Budding Blog Linky!

Jess over at {I Heart Recess} is hosting a Budding Blog Linky Party!  It is for bloggers with less than 200 followers to showcase themselves...and with far less than 200 followers I figured I'd try it out!  

To participate in the linky party just answer the questions below and link back to her blog page!  

Here I go...

1. Why did you start blogging?

        I began blogging to share my ideas, good things, frustrations and to connect with other teachers about daily classroom life.  I also like to share recipes, which I need to do more of soon!

2. What is your favorite subject to teach and why?

        I absolutely love to teach Social Studies.  I enjoy connecting students to our past and having them put themselves "in the shoes" of people who lived hundreds of years ago.  Social Studies can easily be made into stories that students can connect to their own lives.

3. Describe your teaching style.        

        Hands-on with lots of technology!  My goal for every lesson that I teach is to make it fun!  I do whatever I can to keep my student's attention and keep them engaged.  I use lots of hands-on activities where students are out of their seats in small groups.  I like to introduce a concept quickly in whole group and then allow my students to work in small groups to discover information, learn from each other and practice the skill.  Also, I utilize the use of technology constantly as I have a classroom set of iPads!

4. Give three interesting facts about you.

•           I love arts and crafts, especially scrapbooking.  

•           I am a natural redhead.

•           My dream is to have a giant ball-pit in my backyard, like the ones they have in McDonald's.  How fun would that be?!?!      

5. Do you have a TpT store? If yes, post the link :)

        Currently I don't have a TpT store, but I really want to have one in the future!  I think I have the potential to create useful products but just have to find the time to actually make them!

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Time- A Teacher's Worst Enemy

Tick-Tock-Tick-Tock...Time- A teacher's worst enemy.

20 minutes for morning work

60 minutes for centers

75 minutes for reading

20 minutes silent reading

60 minutes for math

20 minutes for read aloud

30 minutes for remediation

As a teacher I feel like there are just never enough hours in the day.  There are never quite enough hours to feel accomplished.  Since I made a promise to myself last week that I would stop bringing so much home, I seem to leave school each day with a sense of anxiety.  That last stack of papers that needs filing.  Those emails you didn't get to this morning and really need to respond to.  The small groups I need to begin working with but I just have too many other things to do to even plan them out!

I have always been a very regimented person.  I make a schedule and I like to stick to it.  I have never been incredibly flexible with scheduling...

This year that has changed.

The second week of school I found myself really struggling with my kiddos.  I was so worried about starting the curriculum on time, staying on schedule, doing super fun activities that I skipped some very important relationship and team building activities.  I posted a status on Facebook about it and a guy I used to work with said that I MUST make time for team building.  Time for relationship building.  If I do, then everything else would be easier and just kind of 'melt' into place...

The very next day I started over with my class.  We got to know each other.  We laughed and figured out how to work together.  And the days since then have been much better.  Although I am behind schedule I know it was the right decision to make.  They still drive me absolutely crazy a few times a day but at least I feel content that what I don't get done today, I will get done tomorrow.  And if it for some reason gets skipped tomorrow, I can write it in for the next day.

That is hard for me, but I am learning.  I've found that, just as my students do, I must evolve.  I can't rush them through a project just because "we need to move on".  I can't take fun preview or review activities out out of my lesson plans because "we just don't have enough time".

I must take teaching one day at a time.  My bucket is still full, and I am having a pretty good week.  I am letting things flow as they will, while still staying on track with curriculum as much as I can.

I've learned that teaching is a mixture of consistency and 'shooting from the hip'!

One of my students' favorite parts of the day is the time right after our morning work when we recite our classroom rules and expectations, then do our class song.  This is something that we do every morning, no matter how late we get started.  It kills me when we start off the day already behind schedule, but this is something that I will not compromise on.  Making time for this is a must!

                                    

Our class song is "What I Am" by Will.I.Am and Sesame Street!  I wanted to share this song because of the effect it has had on the overall environment of my classroom.  The lyrics are incredible, the song is catchy and the kids love it.  They sing along and even get up and dance when I play it.  Find it here.  It is truly a great way to start our day off right.

