Five for Friday

I can't believe it is already this far into July. School will be starting in a little over a month. I have such mixed feelings about it all. There is a part of me that is excited for a new school year and getting back into working again. But then I know I'm going to miss my sweet girl more than I can imagine. She has been my companion for the past 6 months. I have only left her a few times. (She wouldn't take a bottle so that didn't help out at all) We are trying to figure out childcare and that has been a nightmare. I just have to trust that it will all work out. I'm linking up this week with Kacey over at Doodle Bugs Teaching for her weekly party.

1. I finally made it to Target not just once but twice now. The closest target is about an hour and half away so I alway enjoy when I can get to the dollar spot. I got some pretty good things. Here's my haul:

The dollar spot is my go to for name tags. I try to stock up on them when they have them. Then I don't have to worry about throughout the school year. I also found some puzzles and board books.

2. My sweet girl has started sitting up from the floor on her own now. We need to get on the baby proofing soon. She'll be crawling before I know it.

3. Sunday I posted a linky party all about advice for teacher mamas. It is open until the end of the month I would love for you link up with your advice. I'm so nervous about trying to balance it all.  Head over and leave your advice or add your link. 

4. I have been working on a color unit for about 2 weeks now. I'm still not done but I'm so excited about it. I took the things that I do each year with colors and turned into an awesome unit. There are play doh mats, books, and crafts to go with each color. Hopefully I'll get it finished this week. When you are trying to get everything done in a small amount of time (nap time), you do what you can.

5.  I read a couple of middle grade books this past week that I really enjoyed. They were Wonder and Mockingbird. I have seen Wonder on other older grade blogs, but this was the first time I read it. They both were great for giving an insight into how kids are different are treated. The main character in Mockingbird has Asbergers and it offered a unique perspective on how our kids see the world.

I am brainstorming a new series for my blog called "In my class" where I write about how I teach different concepts in the classroom. Some ideas that I have are phonics, sight words, centers/reading groups, morning meeting/calendar, and behavior management. Anything else you would like to read about?
So that's all for me this week! I'm so excited, my mom, sister, niece, sweet girl, and I are going to the farmer's market in the morning. I can't wait. There is a local dairy that I follow on Instagram that posts all this yummy goodness I can't wait to try.
By the way, do you follow me on instagram. You should. I post more about my personal life, teaching, reading, and such. Check me out here.

Book Talk Thursday

If you know anything about me, it is that I'm a reader. Reading is about like breathing to me. If I'm not reading at least one book, I feel a little lost. One of my coworkers told me that would change once I had a baby. But that's not the case with me. Since being at home in January, I have read about 30 books. What has changed is how I read books. At first, I couldn't read books that required two hands. My phone, kindle, and iPad have been my best friend. It was nice to have my books on my iPhone while I was in the hospital having Sus. She was in the NICU so our stay was a little different than I was expecting. I was glad to have something to attempt to distract me from wanting to have my baby with me and be at home. I get a lot of my books from my local library through Ereads and the app Overdrive. If you like to read ebooks you need to see if your library is a part of this. I have to wait some for more popular books but it has saved me so much money. There are a lot of audiobooks as well (or as I call them. Books on Tape). I just started listing to the audiobooks. It isn't my favorite way to read, but I listen to them while Sus and I take our walks. It takes me a lot longer to listen than it does to read them. I've been trying to come up with things to blog about and books I'm reading is always a good topic. So I was excited to see this linky party from Reading towards the Stars.

So here are some books that I've read lately. 

First up is this series by Jacqueline Winspear, Maisie Dobbs. 

This book is set after World War I in England. The main character is a psychologist/investigator. I'm on book 6 of the series and am loving it. I'm all about England during this time period right now and there are historical elements along with a mystery. Maisie Dobbs is a very intriguing and lovable character. 

I read this book Family Pictures by Jane Green recently as well. It was a good read about family dynamics. Nothing earth shattering but  an easy read.  Same with All Fall Down. It is the story of a mom who has a drug problem. 

I've been reading Elizabeth Peters's Amelia Peabody series. They are set in late 1800s England/Egypt about an archeologist and her family's adventures. I love mysteries and these are a mystery without a lot of gore. 

