Leibster Nomination x 2!

I'm so excited to have been nominated for a Liebster Award, not once, but twice this week! I feel so special! Thanks to Susan at Happiness is Watermelon Shaped in 3rd Grade and Kara at To Engage Them All. They both have awesome blogs...you should definitely check these ladies out!

I have seen the Liebster award on other blogs, but I didn't really know what it was for. From visiting Susan and Kara's blogs, I learned that it is given to blogs with fewer than 200 followers...yup, that's me! In order to accept the award, you have to do the following:

1. Link back to the blog that nominated you. 

2. Answer the questions the nominator asked you.

3. Share 11 random facts about yourself.

4. Create 11 questions for your own nominees.

5. Nominate 5-11 blogs with less than 200 followers.

6. Contact the nominees to let them know that you nominated them.

 

Here are my answers to Susan's questions.

1.  What is the best "teacher" book you have ever read?

I have such a hard time picking favorites of ANYTHING, but the book that made a huge impression on me when I was returning to teaching 8 years ago after being away for many years, was Debbie Miller's Reading With Meaning. It was such a different approach from what I was used to and it lead me to look at teaching reading a whole new way.
2.  What's your favorite place to shop?
I'm a Homegoods girl! I also like Target and Amazon...love being a Prime member and getting free 2-day shipping!
3.  What do you do in your free time?
I spend way too much time on my computer between creating resources for my own class and TPT, especially SMARTBoard materials, (it's like scrapbooking to me!), reading blogs, and browsing and pinning on Pinterest. I sit down to do one little thing, and suddenly it's 3 hours later! I also love to read, cook, and spend time with family and friends.
4.  If you could be given one thing to improve your teaching, what would it be?
A more defined curriculum! I know we have the Common Core, but at my school, we have no textbooks, no curriculum maps, and no scope and sequence for anything except for math. While all the freedom is nice, it's a huge amount of work to try to make sure you're covering everything.
5.  What's your favorite meal to prepare or eat?
Again, I can't pick just one favorite, but in Maine, we get awesome fresh seafood, so I love lobster, clams, fish, shrimp, crabmeat, etc.
6.  If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
I would love to take a Mediterranean cruise to Italy and Greece. The combination of the scenery and the amazing food would be perfect!
7.  What are your favorite TV shows?
I'm a huge Downton Abbey fan...I still haven't recovered from the season 3 ending! I also love anything on HGTV and Food Network.
8.  What is your favorite blog(s)?
I follow lots of blogs, especially other 4th grade ones! I am in awe of how much fabulous information and sharing of ideas is happening in the education world!
Here's a small sample of some of the blogs I love:
Fourth Grade Studio
Ideas by Jivey
Oh' Boy 4th Grade
Fun in Room 4B
Collaboration Cuties
9.  Do you have a TPT store?  If so, please give the address, too.
Yes, my store is called Downeast Teach. I started it almost exactly a year ago. Colleagues had been telling me I should try to market my SMARTBoard math calendar, and I'm so glad they gave me the nudge to take the plunge! It has been amazing to get such positive feedback from so many people, and it has motivated me to become a better teacher.
10.  What is the last book you read?
I love historical fiction or books that are set in other cultures. I like to learn something while I'm being entertained. I just finished The Taliban Cricket Club, by Timeri N. Murari, on my Kindle. It's set in Afghanistan during the time that the Taliban took over and is told from the point of view of a young woman who was a college graduate and successful journalist and how her life changes under their regime, when women aren't allowed to leave their homes unless accompanied by males and then they must be fully covered by burkas. How cricket fits into all of this, you will see if you read it. I highly recommend it!
11.  Are you a morning or night person?

I used to be a night owl. That was when I had "me time" when my kids were young. As I've gotten older, I find I'm fresher in the morning and I get upset with myself if I sleep past 6:30

 And now for Kara's questions!

 

Why did you become a teacher?

I had a lot of teachers in my family; my mom,  several aunts and uncles. I loved playing school as a little girl, and I really enjoyed babysitting and playing with little kids as I got older. It seemed like the right fit for me!

What is your favorite classroom activity of all time?
My daily math calendar routine for the SMARTBoard. In 15 minutes a day, I know that I am targeting key skills that my students need. It has made a big difference in their math test scores, I know that even if we have a crazy day, math calendar is always a constant. I have the class helper lead it and the kids look forward to the interactive elements.
What is your favorite book?
As I already mentioned, I love historical fiction and books that are set in other cultures. One of my favorites is The Red Tent by Anita Diamant.
What is your favorite restaurant?
There's that favorite thing again! Can't pick just one, but I love restaurants that use fresh ingredients prepared in unusual ways with interesting sauces. I would rather have lots of small bites than one big entrée...I love variety!

