Staying on Track

It has been 4 1/2 weeks of school and I am already feeling stress of the new year. Between Wonders training, TS Gold training, PST, Open house, PTA, Parent-Teacher Conferences, Go Math, and teaching; I have barely enough time to breathe. (Taking a deep breath right now.) This is why I am more sure than ever that being a teacher is a calling. It is not for the faint of heart. It is designed for those people who look at pressure, stress, anxiety, and high expectations as an avenue to teach children how to cope with their feelings and press on to a better YOU. If you are feeling overwhelmed, know that you are not alone. There is a network of teachers out there that can relate to you and help you get through it. If you have seen a person reaching a state of despair, reach out to them so that they can stay on track. We may not get the credit; but, we INSPIRE children to be AWESOME!

Stay Inspired!

Renaada

There Really Can Be...

Hello Everyone,

If you were like me, things began to escalate in speed once May came: paper work, cum folders, end of the year assessments, field trips, special programs, awards day report cards, packing up class resources, etc. The list just kept getting more and more massive. I finally just took a breath and said to myself: "I am only human!" It's funny how we take on this super human persona only to have real human emotion of being overwhelmed and pressed for time. I knew at that moment that it was time to take some ME TIME.  I wanted to take a break from things for a while. This will be the first year that I am not teaching a summer school program. I almost don't know what to do with myself.

I reached 1,000+ followers on Pinterest this weekend. I was so excited. Most people follow my 7 Habits board and Class Is In Session boards. If you haven't visited or joined Pinterest, you should. It is a great way to get great ideas from other educators. At the bottom of my blog there is a preview of pins that I have posted. Feel free to look around and pin whatever you like.

www.MonacoPicturesUSA.com

Now I want to give a shout-out to Monaco Pictures. I am not endorsing and have no financial interest in Monaco Pictures. I just thought that a program that they provide to children was a great service. Monaco Pictures is sponsoring a Children's (Kid's) Theater during the summer. They will playing movies such as Rio, Lorax, Kung Fu Panda 2, and more for FREE. That's right, FREE!! Today, I took my son to see Madagascar 3 and he loved sitting there watching the movie and eating popcorn. As he told his dad after, "IT WAS AWESOME!" It was his first trip to the movie theater and he did a great job. We are definitely going back! Check with you local movie theater and ask them about any special theater programs for children and you may be surprised with what you find.

STAY INSPIRED!

Renaada

Teachers Appreciation Sale at TeachersPayTeachers.com

I am sure that if you have been blog stalking that you have heard that TPT is having a great sale for Teacher Appreciation Week. This is a great way to do some stock-up shopping for the next school year or to get material for Summer School programs and camps. Everything in my store is on sale for 15% off. When you use the PROMO TAD13 you will save an additional 10%. That's a total of 25% in savings!! So stop by TPT and shop till you drop!

HAPPY TEACHERS APPRECIATION WEEK!

All About Sight Words

I have been looking for different activities to increase the level of sight word retention among my students. I will say this before I get started, I am not endorsing these websites. I am only listing them as resources. This may be what my students need to practice at school and at home.

The first website that I came across is STARFALL. We use STARFALL as part of our small group instruction. It is a pre-requisite to the FOCUS program. I didn't realize there was a game for sight words until now. It will definitely be part of my small group rotation.

Next up: DOLCHWORD. This website has various games. I found this one to be more interesting because you not only have to recognize the word by sight, you have to listen for the correct word as well. It matches verbal and visual clues.

Finally, we have COOKIE.com. This website also has a database of various games. This is also a matching game. What I like about this game is that after the student has found the matches, it automatically goes to the next level. This allows for students to work continuously without stopping to ask for assistance.

I am sure there are many more online games out there. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to comment bellow.

STAY INSPIRED!!

