More Button Business

Just to be 100% sure that I am not breaking any code of conduct for borrowing images, I adjusted my button a little bit. I tried using an actual image of my Dr. Top sneakers, but it was way to grainy, so I decided to just use the overlays within Picmonkey. I think it came out okay. Even if it doesn't include a sneaker, I still think it's a good match.

In case anyone else has the burning desire to create a blog button, I followed this tutorial and it was pretty simple. I am by no means a coding expert, but I was able to follow the directions and figure it out. 

Now what do you think?

My Button, My Button, Just Made a Bloggy Button

Pete the Cat reference....anyone...??

I just followed a tutorial and made my very own blogger button since I was asked to submit one for the Southern California Kindergarten Conference. It's not super creative, but I think it works and it goes along with my blog name. My only question is (for any experts out there)...Is it okay that I just googled a photo of an adidas sneaker to use or is that a image grabbing no no? I don't want to submit it to the conference if I did something I shouldn't have. Not that I want to go back and redo it, but I could take an actual photo of one of my shoes if necessary. 

What do you think of my button?

It's kind of lame, but I think that is the best I can do...

Help a Sneaker Out!

My colleague/friend and I will be presenting at the Southern California Kindergarten Conference and there is going to be a blogger meet up! I just got an email asking if I have a "blogger button" that I can share with the organizer and I don't! Anyone out there in blogland willing to help me make one?! I'm thinking something with a sneaker and an apple would be fitting. 

If you can help please comment or email me at sneakerteacher26@googlemail.com.

Thank you!!

Professor

Towards the end of the summer I submitted an application to be an adjunct professor in the ESOL/bilingual endorsement program at PSU. Since completing my doctorate,  I have really wanted to start teaching at the university level in addition to teaching at the elementary level. I really enjoy my part time employment status, so I felt like teaching one or maybe two college courses would be a great compliment to my Kindergarten job because it would still allow me to be home in the afternoons with my girls. And, as a grad student, I always appreciated professors who were still practicing teachers.

About a month ago, I completed a survey on literacy instruction that was sent out by a professor at PSU. The survey asked for follow-up phone interviews, so I had a brief chat with the researcher/professor. As we chatted, I mentioned my dissertation and how I make efforts to teach reading in culturally responsive ways even while using a core reading program. At that mention, the professor asked if I was interested in teaching at the university level and I said yes, so we discussed the prospect of having me teach a course that is part of the reading endorsement program.

Yesterday, I heard back about both opportunities and I am now slotted to teach Second Language Acquisition and Development for K-12 Educators in the winter, which is a hybrid (partially online) course and also Culturally Responsive Literacy Instruction in the spring, which is entirely online.

I'm so excited!

The winter course is from 6:40-9:20 PM, which works out really well in terms of sharing childcare with my husband and the spring one will allow me to work/grade from home, which again works out really well.

Woot! Woot!

The Daily 5-My Style

This week I decided to finally roll out The Daily 5 with my kiddos. Except, it's not The Daily 5, there are only 3 choices. And, I decided to just ::gasp:: let them do it...without all the stamina building and mini lessons.

I'm such a rebel.

Actually, I was just itching to give my students choices. 

I am lucky enough to have a parent helper almost every day of the week. [Can I get a woot woot!?] So my small group reading instruction has been going really well. I took a different approach this year and decided to only pull each group once per week, so that instead of rushing through the activities in a matter of 7 minutes, I can spend a leisurely 20-25 minutes with each group. We review our letter sounds, practice some phonemic awareness activities, read, and play a game. We are super productive. While I run my small group, the other students usually have iPad time, but I don't want them to get burned out on using the same apps all the time.

Staring on Monday, I introduced the three choices:

Read to Self

Word Work

Work on Writing

I will probably introduce Read to Someone and Listen to Reading later in the year, but I felt it was easier to start small and then expand.

Read to Self= Choose a book from one of the book bins (Froggy or Mo Willems books right now). Read the book cover to cover. Reading includes reading the pictures. If you finish 1 book, you may select another one.

Work on Writing=Take a blank sheet of white paper and draw a picture. Tell the parent helper about your picture (parent can write down what child says). Then, try to label your picture or write words that go with your picture.

Word Work= iPad practice time using Little Speller, Montessori Crosswords, or Reading Raven.

These are the Daily 5 posters that I downloaded. 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Daily-5-Posters-1268107

And the great thing about all the teacher created Daily 5 resources is that they're FREE!

There is so much angst out there about how Kindergarten is the new First Grade and how Kindergarten is no longer developmentally appropriate, so I figured, rather than making my Daily 3 yet another time of day with lots of rules and instruction, it would be great to just let the kiddos enjoy reading and writing.

How about that?

Pick a book that looks good and enjoy it.

Draw a picture and tell a grownup about it.

These are things that are so developmentally important and they should be part of Kindergarten.

