Currently in October

Ahhhh .... October.  It's a day into the month, but I wasn't in a hurry to get my Currently posted this month ... I like to take my time in October.

I LOVE everything about October ... the cooler air, the gorgeous leaves, Thanksgiving (yes, Canadian Thanksgiving), fall boots and sweaters, Halloween ... it's all so very good.  I'm thankful that my girls love getting outside with me during this month and put up with my endless requests for car rides and walks so I can take in all the beauty that's around me.

And listening to all this rain fall makes me think about how grateful I am that we finally got the roof on the addition we're building (and the heat hooked back up) ... now, if only I could get them to finish the windows and doors I could stop the leaks.  The reno will be great when it's done (we've outgrown our little house), but I desperately want this process to speed up ... where I live there's bound to be snow in the next few weeks.

I'm also thinking about the new art resources I've been working on in my TPT store.  If you read my blog regularly, I'm sure you have seen our finished products, but after a few requests, I've been working on adding full instructions and a detailed PowerPoint lesson for students to follow.  I'm having so much fun with these!  I've only finished up three so far, but you can take a peek at them by clicking HERE.

And now the fun part ... the treat (because what's October without a little Halloween treat).  I have a great Halloween themed writing freebie on TPT perfect for October.  I you haven't already scooped these up, grab your copy by clicking HERE.

Be sure to hop on over to Oh' Boy 4th Grade to see all the goodness (and treats) linked up for October's Currently.  I KNOW there is some greatness over there to see.  :)

Other Autumn-Themed Resources:

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Monday Made-It - Wreaths, Resources, and Pie ... Oh My

YAY for summer!!!  We just finished our school year on Friday and oh my goodness - it's been quite the year.  I honestly feel my Monday Made-It post should be ...

I made it to the end of the year.

Done.

That alone is reason to celebrate.

But ... I've managed to accomplish a few more things to share.

I made a beautiful summer wreath for my door.  I had seen a gorgeous wreath with little red tulip buds, and headed out to Michaels to gather some supplies.  But alas, they didn't have nearly enough tulip buds to make a wreath.  So, I had to come up with a new plan.  I finally (after many handfuls of flowers and making my daughter lay them out on the floor in a circle shape) decided on green hydrangea blossoms and little cream rose buds.  I love it.  

Now, I should mention, I'm not one for fussy crafts.  I can't be bothered with the floral wire and tape, so I just snipped the flowers off the stems with my scissors, and pulled out my glue gun.  Everything you see is glue gunned on (is that a verb?), which made the entire process much quicker, and I didn't even burn myself this time.  (But, one week later and the "E" has fallen off ... maybe I should have glued that one on a little stronger).  For the wreath I used 4 large hydrangea blossoms, and about 7 bunches of cream rose buds. Isn't it pretty??

I also finally finished my Text Structure Concept Posters.  They had been on my to-do list forever, and had been sitting unfinished in my permanently open PowerPoint tab on my computer.  But, I put the push on, and finished them up.  

I included 2 different posters for each text structure (cause and effect, compare and contrast, description, problem and solution, and sequence).  One poster is more general - perfect for teaching or modelling the text structure.  The other poster is more text specific (but can be used with any nonfiction text) - focusing on what the student learned from the text, using the text structure.  It also includes a graphic organizer specific to the text structure.  This one is great for a summative assessment.

I also included a student checklist for success criteria, rubric, blank template, and completed example.

You can take a peek at my Text Structure Concept Posters by clicking HERE.

Last but not least, I made this little beauty last night for tonight's supper.  The strawberries and rhubarb are fresh out of my garden, and as soon as my husband picked them, I knew a pie was in order.

The recipe was quick and easy ... because that's how I roll in the summer.  ;)

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

• 3 1/2 cups strawberries (quartered)
• 3 1/2 cups rhubarb (cut into 1/2" slices)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 2 tbsp butter 

Mix all ingredients (except the butter) and pour into prepared pie shell (I used a frozen shell, because I can't stand rolling out pie dough).

