Rainy Days and Tuesday!

That's not exactly how the song goes but it fits for today!  Rain has FINALLY descended upon northeast Indiana!! The brown grass is starting to show a bit of green!!  Hip Hip HOORAY!!!

I'm locked in the breakfast nook with my two best buddies, Cass and Maddie, (the dogs) listening to the sounds of my carpets being cleaned!  Boy oh boy did they ever need it!  Two big dogs running around with huge paws, drooly jowls, and who knows what else! sure makes for dirty floors!

BTS has set in with a FURY!  I am seriously panicking about the next few weeks.  I am headed off to Indy tonight for a Kristina Smekens conference on Launching the Writing Workshop.  I can always use more advice on starting that up since writing is just not my best quality!  Then next week I'm off to Bloomington for a 3 day Literacy Conference with some big names--Ellen Keene, Katie Wood Ray, Richard Allington, to name the ones I'm interested in.  Tim Rasinski was supposed to be there but had to cancel--drat!

So I've been TRYING to get into my classroom.  But, NO!  The maintenance dept. decides it has to tar the parking lot!  Thank goodness for RAIN!  At least I've been able to get in the last few days to get a few things accomplished but we've got some training coming up and you know how it is when everyone starts coming in - lots of TALK and not much work!  August 10th is going to be here WAY  before I'm ready for it!!

Here are a few pictures of my room before:

This is looking in from the door.

 The view from the right corner.

 The view from the far left corner.

Just looks like a lot of tables and chairs, doesn't it!  Well, there are about 2 more tables in there than I had last year.  Go figure!  

I did manage to get things arranged, my room library back on the shelves and a few things up.  Here's what my word wall looks like.

This is actually the picture from last year.  We don't have the computers this year - now we have 4 iPads - so I moved the word wall down so it's more at kid eye level.  I really like using the Target Dollar Spot pocket charts and I'm hoping that with it being lower this year, it might be a bit more interactive!

No shortage of giveaways this summer!  Everyone must be joining up new blogs left and right!! Here are the latest!

Jenn at Finally in First is giving away her Decoding Strategies for Parents, an awesome reference guide to keep parents on track with what's happening at school! 

Amy at The Resource(ful) Room is have a Blogiversary!  Hurry her giveaway is almost over!

Sara at Miss V's Busy Bees has lined up some wonderful prizes from her bloggy friends!

Check out the giveaway at Teaching Joys!  Kohl's and Starbucks!!

Ta-Ta for now!

iPhone apps, Blog Design, Etc.

I absolutely LOVE my iPhone!  My sweet son, Gregory, got it for me on my birthday 2 years ago.  He even added me to his plan and pays for it! Isn't he a doll!

I don't know what I did without it! I am amazed at all the apps available and so when I saw on FB that Hope at 2nd Grade Shenanigans was hosting a linky party for iPhone apps (she just joined the crowd!), I had to link up!

Isn't this button just the cutest thing!!

Well, for my app I'm going to recommend a teacher tool that I use all the time - Groovy Grader.

I am forever misplacing my easy grader and this app does exactly the same thing!  And, best of all it is FREE!

Now, if you don't have to give grades, here is another app that might be useful to you - Common Core Standards.  That's right!  You can download the standards right to your iPhone or iPad and have them with you ALL the time!  Just what you wanted!!!  You can get the standards for K-12 with one app or K-6 with another.  And, they're both FREE!

On to blog design - I've been craving a new design for my blog!  As I'm wandering around visiting all the beautiful designs in Blogland, I'd like something that is lighter, more airy, and a bit more school themed.  I'm  a pastel kinda girl!  So, when I saw that Christi at Ms. Fultz' Corner and Design by Christi is giving away a blog makeover, I'm so signing up!!  If you have any suggestions for me, leave a comment!  

Okay, now it's etc. time which of course is GIVEAWAYS!!!  

Hey, this is so worth it!!  I won 2 Hot Dot sets and a Hot Dot pen at Denise's Yearn to Learn Giveaway!