Still Live with Bread Crumbs is the story of a photographer who moves from New York City to the mountains and the changes she goes through. 

The last two are books I read a while ago but they were good. I listened to Bringing up Bebe a month or two ago. It is the observations of an American journalist raising her children in Paris. I found it completely fascinating about how Parisians raise their children. So interesting!

The last one Mr. Churchill's Secretary is the first in the Maggie Hope series. This series is set in England during World War II. Maggie Hope is the main character and she starts as Winston's Churchill's secretary but by the end of the book she is spy. 

So those are my books I've been reading. I like a wide variety of books and would love to hear about what you are reading. 

What I've been reading

It has been a couple of weeks since I've shared what I've been reading. Since I've been home from the beach I haven't read quite as much. But I still have a few books to share with you. I'm linking up with Deanna Jump's We love books linky party.

First up is the book The Life List. This book starts with the main character's mother passing away. Brett goes to the reading of her mother's will thinking she's going to be taking over the family business only to find out that she has to complete a life list she created in middle school.  I got it as a deal of the day on one of the kindle emails I get and it sounded a little cheesy but an easy read. But I was surprised to find that it was a heart warming story and I was very invested in the main character, Brett.

Check it out on Amazon here. 

Next up is another Agatha Christie. I've talked before about how much I love mysteries. Agatha Christie's are by far the best. No gore but a good puzzle. I am trying to clean my bookshelf off and read books that I have on it. So I picked up the Body in the Library. It is a Miss Marple mystery. Her friend has a body found in the library and they don't know who the pretty girl is. So Miss Marple makes it her mission to solve the mystery. 

Check it out here on Amazon. 

In an effort to clean off my shelf, I found the book The Last Original Wife by Dorthea Benton Frank. I love her books. They are all set in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. The main character, Leslie, is the last of her group of friends who is still married to her husband. This is the story of the end of the marriage really. It is told by both her perspective and her husband's perspective. I liked that. It made for a little different story. 

Check it out here on Amazon. 

My current read is Voyager by Diana Gabaldon. It is the third book in the Outlander series. It continues the story of Jamie and Claire across different times. Claire and her daughter are trying to find out what happened to Jamie after the bloody battle of the Jacobite uprising. This is another story told by different perspectives. So far, I'm loving it. But I'm hooked on Claire and Jamie's love story.

Check it out here on Amazon. 

So that's what I've been reading and am reading. What are you reading right now? I would love to hear about it and get some new books for my ongoing list. Be sure to check out the linky party for some good children's books. 

What I have been reading (Books for fun!)

I have been on summer break for almost 2 weeks now and I think I've only spent 3 nights at home. I'm currently not home but at the beach. So this post is going to be kind of quick. I have been reading a ton in the past 2 weeks and I thought I'd share what I've been reading. I'm linking up with Deanna Jump's linky. 

We left for the beach a little early and got to spend some time with Chris's sister and niece. It was a nice treat. So I got an extra day of reading in. So far, I've read 3 books and I'm working on my fourth. 

First up is The Husband's Secret.

It was pretty good and an easy read. It is about several women in Australia and how their stories intertwine. One of the women's husband writes her a letter and in it is a big secret. When I told Chris the title he thought it sounded kind of sketchy but it is a good read. It was a best selling book this year which is how I stumbled on it. 

The second book is Death in the clouds by Agatha Christie.

I love mysteries and there are no better mysteries than Agatha Christies. Seriously if you like a good mystery get one of her books. They are good stories with intrigue, love, and very little gore. I love her detectives and this one stars Hercule Poriot. I have read a lot of her books but I was inspired to get this one because of an episode of Doctor Who. Her first book was The Mysterios Affair at Styles. If you're looking for one to start with, I'd start there. 

The book I just finished up is Dragonfly in Amber. 

