June Currently

It's the June Currently!

With special thanks to Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade!

Listening:  Not sure where I would be without all the podcasts I listen to!  Do you download podcasts from iTunes?    I listen to them in the car, while cleaning the house, during walks, etc. Some are short, just a few minutes, while others can be an hour or so long. Some education related podcasts I listen to are:

Voices of Literacy 

Choice Literacy Podcast 

K-12 Greatest Hits: The Best Ideas in Education 

The Whole Child Podcast: Changing the Conversation About Education

National Writing Project

Those are just a few!  You can find them on iTunes by searching for the title.  There are also a bunch of podcasts not education related that I like. Some of those would be:

Radio Lab

Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me

For Crying Out Loud

10th Avenue Podcast

The Jillian Michaels Podcast

Money Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips

Dave Ramsey

  No matter your interests, there's something out there that will catch your interest!

Loving:  I have been a decluttering fool both at home and at school.  I looked around and realized that there was so much stuff taking up space that I just don't need.  At home, I've been a regular at the Goodwill drop off!  In school, I think the custodian is beginning to dislike me.  I have recently filled my trash cans to overflowing several times over on a daily basis!  Basically, if I haven't used it in the past two years, out it goes!

Thinking:  Summer school.  Why, oh why, did I say I would do it?  Actually, I know why. It is just 2 1/2 hours a day, Monday through Thursday for four weeks.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy and good money!  Plus, I will still have a month off before school starts in September.  Plenty of beach time!

Wanting: A new couch!  Yet another reason why I said yes to summer school!  Did you ever just look around your home and realize that your taste and style have totally changed since you bought your furniture?  That's kind of where I am.  The decluttering and new couch will be a good start to a new look!

Needing: Time! I am in the process of totally rearranging my classroom for next year.  If I get it all reorganized and set up by the end of the school year, the cleaning crew will put it back the same way after summer cleaning which means less work for me in getting ready for the start of the school in September. The past week has been filled with moving furniture, reassessing my class library and purging books, reorganizing closets, moving computers, and more.  I still have a lot to do, but I will be done by June 26th!  That's my last day!  I just need to use my time wisely if I am going to get it done.  I'm sort of excited about the reorganizing because I have been able to create a small teacher corner for all my books and supplies that I can easily access during the school year.  I will post about my "teacher corner" in September when it is all set up.

Summer Bucket List:  So much!  I want to finally finish all the blog items I haven't gotten to just yet; about me page, cleaning up the labels, organizing the freebies, and more.  I also have a huge summer reading list to get to.  Living so close to NY, I am planning to explore some different parts of town in more depth; SoHo, Chinatown, Little Italy, East Village, etc.

(picture source)

I find when I go to NY I tend to stick to the Midtown-Times Square-Upper East & West Side-Central Park areas. This summer, I feel the need to branch out!  Also on my bucket list is more beach time and the continuation of my decluttering spree!

????  

Are you a podcast listener?  

What do you listen to?

April Currently

Here's my April Currently courtesy of Farley of Oh Boy Fourth Grade!

Listening:  My friends in the Read 180 program record fluency passages on the computer as part of the program.  I can log in from anywhere, listen to their recordings, and grade them all online.  It is actually kind of cool. 

Loving: SPRING! I am so ready for some warmer weather after all the snow we've had this winter. The past two days I was actually able to leave with just a light jacket on in the mornings.

Thinking:  The blog redesign is underway!  One of my goals was to clean up the tags on my blog posts to make it easier to find posts on specific topics.  I actually thought I could sit down and do this fairly quickly.  Not happening!  It's not a terrible task, just time consuming.  Plus, I'm trying to figure out how to get Blogger to let me delete some tags I don't want to use anymore.  I'm so in awe of people who can do all these "computer things" with no effort!

Wanting:  It is 10:32 on a Thursday night as I write this.  I really wanted my lesson plans done before tomorrow so that I won't have to do them over the weekend. At this point, they are a bit more than half done. And yet here I sit working on a Currently. So, now I'm debating do I stay up late and get them done, get up super early and get them done, or just face reality and do it over the weekend.  Sigh. . . I have a serious procrastination problem!