Courtney at Swimming Into Second us celebrating 1000 followers with 10 DAYS OF GIVEAWAYS!

and

I have tried to win one of these Easi-Speak Digital Microphones from Learning Resources in so many giveaways this summer!!  Next chance is at Teaching with Love & Laughter in Lori's giveaway!

Almost the weekend!

Must Have Picture Books!

I'm excited to join my first linky party for:

over at The Teacher Wife!  This is such an awesome linky because who doesn't need more books!  I already have well over 2000 but who's counting???  I love when my new students walk in the first day and spy the books filling the shelves over their mailboxes.  Then, their eyes catch sight of the room library.  But by far my favorite part is when, for some reason, I open one set of the cupboard doors over the cubbies and they catch a glimpse of the shelves of more books hidden there!  Eyes get huge and whispers start--she's got even more in THERE!  Love it!

So, with that many it's hard to decide but here are some of my favorites:

Kiddos are fascinated by the pictures in Steve Jenkins book Actual Size because true to the title all the animal parts included are the actual size.  Awesome fold-out pages!

Helen Lester is one of my favorite authors for the classroom!  She sure knows kids and Hooway for Wodney Wat is one of her best!  I love the story of poor, bullied Rodney, who can't pronounce the "r" sound, but becomes a hero when he defeats the new classroom bully!  A great story for BTS!  

Another fav for kiddos is David McPhail!  For beginning readers, you can't beat Edward and the Pirates! Edward is a voracious reader and teaches the illiterate pirates a thing or two about reading when they visit him one night!

A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue  by Julia Cook gives kiddos the tools to determine what is tattling and what is telling.  Josh doesn't have any friends because of his tattling until he gets a visit from the Tattle Prince and learns the "rules."  Kids love MYOB-Mind Your Own Beeswax!

and 

Maybe it's the 23 days of 90 degree or over temps that made me think of this book!  Stranger in the Woods is one of my all time favorites!!!  The pictures are outstanding and the first pages describing the snow are beautifully written!  The story is written from the animals point of view about the "stranger" and you can have a blast with the animal sounds.  Carl Sams II and Jean Stoick based the story on actual experiences they had with forest animals.

That's my 5!  I hope I chose some new titles for you to think about the next time you're in the book store or shopping online!

No post would be complete without the summer's latest and greatest giveaways, so here goes!

Simply Kinder is giving away a $25 gift certificate to TpT!

Lory at Fun for First is giving away amazing prizes with her bloggie friends!

Win 6 items of your choice from Ms. Fiorini's Stadium store and a $25 gift certificate!

Fabulous in First is having an I Love CTP! giveaway and you could win the above set!

 
 Nicole at Rowdy in Room 300 is celebrating 500 followers and will custom make one of these adorable burlap signs for 2 winners!

Miss I's Class has soooo many prizes in her giveaway!  Check it out!

Good Luck!

Shopping Spree & Giveaway

Two of my FAVORITE things!  Doesn't get any better than THAT!

Let's start with THE giveaway:

I am soooo excited to be part of my FIRST giveaway!!  I am contributing this

to 

Marie's 300 follower giveaway at The Hands-On Teacher

So head on over there and enter for some AMAZING prizes!  Three winners will be selected on Sunday, July 22!

On to SHOPPING!!!  With so much talk about BTS sales and Target putting out their Dollar Spot items, I decided on Saturday that I better hustle on down to Fort Wayne to check it out before everything was GONE!

So here are my finds...

The markers and the rulers on the left are for my birthday box.  I love the mini pocket charts and I don't have any in purple, so I got a couple of those.  I can always use more non-fiction books for my boys as well as book marks and stickers.  I really like the quarter-size  lined dry erase boards.  I think they'll be perfect for everyone to show an answer quickly during instruction.  Might have the kiddos keep them in their seat sacks??

