Ugly Christmas Sweaters

Ugly Christmas Sweaters...YES. Everyone should have one...or two. It is that time of year! Last weekend I baked...all weekend and this weekend we are hosting our first annual Ugly Sweater Christmas Party:)

On to school things... I attended a Kathy Richardson training session yesterday with my partner in crime;) and I took several things away from the training that I can use in my classroom and daily life.

"Teachers are artists. This training is providing you with tools (IOWA Core, KR, textbooks) to put in your tool belt."

Isn't this so true?? Our school day is our blank canvas and our students 'paint' that canvas with us everyday with the tools in which we provide. Our attitudes and preparation lead our students to achieve all of this success. Just a little tidbit of info from our training:) InSpIrInG! 

This week my kindergarten kiddos built whatever they wanted to build with foam geo blocks. After they finished with their creations, we discussed the different 3D shapes! They had a blast:)

Christmas Cookies!

Good Evening Bloggers! I hope your weekend was spectacular! I was in the kitchen all weekend... I baked cookies, bars, dipped things into almond bark and stirred until my arm was tired~ I must say... the finished product was not to shabby! Many thanks to Pinterest for my Christmas cookie inspiration!

I made sugar cookies (Thanks to Pillsbury), pretzel rods dipped in white almond bark, peanut butter cookies with a Reese's peanut butter cup in the middle, peanut butter cheerio bars with marshmallow icing, Oreo truffles and Chocolate Carmel Squares. I'm taking a tin full of cookies to our daycare and a tin full of cookies to school tomorrow! YES! 
I wanted to leave you tonight with a quote I found on Pinterest Friday evening.
         *It's up to you to find beauty in the ugliest days.* 
~ I kept this in mind all weekend and enjoyed being in my home with my husband and beautiful baby girl. Sometimes, the beauty, is surrounding yourself with loved ones and doing what you love to do. Other times, the beauty is making amends and being able to move on from stressful moments in your life. Take from it what you will. 
Good NIGHT!
~Stephanie

Elf

Good Evening bloggers:) Thanksgiving came and went...all to quickly. BUT, I did get a ton accomplished over break! Black Friday shopping was a success, spent a lot of time with family and friends and got ALL of my lamination done. I also cut it ALL out. WHEW! Before the kiddos left for turkey break, we did a math craftivity to review our ten's facts and the commutative property of addition. I purchased the craftivity from Teach Forward. My first grade Title math group had a blast with it!

My school is trying to implement 'I CAN' statements along with the IOWA Core this year and I was trying to figure out, as a Title math teacher, how can I do my part to help my kiddos become responsible, confident learners? I came up with an idea to post the 'I CAN' statements on a bulletin board in my classroom, specific grades K-5. For example, my third grade students are working on subtracting within 1000. I posted the 'I CAN' statement for that standard on the bulletin board. Now this idea is just a work in progress... 

Sophia Lynn was my inspiration for the blog post title: Elf. Her Grandma Scott got her a super adorable red, green and white p.j. set. She looked just like a little elf! LOVE HER!

Have a great week everyone! 
P.S. I'm working on a three part math lesson which will incorporate some literature that will be available in my TpT store soon!
-Steph

Stationery Card

Stationery Card

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Beautiful Day:)

Good MORNING Bloggers! It's a beautiful Sunday morning here in Hornick, IA. A liiiiiiitle chilly outside, but beautiful. I hope everyone had a fantastic week:) Sophia Lynn is 5 1/2 months and she is sitting up and eating banana baby food! I have to give a shout out to Lucie's List! Her blog is so informational and she has a great sense of humor;) ALSO>>> Go Chiefs!!! Andy is at the game today with his dad and brother!
On a different note, I wanted to share a couple of things I've been doing in my Title math classroom to make life a little easier!

*I made six different binders, grade specific (I teach K-5), for all of my IOWA Core info, TpT lessons, CBM math assessments and Accelerated Math scope and sequence sheets. All of the binders are color coded according to the CBM math assessments. This makes it super easy for me to just grab a binder and go. They grade level is also labeled on the side of the binder. 
*Being a Title math teacher, I find myself using a TON of manipulatives most days and I needed a quick way to find the manipulative instead of digging through a big box to find some cubes or something. I made some labels and bought some clear tubs at the dollar store and here is the result: 

 That's all for today:) Have a great week and GOD BLESS!                ~Stephanie

Rain Showers

We are here in Marshalltown, IA this weekend visiting my grandmother. She is loving Sophia:) I currently have one men's sock on and one white women's sock on:/ (don't act like you guys haven't done it;) ha) It's raining here and the leaves are blowing on the ground. I love the rain! It is so soothing:) I'm always inspired when I come to my grandmothers house because she is so creative, it makes me want to do some crafty projects! Check out the dice I made for my kindergarten kiddos! The pics are over on my teaching page! Have a great weekend bloggers! 

