2 for Tuesday - Alphabet Charts and Fluency Task Cards

While in Vegas, I was super lucky to meet Cyndie from Chalk One Up for the Teacher. She is seriously one of the sweetest ladies ever. If you haven't checked out, her blog you should! She shares fabulous ideas there.

This summer, Cyndie is hosting a 2 for Tuesday link-up. It's a great way for you to score some great products for only $2!

Today, my Clip Chart in Bright Colors is only $2. I used this in my classroom a few years ago. You can click {here} to see all the classroom pictures from that year.

You can purchase this clip chart for $2 {here} or by clicking on the picture below.

I also love using my Short Vowel Phonics Fluency Task Cards with my students. My students think they are so fun and don't even realize they are practicing reading. During small group, I usually have my students read a few cards as a warm-up. They will read the cards to themselves, turn and read to their partner, and then switch.

These are also only $2 today and can be found {here} or by clicking on the picture below.

Don't forget to stop by the link-up and see what other great products are out available for 2 for Tuesday.

An InLinkz Link-up

Vegas Truth

It's time for a little truth about my upcoming Vegas trip for the TpT Conference. Less than a month ago, my family moved from Hawaii to Florida. It has been crazy and hectic. We've slept in an RV, in hotels, in family's homes, and in an empty house on air mattresses. Our household goods won't be delivered for two more weeks. It's been a rough month!

So the truth is I'm not prepared for Vegas at all. I could not be more underprepared. I don't even know if I fall under the introvert or extrovert category anymore. For the last month, I fall into the survival category!

First let me show you what I did today. We're back home visiting family we haven't seen in years. We spent the day at a water park and this obstacle is only ONE of the things we did. It was fun but so exhausting! Just what I should have planned before a big Vegas trip right??

Here's all my evidence of how unprepared I am.

I've been living out of a suitcase for over a month. Every outfit I own is incredibly wrinkled. Please don't hold it against me.

I finally got handouts printed tonight. See how they're not even stapled? 

I also got my name tags printed tonight. But the only badge holder I have was just given to me last week by HR at my new school. One name tag fits in it. Should I just paper clip the other two to my shirt?

Thanks to the awesome water park day, my pedicure looks terrible!

My carry-on bag looks like this.

My iPhone screen just cracked on me, too. :(

I'm super excited for Vegas and the opportunity to meet and reconnect with awesome people, plus the learning. Honestly though, I'm a hot mess right now. Combining all this craziness with my nervousness about meeting and talking to people has gotten me rather stressed out! 

Please tell me I'm not the only one this unorganized?

Daily 5 Book Study - Chapter 1

As usual, I'm late to the party! We've been in the middle of this crazy move from Hawaii to Florida and still don't have internet hooked up or any of our household goods.  Since we're at the in-laws for the weekend (sitting on real furniture), I can finally join up with the Daily 5 Book Study for Chapter 1 that is being hosted by Primary Inspired.

What I LOVE most about this chapter is reading how the Daily 5 has evolved from 5 rotations a day to 3.  I could honestly never see how teachers were able to do 5 rotations a day!  What a relief it was for me to hear that 3 rotations is totally fine, and it's even more fine to do what works for YOUR class! 

Chapter 1 really hit home with me as I thought this past school year of teaching a 2nd grade resource room. Last year was probably my most difficult year of teaching, and I'm using this year to reflect and  figure out how I can make it better!

This sentence really hit home with me so much that I posted about it on Instagram.

"Our reading time was this daily, frantic dance."

That described last year perfectly, and as I read Chapter 1, I realized that I should have done even more explicit teaching and practicing of behaviors last year with my students so I could have avoided that daily, frantic dance.

As I finish reading the rest of the revised Daily 5 book, I'm excited to think of the possibilities for this upcoming school year.  I'll be teaching a 1st grade general education classroom and I know this framework for running my Language Arts block will help give my students plenty of authentic time reading and receiving high quality literacy instruction.  

Make sure you stop by Primary Inspired to check out the rest of the blog posts about Chapter 1.