Renaada

More Sight Word Activities

So, I have taken on the mission of providing my students with sight word activities. I have already introduced   Set #1 and Set #2. Now it's time for the next two sets: Set #3 and Set #4. The new sets are more challenging because they come from Dolch word lists for 1st - 3rd grade. I have a wide range of readers in my classroom. One of the realities is that I have some students that I can give my teacher resources from my 1st and 2nd grade hay-days and they would do a great job reading it. With that said, I created sight word cards that will give them positive challenges so the don't get "bored" reading the same words that they have already mastered. That is also why pictures are different on the cards. It allows me to differentiate Daily 5 stations when needed.

Now Introducing...

Shower of Sight Words #3

(I used simple cloud graphics which lends itself to many weather, spring, and monthly themes)

Shower of Sight Words #4

(I thought this graphic was really cute...children in rain gear;0))

These resources can be found at my TPT store (of course). Let me know what you think!

STAY INSPIRED!!

Renaada

Spring Break Sale

I am throwing a sale at my TPT store in mist of BLISS during my Spring Break. 

I know some of you have either already had you break or have a small case of SPRING FEVER.

So to celebrate our RENEWED SPIRIT, I thought a 20% off sale would do the trick.  

Take some time to stop by and stock up!!

STAY INSPIRED!!

Renaada

SPRING HAS COME!!

IT'S SPRING BREAK!!

You can only imagine how happy I feel to be able to sit down and do nothing (on purpose). I have been blog stalking this morning and found something that I thought would make my blogging life much easier. I found this really simple and very cute blog planner at The Flourishing Abode. Being able to keep ideas organized and focused has been a challenge for me as I am trying to find my voice in the blogging world. April Starr created a wonderful tool that I feel will help me stay on track as I continue on this journey. So if you are  looking for a resource to help you in your blog-venture, check out The Flourishing Abode. Thank you, April!!

Last week, I had a chance to progress monitor my student retention of sight words. It blew me away to find out that my students were not retaining the sight words as well as I thought. I realized that my students were not getting enough sight word practice. I also let me know that it was time to change my students seating arrangements as well. 

I know what you are thinking: SEATING ARRANGEMENTS?! It seems like that would be the last thing to think about when you have students who can't read basic sight words. Trust me it was, until I took a look around and realized that my readers were sitting in a more concentrated area of my classroom. Not because I put them there, but because those students were peer partners with other readers and had learned the sight words by working together. My other students we paired up with fairly okay readers but had not elevated their knowledge of sight words (independently/ beyond my help in guided reading lessons). They were stuck on a stage of reading: RETELLING. What looked like reading was actually them retelling the story. They were also paying little regards to the words of the story.

Don't get me wrong, we work in small groups. Through my daily walk-through,  I just failed realize that my centers for Daily 5 didn't have enough sight word activities to reflect that I not only wanted them to retain the sight words, I wanted them to USE them daily in everything. I  also failed to pair my okay readers with readers who have grown into very confident and fluent readers. Usually, I try to pair my children with a higher level reader for two reasons: to read words correctly and to encourage each other. The fluent reader will always make sure the other is reading the words correctly. When they are reading the books together; and both are reading words correctly, it encourages them to want to read MORE. This is why I do a walk-through after assessments; it allows self reflection and student observation at the same time.

So I began putting some ideas together and came up with a simple game format that I feel will help and it allow my students to be more actively engaged in their learning of sight words. In the spirit of April and weather, I created Shower of Sight Words. So far I have created two set of the game. The first set features the Primer Dolch words, number words 1-5, and color words. I chose umbrellas for this set. I thought it would go well with weather themes, weather units, Spring themes, and April Showers thematic units.

 The second set reflects Prime Dolch words, number words 6-10,  and shape words. I chose rain boot graphics. (So cute!!)

I plan to try this with my students when we return from spring break. If you would like to try this with your students, stop by my TPT store. There will be more to come; and, as always...

STAY INSPIRED!!