Needing:  SPRING BREAK! I am so looking forward to it.  One more week to go until I have a full week off.  I'm so thankful that we were able to make up our snow days without losing most of our break.  I don't have any travel plans or any other big plans, but sometimes you just need a break from school stuff.  Not that I won't be doing some school work over the break, but I kind of love having the option of doing it all in my pajamas if I want to!

Hours & Last Day:  So, yeah those are my teacher hours - 8:35-3:20.  But, honestly it is so rare that those are my actual hours.  Most mornings I get in early, and I can't remember the last time I left at 3:20!  Not to mention all the work that still comes home.  And, I am sure I'm preaching to the choir here. :-) Only teachers truly understand the myth of "teacher's hours."  My last day is June 27th.  I know that seems so late to my southern teachers who are well into summer vacation by them.  It seems late to me, too!  I remember when I started teaching we would get out mid June.  It seems like out last day gets later and later as the years have gone by.  The biggest issue is the heat.  Our schools are not air conditioned.  In late June during a heatwave, it can be pretty tough to get kids to do anything in a hot, sticky, second floor classroom!

February Currently

I'm joining the Currently bandwagon this month! 

 

Listening: The Bridge School is a non-profit organization in California
 for children with severe speech and physical impairments.  One of their main fundraisers is a benefit concert put on every October that draws huge name musicians.  The songs are all acoustic and amazing.  I have yet to find one that I don't love.  They have the benefits recorded and available on iTunes. I think I pretty much have them all! The good news is that if you buy them from iTunes, the school gets the revenue.  Nice to know that.

Loving:  The day it was announced this week that the Newbery Medal winner for 2014 was Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo I picked up a copy.  You can't go wrong with a Kate DiCamillo book!  To be honest, I don't keep up with current kid's lit as much as I should (spoiler for 2 truths and a fib!) and didn't even know this book was out.  I still have a bit to go, but so far it is very good.  I can see how it would engage young readers right from the start.  When I finish, I will post a review.

Thinking:  In the next few months, my district will ask to fill out forms to request a change in or keep our teaching positions.  There's no guarantee it will be honored, but it is a chance to ask for a change.  I really, really miss having a homeroom.  I miss having one set of kids to work with all day long.  I feel like I have more control over their instruction and achievement than I do as a push-in teacher visiting different classes each period.  However, there are definite perks to my current position that I enjoy very much.  There are so many other factors I choose not to discuss on my blog that go into this decision.  Suffice to say, at this point, I'm not sure what I want to do.  Half of me wants to go back to being a homeroom teacher, half of me is willing to continue on as is.  What to do? What to do?

Wanting: Time! Time! Time!  I'm still working on the heroes literacy unit and could seriously use more time to finish it up. 

Needing: Magic Tree House just published in January a great biography collection on heroes.  It is perfect for the heroes unit and I'm just waiting for them to arrive.  I ordered one for myself to preview and loved it.  Now it's just a matter of wanting that time to create all the literacy work to go along with it.

2 Truths and a Fib:  Well, by now you know the fib is that I keep up with all the current children's lit that comes out.  I try, but there are these pesky things like planning, teaching, family, and having a life that get in the way! :-) However, in an effort to be better about that, I'm reading Flora and Ulysses.  I also picked up a copy of the 2014 Caldecott winner Locomotive.  A lovely picture book that is definitely for the older crowd.  Not so much a young kid picture book if you know what I mean. 

When it come to the truths, I do LOVE snow days and I do miss my plan book.  Snow days are like getting an unexpected gift.  Having said that, we have four built in to our school calendar.  If we use more than the four they start to take back other vacation days.  So far, we've used three and there's more snow in the forecast.  I'll take one more, but then that's it! 

And as for my plan book, our district is in the process of switching all plans to digital.  We have this year to do either paper or digital, but next year we will all be required to use a special computer program for our lesson plans.  No more paper books.  I've actually been doing mine on the computer for a few years now, but this program they want us to use has an entirely different format. Also, instead of turning in plan books for review, we have to post our plans in a designated file each week for review.  Oh, technology! Sometimes I just can't decide if you make my life easier or harder!

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I found these pictures on my phone last week and meant to put them on the blog. 

I had to get my car inspected and laughed when I saw my new inspection sticker. 

This is a picture of my old inspection sticker from the inside of my car.

It has looked the same for years. 

 

 This year, someone decided to change things up a bit. 

Here's the back of my new inspection sticker.

Proof from the state of New Jersey that you are never too old for picture books!