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December Writing Activities

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December Writing Activities Oh December!  I love the month of December!  The classroom is full of fun activities and possibilities.  However, if you do not have a good timeline {or game plan}, December can be a NIGHTMARE! I am a planner.  I have plans for upcoming lessons at least three weeks ahead of time!  As a Title 1 ELA teacher, I get to design creative lessons and activities that help my learners grow as READERS and WRITERS!  I do not have a set curriculum or even an anthology to use.  Now to some, this may seem daunting and more work…but I see it as limitless!  I get to design all of our activities, projects, and assignments, AND they are aligned to the standards, as well as the objectives that my kiddos need.  For this month, I wanted to focus on creative writing.  Writing is one of my favorite subjects to teach, because it allows the students to show their imagination!   As a child {and even now} I LOVE to write!   I’ve always had notebooks filled with
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School Breaks!

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School Breaks!          School breaks! We live for them.  We count down to them.  We even plan our lessons and activities based on them.  But do you really take a break? Coming up for many of us is Thanksgiving Break.  It is a necessary time for many of us to be able to relax and unwind.           As a new TPT seller, I would love to take this long weekend and work on the laundry list of products that I want to create.  HOWEVER, I will NOT be creating products over the long weekend.           Although many of you may see these couple of days off as an opportunity to create, I NEED this time off.  As you may have read in my previous blog post, I have had a rough couple of weeks.  Between the breathing problems and feeling generally run down, I need a break.           On Thanksgiving, my guy and I will be going away to Mystic, Ct.  We have visited many times, and it is our go to getaway.  We love to drive through the countryside, walk around all of the shops by the seap
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Time …          Everyone needs more time.  More time to sleep.  More time to lesson plan.  More time to grade.  More time for friend, family…YOURSELF!           We all need more time.  And the question we ask ourselves every day, is what do we give up?  What do we put off…again?  What do we sacrifice today?           There is no clear answer.  I have no miracle cure or remedy or solution to this problem.  Sure, we can make to-do lists.  I can tell you for a fact that I make a daily to-do list, and that MANY of those things don’t get crossed off, and then subsequently end up on tomorrow’s to-do list.           What I can tell you, is that I have learned from time.  I have learned to listen to my body when it tells me to slow down.  AND I learned this particular lesson the hard way two years ago.            Two years ago, I was about four months into my new teaching job.  I was building my Title I program from the ground up.  I was working at my part-time job as an
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Teaching While Sick...

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Teaching while sick …           Of all the professions in the world (that are non-medical of course), I think that teaching may be the one that has the highest illness rate.  Why you ask???  Because we work with kids!  I have not been able to blog for the past several weeks, because I have been really run down.  Typically, I will start my day at the gym, teach all day, and then work for a couple of hours on TPT, and then finally unwind watching some TV after dinner.  BUT … over the past two weeks, I have barely been able to make it to school each day.           At the beginning of each school year, I tend to get sick, whether with a sinus infection, or with really bad allergies.  However, this year, my aliment is more of a general run-down feeling that does not want to leave me.  And I am comforted in knowing that I am not alone.  Dragging ourselves into school when we are sick, is something that we have all experienced.  And honestly, it is easier to come to work
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OHHHH Benchmarking...

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OHHHH Benchmarking …           Ohhhh the beginning of the year.  There is so much to do from setting up our classrooms, to meeting our new kiddos, Back to School Nights, ETC, ETC.  Andddd one of the things that we all should be beginning {if not already done}, is benchmarking.           Andddd this week, I began the tedious {although EXTREMELY NECESSARY} process of benchmarking ALL of my students.  In addition to benchmarking all of the students that I had last year {although I benchmarked in June, sometimes, I encounter the dreaded SUMMER SLIDE … ahhhhhhhh), I also assess all 3 rd grade students that were below grade level expectations in June.  As a Title I ELA teacher, it is very important that I not only understand my students’ strengths and weaknesses, but specifically, where they are at the beginning of the year.  One of the ways that I assess my students is by Fountas and Pinnell {F&P} benchmarking.  Throughout the year, I assess my students using F&P 3 times {b
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Ready...Not Ready.

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Ready…not ready.      I am SO ready...not ready.   All summer I have been preparing (just as every teacher has been doing), but I still feel like I am not ready.   Over the summer, I have gone to the Target Dollar Spot, I have been to my local teacher store (I spent less than $10 at that store by the way-I'm very proud of myself by the way, that's the least I have ever spent there), Amazon, and numerous other places I don't even remember.   YET...I do not feel like I am ready.      Maybe, its because I only truly had one month off.   This summer, in addition to starting my TPT store (check it out   here ), I rewrote 5th grade ELA curriculum, and I was a "paraprofessional" for our summer program.   THEN, in the month of August, I chose to start a gym routine (going to gym 6 days a week), and I feel great! BUT I still do not feel as if I am ready to go back.      Friday, September 1, was our first day back to school.   After a district wide meeting, a u
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Erin Condren Teacher Planner

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Erin Condren Teacher Planner Erin Condren Teacher Planner!! It has finally arrived…and I am in hesitant love.  The cover I chose is awesome.  The layout and additional page protectors, perfect.  However, I do not know if I am loving the new design pages. This is my third teacher planner from Erin Condren, and I was so excited when it was time to order my planner.  As usual, it took me wayyyy to long to choose a cover design.  In the end, I went with the same cover that I got last year, I just changed one of the colors. And I love the way the color came out (you can check out my cover here). Additionally, I had my planner begin in August, because in NJ, we start back in September, which means that I really start planning in August (let’s be serious, I start planning for the new school year before the last school year ends).  I love that Erin Condren provides stickers for the dates, so I do not have to write them in…andddd that those colors match each month’s color theme.
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Location: New Jersey, USA
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