Five for Friday!

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching's Five for Friday this week.  In no particular order (well almost no particular order):

1.  This has to be my NUMBER ONE!  My daughter had her first official interview for a full time teaching position this week and she nailed it.  The principal called her a few hours later and offered her a fifth grade teaching position. I can't begin to tell you how excited I am to see her starting off her teaching career.  Definitely a proud mommy moment!

2.  Camping!  My daughter and I slipped away for a night of camping with good friends on the Russian River.  We drank wine and played cards most of the night. Morning found us on the river bank watching  the 'show' complete with seals, osprey, and a host of other critters.  We took the long way home, enjoying a drive along the coast.  I might be partial, but I think I live in a beautiful part of the world.

3.  Shopping!  We've been out of school for a week now.  Is it too early to start thinking about next year?  I think not.  I stopped by the dollar bins at Target and picked up a few things and then hit Home Depot because I've been wanting my own teacher's toolbox for some time now.  I am soooo tired of rummaging through my desk drawers for stuff!  I hadn't planned on making my labels for the toolbox yet, but couldn't resist!  I used Moo & Puppy digital papers for the background of my labels. I've used that paper for sooooo many things in my classroom.  Everything from my "Turn off your cell phone" sign to the name tags on students' desks.

4.  Washi Tape!  The mailman dropped off a litte envelope in my mailbox today.  I am now the proud owner of 5 rolls of washi tape.  I don't really know what I'm going to do with it yet, but the colors coordinate perfectly with the color scheme in my classroom.  Coordinating colors? Who can resist that?  I can see this becoming an addiction.

5.  Okay, so this hasn't actually happened yet, but I'm including it anyway!  My daughter and I are going to the Oakland A's game tonight.  It's Firework Night.  I love fireworks!

Well that's my Five for Friday.  I just realized that 4 out of 5 things on my list include my daughter.  That is one of the perks about both of us having summers off!  We get to spend time some quality time together!  Head on over to Doodle Bugs Teaching and link up!

Teach Like a Pirate: Immersion

Teach Like a Pirate:  Chapter 2
I is for Immersion!

I was reading through a few other responses to this chapter and found myself nodding my head in agreement.  We've all had the experience of interacting with someone who isn't really a part of the conversation.  Most of us have probably been guilty of not being fully 'there' in our interactions with others at some point.  I think this chapter encourages us to mentally plop ourselves in a student's chair to see our instruction from their point of view.  Are we as fully immersed in the lesson we're presenting as we're expecting them to be?  If not, what can we do to change that? I would imagine that it would take super human powers to BE in the moment every minute of the day as we teach.  We can at least aspire to BE there more often than we are presently.  This next school year, I plan on jumping in the 'pool' as often as I can.

Teach Like a Pirate: Passion

Ahoy there!  So far I am loving this book!  It's certainly an easy read for the first week of summer break.  It's nothing that will boggle my mind, but just enough to massage my tired brain and get me thinking.

So passion.  This is the first time I've really considered that, as teachers, we bring more than one type of passion into our classrooms.  Once I read that, I thought...well of course we do!  I just never thought to break it out into three distinct types of passion.

Content passion:  I love teaching.  I mean I REALLY love teaching, so there isn't much in terms of content that I don't have a passion for.  I was originally a marine biology major in college so science is definitely an area of passion for me.  Okay, maybe I don't have a passion for teaching students about the periodic table of the elements, but I think that's because I'm not convinced that it's important for 5th graders to know the difference between a group and a period.  Do they really need to know if iridium is a metal or a nonmetal?  I think not.  Social Studies is another subject I love to teach.  There are so many interesting personal stories behind the major historical events that we discuss in fifth grade.  The content offers fabulous opportunities to discuss personal motivation as well as conflict and resolution.

Professional passion:  I have always told myself that as soon as I lose the passion for what I do as a teacher, it's time to find something else to be passionate about.  That doesn't mean that there aren't days, sometimes weeks, when that passion seems to be ebbing.  But I love what I do.  I love that I have the opportunity to making learning exciting for children.  I am passionate about creating a learning environment that is a safe place for my students to take risks and make mistakes without the fear of failure.  I am passionate about showing my students, most of whom live well below the poverty line, that there are possibilities for them that are beyond their imaginations.  I am passionate about helping each and every one of my students reach their full potential.  A card that I received at the end of this year reminded me why the career that I've chosen is so important.