I am so glad that my friend posted on my status with his words of wisdom.  I am sure that it changed my entire year.

Time- A teacher's worst enemy, only if you let it be...

My Bucket is (finally) Full Again.

I desperately needed this weekend.  I needed downtime, family time, a day without school and a long nap!  I needed a day with laughs, and even a couple cries.  I needed to remember that I am not only a teacher; First and foremost I am a wife and a mother.  I tend to forget those sometimes.  How can I forget to put the most important things in my life first?

Well, to understand that, you have to be a teacher.

For 8 hours a day, I am a mother, nurse, counselor, mentor, and teacher to 26 kids who I did not carry for nine months, nor did I raise them to be the people they are at this point in their lives.  They are not my own, but I claim them as mine.  They are mine for only 9 short months, but within these first 3 weeks, (even with all of the voice-raising and frustration on my part), I am growing to love them as my own.  I have 9 months to shape them.  To teach them.  To model love and citizenship for them.  To set an example of what a good person is.  To teach them that even when no one in the world encourages them or tells them they can succeed, that I truly believe they can.

Is this easy?  No.  It is by far the hardest job I've ever had.  Being a mommy to my own baby girl is hard, but being a mother hen to 26 students for the entire school year is harder.  Why?  Because loving my daughter comes easily.  It is a God-given, unfailing love.  Growing to love new students every year is hard.  It grows through steady relationship building, good times, and lots of hard times.  It is sacrifice, planning, organizing, encouraging, motivating, and teaching.  I grow to love my kiddos every year.  It will happen this year, it is just taking a little more time.

I was empty.  I was completely drained in almost all aspects of my life.  I needed this weekend to fill my bucket...to fill me up when I had completely drained myself.  Implementing Common Core, a new teacher evaluation system, and trying to do 1000 things at once had me worn down to my core.

But I am better.  I needed to be reminded that no matter what, I am a wife and a mother FIRST.  School can wait.  Grading papers, making necessary changes to curriculum and my classroom can wait.  Mastering every procedure and making parent phone calls can wait.

My daughter and husband can't.

I am grateful for the reminder that 'we make time for what we love'.

Don't forget to put what you love first.

Jamie
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<a href="http://mommywifeteachercook.com">Life As I Know It</a>

Classroom Accomplishments!

I have been working way too hard on things for my classroom lately and I thought I'd share them with you!

First off, I have fallen in love with iBooks!  The mother of a girl in my class gave me $60 worth of iTunes gift cards to use on our class set of iPads and I chose to buy books with it!  The only downfall is that the books can only be shared with ten devices, so the books are only on ten of my thirty iPads.  Oh well, it's still super cool.  Here are 3 of the books I bought...

The Sign of the Beaver (our classroom read aloud)

 The Homework Machine

 Diary of a Wimpy Kid #1

My kids are really enjoying reading on the iPads and I am glad that I've finally found a great way to buy books for them! :-)



I have been trying to implement math centers in my classroom lately.  Not during a specific 'center time' but during our remediation time.  I am able to let the students do the center activity so I can work with individual kiddos that need help.  Today we played a fun game where they had to compare decimal numbers, kind of like 'war'.  I am still working on my students working quietly with each other.  They tend to yell.  A lot!!

That's all for now!  It's time for this momma to Pinterest and get to bed! :-)

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Currently September!!!!!

Wow! It's been way too long since I've blogged!  School and every day life has taken over and it's been crazy!  I'm so glad I logged on for Farley's Currently September Linky Party!

Here it is...

Listening:  My husband is obsessed with PC Gaming and plays almost every night!  Yes, it is super annoying sometimes, but I'm glad he has a hobby!  And reruns of Modern Family never get old!

Loving:  We finally got a tornado shelter!  Living in Oklahoma, and only 20 minutes from the path of the recent deadly Moore tornado, we decided we had to get one.  When 'nader season rolls around again I will have peace of mind, especially with my baby girl!