Here's pix #2 of Dr. Seuss stuff:

The bags are just adorable!!  I'm going to use them for Read to Someone reading bags.  I'll share more about that later.  I got enough pencils and erasers for everyone in March for the birthday celebration.  There were stickers in the pix above that I missed for this one!

After Target, it was off to the Dollar Store to see what goodies I could find there!

Not as much of a haul but I did find a few things:  tap lights for Michelle Harper's Tap Light Cards, verb sentence strips for the word wall or maybe for a grammar wall, two writing frame pages to get us started at the beginning of the year (All About My Trip and My Favorite Things), some mechanical pencil lead (go through a TON of that with running records!) and the cutest dry erase markers to use with my dry erase boards from Target!  They even have an eraser on the end!!

Still need to visit the teachers' store but gotta check my supply at school to see exactly what I need!

Nothing like SCHOOL SUPPLIES  to get you in the mood for school!!

Before I let you go, there are some other giveaways happening out there in Blogland!

Casey at Second Grade Math Manic is having a giveaway featuring second grade bloggers!  Check out her amazing prizes!

Mrs. Castro is celebrating 100 followers at Mrs. Castro's Class with not 1, not 2, but 6 fantastic giveaways!

Denise at Yearn to Learn is giving away the winners choice of 2 individual sets of Hot Dots cards and one Hot Dot pen.

Sandra at Sweet Times in First is having a giveaway for math materials from Box Cars and One Eyed Jacks.

Good luck!  Have a great week!

Friday the 13th

Is 13 your lucky number???  I'm hopin' entering all these giveaways on Friday the 13th will be my lucky charm!

Janine at Faithful in First is celebrating 400 followers with a BLOCKBUSTER Giveaway!

Stacy at Simpson's Superstars giveaway will have 15 winners!

Jenn at a Pirate's Life for Us is celebrating her blog's first birthday!

You could win this adorable El Sippito Costume Set for your Kohl's Cares for Kids Skippy Jon Jones from Cheryl at Crayons & Curls.

Lacie at Polka Dots & Pencils has AWESOME prizes for her 100 follower giveaway!

Krissy at Mrs. Miner's Kindergarten Monkey Business has an easi-speak Digital Microphone to giveaway!

Candace at 005 Watkins' Way is hosting her first giveaway for 100 followers!

and

Lacey at Wild About Teaching has a MASSIVE giveaway going for 500 followers!

Okay!  In Indiana, you have about 50 minutes before lucky 13 runs out!  

Have a wonderful weekend!

Busy! Busy! Busy!

OMG I think I need a vacation!  I don't know how people who sit at a computer all day DO it!  Our wireless Internet is unreliable TO SAY THE LEAST.  Thought it was a Mediacom cable problem.  Switched to the new city DSL service. NO improvement.  Must be the router.  Sooo, the Staples tech guru is coming on Thurs to install the latest and greatest system.  GREAT!  Then I hear...

Umm.  Ma'am, do you back up your files regularly??

PROBLEM!!!!

Now I've had a computer crash and I've lost everything before.  I SHOULD know better.

SO,  For the last 2 DAYS I've been backing up the files on 2 laptops, 2 iPads and one desktop!

Can you say MIGRAINE!

My laptop took 16 CD's and that's just the favorites, pixs and files!!!  I am blurry eyed and my backside aches!

I've got to look into a cloud system.  Anyone have any suggestions??

THEN TO TOP IT OFF!

Here's my dirty little secret - (during the summer, I still have my house cleaned once a week)

This week, Cindy, my weekly lifesaver, was on VACATION!  So I had to CLEAN!  UGH!
(please don't throw too many darts!  I absolutely HATE to clean house!)

Maybe my luck will change!  I'll enter a giveaway or two!

The Teaching Bug is giving away 6 adorable Scentos Markers!  I saw these at Staples when I was out with my BFFs shopping for school supplies and they are so cute!

My (Not So) Elementary Life is celebrating 250 followers with a terrific giveaway!

Mrs. Mc at Buzz Buzz Buzz is having an Anniversary Giveaway!

