I Love the Book Fair!

I love when the Book Fair comes to school. First of all, it gives me a chance to replenish our classroom library AND help my school at the same time.

The kids get so excited about the new books, and as they make their wish lists we discuss genres, summaries, and authors.   

Our wonderful librarian has each teacher fill a wish basket with books they'd like to have in their classroom. I always have trouble keeping my wishes to a reasonable number.  This year, I filled TWO baskets. 

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What do you love  about Scholastic Book Fairs? 

Week 5 of the school year has been the busiest yet.  With all the running around I did I should have work sneakers, but instead I wore my new pair of fall boots from Rockport.  They match with my rolled up Levis and school shirt.  

Last week our class had a substitute for the first time, and they did a great job! Yeah!
I attended a great training put on by some excellent educators in our district.  They participated in the Sally Ride Science Academy, and then returned to train other teachers. 
The goal of the academy is to raise awareness about careers in science, and I learned so very much.   During one of the opening activities, we were asked to brainstorm a list of scientists.  Most of us listed those who were no longer alive. But during the course of the training we not only learned about famous scientists living today, we also learned about careers in science, and how we can educate our students on all the different careers possible.  There are so many! 

We learned that we will need more and more science and math graduates in the future. 
We also learned left with some great science activities. I am so glad I attended!

Saturday Shoes

This weekend was a special one. So I wore a pair of special shoes. I was honored to present at one of the breakout sessions at the local TAIR conference, a gathering of preservice teachers interested in literacy.
So, needless to say, I had to dress up.  I thought these booties would be perfect with my dress. (I am excited because I feel fall arriving, and I can bring all of my boots off the high shelves.)

At the TAIR conference, I shared my experiences with using mobile learning devices in the classroom.  We are fortunate at our school to have sets of iTouches for our students, and I figured out the best ways for my students to use them. 

But my favorite part of sharing was introducing QR codes to the future teachers.  I absolutely LOVE these 2-dimensional bar codes! I see them everywhere and collect them! It's an obsession, really!  I created them for my classroom blog and my teacher blog. ( But there is so much more you can do with them! Read my next post for ideas!)

Author/poet/teacher George Ella Lyon was the keynote speaker at the conference. All the Water in the World, one of her many books, is a great read-aloud for teaching the water cycle. Plus, it's just beautiful writing! My friends and co-presenters were so happy that she joined us for lunch! What a privilege it was to spend time with her!

Teaching presents you with so many wonderful gifts. And this day was a gift to me! 

Google Earth and After School

The official name for the color of these shoes: PEWTER.
Unofficially, they are CUTE!

I knew today would be a long day.  With recess duty and a district meeting after school, I knew I would need to be comfortable and fast-moving.  Flats are a great option.  These are by Naturalizer, and they are SUPER cute with skirts. 

Today's great teaching moment came when I used Google Earth. Our district wanted to help the people affected by the Bastrop wildfires, and our campus decided to create  banners of encouragement for their school communities. My students wondered where Bastrop was, so I pulled up Google Earth. Rather than find it on a map in our social studies book, we could instantly pull it up and zoom in to surrounding locations with the touch of a finger on our Smartboard.

Then, spontaneously, my fourth graders started throwing out all kinds of fabulous questions (which I immediately collected in a Word document). The questions were insightful and deep---much better than any worksheet or textbook.   As we were thinking and discussing, I realized that sometimes the best learning is unplanned.  I used it not only to teach service to others, but also as an academic learning opportunity (geography, math, capitalization).  The students were even discussing what region it was in (something we were learning in social studies the day before). (That made me smile.)

 Take advantage of every chance you have to create real learning opportunities for your class.

Memory Bracelets

Yesterday, I wore one of my most favorite pairs of flats.  They are the brightest red I have ever seen. They are cute and comfortable and, of course, they come from DSW (a.k.a Shoe Heaven).

Sept. 12, 2011
 Our district observed remembrances for the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11th yesterday. We read The Tin Forest by Helen Ward, and watched a Reading Rainbow video about an amazing elementary school in Manhattan. The children at the school were displaced on Sept. 11th, and they received support, gifts, cards and notes of encouragement from all over the world. They eventually returned to their school. They spoke with such strength and wisdom, and their gratitude was so touching.

Then we made Memory Bracelets with red, white, and blue yarn.The students needed partners to do this activity, and they turned out really well.  (The idea for this came from material our district social studies coordinator passed on to us.)

My students really enjoyed making these bracelets.

More importantly, we remembered the day in our own way.  