Dab butter on top before putting on top crust (I thawed the frozen shell a bit and used my pizza cutter to cut strips so I could make a lattice top).

Brush top with cream or milk and sprinkle sugar on top (I used raw sugar).  *This step is completely optional.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 degrees and bake for another 25-30 minutes.

And, that's that.  I'm linking up with my friend Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics for her fabulous Made-It-Monday ... and I can't wait to share a lot more Monday Made-Its with you this summer.  :)

Happy Monday!

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Making Memories

I hope you all enjoyed a blessed holiday with your family and friends.  We've been making the best of our holidays together here, with more to come.

On Saturday we had the opportunity to take part in a Polar Express event.  It was so much fun!  We took a train ride to the North Pole (our local ski hill).  On the train there were actors and actresses playing the role of the characters in The Polar Express.  We were also treated to a reading of the story and carolling.

When we got to the North Pole we were led to Santa's workshop where the kids started making crafts (bell bracelets and reindeer food).  It was a great way to keep the kids busy while my husband got our ski equipment prepped and ready for us.

After lunch we hit the ski hill.  My husband snowboards and I ski, but our kids had never been skiing before so they took a quick lesson on the bunny hill.  My oldest caught on quickly, so I was able to take her on one of the bigger hills before the end of the day.

After skiing, right before we headed back home, we went back to Santa's workshop to mingle with the big guy himself.  He had a bell from Santa's sleigh for all the kids.  Such a fabulous day ... and definitely a memory maker.

Over the holidays we also had a little photo session with the girls so I could give some pictures as gifts.  My sister is a talented hobby photographer, so we got all the kiddos together so we could give our parents a beautiful framed picture of all the grandkids.  I also got a large canvas of my three little beauties ... Merry Christmas to ME!

And then it was Christmas ... x3.  On Christmas Eve my whole family gets together at my parents' house.  Christmas morning is a love-filled, chaotic event with just the 5 of us.  And Christmas evening is spent at my mother-in-law's house.  That's a lot of Christmas ... and I wouldn't change a minute of it.  

Tomorrow morning we're leaving on a little mini vacation to take the girls to see their first NHL game (a true Canadian holiday).  Looking forward to a little relaxing, a little shopping, and NO CLEANING!

Happy Holidays!  Enjoy the rest of your time ... time to relax and recharge.  I'll "see" you all in the New Year!

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Minute To Win It Birthday Party FUN!!!

How had I not jumped on the Minute To Win It bandwagon before now?  SO.MUCH.FUN!!!  We celebrated my oldest daughter's 10th birthday with a Minute To Win It theme this weekend, and it was a blast!!!

In Face the Cookie, you have to move a cookie from your forehead to your mouth, without using your hands.  This was hilarious!  My two youngest daughters spent yesterday practicing this event ... in preparation for the party and competing against the "big kids".  

For Suck it Up, the girls transferred M&Ms from one plate to another, using a straw.  Extra bonus at the end?  You get to eat all the M&Ms ... what's not to love about that?

Pencil Backflip was a hit!  You place pencils on the backside of your hand, then flip them into the air and catch them with the same hand you flipped them with.  Start with one pencil and add an extra one each time you successfully catch them.  One of the girls (the birthday girl) got up to 9 pencils!

A Bit Dicey was a bit harder than it looks.  The girls had to stack 5 dice onto a popsicle stick held in their mouths, then balance them for 5 seconds.  Five for Five!

Card Ninja was a blast!  We had to keep moving the line forward so their cards would actually hit the watermelon (I'm pretty sure the wind outside wasn't helping).  Eventually, a few of them got the wrist flick trick, and one of the girls stuck about 8 cards into the watermelon! 

In Nose Dive, the girls had to transfer cotton balls from one bowl to another, with the help of a little vasoline on their noses.  A little messy - but when they were finished they went for a swim ... how perfect is that?