Eventually, (maybe in a few weeks), I plan to introduce some kind of check in system so that each child can choose daily which of the Daily 3 he/she wants to do, but so they have to do each activity at least once over the course of three days. Then on Friday, they can pick their favorite and do that activity for a second time. While keeping in mind that choices motivate students and help keep them invested in their learning, I still want to make sure they are practicing a range of skills. I will figure out a way to make sure they are still feeling in charge of their choices.

Also, I will continue to introduce more materials (more books that are decodable, more writing materials etc) to keep things interesting.

Last year I assigned students activities during small group time and I had a lot of management issues. I didn't have as much parent help, which also makes a huge difference, but I am hopeful that by allowing students to choose what they want to work on, they will work harder and develop good independent working skills.

I feel like this is somewhat of a learn as I go experiment. Rather than planning mini lessons, I will teach/coach as questions come up and make this block of time more about meeting students where they are at rather than pushing for everyone to be in the same place doing the same thing at the same time.

When you use something like Daily 5 or Whole Brain Teaching, do you modify the instructions to meet the needs of your students? 

Like a Boss

I just started reading Teach Like a Champion.

Have you read it? 

I'm reading it for a teacher book club that's being run through a Facebook group. How cool is that? Prior to having my own kids, I initiated book clubs at both my former and current schools and they were so much fun. We took turns brining snacks, chose interesting books to read, and had a fun time discussing the books and getting to know one another better. As a mama to two little girlies, it's really not feasible to participate in a book club after school. Although I will miss having the in-person experience with people I actually know, I think it will be fun to try out a virtual book club. 

So far I have only read the introduction and that will be discussed on the Facebook page starting Monday. I am looking forward to participating from home via my phone, or iPad, or computer. If I am really productive, maybe I will even post my thoughts on the blog too. 

Do you think YOU teach like a champion? 

This year I just feel like I've hit a groove. I look forward to teaching and feel like things are going really well in the classroom. Not all the time, not everyday, but it's a different feeling than last year. 

Smooth

This year I did something different for "turn and talk" partner practice and I am loving it so far. When I assign my kiddos carpet spots for reading instruction, I always spread them out so they are not sitting directly next to someone if possible and that is particularly important for my friends who have a hard time not touching their carpet neighbors and who struggle to keep their hands to themselves. I always make sure that my friends who have a hard time paying attention sit up close to me so I can easily redirect them and I try not to put kiddos next to their friends on the carpet because I don't want them distracting each other. All of these decisions work for instruction time and story time, but then when I went to create partnerships for turn and talk, I realized that where I assigned kiddos on the carpet did not lend itself to good partnerships.

One of my team members mentioned that she had her students sit in rows so that turn and talk was really easy and that inspired me with an idea. I assigned my students "partner spots" in addition to "reading spots." Reading spots are where they sit during instruction and those are the spots where I have them spread out and placed strategically so they will listen well. Then, I created partnerships based on kids who will work well together (sometimes friends, sometimes students who both speak the same native language, sometimes students who are both at the same language level in their English acquisition) and taught the class how to calmly and quickly transition from reading spots to partner spots.

When they sit in partner spots, they sit directly next to their partners and I have four straight rows. We practiced scooting on our bottoms to face our partners and then scooting back to face me when they hear my bell. After each story, I have the class transition to their partner spots so I can ask comprehension questions about the text. I only give them a count of 10 to move and they are doing such a fabulous job it literally impresses me every time. I am hearing everyone talk and share ideas with their partners and I am hearing students offering correct answers based on the texts we've read. It's so exciting! I thought for sure having two different spots would be a challenge, but it's been great. They are attentive during stories and then have a chance to talk and share with someone who they work well with.

The first few weeks of school, before I introduced turn and talk, I felt like my students were not getting an opportunity to talk about the stories we read because I really try to continue reading without stopping for each and every story that students want to tell. I don't want to have the flow of instruction interrupted with comments about every aspect of the story, but I do want my students to be able to express their ideas and share their personal connections to our texts. Since introducing partner spots, I have felt that they have really been actively involved in our comprehension practice compared to years past.

It's so much fun to see kiddos actively engaged. My next step is to ask a colleague to come in and specifically watch a few kiddos to listen to their exact responses in order to check for accuracy and story comprehension. Sometimes things look like they are really working from afar, but then up close maybe students aren't actually on task, so I want to investigate further so I can make additional changes if necessary.

