What I’m Wearing Wednesday

I’m linking up with  Ideas by Jivey to share what I’ve been wearing.  I may regret sharing this since these favorite shirts of mine sell out pretty quickly as is…..but they are too good to not share!
I have been obsessed with these shirts on jane.com.





I own this blouse in navy, coral, and blush and whenever they are up I grab a new color!






They are the perfect length and I love the lightweight material.  The button on the sleeve and the pleats at the neck make this shirt work perfectly with dress pants for work or jeans for a fun evening out!


The royal blue and kelly green short sleeve shirts are another gem from jane.com called the Ashleigh blouse.  I just picked up another one in pink!  The little puff on the sleeves is so cute!





My other obsession is my favorite pair of Kendra Scott earrings.  I have been pairing them with just about everything.  My blush Kendyl blouse, my navy Kendyl blouse, my coral Kendyl blouse…..do you see a trend here!





I haven’t quite gotten the hang of the selfie yet (my teenage daughters would be so embarrassed!) and the color of the earrings is hard to see, so here they are from the website.





That’s what I’m wearing this Wednesday….and this week if I’m being honest….it’s a rainbow of Ashleigh and Kendyl blouses over here!  Friday the royal blue one with my pink Kendra Scott earrings is on the rotation for my fun girls’ night to see Move with Derek and Julianne Hough!

Mindsets in the Classroom {Chapter 3}

It’s time to link up again for Chapter 3 of Mindsets in the Classroom.   This chapter was a great refresher on some of the training I received when I became the gifted cluster teacher for my grade level.  Teaching gifted children is all about differentiation…teaching all children is all about differentiation in an ideal world.  So what are some ideas that we can take away to help us be responsive teachers who meet the needs of all of our students?
Here is my chapter summary, followed by a few takeaways from each section of the chapter.





In this chapter the author takes us through the steps for planning differentiated and responsive instruction.

For me personally, this is a huge part of my planning process.  Often when  I preassess my students I find that a great deal of them have already mastered the standards….this is especially true in math with my students who are gifted quantitatively.  Preassessing helps me to determine if there are gaps or skills that students are missing before we continue.  Sometimes I will make center activities and small group lessons that center around these skills.  It also helps me determine which skills will need the most practice with during our math rotations.

How do you handle students who have already mastered the standards you will be teaching?





Curriculum Compacting is something that I learned about in my gifted cluster training.  If I am being 100% honest, it is still the thing I struggle with the most.  What to do with the students that compact out while I still need to teach 28 other students. 


I would love to hear from those of you that use curriculum compacting successfully and how you make it work!





Again, in my gifted cluster classroom this is something that is happening often.  I have an extension menu that I created last year to go with the curriculum frameworks we teach first quarter and my goal is to finish making menus for the rest of the quarters this summer.  Here is what my first quarter extension menu looks like.





When I create an extension menu I try to incorporate math, ELA, science and social studies.  I also try to use the multiple intelligences so that students have a variety of ways to express what they have learned.


Do you use extension menus in the classroom?  Would you be willing to share them?  Maybe we can all swap ideas and avoid recreating the wheel!


Another way that I enrich is through the use of Genius Hour!  Once I get Genius Hour started in my classroom, I allow students who are early finishers or who have already mastered something have extra time to work on their Genius Hour project.  You can read all about Genius Hour HERE.


And check out the Genius Hour Starter Pack I created by clicking the pic below!










For me this part of the chapter was a huge affirmation!  I am the teacher that when the majority of my class does poorly on an assignment, I ask myself where I went wrong.  If they didn’t get it, that is on me.  I need to go back and I need to try it differently.  It drives me C.R.A.Z.Y. when teachers put assignments in the grade book that most of the class did poorly on. 
 
Here are some of my favorite ways to do formative assessments on my students:

• Plickers- my kiddos go crazy when I pull out the plicker cards.  The website is super easy to use and I love that I can control everything through the app on my phone!  If you aren’t using Plickers you NEED to check it out!
• Learning Road Trip- this is Meet Miss Parker’s cute take on fist to five.  I have the posters hanging in the front of my room and we use this often.  I love to use it to get a quick gauge of where they are before we partner up or before I make small groups.  I heard a great idea in a training to snap a quick pic of the number they are holding up so that you can refer back to it when making your small groups!
• Exit Tickets- I love using short exit tickets, especially after introducing a new concept.  I check them over at night and use them to group kiddos for reteach time and station work.  Here is an example of an exit ticket I used after introducing equivalent fractions.

