Back to School Read Alouds- Friendship

It is back to school time again. Wow! Where does the time go? I know that the first few weeks can be jam packed with ALL THE THINGS. The best part though is building the classroom community. I could chat about this for years, but I won't- this post is about Friendship read alouds! 

Especially after the weird, crazy year we had during the pandemic we have a lot of kids coming back to school for the first time in a long while and  might need a refresher on how to be collaborative and cultivate friendships. 

So I gathered up a couple of my favorite books that have the theme of friendship and would be super to integrate and weave into your B2S reading. I mean these can always even be used at other points in the year when we might need to revisit how to be a friend you know? 

Now this is no way an exhaustive list of amazing books on the topic of friendship, so if you don't see one here that you just love feel free to drop it in the comments! That is the great things about books- there is ALWAYS just one more you can LOVE. #takeallmymoney

-Strictly No Elephants

-You Will Be My Friend

-Carrot & Pea

-Pout Pout Fish in the Big Big Dark

-Friends

-Porcupine Named Fluffy

-Disappearing Desmond

-Horsefly and Honeybee

-Copy Cat

Don't forget that read aloud time can be done just for fun and enjoyment, but also there are many wonderful ways to utilize it in a super intentional way. Make sure to weave both intentions in throughout the year. 

Have a BLESSED week! 

"I have put my hope in his word." 

Psalm 130:5

 

Back to School Organization-Parent Log, Meeting Notes, & Gradebook

Howdy! 

We live in a digital age. Does it simplify things? Yes. Can it come with complications? Yes. Can you make everyone happy? No. 

I love the "less" of having things online. You know, not having so many papers and distractions around. But listen, you can give the girl online digital tools, but you can't take away her love for hard copy things sometimes. 

For example, there is just something about going to the library and perusing the aisles of books and the smell of a book. Flipping the pages and stacking them up. I can not get on board with the Kindle. I am sorry. I NEED a hard copy. 

Same with certain teaching things. Sometimes I like a hard copy. Not for everything, because, I mean, we only have so much filing cabinet space before it becomes hoarding right? 

Here are three items I always liked having hard copy of in my back pocket. 

1. Meeting Notes: I actually have changed up how I take notes over the years and finally found a system that works for me and I love it. However, I had made this little note taking template years back and wanted to offer it up to anyone who might want to use it. 

Download HERE

2. Parent Contact Log: Communication with parents is key! I always liked to keep any emails I sent online digitally, but I also made phone calls home as well. I would keep this little spiral near my phone at school and document all the info when I did make a phone call. 

Download HERE

3. Gradebook: Just your run of the mill old school gradebook. We input grades online, however, having a hard copy has come in clutch many a time as well. It can also be used as a general checklist for students and tracking what they have turned in etc. 

Download HERE

Hope these help fellow hard copiers. Use or lose-pick and choose! 

Have a BLESSED week! 

Easy breakfast 101

Oh hey there! So this is what a blog is?! Gosh it has been quite awhile since I sat down to write. What better way to ease back into it than with a yummy and SIMPLE recipe? 

School is starting back up soon and we all know we are stretched for time. So hit that snooze button, because breakfast is taken care of! 

Hubby and I made this Pinterest recipe for breakfast a bit ago and I took pictures joking that I could probably post it as a Pinterest gone wrong recipe...but it turned out great!! 

Ingredients:

Cresent Rolls

Cheese

Eggs

Bacon or Sausage or BOTH. I like to go with UNCURED meat. Much healthier if you do meat. 

Mushrooms (optional)

Bell pepper (optional)

Now pay attention this is where is gets complicated.

Unroll the cresent rolls

Crack an egg on top (seriously though it is slip sliding everywhere so you may have to bring that bad boy back onto the cresent roll)

Sprinkle cheese, sausage, bacon, other chosen ingredients on top

Put in oven on 350 and bake about 10-12 minutes...

Yum!!!

I even took one to lunch the next day and it was still good!

                                   

See? Easy. It is so customizable too so you can use whatever ingredients suit you! 

Have a BLESSED week.

