A New App for a New Year: Bloomz

In a moment that will surprise no one, I am back with another great app to share! 

I love technology. It's practically a sickness. I'm always on the hunt for an app that will make my life a little bit easier. Sometimes it backfires, though, when I end up with 15 apps to meet all my needs. Who has the storage for that? Not only that, who can remember it all and keep it all together? Definitely not me. I am super pumped I found an app that meets a few different needs and eliminates some of the excess. Best part? It's totally free. Bloomz is a sort of private social network that connects a teacher and the parents of students in his or her class. It's sort of like facebook, but way way better because parents of kids in your class can't creep on pictures posted by your college roommate. That can get ugly fast, people. 

    

from bloomz.net

With Bloomz, you can upload due dates and events into a class calendar, ask for volunteers, make a "wish list" of supplies, communicate with parents, and even send pictures. You can choose to send updates to one parent, a group of parents, or the whole class. Parents can then like, comment, or share on what you post. If you have an issue with a specific parent, you can even "mute" them so they can't post anything but they can still receive updates. This one app replaces google calendar, email, google drive, and even some paper notices. I am all about simplicity in 2016, people, so this app is definitely being implemented in my classroom.

Happy New Year! 

Currently December 2015

It's December- the most wonderful time of year. Lights are twinkling, decorations are hung, and festive Christmas music is playing. Does it get any better than that? I'm linking up with Farley from Oh Boy 4th Grade for Currently!

Listening: Have you ever seen Peg + Cat? It's a PBS cartoon that focuses on math for pre-schoolers. If you are a parent of a little one or teacher Kindergarten, you have to check it out! I first saw it when my little guy was only a few months old but he only recently started to be allowed one show a night. The NCTM conference last year featured a session about using this show for teaching math in the lower grades, too. Not to mention one of the main characters is a cat, which is my favorite animal. It's a win!

Loving: The Christmas season! How can anyone dislike this time of year? I think I have an extra special love for the holiday this year because my son is starting to get it. He loves to find his elf on the shelf every day and listen to Christmas carols. Is there anything better than the look in a baby's eyes as he stares at the Christmas tree? The best.

Thinking: This may be a little contradictory, but my goodness, teaching in December is HARD. As a fantastically hysterically teacher in my building said, "it's one long game of whack-a-mole." So true!

Wanting: Our school laminator broke down a few weeks ago, and I really miss it. I have a personal laminator to do small items, but I can't do anything larger than a standard 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper. I miss being able to do bigger projects, like nametags and anchor charts. Here's hoping Santa brings our school a new one!

Needing: Oh, report cards. They are always a ton of work, but this year is extra tough. We have a new computer system for inputting grades and the glitches haven't quite been worked out yet. I can't wait until they are all worked out!

Real or fake: This year, it's fake. With a little guy at home, I just don't want to have clean up after a tree. Vacuuming up dead needles, watering it, and keeping the cat out of it is all just too much this year. We got a nice fake one with lots of volume. You can hardly tell it isn't real... especially after we light our Christmas Tree candle. :)

Enjoy the season!

Community Involvement

I'm blogging over at Middle School Mob today, with some fun and easy ideas for community involvement in the classroom! Working together to help others has made my students better teammates and cooperative learners. Check it out!

Get your students started in writing (with a freebie)

I was sitting with a reluctant writer last week, conferencing with her on a personal narrative. She had only a few sentences down, even after she had been writing (or trying to) for almost 20 minutes. She was disinterested in continuing, and said to me, "I just can't get started. I know what I want my story to be about, but I don't know how to start it and make it sound good." This isn't uncommon- so many of my fifth graders struggle with the same issue! So, this week I really focused on helping those struggling students find some way to start and helping the rest of my students enhance their beginnings.

We worked together as a class to create a continuum of beginnings. We thought about all the different ways we could begin a story, and then arranged them with the more sophisticated beginnings at the top of our chart, and the more basic beginnings at the bottom of the chart. In retrospect, I would have added an arrow to the side.... but there wasn't room left when I was done, so I just added it on the whiteboard next to it.