A Tale of Two Awesomes

On Friday we had a statewide in-service day, which meant we did not have school. We don't have any formal in-service, so we can either take the day as a day off or find something to do for professional development. I lucked out because Mr. Sneaker was away in Germany/Austria, so his mom came to help me out with the girls for the week. Having MIL Sneaker staying with me means that I have childcare in the afternoon after daycare, which I typically don't. So, I was able to register for a conference that was all day Friday and all day Saturday. It was called the 5th Annual Teaching with Purpose Conference and this year it focused on Culturally Responsive Instruction. My researchy idol Geneva Gay was a keynote speaker and I got to MEET her! ::swoon:: Her work was fundamental in my dissertation and I seriously felt like I was meeting a celebrity! She is really a professor at University of Washington-Seattle, but to me she is GENEVA GAY, ROCKSTAR! I love going to teachery conferences and I left feeling really inspired. I still need to kind of collect my thoughts about what I learned, but I definitely want to post about it. 

Also, today I had 16 kids in my class. Three were absent (and they happened to be a few of my more active students) and then one went home early for an appointment. Let me just say this...teaching 16 children is a DREAM. I had the best day and I wish every day could be like today. I just felt like we were in the grove. They were engaged with the story from the reading program (The Little Red Hen), they were totally on it when we did partner talk for questions about the story, everyone knew the answers to the questions and even my shy kiddos who don't usually speak were talking, not to mention that they transitioned to and from their partners spots amazingly well, and I was able to work with two small groups without interruptions because I had a parent helper.

Fab-u-lous! 

Today was an I heart teaching kind of day. 

And that, my friends is all I can write at the moment because Baby Sneaker just woke up fussing for mama. But, stay tuned for more!

Good Reads

I just got my copy in the mail! 

Super excited for Mr. Halpern and the publication of his first book! 

Yes, I said first book. I have high expectations for you, buddy!

And, I would love to follow in Mr. Halpern's footsteps because I've always wanted to write a book!

Can't wait to get in bed with this gem tonight! I have a feeling I will probably read the whole thing in one sitting...unless I fall asleep, which has everything to do with my mommyhood/kindergarten teacher exhaustion and nothing to do with the book content because I'm sure it's hilarious. 

Go get yourself a copy! 

Bazinga!

Catching Up

Entering the fourth week of school, I finally felt prepared. The first few weeks are so hard because I always feel like I am doing everything in my power just to stay afloat. I only plan for one day at a time because we usually end up not getting through everything and I bump activities from one day to the next. I think I have finally settled into the year, I've gotten used to being back at work and doing the work/mom balance, and I've finally got a little rhythm going.

What's going great so far this year...

• So far I have 20 students. That number is amazing compared to last year and I really hope it sticks. 

• Whole Brain Teaching. It's amazing. I worried that I would forget to use it or I wouldn't do it correctly, but it's super easy and very effective. I wish I had tried it out sooner. 

• Brain Breaks! I am using gonoodle.com for brain breaks on a daily basis and the kiddos love it. I am also incorporating a lot of movement and songs into my instruction and that just makes the day fun.

• Daily play time. Yes, I brought it back and I am so glad. The kids LOVE to have play time and it is amazing to have 15 minutes of time to just watch them in action. It's really fun to see what skills they demonstrate through play. Also, play time is really helpful with accountability for behavior. If students don't work during work time or don't follow directions, we use some of play time to practice those behaviors correctly. I only keep them out for part of play time though, because I am just really firm this year that they need to play and that play is the right thing to do. 

• My idea for a revamped math plan that better aligns with CCSS was actually used by the district in the creation of our new pacing guide (woot woot!). I am feeling really good about teaching math in units instead of spiraling lessons that touch on something new everyday. 

And, now, for my awesome news...

After working very hard on some writing this summer while having a newborn and a toddler at home, I found out recently that an article I wrote was accepted for publication in The Reading Teacher journal. I am beyond excited because when I did my dissertation research, I really wanted to make my work pubic in a journal that was focused on reading instruction, not just focused on multicultural education. My article talks about using culturally responsive practices within the context of implementing a core reading program. I'm not sure when it will be published, but I am SO excited. I set my sights on The Reading Teacher as my journal of choice and even with a 15% acceptance rate, my work was selected. Can I get a mighty OH YEAH!?

And, my colleague and I have been accepted to present about our work with iPads at the Southern California Kindergarten Conference in February! We are pumped! Double OH YEAH!!

First Day-The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Oh the first day of school. 

Is it okay to say I'm glad it's over?! 

I am always so stressed out by the thought of a room full of 5 year olds that I don't know yet, but it turned out to be a pretty good day. 

The GOOD

I rolled out some Whole Brain Teaching and I thought it worked pretty well. I saw smiles and heard some giggles. I introduced Class, Yes and the rules. I'm not totally convinced that Class, Yes is the ONLY attention getter I will need. I typically use a bell as the quiet signal and I was hoping to just replace the bell with Class, Yes, but I think that at certain times I will need something else. I noticed that when I wanted attention after playtime, I had a few stragglers who were not on board with the Class, Yes.  

I decided to only use three of the five rules because I don't expect Kindergartners to always raise their hand when they want to speak and to always raise their hand when they want to leave their seat. Those rules may work for some, but I wasn't a fan. So, My three rules are:

Follow Directions Quickly

Make Smart Choices

and

Keep Your Dear Teacher Happy.

