Friday, August 17

Make me Like the Moon

I am a Christian, grew up in the church, both my mother and late father are ordained ministers and if spiritual warfare were an Olympic sport I'd have a gold medal!

My taste in music ranges from praise and worship from Hillsong United & David and Nicole Binion to gospel music from Fred Hammond, Mary Mary, Kirk Franklin, & Israel to gospel rap artists Canton Jones and a young lady named Blaze.

Blaze truly has the anointing of the Lord and he has placed tremendous talent on the inside of her. And she uses it to give all the glory back to him. She spent some time in Virginia this summer and visited/performed at my church several times. I had an opportunity to buy her CD and I've been listening to it ever since.

She performed a song called Reflections one Sunday that touched my heart. It is my sincerest prayer for the Lord to "make me like the moon" this upcoming school year. I want his love to be reflected through my thoughts, actions and words!



Check her out @ http://www.blazemusic5.com/

Giveaway: Guided Reading


Students return to school in about 2 two weeks. I feel like I'm back in college and cramming for an exam. I'm trying to finish all my professional reading and bring to life all these ideas that are swarming around in my head. FYI: Pinterest is not helping in this endeavor, since everytime I log on I pin another "something" for me to make and implement in my classroom!

I learned about Guided Reading in college (shout out to Chowan Univeristy!) Last year my school did a book study on The Next Step in Guided Reading by Jan Richardson. I look forward to implementing more of her ideas next year. She also has tons on Online Resources to go with the book.

I happen to have an extra copy of the book and would love to give it away to someone who might find it useful. Just leave a comment on this post (I do have to approve them so it might take awhile to show up) with your favorite guided reading activity and your email address. I will use a random number picker on Tuesday to select our winner!

Thursday, August 16

Me Museum

Well teachers report back to school on August 27th. But I will not be able to get into my classroom until Friday August 31st! It's still under construction so I will be working though Labor Day Weekend to make sure my room gets completed.

I work at a Children's Engineering and Design School. Which basically means we incorporate Children's Engineering Projects into our lessons. Thanks to Doris @ Third Grade Thinkers I had my students complete the "Me Museum" last year. This year I took her idea and created a Children's Engineering Design Brief to go along with it.

Do you think you'll use this in your classroom?
Me Museum

Tuesday, August 14

Pinterest Inspired: Back to School Treats

Here's another Pinterest Inspired idea... I'm going to give these to my students for our meet and greet in two weeks.



A while back I purchased some 1in by 8in clear cellophane baggies that had adhesive to close them. I filled them with plain M&Ms. I cut a tag using my Circut Expression and Plantain Schoolbook Cart at 2 inches on red cardstock and attached them to the M&M Sticks using some yellow ribbon. I used MyPinkStamper's *I Heart School* from her School Days stamp collection to decorate the tag. Very cute and very cheap!

What do you give your students?

Saturday, August 11

VA Bloggers Meet Up


So I had a wonderful opportunity to meet up with some educators in Virginia who also blog. It was nice chatting with teachers from other districts and I can't wait to do it again! Check out their blogs...

Karen http://mrsstamp.blogspot.com
Kelly http://fromkindergartenwithlove.blogspot.com/
Cindy http://kindergartenlovesme.blogspot.com/
Heather http://begborrowandteach.blogspot.com/
Andrea http://www.oneteacherstake.com/

Thursday, August 9

VA Bloggers

Apparently the Bloggers of VA are having a Get-Together and I'm going to try my best to be there. I love meeting new people, especially teachers who share my same passion for children, teaching and learning!

Wednesday, August 8

Supply Labels


Use these supply pictures to post the supplies that students need for a particular subject or activity. I'm going to print, cut, laminate and have them available to use on my front board.
Supply Labels

Tuesday, August 7

New Library Labels

I love my Hollywood Theme and I'm committed to it because I have a pricey Hollywood Classroom Rug. But slowly I'm incorporating Polka Dots into my classroom design. So I'm creating a bunch of round labels. Here is a new set of Library Labels to use on my book baskets this year.
New Library Labels