Vacation Rainy Day

We have been on vacation this week. The weather has been beautiful until today. It has rained all day! We had a wonderful seafood lunch, then went to a Teacher's store. We tried to do MagiQuest, but it was too crowded! So, we ended up buying these cute hermit crabs! Afterwards, we went for ice cream! :) Can you believe it is 70 degrees at Myrtle Beach in August?

 

This week, I finished reading "Bringing Words to Life" by Isabel L. Beck, Maragret G. McKeown, and Linda Kucan. It was truly an inspiring book for vocabulary instruction! Stay tuned to my blog as I incorporate ideas from the book into my Language Arts lessons and into my room. I am definitely looking forward to creating a version of "Word Wizards" into my classroom. Also, when I get home I look forward to making activities with Tier Two words for the book "Each Kindness" by Jacqueline Woodson. I really like the activity in which the student chooses between two situations to apply the vocabulary word. This will be the first book I use with my students! I will keep you posted as I develop these ideas further.

Happy Thursday!

Fun Day for Mail

I was so excited to see two boxes in the mail today! Some of the things I have been waiting for came today! First, the Classroom Friendly Supplies pencil sharpener! I am so excited about this new classroom tool. I tried to explain it to my 15 year old, but I think he was just being nice and listened to me ramble!:) You can click this link to order one for yourself: Classroom Friendly Supplies. I think we both will save 5%!

Next, I received the AR "Brag Tags" that I ordered from imagestuff. I love using these as an incentive for AR. Everyone starts with the "Reading Rocks" tags, then they collect beads for every five points. I use green, blue, white, and gold beads! They get to wear their necklaces on Fridays. The students really loved these last year!

Yay! So excited about these items! These are not endorsements, just things I use in my classroom.

Happy Wednesday!:)

Monday Made It!!

I had a hard time getting inspired this week!(My post is a day late.) Maybe, it is because I realized summer is coming to an end in a few weeks! We go on vacation next week, and before you know it, I will be back in school! So, I did manage to do a couple of things  one thing for this week! :) I have a job chart for specific jobs in the classroom. However, sometimes I assign jobs to students when they are working in small groups. They often forget what their role is in the group. So, I made some job signs to give them visual cues.

I am going to store them in these cute functional pencil pouches. Then, those will be kept in each table's toolkit. I will post pictures of the toolkits when I go to school.

Wow! Google Chrome and Dropbox have made my life so much easier!!!:) I often take pictures on my I-pad or phone and now I put them in Dropbox so I can download the pictures to my blog on my computer. I was having trouble downloading pictures to my blog on my computer, and it was quite frustrating! Now, downloading is a snap with Google Chrome!

Also, I spent quite a bit of time at DMV yesterday. Someone in our house is now old enough to drive!!  I am  certainly not old enough to have a child that drives!!!! The smiles on his face yesterday made it all worth it!

Have a happy week!

Five for Friday & The Resourceful Room Giveaway

I am excited to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for the Five for Friday! It is a great way to share some random information from the week!

First, I wanted to share a great review and  giveaway of Draw.Write.Now at The Resourceful Room. Hurry! The giveaway ends soon! If you miss the giveaway, you can at least learn about the Draw.Write.Now Program.

Next, I made this delicious taco dip (a healthier version) for GNO last night. Here is the link to the recipe and a picture. The recipe is at this website Healthy Today, Healthy Tomorrows. It really was good! :)

I finally decided to buy a new pencil sharpener for my classroom! The one in my classroom never seemed to work right, and it was really noisy. I am excited to try the pencil sharpener from Classroom Friendly Supplies. I am excited to see if it lives up to its reputation! :) I am sure it will.

We are also starting to remodel our guest bathroom. I have been searching Pinterest, Lowes, and Home Depot for ideas. I really like this vanity at Lowe's. I haven't seen it in person, so that could change!

Finally, it has been a busy week, and we have been up early for VBS all week! I know it is Friday (and summer), but I am going to get cozy and READ!:)

Happy Friday!!! :)

Monday Made It! & What to do with all those tomatoes?

I am linking  up with 4th Grade Frolics for the popular Monday Made It! I decided to try to make the ever popular dyed clothespins. However, my plan for them is a little different. I use "Brag Tags" and brag beads as an incentive for Accelerated Reader. Last year, I used a poster board with pockets for the students to store their "Brag Tags" when they were not wearing them. The poster board was constantly falling off the wall which was frustrating! So, I am going to apply magnetic tape to the back of these clothespins and stick them to the side of the file cabinet. Students can clip their "Brag Tag" necklaces to their individual clothespins!!! Yay...organized, cute, and hopefully, they will stay put.:) I'm debating as to whether to add the little tag (The Backstage Pass is by Thistle Girl Designs.) for their names. I will laminate them, so I can use them again. I might just put the tags above the clothespins. I have time to decide...