I think that about covers it. 

Tomorrow I plan to roll out the Mighty Oh Yeah and the Mighty Groan in conjunction with the Have You Filled a Bucket book. I am not using the scoreboard because I plan to incorporate the Mighty Oh Yeah and Might Groan with my class buckets. When the kiddos earn pom poms, we'll do a Mighty Oh Yeah and when they lose pom poms, we'll do a Mighty Groan. 

I tried glue sponges this year and the kiddos used them for a Kissing Hand project. Success! Not messy, not difficult to use, and easy to put away. Love it! 

I have 19 kiddos (so far) this year. That number is SO refreshing compared to the 28 I had last year. I really hope our numbers stay that small because it just works SO much better. 

I gave the kiddos about 15 minutes to play today using pattern blocks. It was SO fun to see what they made and to listen to their descriptions. I am ADAMANT that I NEED to incorporate play on a daily basis this year. Being the mom of a toddler has readjusted my mindset about Kindergarten and it's fueling my desire to shake things up a bit in the classroom and make things more developmentally appropriate. 

I gave out a little "getting to know your child" sheet at our supply drop and got 10 back today. I love the information I got about my students and am really glad I used those inventories this year. 

The BAD

I did not take any photos. Now that I am writing about our day, I wish I had some photos to share. 

3 kiddos did not come to school today. Since we are doing so much with expectations, routines etc, I hate it when kiddos join late. 

One of our buses was THIRTY minutes late. That was not fun particularly because I need to take a little time to pump during my school day and since I do not want to take a break during student contact time, I hold off until the kiddos leave. I am already going a long time just waiting until 10:40, yet I had to go an additional 40 minutes. 

The UGLY

Nothing was really that bad, but my little Sneakers gave me a rough night last night. Baby Sneaker who typically goes down at 8:30 was not asleep until 12:30, then Little Sneaker woke up at 4, then Baby Sneaker woke up at 4:45 to eat. My alarm went off at 5:30 and I have been going since...Not the best night of sleep leading up to the first day! 

How was your first day? 

She Works Hard For The Money

After dropping the girls at daycare, I headed over to my classroom and spent 4 glorious hours organizing, cleaning, arranging, and prepping. I started to feel a HUGE sense of urgency given that inservice starts on Monday and we have families coming for a meet and greet on Wednesday evening. Because I am half time, I need to participate in whatever is going on from 8-12 and often we have a training or meeting in the morning followed by time to work in our classrooms in the afternoon. I need to leave at noon to pick up the girls, so if I have obligations in the morning that leaves me NO time to be in my room getting it ready. I feel like I got a ton accomplished today and I would no longer be embarrassed to have families enter my classroom in it's current condition. Yes, I still have more to do, but at least there are no longer boxes and clutter all over every surface. 

Mr. Sneaker found me three more of the plastic magazine bins at Target and I borrowed some of the ones that are supposed to be the kids' work boxes just so that I could have all the majority of my books put away. Wouldn't it be great if I only needed 18 work boxes (meaning I only get 18 kids in my class!?) Let's cross our fingers for that! I figure for any additional kiddos I get beyond 18, I will just borrow back the buckets and put my books somewhere else. I still have three categories of books that are currently homeless, but I can always put those away. 

The shelf to the right is meant to be the shelf that kids can access to find books for their book bins (and I may have decided to just use their work buckets as their book bins instead of having an additional bin just for their books). I am thinking that I will make some sort of curtain to hang over the top two shelves because I don't want the kiddos to be overwhelmed with too many choices. As they learn to appropriately care for books I can always give them access to more. And having a curtain is a good idea in any event because we all know that you need to put all of our teachery stuff on lockdown when kids and families come in for a meet and greet so that the almost kinders and their siblings do not proceed to take things out in order to play on the carpet. I so much enjoy setting up the room, but I have learned not to have too much out because inevitably it gets touched, moved, or messed with and 

I. Hate. That. 

The blue baskets on top contain books that I use for read alouds, books I use for teaching expectations at the beginning of the year, and my multicultural books. I don't plan to give kiddos access to those for reading independently. The two large bins on the bottom shelf are easy readers and sight word books. The bins on the top two shelves are all of my themed books. I may or may not let kids read those independently, but in any event those will be used for specific instructional purposes rather than out all the time. 

A good chunk of time today was spent creating my reading wall and putting up the letters. That really is not a job meant for one person to tackle on their own, but I went for it because I needed it to be done. My whiteboard just got installed today and since I requested to have it moved to the left a bit, there is now a huge discolored section to the right of it. I was told that will be fixed next week, so I am going to hold off on covering/decorating that wall until next week. Since I moved the iPad cart to the right of the board, I think I will post the iPad rules right above the cart. Then the rest of that wall is dedicated to the reading focus wall and my pocket chart where I display the letter of the week. 

