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Latest from the Blog

Workin' On It Wednesday – VEGAS Giveaways

First of all…boy does it feel good to be back and blogging! My little side project turned in to a rather huge, time-consuming focus project and took me away from blogging a bit longer than anticipated. J To get back in the swing of things, I am linking up with KinderGals and their Workin’ On It Wednesday Linky. In preparation for my trip to VEGAS!!!! for the TPT Conference next week, I am putting together some schnazzy giveaways to help promote my newly-launched site Teacher Creator’s Toolbox. To get the word out about the site, I will be giving away three free all-access passes to TeacherCreator’s Toolbox, along with some branded swag at three of the conference sessions. Wrapping gifts is one of my favorite things to do so it’s been great to take a step away from working on the computer to wrap these little beauties! If you aren’t attending the TPT Conference this year,

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Teacher Creator's Toolbox: A Sneak Peek

These last few weeks I haven’t been blogging as much as I’d like to but I’m here to give you an update. Most important thing you need to know: I’m not abandoning Core Inspiration…but I am taking a blogging break. I was recently inspired by some fellow teacher creators (crazy thing is they don’t even know they inspired me) to create a website. I’m going to hold off on giving away details for now but I will give you a little peek and let your imagination run wild. My goal is to have my website Teacher Creator’s Toolbox launch on May 1, 2014 (I hope publishing the deadline here will help me stay on track)! I will take a break from blogging until then so I can devote my time to this exciting project. I appreciate your patience with me until then and can’t wait to reconnect with you in early

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Report Cards, Goals and Conferences, Oh My!

Spring parent teacher conferences are coming up next week, which means we are busy giving our end-of trimester assessments, entering grades and writing report card comments this week. It’s definitely the time of year that I realize I am NOT built for a desk job as I get all antsy sitting in front of my computer screen for hours on end. Fortunately, each year this process seems to be slightly more efficient than the previous as I built my collection of handy resources for report card and conference season. Here are a few of my faves for helping parents feel involved in their child’s success in the classroom and informing them about what their child’s next steps will be in preparing for fourth grade. If you want to: Streamline your parent-teacher conference communication and scheduling… Use this: Parent Teacher Conference Scheduling Tools If you want to: Stop getting stumped on how

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Reader's Workshop Series – Read and Respond Journals

Read and Respond Journals are the glue that holds our Reader’s Workshop together. I like to think of our journals as a map of each student’s learning and reading progress through the year. On the first day of school, each student gets his/her own crisp journal and we begin mapping out our year. During The First Weeks, students add illustrations of their favorite reading memory and their go-to reading spot. They also learn how to write and share meaningful reading recommendations and record their first Just Right Reading Range for the year. Excitement buzzes as students begin adding to their Must-Read Lists and filling in boxes on their Reading Challenge Record. We also set our first of three S.M.A.R.T. reading goals for the school year so the students can immediately begin reading with a purpose at home and at school. The bulk of the journal is used for writing about reading.

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Our reading conference table and supplies for student conferences.

Reader's Workshop Series – Balancing Accountability and Choice

“Time for reading is time well spent.” – Donalyn Miller, The Book Whisperer. In Miller’s class, students spend half of their reading block engaging in choice reading while she sprinkles meaningful, targeted instruction around the room…sounds like my cup of tea! I agree with every study she cites and all of her evidence that choice reading is the number one way to engage and build stronger readers. My classroom reality is…of course…different. I have to modify Miller’s style to get as close to my ideal while still meeting district initiatives. The result is a reader’s workshop block that starts with a 15-minute whole class read aloud, followed by 30 minutes of choice reading accompanied by reading activities that keep my students and me accountable. Here is a look inside a typical day during our third grade Reader’s Workshop: Read My school uses the Accelerated Reader program (the first conflict to Miller’s approach). All

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Reader's Workshop Series – The First Weeks

