Tuesday Titles

I've noticed that I start a lot of my posts apologizing for not writing as frequently as I "should".  Well, today's the last day for that.  I don't know why we, as teachers, feel bad for being busy people.

I wish I was one of these bloggers who has it together and can post regularly and make amazing products for TPT and are great teachers/spouses/parents.  I truly don't know how they fit it all in.  I am in awe of these educators.  But I am not one...I know that.  So I'm going to stop apologizing for it.  I just gotta do me.  :-)

On that note, this week's Tuesday Title is a series, instead of just one title....How Do Dinosaurs (fill in the blank).

This book series has so many different titles...ranging from things like going to sleep, getting better, to counting and learning colors.

What I love about these books is that they teach social skills through REAL dinosaurs.  Yes, the dinosaurs have human parents/teachers/doctors/etc.  And yes, they are curling up in a bed.  But the dinos are real ones.  And in the front cover of every book it tells you what dinosaurs are in the book.

So, they are seeing that the Tyrannosaurus Rex and Triceratops are not the only dinosaurs out there!  Oh be still my heart!  (I love dinosaurs!)

So, the social skills aspect of the books...

the entire first half of each book gives bad examples for behavior.

(This is from How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon?)

The second half of the book talks about how no, the dinosaurs don't do all that.  They do (blank) instead.  In this case, it would be take his medicine every day.

It's a great conversation starter for you and the kiddos about appropriate behavior.

Do you have a favorite How Do Dinosaurs book?  Have you used them in the classroom?

Please share!

Tuesday Titles 3

So, I had grand plans for Tuesday Titles to be every week.  And I was SO successful, for two whole weeks.  And then I fell off the grid.  *sigh*

But I'm back!  Here's my Tuesday Title for this week:

I read about this book online, so I asked for it for Christmas.  You know you're a teacher when your parents buy you books for the classroom for Christmas.

Anyway, the story is all about a little boy who "erupts".  Everyone is mad at him for erupting.  So his mom teaches him a trick to keep from erupting.  My 4th graders are having some issues with "erupting".  So we read the book, and then came up with our own strategies to keep us from erupting.

One of our 1st grade teachers even borrowed the book to read to her firsties.  It's great when multiple teachers are on the same bandwagon.

Any books you'd like to suggest?

Literacy Week 2015

If your school doesn't do Literacy Week, oh geez.

So, I really didn't take pictures of every event, but I did want to share what we did that week.

Monday was Crazy Sock Day.  I have these wonderful slipper socks with 3D cows on them.  They don't even fit into shoes because their awesomeness can't be contained.  I wish I had taken a picture of them.

Tuesday was Hat Day.  Of course, I wore Mickey ears...no picture again though.

Wednesday was Sunglasses Day...but I was home sick.  :-/

Thursday was Sports Day.  Our kids wear uniforms, so this was a day they could be out of uniform (but only if they wore sports jerseys).  I actually don't have anything, so our AP let me borrow one of her hubby's FSU baseball jerseys.  It was kind of funny to walk down the hallways.  I am not one for sports normally, so I don't really care about teams.  But it was funny to watch kids get upset that I was wearing the "wrong" team.

Friday was Book Character Day.

I was Bert from Mary Poppins.  Most of the kids had no clue who I was.  Haha.  So our music teacher decided that the last week of school, when she shows musicals, she's going to show Mary Poppins.  :-)

We also had a door decorating contest.  I haven't heard who won though.  Anyway, here's my door:

This is the second in an AMAZING series.  And *bragging moment* I drew all of those pieces myself.  No tracing here!

As usual, it was a great week!

What's been going on lately...

So, it's been awhile since I posted.  I did so well, two weeks in a row!  And then I got sidetracked again.  This blogging weekly thing is crazy!  ;-)

Anyway, so, since I haven't blogged lately, I just thought I'd share a few things that have happened the past month:

See that?  That's the cover to one of my lights.  It literally fell off for no reason.  Luckily, I was with my 5th graders (so I only had 4) and we were at the small group table.  It took them about a week to come fix it, too.

