Currently August

So excited to link up with Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade for August Currently!

If you haven't checked out her blog and TPT store before, be sure to take a look. My students last year really LOVED her "Currently for the Classroom".  

Yesterday was the Virginia blogger meetup. It was amazing to meet so many inspiring and fabulous bloggers from Virginia.

I won an Ellison SuperStar die-cut machine at the meetup.  Thanks, Ellison!!!  Can't wait to have some fun with that.  I will blog more about the meetup later this week.

Classroom Habitudes: Week 3

I am really enjoying the book Classroom Habitudes and I hope many of you are as well.  If you are joining me for the first time, be sure to catch up with Week 1 and Week 2 of this book study.

Perseverance is the ability to sustain interest, effort, and commitment in any circumstance that life presents.

Setting goals and sticking to one's convictions is hard for adults.  Teaching our students to persevere, despite obstacles is hard.  Maiers points out that one of the best ways to start working on this topic with students is to be honest about challenges you have had to persevere through.  Exploring how we face obstacles, in and out of the classroom, will help students cross the mountain they are trying to overcome.  Working on small goals first will give students the chance to then transfer that perseverance to bigger goals.

Courage is the ability to enter the unknown by confronting challenges, taking risks, and overcoming fears.

I really loved this chapter because it is all about getting students to feel comfortable taking risks. Amazing learning and growth can occur when students are willing to step outside their comfort zone and not be afraid of failure.  Students have been conditioned to only look for the right answer, and therefore they are scared to make a mistake.  Many famous and successful people failed before they succeeded.  Working with kids on seeing that failure is a natural part of success will help them grow and become even more successful.

An InLinkz Link-up

Classroom Habitudes: Week 2

Curiosity is a mindset that enables individuals to explore their internal and external worlds by asking questions, seeking answers, and engaging in a wide range of personal and interpersonal activities.

Self-awareness provides a system of checks and balances that equips individuals to understand themselves and to make conscious choices and deliberate decisions about the direction and quality of their lives.

An InLinkz Link-up

Classroom Habitudes Book Study and Blog Hop

I have joined Linda, Aimee, Angela, and Diane for a book study and blog hop on the book Classroom Habitudes by Angela Maiers.

At our last faculty meeting in June, my principal gave each staff member a copy of the book.  She talked about how much she truly loved this book.  We talked about what to expect from it and took the Habitudes Self-Assessment.  She asked us all to read it this summer.  It came home with me and sat on my coffee table, untouched, for the next four weeks.  Then....I started reading it....and I can honestly say that I am hooked!  I cannot wait to finish!!!

Maiers starts out by discussing the Habitudes, what they are, and what they mean. A habitude is a combination of habits and attiudtes.  The seven habitudes are:

1. Imagination
2. Curiosity
3. Self-Awareness
4. Perseverance
5. Courage
6. Passion
7. Adaptability

She also discusses explicitly teaching the habitudes and ways students can demonstrate their understanding of themselves and the habitudes.  One suggestion was for students to keep a habitudes notebook that becomes their portfolio.  Right away my mind jumped to data binders.  My students could have a Habitudes section in their data binder!  If the purpose of the data binder is for students to showcase their growth and learning, wouldn't their growth in self-awareness and the habitudes also be great?

My fabulous teammate, Stephanie, has started a collaborative Pinterest board focusing on the habitudes.  Be sure to check it out.

Follow Stephanie's board Classroom Habitudes on Pinterest.

Chapter 1 is all about nurturing genius and how to teach the habitudes.  My favorite quote from this chapter is:

"Once you understand and believe you are capable of the extraordinary, you will not settle for the ordinary."

What an amazing take away!  We spend so much time trying to motivate students and push them to be the best they can be, but do we take the time to really help them see the genius inside them already?  We have so much to teach and so much we want to do.  Why is it even important to teach the habitudes?  Watch the short clip below to find out.

I love her framework for teaching the habitudes as well.  (I don't want to give away all the details, but basically her framework takes you step-by-step how to help students gain ownership of the habitudes.)  There are lessons to follow for each habitude.  She also includes QR codes throughout the book that take you to other resources, examples, and video clips.  The book is extremely user-friendly and her 3-step framework for teaching the habitudes is very classroom-friendly.  The steps for teaching a habitude are:

• One: Name It
• Two: Claim It
• Three: Sustain It

The second chapter is about imagination and creativity.  There are lesson plan ideas and I really like the activity where students imagine and store successful moments into their "success file".  I love that it gets students imagining and thinking about what they did when they were successful. 

Our self-image about our imagination and creativity usually decreases as we get older.  Awareness of using our imagination to help us achieve our goals is key to success.

Next week our study will continue with chapters 3 and 4.  Until then, please check out the other blogs in this blog hop.

An InLinkz Link-up

Time for a GIVEAWAY!!!

One of the things I love most about the blogging world is meeting so many amazing bloggers and TpT sellers.  Eight of us have collaborated to bring you a giveaway to celebrate the launch of Elizabeth's new blog (http://fancyfifthgrade.blogspot.com).  These upper elementary ladies are fabulous and I hope you will enjoy "meeting" them as much as I have!