"Gracious speech is like clover honey-good taste to the soul, quick energy for the body."

Proverbs 16:24

Quarantine Easter and Jesus

So I find myself typing this for,I guess, more a documentation of this state of affairs we are in right now as a world. Not to document the sadness or negative and not even to take a stance on anything. Maybe more for myself like a journal entry as one would. Blogging has never been a "diary" for me. I don't really put down daily or weekly happenings- not many would honestly care about any of that. Truly. I like to put out ideas and hopefully inspiration (not in any way a self help guru AT ALL), but if it falls upon my heart to put it out in the world, I usually will. This post will act as a time stamp for quarantine for me, but also holds a random idea/moment that I didn't want to forget. If you find it useful then- added bonus!

So Easter is this weekend. I have such fond memories as a child of celebrating together and remembering HE IS RISEN! 

This is not necessarily one of my "faith" based posts, but I mean how can we not shout out our Savior and HIS PROMISES. 

While it is ALL about JESUS and his resurrection (can I get an AMEN for that?!), I also have memories of all the egg hunts we'd have as kids. Running, pushing, shoving...oh wait that was just me and my sister? I mean... all the civilized egg hunts we'd have as a family.

Okay I digress for a bit. Well it may look a little different this year for everyone. Celebrating together in general will be different. My husband's birthday will look a little different too. We won't be able to celebrate the same way as we would being able to go out and about. 

Well thank goodness I am an OCD organized hoarder of certain things (is that even a thing?). I just so happen to have plastics eggs on hand....not because we have kids and not because I plan an egg hunt each year.  Maybe because I am a teacher and that's what we do sometimes. Say: "I might need these one day." Sound familiar?

Anyways, Easter + eggs + quarantine + Hubby's bday=inside the house egg hunt for him/ scavenger hunt/ who knows all the crevices I placed them all and how long we will be finding eggs in this house. But isn't that part of the fun? 

So this is just what I did, but you could totally modify to your people and needs. Again, this is a time stamp mainly for me to remember- but if it works for you-have fun!

So I filled the eggs with some of his favorite candy, some words of affirmation, and some "coupons" I knew he'd appreciate. Like...play video games 48 hours straight without interruptions. Just kidding. Kind of. 

I then piled them in my sweatshirt and started quickly placing them in places I knew, well hoped, he'd come across organically. 

Side note- since in quarantine, he is working from home. So I had to try to be quiet and sneaky. Didn't work too well. I was in the closet placing eggs when I heard him running to find me (probably to scare me) and I had to dump all the eggs out into the corner of the closet. He walked in as I was frantically shoving eggs under my clothes and inside shoes. I don't think he fully understood what was happening. That doesn't surprise me though-mainly because I think after 10 years of marriage he has come to realize he married a very random human being. 

Moving on,  I kicked him out of the closet and proceeded to find hiding locations. I did place this one on the door handle of the room he is working out of-so when he came out the next time it would be the first one he found. Inside was a little note about the egg hunt- to give him some background info)

Here are just a few. So not totally "hidden" but still not sure the time frame he will actually come across them. It could be all weekend and into his birthday he's finding them. Or next year. You know just keeping things interesting over here. 

I mean I guess if I was really prepared I could have bought the over sized eggs and hid TP, sanitizer, Clorox, etc inside each one. You know the treasure of 2020. But seriously who could have predicted this. Well I guess maybe....no this isn't that kind of blog we will not be getting into that rabbit hole. 

Overall- keep being good to one another, pray for one another, pray with one another, be loving, give grace, help each other, check on each other, PRAY BIG PRAYERS for our world. 

I know we may be in a tough spot right now and I can't in any capacity speak truth to the situation ( I am just an IC hiding eggs over here) but what I DO know is that our GOD is bigger and HIS son IS RISEN. He is our hope. This life was not meant to be easy or give all the answers. We will suffer and feel pain. We will also experience joy and love. Often time not understanding the mix of all of those things. If we were satisfied with this world we would never YEARN for our eternal home. This time away from society and self discipline (yes and some pain) can only bring renewal, thankfulness, and perspective. At least that is what I am praying for-for everyone. God is a God of MIRACLES. 