           

 


For my next project, I had to freshen up my "Where are we?" sign. Here is my old one (The corners were peeling & it just looked ragged.):

Here is my new & improved one (and the signs). The chevron graphics are by I Teach. What's your super power?:

 I love summer because we have so many produce stands in the area! We like tomatoes, too. I decided to make a tomato pie! It turned out to be delicious! (I would use a little less mayonnaise though.)          

                                                              

 Yummy!!!!:)

Have a happy week! :)

Primary Possibilities Classroom Themepack Giveaway & Liebster Again

First, I wanted to tell you about Primary Possibilities' really great classroom theme packs. They are so cute, and the best part is they are doing a giveaway!!!:) You don't want to miss these cute packs. Head on over to their blog to see what I am talking about.







Next, I wanted to thank Sunny in Kindergarten for my third Liebster nomination! I am truly honored. I wanted to take the time to answer the eleven questions she created for her nominees. Thanks again so much!!





1. What is your teaching background? I taught preschool for 2 1/2 years. This is my fourth year teaching fourth grade.

2. What is your favorite season? I love autumn/fall because it is so beautiful to watch the leaves change colors.

3. How did you think of your blog name? I live at the beach which I love, and I also love teaching fourth grade. Therefore, I combined the two for A Day at the Beach with Fourth Grade.

4. What is your morning routine? I have two children so sometimes it varies. For the most part, I shower, then eat breakfast, fix lunch(during the school year), and then head out. During the summer, I don't really have a routine.

5. Your favorite vacation has been? and why? Last summer, my daughter, my parents, and I drove from N.C. to Texas. It was so fun because we made stops along the way in every state. Also, I had never been to Texas. I really enjoyed the Alamo and the San Antonio Riverwalk.

6. What was your favorite field trip as a student? In eighth grade, we went to Six Flags in Georgia.

7. What teaching item can you not live without? I could not live without the document camera/Smartboard.

8. Why did you become a teacher? I feel that education is important to everyone and for many reasons! Also, I admired my teachers and saw what a difference they truly made in my life and others.

9. Where did you go to college? N.C. State University

10. Favorite place to shop? and Why? The Loft because I love their clothes, and I can always find my size!

11. When is your favorite time to blog? I blog whenever I have the time, but if I could always choose then probably at night.

Thanks again for the nomination! Don't forget to checkout Primary Possibilities! I am off to do some Crossfit and dye some clothespins for the next Monday Made It!

Monday Made It

 

I love Monday Made it with 4th Grade Frolics! I enjoy looking at everyone's projects and have gotten so many fabulous ideas! Some of my projects this week are new and others I had to re-do because they needed to be refreshed.

 

First, I use a three tier behavior plan with incentives for individual, small group, and whole group. I give table points for my small group incentives. The past three years, I have just written them on the board. However, there were times that I could not leave the points up for various reasons (testing, board space, etc.) I had to scramble to document the points before erasing them. So, I decided to make a much cuter (& removable version) to keep track of the points. I made a sign for each table and laminated them. I can still use a dry erase marker, and we can start over with points each week just like I have always done! I put the signs on the ribbon, and now I just need to decide where to hang it in my room.

 

       



 

 

I have really been thinking about our first unit in Language Arts which is theme. This is a hard concept for students. In researching, I  found on various blogs and at Scholastic the idea of The Message to help students remember. So, I created my own version. I plan to hang this in my reading area where I do small groups (I will use it whole group when teaching theme, too.)

 



 





 



Last year, our district had a transitional year with curriculum. So, we gathered a ton of math resources. I decided to organize those by strand this summer. My binder needed a cute cover! 



 

 

 

Finally, I made the "Homework Club" from Tara at 4th Grade Frolics a few weeks ago. However, I decided I needed a place to keep the numbers of those students that might not do their homework. I am staying positive and thinking this container will never rarely be used. :)

 

 

The graphics I used in my projects are by I Teach. What's your super power?

 

 

Have a great day!

Tranquility

This morning, we went to the beach for my daughter to try out surfing. She had a great time! We got there before it was too crowded. This photo captures the essence of inner tranquility for me. It is beautiful and peaceful. If I had been alone it would have been the perfect time to reflect. Fortunately, it is captured in this snapshot and time can stand still for a moment. I am not a photographer, but this photo has captured the essence of these feelings. I just wanted to share this beautiful photograph. Enjoy your weekend!