Who wants to win a $50 Erin Condren Gift Card or a $40 Tallahassee Sunday Gift Card?  EVERYONE, right?  

To win, enter the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway will run until July 18th at 12:00 a.m. The winner will be announced on Sunday the 19th. Good luck to everyone!  Be sure to check out all our blogs (or social media/TpT if they are not bloggers yet.)

 

      

Dare to Dream

I am very much enjoying participating in the TpT Seller Challenge/ Makeover Madness Linky with a few hundreds of fabulous bloggers.  I have already learned so much from all the other TpT sellers out there. 

This week's challenge is "Dare to Dream".  What is my goal/goals of having a store on Teachers Pay Teachers?  Dream Big!  Here is what I would do if my TpT business grows and takes off:

I would love to have the means to SHARE more with others in need.  Time, money, etc...

I want to continue to be INSPIREd by other sellers/bloggers and also be able to inspire others.  There are so many amazing teachers out there and they are creating incredible resources.  Resources that are far better than textbooks.  Why do schools give so much money to testing companies??   

I would love to actually be able to PAY OFF DEBT (i.e. my student loans).  I feel like that will never go away at this point.  Maybe my TpT business can take off and I can actually make a dent in that.
Be sure to check out and join the TPT Makeover Madness Linky Party being put on by the fabulous Emily over at Third in Hollywood, Amber at Peppy Zesty Teacherista, Ashley at Teach Create Motivate, and Jen at Sparkling in Second Grade.

Thanks for stopping by!

First Summer Post

Happy Summer!!!  It is officially my 2nd day of summer and I am loving it.  I have enjoyed some time with friends, stayed up late, spent a lot of time on Netflix, and have been able to update some TpT products.

I have joined TPT Makeover Madness Linky Party being put on by the fabulous Emily over at Third in Hollywood, Amber at Peppy Zesty Teacherista, Ashley at Teach Create Motivate, and Jen at Sparkling in Second Grade.


I chose my 2014-15 Calendar to makeover.  It needed new fonts, some color changes, more space for notes, and obviously...new dates.  Here is what the cover/inside pages looked liked before:

Now it looks like this:

You can find it in my TpT store too. I am going to put it on sale through the end of the week.  I also made a superhero theme calendar.

• Wild Theme Printable Calendar
• Superhero Theme Printable Calendar

Spring Break Rocks!

Today is the first day of Spring Break and it was the best mail day ever.  My SLANT box arrived from Kari of http://vaclaviksantics.blogspot.com.  The SLANT box is amazing!  She totally nailed it.  So many of my favorites!!

Kari sent me all the essentials for a relaxing Spring Break staycation. I have so many movies and she sent me a movie I love, but don't own.  How did she guess?  I can definitely use a sappy movie evening this week.  She also sent me a book.  Since the weather has finally warmed up a little here in Virginia, I am going to enjoy reading outside.  I definitely need the lotion for my hands and feet.  They are so dry after this long, cold winter.  Kari sent me my fav pens and a polka-dot notebook.  I love my new water bottle too.  Not that I could have a favorite part of this slant box, because I truly LOVE every item....but if I had to pick a favorite part...it would be the post-its.  I am a post-it note hoarder collector and she sent me two that I do not have.  Thanks, Kari!  

If you want to get in on the SLANT box love next month, check out Jameson's blog by clicking the button below.  Can't wait for the next round.

Today I also got my #verybusybox from Blair Turner Paper.  It was one of the best purchases I made.  So much fun.  Oh and who doesn't love getting mail?  I love the items they picked out for the first Very Busy Box.

   

Check the website below to learn more about The Very Busy Box and her awesome paper goods.  

Hope the rest of my Spring Break is going to be just as exciting as Day #1 was!

Sunday Scoop and Currently

It's March...my FAVORITE month!  Dr. Seuss week/Read Across America, St. Patty's Day, warmer temperatures (later in the month), and MY BIRTHDAY!!

Currently March---

I love FaceTime.  My niece is 3 hours away and I am so grateful for our video chats.  She is 2 1/2 years old and at that age where she just talks and talks, sings, and dances.  It is so cute.

Since we had several snow days over the past couple weeks, I am already planned for math this week. :-)

I really need to get up and do some laundry, polish my nails, and get some sleep soon.  It will happen, eventually.

I, for the first time, ordered Shakeology and 21 Day Fix.  Excited for it to come in and a lil nervous about it.  Hope I like it!

Link up with Farley for Currently March!!

Sunday Scoop--

We had two days off last week, but I didn't get too much work done those two days.  Still need to grade papers, move plans around, and figure out what is going on this week.  I started watching The Blacklist last night.  I've only seen the first two episodes of season 1, but can't wait to watch more. I also want to get errands done early today so I can visit with friends tonight.  Guess I need to get started!

Be sure to link up with Teaching Trio's Sunday Scoop.