: #222222; font-family: 'Coming Soon'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"> </span><span style="background-color: #fcffee; color: #222222; font-family: 'Coming Soon'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"> </span>
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<span style="background-color: #fcffee; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">oh and ps. I know I was tagged... I promise to post on that soon!!!</span></span></div>Amanda at Learn, Laugh, Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11401143456303334046noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1946352819026184881.post-16515575765027511602012-01-26T20:45:00.002-05:002012-01-26T20:51:26.082-05:00Aw, you just warmed my heart!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Goodness, gracious! My heart has just been smiling all day!!! (well almost all day, but no day is perfect, right?!)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My kiddos had a great morning! We had a big discussion about how to treat others, how to get along, and especially how we respect people we might not quite get along with ;) That last one is a <u>biggie</u>! We've started practicing think-pair-share again and I <i>teared up</i> when I saw my 2nd graders including everyone and using the kindest words! My heart sure smiled!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And then....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #666666;">...the wonderful Deb over at</span> <a href="http://mrsreynoldsfirstgradeadventures.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Oh, My Little Classity Class</a> <span style="color: #666666;">[what a CUTE blog name] awarded me the FAVORITE FOLLOWER AWARD!! I've noticed how much all of YOUR wonderful comments make me smile, so I have been working much harder this week to make more comments on the wonderful teaching blogs out there! Thanks, Deb!! You are super sweet!</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpPC2q_tkiSCVyNxs0Ao6vZ9eUrIQgpMrjHOSUf2vxnmx-11r6tQgxcFJ9tLy5poBVg3Dd6d9jLqv1yYUwGr__Joi4-2Uz7v1gvdHUcOX-1A56pssUg9XlkdD7rWDSciGopJ4T4z0zTEA/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-01-25+at+6_00_37+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpPC2q_tkiSCVyNxs0Ao6vZ9eUrIQgpMrjHOSUf2vxnmx-11r6tQgxcFJ9tLy5poBVg3Dd6d9jLqv1yYUwGr__Joi4-2Uz7v1gvdHUcOX-1A56pssUg9XlkdD7rWDSciGopJ4T4z0zTEA/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-01-25+at+6_00_37+PM.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #666666;">Now, to award my *TWO* fav followers :) This was tough because there are SO many kind, sweet bloggers out there who really deserve this award.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just love those email notifications that someone has commented on my blog! Often, it's this lovely lady who always has something nice to say :-) </span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lisa @ <a href="http://storiesfromsecond.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Stories from Second</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next, is someone who ALWAYS makes sure to leave a note and it means so much :) It's always feels so important (to me) to know that someone out there is reading the <strike>nonsense</strike> ideas and updates I send out there into the bloggy world. Thank you for being so wonderful!!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jennifer aka LaughinBrunette @ <a href="http://firstgradeblueskies.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">First Grade Blue Skies</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Big smiles all around today :-) Thanks to all my wonderful followers, each and everyone of you is appreciated!! Your kind words, encouragement, and ideas mean so much to me! </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>Amanda at Learn, Laugh, Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11401143456303334046noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1946352819026184881.post-11399536605084235672012-01-25T20:46:00.001-05:002012-01-25T20:48:11.220-05:00Math Night!<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don't you just LOVE it when you work hard on something and it turns out fabulous... :)There were a few times this year when I've worked with other teachers on school events (or even open house) and I've been disappointed in what we as a school offered/presented or in the turn out of families. But this time, we had much more success! Now I'm not going to actually tell you how many parents we had show up from our three 2nd grade classes, most of you will probably laugh because it's not much, but I just feel so happy that my, and our, hard work paid off!! </span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the hall we had a sign in sheet, some snacks, an estimation station and a raffle table. We did all of our parent "stuff" inside my classroom and had a super awesome game in the hall (my teaching partner, who was hired the day before Winter Break, is fantastic!! She's worked <u>so hard</u> already in the < 3 weeks she has been here and we just <b>love </b>her!)