Before we get into the nitty-gritty details of the Reader’s Workshop model I love so dearly…a bit of background. My classroom is a place where students learn from hands-on experience, explore their interests, converse, make mistakes and problem solve. I love to equip my third graders with tools that help them become independent learners in and out of the classroom. Donalyn Miller’s The Book Whisperer validates all of these aspects of teaching in relation to reading instruction. Her words and experience boost my confidence in justifying the learning my students and I gain from our Reader’s Workshop experience each day. Prior to reading Miller’s book, my master plan for Reader’s Workshop was filled with units and mini lessons that covered every state standard. Teaching reading skills and strategies is undoubtedly essential to reading instruction.  Therefore, I use structures like close reading and literature circles during our RTI reading block in the mornings to ensure

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Reader's Workshop Series – The Inspiration

One of the most difficult challenges in my first years of teaching was making the most of my Reader’s Workshop block. Finding a balance between teaching students reading skills tailored to their individual needs, giving students a solid block of reading time, conferring with students about their reading progress and holding students accountable for reading quality “just right books” was something I valued but could not efficiently manage for the life of me. I read countless books and blog posts about experts and professionals who had it all down to a science. I followed their recipes and had days where the mini lesson went smoothly but the conferring was inefficient and vice versa. One day I were perusing through the book fair after one of my parent-teacher conferences and stumbled upon my saving grace… another book about teaching reading. 🙂 But this one was far different from any other I

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A peek inside my personal/career goal book.

Beyond A Resolution: Goal Setting For A New Year

New year. New start. New adventures. New resolution goals. Yes, resolutions are fun and get your blood pumping, but I decided to abandon making one for 2014. I honestly can’t remember making a resolution I have kept so I decided to make a more “official” commitment to achieve a few desirables this year by starting A GOAL BOOK! So far…I am LOVING this thing. Here’s the inside scoop: I headed to one of my favorite hangouts, Paper Source. Every time I walk into this store, I develop a serious case of O.C.D. which requires me to touch every product on every shelf…eeek! Over an hour after walking through the door, I walked out with these little beauties. The moment I got home, I opened up my crisp new goal book and got to work recording my goals for this exciting new year on the first page in a shinny silver pen to match

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I Am Thankful For New Ideas

Today is the final day of idea sharing for the We Are Thankful Linky Party over at Blog Hoppin’. I am truly thankful for all of the amazing new activities and tips I have picked up from my fellow bloggers and I hope you’ve all had a chance to swing by the linky to see the plethora of ideas for all grade levels. Something new I tried this week that I wish I knew about all along is a free app called Too Noisy. I displayed this app using my Apple TV and the kids were absolutely thrilled! The noise meter moves and the smiley face changes to a worried face when the noise level in the classroom is rising and then to a sad face when the noise level is too high. The sensitivity of the meter is adjustable, which I love because you can change the settings based

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Supplies needed for letters of thanks craftivity - construction paoer, glue, scissors, googley eyes

I'm Thankful for Activities Like

Today over at the BlogHoppin’ We Are Thankful for Linky Party, everyone is linking up classroom activities they are thankful for. In the spirt of fall, thanksgiving and parent-teacher conference season, I have a few activities I enjoy doing with my third graders this time of year. Fall Activity Every year around this time, my students design their very own leaf creature! First, they do a leaf hunt in their backyard or along their walk to school and bring their leaf collection to class. The classroom buzzes with laughter and excitement as they sift through their collection and pick out a few favorite leaves which they arrange into a “creature“. Googley eyes and other unique features are added before the students mount their creature on cardstock to be displayed on the wall. This wall of creatures becomes a game board. Everyone writes a diamante poem describing their creature (a fun way to review

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I Am Thankful for Helpful Hints

Today’s linky over at Blog Hoppin’ is all about Helpful Hints. Here are a few hints that help me in the classroom. Hint 1 – Sub Plans Made Easy Easier Any teacher knows it’s often less stressful to come to work sick than to prep for a sub…so sad…so true. It took me more time than I’d like to admit to establish a system that makes sub prep a whole lot easier than it once was. Every time I write sub plans, I save them to my computer in a very specific way.  I name the file by weekday then date and the type of sub day it was (half-day sick, whole day professional development, etc.) This has made sub planning 1,000,000,000 times easier because I can easily located a “similar” sub day from the past, open that file and whip out revised plans rather than starting from scratch. Hint

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I'm Thankful for Time Savers!

