January 2013

I am making this the year of ME. I would not consider myself a selfish person but as I've grown older, I've realized that sometimes I have to put myself first in order to be happy. That is what I plan on doing in the year 2013. I want this to be a great year!

Because it is the beginning of January, it's my favorite post: Farley's Currently

Listening: How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is one of my all time favorite movies. I'm such a girly girl and love all of those girly girl movies (however, I'm learning to broaden my horizons and watch movies outside of my comfort zone)

Loving: I've spent most of my break with family and I'm perfectly content with that. I was with my mom for several days and then we came back to my house where I hosted my first large celebration. I had Christmas at my house for my mom's side of the family which was close to 40 people. I love my family!

Thinking:  For the most part, I have covered all of the Reading standards. Reading is one of those things that are repeated over and over. At this point in the year, I like to begin novels. I am differentiated novels in my class. So far, I think the novels I have decided on are:

Tornado (Byars)                             3rd grade level

The Forgotten Door (Key)             4th grade level

Day of the Blizzard  (Moskin)      5th grade level

My Side of the Mountain (Paulsen)  6th grade level

 Wanting: Oh how I want to go for a long run!! I was doing so well and running just over 3 miles at the beginning of December. Then around the second week, I got sick and it has lingered. I'm finally feeling better but now there is a ton of snow on the ground. I'm really in the mood to go for a run outside but I may have to wait until next week when the temperatures are a bit higher and hopefully the snow is melted.

Needing: I guess this explains everything. I have had a not so good attitude about school this year. As I've mentioned in previous posts, I haven't had a great year. I hate being so negative all the time about it but this is the first time in my entire teaching career that I absolutely dread going to school each day. It HAS to get better.

OLW: HAPPINESS! This goes along with my "needing" I have to be happy. Plain and Simple

2012 Year in Review

I think back to the past year and I've had many ups and downs. Overall, I want this to be a better year! :)

January: I lost my uncle to cancer. It was something my entire family had never really dealt with (other than the loss of older relatives). While I have a very close family, times such as this brought us so much closer than we ever were.

February: I decided I needed a change and started looking to buy a house. When I had a small apartment full of people staying with me during my uncle's death, I realized I needed a bigger living space. Family stays with me a lot and I was ready for that next step in my life. It didn't take long for me to find my perfect house. I only looked at THREE!!!! :)

March: The house process was STILL going on. This ended up being such a stressful situation for me. I would have thought a vacant house would be a quick move but that proved to not be the case. Finally on my birthday, I got the call that I was able to sign! Move in happened at the end of the month.

April/May:  I was getting my house set up and made it feel like a home. I was also coaching track for my 7th and final year. I had the opportunity to move up to the junior high and teach Language Arts which had always been my dream job. However, the timing didn't feel quite right so I chose not to pursue the position. I also learned that my principal had accepted a job in another district which was a letdown.

Summer: I LOVED being in my house for the summer. Sitting on my porch and reading was one of my favorite things to do. I got two little kittens and I ran in the Color Me Rad 5k with my cousin.

September/October/November: School was hard. I felt very negative and like I never got into a true routine. Having a new principal is hard and feeling like I was on an island with my teaching had me frustrated. But I kept on keepin' on. I also wondered if I did the right thing by staying in my current position and not taking that Junior High one.  I guess in order to deal with my stress, I started running. One day, I just decided to run and it started to become a new passion.

December: I ran another 5k-The Reindeer Run with 2 people I teach with. At this point, I realized I could easily run 5k. I hope to run in several in the next year and maybe even a 10k. EEEEK! By the end of the month, the holidays were here and the snow fell. I'm ready for spring ;)

Merry Christmas (and a question)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

So I can never take a break from school which is probably why I am burned out...BIG TIME. I need some Language Arts help from all of my blogger friends. I am starting novels in a couple of weeks. What are some you have done? I am differentiating my novels so I would need chapter books ranging from 3rd grade-6th grade levels. What are some you have used that the kids really enjoy and get into?
Thanks :)

December Currently

I always have so much to say and so little time! I feel like I say this every month but GOSH-I need to get better at blogging :)

Thanks to Farley, I HAVE to get on here to entertain everyone at least once a month :)

Listening-Sitting here waiting for Amazing Race. It used to be one of my favorite shows but I feel like I have little time anymore to sit and actually watch a tv show. So it is on, but I'm usually working.

Loving-I love to run. Well, let me rephrase that-I love to run when I'm in shape and can do it easily. In the past month or so, I've gotten back into it and I'm enjoying it again. Another teacher asked on Thursday if I wanted to run in a Reindeer Run with her on Saturday. I thought about it but thought "why not? I know I can run 3 miles. I've done it already" So the two of us plus another teacher and her daughter got up at 6am and drove the hour and a half to the run. It was my best 5k time and I also ran my fastest mile. I'm so happy I did it and can't wait to run another. This was my fourth one and by far the best I've done!

