Silence for Sandy Hook Elementary

1, 2, 3, 4, 5...I'm Alive

Hi guys!...This post is going to be short and sweet because I'm way tired. I haven't been blogging as much, so I apologize for that. So in honor of me not being around, I created a little freebie for you guys who still read my little blog.

We are working on our multiplication in third grade and the kids are loving it.  I still have some that have trouble figuring out the repeated addition part, commutative property, array, and groups of. So my teammate had a great idea to start, "Factor of the Day". You give the kids a multiplication fact and create a Frayer model with it.

So it's factor in the middle and you circle it and all the other vocabulary I listed above goes in 4 squares and you quickly work through each one, each day.  It's a quick review to get those standards in!

I made this cute cupcake template that I plan on laminating tomorrow and placing on my board.  Here you go..

Just write your mult. fact and you're good to go.

Enjoy!

Goodnight!

Oh yea, I'm getting my 45 min. appraisal on Wednesday. Wish me luck! So nervous!

A School Needs Your Help

I know we are all aware of the devastation that Sandy has caused on the east coast of our country. Like I said in my last post, I'm from NJ and this truly has hit home for me.

There's a small town in Northern Jersey called Moonachie (Moon-ah-key). I remember driving through it when my father would pick me up on the weekends to take me to his home in Little Ferry.  Anyway, the only school the town had cannot be used any longer due to massive amounts of water damage.  I can't imagine what that must feel like for any teacher who spends their hard working money on supplies to teach his/her students.

So now I'm asking for your help...the students will be housed in portables for the time being and they have nothing!  I will do the best that I can at my school to collect as many materials as I can to ship out to them.  If any of you are interested please message me at campos.judy@gmail.com and I will be more than glad to give you the address to send materials to.

Here are a few links you may want to read/view to understand what's going on...
http://www.facebook.com/HurricaneReliefFund
http://cliffviewpilot.com/hurricane-sandy-how-you-can-help/
http://www.northjersey.com/moonachie/Moonachie_superintendent_surveys_damage_at_school.html


A little goes a long way! Please help if you can!!!!
***Update: Flyer from their Facebook page:

A Former New Jerseyian

This post isn't school related at all but just wanted to let my readers know that most of my family and friends live in NJ and are going through a very rough time with this hurricane.

The last I spoke to my best friend, she and her family were being evacuated.  Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

I know you have probably seen tons of pictures but some of these really hit close to my heart and it truly is heartbreaking to see....:(




Street I used to drive on.


I just hope all my friends and family are safe!!

Forever and a Day

It has been way too long but I am going to keep this one short and sweet.
I had one of my students' parents from last year send me an e-mail of what one of my favorite kiddos and what he wrote in his school journal.
Take a looksie..



I think this almost brought me to tears because although I'm happy teaching, I know in my heart that I just love teaching the little ones. But we shall see where the road takes me.

Okay, I'm still at school and I have a bazillion things to do and blogging shouldn't be one of them!

Bloggin' Cause I Can

I haven't blogged in forever and a half so I figured I'd get a quick post in before I call it a night. Yes, it's almost 9 and yes, I believe that is a great time to go to bed!

Well, for most of you that don't know or haven't read in a while, I was turned into an ESL/Bilingual Teacher the first week of school.  Let's just say my life has been hectic to say the least.

It wasn't ideal (for me) but after all they're kids and they're great kids at that.  They've grown on me.  I think I'm just so used to little first graders who think every word you say is gold, third graders are in that in-between phase.  They still enjoy learning yet are testing to see what they can get away with. Well, I'm tough but I'm nice.  Tough love I guess you can call it.

I think they appreciate that I can make them laugh when I start randomly bursting into song, take for example, one child left my Daily 5 markers on their desk and didn't clean them up. So I started singing, "Who left the makers out, whooo whoooo whooooo..." Get it? Like "Who Let the Dogs Out?" Yes, I did that. They totally got a kick out of it. I'm so goofy sometimes.

So what's it like teaching a bilingual/ESL class. Well it's not easy. I have to make TONS of accommodations and making sure I'm teaching in English and in Spanish and making sure my Bilingual kiddos don't start writing in English when they're not supposed to. Expect in math and science because that's just plain old English time.  Language arts instruction is tons of fun, no, not really.