</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anywho - here's my "welcome" table. I found these great white (cheap) gift bags at Hobby Lobby. Any kiddos who came with their parents could decorate their goody bag at the purple table. The parents were also able to pick up their folder here. Instead of stuffing alll the papers into folders, I decided to put out the handouts. I feel like this way parents will at least take a glance and ask questions if they have any!</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdUU0rlJ_s5285fm_HTojEE-PIOu7pYkJE3h4P8uwxi7HorHKMbZiobndGutyvndaincbv8PorBo2xWrt4t_qhqk9RkMq02GX81GymPktVM1K_9uACW7M892rnUBzOAUgXeHu9OO_gL5ST/s1600/Handouts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdUU0rlJ_s5285fm_HTojEE-PIOu7pYkJE3h4P8uwxi7HorHKMbZiobndGutyvndaincbv8PorBo2xWrt4t_qhqk9RkMq02GX81GymPktVM1K_9uACW7M892rnUBzOAUgXeHu9OO_gL5ST/s200/Handouts.jpg" width="150" /></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The red table had some teacher created handouts about some of the concepts we are covering in math. I made some handouts for parents about: Rounding, 2-digit addition, base-10 blocks, and ballpark estimates. If you're interested in seeing handouts I created, leave a comment... seems like too much work at this point to upload them all :-)</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG1fbwuXEtTFCHN9x13KV1PEQhzar-9Ofmb0gsZAGtBFzki2VKunfQiFibhHA563eLDC-mG3uQAL5tDCEr8foIU_AUWnDeFMHSW5A1IdpJllm94Rlbi6_wnd9N247xX6cxOz7BIyHjlu-U/s1600/Games.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG1fbwuXEtTFCHN9x13KV1PEQhzar-9Ofmb0gsZAGtBFzki2VKunfQiFibhHA563eLDC-mG3uQAL5tDCEr8foIU_AUWnDeFMHSW5A1IdpJllm94Rlbi6_wnd9N247xX6cxOz7BIyHjlu-U/s200/Games.jpg" width="150" /></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The blue table was my *fav*! We created some math games, copied games from wonderful teacher-friends, and found/made some manipulatives to send home too! Ooo and we laminated 100s charts for the parents to take home, too. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's the "Math is Sweet" Cakewalk that my teaching partner did! She put yellow papers on the floor in a circle, just like a cakewalk; she played music, just like a cakewalk; she even had a STROBE LIGHT! Yes, a strobe light... at math night... awesome :) She would call a number out to name the winner of the round, but the spots on the floor didn't just have a number. They were a clock, or a math problem, or a set of base ten blocks, or coins - and when the music stopped the students had to figure out what their number was before the teacher called the number. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And to top it off, she'd announce "Math is Sweet!!!" and give the kiddos got to pick a sweet treat as a prize - yay!!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">WHEW! Ok, I'm done.. long post but a GREAT end to the day, and I needed it. Today was a little crazy and a lot stressful. Hope you all had a great day :)</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh yea, and to top it off, our staff spirit wear came in today! Looks just fabulous! And the best part, my hoodie sweatshirt has my last name on it. Might not be that exciting to others but I got married just five months ago so my (still) NEW last name is on my sweatshirt! Yipee :-)</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sorry if there are any typos... my kitten Stella tells me that I'm done with my blog for the night :) </span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Good night and happy Thursday!</span><br />
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<span lang="en-US" style="background-color: #fcffee; color: orange; font-family: 'dandelion in the spring'; font-size: 28pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 44px; text-align: center;">*</span><span lang="en-US" style="background-color: #fcffee; color: orange; font-family: 'AR CHRISTY'; font-size: 22pt; line-height: 34px; text-align: center;">Amanda</span><span style="background-color: #fcffee; color: #222222; font-family: 'Coming Soon'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"> </span>