1. Use a motion word or sound.

2. Pose a question. 

3. Use a quotation.

4. Just jump into the story and start "talking" to the reader.

5. Restate the prompt. Rearrange the words to create an opening paragraph.

My students really responded to the idea of a "continuum" of beginnings to chose from. In another conference after this lesson, one student said that he liked that the could "start with number 5" as a beginning to get over his writer's block, and then edit it later to be something more interesting. As a teacher, I loved how this lends itself to differentiation for the students!

Best of all, I made a little miniature anchor chart for my kiddos to paste in their notebooks- and thought I'd pass it along to you as a freebie! I left it at full size (8.5 x 11) and they fold it in half to paste it in. I like the words to be big enough to be easily read. If you prefer it slightly smaller, though, it shrinks well on the copy machine! I made three versions (all included)- one blank so the students can fill it in, one with just the ways to begin and a blank spot for the students to fill in their own examples, and one completely filled in.

Download the freebie here!

Winner!

Thank you to everyone who entered for the Classroom Friendly Supplies pencil sharpener contest! The winner is....

Gabby L

Look for an email for me soon- that pretty purple sharpener is coming your way.

Happy Wednesday!

My favorite pencil sharpener returns...

Are you sick of my posts about my favorite pencil sharpener yet? I know.... I can't help it. It's changed my life! Well, maybe not changed my life.... but it did make my classroom pencil management a lot easier. :)  It's fast, quiet, and it has a "cool factor" that makes the kids love to use it. So much, in fact, "pencil sharpener" has become one of my most coveted classroom jobs! Classroom Friendly Supplies is now offering the sharpener in a pretty shade of purple, too!

Isn't she a beaut? One of my favorite things about this sharpener is how fast it is for a manual sharpener. Check it out......

16 pencils, read to sharpen. Apple watch, ready to time it.

And... I'm off!

Last one!

All 16 pencils done in 3:42.

Check out those hyper-sharpened tips!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again- I am a huge fan of this sharpener. I couldn't be more excited to share the new purple color with you- and since I have already bought a few for my classroom, this one is up for grabs!  Open to US residents only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You can also check out my previous posts about my favorite pencil sharpener by clicking the "pencil sharpener" tag in the word cloud in the side bar, or by clicking the "pencil sharpener" tag at the bottom of this post.

Happy Monday!

Currently October!

I feel like the days are flying by. Every time the calendar turns over to a new month, it takes me by surprise! I think that life hit fast forward when I had a baby last year. That "baby" is 16 months old, putting two words together to ask for things, running around, and feeding himself. When did that happen????? 

Linking up with Farley for my favorite monthly linky- Currently!

Listening: Criminal is my new addiction! It is a podcast that talks about crime in every episode. They interview all different people- people falsely accused, people that were victims of a crime, law enforcement people, criminals that have served their sentences, and even historians to talk about old crimes. I can't get enough!

Loving: GIVE ME ALL THE PUMPKIN THINGS! I love a pumpkin spiced latte as much as the next girl (iced, please!) but I take it one step further. We have pumpkin everything going on! Pumpkin candles burning, pumpkin seeds for snacks, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin mac and cheese... you get the idea.

Thinking: I got my NAIER order-  I have so many post-its and white out strips now! I am so happy. Office supplies have that effect on me. 

Wanting: My living room is currently a mix of baby toys,  baby clothes (that he pulled off in his travels),  and papers to grade. It's a mess.... and I don't want to clean it! 

Needing: A terribly long nap, which is why I don't want to clean the horribly messy living room. :) 

Boo-tiful: Don't you love when students say nice things about you when they think you aren't listening? It made my day- I'm not sure what she is referring to with "fancy and fashionable" considering I am the mom of a toddler and never have much time to get ready... but I'll take it!

Happy October, friends!