Thinking- Yes, I have soooooo much to do. Just little things around my house mostly. Maybe with some school stuff added in. I had company friday night. Saturday I ran my race and then slept the rest of the day. Today I had to go to calling hours and then spent some time with my BFF and her girls. Now I have lots to do

Wanting-I don't even know where to start with this but I've been thinking about posting it for a long time. I am NOT happy with this school year. Not any aspect of it. I hate my lessons. I hate being there. I hate it all. I try to be positive but it's very hard when I'm unhappy. I guess more on this to come.....

Needing- A long break to the beach would be ideal!!! I'm so stressed and feel like I cry ALL THE TIME!

RAK- As we all know, so much of what we do as teachers get unnoticed. This year, a teacher who does all the wrong things is the one who seems to be getting all the attention. It's frustrating. We go in and work hard. We get there on time. Yet, we never get a simple thank you. It's not just me feeling crabby this year. Several others are as well. I think just putting a nice card in others' school mailbox to brighten their day would make a big difference :)

Well-Time to do more work.

November (The Eleventh Month of 2012)

These months are going by sooooo quickly. Let's just hope the winter goes by like this. I hate winter and absolutely dread this time of year! And as nutso as the weather has been, who knows how much snow we may get!!!!

Once again thanks to my girl Farley (whom I act like I know), it is time for this month's currently. Enjoy!

Listening: I've been sucked into Breaking Amish. Living my entire life so closely to Amish Country Ohio, I've always been curious about the lifestyle. I would love to find some Amish friends and live that way just for 24 hours. I'm not sure I could do it much longer than that :)  And now with Dateline--Oh how I LOVE mysteries!! If I wasn't a teacher (or Amish-haha), I'd be a detective!

Loving: My cousin Kari is my best friend. We have so much in common that we are more like sisters than cousins. So when she texted tonight and asked if I had plans next weekend, I got all giddy with excitement. We have the best weekends together!!!

Thinking: Coming up with units for this year has been extremely difficult for me. My mind doesn't work like that. The students seem to be enjoying it but I have a hard time thinking of a unit to do. Anyone have any ideas???

Wanting: I want to go on a run?! Hmmmm.....that's strange for me to say but since I've been getting better with my running, I'm loving it again. I've decided I just run better when it's cooler outside. I'm not a good runner in the summer because I can't breathe in the heat and humidity. So I'll just wait until morning and get a run in.

Needing: Anyone participate in National Novel Writing Month? This is my first year. My cousin (Kari, again) has done this in the past. I've always wanted to write a book and what better way to begin than to take on a challenge like this. I didn't get to write last night though so I have a little catching up to do. I have a great plot thought up in my head. Now just getting it typed is the challenge. I'm excited about this though.

Music: We listen to a lot of Radio Disney in my classroom. I like it because it plays songs the kids actually know and can sing along to but I don't have to worry about inappropriate words thrown in. However, the closer we get to Christmas, we will start listening to fun Christmas Songs :)

My First Unit

WELCOME TO THE OLYMPICS!!!

My first attempt at the common core was accomplished with a unit about the Summer Olympics. I have very mixed emotions about the unit. It definitely wasn't the best teaching I've ever done but also not the worst. I will say, however, the students seemed to enjoy it and learned a lot about it. All but 2 passed the final test so they learned and that is a goal met.

The standards I focused on were Main Idea/Details, Summary, Compare/Contrast, and Homophones. Here and there I threw in some "unimportant" standards in a center just so they can start seeing it and knowing what it means.

Here is the bulletin board I did for it. The picture is a little cloudy because I had my lights out. It was taken at the beginning of the year when it was 200 degrees in the classrooms.

I hate these bulletin boards. Who makes a board from ceiling to bookshelf and the entire wall?!?!

The black paper hanging from the ceiling is what I did for my groups. Each group was a color of the olympic rings. Hopefully my next board will be a clearer picture.

Tuesday starts my next unit. I normally have the entire first half of the year organized and planned. I'm glad I didnt do that this year though because I need to change a lot of things I saw didn't work with my Olympic unit.

October Currently

HOLY CHEESE BALLS!!!!!!  I haven't posted since the last currently?? This is not cool and I need to be a better blogger!!! I have a lot to blog about...just not a lot of time. For now, I'll just let you enjoy my currently. Is it sad that I really look forward to these each month? So much so that I am having my students do one on Friday :) Thanks Farley! CLICK ME

So I had a very long day today with parent teacher conferences. I got home after 9 tonight so I'm exhausted...hence the needing a lot of sleep :)

Here is what I am finishing reading (when I have time)

And here is what I'm getting ready to read (YAY)