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<span style="background-color: #fcffee; color: #222222; font-family: 'Coming Soon'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>Amanda at Learn, Laugh, Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11401143456303334046noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1946352819026184881.post-78908056417282799172012-01-23T21:49:00.002-05:002012-01-23T21:49:42.930-05:00Author's Purpose<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today I had one of THOSE moments... it was a moment that reminded me why I love to teach, a moment that I will use to get me through the times that are a bit tougher to handle, a great moment where I feel like they *got* it!</span><div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were discussing the three purposes an author can have for writing, making sure to apply these to books we read and stories we write. The students made a tree map to show the three purposes - Persuading, Informing and Entertaining (we use the acronym PIE to help remember these). After some class discussion, the students looked through old Scholastic book order forms. They found books that belonged in each category, cut the picture of the book and glued the picture onto their tree map. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After some independent work time (which was SOOOO quiet!) they gathered in groups to share. No one complained about being in a group with "so-and-so"; they gathered together and found a quiet spot to share. And here's my moment... I heard the BEST discussions (they were even on topic - HA!), kind words to friends about the great job they did sharing, helpful students who reminded others about definitions, it was just great! </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666;">After they shared, one student came up to me to tell me what a great job her team-members did!! I loved it; so I asked the class if anyone else wanted to share about fantastic things that happened in their group - and I heard some wonderful compliments to other students. It might seem little and unimportant, but I was just so proud :-) They got the lesson, they shared their work proudly with classmates, and they were kind and helpful to everyone!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666;">We are planning a Math Parent Night for Wednesday... Lots of manipulatives made, and handouts created for parents... REALLY crossing my fingers on this one! Hopefully everything will go well and all of our RSVP'd parents come! </span></div>
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<span lang="en-US" style="background-color: #fcffee; color: orange; font-family: 'dandelion in the spring'; font-size: 28pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 44px; text-align: center;">*</span><span lang="en-US" style="background-color: #fcffee; color: orange; font-family: 'AR CHRISTY'; font-size: 22pt; line-height: 34px; text-align: center;">Amanda</span><span style="background-color: #fcffee; color: #222222; font-family: 'Coming Soon'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span>
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</span></span>Amanda at Learn, Laugh, Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11401143456303334046noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1946352819026184881.post-55414897058135564502012-01-21T08:59:00.002-05:002012-01-21T08:59:30.570-05:00Winter is Here!! And with it comes a long post...<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I realize that many people live in areas of warm(ish), sunny weather all year round and I just have to say I am JEALOUS! As a Michigander, we never quite know what to expect, and apparently, well, today is a wintery, cold and snowy day! (Not a fan). I was perfectly happy with the 40's and 50's we were having for the last few weeks, but oh well!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wanted to highlight a few friends' posts because they are just great! :) </span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mrs. Reynolds at <a href="http://mrsreynoldsfirstgradeadventures.blogspot.com/2012/01/left-right-center-double-digit-adding.html" target="_blank">Oh, my Little Classity Class</a> (love the name) posted some great math games! Ever played the card game called Left, Right, Center..? She found some inspiration to turn it into games for spelling practice and math practice! Love it!!</span><br />
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<a href="http://mrsreynoldsfirstgradeadventures.blogspot.com/2012/01/left-right-center-double-digit-adding.html" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxKabMqno5rmcDfmRLL0SoAqXwgttxi-7CMPf6sKUgeFXeZ14g5HElzpvKxbBidhGkQ6fAYBj45Iy_Ezsrg438MFzMKHZO6kgPlSg2rfwoSjoeuBBublMDA9ZCS4NfdVEB5noHp24DF0k/s320/Blog+shot+0%252C1%252Cdoubles.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She has two different files on her blog - one for single digit addition and one for double digit addition! Make sure to check her out and leave some love! :) </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yvonne at <a href="http://sassyinsecond.blogspot.com/2012/01/made-ice-cream-today.html" target="_blank">Sassy in Second</a> made ice cream with her class!! She included a great recipe - I think we'll do this next week!! Note to self - take pictures! YUM!