Top Ten Reasons That I Know I am Heading Back to School

I can't believe how quickly the summer seemed to pass me by!! It really doesn't feel like school should be starting in two weeks (and I report back to school in a week)!

Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits is having a linky party... and here are my tops ten ways I know it's time to go back to school!!

10. I have bought an entire wardrobe of clothing for my daughter in sizes that are mostly too big...

9. My living room looks like a small school supply store full of new shipments of every kind of school supply possible.

8. The "lists" of things to do before Aug. 19 have begun and are getting longer each day.

7. The number of emails I receive each day is growing exponentially.

6. My printer is running about 23 hours a day with amazing ideas from fabulous bloggers!

5. My night stand looks like a college students desk....stacks of professional books, highlighters, notebooks, pens and about a 12 million post its with notes about ways to improve instruction, classroom behavior, decorating the classroom, etc.

4. I am on the pursuit to recruit anyone I can to come by and help set up my room (I barely 5'1, so the taller the better...lol)

3. I am staying up later and later every night, blog hopping and stretching each day out just a little bit longer (I am such a night owl....)

2. Next week is full of appointments that have to be done before school because I won't have a free moment until November.

1. As overwhelmed as I get sometimes, I get excited to think about seeing my school babies and sharing with them all the things that I have been preparing all Summer and knowing that this year will be the best school year yet!

So, what about you? How do you know that the school year is fast approaching?

Join in on the fun at

Currently I am....

I couldn't help myself! This linky party looked like fun! 

It was inspired from an idea found on a blog which was called

Inspiration Everywhere

So...what are you doing? Linky up with Farley at

and have a little fun!

Sending my love to TBA !!

I am so grateful to be able to share and collaborate with such wonderful teachers in the blogging world. It has become an indispensable resource to share ideas, find fabulous ways to teach fundamental skills to my students and and venue to continue to grow as a teacher. I am lucky...not only am I able to do this through Curls, but also through Teaching Blog Addict.


It has been an amazing opportunity to be an author of this extraordinary blog and is an experience that has allowed me to continue to grow an educator and as a collaborative teacher using blogging to strengthen my students' learning experiences.  

Teaching Blog Addict is an amazing blog that has over 70 authors, 1539 followers/members, 2456 readers, 1530 Facebook followers and 237 Twitter followers!! I want to encourage all of you to check it out......you will be amazed at the wealth of materials that we share. Just click below and make sure to become a follower! Already a follower? Share this blog with your followers and join the linky party at TBA!

WOOHOO!! I got it!!!

So I was playing with Microsoft and tried about a thousand combinations of text boxes and page borders and pictures and....well, anything that I could think of ..and it turns out it was much more simple than I thought!! If it had been a snake it would have bitten me!! I was able to recreate the border that I had seen and now I want to share this with you!!

Here are the steps that I took to make the super cute polka dot border:

1. First, open a new document.

2. Click on page layout and click page borders.

3. Choose the first style. From there you can choose the width and color that you would like.

4. Once you have done that, click on art. You will see many different designs and the polka dot one is toward the bottom of the list.

5. Click ok and TA-DAH!! You now have a adorable polka dot border!!

You can also change options on which pages have borders (so that you can choose to use it on the first page, whole document, etc.)

It really was easy and pretty much right in front of me the whole time.....but YAY!!!

A little help from my friends....

I can't believe that it is already AUGUST 1st!! Time is flying by and as school draws closer, I am slowly beginning to plan what the up coming year will bring (I say that but my teammate and I already have the first nine weeks planned...woohoo!)

 I am in the process of making a new product for TpT and Teacher's Notebook but need a little help.

I have been looking for a specific border and I was hoping that you guys might know where I can find it! The border is rather simple- solid colored rectangle border with a polka dot strip running down it. I have seen it in several colors on other products but I haven't been able to find it for purchase.

I would LOVE to purchase them if anyone might know where I can find it....if so, please leave a comment :)

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!! I promise that you will love it!