This is the second in the Outlander Series. I had read probably 4 or 5 of this series a while ago but I read so much I really don't remember what I read. (Good thing in real life you don't take a comprehension quiz)so 2 years ago on my honeymoon. I retread the first one. It is a story set in Scotland right after WWII. The main character, Claire, goes back in time to the 1700s and meets a group of highlander men. Including Jamie Fraser who she falls in love with. Apparently Starz is making a tv show out of the series so I've been seeing it everywhere. I decided to work on rereading the series, and got the second one for my kindle. It continues the story of Claire and Jamie. I would tell more but I don't want to ruin the first one. It is a long book but a pretty fast read. 

Today the new Stephanie Plum came out, Top Secret Twenty One so that's the book of the day! 

Be sure to head over to Deanna Jump's blog and check out the party. I think I'm the oddball not posting about children's book. 

Five for Friday

It is my first Friday of the summer and there is no better way to celebrate than linking up with Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. It has been a while since I linked up. End of school and first trimester exhaustion has just been too much. 

1.  I tried out Jamberry nails for the first time this week and loved them. I just bought one set to see if I liked them. But I didn't really want my toes and my nails to match. I definitely need some practice with application.

2.  Technically I have only been on summer break two days but the last day with kids was a week ago. My favorite thing to do in the summer is read. I've read these three books in the past week and a half. Loved them all. I'm working my way through the In Death Series by JD Robb. I'm trying to read them in order so it is slow going. 

3.  Chris and I are dog sitting for my parents for a few days. Ellie Mae has been sulking since my parents left but this sweet girl cheered her up with some head scratching. I spent my first day of Summer with one of nieces and had a blast. She is one funny, smart, sweet girl!

4. I posted this picture on Instagram this week. One of my teaching friends gave us our first baby present and then we bought the rocking chair at a fundraiser.

5. I don't have a fifth picture from this week, so I looked back through some pictures and found this. Soph drew it a while back and it was the first time I had seen her draw something more than scribbles. When she drew it she said it was Chris but then when she saw it again it was her mom. I'm do amazed all the time with her development and how much she has learned. 

So that's my five for Friday! Be sure to head over to Doodle Bugs Teaching and check out everyone else's. 

Guided Reading Book Study Chapter 1

I am so excited to be participating in this book study on the book 
The Next Step in Guided Reading: Focused Assessments and Targeted Lessons for Helping Every Student Become a Better Reader

I was really excited because I was able to get the book on my kindle. I love reading professional development books on my kindle because it is so much more portable and it's also a lot cheaper. The downside is it is hard to flip through the book and find something quickly and I can't share it like I could a paper book. (Although I have discovered I can share The Book Whisperer and Growing Readers with a friend of mine.) As a side note, there are lot of forms and such in this book. I did discover that you can get a pdf download of the forms through the scholastic. I just opened the book on the kindle cloud reader on my computer and then clicked where it said get a pdf download. I was very happy.
I don't think guided reading is one of my strengths. I'm good at reading with the kids and working on things with them, but I'm not always good at being really intentional about my groups and planning. This is something I really want to work on. Especially because we've been given a framework to work on this year that involves tiers of RTI. Guided reading to me fits this perfectly.I'm excited to read this book because it gives practical information and actual lessons to follow.
Richardson starts in the introduction by giving the four elements of guided reading:

• analyzing reading assessments to id an instructional focus
• prompting students to use reading strategies when they encounter difficulties
• teaching skills that are necessary and appropriate for the reading stage
• utilizing guiding writing to support and accelerate the reading process

I think I'm pretty good at analyzing data to figure out what I need to teach. I need to focus on my planning of lessons and then executing the lessons. I seem to do a better job at the executing in kindergarten than I do in first grade.

