Assessment: How does it fit with common core and a spiral based teaching model?

I am on an assessment team at my school. We are working to create a school based plan on assessment and tie it in with our belief that spiral review - especially in math, is important for learning. This week, a few of us have worked to create a presentation on how to track your assessment and why it is important. We will presenting this information on Monday to our elementary school team.

This is something that I've always been good at, but have gone through a lot of changes in my short five years of teaching. I know that a lot of people are stuck in the mindset that they have to grade and track everything - but with Common Core and Spiral based teaching, that doesn't have to be! Yes ... there is light at the end of the grading tunnel!

Mr. D on Grading

What do you do to keep records? Which records do you keep? Do you have your students keep any records? Hopefully this presentation can help you answer these questions and more! Let me know if you have questions or ideas! 

Simply Techy: A monthly link-up with my friend Simply Teach Sew Grow

My teammate and I have been working on blogging together. We sat down one night, had some fabulous Thai food, and swapped techy tips for two or three hours. During that conversation, I taught her to start a monthly link up, like my Top Ten. So, we went through the basics and she decided to do a monthly user-friendly iPad/tech linky! I'm so excited for this, because this is my first year with daily iPads. I know I could be doing so much more with them and this is a great place to get ideas, so link up with my friend, over at Simply Teach, Sew, Grow  and add your ideas. It's super easy!

Have you had your students use MobyMax? I have seen how quickly it can help support students who use it regularly. Try it out at MobyMax

Currently: February 2016

I'm so excited to be linking up with Farley at Oh Boy it's Farley for her February Currently ... I love this time of month, because I always have a fun way to chill out, self reflect and write some blog posts...

So, here's my currently!

Loving: Guys, I ordered the wrong size of blinds for my big front window. Not the cheap kind of blinds either - the faux wood slat blinds... I got a killer deal (50% off!!!) on the JcPenney Website after Christmas sale... I spent a whole weekend prepping - caulking, painting, etc... and bought power tools *finally* in order to hang them up and doll up my living room ... When I went to hang the last set of blinds... they were too big! So, I looked up how to fix my blundering error ... and it was so stinking easy! My boyfriend and I took to Home Depot and bought a ten dollar hack saw... that and some blue painters tape was all I needed to fix my silly mistake --- I measured, taped all of the slats together and got sawing... A little hard work and my blinds fit perfectl
y! I felt SO SO SO very accomplished when I finished that project!

Needing: Last weekend was not much of a weekend for me - I was sick, my boyfriend was sick, and my Puppers was sick ... I had some other things going on, and didn't really get a chance to rest. I'm hoping to spend some time at the hot springs this weekend and enjoy life a little bit!

Hope you are enjoying your February so far! Link up and share your thoughts on life:)

The Monthly Top Ten: February

Wow! I fail! It's been since August since I posted a monthly top ten to fill out. Thank you for being patient as I work to get to know my new school and my house... It's been a quick first half of the year and I am looking forward to feeling more settled in my job and my house!

This month is all about Valentine's ... You know that one of the perks of the job is getting all that candy during the holidays and giving it away to other people because you can't stand the thought of eating one more piece (even though you secretly want it all to yourself!) Well, there's definitely candy types that I keep, just for me... because I can't stand the thought of sharing them with some of my family members!

This month I want to know ... what are your top ten Valentine's Candies? What do you splurge on for your kids so you can sneak a bite or two of the left overs? Which candies do you get a little bit excited about when they end up in your valentine's mailbox? Join the link up and let me know!

The only thing I really need to say is ... Reese's ... mmmm... the specialty ones are even better. I can't wait to get some of them in my goodie bag this year (fingers crossed!)

If you can't tell, I like anything chocolate... there's a few fruity things thrown in, but seriously, who can complain about chocolate! 

Last year, my boyfriend got me some specialty chocolates from a local chocolate shop. They were TO DIE FOR. One can only hope he's still this romantic... 

Hope you all have fun!