I currently have eight different reading groups. Yes, you read correctly, 8.  Their reading levels are all over the place and I have two groups who are in Spanish reading groups who I sort of blotched together based on their ISIP Spanish scores.  My English reading groups are off to a great start, I have paired them up by their DRA level and they are coming along nicely.  I love teaching reading, I swear I could teach reading strategies all day! Hmm, perhaps I see reading specialist in my future? It's honestly, something I've been thinking about. I'm very passionate about it, so we shall see where the road takes me.

Have I mentioned I don't have any textbooks! HA! Thank goodness for online editions of the textbooks and TE's, I wouldn't know what I would do.  I think you'd really have to come into my classroom to fully understand how exhausting one day of teaching truly is.  But I love it!

Let's see, as far as my personal life goes, okay you've got to be kidding me, what personal life?  Teaching has taken over my life, especially since I feel like a first year all over again.  But nothing special is going on, it's actually quite depressing. I come home, do some planning, grade papers, go online for a bit, then clonk out.  I think I need to join some kind of fitness class just to get me out and meet people. I've become a hermit crap, it's quite pathetic. :(  Okay, I'm done complaining.

Well, I think that catches me up for tonight. If you're reading have a great evening!

¡Hola!

Happy Monday blog world!  It was a great three day weekend and I think I'm ready to start teaching.  Yes, I think I can, I think I can.  Anyway, I promised to post pictures of my classroom but I was so gosh darn tired this past week that blogging was the last thing on my mind.  It was a crazy first week of school, but I survived.

I went from having six students to seventeen.  They changed my bilingual program a bit. So while I still am considered a bilingual teacher, I must teach all subjects in English.  When I work in small group with my bilingual students then I can speak in Spanish. Make sense? If you're still confused leave me a comment and I'll clarify.  I was upset at first but it's just one of those things I have to deal with.

Okay enough blabbing, here are some pictures of my room. Keep in mind some things have changed...

My WW is bigger now. We aren't doing a traditional spelling program at my school this year.

My pathetic library. I need more books! Actually I do have a bit more than the ones seen here.

The orange still lives on....lol.

This curtain is no longer up. The rod is broken so I will replace it soon. I think?

Kiddos doing Daily 5. That's when I was at six!

So we're not supposed to teach math in whole group anymore and I'm okay with that.  I did however, have no clue how to do math stations. I figured it would be an easy task since Daily 5 is pretty simple and straightforward. Well no, it took me an entire weekend to figure out what I was going to do. Call me dumb but I am a planner and I don't stop until things go smoothly.  Well I picked up Debbie Diller's Math Station book and she suggested not having more than two students to a group. Two is a good number because there's less room for chaos, and I don't do chaos.  I did make one group three, but that will be changing daily based on when I'll be meeting with certain kiddos.  I attached velcro to the back so it makes it easy to move things around.  There it is on the bottom.  The stations were really easy to create (okay some I bought at the teacher store, but they were cheap). I will be adding and taking away some as the year goes on but for right now this works. :)

Okay, time for me to get some sleep.  I have 17 third graders to teach! 

Goodnight!!!!!

If You Give a Teacher a Classroom She'll Want....

To go crazy! I just love that blog title. I tried to think of something creative and fun for today's short and sweet post.  Most of you do know Laura Numeroff's books, right?? They are fab!  I also feel like most of those characters because once I start one task, I don't finish it and head on over to another, ha ha!  Which leads me to...

A sneak peak of my classroom!!!  I have a before and after, a picture of the wall color to say R.I.P orange, and my cute little teacher desk (which I never sit at).  I just have to thank my friend B, my mom, pinterest, and all you blogger friends out there. I was so inspired this year to really make my room my own. Okay here you go...I will try and post more pictures this week..there's a ton!! I'm just too tired to upload.  Oh yea, I don't have desks yet but they will be coming in this week or come next Monday, we'll all be standing. ;)

Night bloggers and readers :)

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

My title clearly states how I'm feeling right now.  I'm stressed, nervous, anxious...yea it's the start of the school year.

So yesterday was the beginning of our new hire PD. It was great, met my other new faculty members, whom are the sweetest people in the world! I also made a bilingual buddy with the fourth grade teacher. She and I are thisclose now! :)

I don't think I mentioned that the principal that hired me took another elementary principal position at another district a few weeks ago, so I was nervous about meeting the new principal. Well let me tell you, this woman is phenomenal. She has a pretty amazing résumé, is bilingual and was a bilingual teacher back in the day.  One new teacher knows her from her previous school and said she fought for the bilingual program at her school when the district didn't want to. 