EduKate & Inspire is celebrating 100 Followers!

Thanks for stopping by!

Daily 5 Check-In

Guided reading and the Daily 5 certainly are the BUZZ WORDS for the summer!  Just about everywhere I look teachers are talking about one or the other or both!

I've done my version of the Daily 5 for 5 years.  I say "my version" because I don't follow the framework exactly as written in the book.  I also love the CAFE book by the sisters and use much of their work in my classroom, but just can't let go of my guided reading groups to do the full blown Reader's Workshop.  Too much of an old dog to teach too many new tricks, I guess!

Anyhoo - Today I thought I'd share with you my check-in system.  Pre-smart board, I used a pocket chart.   Now almost everything is on the smart board.  (You can't believe the PANIC if something happens and it isn't working!)

The check-in has 3 pages and lasts for the entire week.  I like to track the choices to make sure the kids are hitting all the areas throughout a week.  Each day uses a different creative pen "shape."  Here's a screen shot of one of the pages.

At the end of the week I can clear the choices and be ready for the next week.  BTW, the choice board doesn't stay up during the daily 5 round.  Students quickly learn how to pull files from the task bar so activities on the board can be used during the rotations.  

For the first few weeks, I assign students so they get used to the grid.  As soon as everyone is comfortable, we start making choices.  They love using the creative pens!

Okay!  Now I'm going to attempt to share my check-in via Google Docs for the first time!  We'll see how it goes!  If you hear loud yelling and hair being torn out, you'll know it's not going well!  

WELL, WELL, WELL!!! That did not WORK!  So we'll go with a link and see how that goes!

Daily 5 Smart Board Check-In

SUCCESS AT LAST!!

If you have any questions, leave me a comment and I'll get back with you asap!  It's not a BEAUTIFUL file like most of you are used to, but it does the job!

Before I go, (as usual!) here are the latest and GREATEST giveaways!

Win a Hear All Assessment Recorder at Teaching with Love and Laughter!

and

The Gypsy Teacher is celebrating 50 followers!

Have an awesome week!

SURPRISE! SURPRISE!

I woke up yesterday to...


Not one but TWO awards!!!! I am absolutely THRILLED to receive

(insert drum roll)

 and 

 from Mercedes at 

Thank you so much, Mercedes, for presenting me with these awards!  I am honored to know that my blog is worthy with so many choices available!

The rules for The Versatile Blogger award are as follows:
1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.  
2. Include a link to their site.
3. Include the award image in your post.
4. Give 7 random facts about yourself
5. Nominate 15 other bloggers, include their link and let them know

Seven random facts about me:

1.  I am the oldest of 5 children.

2.  I love jewelry and make it for a hobby.

3.  I love to travel and have been to almost all 50 states, Canada, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Austria, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland.

4.  We have 2 yellow labs who have totally opposite personalities.  Makes life interesting!

5.  I am the person people come to for tech help at school.

6.  I wanted to be a pediatrician when I was growing up but changed my mind in high school to elementary education and I haven't looked back!

7.  I am thinking of retiring at the end of next year!

The rules for One Lovely Blog award are as follows:

1. Follow the person who gave you the award. 

2. Link back to the person who gave you the award.

3. Pass the award on to 15 new bloggers.

I am pleased to nominate the following blogs for both of these awards!

Sweeties in Second

Now, if you are still with me, I have some incredible giveaways 

to link you up to!  

(I try not to disappoint!  teehee!!)

Win an adorable Skippy Jon Jones!

Win the pencil sharpener everyone's been blogging about!

Win the most adorable bus door hanger!

Win a $20 TpT gift certificate!

Win a $25 Target Card!

Win a $10 TpT gift certificate and a $10 gift card to Target!

Win a ton of prizes at The Kindergarten Center!

Win the worlds's greatest pencil sharpener or a $25 gift card to MPM School Supplies!

Gosh!  This was the longest post!  Hope you made it through to the end!  Enjoy the rest of the weekend!  I'm off to let the lucky bloggers know they've won!