Resolutions: Professional

Here I am with this last post to complete my New Year's Resolutions!

First of all, I'm a lover of reading.  I mean, it's kinda crazy how much I love to read.  So this year I'm going to up my intake of some good ole professional literature!  I have 3 books in my Amazon cart and 1 should arrive tomorrow!  I actually have another book on my nightstand right now ("Strategies That Work").  Can we say "book nerd"?  Have any of you read any of these books?  I'm pretty excited!  :)

With the new teacher evaluation system in Ohio, next year we have to have MUCH more detailed plans.  I put together a general overview of my week, but we're talking the kind of lesson plans you had to write in college!  Remember how we all used to say, "Oh, we'll NEVER have to write REAL plans like this when we're real teachers!"  Actually, I think I definitely might have told a former student teacher that recently...  Well, next year we have to write them like that!  Yeah!  Objectives, resources and materials, differentiated components for EACH LESSON, assessments for EACH LESSON, standards for each lesson...I'm *hoping* I can put a day's worth on one page!  Right now I can lay out a whole WEEK in 2 pages.  EEK!  Our principal is encouraging the use of using Excel to write plans.  Um...I never did like Excel.  If any of you have any easy-to-comprehend tutorials on creating lesson plans (or any tutorial, really...I'm dumb when it comes to Excel), please pass them my way!  The start of my new lesson plans is just frustrating me to no end!

And finally...GOING BACK TO SCHOOL!  That's right, folks.  I'm going back to get my Reading Endorsement.  I already have my Masters, but this allows me to add a reading endorsement to my current teaching license.  I'll be certified to teach reading (Title I, Reading Coach, Reading Recovery, etc., etc., etc.) in the state of Ohio, K-12.  Class starts NEXT THURSDAY and I am BEYOND pumped!  A fellow co-worker and I are doing it together and we are so GIDDY!  It'll be great.  I even told her today, "I'm just excited to go get a fun notebook and some new pens!"  Yeah, like I said: NERD!  But I would be a professional student if I could.  I'm REALLY looking forward to what I'll be learning and what I can bring back into my own classroom!  And to be honest, I kind of hope to one day teach reading intervention to older kids (like 2nd and 3rd)...IF it's ever available.  I LOVE the comprehension side of reading and have taken a huge interest in it as of late.  Of course we do comprehension in 1st grade, but the curriculum is MUCH more phonics-based.  Truth be told, my dream job would be a curriculum director!  But that's WAY in the future and who knows if I'll actually ever pursue it.  But for now, a reading endorsement it is!  I LOVE teaching reading, so this is right up my alley!

I will be back later this week with some progress on my organization resolutions!  :)

Resolutions: Organization + Some New Year's Classroom Fun!

Whew.  Can I just say it was an exhausting 3 days?  We went back to school on Wednesday and I was just too whooped to blog.  But here we are!  On with Organization...

Organization is my middle name.  Actually, it's Lynn.  But I might as well just hyphenate it to Lynn-Organization.  I am insanely organized, for the most part.  If I'm not, it drives me UP. A. WALL.  Can you relate?  Let's face it.  Not one of us has every nook and cranny organized everywhere in our lives.  If you do, can we please be friends and can I have lessons?  I think it's one of those things that takes time.  Just when I think I have everything organized, BAM!  Something else is a mess with no place to call home.  So here are my {embarrassing} things in need of some organization ASAP!

Truthfully, I've already started working on fixing 2 of these issues.  I will blog about them next week!  ;)

So what does one do with a 3-day week?  Well, for one, we did our mid-year AIMSWeb assessments.  My kiddos did pretty good for the most part.  We also spent sometime doing a January project for my bulletin board.  Friday we did nothing but New Year's fun!  I downloaded Cara Carroll's "Happy New Year!" math and literacy activities.  And it was free!  :)

But to start, my firsties really didn't have a clue what resolutions were.  So we went to the carpet and I gave TONS of examples and guided them through the first half of a "Can, Have, Are" chart.  They started to get the hang of it and came up with some REALLY great ideas!

Then we did some math/literacy stations all day!  My favorite thing is I had all the kids come up with a resolution for school.  I even made one myself!  It had to apply to school in some way.  It could be anything from turning in homework, practicing sight words, passing their +5s, getting all As on spelling tests, reading 10 books, etc.  ANYTHING.  But I told them it had to be specific!  It couldn't just be "I want to get better at reading," or "I want to get better grades."  I had them trace their hand on a piece of construction paper and write their resolution on it.  I don't have it totally finished yet, but here's a sneak peak!

If you will be going back to school on Monday, GOOD LUCK!  I hope you had a wonderful break!  :)

Resolutions: Technology

Happy New Year, bloggy friends!

Technology resolutions?  Oh my.  That's overwhelming!

Let's start with getting more use out of my iPad!  I need to find some good apps to use with my small groups.  I have a whiteboard app and flashcard app that I love, but I need to find more.

Speaking of iPads, let's just add maybe trying to get a set from Donor's Choose!  I would LOVE to have them for my listening center (or lack thereof).  Maybe it'll be this year, maybe next school year.  But this is definitely on my wish list!

Did you know that creating digital material is part of the new Common Core?  Uggg...this is exciting and frustrating.  I can't figure out how I'm going to get my firsties to create something on a computer that's RELEVANT (not pictures or goofy things).  This will be a HUGE task that will take some MAJOR thinking.  Maybe a new product I'll put out?  In a few months?  Ha!  But it's a goal of mine.  I have to get my kiddos creating on the computer!