Chapter 3 was a great review for me of things learned during training two summers ago. I definitely needed a reminder of the kind of responsive and student centered classroom I want to have.


I hope that you will link up with us as we continue to learn about transforming our classrooms and schools!

Monday Made It {Photo Booth Fun!}

Today I’m linking up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It!  I absolutely love this linky because it helps keep me on track with all of my crafting goals for the summer! 

Today’s project was a bit spur of the moment!  I have been wanting to set up a “photo booth,” at Meet the Teacher night for a few years, but I always seem to run out of time.  Yesterday, we were at Michael’s and my daughter spotted a wall full of these fun wooden photo booth props…

The best part was they were all 40% off!  Each piece was either 50 or 74 cents!  My youngest daughter turns 15 tomorrow and we thought, what a fun idea to set up a little photo booth fun to occupy her friends….and of course then I can reuse everything for my classroom!

We picked out some fun paint colors and used sponge brushes…it makes the painting so quick and easy!  I had a bunch of left over Christmas party paper plates that came in handy for painting.  I always throw the random left over seasonal paper plates in the crafting bin!

Today I ran by Dollar Tree to see if they had a few more fun props to add to the basket.  I ended up filling an entire basket with fun hats, some fairy wings, a glittery microphone, a coconut bra, a grass skirt and leis. 

We plan on hanging some colored butcher paper on the wall with a banner that says, “Happy Birthday Lindsey,” and the photo booth fun will be ready to go!  I think they are going to have a blast and it was all under $20!  Now to think up a hash tag for the girls to use when they post their pics!

Head on over to 4th Grade Frolics and link up your own Monday Made It or just see what everyone else made!

Mindsets in the Classroom- Chapter 1

Every once in a while something comes along that changes you….for the better.  Several months ago, my husband introduced me to the research of Carol Dweck.  Dweck is the researcher behind the concept of Growth Mindset…and let me tell you…it rocked my world!  (You can read a previous post about Mindset HERE).  I tore through Dweck’s book and then set about finding out as much as I could about how to introduce this concept to my students….enter the book Mindset in the Classroom.  I was so excited when I found this book and couldn’t wait to go through it with all of my bloggy buddies.  I do hope that you will join us on this amazing journey toward changing the mindsets of our students, staff and community. 


Today, I’m linking up with my bloggy buddies at Hello Sunshine for chapter 1 of our study.  Head on over there to get the reading schedule and link up with us to be entered into a drawing for a gift card!




www.mindsetworks.com is a great website that has FREE resources for teachers to use to introduce and teach students about growth mindset.


I created this little graphic to help talk to people about the differences between the mindsets.  Click on the pic to download it.





Head on over to Hello Sunshine, grab the chapter summary frame and link up with us!  I can’t wait to hear everyone’s thoughts and ideas!

Parent Communication

This morning I’m linking up with the amazing Ashley and Angie for their monthly linky 2gether We Are Better!  This month is all things communication. 

Nothing can make you or break you in parents eyes like your communication with them.  I try right from the beginning of the year to be open and available to my parents.  I live in the same neighborhood I teach in, so I am pretty accessible to parents.  It isn’t hard to get my cell phone number and many students will figure out which house in the neighborhood is mine.  I haven’t had any problems in the last 10 years and I think it’s because parents know that I am an open book!

One of my favorite tools to use for parent communication is an app called Remind.

I love it because it allows you to text parents right from your cell phone, but since the text sends through the app your cell phone number is protected and parents won’t get caught up in those dreaded group texts.  In fact, they can’t respond at all.  There is a feature that will allow you to chat if that is what you need!

So, how does it work…..

This step is super easy, and a great feature is that you can add multiple classes.  So, if you are departmentalized and see several classes you can add each one as a separate group!

I share my class code at Curriculum Night at the beginning of the year and in my class handbook that goes home.  At Curriculum Night I have a slide in my presentation with my class code and I have parents take out their cell phones and sign up right there.  This was my favorite part of the Remind app!  I don’t have to spend time each year entering all of my parent’s names and numbers, they text the number and code and it automatically enrolls them in the class!  Piece of cake!

I love this because I always have my phone with me.  So, if I leave school for the day and realize that I forgot to remind my kiddos to wear red for the school assembly the next day I can just grab my cell phone (not while I’m driving home of course!) and send a quick reminder.  Parents are much more likely to check their text messages than emails on their phone, it’s so much easier! 

I also love that you can schedule reminders to be sent.  I like to schedule them for dinner time, when I know that parents have usually left work for the day and are settling in with their families for the evening.

