Currently January

We LOVE Farley's Currently!  What a great way to start our blogging for the year.

Emily's answers will be in turquoise.  Antoinette's will be in blue.

My hubby finished Grad school in December. (Yeah!) His gift to himself for Graduation, Christmas, and whatever holidays come in the near future is his new guitar.  I won't bore you with the details, but it is his final dream guitar, so I am happy for that!  It also sounds pretty!

Winter Break seemed super short this year.  Good thing our first day back is a teacher work day without students.  Bless those that have to "hit the ground running."

I have set a few goals for myself this year.  I don't think I am going to call them resolutions, since I don't have success with those. I just hope that I can change some of my current habits to meet my goals.  The challenge is Old Habits Die Hard.

Everyone of us knows we need more time.  This year I would like to focus on making systems to work smarter not harder and hopefully get some free time back into my life. 

My One Little Word is Believe. 
I believe I can change.
I believe that the life changes I want to make will happen.
I believe that God will bless me with lessons that I need to learn.
Lastly, I believe that I will have a right ankle that works better.  (I broke it 5 years ago, and recently had my 4th follow up surgery on it, to  hopefully get better range of motion.)

Happy New Year everyone!  Hope you all had a restful break and enjoyed many holiday festivities.  I know I did.  I am ready for a new year and look forward to what the future has in store for me.

My listening and loving are quite similar; they both have to do with Chris O'Donnell.  Mmm Mmm Mmm He is such a hottie.  I love watching his bad boy character in NCIS Los Angeles.  Earlier in the year, we had training over iMovie and were asked to find pictures of a famous person.  I of course Googled my hottie. lol  Here is one of the pics I keep on my desktop to peek at every now and then.  I love his eyes. 

Thinking, wanting, and needing are quite similar as well because they all have to do with not wanting to return to work tomorrow.  My break was WAY TOO SHORT!!!  I have thoroughly enjoyed it and was able to hang out with many friends and of course my family.  Now that it is time to go back, I cannot sleep.  I got new pillows for Christmas and they are super soft and puffy.  You would think once my head hit them, I would be fast asleep but not so much.

I spent a good amount of time thinking of my OLW and wanted it to have something to do with a new year and accomplishing my goals.  So I chose courage.  Courage plays a HUGE role in change.  It's easy to keep doing what you've always been doing, so I choose to have COURAGE to embrace the changes necessary to accomplish my 2013 resolutions.  Every year, I have the same resolutions.  That's easy.  So this year I decided to not only continue with same ole resolutions, but take on another.  This year, I want to help other people by donating to two charities.  You might be wondering why this takes courage.  We all know teacher's don't make the best money and signing up to have money taken out of my account each month requires financial courage.  So many people have helped me throughout my life and now I want to pay it forward.

I hope you all have a fabulous 2013.  Every day is what we make it and I plan to have the courage to make this year one of my VERY best.

EmilyK & Antoinette

What will Monday Bring?

As a teacher, how often do you face a situation where you don't have the answer?
At least a possible answer...
Well tomorrow will be one of those days.

What will Monday bring?

My school district's position is to reassure students they are safe, and we will review our policies.

That sounds very official. 
How does that look to my kids?

So being a person of action, I think I have devised a plan. 
I am sharing this with you, in hopes that it helps someone.

I have heard all the experts on every channel talking about what kids need.  I hope my plan honors that.

A little background about my 5th grade class.
This year my kids have really struggled with respecting each other.  Members of my class have issues with kicking and pinching each other.  We have also had incidents of targeted bullying.
So at the beginning of the year, I started doing a weekly social skills lesson, in addition to the counselor's bi weekly lesson.

Monday morning, coincidentally is our weekly social skills lesson time.

I am going to start with a thumbs up, thumbs down, undecided activity using these two questions:

How much have you heard about Sandy Hook Elementary School?
How comfortable are you with people talking about the news story?

