Absence makes the heart fonder

Well... it's true... I fell behind in my blogging. Truth be told I had a bit of a bubble pop, and I ended up second guessing my entire process for next year, and that really put a halt on my creative juices. But I'm back in the swing of things, and I am ready to continue all of my plans with confidence and creativity!! YAY ME!!

I do have lots of news to share...

1. I made the cutest invitations to a Kids party I am having at my house.. so sweet

2. I have some before and after shots of my classroom!!!!!!!!!!!! EEEEK!!!! It's coming along, and looking great so far! My best find was these really awesome Ikea frames for 99 cents!!! I am using them around the classroom to create a warm, inviting feel and showcasing different Canadian artists. The first series will be aboriginal artists in Canada (because that is our first social studies unit.. and lets face it.. I love aboriginal art), on the back of each painting/drawing there is some information about where the artist is from, and some reflection questions that can generate thought about the art. For the first series I will have the students choose one of the 4 paintings and answer the questions in their journals. I think it will be so super fun!

BEFORE:

 

(I got a headstart and placed some student binders before I took the pic) 

AFTER (the first day... it's not close to done yet!):

(teacher corner)

(gathering space - doesn't it look inviting?! Also.. this is my $20 garage sale rug!!)

(the start of my Literacy lake -- everything is blue!! Also.. note the uber cute coffee table, perfect for working and gathering!)

(more Literacy Lake)

(The amazing frames for the Canadian Artist series!! Soooooo cute)

3. I have been getting so many requests for baked goods lately!!! It is just amazing!!! Right now I have a wedding cake and a shower cake in the planning phase, 2 orders of shower cupcakes, and 2 different orders for wedding paper crafts (one of them is a customized roulette wheel!!) So all of these requests have really got me thinking seriously about starting up Chelly's Goodies again (for those of you who don't know me, Chelly's Goodies was a small company that I had set up in University, where I would make clothes, soaps, and jewelry and sell/trade them online and at festivals).
It has been a dream of mine for quite some time to have my own space/store for all the things I love.. baking, crafting, sewing. But I don't have the time away from my passion (teaching) to actually get a space like that set up. My wonderful husband came up with a great idea (after hearing my ideas.. yet again), that maybe I could just do something in the summer, out of our house. I could set up workshops where people could come in and craft together while I teach them something new. Kind of a make and take..
I am really liking this idea.. and it has been brewing around in my head for about a week now, growing in strength.
So... my question goes out to you, do you think this is something you would be interested in? Let's face it, the people reading my blog are the ones who are interested in my work, the ones who would partake in such an event.

and now.. the baking!!!!
It's been so long since my last post (sorry again!! It's hard staying on schedule in the summer!) and to be honest I have been baking but I havn't been taking any pictures!!! I'm so bad!
So I will post a picture from a fellow blogger, she inspired me to recreate this idea for a girly party I had in July. It is cake in a jar.. I made blueberry and strawberry, and it was a big hit!
http://iammommy.typepad.com/i_am_baker/2011/07/meal-for-family-in-need.html

Enjoy!!

OH a camping we will go!!

Hello Readers! First off I must say thank you to all of my readers, the responses I have been getting to this blog are so wonderful. It is really nice to know people are reading :) Secondly, I have to say I am sorry for not writing last Sunday, it was not because I forgot, I just had some pretty serious life stuff happening.

So here it is!! Some of the amazing decorations I have created for my classroom next year.

Let's get right to it :)

This is my sign for my literacy centre (all the buckets and the carpet will be blue) 

 This is my sign for my door (it will say 3rd grade on the top, I just wanted it to be versatile)

This is an awesome idea I thought up (pat myself on my back). I usually use a bowl of ice cream to give a visual for the way to achieve different levels, but because we are camping, I decided to use SMORES!! 

Washroom Passes

Some Random little cute guy I made

Homework labels (they say Math and Language)

These labels are for my rainy day games, each one is in a different bin

These are labels for Daily 5

This is a sign that I downloaded from Beth Newingham's Site, and I put it on a piece of pretty cardstock

So that is it for now, I hope everyone is just as excited as I am!!! (although I don't see how that is possible)

Today instead of posting pics of my baked goods, I thought I would post the cards that I made for Father's day. I got the idea from a random picture I saw online (I don't even remember where it was), and I thought .. Hey.. I can make that!!! So I did!!
Presenting the BBQ card (complete with Lindor chocolates at the fire).. sorry for the blurry-ness.. we were driving to Father's day brunch when I was taking the pics!!

