July Currently!

What!? July!? How did that happen? It is time to link up with the adorable Farley over at Oh' Boy 4th Grade. I swear, without her, I wouldn't know what month it was. Summer. Amiright!?

Listening: Friends marathon. Enough said. Good-bye productivity.

Loving: I can't wait to dig into my new Erin Condren planner. I just need to figure out where I put my grading pens…Apparently my husband knows where they are, but he's holding that information captive for the time being. I'll find a way to get it out of him. But once I find them, you better believe I'm gonna blog all about it!

Thinking: I can't believe it is already July and I've only added 3 things to my TPT store. For shame. I am hoping to remedy that this month. Although that's what I said last month...

Wanting: I love crepes. That is all. Crepes for days.

Needing: Really really really needing some good news on the baby front. Thank you all for the positive thoughts! We are in the 2 week wait. Longest 2 weeks of my life. 

4th plans: Every year my family hosts a huge BBQ. It lasts all day long! Parade in the a.m. followed by biscuits and gravy! Then we play invisible baseball, have water balloon fights, play messy twister and have lip sync battles. As always there will be ribs. Oh so many ribs. All up in my belly. Fireworks and any other shenanigans we come up with! It is always so much fun! I can't wait. I look forward to this every year. 

Plus, you know I go crazy with my thematic party planning. I will post all kinds of red, white and blue photos along the way! 

Now I need to find something to eat before I die. Like seriously, die. Can't wait to read all of your currentlys! Yes, I just made that a word. Spell check is not a fan.

Have a fabulous night! I hope it isn't as hot where you are as it is here. This is unheard of in Oregon. For a second I thought I might have been in Vegas…wishful thinking. So sad to be missing that!

Monday Made It! & Monday Meet Up!

Happy Monday! 

I can't believe June is over! How did that happen!? I have not been nearly as productive as I had planned. Isn't that just how it always works out? Although I will say that I have finally finished my first big huge giant packet for TPT!

Which leads me to my Made It Monday! This is my first time linking up with the lovely 4th Grade Frolics and I am excited to get my craft on more in the future! Lord knows I have many projects on my to-do list!

So here it is! My sight word bundle! 215 pages of sight word practice aligned with 1st grade Storytown! I am pretty proud of this bad boy. And definitely deserve at least 2 glasses of apple cider ;) 

For those of you who don't know me, I love me some apple cider. My husband and I refer to it as my "alcohol" on the reg. 

Anyways, I had some difficulty pricing this bad boy. I asked my lovely IG followers and they said the general rule of thumb is $0.10/ content page, but I would love any additional help or input on pricing! 

I am also linking up with The Teaching Tribune for Monday Meet Up! Another first for me! I loooove link ups because I enjoy reading all of your blogs and interacting with all of you! And the traffic to my blog doesn't suck either ;)

So here goes, 3 things I am thankful for this week!

I can't wait to go blog snooping and see what all of you have been up to! 

Daily 5 Book Study {Chapter 7}

Whoa! This week kind of got away from me! But the good news is I stuck to my schedule AND my PD for this summer is done! Now I can really focus on my TPT store and blogging with all of you wonderful teachers! :)

Before I dive into my thoughts on chapter 7 of the Daily 5: Second Edition here are a few side notes:

- This "summer" weather is really bumming me out. Gotta love Oregon.

- I am still patiently waiting for my first Erin Condren planner to arrive! 

- I can't wait to get into my new classroom and start setting up/decorating. Is that weird!?

I was really excited for this chapter because it focuses on when/how to launch the option of choice within the Daily 5. This is probably the scariest part of Daily 5 because we as teachers are no longer "in control". The funny thing is that we are actually more in control during Daily 5 choices because we have given students the tools they need to be independent. Students are actively engaged in meaningful reading/writing choices during this time, that the room is actually very controlled. It's my favorite thing about the Daily 5 structure! 

The key components of choice as outlined by the sisters:

- Knowing the expectations                            

- Possessing the skills needed to meet the expectations  

- Being trusted to carry out the choices

 - Taking responsibility to carry out choices 

I thought this was perfectly outlined! It really solidified the concept for me and served as a great reminder. Choice is only successful if  all 4 of those components are in place. 

My biggest challenges with the Daily 5 choices:

- Preventing boredom within the choices (especially word work). The sisters' mention keeping the same choices year round and not introducing new ones. But I find that students burn out of the same word work choices day in and day out. 

I liked reading some of the word work ideas/materials that the sisters use. What kinds of materials do you use? How do you prevent boredom?

- Student accountability to make the "right" choice. By right choice I mean, making sure they are making different choices each time that focus on the skills and strategies they need to work on.    

The most important thing to remember about the Daily 5, which I am guilty of forgetting, is that it is completely flexible! Each group of students is different and we need to keep that in mind when progressing through the initial launching process. 

I actually have a question about checking in! Do you have students check-in before they make their choice or after? I struggle with this piece because I feel like it takes SO much time! If you have to ask each student their choice/strategy before they get started that can take 10 minutes easy! And then if stamina is comparable to their age, they've lost all their stamina before you even make it to a guided reading group! I haven't figured out the best balance for this yet. I want students to be checking in and making meaningful choices but I also want as much time as possible with my guided reading groups! Any tips!?

I am excited to read your thoughts on chapter 7! I am also super super excited to read about this new Math Daily 3 business. I sense a big change in my math set up coming!

Sweeping Declaration: My Summer Schedule

Hello lovelies! 

I don't know about you guys, but I need a schedule! Don't get me wrong, I love my summer breaks, but I don't like not having at least a general plan for how my days are going to go. I thrive on to-do lists, schedules and structure! 