My goal is not going to be informing students of the news.  My goal is to find out who has been exposed to the information and images or if any of my kids are potentially going to spread misinformation that may put fear in the other kids. 

If there are a large amount of students who aren't comfortable with people talking about Sandy Hook, I will ask that all of my students respect that and make the choice not to talk about it. 

Then we will talk about our school motto: Be respectful.  Be responsible.  Be safe.

First, we are going to focus on "Be safe." We are going to discuss what to do if we have a drill of any kind and you are out in the building, hallways, restrooms, or out at recess.   We will also talk about the importance of listening to adults and following directions during all drills. 

If we have enough time, we will talk about "Be respectful."  That Golden Rule I keep trying to impress upon them. 
Treat others the way you want to be treated.

Listen when others are speaking, because you want others to listen to you.
Keep your hands to yourself, because you don't want people touching you.
Use good manners, like holding the door for someone, because you would want someone to help you out if you were in need.

As I try to think of what Monday morning will bring, I hope my planning helps.
One thing is for sure, as I stand at my door Monday morning, I will greet my students with a high five and smile, like always.  Because that's what my kids need. Routine.
All the while, I will be thinking of the teachers in Newtown. I will be wishing them thoughts of prayer and healing.

Here is a link that my counselor sent this morning!  Talking to Kids about Sandy Hook

EmilyK

Reunited... and it feels so good!

Is your stress level astronomically high?
It's that time of year, I guess.

What better to relieve stress than a Girls Night Out?

That's just what Antoinette and I had tonight with 5 of our close teacher friends.

We were finally in the same place at the same time! (For those of you who are new to our blog, we used to work in the same building, but Antoinette is now a Teaching and Learning Coach at 2 other buildings.)

We all aired our grievances, shared stories, and had plenty of laughs.

We even talked about some teaching ideas, hopefully we will get around to sharing them soon.

How do you relieve stress this time of year?

Now onto something you can possibly use!
We are talking about narrative non-fiction in my classroom.
So of course I had to read Tarra & Bella.

Then we watched the videos of the them.  If you click the image it will take you to the CBS page with the videos.  (I only got watery eyed this year!)

I really wanted to emphasize to the kids that narrative nonfiction can be great for kids that don't like non fiction.  Heart warming and emotional, not just facts.

I had several other examples for kids to read during readers workshop.
Of course they are all knew:

and a Show Me Award (MO book award) nominee:

What books do read to start a more in depth study of non-fiction?

EmilyK

Currently December RIP and no longer MIA

It's December!?!
Seriously... where has the time gone?
It feels like it was just Halloween.

Antoinette and I have been slightly overwhelmed by work.
But... we have made time for Farley's Currently.  Its too fun not to participate.

Emily's thoughts will be in red.  Antoinette's thoughts will be in green.

Let me explain!
I am loving Pillows and Pain Pills right now, because I had an outpatient surgery on my ankle.  I did it on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving break.  (I thought it would mean writing less sub plans.)  Yeah, it ended up being more invasive than they thought.  (Even right before the surgery they said I would be able to walk the next day.)  Well the best laid plans...
Here's what it looked like on the first week:

I ended up taking about four days off after Thanksgiving.  I am back to work now, but not on both feet.  Using the school wheelchair in the hall, and my desk chair in the classroom.
It will be better soon.  And long term it is supposed to make my ankle MUCH better. :)


With my right ankle being out of commission for another 2-3 weeks.  I will not be driving any time soon.  :(  
It has also put a damper on decorating for Christmas.  (That and my husband finishing grad school in 8 days. He is counting down, believe me.)  Then it can be Christmas at my house!


I am thinking of my 3rd grade teacher, since I found out she passed away at the end of last week.
I have such fond memories of her.  She was always so welcoming.  She introduced me to Beverly Cleary and for that I will be forever grateful.  Rest in Peace Mrs. Roach.

How do you honor someone who touched the lives of kids for 30 years?  

Hopefully I can make half the difference she did.