My school is a PBS school, so every month we have a Bucket Filler Celebration.  To be invited your class has to earn at least 25 bucket filler tickets throughout the month (BFTs can be given out by any teacher to any student for any positive behavior).  Once your class has been invited, then students with an A/B average in citizenship for the month (and no infraction forms) may go.  February's celebration was a Mardi Gras parade.  It was quite fun!

My 4th graders read the If You Give A...series.  You know, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and whatnot.  Anyway, after we read a few, the students each wrote their own.  They then typed them up, printed them, illustrated them, and then bound them.  My kids thought it was so cool when we bound them.  I might be super teacher (for this week at least!).

We also had literacy week, but I'm putting that in a separate post.

Thanks for sticking out this long post!

February Currently

Yup, it's that time again...time to link up with

for her monthly Currently linky party.

So, here goes:

Listening: We were watching TV, but I was paying more attention to that than what I should've been doing, so we turned on Pandora.  And when I started creating my Currently "sheet", it was playing Swagger Jagger by Cher Lloyd, and write now it's Yellow Flicker Beat by Lorde.

Loving: Payday for both my wife and I was Friday.  I was so glad...January was rough.

Thinking: Normally, the first Friday of every month is happy hour for my school.  (Except we don't call it that...I got in trouble for calling it that...oops!)  So, we call it First Friday.  Anyway, most of us who usually go couldn't go this upcoming Friday, so we moved it to last Friday.  And we're allowed to leave about 20 minutes after the kids do on Fridays.  And so I did, which means I have no copies made for Monday...sigh.

Wanting: I have had the hardest time sleeping lately...which means I am super-exhausted almost every day.  It was much worse this weekend...so I would really love just one more day to sleep.

Needing: I have only planned ONE of my math groups and that's only for ONE day.  I have 6 reading groups (which are thankfully all planned for the week) and 3 math groups...but 2 of the groups are usually split within themselves between myself and my assistant.  I just can't seem to find the motivation to get planning.  Ahh!

Pageant Title: Boring...I know.  But I try really hard to be nice to everyone, even when we all know someone doesn't deserve it.

I'd love to hear from my y'all...please link up!

(Also...side note, in the time it took me to write all this...I'm not listening to Can't Hold Us by Macklemore...what can I say...I like lots of different music.)

Tuesday Titles week 2

Look at me!  I'm posting two weeks in a row!  Granted, I should be posting more...but at least I'm getting somewhere.  I'm going to try really hard to post a Tuesday Title every week.  I'm hoping, as I become more consistent, that I might turn this into a linky.  We'll see though.

Anyway, here's my title for this week:

That's right!  The Book with No Pictures!  If you haven't heard of this book, it literally lives up to it's name.  There are no pictures.  Instead, it has pages like this:

The book is HILARIOUS!  It's all in the way you read the story and how ridiculous you can be.  My 4th graders loved it.  And if my 4th graders liked you, you know your kids will like it.

Try it, let me know how it goes in your class.

Tuesday Titles

So, it occurred to me (well, repeatedly) that I don't post as often as I want to.  I just can't "find the time" to post.  Or, sometimes it's the content.  What will I post?  So, I thought to myself...I should try to do something weekly.  And maybe, one day, make it a linky party.  But what?

And then it occurred to me...I have read a lot of good books lately...why not share them?

So...Tuesday Titles it is...

every Tuesday I will be sharing a book I've read lately.  I'll try to stick to books that will be good for your classroom, or your professional development, but if I read something that I want to share, I will.

So, for my first Tuesday Title, I wanted to share the first book in a trilogy...

The first book, The Wishing Spell, of the Land of Stories series is amazing.  The story takes well-known fairy tales and flips them.  Cinderella, Rapunzel, Snow White, Mother Goose, Goldilocks...they're all here.

The main characters are a set of siblings, who get transported into the Land of Stories.  This story would be a great read aloud for the elementary ages, or as a book study for 5th-7th(ish).  There are so many things you can do with this story...compare what we "know" about fairy tales with the characters in the story, use the story to introduce new characters of our own, etc.

There are other books in this series, with more adventure around every corner.

Have you read this book?  What could you do with it in your class?