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Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Let's Sort This Out

Please don't pass out - yes, this girl has posted twice within a week. Get out of town, right? Yesterday I finished up my summer coursework.  I finished my Masters last year and I am trying to maintain the momentum to keep moving over lanes in my district. I set a goal that if I finished the coursework, I would reward myself with a little classroom shopping. That coursework is in the mail and I am ready to shop. Yeah! 

I plotted which stores I would hit and in which order. Favorite stop of the day? Dollar Tree. I went in there with a mental list, but found some bonus items. 

These chip trays are by far my favorite bonus item. 



I bought four blue and four white. I had planned on just buying one color, but a very friendly store worker did her job and helped convince me I needed both. 

So you might be asking yourself right now how I am going to use chip trays in my Kindergarten classroom. The answer? They make the best sorting trays ever! I put a group of mixed items in the center and then let students figure out how they want to sort the items. We will have worked on the different ways to sort such as by color, size, shape, etc. These "free sorts" - where the students are in charge - provide me with so many insights into my students' thinking. I love it when when unexpected leaders pop up or when a student thinking outside of the box is actually visible. These lil' tidbits are pure joy to me and are one of reasons I love teaching. 

So, back to the colors. Like I said, I was only going to get one color. But now I must admit something - I am quickly become slightly possessed with little fun erasers. They provide great fine motor opportunities for my Kinders and my kiddos get such a kick out of them. The erasers just make learning a little bit cooler. I can even up the fine motor element by adding tongs. Well, while I was in Dollar Tree, I found some new erasers to add to my collection.  I snagged some cute school erasers and some funky, slightly punky erasers I think my girls will love. 


Back to the trays. As I was placing the erasers in the trays, The store worker and I realized the school erasers just didn't stand out enough in the white tray. They actually kind of got lost. And the colored ones stood out so much better in the white try so...I had to get both. 





I now have sorting trays that I can use with any of the erasers in my collection. Wala!

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Organized-The Oxymoron


I love to be organized-truly I do - but it can be a struggle. To get organized, sometimes I have to create a mess while I figure out things best fit together.  I lay things out into what seem like logical categories, put them into some type of binder/holder/container, and label them so I can find what I need. Or so this is what I do in theory.

This year I have been a little overwhelmed with organizing. For the last seven years, I have taught two curriculums each day. For most of of those seven years, it has been half-day kindergarten in the morning and Kindergarten Extended Day (an at-risk literacy program) in the afternoon.  These programs, though similar sounding, had two separate curriculums...which required two separate lesson plans...which required two separate sets of files.

This year we are moving to full-day kindergarten (yeah!) and Kindergarten Extended Day (KED) will no longer exist. So now, the HUGE task in front of me is to take all my files and somehow blend them.  I have to figure out what in KED can be utilized in full-day kindergarten, what can be tossed, and what may just need to be stored. I have frequently felt like I am drowning in papers. This is what this looks like:


Crazy and overwhelming isn't it? And these are just my August and September files. Ahhhh!
Little by little I have been piling and pitching. Thank goodness my husband is understanding since I keep taking over our living room.  I get happy when my piles get to this stage:


This is when I bust out my three hole punch so that I can load up a three ring binder.
Then, if I am really lucky, it all comes together and looks like this when I am done:


Not very cutified or pretty I know, but I have had to switch binders around and change things frequently mid-organization, so I am waiting until I'm all done to add cute labels to the sides. 

I'll keep you posted about my organization chaos as the year goes on.  I am determined to tackle my many, many files!


Monday, July 14, 2014

A Blog Hoppin' Scavenger Hunt




So over the last 8 days I have had an absolute blast participating in the Blog Hoppin' 2014 Instagram Scavenger Hunt. I saw the announcement on Facebook on July 5th and decided I had to check it out. The grand prize is a REALLY nice camera and accessories which I would love to win, so I jumped right in on July 6th.

I have had so much fun.  I have gotten my entire family involved (although some had to be dragged into it). My youngest has been my scavenger hunt buddy and is pictured in many of my photos.  We have definitely had some bonding time while hunting for items on the list.

I have also connected with many new teachers across the nation via Instagram.  This has been an unexpected bonus of doing the scavenger hunt.

Here are my favorite pictures so far.

 Someone posing by a statue. Here's my youngest. He decided he wanted to pose just like Scooby-Doo.  We were at Six Flags Great America.  We actually checked off a lot of items there.

 A water fountain. I say go big or go home. That is Buckingham Fountain in downtown Chicago.  We were at the Taste of Chicago.

 My youngest again.  Chicago has double decker buses and he spied one, grabbed the sign and got in position just in time for me to snap the photo.

 8 business cards.  This picture is a favorite because it was the beginning of this blog.  I attended a blogger meet-up in Indiana as a "blog-stalker."  Attending that meet-up gave me the courage to finally begin my own blog. Thanks Indiana blogger meet-up friends!

 A snow cone. The friendliest group of strangers I have met.  I asked the young man in the center for a picture of his snow cone while we were at Six Flags.  All of his pals wanted in on the picture, too.

A man wearing a dress. Ya gotta love my nephew's confidence.  None of the men in my own household would put on a dress.  My nephew did not even hesitate - but he did pose so that no one would doubt he is all man. :)

Wish me luck - I currently have 88 points. Only 17 more go to qualify! And if you would like to join in the fun - it goes until August 6th - click on the button below.





Thursday, July 3, 2014

Baking in the Summer

Today's blog post has little to do with teaching because it's summer. I love being home with my three kids in the summer, even if they are teenagers now and hardly ever home. It is a perk of being a teacher. 

One of the other things I like about summer is baking. With work, sports, and home, I hardly ever have time to cook or bake during the school year. During the school year, as I read all the Facebook posts from friends, I share many recipes so that they will be saved on my timeline for a future date. I decided today was one of those future dates. I wanted to make some desserts for the 4th, but wanted a variety - not just one. So I went back into my timeline and found some yummies to bake today. 

First up, Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Poke Cake from the Six Sisters Stuff blog.   http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2014/06/reeses-peanut-butter-poke-cake.html 
I have not yet tried an entire piece, but the peanut butter layer that is under the cool whip is pure heaven. Overall, the recipe was easy to follow and turned out well.  I will say, however, this cake was not cheap to make.



Next I made Salted Caramel Pretzel Crust Brownies from Living Well Spending Less. http://www.livingwellspendingless.com/2013/09/18/salted-caramel-pretzel-crust-brownies/
These were also easy to make but I think I want to fiddle around with this recipe in the future. I really wanted the pretzel crust to be crunchy, but it wasn't.  Also, my caramel sunk into my brownies. I may have needed to heat it up further to make it thinner so it would float on top of the brownie batter.   Finally, these needed to cook about 10 minutes longer than the recipe said. They just weren't getting cooked in the center.



Finally, I made my brother-in-law's favorite cookie since we are going to my sister's tomorrow. I made Oatmeal Scotchies.  Not a Facebook recipe, but definitely a childhood favorite. 



On Sunday, I plan to make Cake Batter Cinnamon Rolls. Kindergarten Smorgasboard's Greg Smedley shared them on his blog which I saw on Facebook. http://www.thekindergartensmorgasboard.com/2014/06/a-kindergarten-smorgasboard-tasty-treat_24.html?m=1

My kids cannot wait!

Happy summer!