The Together Teacher: Chapter 4 Never Forget! Capture Your Thoughts

Today I am hosting the Together Teacher book study. If you have missed the first four chapters you can easily catch up and join the party! Chapter one Rules Over Tools  was all about creating our ideal week and showing us how the right tools can help us reach those ideals. Chapter two: No More Missed Deadlines gave reasons and tips for how to make a comprehensive calendar. (I've now done that and I can't tell you how freeing it is!!) Chapter three: Coral the To-Dos gave me tools to actually write my to-dos down and keep them organized according to when I plan on doing them. I like having everything in one place. I just have to get in the habit of carrying my system with me!

Now it is my turn! Chapter four: Capture Your Thoughts
I get some wild and crazy thoughts some times. Some of them are actually pretty good, but get lost in the lint cluttering my brain. You know what I'm talking about...ideas for a blog post, ideas to bounce off another teacher, ideas for a new craft project, ideas, ideas ideas...There are many ways to catch your thoughts, but I'll show you what I'm going to try.

I can quickly write who the thought is directed towards and even go back and add more!

Now I can easily write down my musings on the run. Later I can sit down and look over my ideas and decide which ones need to be scratched and which ones need to be added to my To-Dos or put into an e-mail to a colleague for discussion. There are many ways that you may want to organize your own thought catchers. These are the tricks Maia has for making your Thought Catchers work:

1. They must not be time sensitive.

2. They must have a trigger.

3. You should choose Thought Catchers over e-mail.

4. Take advantage of extra minutes in each day. 

You can take as much time as you need later to develop your thoughts. Thought Catchers are for catching thoughts in the midst of our busy days. It captures the thought for later reflection and careful attention.

So often during the day I have these great or crazy thoughts. I either forget them or send out an e-mail to share my latest inspiration. Sometimes I jump into things without having given my idea some thoughtful consideration. Sometimes that gets me in trouble. Thought Catchers are helping me to slow down and think about my ideas carefully before jumping into an empty swimming pool head first!

It wasn't until after I started making these elephants that I realized that the chapter I signed up to host was called "Never Forget"! I'm making these elephants for each of my students to help them remember to read. I've penned an acrostic poem to go along with each of the elephants that will be part of our first day of school. Would you like your own never forget to read elephant? Maybe you'd rather have an Amazon giftcard? Be sure to enter for a chance for one of these awesome prizes below! Everyone gets a set of the binder cover/mini-posters I designed by clicking on the picture below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

An InLinkz Link-up

Show and Tell

I'm linking up with Barbara to do a little Show & Tell! You can share just about anything you think is worth sharing. You can read more about the linky and find some other Show & Tells by clicking on the image above...The one that says "Tuesday Linky" Thanks, Barbara...What a great idea!

My love for chickens may have started when I read the book Chicken Boy by Frances O'Roark Dowell early in the year. It may be the best YA title I read with my 7th and 8th grade reading students. I love the kindness that a boy with an obsession for chickens shows a kid with not much going for him after his mother dies leaving his family emotionally shipwrecked. His Granny tries, but she is quiet a character and doesn't get along with her son-in-law.  Whoops! Sorry....I didn't mean to go on quite so much about the book! Back to chickens...
I took these pictures to share with you today. My ladies are getting pretty close to laying their first eggs. They never go to far away from each other and like to follow me around the yard. Sometimes they'll hop up on the windowsill to look for me. If I sit down outside, they hop up on my lap and try to settle down.

Like Tobin, I have learned some things about life from my chickens. It is okay to be curious, it is fun to play in the dirt, eat whatever is offered, and most importantly...find a friend and stick with them!

Wednesday Wow!

I have a new "neighbor" this year and I just love her! She has the most soothing voice. I think I could listen to her talk all day long. She is kind, sweet and a perfect fit for kindergarten. One day, as I was being soothed into relaxation, I heard her say...

I ran next door and literally said, "WOW!" I loved that saying. She wouldn't take credit for it. Maybe you have already heard it! I just love it and my students say it unison now. I'm not sure it has helped with the no name problem, but it sure is fun to say. 

I wanted to share something with my new friend...neighbors make the best of friends!

I shared this saying with her...

What has made you say "Wow!" this week? Go link up with Curious Firsties and share!

Want to print out the rhymes to display in your room? Click HERE!

Highs and Lows Linky!

At dinner every evening we play a little game called "Highs and Lows" Each person at the table whether family or guest must share a high and low from that day. Sometimes it is hard to pick just one so we allow more than one low if there is a high to counteract it! I'm inviting you over to play the game. Grab the picture above and link up below and check out some other highs and lows from our friend's week. You can have as many highs as you'd like, but for every low you must have a high! I'll go first!

High:

My new little kitty! She is the reason it has been a long time since I last blogged. My daughter has wanted a cat for oh so long. My son is allergic. Guess who went to college leaving a huge void in my daughter's life? The allergic one! Meet the replacement to the brother...

Chessie loves watching birds out the window. 

Don't you love the pirate eyepatch?!