The first chapter is all about preparing for guiding reading. I really like that Richardson emphasizes that students need to learn to work together, read together and laugh and play together.I found this past year that my students really struggled with what it means to work together. I hope that if I start this from the beginning I'll be able to foster an environment that is conducive to that. (Any suggestions for building teamwork would be appreciated.)
Richardson includes a great chart in this chapter that outlines the different approaches of reading and the grouping, text level, how text is read, and purpose. I plan to print this out and include it in my lesson planning notebook.  The approaches to reading are shared, read aloud, small group and independent. Each approach has a place in the classroom. We should be doing a balance of all 4.
The meat of this chapter is about setting up independent learning activities. Last year in first grade, I tried a daily 5 approach, but in kindergarten I really like using literacy stations. I like the 6 week routine that Richardson lays out for introducing literacy stations. She has a very gradual introduction and recommends using tub activities like puzzles, math manipulatives, clay, legos, block, and art projects. Set a time for 10 minutes and have the students work on one of the tubs. Set back and observe and then meet with the students afterwards. You do this each day for a week with each group using a different tub. The next week you introduce one station activity to a group and the rest of the groups work on the tub activities. By week 3 you introduce a new work station activity and lengthen the time to 15 minutes. So now you have 2 workstation activities going on and the rest of the groups are using the tubs. Week 4 you introduce another activity and extend the time to 20 minutes. By week 5, students are working from 25-30 minutes and you add 2 new workstations.Students will also rotate through 2 workstations during the period. By week 6 you have all students working in work stations and don't use the tubs anymore. Richardson suggests starting groups this week, but I personally would probably wait until the next week. Then this gives the students time to be working on workstations and I can observe.
One of the biggest points, she makes in this chapter to establish the routine that students can't interrupt you while you are meeting with a group. She suggests wearing some kind of silly hat that will help the kids see that they shouldn't intrupt you. I used to wear a crown and should probably find something else along those lines.
Richardson finishes up this chapter with a lot of suggestions about managing literacy stations and things that the stations could be. I thought I'd finish this post up with a few pins from pinterest that related to this.

This pin shows a neat way to manage the groups. You use a file folder, velcro and paper. Then you can move the names around without having to start a new sheet.

http://pinterest.com/pin/157555686936688222/

I'm thinking I'm going to use this method for showing the kids not to bother me during groups. I have some lights like this already and it's a fun reminder.

http://pinterest.com/pin/167055467398789338/

These are the big ideas that I took from this chapter. Be sure to head over to Kreative in Kinder for the party and check out what other people had to say about the book.

Book Talk Linky and update

So summer is here and I had hoped to get back in the swing of blogging again. But it's been a week since I've blogged. We've been so busy this past week. We had a blast in Charlotte for the Comic Book Convention and then we were on a youth trip Sunday - Wednesday. My hubby and I help with our high school youth at church. They are truly a great group of kids. I have to brag on one of them. Yesterday we went to one of the city pools in our county. It was packed. One of the boys who just graduated high school was raising a 6 year old boy down the slide. When they had raced a few times, the little boy asked our youth if he would be his best pal. The youth said sure and proceeded to swim and play with him the rest of the time we were there. It was so sweet and cute. Made my heart smile!
Anyway, Chris and I are home for a couple of days and then we head to the beach. I'm so excited to get away and relax. We will also be celebrating our 1 year anniversary on Sunday. So I'm trying to get caught up on some blogging. I had seen this fun linky party over at Reading Towards the Stars.

One of my favorite things about summer is that I get to read a lot. I read a lot anyway. I usually read before I go to bed. But summer lends itself to pool time and beach time which means more reading. And I can stay up later finishing good books. I just finished Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief and loved it. 

I love fantasy books and especially young adult fantasy books. I had bought this one on my kindle a while back but just got around to reading it now. 

Percy is a sixth grade boy who has been kicked out of multiple boarding schools because of his behavior. He isn't a bad kid but things seem to happen around him. He also has ADHD and some learning issues. His father died when he was young and his mom remarried and lives in New York. Percy gets attacked by one of his teachers and no one seems to believe that it happened. Everyone forgot that the teacher even existed. On his way home from school, he has another weird experience. When he and his mother go on a vacation, they get attacked by a monster from Hades and Percy finally figures out who he is, a demigod. His father hadn't died when he was a kid but was a Greek god. I enjoyed the story. It moved past and the characters were likable. I'll be reading the second one while we're on vacation. Have you read any of these books? From what I've heard, the movie isn't really anything like the book but I'm thinking I might check it out. I'm linking up with Reading Towards the Stars. Be sure to head over there and see all the book recommendations. I'm hoping I can link up weekly or at least every other week. 

I would love for you to leave me a comment on what you are reading. I'm always adding to my list of books to read.

