writing a resume

In case you'll soon be starting the whole resume writing process, I wanted to share a sample I found a while back. Writing a teacher resume is different than a standard resume - you include different things. I don't know - in the grand scheme of the hiring process - how much weight a resume actually carries but I really strive to make mine the best it can be. Your resume brags on you before you arrive to the interview and speaks for you after you've left. I also include cover letter, where I'm able to share my heart for teaching. But if you're not sure how to begin writing that one sheet piece of paper, maybe this will help:

Click here to go to the website. 

fluency freebies

I wanted to find some reading strategy posters to use with some of my small groups. I also wanted them to be free :) I'm super excited to find some cute free posters and I wanted to pass them along! I liked these for the fifth graders I'm working with...but I also found some for younger kiddos too.

Click here to grab these!

These are fluency phrases (not free)...

And some free posters for those younger kiddos...

christmas break!

I don't know what schedule your school system is on but we've been out for one week and have another left. I haven't done anything work-related yet and plan on using one day to tackle that...and then spend the rest being just a little lazy :) So relax and enjoy your time off!

"i can" display

The Target dollar section gets me almost every time :) I picked these placemats up today and thought they would be PERFECT for displaying objectives/I can statements! There are two paper placemats in each pack. I used a giant pocket chart with sentence strips last year but these would take up a lot less wall space (and don't we always run out of wall space?). I can laminate these and use a dry erase marker to write on them. Plus they're polka dots and anything polka dots or chevron or mustache or chalkboard is right up my alley :)

talking chips

In a meeting last year, we were introduced to the idea of "talking chips" - giving each kiddo in a small group x amount of chips. They would put one in the center whenever they wanted to say something and when they had used all of their chips, they were done talking. The idea is to keep those who like to talk a whoooole lot from talking quite so much and giving others a turn. 

I think I may try this in some of my small groups just to help with my kiddos who are eager to share their answer and don't always wait for the person talking to finish :)

"the day the crayons quit"

I happened across this book in the library today and oh my, it's super cute! I love when books can be adapted to different grade levels. I think younger kiddos would appreciate the humor but the point of view is great for older kids. I can just see them writing their own letter to Duncan as a crayon! And my two favorites from the story would be Beige Crayon (I laughed aloud at him asking "...let's be honest - when was the last time you saw a kid excited about coloring wheat?") and Blue Crayon - he's stubby from overuse and too short to see over the box :) There are so many directions you can go with this: letter writing, point of view, persuasive writing (why one color is better than another), and even adjectives. I found an activity last year where kiddos were given a non-traditional color and had to write a sentence using color adjectives to describe their picture. 

In keeping with this theme, I found these at Walmart. I bought some last year but these were new additions to the family! I had them out for decoration in my classroom and how great would these be to go along with the story?!  I also have some plush ones that I think came from my local Dollar Tree.  

fluency freebie

I needed a way to keep track of my kiddos fluency progress. I wanted to be able to see how they improved each day (and let them know as well). So I made a quick table in Word and there you go. At the top I write the week and the title of the passage.  Nothing super fancy but just what I needed (I will say I used a cuter font but for some reason, it changed when I uploaded the file)!

You can click here to download it!