Low:  Chessie was stuck in a cat cage for two months. She has a respiratory infection, infected eyes and worms. Poor little girl. I'm so glad we rescued her. She is making a rapid recovery and is starting to play.

High:

Thanks to some amazing donors, I was able to get four yoga balls for my class full of bouncy boys. What a blessing these balls are. They have really helped my kiddos with bouncy bottoms. These balls have "legs" on the bottom to prevent them from rolling around. I did catch some kids trying to "milk" them and one baby during conferences thought they'd make a good chew toy. Thank you Adopt-a-Classroom.org! 

Low:

I have forgotten to bring my camera to school because I'm so busy taking pictures of Chessie. I can't show you pictures from our 50 Day celebration. I can show you what one of my students wrote... 

This represents a major victory. This child does not like to write. I LOVE that he wrote that he would live in a sub-
urban community. He is one cool kid...I'd like to chill out with him on the beach and watch him surf!

I hope you can link up! May your highs always be greater than your lows!!

Yikes! I almost forgot....Come on over to my Facebook page and join the Frenzy! I'm one of 25 2nd grade stops to get some amazing freebies. Look for this tab and hop on board!

Join the Party...Have a Cookie!

I'm so excited that October is here! I LOVE fall and October has so much going for it! Who doesn't love Book Fairs, birthdays, crunching leaves, cool nights, Halloween and pumpkin cookies? I'm baking these delicous little morsels right now. I'm trying to become more well rounded, so I ate a whole sheet fresh from the oven with two glasses of milk to rinse them down!

Click the picture if you want the recipe! There won't be any left at my house by the time you read this post!

I found a fun Linky tonight and thought I would join the party. I'll even bring some of my cookies along! This Flashback Linky gives you a chance to look back over some of your favorite FREEBIES and share them again. I ran into an old FREEBIE of mine while wandering through the halls at TPT. I had made these Monster games this summer, but have never used them! In fact, I'd forgotten all about them! I'm using them tomorrow in my math work stations. I hope they work! 

Part of my FREEBIE is an I Have Who Has game. When playing with a small group, I deal the cards out to 3-4 players and the winner is the first person out. It is a lot of fun, once they get the hang of it. Then they can take the game home at the end of the week to share with their family. 

Click on the picture to get your Freebie! Go check out more great freebies at the party and don't forget your dish to pass!

Back to School Linky Party

This linky party really caught my eye. I LOVE Lego guys! I get those little mystery packs and get them when ever I see them on sale. I have a nice little collection and use them for different things during the year. You'll have to wait and see.  You can come back every day until I finally post some of my Lego guy activities!

Do you have any back to school jitters? I know that once the calendar said August, time started flying. I have just gotten used to getting up a couple of hours before my kids, having a cup of coffee, surfing through blogs and now vacation is basically over. I do have the jitters. I always do. What if I forget how to teach? What if I can't find my way to school? What if I can't remember what the first day of school is? YIKES!!

What I need is a party. I'm going to the party Ms. Jessica is hosting. She has really good snacks and rules. Hop on over and check out this party. It's a BYOB! Grab your beverage and link up!

One more day to enter my give away! Few have entered many will win!!

Good-Bye Summer 2012 Linking Party

There is a change in the air...Can you feel it? It's getting darker earlier and the calendar says that fall is just around the corner! I'm thinking about all the things I wanted to do, but didn't. It always comes down to this, the last two weeks of summer will be my most fun and most productive! To help me say goodbye to summer, I'm linking up with Peterson's Pad.

The rules are simple:

1. a place you visited

2. a book you read (for fun or for school)

3. something you did or made for your classroom

4. a fun thing that you did

This is the most fun part. Sheree would like you to comment on two linkers before and one after you. I LOVE COMMENTS and leaving them, so I like this idea!!

Ready...Set...Go!

1. A place I visited...

This has been a bit of a boring summer in the visiting department. It's the first summer we didn't go to some National Park. My family loves to travel together and we decided to save up and go to London next summer. My oldest daughter will graduate from college. My son will graduate from high school, and my youngest daughter will graduate from her pre/el/middle school where she has been attending since the age of three! We thought it would probably be the last family vacation we'd be able to take before the kids are scattered around the globe! Not to worry. We live by some pretty awesome parks and we do a bit of hiking when ever we get the chance.

Just a few days ago we headed to our state park and took a hike with the goal of seeing owls. We didn't see any owls but we did see...

2. A book I read...

I've read quite a few but two that really touched me were...

Loved this book study! I got
so many valuable ideas from this
book! Well written and adaptable for
any classroom!

A sweet love story told by
the son of the Clyde!

3.Something I did or made for my classroom: 

I'm working on animals right now to go with my word wall. I'm making two sets. I'll keep one set and give the other away! I'm hosting a giveaway right now. If you'd like a set, you can enter my giveaway!

I'm up to the letter K! I'm going to work on this project as soon as I post...

