2013 Resolution Linky

I'm linking up with Amanda at Teaching Maddeness for

and Diane at Teaching With Moxie for



Here are my resolutions for 2013...
For School:
*to grade papers promptly (I have a very bad habit of letting ungraded papers pile up and it makes it even harder to get motivated to actually grade them! Please tell me I'm not the only one :)
*to create a daily plan for the weekly tasks I need to accomplish (that way I don't spend my weekend putting it all together for the following week)

Personal:
*to exercise and keep a food journal
*to drink more water
*to spend more quality time with my family
*to cook dinner more often than not (this will give me a chance to try some of those new recipes I keep ripping out of magazines haha!!)
*to use my Life Planner more :)

Blogging:
*to take more pictures of what's happening in my classroom (I always intend to take pictures, but I get so busy and forget about it!)
*to reach 500 followers :)
*to blog 4-5 times a week

What are your resolutions for the new year? I'd love to hear about them!

PS: I LOVE reading your comments and seeing new followers :)

Teachers College Common Core Resource

I hope everyone is enjoying the vacation--I am definitely lovin' the relaxing :)

I'm so excited to share this resource with you! Teachers College recently released videos of NYC teachers teaching lessons around the Common Core Standards!! The best part is...you can access the videos...for FREE!!


Click HERE to see the videos

I love the way Teachers College approaches literacy--unfortunately, my school is pulling away from it. It saddens me and I try my best to hold on to what I can of it. The videos are giving me a new and fresh way to approach the standards, while still using the TC methods that I love!


I hope you can use some of the information presented in these videos :)

How do you use TC's methods with the Common Core Standards? How do you plan to utilize the videos from TC? I'd love to hear from you :)

Welcome Winter Sale!!

Break is finally here and I'm super excited to say the least!! I can't wait to sleep a little later, lounge in joggers (AKA jogging pants!!), and not have to schedule my bathroom breaks around preps and lunch! Oh...the little things :)

Speaking of little things... 

I'm linking up with Casey from Second Grade Math Maniac for another sale!! Enjoy 20% off the items in my store this weekend :)

Silence for Sandy Hook Elementary

New Look and Giveaway Winners!

I want to give a HUGE shout out to Megan at I Teach. What's your super power? for designing my new blog :) Megan is so sweet and easy going--it is a pleasure working with her! Thanks again Megan!! You rock :)

If you are thinking about getting a new blog design, definitely check Megan's design blog out: A Bird in Hand

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Here are the winners of the premium Jooners accounts:

Congratulations Lynn and Cherie!! Be on the lookout for an email from me :)

It's the 9th day of goodies...

Beth at Thinking of Teaching is hosting

My favorite holiday activities are reading The Nutcracker Ballet by Vladimir Vagin, listening to the music by Tchaikovsky, and watching the ballet with my class. 

One year, I was so fortunate to have a resident from the Lincoln Center come to our classroom and work with my students. He taught them about ballet--how to listen to the music and see how the dancers show their emotions. At the end of the residency, we were able to go to Lincoln Center and watch The Nutcracker Ballet live! It was amazing--the most amazing part was watching students who had no interest and background in ballet become engrossed with the show. 

Since I love it so much, I wanted to share some things with you :)

This is the book I read to my class every year (you can get it at Amazon)

I made a few activities to go along with this book. Here's the activities for grades 3-5...

           
 


   Here's the Kinder through 2nd grade  
                    activity:

If you'd like a copy of these activities, you can get them HERE

I'd love to hear the holiday books you love to use in your room :)

PS: Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a chance to win one of 2 premium memberships to Jooners.com (an online event organizer!) Click HERE to enter!!

Product Review and Giveaway!

        I was recently provided the opportunity to review Jooners--a one-stop shop for all your event planning. Jooners is an online signup sheet that helps you organize and streamline your social event planning, like your next party, fundraiser, or classroom activity! In doing this review I received a premium membership and complimentary gifts, however, the opinions in this review are 100% mine.

     All basic accounts on Jooners are free and you can even create a signup sheet without signing up. There are signup sheets with already made templates around these categories: friends and family, community, school, sports, and seasonal. **Some signup sheets do have spelling mistakes--be sure to read each sheet and correct any errors before publishing.**

     As I looked through the site, the possibilities for the kinds of signup sheets are endless--a few that popped in my head are: carpooling schedules, classroom volunteers (like mystery readers), classroom donation signup, and celebration donations. (The one I chose to create was a winter celebration event.)

Here is what you see when you log on.

     Any signup sheets that you create are saved at the bottom of your homepage. You can see my signup sheet titled A Winter Celebration. (As part of the premium membership, you create and/or add your own image to your signup sheet, which is what I did below. It's a cool feature that allows you to personalize your sheets!)

    I wanted to plan an event, so I clicked on that button. There is also a button for collecting information (this is great if you need t-shirt sizes for sports teams or any other pre-event ideas.)

    Anything you type into the sheets can be saved as a draft and you can preview the signup sheet before posting. You can also create my own sections by clicking and dragging the section title onto your sheet.You can even add attachments to your signup sheet (I added "stocking letter" to mine, which goes along with an activity I want to do at the celebration--this is a great feature because it helps keep all documents related to the event in one place!)

      When you are ready to publish, you can send your signup sheet through email or you can provide your volunteers with a direct link. I love this feature because if I don't have someone's email address, I can post the link on my website or send the link address home with my student. If you choose to use email, Jooners has a great feature that allows you to import email addresses from Gmail/Google, Yahoo!, Outlook, Apple/IPhone, or Microsoft Excel. Or you can choose to type in the email addresses...

     **The published signup sheet does show your email and phone number for your recipients to see. The email you use to sign up for Jooners is the email that is posted. I did have to contact customer service because the email I used to sign-up was not the one I wanted my students' families to see. Customer service replied the next day and allowed me to change my email to one that I use for school. All correspondence was through email and the changes were made that day. So if you are planning to use this for school events, I recommend using an email that you don't mind parents seeing.**

    Speaking of privacy, Jooners doesn't sell member's information and they take safety/privacy breaches very seriously. I love that all my information is safe!

Jooners has graciously offered me the opportunity to giveaway 2 premium memberships (valued at $49.95)!!

Here's the advantages of a premium membership:

The giveaway will run from tonight 12/3 through 12/11. Winners will be chosen through Rafflecopter and announced on 12/12/12!! Good Luck :)

     a Rafflecopter giveaway