I had a few more games planned, but only had time for the ones I have pictured.  I guess we'll be having a few more minute to win it games at home tomorrow.  ;)

The whole time I was planning the party, I kept thinking about how much fun this would be in the class!  I totally want to do this as a special activity day - maybe right before Christmas?  I could keep it rigorous by having the students create posters advertising the activities they made up (media / visual arts), procedure writing for the activity, maybe even some graphing.  Can't wait!!!

Hope you're having a fabulous weekend!

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Double Digits

My oldest daughter turned 10 today - double digits!  Eeek!  I'm not sure why it's so scary for me - I teach this age level ... OK - maybe that's why it's scary.  I know what my students know, and I hear what my students say (especially when they don't want me to) ... and I'm having a hard time coming to the realization that my little girl is now that age.

Elizabeth is such a mommy's girl (even though she's the spitting image of her dad), and LOVES everything I LOVE.  So I gave her a little of that love tonight with two of her gifts:  an Erin Condren writing journal and a custom print from Melonheadz (is it wrong that I want one of these for myself?).  Watch out - I think we have a future teacher in our midst.

And because I'm still in the giving mood, I wanted to share that mood with you.  Elizabeth was the inspiration behind one of my resources in my TPT store.  I got the idea watching her one day, and ran with it.  Can you guess which resource?  Leave a comment with your email address below, and I'll send a copy to the first 10 people who guess right (10 because she's 10).  Need a hint???  It's on the first page of my TPT store. Happy Guessing!!!

Update:  And that's 10 - it was the comprehension cootie catchers - she came home with a cootie catcher one day and I thought ... there has to be a way to use these "for good" in the classroom.  ;)  I'll send them out shortly.  Thanks for playing my little party game!  :)

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Five for Friday ... Riding the Crazy Train

I would just like to start by saying how truly unfair I think it is that June is the busiest month ... I have no energy left in June.  None.  Not a drop.  Why can't it be this crazy in September when I actually have the energy to handle it all?  And forget "riding" the crazy train like I said in my post title ... I think I may be dragging behind it.  Waving the white flag.  Help.

To give you a glimpse into my crazy week, I linked up to Doodle Bug's Teaching for another fabulous Five For Friday.

Soccer season has started (inspired my choice of numbers this week).  LOVE being a soccer mom.  For the first year, all three of my little ones are in soccer - and they couldn't be cuter. This is putting me on the crazy train because it is keeping me busy 3 nights a week (I don't even want to think about my Monday nights where all three girls play at the same time ... but at three DIFFERENT fields all over my city).  I coached soccer last year, but once I saw the schedule this year, I knew it wasn't even a remote possibility.  The photo below is my oldest and youngest at their soccer academy camp (my middle was at a dance reheasal).

I created a new resource this week - Math Concept Posters.  I love them, and I know I'll get so much use out of them, but it put me on the crazy train because I absolutely didn't have the spare time to create a new resource ... ate up a lot of my sleeping time.  However, I created it out of necessity because I still needed a few more marks for my last math unit.  I plan to use these pages in their math journals next year.  You can click on the picture to take a peek at my newest resource.

It's dance recital week.  We spent all night at dress rehearsal on Wednesday, and I can't wait for the recital on Sunday.  I danced for 14 years while I was growing up, so this just brings it all back.  My middle and youngest are both dancing in the recital this Sunday, and I think I just may be the proudest mommy in the audience.  Precious.  But it has me on the crazy train for obvious reasons.  

The dance recital isn't the only special part about Sunday.  It's also Father's Day ... and I've got to think up some special way to show my husband what a remarkable dad he is (especially since he has to dance in the recital on Sunday with my littlest one), and remind my dad that he'll always be my #1.  This has me on the crazy train because I totally forgot to do something with my own students ... until the last block of today.  We had a PD day on Monday, and then I was out of the class for meetings on Wednesday and half of Thursday.  I've been playing catch-up all week, and apparently, I'm not great at it.  So, I recycled an idea from last year and we made shirt-and-tie cards.  You can read more about it in my blog post HERE.

