One of the easiest ways for me to get back into the blogging routine is to join a great linky party.  So I'm linking up with 2 today.

First up is a new one from the Teaching Trio.
I love getting to know bloggers on a personal and professional level and this linky is a fun way to do that.
Have to do:
My daughter turns 6 in 2 weeks (boy time flies) and I need to order her cake this week.  Laundry is boring but a necessity.  Prepping lunches for my daughter and I is something that I'm really trying to stick to this year.  For one, I don't want to always be rushing in the morning.  Also, I want to make sure that we don't get into a rut eating the same thing everyday!

Hope to do:
My church is starting a class on the Bible in 90 days.  Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to make the class, but I downloaded the reading plan and am excited to begin this journey.  I know that it's going to be intense, but I'm looking forward to hearing what God has to say to me in these 90 days.  Has anyone done this challenge?
I also want to get ahead in lesson planning.  So far I have ELA, and Social Studies planned for the next few weeks.  I need to get math, ELD, and writing done.

Happy to do:
I woke up this morning and reminded my daughter that today is Grandparents' Day and she was so excited to do something for them.  She has given them lots of extra hugs and kisses and "let them" watch a movie with her.  We're headed out to dinner as soon as she comes home from the park with my dad....such a blessing!

Next up is Mrs. Laffin's Laughings Peek at my Week


This week will be my first full week since adding 4 new students last week and 3 more just for math.  We had to make a combo class so I got some extra 3rd graders (I still only have 22 kids so I'm not complaining).  They've transitioned well, but we spent time last week getting to know each other and reviewing routines.  This week we'll be hitting the ground running.

Math:
We're still learning multiplication.  This week will be spent introducing the commutative and distributive properties.  My kiddos have a good understanding of the meaning of multiplication so I'm hoping these lessons are easily accessible for them.

ELA:
We're introducing informational writing as a response to the 2 texts we've been reading.  My kiddos wrote a short paragraph last week so I could see where they're at in their writing life.  I'm excited to begin actual instruction in writing.  We'll also continue to practice close reading.  The curriculum that we're using (EngageNY) is somewhat repetitive in close reading, but the kiddos are grasping the steps and purpose so I'm hoping to start releasing the process soon.

Social Studies:
We're currently studying geography and this week we'll be looking at the 4 regions of California.  My kiddos love working on their lapbook and thanks to our Nancy Fetzer lecture notes, have a great overview of the topic.

Word Study:
This will be our first week with differentiated word study.  We spent the last 2 weeks using a simple list just to introduce word sorts.  This will be my first year following Words Their Way and so far I'm loving it.  I have 3 groups which I'm hoping isn't too hard to manage.

Reader's Workshop:
Like I said above, my district is using EngageNY for ELA, but we were previous all about balanced literacy.  I went to a fabulous training this summer about balanced literacy and I am all about Reader's Workshop.  This week, we're looking at different types of fiction and nonfiction as well as reasons readers abandon books.

I still have to plan ELD so I can't share what we're doing there, but I'm looking forward to a great week!  Off to dinner to celebrate my fabulous parents for being such great grandparents!  Have a great week!


I'm slowly getting back into a school routine.  I love linking up with Holly to share what's working in my classroom and at home.
This week I wanted to share how I use my clip chart with Class Dojo.  We use a clip chart school-wide and I had never used one before beginning at this school in January.  Over the summer I had time to think about how I could use this management tool with Class Dojo, which I love.  Here's what I came up with:
In this picture you can see my clip chart.  I have somewhat of a sports theme going in my classroom and I decided to make my clip chart line up with that.  All the kids start at "Game Time" and can move up or down for there (pretty standard clip chart).

At the end of the day, if they end up on MVP, they get to add a sticker to their clip.  I just use these foam stickers that I found in one of my cabinets.
Also at the end of the day, I have my clip chart monitor tell me who clipped up to what level.  Here is where Class Dojo comes in!
I've blogged about Class Dojo a few times which you can read HERE and you can click on the Dojo picture above to go directly to the site.

Getting back to what I do.  When the clip chart monitor reads me the numbers from the clips that have moved up or down, I simply go into Class Dojo and award points.  I've added the behaviors of clip up on the positive side and clip down on the negative sive.  If they get up to MVP, they earn 3 Dojo points, All-Star is worth 2 Dojo points, and Score is worth 1 Dojo point.  If they end the day under Game Time, they lose Dojo points.  Ending on Foul means they lose 1 point, Strikeout loses 2 points, and benched loses 3 points.  My students earn rewards and reward tags for every 10 Dojo points.

So far this system is working great for me and my kiddos.  I'm supporting the school wide behavior plan while also making it my own.  Do you use Class Dojo and/or a clip chart?  How's your behavior management plan working for you?


It's week three for me with the kiddos.  Last Wednesday, we were told that the district said our numbers were too low so there would need to be combo classes.  This had all of us stressed.  On Friday we found out that it's going to be a 3/4 combo.  I won't be teaching it, but I will be getting 4 more students.  Can't complain since that will only bring me up to 22, but I'll be spending some time this week reteaching rules and procedures in depth.
Math:
I plan to take this week to introduce math games.  I really want to use the Guided Math approach after reading Laney Sammons' book this summer, but I've been struggling with doing that while using the EngageNY curriculum.  With the addition of my 4 new friends, I thought this would be a great time to introduce some multiplication games so I can better implement Guided Math in the future.
Language Arts:
We're also using the EngageNY language arts curriculum.  This week we'll be reviewing close reading and answering text-dependent questions.
Reader's Workshop:
I spend an hour in the morning using the EngageNY curriculum, but I also want my kids to be reading just right books that interest them, so I also do reader's workshop in the afternoon.  This week we're focusing on genre.
Writing:
We're beginning the year with informational writing, so I'm tying it into our social studies curriculum.  I will be using Nancy Fetzer to help my kiddos become better writers.  I love that there are hand motions to help with the structure of writing as well as a variety of ways to front load information if needed (which my kiddos do).
Social Studies:
We're going to be looking at the physical features of California's geography.  We'll be making a lapbook for this unit and I can't wait to share it when we're done!

This is the earliest I've ever started school and can't believe that September is here!  That means it's time for Currently!


Lifetime movies always get me over the weekend.  There's usually a theme and all the movies are either good or really bad that you have to watch!  Loving that my baby is a kindergartner and is so happy.  Here she is on the first day of school last week:
I love living in southern California, but I'm over sweating all the time...it ain't pretty! I'm looking forward to crisp, cool (not cold!) fall weather!  Finally, for my 3 trips, I'd love to go to Paris...such a romantic city, the Bahamas...everyone says it's so beautiful and so much fun, and any cruise!  Maybe one day I'll take a cruise to the Bahamas and get these 2 bucket list items checked off!

Finally, I was blessed to be contacted by The Mailbox to host a giveaway a while ago.  Here are the winners:
a Rafflecopter giveaway


Back to Top