Saturday, January 19, 2013

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is Coming. . .

. . . and I need to get ready!

I thought I would share few resources I have come across and/or used in the past.

Let's begin with some video links!

Well, maybe a book/video link?

Do you know the book Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport?  It is a truly amazing book that tells the story of Dr. King's life with a focus on some of his most thought provoking quotes.  It can be read by/to most elementary ages lending itself to discussions that can be appropriate for all ages depending on how in-depth you want to go.
Sample page:

Read Write Think has a lesson (for grades 3-5) on the book, and part of the lesson includes this template  which lets your kids type and print their won "Big Words" page.  They select words that are significant to them and type in an explanation of the word.  You can also print out the template if you want them to write instead.

The best is that Teacher Tube has a video reading of Martin's Big Words.  That link will take you to the Teacher Tube video.  Below, I have linked it from You Tube, but it's the same video.

Another great video found on You Tube is MLK - The King and His Dream.  From the information on the page, it seems this video was a school project.  It is beautifully done and gives a very nice overview of his life while touching on some of the most significant Civil Rights issues.  It is appropriate, in my opinion, for all elementary ages.  You can watch it here:


The last video link I will touch on is from a source we probably all know, Brain Pop.  While you usually have to subscribe to this site, they have a great video on MLK you can watch for free.  If you are already a subscriber, they have a lot of related content connected to the video.

Okay, now on to one of my favorite places, Teachers Pay Teachers.  I was looking around to see what they had available, and there is a lot!  You will be sure to find something you can use in your classroom, all created by fellow teachers.  I've chosen to highlight four I found that happen to be free.

  • The first is a set of four picture posters you can print. They were created by R. J. Fox.  Each poster has a quote by MLK and a photo.  These would be great to hang in your classroom.  
  • The next is a great activity for upper elementary, but can be tweaked for the younger crowd.  It's Just or Unjust? by Sally DeCost who has a blog called Elementary Matters.  I really like this one!  After studying MLK and discussing how he fought to make a more just/fair world, students use the different idea cards and sort them into just or unjust piles.  It can lead to some very interesting conversations.  For that reason, if you do use this I would suggest reading all the cards and think about where those conversations might go.  You might want to use some and not others or add some of your own.
  • This is a great activity for anytime, not just MLK Day but it does compliment.  It is an Act of Kindness and Justice Wall by Rainbow City Learning.  Students are given a brick wall page and record their acts of kindness towards others.  As the pages fill, you hang them up and create a wall of kindness in your classroom.  This would be nice to do on-going throughout the year.  It's also a great activity for a class meeting.
  • This last activity/lesson is wonderful for incorporating some writing and test taking strategies.  It's MLK-Quotes-Writing-Practice-RACE-Strategy by Teacher Sol.  This activity has four different quotes.  Each quote comes with writing pages that have the students tell what the quote means to them using the writing response strategy of RACE (Restate the questions, Answer the questions, Cite or give an example that supports your answer, Extend the answer with detail or Explain how your example supports your answer.)  This is great for the older crowd and works nicely if you watch the Martin's Big Words video or read the book first.

For the free links above, I've also linked to the author's TpT store via their name.  If you like what they have for free, imagine what wonderfulness you could buy from then! Overall, there is a lot more available on the site for free and tons more available at VERY reasonable prices. These links are just the tip of the iceberg of what is waiting for you at TpT.  The best part is you can spend just a little bit to support a teacher and get some great resources.  Hmmm, I think I have suddenly somehow veered off into a TpT commercial! :-)

I'm going to stop here because this post could be a mile long with different resources!  I was prompted to write this post because  I will be in school  on MLK Day.  We usually have the day off in observance  but is one of our many make-up days due to Hurricane Sandy.  We always do something in school to mark the day and explain the history but being in school on the actual day this year means we are stepping it up a bit!

Hopefully these resources will be helpful to you as you celebrate the day.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Retaining Non-Readers

This is a must watch video from PBS News Hour.  Ohio has adopted a new policy in which any child not reading at a third grade level by the end of third grade must be retained.  All students, no exceptions.  They call it the Reading Guarantee.  Please take a moment to view the video.  The reporter does a good job explaining how the program works, as well as the pros and cons it brings.


I have mixed feelings on this program.  Some thoughts I had. . .