Random Ramblings

So I haven't blogged since Tuesday. It was hard getting back into the swing of school after a week and a few days off. But I'm back today for my non teaching related post. I'm back to share some ramblings of my past week. I had started this post last night before Chris and I went out for date night. By the time we got home, I just wanted to get in bed and read. So I'm going to finish this post today and share my visual plans tomorrow. Anyway, I'll start off with what I'm reading. I finally started the book Gone Girl.

Oh my goodness, I'm hooked. It's so suspenseful. I've almost stayed up way too late the past two nights reading it. I really wanted to finish it the other night but I was only like 45% through.(I read a lot on my kindle and that's how I  can tell how far I'm in the book.) I'd say I'll finish it tonight. I'll read just about anything but I love mysteries. They are my favorites. I just recently finished this series of books by a local author. Tuesday at our local library he's doing a book signing and I wanted to have his books read by then. I'm on the board of our library and plant to be in attendance. They were pretty good. I found them amazon and if you like mysteries these are good.

I'm not sure what I'm going to be reading next. I have some new stuff on my kindle so next week I'll update you on what I'm reading. I'd love to hear what you're reading so leave me a title or two in the comments.
I'm still working on my healthy eating habits. I have been 6 days without diet coke and it's hard. I miss my diet coke and I'm getting the worse caffeine headaches. I was only having one at lunch so I was a little surprised that my head would hurt so bad. But it's getting better. I think if I can make it 10 days I'll be on my way to giving them up. I weighed this week and I've lost almost 6 and half pounds. I know it isn't that much and it has taken me a while but I feel good about it. I'm not doing anything crazy (well the no diet coke is a little crazy) but just trying to get some better habits in general. We had a couple of good dinner this week. The first was Greek night.

I had found a Greek chicken crockpot recipe and the chicken had great flavor. I put lemon juice, red wine vinegar, water, garlic, onion and oregano in with the chicken and cooked it on low for 6 hours. I put it on a bed of spinach with grape tomatoes, cucumbers and sprinkled with feta. I also made a home made tzatziki sauce. It was delish. I thought it looked really pretty on the plate.

This meal is one of my old single standbys with chicken added. I got the recipe originally from Giada on the food network. It's a roasted vegetable pasta primavera. You chop up bell peppers, zucchini, squash and carrots. Coat with olive oil and then add spices. I use Italian seasonings, paprika and garlic powder. Cook on 450 for about 20 minutes. I cooked whole wheat penne. Tossed the vegetables and penne with Parmesan cheese. This was always satisfying for me but my hubby likes meat. So I sauteed 2 chicken breasts with the land o lakes saute express butter. It was a good dinner and pretty healthy. So those are my food suggestions for the week. This week on the menu is Skinnytaste's chicken and white bean enchiladas, fish tacos, salad with chicken and pinto beans and cornbread. What's on your menu for the week?
I have a couple more pictures to share of my adventures the past week.

 Chris and I are still working on our spare bedroom. It has been my junk room and then our junk room. We found a cute desk at a local store in our arts and crafts community a month ago so we've been working on itslowly. Part of the problem is all my craft materials. So last weekend Chris bought me a shelf to try to get the yarn under control. I think it looks like I'm opening up a yarn store. But it looks a lot better.

 Monday since I had a doctor's appointment and had to leave at a half day. Chris and I met for lunch at this great cafe. We got to eat outside since the weather was so nice. They have a really pretty patio area. If you find yourself in Pigeon Forge, TN you should check the Pottery House Cafe out. There food is so good.

Last picture is from our field trip on Thursday. I'm blessed to live next to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We have a very special relationship with the park and every year each grade level goes on 3 field trips to the park. It's called Parks as a Classroom. They have it in other national parks but our program was one of the first ones around. This was the end of the our habitat hike on Thursday. We got to see some really neat things. The rangers led it and it was great trip. I'm a weirdo and love field trips. They make me happy rather than stress me out.
So those are my random ramblings for the week. I need to get lesson plans written, visual plans up, and a couple of things made for plants next week. So be sure to come back tomorrow to see my visual plans and snag a few freebies. I love comments so I'd love to hear about what you are reading or eating.