Until next time!!

Sometimes my ideas are corn-y

What a week I've had! It has been highly eventful, and also very exciting! It all started with the annual garage sale held in my community. Of course I was on a mission to find decor items and other things for my classroom next year (if you don't know me, next year will be my first year in all of my 5 years teaching that I will have MY OWN room. No sharing, no one else's stuff in it. Mine!!! Yay!). I found some amazing items, and of course they have to all be gigantic. Luckily my mom has a massive car, and was able to pick them up and drop them off at school for me. They include a rug (very clean living room rug 10 x 12 and only $20!!), 2 brown covered ottomans ($4), a child's drafting table (newly restored, and in perfect condition $8), and lots of great kids chapter books. What a great find!! I have been looking for a classroom rug for quite some time, and even the ones on Kijiji and craigslist are very expensive, so I think I really lucked out.
The only big pieces I still need are a small bookshelf, and a blue rug. I am also very interested in getting a wooden mailbox to put homework and notes into, but they are a little expensive. Not too bad though :)

After I got those hauled up to my classroom and stored them as neatly as I could, I started talking to a colleague of mine who currently teaches grade 3. She said she was looking over some of my LRP (long range plans) for next year, and they were great, but I needed to be more specific. I needed to just be able to grab the lessons off the shelf and teach them. This is good advice. I mean I am very psyched about next year, why not harness that energy into making the year go by very smoothly?
So I have literally been working on that all week. Nothing too interesting, nothing fun, just breaking down the curriculium, and comparing it to my teaching resources. I have an amazing soil unit planned right now, and I have done some research on vermicomposting (if anyone has experiences with this please let me know). I think her advice was really amazing, because I am looking at my plans in a whole new way. I have been able to tie my soil unit into our camping theme, and get some really great first nations stories about soil too.

I topped off this week by getting my first ever wasp sting (he got me twice on the same arm!) and then finding out that I am allergic to wasp stings, and now need to carry an epi pen with me at all times. Yikes! Life gives you curveballs sometimes!

I have been using my cricut a lot this weekend, and I know this is a bit of a teaser, because I am not posting anything just yet. But trust me. It will be much better when I post everything at the same time. I will give myself a deadline of next weekend. So please stay tuned!

My wonderful Aunt and Uncle have just moved back to Canada from their 11 year journey on a tropical island. This week they came over to our house for dinner and of course I had to make a beautiful dessert to commemorate their homecoming! We had one of our first BBQ dinners on this night, chicken and ribs! So what better way to celebrate than dessert of corn on the cob. Enjoy!  

The Reveal of a Theme....

So here it is folks.. my inspirational camping theme for the classroom next year. Please note that I will be posting actual pictures of my classroom as it develops.

You may be asking.. Really? A theme?
and the answer is YES!!

A theme is what keeps teaching fun for teachers. A theme pulls in different lessons for the classroom, and makes student learning first hand and experiential. Most importantly.. a theme is FUN!! And when the teacher has fun, the kids have fun. When the kids have fun they enjoy learning. When they enjoy learning they become life long learners. That is really what it is all about isn't it?

I will guarantee that in 5 years 1% of the students I am currently teaching will remember the specific math lesson I taught on Friday (and without looking back in my planner, neither will I :) ). That knowledge will help them scaffold their learning so that they can understand their future math lessons. Why my kindergarten (yes I am currently teaching Kindergarten for those of you who don't know me) students will remember this year is when the story of the Gingerbread man came alive, and the gingerbreads we made ran away. The student will remember when we built a boat out of cardboard and painted it because we were learning about the ocean, or all the times we went on discovery walks.

As I reflect on my own education, I recall not what I learned in Grade 3, but what I experienced, and the connection I had with my teacher.

Yes I still teach .. of course.. after all it is an EQAO year ;)
But there is so much more to teaching than opening a book, and as I grow as a teacher and a person I realize that I don't want to be a teacher that doesn't have fun. I want to enjoy teaching. I want to come to work everyday with the same excitement as the first day of school.

I think that starts with enjoying your room, and that is why I have chosen to have a theme.

Picking a theme .. now that wasn't easy. What would be fun for me and for kids? What would tie into some of the units I will be teaching next year. How would I actually pull off decorating for this theme?

I honestly don't know how I chose this theme.. It kind of just hit me like a brick.

I want to show you .. the reader.. some ideas for themes that are out there..

