Weekly Plans-Polar Bears

Hi all,

Well we made it through another week and survived.  My class for graduate school started back this week so by Friday I felt a little more tired than I did the week before, but still was able to go out to dinner with a friend and relax with a fruity drink.

This past week in class we read books about mittens and worked on retelling the story.  It was amazing how well most of the students did and by Friday they acted like real pros with their retelling.  Also, in my small RTI group the kids started using the boogie boards and you would have thought that was the best thing since M & M's were invented.  We used the boards to practice the daily sight words that the group needed to learn.  Here is a picture of them and their boards: 

Well enough about last week here are my plans for this week.  We are going to learn about polar bears.  We are going to do a close read with a polar bear informational book and hopefully learn lots of interesting facts about polar bears.  In our work areas we are using polar bears to help with our math skills and some reading skills.  

Here is a picture of the plans, you can click on it and download the pdf which contains some links to the activities I am using.

Thanks for stopping by to check in on what we are doing.  I am hoping to blog some this week about my RTI group.  If you click on the link in my plans it will take you to the resource that I am using.  I am seeing results and that is what we want.

Thanks again,

Leslie

Here is the link to Mrs. Wills' Kindergarten where you will find more wonderful lesson plans and ideas.

Liebster Award Nomination

Why and How long ago did you start blogging?

I started blogging in two years ago.  I began this blog for my team members at school.  I was always creating activities for our classrooms and it became easier to post them and then my team mates could print and use what they wanted instead of always getting emails from me each day.

What one word sums up the heart of your blog and why?

Sharing!  I have been following blogs for a long time now and once others (besides my school team) started following mine I realized that all the ideas I got from others I could pay forward.  So I like sharing ideas and activities as a way to pay it forward for all I have found on other blogs.

Is there something you learned late in your blogging journey that you wish you had known before?

Linking up with other blogs.  Recently I have been trying to do this more and found that I am getting more followers.  I wish I had started this earlier in my blogging journey.  Followers mean that I am hopefully paying it forward more.

What is your favorite pastime other than blogging?

I love playing on my computer, reading and crafting.  I have been in graduate school for the last year and a half and my blog along with other pastimes have not been a main focus.  I try to keep telling myself to get this degree completed and I can pick back up my fun pastimes.

How many hours per week do you dedicate to your blog?

As I stated earlier I am back in graduate school so I have had much blogging time but I am hoping to manage my time better so I can spend at least an hour or two a week on my blog. 

What category of blog posts do you enjoy the most?

Teacher blogs are the ones I follow most but I also love DIY blogs and art blogs.

Where does your blog inspiration come from?

My inspiration comes from other blogs and my classroom.  I have found lately since I am trying to blog more that I am looking at areas in my classroom that I can share with others.  I would like to write blogs about how I set up different areas in my room and how I teacher different concepts to my students.

Which post that you’ve written are you most proud of?

Probably the posts that I am most proud of are the ones I have done lately where I have been linking up with other blogs to share items.  One that I have done a couple of times is sharing my weekly plans with a linky from Mrs. Wills’ Kindergarten.

Is there any post that you’ve been planning to do but you’ve been postponing?

The two that I have been thinking about doing are a classroom reveal and a blog post about how I run my reading and writing work areas (I call them work areas others call them centers).

What is your favorite aspect of blogging?

Reflecting!  I have found that when I do a blog post I reflect more on what I am doing in my classroom, how I am doing it and why I am doing it each week.  This reflecting makes me feel more successful with my classroom children and more prepared each week.

Which recipe, project, or idea from my blog would you like to try yourself?

Linking up with other great bloggers to learn more and grow more professionally.

I now nominate the following 11 bloggers for the Liebster Award!

Casey @ Keeping Up With the Kindergarteners

Brandy @ Kick Starting Kindergarten

Margo @ Mrs. Adams’ Kinders Learning with Laughter and Love

Julie @ The Teaching Bug!

Christina @Krazy in Love with Kindergarten

Mrs. R. Mathis @Mrs. Mathis’ Homeroom

Amy @ Albuquerque Amy and Academics

Meredith @ Sunshine, Sand and Scissors

Michele @ Krazy in Kindergarten

Stephanie Ann @Sparkling in Kindergarten

Mrs. Johnson @Mrs. Johnson’s Little Prowlers

Now that you’ve been nominated, you must do the following to receive your award:

      1.  In your post, link back to me, the blogger who nominated you, as a thank you and a ‘shout out’.

2. Answer the 11 questions I answered above.

     3. Nominate 11 bloggers that have less than 200 followers.  You         many give them 11 questions or they can answer the same questions you did.