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lisa at <a href="http://mrsreynoldsfirstgradeadventures.blogspot.com/2012/01/left-right-center-double-digit-adding.html" target="_blank">Stories from Second</a> posted about her homework policies. I am super interested to hear about what YOU do for homework in your classroom! I know this may never change but as a second year teacher, I just feel like I have SOOOO many ideas and I can't even get my head around them! I want to do so much, but there is too little time! Last year, teaching a split (and being hired in a week before school began) I never quite felt settled enough to make huge overhaul changes to anything! I kind of just kept whatever policies and systems I started with! I'm not too happy with my homework methods, so I'd love to be inspired by your methods!! </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Here's what I am currently doing:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Spelling</b>: 12 - 14 spelling words a week (including bonus words) that I take from Houghton-Mifflin; I have students practice by counting syllables, putting words in ABC order, writing them out to practice handwriting too, and put them into spelling boxes. Here are some files:</span></div>
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<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B05VCHNpdDNUYTczMWUyYzEtZTNjYi00YjI3LWE4YWYtN2ZjOWZmMWMzNDg4&hl=en_US" target="_blank"><img height="320" src="https://docs.google.com/viewer?pid=explorer&srcid=0B05VCHNpdDNUYTczMWUyYzEtZTNjYi00YjI3LWE4YWYtN2ZjOWZmMWMzNDg4&chrome=true&docid=1a96e5c47d1f1c71bf0015be51dc4c8a%7C92360a18b88e8d4968ba42a87322e65f&a=bi&pagenumber=2&w=800" width="246" /></a> <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B05VCHNpdDNUNDk4MTc0NzktMGVkZS00NjIwLTk1ODUtMzQ4MmE1ZjNjY2Y1&hl=en_US" target="_blank"><img height="320" src="https://docs.google.com/viewer?pid=explorer&srcid=0B05VCHNpdDNUNDk4MTc0NzktMGVkZS00NjIwLTk1ODUtMzQ4MmE1ZjNjY2Y1&chrome=true&docid=7840bbbe41be0a5a19857a93e22c2555%7C99a6ec397865748d2e3e323b00f0bccc&a=bi&pagenumber=1&w=800" width="246" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Obviously the word list changes from week to week. So I have to alter the documents. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Reading: </b>Typically, I try to send home a story with before and after reading activities (often Thinking Maps), I will slip in some Grammar pages or other practice pages;<b> </b>I also include a Reading log for the week.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Math: </b>I don't care for the Math Homelinks included in our math curriculum so I have begun to make my own. I send home 3 - 5 pages that will help to practice skills needed for the lessons of the coming week. This has started to get overwhelming (creating all 3-5 documents - most likely on Sunday night...!)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ok - so what do you do?!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I just had to share some of the inspiration that I found in the bloggy world this week. Gosh, I sure do love seeing everyone's ideas especially when I can use them with my kiddos! </span></div>
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<span lang="en-US" style="background-color: #fcffee; color: orange; font-family: 'dandelion in the spring'; font-size: 28pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 44px; text-align: center;">*</span><span lang="en-US" style="background-color: #fcffee; color: orange; font-family: 'AR CHRISTY'; font-size: 22pt; line-height: 34px; text-align: center;">Amanda</span><span style="background-color: #fcffee; color: #222222; font-family: 'Coming Soon'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span>
</div>Amanda at Learn, Laugh, Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11401143456303334046noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1946352819026184881.post-44696479469475077532012-01-19T22:47:00.002-05:002012-01-19T22:47:26.568-05:00My Classroom :)<span style="color: #999999; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Here's a quick peek into my classroom - </span><br />
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've had trouble finding places for my anchor charts, so recently I strung up a bunch of twine (via 3M Command hooks) since I can't reach the ceiling in my room.. it's literally 30 feet... OK I'm really bad at estimating but my hubby says maybe 15 feet LOL but still too high unless I have a real tall ladder. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLMPaVpfsxf3HifNXWJ1Xh5ExiibjKSHqsj7CezEe1ZJJ41mo4ioCPxdxDPMZlI8E02RcvLVD4yil-iuE1muiynWjh_61YOsxqtHjBVxwIs0dWzc0NSl1vvck6RHCvmKHIPjEqyBSSrMSJ/s1600/IMG-20120119-00292.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLMPaVpfsxf3HifNXWJ1Xh5ExiibjKSHqsj7CezEe1ZJJ41mo4ioCPxdxDPMZlI8E02RcvLVD4yil-iuE1muiynWjh_61YOsxqtHjBVxwIs0dWzc0NSl1vvck6RHCvmKHIPjEqyBSSrMSJ/s200/IMG-20120119-00292.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's a few anchor charts that I've pinned up! Do you have any difficult areas (or just difficulties) in your classroom? How do you deal with them?</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVZcUzxa1elUgr-yEL3ncbuOt8wWQbgZ69B8NneB9LW_EyvBaYEMbeRr1fvbr2rfrLpz2HuWKoJCOwq1_IIcdfvyM401EEbAtGUoHC3ODkHtGxeBClFGUEUE8x3GGSQGbsC-N40KeHJKzP/s1600/IMG-20120119-00294.