Renaada

March Madness

I know that I am not the only one that is already looking ahead to March. March is not only crammed with wonderful learning possibilities; it is also my month to celebrate....MY BIRTHDAY! I am so excited I can't stand it. My husband has things planned for me for the whole weekend. I know there is going to be a southern style cook out and fish fry. What can I say...I love to eat. Once I have stuffed myself with all of that grill-fry goodness, I am back to business on Monday.

I have been getting ready for Read Across America Week. Mrs. Bowman (another fellow Kindergarten teacher) and I will be doing the following activities:

Monday (March 4^th)-Cat in the Hat: Dress as Things and teachers dress as the cats (All classes in K are doing this)

Purpose: Teach about being honest; introduce Dr. Seuss and his book collection

Tuesday (March 5^th)-The Lorax: Wear orange and I will have moustaches provided

Purpose: Teach students about keeping the Earth clean, taking responsibility for our actions, seven habits-be proactive

Wednesday (March 6)-Fox in Socks and Wacky Wednesday:  Dress wacky (mismatched clothes and crazy socks).

Purpose: Teach students about tongue twisters, what's wrong with the picture.

Thursday (March 7)-Oh the Places You'll Go: Dress to show what you want to be when you grow up.

Purpose: Teach students about having a goal, seven habits-think with the end in mind, and how do can we reach our goals.

Friday (March 8)-The Sneeches: Wear yellow and I pin green stars on their shirts

Purpose: Teach students about being different and that it is okay! We are all are unique!

We are also doing t-shirts as a grade level (THING "K"). We are very excited with what's to come. We are also Having Dr. Seuss Movie Marathon. Can you imagine how wacky the first week of March is going to be...MARCH MADNESS!!!

More to come; so in the meantime...

STAY INSPIRED!!!

Renaada

Busy as a BEE

Hi everyone,

As you know I am completely new to the blogging experience. With that being said, I have not learned how to balance all of the things I have been working on with my students and be a mom/wife/blogger.
I am sincerely sorry for not keeping up with this as I should. But I did come to the realization that once a week may work out for me until I can get the hang of this.
Now, back to business...
Is it me or has February turned into the busiest month. in between Dental Health, Presidents' Day, Valentine's Day, Black History month, math, science, reading, social studies, Literacy Lab... I think you get the picture. I had a moment of panic. However, a great since of calm came over me... I am only human. THAT'S RIGHT PEOPLE... I, a teacher, am ONLY HUMAN. I continue to have meaningful lessons with my students, I try to keep them engaged, and I assess their knowledge so that they are prepared for the things to come. I feel that if I do all of those things, I have accomplished my goal for the students. (thinking: Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...;0))
Our school system has decided to adopt the JOURNEYS reading series. If there is anyone that has some insight as to how this works with your students, let me know. Do you like it? Do the students stay actively engaged during learning? How does it support your tier 1, 2, and 3 instruction? Do the students enjoy it? i would love to hear some feedback.

As always...

STAY INSPIRED!!!

Renaada Spears

Time for "Teeth"

I am so worn out from this Super Bowl weekend. I was ready to throw in the towel after the first half (upset with the 49ers). The power outage during the game just added fuel to the fire. Despite my disappointment (disguised as frustration), the 49ers gained their bearings and went to work. They showed so much heart; and, although they didn't win, they made great gains during the game.

This made me think of my Kinders. There are times when I get so frustrated with them because I know what they are capable of and they don't seem to put forth much effort. Then there are times when they get frustrated because they are not getting it. Now that we are in our second half of the year, I am starting to notice PROGRESS. Even at its smallest scale, my Kinders are showing signs of awareness in our lessons. It is because of this that I stay INSPIRED to teach another day.

Now that I have had my testimonial for the day...

My students have been engaged in Groundhog Day activities. I was able to find 2 videos online in conjunction with my activity pack I posted last week. My students really enjoyed it. I also had a game that I played with them that I found by Angela Rubin. My students used unifix cubes as game pieces. If they won a game, they received a cube to make their game piece taller. The first person to make a cube train of ten is the overall class winner. This was my students favorite game so far (thanks A.Rubin).