CoOkIeS!

Hellooooo!! It's Wednesday! I wanted to share a super yummy pic of some cookies (Nestle recipe) I just made with Sophia! Andy is going to be thrilled when he gets home;) Sophia had a horrible cold a couple of weeks ago so we purchased a Dexbaby Safe Life Universal Crib Wedge from Amazon.com and I highly recommend it! The angle of the wedge helped to drain the snot out of Soph's nose. She slept soooo much better after we put this under her crib mattress. On the TeAcHeR side of things... I'm working on a couple of math lessons that incorporate some literature! Those will be available in my TpT store soonish! Good Night bloggers!

Mistakes

Mistakes.... Too many times I have corrected a student when they have made a mistake. My superintendent sent out a weekly professional development document about mistakes this week. Students can make mistakes. Adults can make mistakes. It is how we learn. More than ever I have seen students who have no problem solving skills. They have a helpless attitude when it comes to solving any problems whether related to math or just daily life. Yesterday I challenged myself to let my students engage in more academic talk and let them talk through their mistakes. One of my Title math fourth grade groups is working on long division. Yesterday I put a long division problem up on the board. The quotient, divisor and dividend were written on color specific card stock paper. The differences, subtrahend and minuend were also written on color specific card stock paper. We talked about why certain numbers were written on the same color of paper and then I asked students to solve a different long division problem, now knowing how those numbers are related. I sat back and listened to my students discuss the steps to solve the problems. My students worked together and worked through their mistakes. It took them the full 20 minutes of our time together, but at the end of class, they had a greater understanding of the process of long division and how the numbers are related. It was amazing to see my students grow from this activity. Have a great weekend! Go HAWKS and go CHIEFS!

Blessings

HELLO! I'm sorry I haven't posted for a while! EEEK! Sophia was sick last week with the flu:/ I was a wreck worrying about her so it was a LONG week- we also had conferences at school. YIKESKERS! First of all, can we just be excited that the Chiefs are 9-0?!?! Secondly, I made theeee BEST soup on Sunday~ Cheeseburger Paradise Soup. Yes. Is it actually paradise, you ask? Yes. Yes, it is. Check it out: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/cheeseburger-paradise-soup. The recipe says to crumble bacon on top of the soup before serving... I put bacon in the soup. Duh- bacon is awesome. Thirdly.... we were busy crafting most of the weekend so those pictures will soon be arriving on my other pages! I titled this post blessings because with Thanksgiving coming up I've been thinking of a math craftivity to have my kiddos do. Math and blessings... how do they mix??? WELL~ When I was in elementary school, I was in Title math. I had a heck of a time understanding any sort of math operation and had zero number sense. I struggled through school and even had a hard time with college math. When I applied for this job, I was nervous! I thought, MATH?! Can I teach MATH?! I have to say, my job is a huge blessing. A blessing in fact that has come full circle. I struggled all those years and now, I teach my kiddos how I would have wanted someone to teach me and you know what? It's working- most of the time;) Count those blessings everyone! 
Have a great week and thank you for checking out my blog:-)

Monday, October 28, 2013

HOLA!!! What a weekend! We had our second wedding in two weeks to attend, Sophia is teething...JoY..:) and the next two days we have conferences at school! I get really...kind of weird...excited about ordering things from Amazon.com and last week when we got home from school there was a PACKAGE! I ordered a Nosefrida: the Snotsucker Nasal Aspirator to use for Sophia instead of the HuGe bulb syringe:/ You actually suck out the snot..yes... YOU put your mouth on the part that attaches to the tube that sucks out those boogers...:/ YIKES. It works VERY well and it isn't as invasive as the bulb syringe.  I'm working on some freebies for all you teachers! So keep your eyes posted! HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

~SS

HeLlO aLl!

I am a mommy to my precious baby girl, a loving wife, an energetic Title math teacher, a Common Core FAN (can you believe it?;),  a sometimes scrapbooker and a DIY enthusiast! This is my EvErYdAy LiFe! ENJOY!