I am not someone who needs everything to be super perfect, I am more of a this works and I have a lot to do so it's good enough for me kind of person. I really don't like how the paper isn't nice and smooth against the wall, but there were screws poking out of the wall, but not screws that could be removed, so I just covered them. 

It's good enough. 

Our sight words will be added on the green paper underneath the letters. I am not quite sure what I am going to put on the blue paper yet. 

I took a few panoramic shots to get a view of the whole room. 

I feel much better about approaching next week with a room that is at least decent. 

I am hoping I get a class list on Monday.

I am also hoping that I do not have 28 students like last year. 

Have you already started school? How is it going?

If not, are you ready?

Little by Little

Today was my girls' first day at their new daycare and I am happy to report that it went well for both of them. Of course I was concerned that Little Sneaker would cry or look at me and say "Mama, don't leave" like she often does at bedtime when I am making my way toward the door. She happily joined the group and began coloring, so Mr. Sneaker and I just snuck away quietly. When I picked her up, the other kiddies were laying down to begin nap time and she was playing with moon dough or something like that at one of the tables. Her teacher took to her wash her hands and then she sat back down at the table. I told her it was time to go and she said "I don't want to go.  I am doing dis" and pointed to her moon dough. Baby Sneaker was asleep when I went to the infant room and she was being held in the rocking chair. She stayed asleep when I put her in her carseat and stayed asleep when I took her out of the carseat and put her in her crib once we got home. Right now they are both asleep upstairs. I would say that was a successful first day. 

While the girls were at daycare, I headed over to my school to commence child free working. On the one hand, I feel like I got a lot done. On the other hand, I feel like there is an infinite amount of work to do and I will never be done. 

::sigh::

Here is what I worked on today...

Before

In progress

Complete

This math wall will be switched out for each new topic I cover. At the beginning of the year I do a unit on counting and cardinality and cover the numbers 1-10. Then I do geometry (2D & 3D shapes), followed by numbers and operations in base ten (teen numbers), then data & measurement, then finally operations & algebraic thinking (addition & subtraction). I have various TPT visuals that I have purchased for the purpose of displaying our current topic on this very math wall. 

Now let's zoom in on what's here...

Number Strategy Posters

Common Core Standards with Content & Language Objectives. Last year I just posted the CO & LO for that particular day, but I thought I might switch it up a bit this year and post all of the standards that relate to the current topic. Then each day, I will post the specific standard we are addressing in the lesson on the white pages. I like the idea of posting all of them because often we are working on several standards at once (i.e. counting, determining the total, writing the number to represent the total etc). I used push pins on everything so I can easily move the cards around. 

Math Expressions 120 chart. 

Math Expressions Number Parade 

with Math Posters 1-10 {ways to show numbers}

I actually decided that I want to swap out the 1-10 posters for something different. I think they have a bit too much going on and I'd like something simpler. That's the beauty of using push pins. Changing my mind is really easy. 

 After I finished my math wall, I tackled my classroom library. 

This photo gives me heart palpitations. What a mess!

I decided that I really prefer the Target plastic magazine bins to the Dollar Tree baskets. The Dollar Tree baskets, although $2 cheaper each, are too wide. In some categories I don't have that many books and those baskets take up a lot of shelf space. The problem with the Target bins is that Target is not carrying that many. I came across only a few this summer, but I didn't get them because I didn't think I would need any more. { #sneakerteacherfail}. Many of my Target bins got broken last year or in the moving process, so I used the broken ones to house books that won't be part of the classroom library that the kiddos access or book categories that I won't put out right away like holidays and some of my non-fiction topics. Since the bins already had velcro on them from last year because I use those bins for my students' work buckets, I just put the reverse side of the velcro on the back of the laminated book bin labels and voila! I think they look great. Now, I can easily access books on whatever topic I need. Ideally I want about 10 more of the Target bins because I have several more categories of books that are still out on tables and on the floor. Hopefully I will be able to track some down! The books pictured below are on a high shelf so my plan is that I will be the only one who can access those unless I take a bin down to allow the kiddos to pull from it. I was part getting my library organized and part just getting my books reorganized because they got all mixed up in the move. 

I ran out of Dollar Tree bins, but I got baskets done for many favorite characters. I am still trying to figure out exactly how I want to roll out my Read to Self routine. I know I don't want my kiddos having access to all my books because I like to reserve some just for read alouds. The books that I put in the baskets are ones that are already pretty worn and aren't as special to me. I don't want this library to turn into a huge mess that I have to clean up everyday, so the rollout will be slow. I also need to print the sticker labels that match the basket labels to help the kiddos know where to return books too. That will take a lot of printer ink and a lot of time, so that's a project for another day!

Up close with our favorite book characters...

