Five for Friday with Makeover Madness!

      I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for another Five for Friday.  I am also linking up with Sparking in Second Grade for their Makeover Madness TpT Challenge!

1.  This week I was away from my computer.  I took a road trip down to Charlotte, North Carolina.  After living there for 8 years, it is like another home to me!   While in Charlotte, I was able to visit with one of my friends that I taught with for 6 years! You know those people that make going to work that much better!  I definitely miss working with her.  We didn't take a picture, though!  Then I took a beach trip with one of my best friends!  For the past two years we have gone to the beach and camped.  Although I miss hanging out with these girls, now that I am in Ohio, I LOVE having friends down south to visit with!

 2.  We spent three days at Hunting State Park in South Carolina!  It was fabulous! 

 3.  I had planned on reading Word Nerds while at the beach, but ended up reading The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins and Beautiful Day by Elin Hilderbrand.  Both were great, easy beach reads.  So, I guess I will be reading Word Nerds now that I am back at home.  I just couldn't put down by easy reads!

4.  I came home from my trip to see two letters from my one of the schools I worked at in Charlotte.  Two of my former students wrote to me. I loved reading these letters!  So sweet. :)

5.  I saw the posts about the TpT Seller Challenge, while I was away. I really wanted to join in on this fun, but didn't have my computer with me, so I had to wait until I got home!  This week's challenge was to makeover a product.  I decided to makeover two of my first products.  These were created using Microsoft Word.  I didn't know how to use Powerpoint at the time that I created these products.  Here are the two that I have updated, as of now.  One of them didn't even have a cover.  This has motivated me to makeover a few other products, as well!  One of the products aligns with the Common Core Standards.  The other product is aligned with Common Core, but also matches with the first grade Reading Street Unit 1.  Click on the pictures below to grab a copy of these updated products! 

Happy Friday!

Five for Friday- Saturday Morning!

      While some of you, along with my friends down in NC, are just wrapping up their year this week, I am already three weeks into my summer vacation! Between PD that I signed up for, leadership team meetings, getting work done on my car, etc. the time is just flying by.  Summer needs to SLOW DOWN!  I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share what I have been up to during my third week of summer vacation!

1. On Monday I had a Professional Development class that I signed up for this summer.  Our district has courses that are mostly online and only require one face-to-face meeting.  The courses are informative and based on concepts or books that are current and popular in the educational community.  This past year I was able to take a variety of courses.  Some of them were on Number Talks, Notice and Note, Autism OCALI training, etc.  I am currently taking a couple of courses this way. Monday I started a class for Making Thinking Visible.  This is a great book and so far I am able to see how this will transform the parts of my day which need a change!

2. Not much more to say than that I have spent 3 or 4 afternoons this week running at this amazing park!  I have almost 30 miles so far this month!  Once I saw that, I decided that I would set a goal to run 70 miles in June!  I think this goal will push me to have some  longer runs a few days a week!  

3. The SUMMER heat is here!  People are already complaining, but not me!  I have not forgotten that about 4 months ago it was still snowing and frigid outside!  There are parts about each season that I truly enjoy and that is what I try to remember!  So when it is 90 degrees outside, instead of complaining, I spend my afternoons by the pool. :)

4. I've spent a ton of time this summer watching Netflix.  When I'm working on projects, folding laundry, etc. that is usually playing in the background. I never watched Parenthood while it was actually on T.V., but I recently started watching it on Netflix.  I just finished the last season that is on Netflix and am SO eager to see the final season!!!!

5. I had the privilege of going to a district-wide PD recently. The keynote speaker was Jason Hillman, head of the Literacy Collaborative as Ohio State and a previous teacher and principal.  He has had a lot of success turning around schools that were in need of a change. He was an amazing speaker with great ideas and motivation to change the culture for students and teachers, within our schools.  He suggested reading the book, Transforming School Culture.  I ordered a copy to be picked up at Barnes and Noble this week.  When I arrived, it wasn't there!!  They couldn't find it anywhere.  So, I ended up buying a digital copy and am really looking forward to reading this book!

Monday Made It- June 8th

       I am linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for another Monday Made It!  I love Monday Made It, but recently I have started a few different projects and haven't finished them!  So, I figured I would share my projects, even if they are just in the works!  

    We have planted a ton of vegetables again.  We decided to plant radishes.  What I didn't  know was that radishes grow like weeds.  So, we have TONS of radishes that are ready to be eaten right NOW!  Of course I went to Pinterest to try and find a way to preserve the radishes.  I ended up finding a recipe for Taco Pickles.  I have had a similar type of slaw on tacos before and thought we would try it.  The recipe is SUPER easy.  I put two jars in the fridge and froze two bags of them.  I'm looking forward to having this with my tacos later this week! Click HERE to get the recipe!

      I have been working on creating a novel study to go along with the book The One and Only Ivan.  It is NOT finished, but in progress.  Check out a few of the previews below. 

