Reading Night

Last night was our Family Read Night for grades Pre-K to 3.  I was the one who got to do ALL of the talking!! What an experience! I don't like speaking in front of a crowd, so that was kind of hard.  But I got through it, and I think the parents actually got something out of it!! Yay me!!

My 3rd grade class this year is SO small!! I only have 13 students.  I have 8 boys and 5 girls.  It is nice having a small class when I have such a small classroom, though.  We are making some progress with reading and math.  I am doing Daily 5 (with my own variations) this year.  The kids seem to really enjoy it.  I know I like being able to work with 5 groups every day. 

I am looking forward to Fall Break next week!! I need a couple of days off to get my house back in order.  It's also when my GRANDBABY is due!! I CAN'T WAIT!!! :)

So it's back-to-school time!! I have been working furiously in my classroom for the last several days. The only problem is that the longer I'm there, the worse it seems to get. I feel like I can't get anything accomplished. I know I'm making progress, but it doesn't look like it. My question is this: how long does it normally take to get ready for the new year? It seems to take me several weeks!

I just purchased tickets and booked a hotel in Dallas to take my youngest daughter to Van's Warped Tour.  OMG!! What have I done?????

On the bright side, I get to go to IKEA on the way home Saturday!! Yay for me!

So I haven't made it to IKEA yet, but I hope to soon.  I did order their Malik Easel online, and I LOVE IT!!  It is only $14.98, and it comes with a tray to hold markers/erasers, and it is white board on one side, chalkboard on the other.  It is great!  I have been looking for a white board easel all summer to use for reading and math groups, and have you seen the prices for them??????  I about had a heart attack!!  I was so thankful to find the one I did.  It is smaller than those teacher easels you can buy, but I'm going to make it work anyway!! Saving over $200, I think it will work just fine!

I have been working in my classroom a little bit this past week.  I bought a gallon of paint to paint the west wall of my room.  I think it is going to look great!  When everything is finished, I will post pics!

Have a great day!

Am I the only teacher who hasn't been to an IKEA?  I think that I am going to make a road trip, since the closest IKEA is about 350 miles from my house!  I see so many things that others have gotten there that would be great for my classroom!  Wish me luck! :)

So is anyone else panicking about the new school year?  Only me?  I'm pretty sure there are several of us out here in blogland who are panicking!! I still need to get into my room and get everything decorated and arranged, but I have so many other things going on I'm finding it impossible to spend any time at my school.

Has anyone else created their own entire math curriculum for a year?  That is my project for this month.  May be biting off more than I can chew, but I hope not!! My school used a curriculum that I felt just did not meet the needs of my students last year, and I got the go-ahead from admin. to do my thing!! :)

Have a great day!!

So, WOW, I'm really not very good at sticking to this blogging thing! :(

It has been several months since I started this blog, and now I think I may actually be ready to keep it up. We shall see, shan't we?!?!

So, to catch everyone up---I finished the year with 17 students. I lost one in January, and got three more in the last nine weeks!  We worked extremely hard on our multiplication facts, and most of my kiddos experienced success!! We had an ice cream sundae party to celebrate. 

I taught summer school!  Oh, man, was that an experience! Not sure if I will do it again next year or not.  I had kiddos from 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades.  It was hard trying to find activities that would work for so many different levels.  But I persevered, and I think some of them might have actually learned a little something! :)

I am in the process of getting ready for next year.  I have just finished reading Daily 5, and am now on to CAFE.  I really do think I am going to implement this in my classroom next year.  It seems to be a great way to meet the needs of a wide variety of learning levels.

So, I am off to work on some home stuff, some school stuff, and just some personal stuff.  Have a wonderful day everyone!

Hello again!

I have just spent the morning printing out LOTS of stuff for my kiddos! I am hoping to have them multiplying with products up to 100 by Spring Break! I may be kidding myself, but I'm going to give it my best shot.

I have found many wonderful resources online for center activities and math games. I will laminate most of them tomorrow at school and the kiddos will start using them tomorrow afternoon.

Today is a busy day, so I have to get all of my planning finished soon! My oldest daughter is looking at bridesmaid dresses for a November wedding today, and one of my college friends is having her baby shower! I am so excited for her!! :) (Both of them! ;) )

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Introducing Myself

Hello Everyone!
This is my first ever blog post! I am so excited to be doing this. I am rather new to the blogging world, but I feel that it is an excellent way to connect with other people in my field of work. Networking is an amazing thing!

I am the only third grade teacher in a very small rural elementary school. I only have 15 students this year! Being the only grade level teacher has its own intrinsic problems, though. I have no one to collaborate with. :( I do a lot of searching the internet and blog-hopping myself to find ideas for my class.

I love Pinterest! I find so many ideas there. One problem is that Pinterest is blocked on our school internet.  So no finding ideas while at school!

Since this is my first post, I think I'm going to keep it short. I will post photos of my classroom at a later date. Bye for now! :)