I am now starting my Dental Health activities. We have a dentist that will come this Friday. Feel free to check out my TPT store to preview some of its content. Let me know what you think. I am always open to feedback.

As always...

STAY INSPIRED!!

Renaada Spears

In A Whirlwind

The weather here in Alabama is getting really hard to prepare for. One day it is 30 degrees; the next day it is 70 degrees. One day it snows; the next day we are having severe weather/thunderstorms. It has put a real damper on how much I get taught in a day due to early release times or late school openings. Not to mention the meetings that are scheduled to add to the mix of all of this randomness.

(Now BREATHE!)

Despite all of this, I was able to get my Groundhog Day Activity Pack completed. you can find it at my store on Teachers Pay Teachers. I will be using it with my students during the month of February. I wanted to make something that my students would like and something that I can use for more than the month of February. Here are some pictures of some of the activity pack's content:

I have a really hands-on oriented class this year. So anything that I can laminate and reuse throughout the month/year works best for my current class. There are 20 number cards, 20 number word cards, 20 tally mark cards, 20 ten frame cards, 4 Count by ___ (1s, 2s, 5s, 10s) puzzles, anchor charts and printables. Please feel free to leave comments on this pack. I am always looking for ways to improve my products; so, feedback is really important to me and appreciated.

STAY INSPIRED!!

Renaada

100 Days of School

I had a lot of fun today with my students. We celebrated the 100th Day of School today. Students and teachers took part in dressing up as if they were 100 years old.

Below is a picture of my co-workers and ME. I am the one in the middle;0).This reminds me of the Golden Girls sitcom.

The Golden Girls of Kindergarten

(Mrs. Bowman, ME, Mrs. Lightford)

 We started out the day with a blank 100 chart and filled in the spaces (writing the numbers to 100). Next, we did different activities for 100 seconds. Hopefully in the next post, I can give my shout-outs to the teachers of TPT. With the help of their resources, I was able to provide meaningful activities for my students.

We finally topped it off with read alouds, videos, and 100th Day Party-in-a-Bag. Not familiar with PIAB, well let me give you some insight. As you know, we have more and mre students who have 1 or multiple food allergies. To make sure that we were not exposing students to unknown allergents, we developed PIAB (Party-in-a-Bag). Students are provided with a disposable paper bag (usually used for lunch). The parents then fill the bag with their students favorite snacks and/or special prizes. Students are not aware of what's in the bag until our extended snack time. Parents are still given the option to bring the class treats and gifties, of course. This is just a way to make sure that everyone stays safe. It was inspired from one of my co-workers. He always seems to come up with simple but fun ways for students to enjoy themselves.

More to come so...

STAY INSPIRED!!

Renaada

Today, I am somewhat mentally exhausted. My students had a hard time following me in Math today. Our math lesson focused more on word problems. Since my class has such a wide spectrum of learners, I found it difficult to get them concentrate on the process rather than the product (answer). I plan to try a different approach tomorrow: MENTAL MATH. I am going to reteach the same lesson tomorrow without the student book. I think this will help them to focus more on the story problem itself.  Wish me luck and remember...

STAY INSPIRED!!

Renaada

New Adventure

Hi everyone! I would like to welcome you to my blog. I am new to this. I was inspired to start a blog from some of my coworkers. We are always trying to find new ways to keep our students engaged in learning. I am a Pin-aholic, TPT addict, and blog stalker. I find it so facinating to browse the net and find things that will impact the way I teach. I know there is a lot to discover and would like to invite you to join me as I embark on this adventure.

I am currently working on a few items this weekend. One of my projects is a Groundhog Day activity pack. Hopefully, I can get this done by the end of this week. Common Core Standards have caused a shift in how and what I use with my students. You can view a few of my projects on Teachers Pay Teachers and let me know what you think. I am always open to ways to make my projects better for my class and your class if you choose to use them.

I hope you will come back and visit me soon.

Stay Inspired!

Renaada