Sunday, August 25, 2013

CAFE Cards: Fluency

Here are my CAFE cards for "Fluency." Yay :)







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CAFE Cards: Accuracy

Finally got to making the rest of my CAFE cards. Here are the cards for the "Accuracy" category.







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Thursday, August 22, 2013

Binder Dividers

I've been working on my Teaching Binder for a while now, and I've made some divider pages for it. My main problem with a lot of the ones I've found is how much INK they use! These are simple enough, and use only a little ink - but I still get to use my color scheme :)











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Thursday, August 15, 2013

Number of the Day

So I love the idea of having a "Number of the Day" to give students some practice. I combined some of the ones I have seen on Pinterest. I ended up making it the size of PowerPoint slide, so that it will fill my Smart Board. I will use it in PowerPoint so that I can type a new number each day, and have students fill out the information on wither a slip of paper or in their math notebooks. Anyway, here it is.




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Monday, August 12, 2013

Teacher Week: Meet the Teacher

So, I am linking up to...

Yay! Monday's topic is "Meet the Teacher." So I will be sharing a little bit about myself.

1. My name is Cara Heusel, and I am 22 years old (fresh outta college).

Here's me:


2. I am the oldest of four children (and the only girl!)



3. I am a first year teacher this year! I will be teaching third grade as replacement for a woman who just had a baby. I'm hoping this will lead to something more permanent down the line, because I LOVE the school. It's where I did my student teaching. I am super passionate about teaching and thrilled to be getting started. I have been planning and creating all summer :)

4. I looove to read, and I'm a slight Harry Potter nut :)


5. I adore children's books, and I secretly wish my classroom could look like "Shop Around the Corner" from You've Got Mail.


6. My mom is a photographer, which has given me some great experience with Photoshop. I've created my own materials for the classroom!
This is me and my youngest brother, when I can home
from college for the first time, taken by my mom of course.

7. I drink way more soda than is healthy. Cherry Coke is my drug.

8. My favorite shows include: Modern Family, Suits, Newsroom, & Downton Abbey.
    I highly recommend each of these!





9. If I wasn't going to be a teacher I would either be a: children's librarian, book shop owner, florist, or baker.

10. I am Pinterest obsessed. I now have over 2,000 followers!


11. I need sleep. And food. I am not a pleasant person when tired and/or hungry.

12. I've never had a blog before. I know it is probably a bad idea to try to start one my first year of teaching, but I figured - why not?



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Saturday, August 10, 2013

Peer Editing "TAG"

Another Anchor Chart! Inspiration from here.

Easy way to guide students in peer editing to make sure things stay positive and productive!



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Thursday, August 8, 2013

Book Talk Thursday: Matilda

So I thought I would join another Linky. Today I am linking up with Reading Toward the Stars to share a book that I have been reading.



I actually just finished Matilda (not for the first time!) by Roald Dahl. This book was a favorite of mine as a kid, and I loved it just as much this time around. As a soon-to-be 3rd grade teacher, I definitely want to sneak this one into the curriculum. I have just always loved the way that Dahl empowers kids to read and value their minds.



I've also found some great resources for the book, which I plan to use.
I was especially grateful for the questions and discussion topics available here and here.


Incidentally, I also LOVE the movie version, and I've been dying to get to the Broadway show.
The movie can be used to draw comparisons in the classroom.

Enjoy!

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Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Changing Paragraphs

Another anchor chart. This time, my inspiration came from here.

I think this one is such a great reference for students who constantly write their stories as one loooong paragraph!




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Conversational Moves

Another anchor chart!

I am IN LOVE with this post by Life in 4B.
This anchor chart is my own version (green, blue, and [of course] polka dotted) of one the anchor charts in this post. I just love the idea of giving students the language that they need to participate in class discussions in a ways that is effective and productive!




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Workshop Wednesday - Getting My Writing Workshop Started

One thing that I use in my classroom, pretty much everyday, is a writer's notebook. In the beginning of the year, I have students bring in photos, pictures, and other mementos - and I supply scrapbook paper - for them to decorate these important items.

One thing I do to stress the importance of the writer's notebook is show them mine. I actually had to make one as an assignment as an undergrad, and I'm glad that I was forced to do it. You can see the front cover and back cover of mine below. Mine is getting a bit beat up, and the colors in the black & white photos have faded to blue a bit. But you get the idea.

I also glued a ribbon into the back of mine to use as a bookmark, which I will do for them, as well.

I also share an entry with my students. The first entry that I did was a list. It is titled, "Random Things That Make Me Smile." I read the list to my students and then explain that in my writer's notebook, I use this list to brainstorm ideas for writing topics. Sometimes writing about small, simple things can lead to really powerful stories.

This is just one thing I do to set the tone for my Writer's Workshop early on in the year.





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Tuesday, August 6, 2013