What TV show do you watch but you hate to admit it?
Dance Moms... since my girls were on a dance team for 15 years, and I was very active making props and costumes, I get sucked in. Fortunately, our studio was nothing like the one on the show!
If you could go on vacation anywhere and didn't have to worry about price, where would you go?
The aforementioned Mediterranean cruise to Italy and Greece
What television show can you binge watch for hours on end?
Whatever is playing on HGTV, especially Property Brothers and Love It or List It. I love to see the house transformations!


What is your favorite thing to do during summer vacation?
I love having the time to read, reflect, and create things for the upcoming year...I have a lovely front porch that is shady in the mornings, so I just bring my laptop out there! (And I manage to fit in some time to relax by the pool and read for fun in the afternoons!) 
What piece of technology would you loooooove to have for your classroom?
It sounds greedy to say, because I got 6 iPads last year, but I would love to have a class set. Right now, I use them mainly for game apps, but with a whole-class set, I think there is so much more you can do!
What website could you not live without in your classroom?
I have my own classroom website/blog that I use for parent communication. I post slide shows of things we are doing, as well as links to educational games, videos, resources, and frequently visited sites. The families really like it.
Why did you start blogging?
As I got more involved with Pinterest and TPT, I didn't have any way to share ideas that had worked for me without linking to my classroom website. I did that for one post and pinned it to Pinterest, but when I saw how many views it got in a short time, it made me uncomfortable because I have student photos there. So...I decided it was time to make a separate blog just for teaching.

 

Okay, here goes with my random facts!

1. I have lived in Maine my whole life, as did at least 4 generations before me... ayuh, we're real Maine-iacs!

 

2. My town was so small, there were only 10 kids in my whole grade. In high school, it took 6 towns combined to have a high school of 350 students.

 

3. My parents are celebrating their 65th anniversary this year and are both healthy and active. (Here's hoping I have inherited those genes!)

 

4. Growing up, each summer I raked blueberries to earn money for my school clothes. 

 

5. I asked Bob Denver, (Gilligan) to speak at my high school graduation. (He said no.)

 

6. I used to make miniature foods for dollhouse collectors out of polymer clay.

 

7. I left teaching for 18 years when my kids were growing up and did a variety of part-time work... hand-painted children's clothes, designed polymer clay jewelry, taught Gymboree, worked in a friend's gift shop, designed costumes and props for my daughters' dance team, etc. This will be my 8th year back teaching.

 

8. I am obsessed with my SMARTBoard that I got 2 years ago. It has transformed my teaching and I love to create lessons for it! I now teach SMARTBoard classes in my district, and this summer taught a 2-day class in my sister's district.

 

9. I have been married for almost 33 years to my college sweetheart. We have 2 beautiful grown daughters.

 

10. I love iced coffee and could drink it all day...especially with the hot, humid weather we are having right now!

 

11. I hate roller coasters, lima beans, and cocky people.

 

And finally, here are my 11 questions for my nominees:

1. How long have you been teaching and what grade levels have you taught?
2. What is something on your bucket list?
3. What is your favorite subject(s) to teach and why?
4. What is something new you would like to try in your classroom this year?
5. What is a talent you are known for?
6. Do you have a store at either Teachers Pay Teachers or Teacher's Notebook? If so, give the link!
7. If you use Pinterest, what is your user name?
8. How long have you been blogging, and why did you start?
9. What do you like to do to relax?
10. Other than being a teacher, what would your dream job be?
11. What is a book you would recommend to other teachers?

My nominees are:

Mrs. Faherty's Fab in 4th

Ms. Cranfill's Class

Roland with iPads

KNJ Kreations

Tales of a Fourth Grade Teacher

 

Thanks again to Susan and Kara for nominating me! This has been a lot of fun and I found some new blogs to follow!

 

Anchor Charts for the Handwriting Challenged

I am going to try to be better about posting to my blog. I'm starting today by participating in Technology Tailgate's "Techie Tuesday Link Up".

I love seeing all the amazing anchor charts posted on Pinterest! Seriously, some people must spend HOURS creating elaborate charts with perfectly straight and even handwriting and illustrations that look like an artist created them! I pin them, thinking... that chart is perfect for my kiddos! I'll make that this weekend...and then reality hits.

1. I could never make my chart look like that. My handwriting is...well...let's just say neatness is a challenge. Plus I'm left-handed, so I always smudge whatever I draw or write.

2. That chart would take me hours to make! I have so much other school prep to do!

3. I have very limited wall space in my classroom, so where would I hang it when it's done?

If you can relate to any of the above, or if you're wondering, "How is this technology?"...read on!

Just look at this Angry Birds anchor chart on literary devices. Amazing, right? It was all over Pinterest last summer. I found it at Working 4 the Classroom. I knew I could never make it, but that it would really help my students remember literary devices.