This is from Beth Newingham's Site (http://hill.troy.k12.mi.us/staff/bnewingham/myweb3/)

Nautical Theme http://hill.troy.k12.mi.us/staff/bnewingham/myweb3/nautical%20theme.htm
            

Space Theme (http://hill.troy.k12.mi.us/staff/bnewingham/myweb3/Space%20Theme.htm)

         

Sports Theme (http://hill.troy.k12.mi.us/staff/bnewingham/myweb3/Open%20House%202006.htm)



And.. The Rockstar Theme (http://hill.troy.k12.mi.us/staff/bnewingham/myweb3/Rock%20Theme.htm)




********* All these pictures were taken directly from the sites referenced. They are property of Beth Newingham*******************

I mean this woman is just amazing!!!
So my theme next year will be camping. I chose this for many reasons.
1. I like camping
2. it's something most of the kids I teach probably don't do
3. It ties into the themes for next year (Aboriginal life, pioneer life, plants, soils, structures.. OOoooOO I just thought of a structures activity where they can build their own shelter!!)
4. It will be fairly easy to transform my class into a campground effectively.

Here is some inspiration I found on the web... (again... none of this is mine, but it is all referenced)
This was the best website I found for ideas http://www.clutterfreeclassroom.com/campingtheme
She has cute ideas like the Literacy Lake, and sending a postcard to the students showing what the room will look like


some other cute ideas from that same website are:
 using garland as a border
 a tent as a nice reading spot
 and sharing published stories around a campfire

Then I found this site http://www.teachersclubhouse.com/camping.htm
It has really cheap decorations you can buy and print yourself (in lots of different themes)
Some examples of things I bought are..

This page has lots of decoration ideas http://www.countryclipart.com/CabinCampFishSet/cabincampingfishing.html

I didn't purchase anything from them because I decided to buy this: http://www.cricut.com/shop/#0/1/1175/3/Cricut/Cricut Campin' Critters Cartridge


Oh yes!!! A cricut camping cartage!!!!!!

HEAVEN!!!

I was going to post some of my creations, but unfortunately my camera is out of batteries, and I am not nearly finished all my decorations yet :)

I have also planned (and booked) my "camping themed class trips" for next year. They include a trip to Crawford lake (aboriginal village), Pioneer christmas, Snowshoeing and building a snow house, and (best of all) a lesson underneath the stars in the Science Centre or ROM Planetarium.. I havnt decided which one yet, but I think it will be really cool for the kids to get a lesson under the starts, cause, there are no stars in the city :(

To Be Continued.......

Here is some baking.. I thought I would keep it tied to the camping theme. I made this BBQ cake for my dad's birthday a couple years back :) Enjoy! (I know he did!!)

My thoughts are in a binder? Or maybe a T.V. dinner

One of the components of the CAFE book is organizing your student records.. I (the super Keener) have made my student record binder for next year.
It is called a Pensieve, and you Harry Potter Fans might get the reference. This connection was made by a student and explained in the CAFE book. A pensieve is a place where Dumbledore kept all his important thoughts. He would take them out of his brain and put them into a pot. Just like what teachers do with their record book... Keep their thoughts about how a student is reading in a book. Genius!! I wanted to be original.. I really did.. and I used all my creative thoughts and focus to come up with another name... but that connection was too perfect for me to resist.
and so...

the Pensieve

(yes I left out an "e", but we all make mistakes right??- it will be fixed before school starts.. I promise)

Also... note the large amount of books piled behind the binder... I am still leveling and organizing my library.. it's a work in progress

There it is.. isn't it beautiful? But what is in this binder you ask? WELL!!!! Let me tell you!!!
It is organized into some main sections, and then there is a section for all students. The main section has wonderful things like a list of all reading strategies, and cheat sheets explaining how to help children who are reading in a specific way, and a calendar where you can book appointments for students to come for their one on one reading session.
In the individual student section it has a log where you can plunk in the strategies the student is doing well with, and some that the student needs to work on.
But best of all, the CAFE book will give you step by step instructions on how to teach and implement this in your classroom.

I know that these past few posts must feel like I am working for the CAFE book, and plugging the book to gain some profit. But I assure you.. I AM NOT!! I have just never seen a language program outlined in such a comprehensive way. If you are a primary teacher, you know what I am talking about!!

And now for the baking....
(what a great segway!)

Here are some scrumdiddlyumptious T.V. dinner cupcakes I made for friends who had us over for dinner... side note... getting invited for dinner inspires me to make cupcakes!

2 Chicken legs, mashed potatoes with gravy and butter, and peas and carrots
Enjoy!