 

I also finished up some old business.  Any student who earns 100 points in Accelerated Reader gets to pick a friend and come to my house for lunch. I don't push Accelerated Reader, but some of my students LOVE it! One made it to 150, so I finally had her over for lunch last week...

We played games, ate lunch and laughed! I made them each a magnet

to remember the day by. 

4. A fun thing I did...

Helping out at my churches Vacation Bible School was a blast. Seeing students old and new was so much fun. One future student couldn't leave with out coming and talking to me at the end of the evening. I wish I had a picture of him to share or a video of him saying each night, "I hope you have a really great night!" It was precious! I ran the sound and video presentation from the balcony. Working with one of my favorite people in the world leading the kids in the front, I enjoyed every 

minute of our music time.

My view from the balcony

I still have two more weeks to get out there and do something fun! First it's time for one more cup of coffee, one more load of laundry and one more chapter to read in my book...hmmm...That sounds like fun!

Thanks for the Linky, Peterson's Pad!

Vista Mania Mini-Poster Freebie!

Yesterday was a day for me to waste two hours on Vistaprint creating some really sweet items. I saw the offer  on Groupon to buy a certificate for $20 worth $80. I had to check this place out. Off I went with no idea what Vistaprint was. It took me a while to fill my cart with $80 worth of original designs using some of my favorite Digital Bakeshop owls. Yes! I could fall in love with this store. I was all set to check out, so off I went to purchase the certificate from Groupon...You know what I'm going to say, if you use Groupon...SOLD OUT! For about five minutes there was a big black cloud hanging over my head!

Not one to let things get me down for too long, I returned and kept my favorite items in the cart. The deal wasn't as sweet as I had hoped, but at least I was able to come up with some great things for my classroom and for my students.

Ready for the big reveal? Here it is...

This large car magnet will be hung on the door to my classroom. I'll write student's names on the owls.

This small magnet will go home with each student at the
open house we have prior to the first day of school.

I'll wait for a good coupon or deal to print this poster...No moreimpulse shopping for me...this week!

This morning I had to play with my newest toy.  Digital Bakeshop's Hoots and Tweets Back to School. I love these owls and look at the poster that is saved in my porfolio:

If you would like a copy for yourself you can get one HERE Google Docs or find it free at my TPT store. Thank you for following along! 



Haven't seen Vistaprint? Check it out and sign up for e-mails to get great deals and free stuff!


Need more reasons to love Vistaprint? I'm headed over to link-up and check out other Vistaprint creations. A fellow Michigander is hosting this party, and I love to party!

Pete the Cat Linky and Freebie!

When I saw this Linky I knew I had to follow along. I wasn't planning on linking up, but like a bad mosquito bite I couldn't leave it alone! I thought I'd have trouble sleeping last night as ideas ran rampant  through my brain. I was out like a light and overslept by a couple of hours! Maybe it was the song that I used with my music classes to bring music and literacy together that acted as a lullaby and rocked me to sleep. Have you seen this ? It is a wonderful Pete the Cat resource!

Even my eighth grade music students beg to sing "I love my White Shoes". It fills my heart with joy when I hear them walking through the halls singing this song.

I have a confession to make. I don't have any other Pete books. If I don't receive one free in the mail in the next two weeks I'm going to break down and buy them ALL. While I'm waiting I'm going to play this dice game I came up with. I can't wait to find out what color shoes Pete will wear today!

Click on the picture to go to Google Docs. I'll put
it on TPT when they are back up!

For Reading Out Loud Linky!

As I begin thinking about fall my thoughts go to one of my very favorite things about teaching...Reading out loud! I just realized tonight that this is the first summer I have not read a book aloud to my own children. Though my children are 13, 17, and a few days shy of 21 they still enjoy gathering together at the end of the day to read great literature together. We've enjoyed so many books over the years and share inside jokes about many of them...Do you know what  whizzpopping is? My children loved the BFG and we still remember and laugh about it.

 My own childhood was spent in a house where books were treasures that there was always mysteriously enough money or time at the library for. Owls in the Family, The Little House series were books I remember my mother reading to me.

So what is it going to be for you and your class this year? What is your first read aloud going to be? I am dying to know because I'm not sure what mine will be yet, so I need some ideas. Right now I'm leaning towards Ribsy. I love that dog!! Link up and tell me what some of the books are musts for the books you read aloud in your classroom!

Words of Wisdom!

I'm late to the party, but I like writing to a prompt and I liked this prompt! You can link-up, too, or go see other wonderful words of wisdom. Even a veteran teacher will enjoy the gems of wisdom given by fellow warriors!  The host of this party is Deb at 

Even better is talking to the wisest person I know!  I hope you know Him, too! I place each student in His hands every day. Some of my firsties have seen more life in their six years than I'll ever see in mine.

If I want real true wisdom I think about O.W.L.S. I like to hang them around my room to remind me everywhere I look that God is with me every step of the way. Philippians 4:13 happens to be my favorite verse because it's helped me through some tough times. Feel free to grab your own OWLS and put them around your room, house, purse, to remind you of a strength greater than your own!