At a mini-meeting today she told us a little bit about herself and said the bottom line is that she is there for children, parents, faculty and staff. She's not one to hide in her office, she loves getting to know the families and all the children's names because that's just the type of person she is.  She also said that from Monday-Thursday she has lunch with the kids so they can feel comfortable around her. Seriously, how wonderful is that?! I am very much looking forward to working under her wing and learning more from her. :)

I also met with my bilingual coordinators today and I left with a headache. That was only a meet and greet. We meet for two full days next week and I'm already getting anxiety over it. So-many-rules, it's driving me crazy!!!!! But this is what I wanted and this is what I have to deal with.  

I know once I meet the students everything will be great and I'll be in the zone and they are all that matters. I just get myself so worked up and freak out. I need to relax!

Well, I just needed to vent a little and I feel a little better now.  Night bloggers and blog readers.

Dear Neglected Blog...

Why hello there lovely blog friends! I have been away from my little blog for almost three weeks now!! Sorry!!

I went wayyyy out of town for a few days two weeks ago (long story that I'll get to another day) and ever since I got back, I've been going teacher crazy. You teachers know what I mean...cutting, laminating, worrying, trying to put my room together, etc.

When I got back from my mini-vacay, I was surprised to find my room was clutter free!!! Remember my room was the "dump room" so you can just image what it looked like and it was also Cheeto orange (yuck).

Well as you all know I painted with a friend from my old school (ex-prince charming) yes we broke up, but we decided it would be best for both of since we are both headed in two completely different directions. Anyway, no hard feelings and we remain buddies. :)

So he helped me paint my room and it turned out to be beautiful once everything was all clear and I started hanging stuff on my walls.  I do have to give a special thank you to my amazing and wonderful mother who has put up with my temper tantrums, I mean "Moody Judy" behavior while trying to figure out how to put my classroom together. I am very Type A, everything needs to be perfect or else! Oh you know you're the same way!

Well for the most part my room is close to being finished, I just need desks!! LOL! I also need some last minute touch ups here and there.  I don't want to take/post pictures until it is completely finished and I'm satisfied with it. I will say this, my vice principal walked into my room and her jaw dropped.  She said I did an amazing job and she's so glad she found me! She even told my mom how lucky they were to have me on their faculty!

I got a Silhouette Cameo!!! If you don't already have one, then you need to get one. I know they're a bit pricey even with a teacher discount but I so recommend getting one. I was able to get mine a bit cheaper than the teacher discount on Amazon but you have to watch the prices and make sure you calculate the shipping and all that good stuff. Everything I made is at school so I have no goodies to show you.

Okay, I think that catches me up for now. I'll be posting pictures very soon!! :) Night!

You have to do this Linky!!

Mrs. Lemons over at step into second grade is having a really fun linky party. I love me a good party, I only wish there was music.

Anyway, click on the picture to take you to the linky!!

1. I LOVE x 10 the color magenta. Not light pink, beautiful magenta!!

2. I'm 29 years old. Everyone that meets me thinks, I'm either in high school or going off to college. They ask me if I'm sure that I'm a teacher. I don't think people realize how seriously annoying and frustrating that is!! I know I should take it as a compliment but when you get it ALL-THE-TIME, it's aggravating!  I even had one parent walk into my classroom and ask me where the teacher was, she thought I was an eighth grader, not cool!!!

3. I love Orchids . They are just so pretty! Reminds me of wanting to be somewhere tropical!

4. Although I have four siblings we are all half-siblings! My mom was married in '76 had my brother Stewart, my dad had my sister Elizabeth in Peru in '80, my mom and my brother's dad got divorced then a few years later met my dad and had me in '83. Then my parents divorced when I was turning seven and he remarried and had my brother Robert in '91 and Melanie in '95. My mother never remarried after she and my father divorced.  Crazy family structure, but I love them all! :)

5. I hate shopping for clothes, shoes, etc. But I love shopping for classroom supplies!! I seriously have a problem. 

6. I have the flattest feet ever, Fred Flintstone anyone?

7. I have the most beautiful nephew and niece, EVER!! 

8. I constantly have to shake my foot because it makes me feel good, haha!

9. I LOVE Harry Potter!! I cried happy tears when I went to The Wizarding World of  Harry Potter last year, lol, who does that!? 