   4. Let your nominees know they’ve been nominated and provide them with a link back to your post so that they can accept.

  5. Send your nominator a link to your post so (s)he can learn more about you as well. (You can just put your post link in the comments below.)

Thank you Chris from The Scoop in Second Grade for the Nomination.  This is a great way to learn about new blogs.

Post soon,

Leslie

Weekly Plans-Wonderful Winter Mittens

Well I just want to start by saying I am super excited that I am able to link up with Mrs. Wills Blog two weeks in a row.   Now that I have said that the question comes can I keep it up.  My graduate class starts tomorrow and it is a class dealing with research and literacy review which is a lot of writing.  So I am going to do my best to keep my blogging going for the next couple of months.  I have really enjoyed this week because I have found my self putting more thought into what I am planning and doing in my class.  The reason is because I new I was going to share it with all of you.

Thanks for the motivation.

Well enough about that here are my plans.  You can click on any picture and it will take you to a PDF of the lessons plans.  In the plans are some links to the items I am using this week.  I am working on creating more links each week.  Thanks for your patience as I continue to improve.

As you can see I am using mittens this week to motivate my class in their learning.  

I have five books about mittens and we are going to be working on comparing and contrasting some of the stories and sequencing the other stories.

In math we are finishing our math unit on greater than and less than with sets and numerals.  

I hope you were able to get some ideas from these plans.  I always enjoy looking at others plans for new fresh ideas.

Thanks for stopping by my blog,

Leslie

PS  Next weeks goal is to include pictures of my kids at school doing the activities.  Can I do it?  We will see.

Weekly Lesson Plans

Okay to continue with my New Year's Resolution or commitment depending on what you want to call it I am blogging more.  I decided the best thing I could do for tonight is link up with Mrs. Wills and post my lesson plans.  This is the first time I have done this so there are not as many links as you would see in others who are posting, but everyone must start somewhere.  So I am jumping in with both feet!  Here goes.

This week we are going to begin our Winter Wonderland theme and learn about winter.  I am starting a little slow this week to check on what the kids do and don't remember over the Holiday break.  If I need to do any remediation I will (and yes this includes rules and procedures).

If you click on any of the pictures below it will take you to a PDF of my plans.  

Thanks for stopping by my blog and looking at my plans.  I realized when I was working to get these ready and up for tonight that blogging really does help me reflect on what I am planning and doing with my kids each day.  I really find this a bonus for my and hopefully for my kids.  Any comments would be much appreciated.

Thanks again,

Leslie

New Year's Resolution and a Currently

Well some of you probably never thought you would hear from me again.  To be honest I was beginning to wonder if I would ever have a chance to write on this blog again.

To catch you up I am still in graduate school and teaching full time.  This seems to take up so much of my time. (I know that anyone who has been in my shoes knows this feeling).  When I do have free time from one of the above activities I try to help my brother on our latest house remodel project and help my parents where they need me.  Saying all this means that I have found little time to sit down and write on my blog.  Well one of my resolutions is to write on my blog more and hopefully to post more activity and classroom pictures as well.  I have been reflecting a lot over this holiday break and realized that when I write on my blog I also get a chance to reflect on what I am doing in my classroom and why I am doing those activities.  Another reason I really like writing on my blog is I like sharing.  I read other blogs on a daily basis and I feel like that I am getting so much from them that I also need to be giving back.  These two reasons after all is why I first started this blog.

So after that long winded speech I am formally stating that my New Year's Resolution is to reflect and write more about my classroom happenings.

Another resolution that I have it to post more of my creations on Teachers Pay Teachers.  I know everyone probably does this but to me it is another way of giving back and paying it forward for all the wonderful ideas that other teachers have shared with me each day/year.

Below is my latest upload to TPT.  If you click on the picture it will take you to the link in my TPT Store.

Okay I promise this is the last thing for tonight.  I thought what better way to get back into blogging that to link up with other bloggers.  So I decided to link up with Farley for her Currently January Party.

Listening: I love Hallmark Channel and I DVR many shows from them to watch later.  Tonight I chose The Ultimate Gift.  Just a good feel good movie.

Loving:  This vacation is the first time in a long time that I have not had anything pressing to do and I am loving the down time.

Thinking:  As I stated my resolution is to work on my blog and reflect more so I am trying to make a list of ideas that I want to spend time reflecting on and processing more.

Wanting:  Since this is my first down time is a long time I wouldn't mind a few extra days to finish a good book.

Needing:  Nothing that says it all.

Wish:  I have been working with Windows machines for a long time but I a beginning to wonder if I would like to try out the Mac Book laptop.  Just a wish I am thinking about.

Thank you to all who took the time to read this post.  I hope you will stop back soon to see what is happening in my classroom.

Leslie