My solution to this dilemma is to save the anchor charts that I want as images and then insert them into a SMART Notebook file so I can project them during my lessons. (This would also work with PowerPoint and a projector if you don't have an interactive white board.) This is how I do it.

1. Click on the photo of the chart you like.
2. Right-click and choose "save picture as".
3. Choose where to save your picture. I have a folder on my desktop called "anchor charts".

Once the chart is saved, I usually crop it and edit it to lighten it up and sharpen the contrast. I don't have fancy photo editing software. Here's how I do it with Microsoft Office 2010.

1. Browse to your saved picture. Right click on the photo and click "Open with" and choose Microsoft Office 2010.

2. On the top toolbar, choose "Edit Pictures".

3. On the right, options will appear. I crop first, if necessary, and then click "OK".

4. Click "Edit Pictures" again and choose "Brightness and Contrast."

5. Play around with how much to adjust the various settings here. In general, I adjust the contrast up, as well as either the brightness or mid-tones. When you like how it looks, click "OK".

6. Click "save".

If it's a chart I want my students to refer to over and over, I make mini-copies of the chart and print them out for my students to glue into their Literacy Notebooks. Here's how I do this with PowerPoint:

1. Open a new, blank PowerPoint file. (Layout > blank). The orientation of the page depends on how many charts you want to fit. If you are putting 2, 6, or 8 to a page, keep it in landscape, which is the default. If you are putting 4 on a page, switch it to portrait. (Click "design > slide orientation > portrait".)

2. On the top toolbar, click "Insert > Picture" and browse to wherever you saved your picture. Click on the picture and then click "Insert". (You can also just double-click the picture.)

3.  (For people without an interactive white board only. Otherwise, skip to Step 4.)
If you do not have an interactive white board, this would be the big image you would project and use in your lesson. In that case, you would duplicate the slide to have another page for step 4. (If you need the page orientation to be different for the two different slides, it would be better to make each slide as a separate file, as I don't think PowerPoint lets you change the orientation within the same file.)

4. Resize the picture for how many you want to fit on the page and copy/paste the additional pictures.

5. You can either print directly from PowerPoint, or save as a pdf, which will print a little larger.

Since the Angry Birds chart is so detailed, I would only put 2 on a page.

 

With less detailed charts, you can fit 4-8 charts on the page.

This chart is from the talented Stephanie at 3rd GradeThoughts. She uses it to launch Read to Self in Daily 5. I was able to get 4 charts on a page, and, while the colored images look awesome, as you can see, they are also fine when printed in black and white, 'cause let's be realistic... all that colored ink really adds up!

 

I hope other busy and/or handwriting-challenged teachers find this tip helpful and that I am not violating anything by using other people's anchor charts this way. That is certainly not my intent. I figure if someone posted them on their blog or Pinterest, they wanted to share, and since these are not items that anyone is selling, I'm thinking it is okay.

 

Teacher Appreciation Week

It's Teacher Appreciation Week, which ironically, (for me at least), comes during one of the busiest times in the year. There is so much curriculum yet to be covered before we end on June 14th, but it seems like, on a daily basis,  there is some sort of special event or commitment that interrupts our regular routine. This is a recipe for STRESS! I know we will get everything done somehow, but it's a little crazy right now! Anybody else know what I mean?

Here's something that I hope will not stress you out...the TPT Teacher Appreciation Sale, which is happening thisTuesday, May 7th and Wednesday, May 8th. I'm joining with thousands of other sellers to offer quality teaching products that just might take a little stress off your very full plate! I know I've got my cart loaded up with some awesome products that will save me a ton of time!

You can save up to 28% off, by using the Code:TAD13 at check-out. (Thanks to Beth at Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Designs for the awesome graphic above!) My entire store is on sale, so if you are considering trying any of my SMARTBoard math calendars next year, (which are my best-selling products), this would be the perfect time to get them at a great price!

The Core Calendar gets added to and used every day of school.



Page from Set 7

 

Page from Set 2

 

Page from Set 4



Page from Set 6



Page from Set 7



Page from Set 3

Page from Set 8



Page from Set 5

 The above pages are from various sets in my Grades 4-5 Math Calendar, which while the pages below are from my Grades 1-3 Math Calendar. Click on the links to learn more about them.

 

 

 

 Happy Shopping!

Dioramas, Posters, and Skits, Oh My! (Our State Museum!)



 

My two grade-level colleagues and I decided to try something new this year as a culmination of our study of Maine. We created our own Maine Museum! It was a lot of work, but we saw high levels of engagement, particularly from students who struggle academically. For many of them, the hands-on component was an opportunity for them to really shine!

