September Currently

Last week I linked up with Blog Hoppin for their #teacherweek. Today I am linking up with Farley over at Oh Boy 4th Grade for her September Currently. 

So here it is....

I am currently sitting on the couch wrapped up in two blankets while simultaneously sweating and shivering. My deepest apologies for not completing blog hoppin's teacher week but this cold has kicked my butt. This rain has only encouraged the accidental napping that has taken place this weekend. To out it plainly, I feel like poop.

However, sweet, sweet boyfriend surprised me this weekend with an early birthday present.
I received a silhouette cameo and about a thousand rolls of vinyl. So far I have managed to crawl out from the covers to put the dog's name on his bowl and that's about it.



Our school also received a grant from GE for Osmos for all of our k-3 classrooms and I brought one home this weekend to try it out. I think the kiddos are going to love it.



But for now I'm going to put myself in a Nyquil induced coma. Until next time...

#teacherweek15 - Classroom Tour

 Welcome back!

Here is a sneak peek into my little corner of the world. This week our third graders have been subjected to beginning of grade state testing. On top of that I've had multiple parent conferences already this week as well. So, my apologies, but my entire room was not exactly picture ready today and therefore I'm only going to show you the sparkley things. I'll post more later, I promise!

This is our classroom library. Our school doesn't have an actual library so we have to provide books on a wide range of topics and levels in our rooms. Most of the books in the blue bins get switched out between second an third grade. I've recently put out the Narnia, Unfortunate Events, and Harry Potter series and have been asked by a student if we could add even more reading time to our schedule. 

Above our library is our math rotation and calendar board. Some of what is up here is left from last year and needs to be updated for third grade, but it will get there....eventually. 

The computer station, hopes and dreams and birthday cakes. I found this old table in the garage behind a house I was renting, asked the landlord if I could have it, and turned it into this snazzy piece. 

Student work board 

Students completed this Whoooo am I page last week. 

And last but not least the VIP table. I introduced this near the end of the year when a Donor's Choose project I created for five of these ball chairs was fully funded by the Horace Mann Company. It has not be reopened yet for this year but students are eager to get back to it. 

Behind the table are student cubbies, mailboxes, unit book boxes and, as the students call it, the guneia pigs "to go" cage. (More on him later as well.)

Thanks for hoppin' by!

#teacherweek15 - Make Ahead Meals

Ahhhhh! I feel so unprepared! 

Tonight was a busy night full of errands and appointments and dinner ended up being tacos of the bell variety. But that is not so unusual as I very rarely cook, unless you call pouring a jar of sauce over noodles cooking. I do, however, have one go to comfort meal in my repertoire that boyfriend can't get enough of and leaves plenty left over. (Thanks grandma!) So here it is!

A Lazy Girl's Guide to Chicken and Dumplings

Ingredients
One grocery store rotisserie chicken
One can cream of chicken soup
One cup of chicken broth
One cup of water
One cup bisquick mix
One third cup of milk
One cup chopped carrots
Salt and pepper

Steps
1. Combine water, broth, carrots, salt and pepper in large pot and set to boil.
2. Shred 1/2 of your rotessire chicken.
(We typically do a combination of white and dark meat and then save the other half for another meal later in the week.)
3. Add your chicken to the pot.
4. Make bisquick dumplings by combing mix and milk in bowl.
5. Drop spoonfuls of your dumpling mixture into the boiling pot.
6. Set to simmer and cover for ten minutes.
7. Flip your dumplings over and cook uncovered for ten minutes.
8. Cool and serve!

As one of my students would say, wala!

Now, I have to admit that I don't make this meal often when it's 80+ degrees outside so I don't have any pictures to show you but I promise it will make you feel warm and fuzzy inside!
Join me tomorrow to get the inside scoop in the 2/3 loop!

#teacherweek15

 So I've decided to bring it back for teacher week 2015!

I'm linking up Blog Hoppin' for #teacherweek15 so you can learn five facts about me!

1. Boyfriend and I love to travel. We spent a lot of time this summer traveling back and forth to Atlanta but we have decided to go at least one new place a year. We recently returned from Puerto Rico and loved every minute of it. 