With that in mind, I sat down and scheduled out my summer break! Is it weird that I am actually really excited about this!? I even have everything color coordinated in my planner. And no, I don't mean planning everything out for everyday. It's more like a structure for my daily responsibilities. 

I thought I would share it with all of you so that maybe I'll be better at sticking to it! So here it goes!

Eat breakfast - I am horrible, and I mean horrible at eating breakfast. Part of the reason is that my body is just not ready to eat first thing in the morning. In fact, if I try, I get really sick. But my goal is to take the time in the morning to make sure I eat at least a little something. This morning I had 2 hard boiled eggs and watermelon! That did the trick!

Orders - Many of you already know that I also work part time for my husband. He owns 2 businesses Stickerslug (decal stickers) and Pumabot (graphic tees). I help him everyday to fulfill the orders, it has been difficult to maintain during the school year so this summer we will be hiring his first real employee! 

Running - I mentioned before that I am trying to rehab my knee so that I can do the Color Run in September! My goal is to go running every day like I used to! I am also doing my 30 Day Fitness Challenges: 30 day arm challenge and 30 day ab & squat challenge!

Blog/TPT - I want to set aside some time every day to work on my blog and create items for my TPT store. Since I am new to this whole blogging/TPT world I have very little in my store right now. I have a lot of products made, but unlisted. A lot of products that are "in progress". And a lot of products all up in my brain! So I want to capitalize on the time off to bulk up my TPT store!

Here's a little sneak peek at something I have been working on! It is a classroom decor pack and also my first MEGA bundle! I may have bitten off more than I can chew…. It may actually kill me.

Make dinner - I get so lazy about making dinner during the school year. When I am really on top of my game, I do a lot of freezer cooking which helps a ton during the hustle and bustle of the school year.  Although this year was so chaotic, I was the worst. So now that I have time, I am getting back in the kitchen. Tonight, I am making chicken piccata with spaghetti squash instead of noodles! I'm so excited :)

{here} is the recipe I am using!

In keeping with my new schedule, let's do a little check in! 

Breakfast

Orders

Running

Blog/TPT - currently

Dinner

So far so good! I even had lunch with my momma today, went grocery shopping and did laundry! This girl is on fiiiiiire. (I amuse myself)

 Now if I can just convince my husband to go see 22 Jump Street tonight ;)

I gotta ask. Are any of you as crazy as I am with schedules? Or am I some freak of nature?

Daily 5 Book Study {Chapters 5 and Kind of 6}

Woo! 2 blog posts in one day? Who am I!? I just had so much to get caught up on and share! If you read the previous post, you can see why I am behind on my reading! But today is my "catch up day" and I am loving every minute of it. 

Reading Daily 5: Second Edition, drinking my water (up to 16oz which as you know is pretty good for me!), blogging and watching a Will and Grace marathon! Ahh summer, I love you. 

The more and more I read the second edition, the more and more excited I get for the new school year! Is that weird!? I am looking forward to all the changes I am going to make to my literacy block and I can't wait!

Before I jump right in to my thoughts on Chapter 5 and 6, I have a question for you! Do you use CAFE with your Daily 5 structure? Does it make it easier? What do you like about it? I am not super familiar with CAFE but the more I read this book, the more I want to explore it. 

Chapter 5 really dives into why it is important to give specific and focused instruction when launching Daily 5. I myself am guilty of rushing this step. I find myself doing minimal practice sessions and then rushing to independence before my kids are ready. I definitely place to much emphasis on their prior knowledge from kindergarten and forget that each year is a fresh start. Summer brain is a real thing, but I don't need to tell you that! 

"The tone for the entire year is established during the early weeks of school." (pg. 67)

3 ways to read a book

- Read the pictures

- Read the words

- Retell the story

When I teach this I usually do each one as a separate mini-lesson. I like the idea of combining the first 2 as a time saver, but I worry about the length of that mini-lesson! I would love to see how they squeeze that lesson into 6-7 minutes! 

Foundation Lessons

I absolutely love how the sister's teach their foundation lessons! Esepically the I-PICK Good-Fit Books lesson with the shoes! That is my favorite lesson to teach! It is fun and really gets the concept across! I really appreciated the Appendix I that had all the lesson plans for these lessons! That wild definitely come in handy as I start to plan for the first few weeks of school. I'm not quite that ready for next year yet!

Read to Self Foundation Lessons

- 3 ways to read a book

- I PICKGood-Fit books 

- Choose a successful spot 

Work on Writing Foundation Lessons

- Underline words you don't know how to spell and move on

- Set up a notebook

- Choose what to write about

Read to Someone Foundation Lessons

- Check for understanding

- EEKK

{FREEBIE}

- Voice level

- How partners read

- How to get started

- Coaching or time?

- How to choose a partner

Listen to Reading Foundation Lessons

- Set up technology

- Listen and follow along

- Manage fair and equitable use with a limited number of devices

Word Work Foundation Lessons

- Set up and clean up materials

- Choose materials to use

- Choose a successful spot

** Do you let students choose their spot for word work? I just don't have the space for the so they have to stay at desks… Am I the worst? haha **

In all honesty, I kind of skimmed over Chapter 6. I'm not quite ready to get that in depth about the focused lessons, but I am excited to go back and read it throughly later!

I really liked the idea of the word collectors wall! In my class we use personal dictionaries that we add these tricky/robust words to throughout the year, but I like the idea of having it in a common place as well. I will definitely be using that. My new placement doesn't order personal dictionaries. I suppose I'll have to make my own this year! Just one more thing to add to TPT!

I can't wait to read all your thoughts on these 2 chapters and to see all the amazing resources you're posting! I have to be honest, looking at all the resources you guys have created makes me feel like I am slacking! It is intimidating!

I definitely still have a LOT to learn about this whole blogging/TPT business! You all inspire me so much! I hope one day I can live up!