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVZcUzxa1elUgr-yEL3ncbuOt8wWQbgZ69B8NneB9LW_EyvBaYEMbeRr1fvbr2rfrLpz2HuWKoJCOwq1_IIcdfvyM401EEbAtGUoHC3ODkHtGxeBClFGUEUE8x3GGSQGbsC-N40KeHJKzP/s320/IMG-20120119-00294.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next, I LOVED Christina Bainbridge's Teaching Beliefs, so I posted mine in the classroom. I find myself constantly referring to them as I teach, encouraging my students to think about their own beliefs as we learn!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My other picture isn't loading.. I'll try to edit that one in!!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Mr4x5CYmAsCx4AWZMocm__B0sJvoWur5bRhFQ8IPguiKJdVIex7Fu-dFJdR3q8szuvMXFvCx0cYshBMus8knv9Os-rVVEM2pnd3VE48bHzIZV-gWg3C53CeWTOk-tA_ab-ct0ncU3VYe/s1600/IMG-20120119-00293.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Mr4x5CYmAsCx4AWZMocm__B0sJvoWur5bRhFQ8IPguiKJdVIex7Fu-dFJdR3q8szuvMXFvCx0cYshBMus8knv9Os-rVVEM2pnd3VE48bHzIZV-gWg3C53CeWTOk-tA_ab-ct0ncU3VYe/s320/IMG-20120119-00293.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #999999; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My students are THRILLED to find "naughty" words that don't follow our spelling rules. By calling attention to these words, we begin to see that word as a sight word, instead! Here's our Word Jail for those misbehavin' words!!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We've been finding these words all year, but I finally got our jail up.. I had a little mishap with the laminater... it kinda, sorta, maybe ATE my jail!! I swear, these machines are out to get me sometimes (do you feel like that ever)! </span><br />
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I fed my (beautiful) paper jail into the laminater and it never. came. out. HA I looked behind, underneath, to the side and it just didn't emerge. It was a few weeks later that a maintenance worker pulled my jail out of the evil-laminater. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiSgJnFmefFyQ1f_hv7HYReKTbriodNWuoSXfiZmL4H6Y00shWhDhX1GUAynqZ3g6ENFbv-kBUw7DiAztbOmrQNhu3rX1yMRMU6TKgtHx2a97OsLUZHix_W9ocO38fLjEPbvwhkfmo-1nQ/s1600/IMG-20120119-00296.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiSgJnFmefFyQ1f_hv7HYReKTbriodNWuoSXfiZmL4H6Y00shWhDhX1GUAynqZ3g6ENFbv-kBUw7DiAztbOmrQNhu3rX1yMRMU6TKgtHx2a97OsLUZHix_W9ocO38fLjEPbvwhkfmo-1nQ/s320/IMG-20120119-00296.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do your kiddos *LOVE* maps?! Mine do!! I put up a map of the world, and a map of the USA. Also we made a graph of different places we knew and categorized each one as a continent, country, state, or city! I also have a book bin of map, America or other "worldly" books. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLfpWagb6A7wM3UOtnXA_TC5jKVw3580VTtugUoBEvOd8K5ckBPVwZEewzMnzXVkFkoaZFX9IuQcBLAY4GhyphenhyphenWEvdDTiWyCpVLsd9_tfQKqi7e3Uz4UkOpVy_X7asAwD7Yv8JsUkiR2N-r_/s1600/IMG-20120119-00297.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLfpWagb6A7wM3UOtnXA_TC5jKVw3580VTtugUoBEvOd8K5ckBPVwZEewzMnzXVkFkoaZFX9IuQcBLAY4GhyphenhyphenWEvdDTiWyCpVLsd9_tfQKqi7e3Uz4UkOpVy_X7asAwD7Yv8JsUkiR2N-r_/s320/IMG-20120119-00297.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last but not least... just a picture of my cuddle-bug! Love hanging out on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket with my littlest kitten! Here's Stella :) </span><br />
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our bigger kitty, Megatron (yes, yes, I know.. my husband named her) . Well she takes this time to escape little kitty! hehe</span><br />
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have a WONDERFUL Friday, all my bloggy friends!! </span><br />
<span lang="en-US" style="background-color: #fcffee; color: orange; font-family: 'dandelion in the spring'; font-size: 28pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 44px; text-align: center;">*</span><span lang="en-US" style="background-color: #fcffee; color: orange; font-family: 'AR CHRISTY'; font-size: 22pt; line-height: 34px; text-align: center;">Amanda</span><span style="background-color: #fcffee; color: #222222; font-family: 'Coming Soon'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"> </span>Amanda at Learn, Laugh, Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11401143456303334046noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1946352819026184881.post-38806894266676998482012-01-15T00:00:00.000-05:002012-01-15T00:02:13.117-05:00What's your teaching philosophy?<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hey there! I am super psyched for the long weekend, especially now that I've wasted a WHOLE day on an awful migraine... don't know if you have ever had one, but they are pretty terrible. My sweet cat, Megatron, cuddled with me in bed, which made it a tiny bit better, but now it's 11:30(PM!!), my migraine has finally dissipated and I haven't done a single thing all day. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thankfully, my hubby bought a new video game today (I never thought those words would EVER come from me), so he hasn't minded that we've skipped everything we had planned for today. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A couple days ago, Christina Bainbridge </span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">posted about her teaching beliefs</span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> in her blog </span><a href="http://bainbridgeclass.blogspot.com/" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Mrs. Bainbridge's Class</a>.<br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[</span><a href="http://bainbridgeclass.blogspot.com/2012/01/why-do-you-do-what-you-do-learning.html" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Why Do You Do What You Do - Learning Beliefs</a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">]</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That really got me thinking! In college, we were asked to create a teaching philosophy.. of course that was before ANY classroom experience! I have found that many of those things I thought were so important to a classroom, are still important to me today! </span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's my philosophy (word for word) as written in my fourth year of undergraduate:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Californian FB', serif; font-size: 14pt;">By creating a <b><u>safe and supportive learning environment</u></b> and working with
students on an individual basis to develop a <b><u>personal learning plan</u></b> which fits each student’s specific
needs, my students will be able to express their <b><u>passion and creativity</u></b><u> </u>for learning<u> </u>and
explore their curiosity through inquiry. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So as I look at my current teaching beliefs, I've pulled from the above philosophy, other teacher's ideas, and my current 2nd graders! I plan to post these just inside the entrance to my classroom! Please comment, let me know what you think about my beliefs, and tell me about your beliefs!!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Everyone can learn (and has the right to learn).</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Asking for help is a responsible choice.</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Students are teachers, too.</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. It's okay to make a mistake, as long as you learn how to fix it.</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. Everyone is different and needs different things.</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6. To have high expectations for yourself, means you care about your future.</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's where I am for now... I don't know if I will add more, but I'm sure these ones will change (in wording at least) a few times before I print, mount and laminate :) </span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hope you're enjoying your long weekend!! </span><br />
<span lang="en-US" style="background-color: #fcffee; color: orange; font-family: 'dandelion in the spring'; font-size: 28pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 44px; text-align: center;">*</span><span lang="en-US" style="background-color: #fcffee; color: orange; font-family: 'AR CHRISTY'; font-size: 22pt; line-height: 34px; text-align: center;">Amanda</span>
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<span lang="en-US" style="background-color: #fcffee; color: #38761d; font-family: 'AR CHRISTY'; font-size: 22pt; line-height: 34px; text-align: center;"><br /></span><br />
<span lang="en-US" style="background-color: #fcffee; color: #38761d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 34px; text-align: center;"><b>OH AND YAHOOOOOO - 50 + followers!! How awesome is that?? In just ten days, too! You all are just wonderful :) </b></span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Amanda at Learn, Laugh, Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11401143456303334046noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1946352819026184881.post-70914265323270804842012-01-11T21:22:00.002-05:002012-01-11T21:22:24.134-05:00My First Linky Party :)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Farley from </span><a href="http://ohboy3rdgrade.blogspot.com/" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;" target="_blank">Oh Boy, Fourth Grade</a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> is having a "Currently" Linky Party with a giveaway attached!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-xryyszHoEDiSLLgfhe8T_hzQpKeQwzhZSRXHuEZ_5DUChn_OnYv0q-qQIz4By2lFH_5qgIWDGf73TAcN1XwBm5KAbFCrwNxGSQL76foGYa2j79AiKSX27pt4SNf8Ee0xQS9Uoz3IJtpf/s1600/Currently+%2528jan%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-xryyszHoEDiSLLgfhe8T_hzQpKeQwzhZSRXHuEZ_5DUChn_OnYv0q-qQIz4By2lFH_5qgIWDGf73TAcN1XwBm5KAbFCrwNxGSQL76foGYa2j79AiKSX27pt4SNf8Ee0xQS9Uoz3IJtpf/s640/Currently+%2528jan%2529.png" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">WHEW - I guess I was a bit blog-deprived... Nothing for almost 3 whole days and now TWO posts in a matter of an hour?? Caa - RAZY!</span></div>