Overall, I feel good about my progress, but the room still looks like a mess! I've got 1.5 more kid free days because we are taking a trip to CA from Thursday-Sunday to visit Mr. Sneaker's parents. Tomorrow morning my teammate and I are presenting about iPads to my friends group of students at PSU. She is teaching a course about technology in the classroom so we are going to share a bit about how we manage iPads in the classroom and how we use them for language development. We are presenting from 9-10, so I will only have 2 hours max in my room after that before I have to go pick up the girls from daycare. 

Now, it's time for a little RHONJ. 

How many hours do you put in over the summer to get your classroom ready?

Do you enjoy prepping for the new year?

Daily 5 and the Book Basket Debacle

This year I am hoping to implement The Daily 5 during my small group reading time. Actually, I am thinking of starting the year with just 3

Read to Self

Work on Writing

Word Work

Then maybe in January, I will introduce 

Read to Someone

and

Listen to Reading

I absolutely love this idea of putting photos of each child reading on their book box.

Adorable, right? 

http://peaceloveandkinder.blogspot.com/

Now I just need to purchase some cardboard book boxes and get my classroom library in order. 

For my classroom library baskets, I purchased these adorable Polka Dot Classroom Library Labels from TPT for $4.00. I love that the set also comes with icons that can be printed on round stickers so that all of the books in each box have a sticker that matches the label on the outside of the basket. That will definitely help kiddos return their books to the correct basket. {hopefully}

I printed the labels, cut them, selected the ones that go with my book categories, laminated them, and cut them again. Whew. Am I done yet? 

Not even close. 

Even with sorting through the labels included in the set and selecting the ones that fit my books, I still had 55 different labels. 

I do not have 55 baskets to accommodate said labels and the books that go with them. Even if I did have 55 baskets, I do not have enough shelf space to house 55 baskets.

So, I sorted through the labels again trying to distinguish between books I will use for instruction versus books that I want kids to be able to put into their personal book boxes to read during our Daily 3. 

That helped to reduce the number of baskets I will need.

I now have 13 non-fiction categories, 10 favorite author/favorite character categories, and 2 additional categories. Plus, I have 8 other categories that are seasonal that I will rotate in and out of one basket because I don't think we need Valentine, Halloween, or Christmas books out all year. 

That leaves me needing 26 book baskets for my classroom library.

I have a bunch of baskets that I got at the Dollar Tree years ago, but I don't think they are the right size to accommodate all of my books. I guess I can see which books fit into those and take it from there. I still don't think I can fit 26 different baskets on the bookshelf that I have, but that remains to be seen. I plan to do a LOT of work in my classroom next week on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday because the girlies start daycare and I will be child free. It is much easier to complete projects when you're not changing poopy diapers, breastfeeding, and rocking a baby to sleep only to repeat the cycle when the sleeping baby pops open her eyes and gives you a huge wide awake smile as soon as you try to lay her down. And the fire alarm going off 4 times didn't help either. 

Yes, the fire alarm went off FOUR times.

I am not sure what I will do with the books that I want to reserve for instruction because I definitely don't want those mixed in with the books that the kids will be putting in their book boxes, but again, that is a project for another day since I can't very well power through my classroom library setup now that I am home.

Stay tuned for pics of my fantabulous classroom library. 

Is your classroom library fabulous? 

What kind of baskets do you use? Where did you buy them? 

Where can I get the cardboard magazine boxes for cheap? 

Like

Recently I have become really interested in Twitter. I don't really tweet all that much aside from linking up by blog posts and retweeting things that I find interesting, but my twitter feed is pretty much just about education and I really enjoy reading what pops up.

Here are some recent favorites. 

 Read the article here. Very interesting.

These ideas for transforming back to school activities into digital projects are awesome! 

Definitely found a new blog to follow!

http://www.iteachwithtechnology.com

And speaking of technology, how cool is this! A periodic table of apps! 

Finally...

I was JUST thinking that I want to try out glue sponges this year instead of the little tap tap glue caps and this little gem popped up! 

Check out the tutorial here:

Mr. Greg is kind of awesome. Can't wait to get my glue sponges up and running this year! 

Are you on Twitter? Leave me your Twitter handle and I'll follow you!

Have you tried glue sponges? Tell me what you think.

Meet the Teacher {Linky}

 I feel like I have been super busy and haven't been checking up on blogs as frequently in the past few weeks, but I've been seeing these Meet the Teacher posts popping up and I wanted to play along. 

My name is Katie and I have been blogging here as Sneaker Teacher since 2009. I have quite a collection of colorful kicks thanks to my husband which is where my blog name came from. I have been married to John since 2007 and we are coming up on our 7th wedding anniversary next week. We have two beautiful daughters, Grace (2.5) who I refer to as "Little Sneaker" and Sammy (3 months) who I refer to as "Baby Sneaker." John and I met in college at Villanova and we currently live in Oregon. 