I'm back!! :)

Wow! It has been a LONG time since I last posted and I am so glad to be back! I was blessed to take a BEAUTIFUL trip to Puerto Rico....mi isla bonita!! I love everything about Puerto Rico- the beaches, the rainforest, Old San Juan, the food, the music and the people that make my beautiful island a tropical paradise!

We had a wonderful week! I am so glad to have had the opportunity to take this vacation with my daughter, mom and baby sister. I hope to go back very, very soon....until then, the memories are going to carry me through many long Fall and Winter school days in Texas.

I have lots and lots to blog about....including my new blog design!! I {LOVE} it so much and have to give a HUGE

thanks to

Tammy Lee at

for an amazingly generous giveaway and the chance to give Curls and a Smile a FABULOUS makeover!!

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

She has a wonderful kindergarten blog and I think you are going to love it...make sure to check it out

(just click on her button)!

This adorable design is from the super talented

who allowed me to pick my design and even installed it for me! Thank you so much Alicia! You did an awesome job and have beautiful designs! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE it!!

So, I also have somethinng else to add to my list of harmless addictions:

Office supplies

Pens

Clipart

Fonts

Blogging

and...drum roll please.....PINTEREST!!

I never realized just how much of a visual learner I am until I began blogging. Pinterest is fabulous because I can see everything that I have pinned very quickly and I don't forget all the ideas that I fall in love with as I surf blog posts and websites. The coolest thing about it is that when you log in, it gives you all sorts of suggestions from the friends that I follow. So, I end up with a TON of amazing new resources to check out!

Come follow me

IT IS SO MUCH FUN!!

Check out Michelle's Math in the Middle Linky Party! It is a FAB way to get lots and lots of great suggestions of people to follow and get your started.....happy pinning!!

 

The Book Whisperer Book Study Chapter 4

Reading Freedom

"Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him."

Richard McKenna

IChapter 4 of The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller is enlightening. It so clearly states truths about what all readers do and how to foster a classroom environment that will develop life long readers. Here are some of the most important points that you will want to take away with you:

• Have an honest discussion about the behaviors of a real reader. Have an open conversation about how readers choose books, steal time to read whenever they can to read and know when to abandon a book when it just isn't a good fit.
• Create, through open classroom discussion, a reader's bill of rights to validate their habits as readers. Openly share your experiences with abandoning books, skipping pages, rereading and other valuable and key choices as a reader. Ownership of their reading behaviors will validate their choices and open them to a world full of amazing literary opportunity.
• Getting students to read must include student choice. Even if we think that the books the students are reading simply, well, are not the best choices. We must let them take ownership of their reading choices and know that some reading is ALWAYS better than no reading at all. Validate their choices and encourage diversity in genres by finding connections to their interests.
• Encourage students to have reading plans but remember to meet students where they are. Encouragement and many, many recommendation with help your readers make plans for their future reading by following favorite authors, reading a series or setting goals to read from a list of awarded books. Good readers have an insatiable need to read, and finishing one book generally feeds the need to start a new one. Most students are use to being told what to read but to truly foster the love of reading, the responsibility must shift to the reader.
• Set the bar high. Mrs. Miller set the requirement of 40 books per school year with a variety of genres. She wanted to make sure that they read enough to catch the reading bug and by setting the goal a little higher than expected, students knew that they had to read everyday to stay on top of their requirements.  Unanticipated challenges fuel the fire to want to expand their knowledge text but there is also added benefits to adapting to certain genres.
• Use read alouds to encourage students to branch out into new fields of reading. Exposure is key to growing readers.
• Build background for different genres of books and encourage the appropriate common language that reader use when discussing books in depth. Use what students already know about the elements of characterization, plot development and setting to classify books and provide a wide selection of books to meet students interests and needs in each genre.
• Encourage and validate any and all reading that your students and your children do independently.
• Introduce and use a reader's notebook as a way to facilitate conversation about the reading habits of your students and to monitor growth and progress as a reader. This, paired with individual conferences, will give you insight to their ability to comprehend their reading and where their interests and success lie as they grow into self motivated readers.

 I have truly enjoyed reading The Book Whisperer and know that it has added value to my instruction as a reading teacher. I highly recommend and encourage all of you to add this amazing book to your reading plans.