I try to sit down when I’m planning my week and set reminder texts for the week.  The night before music class I send a reminder to bring their recorders.  The night before library I will remind them that books are due.  During testing I sent quick encouraging reminders about testing snacks and healthy breakfasts!  It’s such a great way to send something quick and parents feel so connected and in the know about what is happening at school!

My daughter’s high school teachers use the app with their students.  If you teach students older than 13, you can have the students sign up as well.  They can receive reminders about homework and assignments that are due. 

The app is also great for clubs and sports teams.  My daughter’s dance teacher uses it to send reminders to the different groups and their student council advisor used it to send reminders about meetings and events!

I hope that you found this helpful and if you haven’t given Remind a try check it out for next school year….I just know that you will love it as much as I do!

Currently May

I cannot believe that it is May already…honestly where has the time gone.  It seems like every year they fly by at a faster rate.

Actually, a math teacher explained that it’s all about ratios.  When you are 8 and year is one eighth of your life and that feels like an eternity.  When you are 40 a year is one fortieth….it flies by at warp speed.

I am in disbelief that after 13 more days I will have a junior and sophomore in high school.

So, another month has flown by and it’s time for another Currently with Farley!

Listening:  I was a sobbing mess after the loss of McDreamy.  I wanted to remember happier times so I’ve been watching earlier seasons on Netflix. 

Loving:  Have you ever shopped on Jane.com (the web address is actually veryjane.com) they also have an app for your iPhone or iPad.  I am loving buying cute tops on there for great prices!  When I get paid through PayPal by TpT, I leave a litlle bit of money behind when I transfer it to my bank.  When I see something I love on Jane I buy it using my “leftover,” money in PayPal and it’s like I didn’t even pay for it!

Thinking: I can’t believe we are down to the last 13 days, which brings me to my Needing which is to start on my slideshow.  I still need to get all of my photos uploaded….it’s going to be quite the chore!

Wanting:  I am in love with my Kendra Scott earrings and I am obsessing over another pair….maybe Mother’s Day?

Summer Yes:  FCA Camp…we go every year, my husband is in charge of the basketball camp.  We stay in a dorm and eat dining hall food, a great reminder of why we worked so hard in college and I get to spend time with other coaches’ wives who totally get my life!

Summer Hope:  I am hoping still to get to Vegas for the conference.  I applied to teach summer school for the extra money so we will see!

Summer Dream:  I am also hoping that summer school could maybe pay for a much needed family vacation!

I’m off to check out everyone else’s Currentlys!  I love seeing what everyone is up to!  Head on over to Farley’s blog and link up to let everyone know what you are Currently up to!

Five For Friday

It’s Friday, There are only 2 more Fridays to go, and I am exhausted.  You know that saying…..





That is me!  13 days left of school.  I have 20 boys this year in my class of 31 and I am feeling it!  I love them all dearly but they are high energy right now and wearing me out! 
It’s Friday and it’s a miracle that I’m still awake so I’m linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday!






Tonight I am wishing I was in Vegas.  I love the New Kids and I’m not ashamed to admit it.  I see their show every time they come to town and my friend and I celebrated our 40th birthdays last summer by seeing their show and going to the after party in Vegas last year!





Tonight they kick off their Main Event tour in Vegas and I so wish I was there! Only 11 more days and I get to see them live!





This week was my award’s banquet for Pride of Peoria.  It was such an honor to be chosen and even more of an honor to have my name added to a list of teachers I have looked up to for years. 







I took the day off on Wednesday to take my daughter to get her braces off.  She can’t stop smiling!!!  After the braces came off we stopped to get a pack of gum….it’s been 2 and a half years!  Then we went for a late breakfast before she had to get to school (can’t miss math class)!  I love the little stolen moments like that…I don’t have many of them left!





While I was out on Wednesday, I had my sub read Miss Nelson is Missing.  Then they wrote their very own versions called, Mrs. Wood is Missing.  They were hilarious and creative and I am amazed by how well they know me.  They had me on Broadway, making a movie in Hollywood, eating gluten free pastry in France, and at a super secret teacher meeting of NUTPOT (Never Underestimate The Power Of Teachers)!






Thursday was field day….it was also the first 100 degree day of the season!  I came home hot and exhausted, but it was worth it.  We are once again the Tug of War Champions of third grade!  It’s quite the legacy my classes are building!





It’s been a crazy week and I am bracing myself for 13 more days of craziness!  Now I’m off to Doodle Bugs to check out what everyone else was up to this week!