This week, I am participating in the “We Are Thankful For” Linky Party Week over at Blog Hoppin‘. I am thrilled to start with time savers that help me increase efficiency around the classroom. Since my enthusiastic third graders are always inspiring me to create new and exciting lessons, I have a tendency to get lost in the creative cloud after school. If I don’t prioritize my to-dos for the next day of teaching…I soon find myself looking at the clock around 4:30 wondering where the last two hours disappeared to. With these helpful routines and tools, I can whip out everything I need for the following day lickity-split and get to collaborating and creating with my team without my to-do list whispering into my ear. Pre-Planning and Copying Every Wednesday after our grade level meeting, I sit down in silence and solidify my plans for the upcoming week in the

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Workin' On It Wednesday – VEGAS Giveaways

First of all…boy does it feel good to be back and blogging! My little side project turned in to a rather huge, time-consuming focus project and took me away from blogging a bit longer than anticipated. J To get back in the swing of things, I am linking up with KinderGals and

Read More »

Teacher Creator's Toolbox: A Sneak Peek

These last few weeks I haven’t been blogging as much as I’d like to but I’m here to give you an update. Most important thing you need to know: I’m not abandoning Core Inspiration…but I am taking a blogging break. I was recently inspired by some fellow teacher creators (crazy thing

Read More »

Report Cards, Goals and Conferences, Oh My!

Spring parent teacher conferences are coming up next week, which means we are busy giving our end-of trimester assessments, entering grades and writing report card comments this week. It’s definitely the time of year that I realize I am NOT built for a desk job as I get all antsy sitting

Read More »

Reader's Workshop Series – Read and Respond Journals

Read and Respond Journals are the glue that holds our Reader’s Workshop together. I like to think of our journals as a map of each student’s learning and reading progress through the year. On the first day of school, each student gets his/her own crisp journal and we begin mapping

Read More »

Reader's Workshop Series – The First Weeks

Before we get into the nitty-gritty details of the Reader’s Workshop model I love so dearly…a bit of background. My classroom is a place where students learn from hands-on experience, explore their interests, converse, make mistakes and problem solve. I love to equip my third graders with tools that help

Read More »

Reader's Workshop Series – The Inspiration

One of the most difficult challenges in my first years of teaching was making the most of my Reader’s Workshop block. Finding a balance between teaching students reading skills tailored to their individual needs, giving students a solid block of reading time, conferring with students about their reading progress and

Read More »
A peek inside my personal/career goal book.

Beyond A Resolution: Goal Setting For A New Year

New year. New start. New adventures. New resolution goals. Yes, resolutions are fun and get your blood pumping, but I decided to abandon making one for 2014. I honestly can’t remember making a resolution I have kept so I decided to make a more “official” commitment to achieve a few desirables this

Read More »

I Am Thankful For New Ideas

Today is the final day of idea sharing for the We Are Thankful Linky Party over at Blog Hoppin’. I am truly thankful for all of the amazing new activities and tips I have picked up from my fellow bloggers and I hope you’ve all had a chance to swing

Read More »
Supplies needed for letters of thanks craftivity - construction paoer, glue, scissors, googley eyes

I'm Thankful for Activities Like

Today over at the BlogHoppin’ We Are Thankful for Linky Party, everyone is linking up classroom activities they are thankful for. In the spirt of fall, thanksgiving and parent-teacher conference season, I have a few activities I enjoy doing with my third graders this time of year. Fall Activity Every year

Read More »

I Am Thankful for Helpful Hints

Today’s linky over at Blog Hoppin’ is all about Helpful Hints. Here are a few hints that help me in the classroom. Hint 1 – Sub Plans Made Easy Easier Any teacher knows it’s often less stressful to come to work sick than to prep for a sub…so sad…so true.

Read More »

I'm Thankful for Time Savers!

This week, I am participating in the “We Are Thankful For” Linky Party Week over at Blog Hoppin‘. I am thrilled to start with time savers that help me increase efficiency around the classroom. Since my enthusiastic third graders are always inspiring me to create new and exciting lessons, I have

Read More »