Personal Passion:  I have a passion for learning about and trying new things.  This works well with our profession.  I definitely have a 'let's try it' attitude about life.  I'm not terribly afraid of failure and certainly don't let it get in the way of me trying something new.  When I come across something (think periodic table of the elements) that I'm not passionate about teaching, I love the challenge of finding a way to bring a dry subject or standard to life.  Another passion of mine is reading.  Reading this chapter reminded me that anytime I can find some reading passage, current event, or tidbit of interesting information that supports whatever standard we're working on, I need to find a way to use it.  When I've been able to do that, it has made the content that much more relevant to my students.

The assignment of breaking passion into three separate areas has helped me add to my arsenal for those days when I'm faced with feeling more than a bit mediocre in the classroom.  Instead of throwing my hands up in the air and declaring that I know longer have the passion for this, I can reach into my quiver, pull out a different arrow of passion, and take aim.  

Yo Ho, Yo Ho....A Pirate's Life for Me!

Ahhh....this is summer vacation!  The house is all mine this weekend and it's quiet.  Very quiet.  The three wild Aussies are stretched out on the floor napping through the heat.  I thought about doing the same (no air conditioning in this old house), but then decided it was a good time to catch up on some blog reading.  I am so glad that I did!  I stumbled across an upcoming book study hosted by Gina at Third Grade Tidbits and Jennifer over at Rowdy in First Grade!  I love book studies!  And, if that wasn't amazing enough, it's a book already on my summer reading list!

Jump over to either Gina's or Jennifer's blog for all the details!  Just HURRY!  The discussion for the first chapter is scheduled for June 11th.  Shiver me timbers!  I've got some reading to do!

June Currently

Oh my gosh!  It's June, not just June, but June 3rd!  That means we only have two more days of school left!  Half days at that!  And BUSY half days!  My to-do list has taken on a life of it's own.   So much to do, so little time left.   I just had to make time to join in on Oh' Boy Fourth Grade's Currently after reading what everyone else is thinking about.  So here's mine:

Listening:  I love The Voice.  I think that the two best singers were voted off last week, but now I'm a big fan of the cute little country singer, Danielle.  

Loving:  I gave myself an end of the year present!  I joined the Teaching Blog Traffic School yesterday.  I've only watched one of the videos so far, but love how easy it is to follow along with Charity.  My plan is to set aside an hour (or three!) each day to work my way through all the great stuff she has to offer.  I'm just itching to dive into it, but I have to get my to-do list whittled down first.

Thinking:  Who isn't thinking about vacation?  I'm still undecided about Italy, but am working on a quick trip to Oregon for some mountain biking.  Not sure whether we're camping, hotel hopping, or renting an RV yet.  I think a little RV might be fun as we've never done that before.  Add a little vacation research to my to-do list.

Wanting:  I realize that I'm only one puppy away from being 'the crazy dog lady', but I've fallen in love with another pup.  My friend has offered to give me one from one of her recent litters.  The only stipulation is that I show it in either AKC rally, obedience, or agility.  This morning I found myself making a mental list of all the reasons NOT to take on another pup.  There are plenty of good ones.  Uninterrupted sleep is just one of them.  It wasn't that long ago that I was housebreaking Gus.  I remember those middle of the night trips to the back yard.  Then, on the way home from work, I was thinking about puppy names and puppy breath.  That's never a good thing....that usually means I'm only one phone call away from adding another mini Aussie to the family.

Needing:  I need to get back to making healthy food choices.  Thank goodness school is almost out.  That means I won't have to deal with Weight Gain Wednesdays for a while.  They aren't really called that.  They're called something more benign:  Treat Day.  But my scale knows better.  Every Wednesday a different group of teachers fills our staff lounge with goodies.  Red Velvet Whoopie Pies??  Really?  

3 Vacay Essentials:  I don't go very far without my camera.  I certainly can't imagine taking a vacation without it.  My iPad is a must have for a zillion different reasons.  One of them is so I have access to all my 'books' on Kindle. 