10 days left.  Yes, 10.  This may be the only thing that's keeping my fingerhold on the back of the crazy train.  If it wasn't for that light at the end of the tunnel, I'd be lying on the tracks by now.  10 days left seems do-able.  Just have to make it through 8 soccer games, 9 soccer practices, one dance recital, one Father's Day celebration, find that library book I got a note for from my youngest daughter's teacher, report cards, my class trip, four class trips for the girls, the end of my course (and the start of part 2) ... and breathe.  Breathe.  10 days - I can DO this!!!

Happy FRIDAY!!!

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16

Enjoying the Holidays ...

I've been off for a week ... and it feels GREAT!!!  Haven't posted in a bit, but I've been busy with the family - and I wouldn't trade those moments for anything!

We spent a bit of time at the cottage over the Canada Day weekend.  Here's a pic of my girls on Canada Day - for some reason, they always agree to dress alike on Canada Day.  They're 4, 6, and 8 right now - gotta dress them up while I can ... for some reason I can't see them agreeing to this in 10 years when they're 14, 16, and 18.  ;)

We've also been keeping busy with soccer.  My husband and I are coaching my oldest daughter's soccer team this year - we had 3 games last week (won all 3!!!) and have a tournament coming up this weekend.

I hope you've been joining us for our Daily 5 / CAFE book study over at We Read, We Blog, We Teach.  We have two chapters posted so far, and in addition to the fantastic posts, the amount of ideas and suggestions in the comments section is mind-blowing!!!  I've had to start a notebook to record some of these fantastic ideas.  I can't wait to start planning on what this is all going to look like in my classroom.

And if one book study wasn't enough, I jumped into another.  My good friend, Kim, has the most amazing posts about the Guided Math book over at Finding Joy in Sixth Grade.  You can read more about the book study and organization at her link.  All I can say for now is ... guess what book I got in the mail yesterday???

I've also been hard at work on my Interactive Math Journal resource.  I'm also done all of the introduction and assessment stuff, and am just about to start on the entries and templates.  It's keeping me quite busy.  For a little break, I decided to work on a Parts of Speech product using my Crystal Ball Template.  I just posted it last night.  This is a SMARTboard file with 20 multiple choice questions for the 8 parts of speech - when an answer is pressed, the page links to a page where it is "magically" revealed on the crystal ball whether the answer is correct or incorrect.  You can take a peek and download the preview by clicking on the picture below.

Well, that's about it ... just a quick update for now.  I still plan on doing my FAQ post for my math journals ... just let me get through the soccer tournament this weekend.  Whew!!!  I'm going to need a holiday from my holidays!!!

12

Proud Moment

I'm one proud mommy tonight.  My two oldest girls both received the student of the month award at their school for responsibility.  Our school board gives out student of the month certificates based on our ten character traits.  If you've spent a minute in my classroom, you'd know that I think responsibility is one of the most important of our character traits.  So ... way to go, my girls!  The ice cream is on me, tonight.

Just wait until my youngest starts school next year ... maybe I'll have three little students of the month!

Happy Thursday!  (just.one.more.day)

13

Rainy Day - Crafty Day

It POURED rain today - so much so that I can see some small patches of grass!  Could it be ... could Spring be on the way?  Oh, I hope so.  I may live in the land of ice and snow ... but I don't have to like it. ;)

Well, playing outside wasn't happening today, so we spent the day crafting (which I must admit, I totally prefer).  Do you remember these READ letters I made for my classroom this summer?  When I bought these letters, I also bought my daughters' initials.  I had planned to do something with them AGES ago, but they got lost in my craft clutter in the basement.  I found them a few days ago and knew exactly what I wanted to do with them.

I had a TON of buttons left over from making 100th day of school shirts for my girls, so we pulled out the buttons and the fun started from there.  And just because it's March Break, the learning doesn't stop at home.  My youngest girl was in charge of sorting colours, my middle girl was in charge of sorting by size, and my oldest was in charge of fitting the buttons on the letters.  I got stuck with the glue gun again.  But this time, I emerged unscathed!

LOVE them!

Happy Monday!!!

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