  • You simply can't guarantee 100% of all students will be on grade level.  There are so many outside factors beyond a school's control.  Now, I have to assume that there must be a gray area to their 100% guarantee when it comes to learning disabilities or special education students.  So, those situations aside, there are other outside factors that play a large role in student achievement.  As mentioned in the video, chronic absenteeism is a big one.  You simply can't help a student who isn't there to be helped.  
  • I personally believe parent involvement is key to a student's success.  I often see that many of those students who struggle most come from homes where education is not the priority.  Or, if it is, the parents seem to believe that education is solely a school place issue and there is little to no academic support given at home.  For real success to happen, our students need supervision/support with homework.  They need parents that read to them.  They need to build schema by having experiences that take them beyond their home and a television and video game.  They need to be living literate lives that we can build on in the classroom.
  • I absolutely believe that retention in the earlier grades can work IF effective programs are in place to support the remediation of academic deficiencies.  However, that is a big IF.  I have seen programs in place that, on paper, look like they are on-point.  But, when you look at the actual implementation, they just do not meet the needs.  They are hampered by lack of materials, scheduling conflicts, organization issues, funding, etc.  I think there are too many districts that get standardized test scores and have a knee-jerk reaction to quickly throw in place a program that will "fix" those students not meeting proficiency standards.  They may look good on paper, but the actual implementation and results often suffer.
I like (love?) that schools are realizing that we simply can't keep promoting students who have not, to some acceptable degree, mastered the important skills of a grade level.  There does have to be a line in the sand, some point at which we say you are simply not prepared to be successful in the next grade.  Let's fix this.  

My wish is that we become more proactive in our approach to education rather than reactive.  Let's take the time to look at our literacy programs in their totality.  What is our basic instructional program?  How are we addressing all the areas of literacy at each grade level?  Do we have the materials needed?  Are we providing out teachers with support and on-going professional development?  Are we making data driven AND common sense based decisions in what we do?  How are we monitoring our students' progress?  How are we making sure we catch those who are falling behind before they get too far behind?  What interventions do we have in place?  How do we know they are effective?  What type of parent involvement do we want to see?  How are we education our parents on how they can best support their children's academic success?

Simple questions?  No, they aren't simple questions to answer.  They require some serious conversation and a true commitment to making our literacy programs effective.  But, until we have these conversations and address these issues, I'm not sure programs like Ohio's Reading Guarantee will work.

What are your thoughts?

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Sorrow

I just have no words other than to say my heart hurts for those poor babies and the amazing educators who did their best in the most horrifying of situations.  I am praying for you all.


Sunday, December 9, 2012

We Give Books!

I know.  I was back, and then I was gone!  So swamped (in a good way) with work and holiday stuff.  Hopefully you will bear with me and my erratic posting for a bit longer!

Just popping in today to share an amazing web site.  It is AMAZING with all capitals!! :-)  The site is called We Give Books  and is geared for children ages 0-10.  It is a nonprofit site that allows you to read current, popular, and interesting picture books online.  And, for every book read online they donate a book.   That's great and I love that they do that, but I am touting this site for purely selfish reasons!  Let me show you some screen shots of the site before I tell you why I love it so much.

Here is shot of what the bookshelf looks like.  I'm in the "Read" tab you see at the top of the page.  As you can see, they have known books like The Snow Day.  There are a lot of familiar books available on the site.



I also like that there are books for your older readers.  I cropped this picture a bit so you could see the titles a bit better.  They have graphic novels for the 8-10 year old readers that are not boring!  The graphic novels also seem very boy-friendly.  Have to hook those boys into reading!!


Another plus, there are a lot of holiday books available.  Frosty the Snowman, Snowmen at Night, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to name a few.  But, even if you don't do the Christmas books, there are great winter themed books like The Mitten, Three Snow Bears, and of course The Snowy Day!

As I wrote before, the nonprofit, book donating part of this site is amazing.  But, I also love this site because:
  • The books are great!
  • There is a great mix of fiction and nonfiction available.
  •  It's a wonderful resource for shared reading, especially if. . .
  •  If you have a Smart Board or a Promethean Board, you can project them on your screen for all to see.
  • You can bring it up on an iPad or computer screen for guided reading groups or just for a student to read independently.
  • The fact that the book is on a screen rather than a book form will be a sure hook for some reluctant readers.
  •  Reading a book online can be a literacy center.  Easy peasy!
  • When you open the books, with a click the pages turn just as they would in a real book.
  •  The age range of books, the varied levels, makes it friendly for most elementary grade levels.

Just some tips: 
  • When you go to WeGiveBooks.org, you will need to register in order to read the books.  However, it is a free site and you won't have to do much more beyond registering. 
  • When you open a book, go to full screen mode.  The book will be easier to read and more engaging.
  • When you finish and want to exit full screen mode. . . well, for some reason I can never find the exit button!  I just hit the "escape" button on my computer and it takes me back to the bookshelf.
By the way, I am not affiliated with this site in any way, but I know a gem when I see one and wanted to share.  Happy Reading!!!  I'm off to do some more Christmas shopping today.  Have a great day!