"He is risen, just as he said." 

Matthew 28:6

"Put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption."

Psalms 130:7

*Update 12:02 pm - I haven't even published this post yet (well I have now that you are reading it) and he already found the first egg (outside in his shoe when he took the dogs out) His face was hilarious and now he keeps walking around saying, "Where are the other eggs?!" I keep saying "What other eggs?" and just walk off. This is fun. 

Vocabulary PD 101

Well hello there! Thank you for stopping by- hopefully you are here for some vocabulary! This will be a quick post all about integrating vocabulary into your classroom and how we provided  a fun and easy PD opportunity for staff! We did this back in February, but in good fashion I am just now getting around to creating the blogpost- better late than never eh? Bookmark it if you are not needing a vocabulary idea just yet! 

First off, this PD centered all around the book below:

101 Strategies to Make Academic Vocabulary Stick

by: Marilee Sprenger

Click HERE for pricing on Amazon

(I am not an affiliate for Amazon for this book-just wanted to provide a direct link for you)

Here is an overview of what is included in this book 

(excerpt from ASCD.org)

You'll find:

• -An overview of how the brain learns and retains new words, including the three stages of building long-term memories: encoding, storage, and retrieval.


• -Encoding strategies to introduce words in novel ways and jump-start the memory process.


• -Rehearsal strategies to help students put words into long-term storage.


• -Review strategies to help students strengthen their retrieval skills and gain the automaticity needed for reading comprehension.


• -Ways to address planning and assessment as crucial, intersecting supports of a robust vocabulary program.

If you are someone preparing for the PD here are your deets:

-We printed out the cheat sheet with all 101 strategies out for every teacher (white paper). They were also printed on large posters in color for every team to have at meetings for future reference. (This was from ASCD and I beleive you'd need a log in to access the resource- it is not a must have but is a complete poster reference-if you have just the book you would be okay too!)

-Created a VOCAB board for every staff member- this was utilized during the PD for notes

-Each strategy we focused on during the PD was put into a drawing (obviously we could not do ALL 101 strategies during the PD so the admin team each chose 5 to add to the board).

Once you are ready to have your PD:

-At the PD each staff member drew a strategy and that was the group they were in.

-They found their group members and had a short amount of time (10 min or whatever you choose) to research their strategy together and create a 1 min or less overview they would present. This could be a skit, visual poster, etc.

-After the alloted time to collaborate with their group we came back together. We went down the VOCAB board columns and when we got to their chosen strategy they came up with their group and quickly presented! The rest of the staff could take little notes on their VOCAB board.

-Once all the strategies on the board were presented we were done! (25-ish minutes)

Super Easy! Fun! Great information! 

It really was a quick way to dive into a professional reading resource and have essential take aways that could be applied the very next week! 

Hope this helped spark an idea for a whole staff PD that is easy to prepare for and quick to implement! 

"Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens."

Psalms 68:19

Preposition Power

Well hello there! It seems to have been awhile. I have been really good about posting over on my Instagram and FB blog pages and sometimes neglect this area, mainly because this takes a tad more time to get together. So if you have not followed me over yonder go for it! You will see more frequent posts and such! FB: The Blessed OCDiva Instagram: @theblessedocdiva

Preposition Power!

So 1st grade started teaching all about prepositions!

You may have your own way of introducing and teaching prepositions, so I am just going to share a few things I have done in the past as well as the little project to wrap it up.

This book is ADORABLE! 

I had a copy gifted to me  from the book fair and I never got around to being able to read it to my kiddos since I moved out of the classroom, but the first grade teachers here borrowed it and said the kids LOVED it! yay!

This book is also a great read aloud for prepositions integrating Science as well! 

My kids loved this little preposition song/video as well:

We would also act out prepositions using teddy bear manipulatives and plastic cups/bowls:

"Put your bear under..."

"Put your bear on top of..."

Kids can also use their bodies:

"Stand next to your chair."

"Stand between..."