Memories and Connections

A Teacher's Memories of Sept. 11th
On this 10th anniversary of the tragic events of Sept. 11th, I stop to honor those affected by the tragic events of that day.  Such stories of bravery!  Such stories of family and love!  Such stories of heroism!  My thoughts and prayers are with you. To the members of our military and their families, to the firefighters and police officers and their families, and to everyone else in service to our country, I offer my simple and insufficient "Thank you". 
Like everyone else, I remember where I was that fall day. I was teaching school, about to begin my first year of teaching 3rd grade. I still remember my sweet class from that year, and I think they are freshmen in college now!  I remember getting a knock at my door from a fellow teacher down the hall. I remember him sharing the news.  I remember being completely shocked and frozen in time.  But I paused thoughtfully and shut my eyes for a second, then turned around to face my little ones.  .  I remember feeling an overwhelming sense of protectiveness over them. I wanted them to be safe and happy. For the rest of the day, and beyond into the year, that was my charge. I wanted them to continue to laugh with their friends, read dog-eared books, eat their Goldfish snacks from little Tupperware containers, and ask insightful, funny questions about plants! I treasured these moments even more in our little classroom at the end of the hall for the rest of that year.  .

My Bulletin Board Moves to My Door

I put this on my door because I had no more room inside. It reminds me of my goals with my class!

I absolutely love using technology in my class. But it's been slow-going for me so far.  We have textbook pick-ups, learning of rules, establishment of procedures, etc.  We have blogged and used our Smartboard of course, but I have been bogged down with long to-do lists lately that have kept me from implementing these tools fully.  This door reminds of where we are headed with technology.  

I'm starting with Edmodo on Monday, and on Friday, I received an invite from some 4th grade teacher friends for a Mystery Skype---our first of the year!  So things are coming along, though slowly.


Some of these little details on my to-do list can get crossed off quickly.  Some will take more time.  This is all a part of teaching today.  But I can't let those details stop me from remembering that it is all about my students and their learning.  They deserve all of my energy and all of the best ideas I can find, regardless of the length of my to-do list.   

Do you ever got bogged down with so many details that it's hard to realize your goals for your class? 

Time Capsules

Well, shoe-shopping/teacher friends, this next post won't feature a pair of shoes, but I 'll share something shoe-related.  Look what I found over at Kirkland's the other day:

This is supposed to be a piggy bank.  My husband gladly bought it for me because he thought it might inspire me to actually save for the shoes.  Little did he know this actually makes me want to buy more shoes.  I took it to school and put it on my desk. It tells more about me!

I had the students in my class tell more about each other with a Time Capsule activity we do every year. 


We start out with a Pringles can.

  I send home a letter on the second day of school listing the items parents need to send:

• a sealed letter writtten to their child (wishing them a great year, offering encouragement, sharing memories)
• trinkets that represent their child's interests/hobbies (usually these are keychains, or small objects)
• paper, stickers, etc. to decorate the outside of the can

In class, we write a list of 10 goals.  We also include a list of our favorites at the time:  favorite movie, favorite book, favorite foods, etc.
They end up looking something like this:

  We also include a piece of string that represents the student's height.

I 'bury' them, then pull them out on the last day of school.  The students usually forget about them, and they love opening them. They especially love reading the letters from their parents. 

I know many of my teacher/blogger friends use this project. What other ideas can you share?

Shopping for Fall Shoes

I bought these boots at shoe heaven (DSW).   A teacher in Texas should always have a pair of these. 

It is getting cooler here, and for that I am grateful!  It means it will be time for boots. . . and that will start a whole new aspect of this blog! 

I can still wear sandals, but those days are numbered. 

My fourth graders and I had a marvelous day!  We talked about 'reading lives' (from Lucy Calkins), wrote about objects that spark memories, counted up to 1000 using number lines, and then started torn-paper self-portraits. I got that idea from Amanda over at The Teaching Thief blog.   I'll post pics of those when they are done. 

My class earned 4 compliment cupcakes today!  I was so proud of them.  They had an exemplary day!


I have a great new pair of cowboy boots.  I can hardly wait to wear them to school!

Friday Shoes

My Bandolino sandals.  Love love them. They make me feel like I am walking barefoot.

Friday was great!  I wore these silver shoes with my Friday  school team shirt and jean capris, and they made car duty bearable!

After two full weeks of school, my to-do list grows. My weekend projects (after a Saturday of college football), include working on my lesson plans and preparing for Curriculum Night this week. I also have a couple of Pinterest-inspired objects to try as well. 

My Reader's Workshop is coming along well! However, I do see the need for book 'luggage'.  If students have the books they need on hand, they don't get up to look for them and waste precious reading time.  I purchased the baskets, but now I just need to make the tags.


Before I left Friday, I rearranged desks once more to make sure everyone is in a new group. 

We are working on building community in our classroom.  That takes time and opportunity!  I will use Bucket Fillers beginning next week. Tune in next week for pics of this. . . . and the super cute shoes I will wear at Curriculum Night!