Peek at My Week {9-07-14}

I'm not sure where the past week has gone, but here it is Sunday again which means it's time for another Peek at My Week!

Last week was our first week of school so we spent it learning routines, building community, and getting to know each other.  This week, we will be getting down to business.

I'm really looking forward to writing this year.  Several students have mentioned to me how much they love to write and are eager to begin.  This week, we will begin learning about workshop routines and what it means to be a writer.  I found a great resource online that includes a scope and sequence for the year of writing from Portland Schools.  It is amazing!!  If you do not have a writing curriculum and feel like you need some guidance in teaching writing, this is a must see resource!

Source

Reading workshop will begin this week as well.  We will be reading lots of picture books to review the comprehension strategies and begin working on writing response.  It's always good to have mentor texts to demonstrate what is expected and I plan on using snippets from Spaghetti Book Club and This Kid Reviews Books. These two websites are book reviews written by kids, for kids.  Check them out!

We will also begin using my Word Parts We Know program this week to learn new prefix and suffix word parts.  Each week, students learn five new word parts, working to build their vocabulary up in a slow, but steady way.  I have had HUGE success with this program in the past.  Students vocabularies explode as they are able to decode and understand longer and more difficult words.  This has also helped on assessments such as the MAP test where many of these word parts appear.  I am excited to begin!

An InLinkz Link-up

Wishing you a wonderful week!

Five for Friday and a SALE! {June 21, 2013}

Happy Friday!  I read on another blog that today is the first day of summer...I guess I should look at the calendar more often!  (Oh, the joys of being away from school and not needing a calendar!)

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday!  I love this linky!  After the summer has flown by, I will have a great way to go back and look at what I did.  Love it!



I have spent a lot of time reading this week.  I am currently reading The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon.  I decided to pick up this book after reading about PMA Wednesdays from Kristin at Teach n Tex.  If you are looking for the perfect pick-me-up-and-energize-me book, this is it! I can't put it down and I've already recommended it to three other people.  

On Tuesday, I had my last pre-institute meeting for the National Writing Project at UW-Milwaukee this summer.  My three week institute begins July 8th and I can't wait!  I am working on narrowing down my inquiry topic.  I'm thinking something along the lines of how to help students REVISE their writing.  (I don't know about you, but for many of my students the word 'revision' is not in their vocabulary.)  What do you think?  Is there some area of writing you would like to know more about? I'm listening!

Last Sunday, I found this little guy on the floor as I was walking into my bedroom.

Yes, that is a SNAPPING TURTLE! 

 In my bedroom!

Granted, it's just a baby....but it's not cute and cuddly like baby puppies are. 

 This one will grown up to bite my arm off! 

Glad I found him before I got out of bed at night to visit the bathroom and stepped on him.

I'm sure he was brought into the house as a guest of one of these two little trouble makers....




Trust me, they are not as innocent as they look!

Last week, I wrote about my newly redecorated office.  Thanks to everyone who left comments from my "Made It Monday" post!  Your thoughts were really sweet and warmed my heart!

In case you missed the pics, here's a few:

Which leads me to my last highlight of the week...

This bright and cheery office came in handy this week because I have been spending A LOT of time in here finishing up my first products for my

NEW TEACHERS PAY TEACHERS store!!!

Last summer, I created a vocabulary program to use at my school district called

Word Parts We Know.

I have had tremendous success with building my students vocabulary, reading comprehension, and fluency with this product.

I have two levels and each level has 12 weeks of prefix and suffix work.

I will write more about it later, but if you want to check out my product (and new store!),

 please visit my TpT site here.

You can download a preview that has one whole week's worth of materials to check it out for yourself.

In honor of my new store and new product, I'm putting it on SALE until Monday!

(Who doesn't LOVE a sale???)

I would be most honored if you would check it out and let me know what you think! 

Thanks so much for your time!

Tonight I have to go to the Boy Scout camp to pick my Ryan up.  He's been there since last Saturday for National Youth Leadership Training with NO CELL PHONE. 

I don't know who had it worse...him or me!  I sure have missed my guy!  Can't wait to see him!



I hope you have a wonderful weekend!