Rules: Link your page to this post by using the inlinkz link at the bottom of this page. Hyperlink your blog post back to this post. Copy and paste the image above to an editing program like PowerPoint. Fill it out - Have fun! Post on your blog - you can go into further detail, or just leave the image to explain. Finally, comment on two other people's linkups!

Crock Pot Love

Ok, busy teachers ... here's a quick middle of the week post about how much I love my crock pot and coming home to a hot, ready meal! This morning I put together Chicken Three Bean Mole Chili... It took me 6 minutes to throw this meal together this morning... seriously, 6 minutes! And, it was absolutely delicious!
I love this crock pot cookbook that I once found at a Ross store, it's super simple and has all types of crock pot recipes!

Ingredients Needed

4 Chicken breasts ( I shred them after they are all cooked)
1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 can chili beans in spicy sauce, undrained
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 large green bell pepper, diced
1 small onion, diced
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup mole
2 t cumin
2 t coriander
2 t chili powder
2 t minced garlic

Toppings:
Shredded Cheese, crushed tortilla chips, quesadilla, sour cream, cilantro, anything you would like!

1. Throw all ingredients into your crockpot
2. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or 2-4 hours on high
3. When done, shred chicken in crockpot
4. Serve with toppings of your choice (or, if you're like me ... all of them)

Voila! That's it!!! So delicious and simple ... my kind of meal!

Do you have any crock pot meals that you love? Did you try this one? Let me know!

The Sunday Scoop

I'm taking some time to link up with the Teaching Trio  today because I finished my lesson plans a little early and am sitting here watching my Seahawks! I like this concept because it reminds me to enjoy some of the little things and think about my to-do list! So, here's the scoop on what I need to get done today!

I've already finished lesson planning, and am starting to think about what things I need to add to my concept board this week. I am desperately needing to go to the grocery store and get dog food, otherwise they are going to be getting scrambled eggs for dinner.

What are you doing this weekend? Join up with us over at the teaching trio and share... maybe it will remind me of what I need to do! 

Five For Friday! January 8, 2016

Anybody else out there still doing this on a daily basis?

I know I am, and will be until the end of March:(

But, I digress, it's a new year and time for a link up with one of my favorite linky parties! I'm joining up with doodle bugs teaching  for her weekly 5 for Friday link up.

I put my file cabinet to use! I moved my jobs board here so that I could use the whiteboard space for reminders, homework, and our monthly character trait.

I am starting a "Problem of the Week" for my math early finishers. Hopefully I can stay up with creating these posters and laminate them for future use. This should be an extension type problem with a challenge added for those early finishers and gifted students. I will be making a blog post on this soon, as I work out the kinks. I am excited to see how my kiddos do!

I've been working on a HUGE teacherspayteachers project. It is a year round spiral review for all third grade ELA standards. Right now, I have the first 7 weeks done and I will post it when I have nine weeks done. Hopefully, I can get that done by the end of January. I was hoping to have it up for the new year, but it's taking a lot more time to create than I anticipated. My teammates and I have been using it, and boy are we seeing magic results! My other teammate is also creating one for Math. I will post both links when they're ready :) Also, I am in need of a catchy name - so if you can think of one for me, you'll get this pack for free!

I saw this on Facebook over break, and knew I needed to try it in my teeny tiny classroom ...

So I did, albeit it's a tad different to fit ...

There's a row of five in the front  ( my five most distracted ), two groups of 8 and a group of 4. I'll see how it goes this week - hopefully I can handle this and not go back to the two rows facing each other!

My teammate gave me the greatest idea - she's turning 40 this year and is doing a 40 things I will do in the year I turn 40 challenge. She thought this would be a great way to do resolutions with the kiddos at work! By doing something like 8 things I will do in the year I turn 8 or 9 things I will do in the year I turn 9.  I'm going to do one too, and as soon as I think of some good things this weekend, I will post a blog about it. Hopefully I can stick to my 28 things I will do in the year I turn 28!

What did you accomplish this week? I'm glad to be going back to a routine, but not so sure about setting an alarm after two and a half weeks!