The last time I looked there were close to 400 folks who have linked up with this month's Currently!  Head on over to Farley's to check out a few of them!

Summer Bucket List

I'm sitting here sipping my coffee this morning.  It's rainy and a bit cool which is extremely odd for this time of year here in Northern California. This is our dry season which means we might not see rain until September.  But here it is.  I'm hoping, even though we desperately need the rain, that it's over quickly.  Because, as much as we need the precipitation, I need the guarantee of outdoor P.E. and morning recess so these 5th graders can burn off some energy. We've had a cooler than normal May that has left many of us wondering where summer is.  Teri over at A Cupcake for the Teacher is hosting a Summer Bucket LIst linky which leads me to believe that summer is just around the corner.  So what's on my bucket list for this summer?

1. More mountain biking. 

Okay, so my mountain biking doesn't usually include mountains, but there are hills involved.  I'm new at this AND I'm accident prone.  That means I'm cautious. For now anyway.

2.  Spending lazy mornings with the three musketeers.

Mornings with these three don't qualify as lazy.  During the school year, my husband takes them for a frisbee workout every morning.  I'm looking forward to joining them with my cup of coffee in hand.  

3.  Travel to Italy

My son and his wife just moved to Sacile, Italy. They live on this very river.  I think a visit is in order, don't you? I haven't decided whether I'm going this summer or next.  As I type this, I'm leaning towards THIS summer.

3.  Cleaning out the garage.  No, there isn't a picture for this bucket list item.  But if I do get around to it, I'll be sure to take 'before' and 'after' pictures.  It's bad.  Really bad.  It has been on my 'to-do' list for quite some time.  It doesn't qualify for an episode of "Hoarders", but it is a mess disaster.  

What's on your bucket list for this summer?  Head over to A Cupcake for the Teacher to see what everyone else is doing.  You might just find a thing or two to add to your list.

What Will You Do Differently? Linky Party

With only seven days left of school, this is the time of year when my thoughts flip flop between "Is this year OVER yet?" and "Next year I'm going to do ___________differently."  So what perfect timing for Kim over at Finding Joy in 6th Grade to decide to host her What Will YOU Do Differently? linky party!   I knew I just had to join in!

I start off every year with the best laid plans to be organized. This is the cover of my teaching binder this year.  I thought it would help if I had a cute cover.  Silly me.

By winter break, my organizational habits start to fade.  The pile of 'to be filed' papers starts to grow.  Oh, I know all about the 'handle a piece of paper only once' rule.  I just don't practice it.  I'm a shuffler.  By the time January rolls around, I find myself shuffling through the same pile of papers on my desk at least once a day.  So next year I want to be more organized.  

I added a few extra opportunities for art this year and my students loved it.  Okay, not ALL of them, but many!  

Our planet art.  Students conducted research and wrote their planet reports.  Then we had fun 'discovering' new planets.  The new planet had to 'fit' in somewhere in our solar system and have similiar characteristics to surrounding planets.  After they wrote about their discovery, they picked up some oil pastels and had fun.

Okay, some people might not think of this as art, but I do!

Giving kids a chance to express themselves through art and movement is important.  So this summer I'm going to look for ways to incorporate more art into our year.

Almost all kids love to have some sort of public recognition of their successes in the classroom.  I'm not sure what it is I'm looking for here, but I want to celebrate those successes more often.  

Last summer I made a "ME" schedule.  I actually put my 'quitting time' for each day on a weekly schedule that was kept at the front of that binder I meant to keep organized.  I didn't stick to it as much as I hoped to, but it definitely helped me acheive a better balance between my work and my personal life.  So this coming year I plan to refine it a little bit to bring that perfect balance a bit closer to reality.  It certainly helps that my teaching partner is on the same page as I am.  We've done a great job of dragging each other out of the building at the end of the day.  

There are half a billion other things that I'd like to change racing through my mind and, once I turn in my key (only 7 days left!), I'll sit down and prioritize the ones that are most important to me.  But thanks to Kim's linky, I think I'm off to a good start!

So what are you going to do differently?  Hop on over to Finding Joy in 6th Grade's linky and let us know!