<br />Amanda at Learn, Laugh, Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11401143456303334046noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1946352819026184881.post-26008126948208865942012-01-11T20:30:00.001-05:002012-01-11T20:40:33.454-05:00Wednesday, WHAT?!<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">OK! So this blogging thing was a lot easier when I was on winter break!! hehe </span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Monday, I started back with my kiddos - LOVE them! We've been doing a ton of Whole Brain Teaching methods, since we needed the procedure reminders anyway. The kids really love it!! We do a lot of "Mirror" and a lot of "clap, clap, TEACH". These little changes make teaching a whole different ball game! If you haven't gotten the chance to look into WBT, take a few minutes and check out the abundant supply of YouTube videos. Real classes, real students, real teaching :) </span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I started the school year using those colored "Zone" cards for behavior management in my classroom. After meeting my *awesome* teaching partner (Lisa @ <a href="http://madeintheshadeinsecondgrade.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Made In The Shade</a>) and seeing her method, I quickly changed to a zone clip chart - students all start on green but move down (OR UP - that's the change) depending on their behavior. </span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anywho- I revamped my Think Sheet and also added in a Record page. My record page is for the student (no, I have plenty more than one student) who makes a negative choice and has to move his clip down the chart. They now need to record info like Name, Time and Zone Color, as well as the negative behavior choice that was made. Here's some pictures :)</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3pAZNRgluO5NtqBRb3fB89ivefGq2qmXU_z5C9PnRjKgYyXBywqKCSjHNPnKvLQg1ShLAR-zR5zZEJ_MTshz-s14kIZ0Cp6ZMUt_h8MwpUm94a5rfT0rvT7uklSFCIhDo9hdzY8KxXDF1/s1600/DSC02819.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3pAZNRgluO5NtqBRb3fB89ivefGq2qmXU_z5C9PnRjKgYyXBywqKCSjHNPnKvLQg1ShLAR-zR5zZEJ_MTshz-s14kIZ0Cp6ZMUt_h8MwpUm94a5rfT0rvT7uklSFCIhDo9hdzY8KxXDF1/s320/DSC02819.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's my zone chart area - you can see the clips on my chart (each clip has a number that corresponds to a student). Also each time the student reaches PINK, the top zone color, I put a gem on the clip. This is a bbbbbbig motivator!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Reason poster is taped up on the book shelf and the clip board on the desk is the Record Sheet.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also keep a stack of Think Sheets for those students who land on orange. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5C-vTXpmYD_qosM3Es8DvS-ntbHezXH_x32gTSUVgZitE6IRNEleMy7FICHOTuijnR37p_ckMbu0UOPSx7ZNwqsQSfiGuBN5Wujaa2LGA_lJ50wePEQT212H9-agLL1L7OpIRdz8Pzill/s1600/DSC02820.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5C-vTXpmYD_qosM3Es8DvS-ntbHezXH_x32gTSUVgZitE6IRNEleMy7FICHOTuijnR37p_ckMbu0UOPSx7ZNwqsQSfiGuBN5Wujaa2LGA_lJ50wePEQT212H9-agLL1L7OpIRdz8Pzill/s320/DSC02820.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's an up-close view of my Zone Change Reasons. Students can pick a behavior from the poster or write out their own. Having this available makes the process go a bit quicker!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've also attached the files below in case you want to check them out :) </span><br />
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<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B05VCHNpdDNUMTM5YzBiYjktOTA1Yy00NTVlLTg0NGYtOTVjNWRkZDNjZGQx&hl=en_US" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zone Change Record Sheet and Reason Poster</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B05VCHNpdDNUM2Q2YjE3MDgtNTNkNi00ZmUyLWFjNTAtYmY2ZjUzYjk2MjI3" target="_blank">Think Sheet</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">That's all for now :) Have a WONDERFUL Thursday!!</span></div>
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<span lang="en-US" style="background-color: #fcffee; color: orange; font-family: 'dandelion in the spring'; font-size: 28pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 44px; text-align: center;">*</span><span lang="en-US" style="background-color: #fcffee; color: orange; font-family: 'AR CHRISTY'; font-size: 22pt; line-height: 34px; text-align: center;">Amanda</span><span style="background-color: #fcffee; color: #222222; font-family: 'Coming Soon'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span>
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<br />Amanda at Learn, Laugh, Growhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11401143456303334046noreply@blogger.com5