July Currently

Two days in a row - craziness! Today I'm joining Farley for July's currently.  

Listening: I've seen Grease wayyy too many times, but it's great background noise! 

Loving: Jen Jone's new fonts are awesome! I used Hello Kennedy for the image above, and am eyeing Hello Esli Script for the binder covers that are next on my list. 

Thinking: It has taken some time to adjust to the summer schedule, but I feel like I'm finally in a good groove of getting up at a decent time, and balancing school/TPT projects and relaxation. It doesn't hurt that I've finished two books so far this week! 

Wanting: I'm making good progress on the binder-izing project, but it it not-so-slowly taking over my living room. I *think* I'm finished with all of my ELA materials except for word study, so I should be able to knock that out in the morning and move on to math! 

Needing: I am moving classrooms this year, into a great large room, but will have nearly nil built-in storage. I'm going to try to construct a bookshelf cave/closet in one corner... 

All Star: My love for reading started at a very young age and I have a major weakness for children's books. I love sharing old favorites with my students! 

Monday Made It

Today I'm linking up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It! I've been wanting to join this party for the past few weeks but time on Mondays kept slipping away from me. I'm late to the game but excited to share what I've been up to!

My district is adopting 1:1 Chromebooks for 3rd and 4th grade next year, and I am thrilled! I've been considering how to best utilize them throughout the day and have decided to use them for 

 morning work each day (among other things, of course!). That led to a change in my morning routine expectations... I typically generate a chart of expectations with my class the first day of school, then type what we have agreed on. I decided to go ahead and put something together because I'm planning a Vistaprint order - we will still have a discussion as a class and generate a chart together, but the typed version will be ready to hang. Here's what I ended up with! 

I went ahead and did one for the afternoon routine while I was at it... 

(In case you're curious, these are the preview images from Vistaprint. I do not have the ideal poster-holding model hanging around in front of a perfectly whitewashed wall.) 

Also on the Chromebook page, I've been spending time planning my flipped math units for the upcoming school year. I flipped my math instruction as part of an action research project last year, and my students and I were really pleased with how we were able to utilize our class time, and how homework instantly regained its value. I will do another post on flipped math, including some samples of my lessons and pictures of our set-up. This upcoming year, I'm planning to start flipping the math instruction early in the year and sticking with it. 

Because I teach the self-contained gifted class, I hit all of the third grade standards and also many, if not the majority of, the 4th grade standards. Teaching gifted students was a new endeavor for me last year, and about halfway through the year, I was kicking myself for not spending time aligning the math standards from the start! 

So, I aligned all of the standards - you can access my alignment for math here for now... I'll eventually make a more attractive printable, but this will do for now! 

Then, I used that alignment to start determining my scope and sequence for the year. I've rough-drafted two units so far, and have my first unit finalized. It was important to me to break down how many videos I'll need to put together and how many in-class days were necessary for every individual topic. My school has not adopted a math program, so I pull resources from all over and create things on my own to fill in the holes. 

My ultimate goal for the summer is to create daily warm-ups, note-taking sheets, quizzes, and assessments to go with all of my flipped math units. It's nearly July, so I better get moving on that one! But first, I want to finish mapping everything to be sure I'm making the best use of the time I'll have in class. Here's the Unit 1 map I finished - feel free to use it if you are also planning flipped instruction, or working on squeezing in 3rd and 4th grade standards! Click to enlarge. 

The last thing I've been working on this week isn't quite finished, so nothing officially "made" yet - but it's been a major endeavor! I've been purging hanging files and re-organizing all of my printed graphic organizers, assessments, etc. Hopefully, I'll have binder covers ready to share next week! I'll leave you with the ultimate tab-age shot from this morning... Yikes! 

Have a great week! 

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June Currently & Splish Splash Winner!

Whew! I can't believe it's June 2nd already... The summer days are already flying by! Linking up with  Farley again for Currently... 

Listening - This winter, I created a "desk" for myself by attaching a wire closet shelf to my treadmill. Cheapo shelf from Lowe's + Bungee cords = A happy teacher during report card time! Hoping it will continue to come in handy this summer. 

Loving - My master bathroom has been torn apart for the better part of three weeks, but I know it will all be worth it in the end! Target finish date is June 9th - crossing my fingers on that one! 

Thinking - My district is hosting a Summer PD "Academy" this week and I'm doing a presentation on Friday about Google Apps for Education. I'll cover the basics of drive, docs, forms, and sheets, then throw in a few add-ons depending on how much time is left and the crowd. I used google forms to manage all of my reading and writing conference data this year, and LOVED it - I'm looking forward to sharing some strategies with other teachers in my district!

Wanting - After two years in the smallest room in the building, I'm excited to have the chance to move rooms next year! It was a great little room, but 18 wiggly boys was tough in there - and since it's looking like I'll have that many boys again next year, a little more room couldn't hurt ;-). 

Needing - I have been hunting for black contact paper to get started on my first summer project... I picked this up for $3 at a garage sale last week, and think it will be perfect for organizing some of my small group materials. It looks like I'll need to turn to Amazon for this one!


Also, I need to announce the winner from the Think Dots giveaway from the blog hop! The winner was Debbie, who followed me on Twitter as vanaken7.... I have sent an email to notify the winner and will re-draw if I don't hear back! 

Five for Friday

Happy Friday! I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share 5 random things from my week. 

My summer officially began yesterday! Our last day of school is alway our Field Day, and it's a great way to say goodbye. I am not usually the world's biggest Field Day fan, but had an absolute blast this year. I had a wonderful group of students and am truly sad to see them go! There were a few tears shed yesterday as the kids walked out the door. Thankfully, the tears weren't all mine! 

One of the stations this year was exploring a hot air balloon. It was like a mid-90s parachute game on steroids :-). 

I put my own twist on the popular favorites page (inspired by Little Warriors) by having my students write compliments about each other on a document that was uploaded to Google Classroom. I then put the compliments at the bottom of the page. Add a Dollar Tree frame for an easy and meaningful keepsake! These were a HUGE hit with both students and parents! Definitely doing these again next year. 

I've had a Fitbit Flex for a few years, and it bit the dust last weekend. I upgraded to the Charge HR and am absolutely addicted to it. I feel like it's more accurate than my Flex was (especially at the end of its life) and love the added heart rate component. The way that it automatically recognizes sleep mode is great, too! I'm always looking for more Fitbit friends for some friendly competition - add me here if you're looking for support, too! 

This week, I moved the rug that was in my bedroom in my last apartment to my living room. I'm trying to decide if it gives off a vibe that is slightly too Beetlejuicy, or if I really like it. Also, the wall art (or lack thereof) in this room is killing me. Those canvases were originally above the longer couch... Thinking about moving them back, and taking suggestions for the other open wall! The paint color in this picture looks way more yellow than it actually is - it's Benjamin Moore Gray Owl and is a blue-y gray in real life. 

My first order of business yesterday afternoon was to park myself on the couch and make a few lists... I'm a big list girl! Some of these are things I've read in the past and want to go through again, and others are new to me - you may also notice that some titles are much more rigorous than others! What's on your summer reading list?