10. I love Disney World and anything Disney for that matter! 

11. Speaking of Disney, my favorite Disney movie is 

That's all for now..go link up!!

Comprehension Questions Freebie

Have you all seen these cute little comprehension stars on Pinterest? 
Well I wanted them but you have to pay for a membership to dl them. I don't know about you but I'm all about saving money!

Comprehension is something I need to work on with my students.  It's something I feel that I need to get better in teaching.  So I made my own comprehension stars :p.

I labeled the picture so you can see which ones will be used during a specific time during my teacher/student reading conference.

On the file, I labeled the stars on each page so you know which time they belong to. I also spaced them out so you can print them on colored card-stock paper like I did.

Click here to go to the stars

Enjoy!

Why am I up so late?

I was blogging around just doing my thing and I stumbled upon Grade Three is the Place for Me's blog.  She is currently having a linky party to "meet" new bloggers. 

Here are the questions: 

    1.  what state you are in

    2.  your current teaching position

    3.  your teaching experience

    4.  when you started blogging

    5.  share a blogging tip / blogging resource

Here's my info...

1. I am in Texas! I'm originally from NJ but I moved here four years ago on July 23.

2. I was recently hired as a third grade bilingual teacher.

3. I started doing my educating thing back when I was 19. I worked in a daycare center throughout college. After I graduated, I taught Kindergarten for a year. When I moved to Texas I was hired as the first grade teacher. My teaching experiences (except for daycare) have all been in Catholic Schools. My dream has been to work as a bilingual teacher in the public schools. I am finally living my dream!!!!!!!!!!!!

4. I started my blog in October/November of 2011 but I wasn't getting any hits. I really started putting myself out there this past March. I am dying to get to my 100 followers!

5. I'm no Babbling Abby, but I say be yourself and try to reply to people who comment you!!''

That's all! I will try to have a comprehension freebie for you all tomorrow! Buenas noches!

Quick Post..Freebie

During Daily 5, I like to work with my students one on one. So I decided to make this quick little reference sheet to help the students and I know when we will be working together. I think I am going to add the names the night before so when the students walk in and choose their station they will know that we need to work together.

Here you go!
It's bilingual! If you want English only, let me know. :) Click on the picture to dl your freebie!

Night!

Another Project and Pictures!

Hello blog friends! I hope you are all still enjoying whatever is left of your summer vacations. I know I am. It's going to be really hard getting back into a routine of going to bed by 10 and waking up at 5:30. I suddenly have an urge to sing out the lyrics to some 90's song to my dear sweet friend summertime. It goes something like this..."please don't go, please don't go, hey I love you soooo, and I wan't you to know..." ha ha. I'm done!

Moving on...

I found this   from second grade style and decided that I loved it and I needed to make one. So last week while I was looking around Wal-mart I saw that they were busily putting things in order for "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year", back to school. Well they had this cute magnet board..HELLO, it's pink!!! and I knew I had to have.  I didn't buy it because I figured I'd sit and wait on it until I really thought I needed it. So last night, I decided that I really did need it, lol! And I got to work! See below for the items you will need. I didn't take a picture of the tape because that's pretty self-explanatory! As you can see I didn't number them yet because I don't know how many students I will have yet. They say around 22, but we shall see.

Cute right. Now let me just do a photo dump and show you pictures of random things I have been doing. Seriously, my living room is a hot mess. Not to mention my closets where all my other school stuff is still in! On top of that I already did two car trips worth of stuff to drop off in my classroom!! And I still have a bit more shopping to do! ;) Okay picture time.

Just a random picture of calender, alphabet, and some Daily 5 things I'm creating!

I promise to be more organized with this bad boy!

My CAFE Pensieve. I regret not doing one last year, but this year will be different!

Seriously how cute are these buckets!! I bought the buckets at walmart $10 each and the stickers from Hobby Lobby!

These lanterns are going to go over one of my bulletin boards, to spice things up a bit. Also from walmart.

I also bought polka dot ribbon to hang the pom-poms which I will get around to doing today!

Tomorrow, I do one final coat of paint in my classroom and then I can start hanging stuff up on the walls!! :) I can't wait til they move all the junk out of my room!!!

Okay, I think that puts me up to date. Happy Blogging!