Thinking:  I want to start math centers in my classroom, but I really don't have the time to do it.  I don't have enough time in the day, and I don't have time to create them.  I've found some great ones on TpT but I have vowed not to spend any  more money on my classroom this year!  I would love any ideas you have about implementing them!

Wanting:  I desperately want my shows to come back on!  They all start this month and I cannot wait!  I am a tv addict.

Needing:  I am in great need of a massage!  I carry all my stress right between my shoulder blades and it is quite painful!  I also need just a whole day to get some things in my classroom organized that I haven't found the time to do yet!

<3 This month I want to plan an awesome date night for my husband's birthday.  So often we let the bothers of every day life take over and we forget to show each other how much we truly love one another.  I want to get to a point in school that I stop brining home things to do!  And I want to BLOG MORE!  I have been slacking lately and I really need to get fired up again!

Hope you enjoyed!
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Remakes! Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!!!!!

I have remade a couple of cute organization tools in my classroom lately and I want to share them with you!

***I love the border and numbers I got from two bloggers I follow, the 3am Teacher and A Cupcake for the Teacher!  Gotta LOVE freebies!!!!!!!!!

First, is my "Where Are You?" board.  My kids feel a real responsibility to make sure that they always move their number before they leave the classroom!  Love it!

Here is my "How Do I Get Home?" clothespin line! (without the clothespins on it!)

My number sticks! I use these for my classroom jobs and for my "Pick A Stick" bucket for when I need to choose a random student for something.

This isn't a great picture, but I got this set of drawers from a coworker and I have too many students this year to use them.  There just aren't' enough drawers for them!  But there sure are enough for me! :-)

I printed out labels for each drawer saying what is in them.  Love it!  No more scrambling around for my white out!

In a previous blog I wrote about the S.T.A.R notebooks that I was going to begin using this year!  I finally got all of the binders I needed and then got in my order of tabs!  I spent last weekend opening 30 packages, writing on 150 tabs, ripping them apart and sliding them where they're supposed to go!  It was a long process but well worth it!  My students are super organized so far and it's making life easier on them as well as me!

I also blogged recently about a board I made for our Meet the Teacher night! I decided to stop buying everything myself this year and to begin asking some of my parents for help!  Some of them actually decided to help!  I have gotten lots of extra paper, hand sanitizer and even iTunes gift cards for our class sets of iPads!!!!!

Here is a picture of it after Meet the Teacher!  Pretty good considering I teach in a school that is 90%+ below the poverty line...

And lastly, a picture of my beautiful sister and I!  We went to a wedding reception over the weekend and got to get all dressed up!  I'm so thankful to have her as my sister! 

(I'm on the left and she is on the right.)

School has gone SOOOO much better this week than last week.  Regardless of that, I am still super excited that the 3 day weekend is coming up quickly!

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Mexican Tortelloni Alfredo! Nom Nom!

I have had a great (much needed) weekend!  Friday night was relaxing, last night I went to a wedding reception and today was shopping, house cleaning, school prepping, COOKING day!

I made an old {INCREDIBLY easy} favorite of mine this evening, Mexican Tortelloni Alfredo!  I love it, my husband loves it and even my baby girl loved it! :-)

Ingredients:
1 package three cheese tortelloni
1 1/2 cups alfredo sauce
half can of Rotel
2 chicken breasts, cubed and cooked

Directions:
Cook tortelloni according to package instructions
Drain and add chicken, alfredo and rotel!

THAT'S IT! :-)

Serve with cheese bread.  Simple and delicious. That's how I like to do dinner!

The alfredo makes the dish rich and the Rotel gives it a touch of spice.  Absolutely love it!  Since it is a tad bit spicy I took out some of the tortelloni mixture before I added the Rotel and just substituted peas and carrots for my daughter's dinner.  Nom Nom!

Oh, and I redid some super cute things for my classroom this weekend that I will post tomorrow for the MMI Linky Party! Can't wait!

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