I teach 1/2 day Kindergarten and we start back up the Tuesday after Labor Day. I'm glad I have a few more weeks of summer. I love being able to teach part time because I get to spend the afternoons at home with my girlies. I previously taught Head Start and First Grade. I also spent a year teaching at an International School in Germany. I have a master's in Special Education and last year I earned my doctorate in Curriculum & Instruction. Just call me Dr. Sneaker (kidding!) ;0)

 These are a few of my favorite things:

Post It Notes
Diet Coke
Starbucks lattes
My family
colorful pens/markers
Body Pillows
Dessert

If you weren't a teacher, what would you want to be?:

I would love to be a baker!

Three Little Words that Describe You:

Loyal. Ambitious. Introverted.

Finish the sentence: "____________," said no teacher ever.

"I love it when a student suddenly vomits on the carpet during a lesson," said no teacher ever.

Q: It's your birthday and you can invite anyone {dead or alive} to the party, who are you inviting?

My best friend, Cristina

Q: If someone wrote a book about your life, what would be the title?

Hmmm... that's a tough one. I'll get back to you!

Q: You get to pick one superpower, what is it?

I love this question. I would definitely want to have the power to teleport. Traveling anywhere in the world in mere seconds...yes please!

Q: What's your favorite quote or saying?

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. -Dr. Seuss

Q: If you had one song to sing on American Idol, what would it be?

I wish I had the pipes to belt out Let it Go. SO overplayed, but my daughter loves it, so I do too 

Q: Are you a morning person or a night owl?

 I don't particularly enjoy getting up early, but I am naturally much more of a morning person than a night owl. I expire at 10 pm. 

Q: Share something we might not know about you.

I am SUPER shy about my blog. For a long time I never wanted anyone that I know in real life to know about my blog and I am just now getting the confidence to put it out there with my true identity. 

Join in the fun and link up!

Clean Freak

I definitely do not consider myself to be a clean freak. Or a neat freak. But as I have settled into being a stay at home mom of two for the summer, I am finding myself cleaning and organizing more and more. Maybe it's because toddlers make a mess everywhere they go or maybe it's because I am in my home more than I am when I work. But I am starting to get the clean freak itch. If there's clutter, I need to pick it up and I want everything to have a particular place. I've done some organizational projects this summer and have tried to stay on track of household cleaning by creating a weekly schedule where I do certain tasks on certain days of the week (wash the sheets on Mondays, wash the kids' clothes on Tuesdays etc.) I doubt I will stick with the same schedule when I return to work, but it's working for the summer. I don't always do the assigned task for the day, but in a week, I definitely make sure that the laundry gets done, the bathrooms get cleaned, and everything gets dusted in addition to many other weekly jobs. 

Now that the back to school buzz has officially started (I cannot believe how many teachers are returning to work already!), I started wondering if my cleaning mojo will continue into my classroom. 

There are some teachers that clean surfaces in their classrooms daily, disinfect all the time, and constantly prevent the spread of germs.

I have never been one of those teachers.

I tend to subscribe to the belief that kids need to be exposed to things in order to be immune from them...so my past teacher self has not been super concerned about cleaning on top of what our custodians do. But I am realizing this summer that I actually really enjoy clean. It's not so much the idea that cleaning will prevent germs or sickness, but the feeling of calmness that happens for me when my house and my living space is clean and organized.

So...I am wondering how much time you spend tidying/cleaning/disinfecting your classroom on a daily basis.

What cleaning tasks do you do yourself?

If your school had an award for cleanest classroom, would you win? 

Fun Activity for Working with Basic Shapes

This morning I took Little Sneaker and Baby Sneaker to the toddler story time at our local library. Little Sneaker is finally rocking out story time and participates with all the songs and activities. She loves bubbles the most and actually sat near the teacher for the stories today

 (although she did turn around to blow me kisses)

The theme of the stories today was shapes and for one of the activities, the teacher/librarian brought out square scarves. She sang a little song about things that have four corners. It inspired me with an idea for using scarves in Kindergarten. I am always trying to incorporate fun ways to practice our math concepts that still really focus on what we are learning about and give the kiddos hands on experiences with math. As we played around with the scarves I noticed that the square-shape scarves could easily be folded to show a rectangle and a triangle, so I think I might buy some and try it out. I asked the librarian where she found the scarves and she said Lakeshore. 

Hers are neon colors, but I much prefer these rainbow colored ones I found on the Lakeshore site. They are $16.99 for a dozen, so I would buy two sets and hope that it would be enough! I supposed kiddos could always share if my class exceeds 23-24 students this year. I just got a text that Lakeshore is having a buy one get one 50% off sale so that works perfectly for this purchase! I should head over there today when the littles way up from their naps. 

I love these bright colors and love how they go with the color scheme I already have going in my classroom. I am thinking of trying out some rainbow chevron accents this year as well. 