Tune into Technology Linky: Classroom Websites



I am happy to link up with i teach 1:1 for Tune into Technology. I wrote an earlier post, but I was on last weeks topic which was I-Pads. ( It has been one of those days and probably why I needed comfort food earlier this evening. See my previous post.) Anyway, back to the topic! Our district provides us with class websites, but I am not sure what the program is called. I am thinking about using Schoolrack.(I have posted about this before.) I plan to use this website to communicate with parents about homework, upcoming events, and what is happening in the classroom. It is free to use with the option to pay a monthly fee for password protection. However, I do not plan to put anything specific about students or use their names on the website. So, I think it will be okay without a password. Thoughts??

Also, I like to use portaportal which I think someone else posted about. I like to use it for links to practice pages as well as for links to tests. I create tests on Google Docs for the students to access then they can take the test on a laptop or an I-Pad. They think this is a fun way to take a test!

I also use Google Docs for my Anecdotal Reading Records. I made forms based on what our district is looking for with different types of readers such as Transitional, Intermediate, Advanced, etc. As they are reading I can quickly check off my observations and type in the next steps. Then, it puts it into a spreadsheet that I can have handy for parent conferences and to use when I am looking at forming groups. (I really like this because I dislike managing paper!) We are also moving to Standards Based grading, so I am hoping to create some forms on Google Docs for descriptive feedback on formative assessments. That is a work in progress.

I am sure there are other websites I use, but this is the third time I have written this post due to computer issues. So, I think this is enough for now! :)

Tune into Technology Linky: I-Pads & Southern Roots



Okay, my title post is about two totally unrelated thoughts! First, I am excited to link up with the Tune into Technology Linky with i teach 1:1. I really love using I-Pads in the classroom and the students do, too. I have three programs to share with you that I used in my classroom this year and plan to use again!

1. Scribble Press: This is a great program for writing! Students are able to create books and add clipart, drawings, and pictures to their work. The writing can be saved in a gallery to be viewed and read later. My students really enjoyed writing their own books. You can learn more about it on their website: Scribble Press







2. NearPod: Basically, you can put together a multimedia presentation that allows students to follow along. You have the capability to insert questions and get immediate feedback on the students' responses. So, you can do quick formative assessments as you are going through the lesson. It is just a different way to present a lesson, and the students always love to use I-Pads. You control the pace of the lesson, and it lets you keep track of whether a student has logged off of the program. You can access the website here: Nearpod





3. I really like using QR codes in the classroom. Here are a couple of ways that I used them. In science, I created QR codes for various websites about ecosystems. The students worked in pairs to answer questions from each website to review ecosystems. They rotated around the room to access the different QR codes. The questions were based on Bloom's Taxonomy(so they used their higher level thinking skills). I also used QR codes in math. Students were given measurement conversion questions and scanned the QR codes that I created to check their answers. I'm not sure which QR application we have on the I-Pads at school, but there are several free apps. Also, there are several QR code generating websites.(just Google it) It is really easy to do!

Now for the second part of my post and the reason for my Southern Roots title. I really craved some comfort food for dinner. I am from the South so we had fried chicken, fried okra(the only way to eat it & it is only available fresh for a short while), homemade macaroni and cheese, and corn on the cob. Before everyone tells me how unhealthy it is...let me say...my family rarely eats fried food. We usually eat healthy, and I grill or bake the chicken. So, tonight was something I do once or twice a year. The chicken turned out beautiful, so I thought I would post a picture.:) Back to healthy eating tomorrow!









Yum!

 

 

Hope you enjoyed the post!

Monday Made It & Fun Find

 

 

I am excited to link up with 4th Grade Frolics again this week! It has been a busy week personally so I did not get as much done as I would have liked. First, I created my version of the binder clips which were inspired by the many I have seen on Pinterest and Etsy. I decided to try my hand at making them. I have seen them with labels, but that is too constricting for me! So, mine will be all purpose!:)

I made one set in black and white and one set in green and turquoise. My classroom is a Rock Star theme with predominately green, turquoise, and black colors.

 

Here is the black and white set:

 

 

Here is the turquoise and green set:

 

 

Next, I found these cute storage containers at Office Max. I knew immediately that I wanted to use these for cap erasers and paper clips because they end up everywhere in my desk drawer. I decided to make labels using the chevron prints since that seems to be the trend right now. Here are my organizers:

 

 

The cute chevron, dot, and label designs were from a set I purchased from TeachingSuperPower on TPT. It is a wonderful set called Basic Brights Ultimate Bundle Set. I cannot wait to use it in more creations!:)

 

 

Finally, I was in Target (love!) the other day for something totally not related to school and found some really cute dry erasers. I bought them in black last year, but this year they have colors!!!!! The students really liked having these to use.

 

 

 



Have a fantastic Monday! I cannot wait to see everyone's ideas!