2. We live in a small house with our menagerie of fur friends. I swear if he brings any more home we are going to need a bigger house.  This is Kitty. 

(Note the fire hydrant)

3. I loop! (But you have probably figured that out already.) That means I spend two years with my kiddos starting in second and moving up to third with them. While I enjoy having some pre-trained third graders, second grade has always been my favorite. 

Second graders....

Third graders!

4.  I work part time in film (or I did). Wilmington was once known as Hollywood East and had a thriving film industry. Over the past few years I have worked as a stand in and photo double on a few different productions such as Eastbound and Down, Sleepy Hollow, and Under the Dome. However, now with our previous film incentives gone, all productions have moved to Georgia and there are literally no film jobs here.  This is how I feel about it. 

5. Our house is (piece by piece) turning into a film set. When a production ends sets are torn down, props are sold off, and the crews salvage whatever they can. So between my boyfriend and me there are ships and bones, a fire hydrant, tomahawks, and this. 

On set

And in my kitchen 

There you have it! Five fun facts about me!

Join us later this week from more fun from me and blog hoppin'!

Meet me currently!

And my new blog!

My name is Julie and this year I am a second grade teacher. This is my fifth year of teaching and my third in second grade. I work in a charter school in the beautiful state of North Carolina and next year I will loop up with my secondy babies. I will guide them into being big independent thinking thirdsies and then go down to second again the following year. 
Now you're in the loop too!  :)

I am trying hard to get back into the blog scene and thought a Currently March linky party would help to get the juices going. 
(BTW It's March already?)
So here we go...

Though I am not so good at staying consistent with writing, I do thoroughly enjoy reading what everyone else is doing in their classroom. So, today with the sounds of Kevin Spacey and eerie violin music in the background I have been doing some research of fun new things to implement in my classroom. See posts to come for ideas put into place. 

Meanwhile, the state of NC is toying with our film incentives again and boyfriend's hours have been drastically cut back, potentially ending entirely at the end of the week. Looks like my summer job may be out the window too. Sorry to turn a shiny new blog so sour so quickly. What are you looking forward to this month (besides spring break)? 

Evaluations

 Two weeks ago we had our only inclement weather day of the year. No school and then a two hour delay for a 1/2 inch of snow, some sleet, and below freezing temps. Now, I'm not saying that the days were uncalled for, we southerners can't handle winter weather. In fact there's even a song about it. 

And now it's 80 degrees and sunny but I was able to make the most of the time by working on my self evaluation. As a charter school we are able to determine how we, the teachers, are evaluated and a team of us came up with the "PIP". The Personal Inquiry Project is a compilation of reflections from a set goal or project we want to work on, benchmark data, and peer observations. 

This is actually my first attempt at a PIP and I will probably write and rewrite it at least three more times before I submit it to the board for review. It was nice to have a day where I was stuck inside while all of this went on. 

So how are you evaluated? Do you have any say in it? Do you feel your voice is heard?

I want to be a VIP!

Though I have seriously been slacking on my blog writing, I have stayed up on my blog reading and am in LOVE with Rachel from The Tattooed Teacher's VIP table. I did some more research and found a beautiful table on Teaching Maddeness by Amanda and Aimee's VIP bucket from Primarily Speaking. Click their photos below to see how they are making their students want to be VIPs.

Now to put these ideas into action. I have some very and I do mean VERY wiggly students this year. To help conquer the daily shimmies I created a Donor's Choose project for 5 of these fantastic chairs.

They are pretty expensive (about $100 each) and I didn't really pursue my typical donors to try and get this project funded. Low and behold, it was funded anyway. Thank you Horace Mann Insurance for donating over $500 to put this project together. I will be using these chairs at what is now my guided reading table and make it a VIT (very important table!)

I love the idea of having students determine the VIP's qualifications, although I may change up what the acronym means. They may also come up with some reasons why one could get bumped from the VIP table Stay tuned for pictures of the completed project and comment below with what else you think VIP could stand for in second grade!