I think these would be fun to incorporate in the classroom in general, but they will also be great to use during our shape unit (and folding the material is good for hand/eye coordination and fine motor development as well). We can experiment with folding them to make a rectangle, a smaller square, big and small triangles etc. I can also have the kiddos use their iPads to photograph their scarves and then have them use Educreations or Book Creator to import their pictures and record the names of the shapes they made. 

Here are a few other fun shape ideas...

http://learningdevelopmentactivities.blogspot.com/2010/01/snowman-shape-pictures.html

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/I-Have-Who-HasShapes-125313

http://kinderteacher-kindergartenlife.blogspot.com/2011/09/momma-always-said-never-play-with-your.html

http://www.flapjackeducation.com/2012/09/geometry-technology-snack-time.html?m=1

I also got this free download on TPT for mini shape posters that I display on my math wall when we are doing our shape unit. 

Do you have any ideas for hands on activities to use while learning shapes? 

This and That

Yesterday Miss Kindergarten posted about some sweet number practice pages she has on her TPT site. I really like them and her entire TPT store in 20% off today! Hope on over there and check it out!

Last year my team purchased some teen number pages similar to these and I really liked working through the pages as we learned the teen numbers. What I particularly like about Miss Kindergarten's pages are how they "make it" and "build it" parts. I usually have my kiddos use stampy markers to make the number and I plan to have them use unifix cubes to build and then color the number too. Then I'll probably have them photograph their unifix stick with their iPads and record something about the number we're working on. I love how these sheets provide opportunities for hands on practice in addition to paper/pencil because kids love to have busy  hands. Her pack includes 58 pages that I plan to incorporate into math practice and morning work for number practice/review. 

Thanks Miss Kindergarten! 

Yesterday I was out shopping at JCrew with the Sneaker family and I met a fellow blogger that I've been following for years. I was at the register providing my info because Mr. Sneaker wanted to order a shirt that is available online only. If you place the order in the store the shipping is free. {sidenote: I scored a super cute outfit that was on sale with an additional 50% off, AND they honored the 15% off teacher discount. The pants were $15 and the shirt was $21. Super good deals for spendy JCrew!} 

Anyway, at the register, after I said my name, Roxanne from Books that Heal Kids, who was browsing through some jewelry near the register turned to me and said, "Do you have a blog? Are you Sneaker Teacher?" Ahhhhh! Never in a million years did I think I would have that moment! Roxanne is a school counselor has a great blog with terrific book reviews and recommendations for teachers. How fun to meet her in person! If you haven't seen her blog check it out!

Oh, and this...

Have you ever met a fellow blogger in person? 

What blogger would you love to meet? 

Decluttering

I went back to my classroom this morning with the girls to tackle the mess on the tables. 

 I had huge piles of stuff to sort through and put away in the cabinets.

Little Sneaker once again had tons of fun exploring the classroom and playing with everything. I think we were there 3 hours this morning and got home just in time for her nap. She is currently zonked out in her bed and I am hoping she has a good long nap. 

I spent time trying to sort and organize things and put them in places that makes sense. I still have quite a few piles that need attention, but I feel good about what I accomplished. 

I organized the shelves that are close to my desk. I have my reading materials on the left side and then math, science, and assessment materials on the right side. You can see my nice, colorful binders all lined up on the shelf. :-)

I am not going to send literacy bags home this year because I had many parents sign up last year and then request to not receive them anymore. I think for families that have younger siblings, there are way too many small pieces included in the games and it was difficult to keep track of everything. I also often had kids tell me they never even opened the bag once they got it home and once again many things went missing. The biggest difficulty was doing inventory on the bags every single week to check for missing items and then trying to track down said missing items until they were returned. That was really time consuming. I am hoping to deconstruct the bags and use the books and activities in a different way instead of sending them home. For now, this is their home until I figure out what exactly I am going to do with them. 

I put all of my games on the bottom shelf. Those activities will most likely be used during play time, choice time, or small group time if I have parent helpers. 

This cabinet houses my science materials on the bottom two shelves and my math materials on the rest of the shelves. I decided to keep unifix cubes, my tile games, and my pattern blocks on shelves that the kiddos can access because when too much stuff is hidden away in the cabinets I forget that I have it. Since I am planning to do a daily play time this year, even if it's a short one, those materials will probably be used a lot more frequently than they have been in the past. 

I forgot to take a photo of those shelves, but they are the shelves that separate my carpet area from my desk area. I really hope it's not a problem to have those materials on the shelves that the kids sit near while they are on the carpet. I guess I can always cover the shelves with curtains if the materials are distracting.

It's crazy that I've already put in about 7 hours of time working in my room and I don't feel anywhere near done. I still need to create my bulletin boards, hang my alphabet wall, finish cleaning up and organizing etc. There is so much to do! I am really glad that it's working out to take the girls with me because it gives me a LOT of extra time to work. If I waited until school started to do all of this, I would never get finished!