Well hello all you people of blog world.  I have been MIA for quite some time.  My new job has been absolutely CRUH...A...ZYYY!!!!  Not bad but amazingly busy.  Enough about that though.  Once again, Emily is keeping things going in the blog world for us.  What would I do without her (MISS YOU GIRL)!!  The world is not the same without seeing her everyday.  That's not just a RAK it is that absolute TRUTH!

As far as RAK- gotta a plan for tonight but am thinking I need to do a few others as well.  I was thinking that with life being so busy, I seldom take the time to tell the people most important to me how much they mean to me.  I struggle in the world of Christmas cards but am thinking that I might send a little card to all those people who are there for me no matter what life brings.  This is a RAK because I can't remember the last time I sent out Christmas cards lol.  I have one other RAK in mind but it's a secret!  I will tell you about it after the fact! He he!!

So here's my Currently and my first post it maybe a month or so.  Thanks Emily for reminding me. :)  Ouch- I just checked; October 29th was my last one.  Sorry people, I'll try to be better about posting.

BTW...  I am not a Bah Humbug, promise!  I have to say I am LOVING this weather. Not a fan of the cold; only during the week of Christmas. lol

Have a great December!

EmilyK & Antoinette

Thanksgiving Post...it's not too late!(freebie)

Ok, we have been out of commission lately.

We are overwhelmed with all the late fall tasks.

Just hoping that it's not too late for a Thanksgiving day post!

I am planning to use this Thankful Book with my 5th graders tomorrow.
I am thinking they can add real photos or drawings what ever they want!

Click the pic above to get the freebie!

We are thankful to be part of this great blogging community.
To able to share with all of you, and to read your ideas has been a blessing to our professional careers.
We hope you enjoy your family and friends over the holiday!

EmilyK

To Honor Veterans

It has been a long and busy week in my classroom.  Between the election and finishing our argument essays we have barely a minute to spare, except where Veterans are concerned.

Last year I saw many people blogging about this book:

After reading the summary, I knew I had to read it this year.

As we read we set the Rememberance Table.

After I read the story I shared with them my connection with the story.

This is my friend Scott.
He felt drawn to serve America after 9/11.
He served two tours, one in Afghanistan and one in Iraq.
He has recently left the military to pursue a career in education.
Last year, he got married on Veterans Day.  At his wedding reception, they had a Rememberance table.
So touching!

After the students heard my connection to the story, they wrote about someone they thought was a hero.

Many wrote about grandpas, or family members that served in the military.  One of my students has a mom who teaches special needs students and she has a service dog to help with her work, so he wrote about his dog.  Others wrote about school staff like our nurse or custodian.

It was one of those melt your heart moments.

How do you honor Veterans in your classroom?

EmilyK

Ultimate Presidents in History(freebies)

The election is coming up.  Just days away!!

One of my teaching partners and I created this fun twist on candidates for a mock election.

We were talking about the election, and I felt strongly that we needed to have a mock election.  My teaching partner and I both felt strongly that we didn't want to talk politics though.  

As 5th graders so much of what they believe is based on what they hear at home, not on life experience or facts. 

We are from Missouri, if you haven't heard about our Senate race, its controversial.

I just don't want to touch the election topics with a 10 foot pole!

We decided instead to elect the Ultimate Presidents in History.

Washington and Truman vs. Lincoln and Jefferson

I created these campaign posters.  (Click image to get them for FREE!)
Poster 1:

Poster 2:

All the presidents we included have been in the Social Studies curriculum, so they had knowledge about the candidates.

Now on to the election prep!
I created this Voter Registration form for my kids to fill out on Monday as we prepare for our election on Tuesday.

Also a Freebie!  Click the image to download.

Then on Tuesday we will vote!  Click the ballot to download it for free!

All items have a table number because we will be having a mock electoral vote as well.
Each table will have its vote go toward one pair of candidates.

So excited to see how it all turns out!

EmilyK