Ok, that's all for now.  :)  I know this post was not that helpful in the least bit.  :P  But one of my personal resolutions is to be in bed by 10:00 every night!  As we can see, first night: FAIL.  Off to bed anyways!  Gotta try!  ;)  

If you head back tomorrow like me, GOOD LUCK!!!!!

Resolutions: Fitness

Today's fitness resolutions start off as a fail.  Just warning you.  I actually went to the gym yesterday.  It was the first time back in a long time.  I used to run everyday, run 5Ks, attend spin class twice a week, lift weights, etc.  I was pretty buff and fit!  Then...school got in the way.  :P  I get SO wrapped up in school from about August-December.  It's awful.  Everything else gets shoved to the side.  Then Christmas break rolls around and I reevaluate.  And here we are.  :)

Where to start?  Well, let's just say I want to get back in the habit of working out.  I've always found that the first week is often the hardest.  Then it's like a drug...your body just gets addicted to it and you HAVE to have it!  It's kind of wonderful, actually.  :)

I DEFINITELY want to hit up some more 5Ks!  I LOVE them!  I want to try to beat my time with each one I run this year.  That means training starts stat.  A.K.A. Tomorrow.

This is the biggest area I need to commit myself!  EATING.  Omg.  I love food.  But it hates me.  I just can't eat like I used to without it catching up to me.  ;)  That means I need to plan more trips to Whole Foods and Earth Fare!

I'll be back tomorrow to hit the rewind button and post the things I missed.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, FRIENDS!  MAY YOU BE BLESSED WITH A REMARKABLE 2013!!!!

Resolutions: Downtime

Well hello there!  Long time no see!  I kind of took the last couple weeks off to get all my last school days through, shopping and wrapping done, and spend some sweet time with my family.  I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas!  We go back to school on WEDNESDAY.  :(  Booo!  I don't want to go back!  I do, but not yet.  I need a few more days to prepare some things.  :/  When do you go back?

So I'm going to jump in and team up with some bloggy friends and blog about my resolutions for the upcoming year!  I LOVE starting a new year.  It's SO refreshing and fun.  So I'm starting a bit late on this, so I'm going to start with where I need to and then in the following days go back and hit the ones I missed.  :)

Goals for Downtime!  Downtime?  What's that?  Maybe that's where I should start.  I need to carve out some time to just BE.  Relax, read , do something I love, take a bath, or whatever will qualify as ME TIME.

Spend more time with family!  I have the sweetest little family and my goal is to spend more time with them.  Maybe that means having a movie night at home, going out to dinner as a family, going swimming at the Y, or going to the zoo.  Or maybe it's just all snuggling for a few hours on a Saturday morning!

I have such a love for doing creative things, but I always find an excuse that I don't have time.  My newest found love is beading!  A friend of mine got me hooked on these Swarovski crystal beads.  Well, over Christmas break I decided just to learn how to make them myself.  I *LOVED* doing it!  It was sooooo relaxing and I loved just doing something for myself.  I also love to paint!  My playroom is flooded with painted canvases by moi.  It's such a neat personal touch.  I really want to get better!  And finally, with my fancy camera, I've taken a newfound interest in photography!  I love trying things out and looking at shots I've taken (like the flowers below).  All the photos below are things I've created.

With Pinterest, there's no excuse that I don't know what to cook.  ;)  Actually, I'm blogging and munching on some AMAZING buffalo chicken dip right now!  The few things I've made from Pinterest have been WONDERFUL.  And I just don't cook.  :(  I'm a bad wife.  But it works out, because hubby LOVES to cook!  I still want to get better at it.  Below are a couple pics I've found of yumminess that I've actually made.

Being outdoors is SOOOOOOOOOO refreshing!  Yes, even in winter.  Especially in winter.  I hate winter.  I mean, there are few things I hate more.  I hate spiders more, but that's probably it.  But I think the reason I hate it so much is because I'm stuck indoors all the time!  So if this snow ever gets cleared, I want to try to go on a weekly walk/run through my neighborhood.  Once spring and summer roll around, I want to make it a daily habit!  Oh, and a pool membership is definitely important this summer.  :)

Finally, the deepest love I have of all things downtime related is READING!  I love, love, love, love, love, love to read!  I have an ABUNDANCE of books.  I recently had to buy a bigger bookshelf, because they just didn't fit on the one I had.  I have 3 books sitting on my nightstand right now, waiting to be read.  Actually, I have 4.   I have a new devotional book ready to go for the new year.  I'm going to knock them out in 2013!  And hopefully more once I finish these. ;)

I will be back tomorrow with Fitness Goals!  

What downtime resolutions do you have?  What do you like to do (outside of school) when you have free time?

Silence for Sandy Hook Elementary

Love to all as we reach, teach, and protect our babies.  My deepest thoughts and prayers are with Newtown, Connecticut.  May the Lord bring peace and healing to those affected.  

Who DOESN'T want a Nook Color???

I wish I had one!  But you actually have a better chance than I do.  :)  Wanna know why?  Because a bunch of us have teamed up to pull together ONE. AWESOME. GIVEAWAY!  And the grand prize? That's right.  A NOOK COLOR HD!!!!  What a cool Christmas present that could be for yourself!

It gets even better!  Even if you don't win the grand prize, you still have a shot at winning LOTS of free goodies donated from various bloggers!  I know I'm using tons of exclamation points, but I'm super-excited about this giveaway.  ;)  So how does one enter, you might ask?  Easy.  Head on over to www.tipsfortopteachers.com and enter through the Rafflecopter!  You can earn a total of 27 entries.  I'm done blabbing for now, because you need to get over there and enter!  :P  GOOD LUCK!!!!

I'm giving away a copy of my December Math Centers - CC Aligned!