 Here is the little project I whipped up for them to do as a little wrap up of their learning, as a quick check to see if they truly understood how to use a preposition besides just identifying it, and for them to use as an interactive word wall (the kids do all the work and can go back and reference it later. It holds more meaning since they are the ones applying it and creating it!) This also integrates writing as well! 

Supplies needed: 

Animal Crackers

Crayons,Pencil,Markers (if preferred)

Glue

Construction paper or plain cardstock (personal preference)

Students will get their blank piece of paper and an animal cracker. They will create a setting for their animal and then glue their cracker wherever they are choosing to use the preposition. They follow up with a sentence using the preposition and circling or highlighting the preposition they used! You could also elect for them not to highlight or circle and they can present theirs whole group or with a partner and the other kids have to find the preposition they used.

Look at these amazing products their kids created!! I loved being able to go into their classrooms and see it come to life! 

Here is a little video showing it as the full process!

Thank you Mrs. Tibbetts for letting me hover over your little friend ;)

I also created some fun packets to teach prepositions! There are 3 different themes! And one is a farm theme which goes perfectly with the above mentioned book and the animal cracker activity! 

Here is what is included in each pack:

It incorporates hands on activities as well as independent learning. Can be printed in B&W or Color! 

-interactive poster (background and character cut outs)

-anchor chart with list of prepositions

-student reference sheets for journals

-mini card anchor charts

-printables for practice or assessment

-mini booklets

-spin and cover game

Click HERE for Farm

Click HERE for Space

Click HERE for Ocean

Hope you saw a little something you can use the next time you introduce prepositions! 

Have a BLESSED week!

"Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago."

Isaiah 25:1

Class Experts-Maintain minimal interruptions and build leadership

You're a teacher. 

You get asked a million and two questions a day. 

You are a broken record.

Comes with the territory.

We try so hard to model, train, and raise self sufficient students in our classrooms. 

It can be done. 

As a classroom teacher I wanted my kids to ask questions, truly. 

I loved to hear and see their inquisitive minds. 

However, I could have done without the "What do I do when I'm done?" question. 

Because let's be real, I am 110% sure I already covered that. 

Last year.

First day of school.

Last month. 

Last week.

Yesterday.

30 minutes ago.

30 seconds ago.

Enter the EXPERT chart! Cutting down on interruptions since 2012-ish. 

Now the amazing thing about this "Ask an Expert" chart is it can be modified for ANY grade, ANY classroom, ANY class, ANY teacher.

The anchor chart above is an example of some of the experts I used.  

Let's break it down:

Find or train a student who you know or have noticed is an "expert" or very reliable for a certain task in your room and you want them to be the contact person. Once they know the expectations for that "job" as the expert then they are the one who the other students go to when they have a question arise about that particular topic. Thus, cutting down interruptions for you while in small group, working one on one, conferring, etc! 

Example: 

Computer Expert- they knew how to turn on/off, log on, use headphones, get to assigned websites, etc. When another student needed assistance with the computer, instead of coming straight to me and interrupting small group they would go get the computer expert. 

What happens if the expert can't figure it out for some reason? Then the expert has permission to come ask me. It didn't happen very often and still cut back on interruptions overall. 

What are some possible expert categories?

-shoe tying

-bathroom

-computer

-ipads

-technology

-stations

-fire drill

-lunch

-I'm done

-class library

-office

-new student 

-recess

-ETC!

The list could go on and can be made to fit your needs! Have one or have many assigned experts.

I just made a chart, and once I found my experts I'd write their name (you could easily add kid's pictures too to help with any new comers, nonreaders, etc!)

I also sometimes buddied students up as experts on one topic. This helped with bigger jobs, but also gave more kids a chance to build responsibility in a safe environment. 

Experts can be changed out for new experts often or not, the choice is yours. Other students can choose to prove themselves responsible. 

There really isn't much to it, and really helped build leadership and responsibility within my students. (I used this strategy in first grade)

I hope you try the expert chart out this next school year and love it! 

Have a blessed week!!

"For the Spirit of God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline."

2 Timothy 1:7