 

Students worked in small groups to research and present information about a variety of topics, including natural resources, geography, economy, animals, and important places. We came up with 21 different topics which we split up between the 3 fourth grades, so that no two groups did the same topic.

Once students had conducted research and taken notes about their topics, they had choices about how they would communicate their information. They had to have some sort of visual display to put on the table for the actual museum. This could be a poster, diorama, game, lift-the-flap board, etc. They also needed a technology component that could be viewed on laptops, which would be set up at the museum, This could be a skit, Photo Story, rap song, etc. We also made the decision to have the whole project be done entirely at school. Many of our students do not have resources/support at home, so this way, we could ensure that everyone had materials and guidance.

The kids were so excited to create their products!

Most of my class chose to make dioramas for their visuals, but there were also a couple of posters, a board game, and a lift-the-flap game.

The shipbuilding group made a poster AND a board game, complete with clay ships as game pieces. They also wrote a wonderful skit full of facts about the history of shipbuilding.



The Portland group wrote a skit in which one person was a new visitor and the other was a tour guide who told him all about Maine's largest city.



A lift-the-flap board about landlocked salmon.

Fishing has been an important industry in Maine for over 400 years! The fishing group also created a wonderful video full of fish facts!



Baxter State Park is home to Maine's tallest mountain, Mt. Katahdin. It is the setting for our first read-aloud of the year,   Lost on a Mountain in Maine.



Blueberries are the Maine state berry. 99% of all the wild blueberries in the country come from Maine.



It's hard to see the title, but this is the river diorama showing how the logs, which had been cut down in the forest during the winter, were dragged to the river in the spring to be floated down river to the lumber mills.

Each classroom had a group researching 3 important Maine animals. We had the landlocked salmon, our state fish, the honeybee; our state insect, and the black bear, which is the mascot for our largest college, the University of Maine.

For their technology component, most groups wrote and recorded skits. (They were awesome, but out of respect of my students' privacy, I can't post any of them.) The night of the museum, each table had two laptops with the video for that exhibit on the desktop. We had headphones attached, so as families visited each exhibit, they could sit down and watch the video. A couple of groups created a Photo Story, which is a free and easy program that creates a professional-looking product! Here is the Blueberry Photo Story.

We presented our museum for each other as a practice a couple of days before the real one. Students went around with clipboards and took notes on important facts about each topic. The day before, we invited the 3rd grades into our classrooms to view our videos, visit the exhibits, and ask questions.

 

Overall, it was a great success and I think the students will really remember the topics much better than if they had just read about them.

 

I would love to hear other ideas for what you do to teach about your state!

April Currently

Oops...I'm a little late to this party...like 400 people late...but you know what they say about better late than never, so here goes. Thanks to Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade!

Listening: I love all the glitz, glamour, and even the spray tans of everyone on Dancing with the Stars. I have no desire to wear any of it myself, being a jeans and fleece kind of girl. I have a hard time walking in any sort of heel without falling over...I can't imagine dancing in them! The pros are amazing, and I have great respect for the celebrities and how hard they work. I felt bad for Dorothy Hamill when she had to withdraw.

Loving: This one needs no explanation. I think I can...I think I can...

Thinking: When we get back from spring break, the end of year craziness and special events really start to ratchet up. I look at how much more we still need to cover, especially in math and I wonder how we will fit it all in!

Wanting: I had been doing pretty good not overindulging in chocolate. I would have one square of Lindt dark chocolate at night. But that was before the Hershey Eggs came out for Easter. It's been downhill from there...

Needing: My husband has a conference in Vegas during my spring break, so I get to stay for free...cool, huh? I'd like to get something new to wear, but I'm not loving the weight I have put on since last spring, so I'm not excited to shop...

Advice: I am amazed by all the wonderfully gifted and talented teachers out there who so generously share their expertise and ideas. I learn new things every day from other people's blogs, the TPT forums, and watching video tutorials. If curiosity and learning new things keeps your brain young, maybe there's hope for me!

My Kind of Spring Cleaning!

If you're anything like me, spring cleaning is not on your list of the "Top 10 Things to Do for Fun on the Weekend"... (or in my case, even the Top 1000...I really HATE cleaning!)

But this kind of spring cleaning, as in clean out your TPT wishlist and get great teaching resources for 20% off...well, that's the type of spring cleaning that I can get excited about! (not to mention that I can sip coffee while I am doing it and there is no scrubbing involved!)

Everything in my store will be 20% off this weekend, March 30-31. If you have a SMARTBoard, I have interactive resources for word work, fractions, government, Math Calendar, and more!

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to the talented Krista Wallden at The Creative Chalkboard for the idea and this adorable graphic. Head over to her blog to see some of the sellers who are participating and to link up if you have a TPT store and want to participate! And if anyone asks you what you did this weekend, you can honestly say you did a little spring cleaning!