Me Procrastinate???

Happy Sunday, blogging buddies!

I hope you have had a nice weekend!  The weather here in Wisconsin has finally turned to the hotter and I am loving it!  Now if I could only get my garden to stop growing all of the weeds from the 8 inches of rain we've gotten recently, I'd really be in business!  Here is a pic of the beautiful sunrise this morning...I've been up since 4:30 so I got to see it.  Beautiful!!!

Is anyone else out there having a really hard time getting anything done these days?  I don't know if it's because I've got so much going on that I can't seem to focus on any one thing for more than 30 seconds, or if I've developed a temporary case of ADD.  I'm usually not like this -- I'm usually very on top of things.  But because I've got so many things I need and want to do, I don't seem to be able to get any of them done. 

My husband told me this morning that I was procrastinating -- which did not help me feel any better and only made me NOT want to do the things I need to do -- so I think I can blame this on him, right???  So to prove him wrong, I rearranged the cookie sheets in the kitchen cabinet, vacuumed under the bed, cleaned the ashes out of the fireplace, balanced the checkbook, swept the garage, and dusted the shelves in his office.  I mean, those things NEEDED to be done....TODAY.  Do you see what I mean???

OK, now down to business....Want to cross "write blog post" off my to-do list.  (This is actually something on my list in the "Want to do" column.)

First, I want to share the goody box that arrived on Friday from Joanne at Head Over Heels for Teaching.  I won her Bloglovin' giveaway and she sent me a big ginormous box of goodies.  She wasn't kidding when she said she was a "master packer"!  The lady at the post office told her that "If it fits, it ships" so she packed this box full.

And check out what was inside..

There were over 50 packs of Post-its (WOW!) along with this very sweet note from Joanne (I just love her!!)

Thanks Joanne, this made my week!

I'm also going to link up for the first time ever with the great gals from Collaboration Cuties for their Mentor Text Linky party.

This week's topic is Language Arts mentor texts and I'd like to share a book that I just read that I wish I had found five years ago.

 

If you use a Writers' Workshop in your room and have your students capture daily moments in a Writer's Notebook, you MUST read this book to them. 

 

How many times have your students said "I don't know what to write about?"  Happens all the time, right?

 

In this cute story (AR level 3.7), young Eva is faced with a desire to write, but doesn't know what to write about.  "Write about what you know", her teacher tells her but Eva looks around her world and doesn't see anything worth writing about.  Then with the help of supporting characters, Eva sees that if you truly look for the little moments in life, you will have lots to write about.  I could see using this text during writing by having the students make a list of the writing tips they learn from the characters in this story. 

This is a great text to use at the beginning of the year when you are going over the procedures for Writers' Workshop and using a Writer's Notebook.  The language in it is fresh, evokes the senses, and makes it easy to visualize.  The author also skillfully uses the comma in many different capacities so it would make an excellent mentor text for grammar study. 

 

On one final note (before I really tackle that "to do" list), I begin my three week journey with the National Writing Project  at UW- Milwaukee tomorrow.  (Maybe that explains why I'm so unfocused these days...too excited!)  My hope is that I will be able to post something daily to share with all of you the great things I learn.  Let's keep our fingers crossed!  Wish me luck!!

Don't forget to enter my Rafflecopter contest to win a $10 Amazon gift card and one of my Writer's Notebook Divider Page sets from my TpT store!  The drawing is on Wednesday so enter now!

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Have a great Sunday! I think the dogs need a bath now and my spices need to be put in ABC order.... :)