Have a great week!  

Five for Friday- June 5th

     Summer is here and now that I am blogging again it is time to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for another Five for Friday.  Since I haven't joined in on the Five for Friday linky in a while, I am going to share some things from the past few weeks. 

1. This summer started with a quick trip to Cleveland.  We went to the West Side Market and picked up some sausages and pierogies to bring home, had lunch at Great Lakes Brewery, and finished up with watching the Reds and the Indians game.  

2. I have been spending a lot of time running and working out, so far this summer.  Last weekend I ran in a Quarter Marathon.  While my time was not fabulous, I was proud that I had done it.  I ran a half marathon about 5 or 6 years ago and haven't ran anything more than a 5k since.  I'm hoping to keep this momentum going!

3. These are my bags of school stuff that I brought home to work on throughout the summer.  It has been two weeks and I haven't even peeked inside these bags! Even though I look at them daily, I don't think I will touch them until at least July!

4. Earlier this week it was super cold and gloomy.  I spent a LOT of time reading inside.  One of my teammates told me to read this book with one of the kids I am tutoring.  So, I read the entire thing, all 300 pages, on Wednesday.  If you have not read this book, you should.  

      The One and Only Ivan is the tale of a calm gorilla named Ivan.  Ivan lives in the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade along with Stella, and elephant, and Bob, a stray dog.  When Ruby a baby elephant moves in, she is scared and saddened that she has lost her family.  Ivan makes an important promise that he wants to follow through with.

       It is a story in which you will fall in love with Ivan and the other characters.  

5. Earlier this week it was gloomy, but yesterday and today the sun has been shining!!  I was able to head to the pool yesterday and I am getting ready to head there now! 

Happy Summer! :)

June Currently and My Home Office Space

June is here and I am excited to be linking up with Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade.  I am also linking up with Ashley from Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd and Angie from Lucky Little Learners for their 2GETHERWEAREBETTER linky to show off our home office spaces.  

Listening:  I never watched Parenthood while it was on TV and I have been binge watching it for last month or so.  I am almost on the 5th season!  I now see why people were so in love with the show!

Loving:  Summer Vacation!  I just don't know what to say besides that I am loving my summer break. 

Thinking:  I typically work out a little more in the summer because I have the time.  So, yesterday I went to a weight class, swam laps, and ran.  This morning I woke up with every muscle in my body hurting.  So, I am thinking that I am late and need to get going to the gym, but not sure I want to get moving!  haha

Wanting:  I ordered the books Word Nerds and 59 Reasons to Write. I am looking forward to getting started reading these books. 

Needing:  I start tutoring tomorrow for 4 kiddos.  I have not started prepping for our sessions yet and need to get moving so I am ready for tomorrow!  

Summer Lovin:  I LOVE the pool and reading and deciding when to go where each day in the summer.  It is nice to be able to make my schedule each day and not have to be anywhere in particular.  

I have LOVED seeing every one's home office spaces.  Since I rent an apartment, I don't have the walls painted or anything like that, but it is a nice space that I use for working on school work, crafting, sewing (once in a while), etc.  Here is a sneak peak into my office space. 

Make sure to head over to both blogs and check out all the posts that have linked up!

Monday Made It- June 1st!

      
        One of my favorite weekly linky parties is back for the summer!  I have officially been out of school for about a week now, but just haven't gotten into the crafting mood quite yet.  Last week I went to some professional development classes and spent my afternoons at the pool.  So, this week's post is sort of a hodgepodge of a few things I've done recently. 

       One of my most recent projects was to create packets for my reading class.  Our third grade flex groups for reading and for the past two years I have taught some of our most struggling readers. I wouldn't change it for the world!  I love teaching kiddos who just need some extra support and encouragement to become the amazing readers I know they can be!  So, at the end of the year, when I see them about to leave, I begin to get emotional and panic that they will lose all that they have worked so hard for.  So, to help them continue reading over the summer, I created these packets.  They include fluency passages with graphs for charting their progress, as well as comprehension questions for each passage.  They also include books from A-Z Reading.  They include copies of the Signposts that we've used this year from Notice and Note and lastly a little incentive to read throughout the entire summer and come back and show me how much they have read.  They were SUPER excited to receive these packages!  You would have thought I was giving them some type of treat!  

        For the past few years I have had an awards ceremony at the end of the year.  I did not actually MAKE this packet.  Click HERE to grab your copy by Hope King.  Instead, I purchased it.  It was one of my favorite purchases ever.  I did, however, print the awards, candy labels, laminate them all, and prepare them for my kiddos!  They loved the awards. 

         I eat eggs most mornings before school and have been eying some recipes for egg muffins on Pinterest, for a while.  So, with more time on my hands, I actually tried out a recipe last night.  I then let them cool and froze them.  I plan on using them when I don't have time to whip up my eggs and veggies in the mornings!