Monday, November 19, 2012

Finally! I'm Back!

It is so good to be back to blogging! Thanks to everyone who was so patient while I was away. I feel like there is some normalcy back in my life, finally! Today's post is about how I'm doing some math workshop scheduling in one of my classes.  At the end, there is also a link to my PDF which you can print up for your own.


But, before I get back to the school blog stuff, I have two last thoughts (and pictures) to share on Hurricane Sandy here in New Jersey.

First thought: I never thought I would routinely see this truck in my community.  We've never had a natural disaster of this magnitude here in NJ.  To have a hurricane come through and cause so much devestation that Red Cross Disaster Relief trucks take residence for a long while is still just astounding to me.
 
Second Thought:  Not really a thought for this one, but a picture to share.  This is the waterfront by my home.  It was completely underwater for much of the storm.  As you can see from the picture, many of the businesses and homes were just destroyed.  However, look closely at the background of the picture.  See those white buildings all the way in the back?  That's New York City.  When I took this picture, I was amazed at how sparkly white all the building were on this day.  It was a cloudy, overcast day.  You can't tell from the picture, but in the middle of all those clouds there was this big beam of sunshine just sparkling down on the city making it shine.  It was just really pretty and nice to see amidst all the damage.
 
 Okay, now on to our regular blogging!
 
In one of the classes I visit for basic skills math instruction, we've begun using a math workshop approach.  We, the classroom teacher and I, quickly realized that we needed to find a way to meet the needs of all the students in a more effective way.  It's a true heterogeneous class.  The span of abilities is tremendous.  Teaching a whole lesson to the whole class just wasn't going to work.  We needed to do more small group direct instruction and practice.  We needed to find a way to let those who needed more guidance get it and enrich and challenge those that were ready to move on.
 
The answer for us was a math workshop approach.  I researched a lot of different approaches and this is the one that seemed to best meet out needs.  In the interest of giving credit where credit is absolutely due, I really adapted what we are doing from Beth Newingham's post on how she runs math workshop.  Beth was a Scholastic Top Teacher.  Scholastic or not, she's definetly a top teacher!  Her post on math workshop was a tremendous help. So much of what she was doing is what we needed to be doing.  When you have a chance, click on the link and check out what she has to say. She will explain it so much better than I can below!
 
Here's the schedule we use.  The picture is a little dark, sorry about that!
I should probably explain that due to scheduling, groups A and B run simultaneously.  Unfortunately, I am only in the room for part of the period, so the teacher and I each meet with a group (A & B) during round 1, then I leave.  The classroom teacher then meets with one group during rounds 2 and 3.
 
Before I go on, here are some other points you may need to know to better understand.
  • Groups A & B are the students most in need of help.  Group C is the middle group and Group D are the high achievers.  Having said that, the groups change depending on the skills being taught.  We do our best to make sure the kids do not have a sense of which is a "high" or "low" group. 
  • "Meet with Teacher" is when students meet with the teacher in a small group to work on skills related to the main lesson.
  • "Seat Work" has students at their seats working on the lesson pages, finishing up work from "Meet with Teacher" and/or differentiated work tasks.  It is essentially the time they apply what they have learned.  In the back of the room, we have four group folders that each contain differentiated work for the week.  My friends just go back and take what they need for the day.
  • "Activity Time" is usually some math game that provides practice with the skills from the day's lesson or the chapter.
So, here' s how we do it. 
 
The class begins with about 10 minutes of whole group instruction that covers the "meat" of the lesson.  It's is explained and then a couple of practice problems are done.  Then, it's time to break-up into groups for three rounds of work.  The first two rounds are about 20 minutes each with the last round about 15 minutes. 
 
Round 1:  Meet with Teacher - This is where our two lowest groups (A & B) meet with the teacher for more explicit instruction and do the lesson work.  With two of us in the room, these groups are nice and small.  Group C begins with "Activity Time" so that they may play with the concepts before coming to meet with the teacher and then do the "Seat Work" where they will apply what they know. Group D begins with the seat work. 
 
At this point, my time in this class is up and the homeroom teacher completes the day's lesson as follows. And, I should mention that she is awesome at it!  I'm lucky to work with a great teacher who really strives to do what is best for her students.
 
Round 2:  Groups A & B now go on to Seat Work.  Group C now meets with the teacher while Group D goes to Activity Time.
 
Round 3:  Group C will now go on to do their Seat Work while Group D now meets with the teacher.  This allows her to go over the seat work with them and trouble shoot any problems.  As they are a high ability group, things usually go smoothly.  This allows the teacher to go on to work on higher level problems using the same skills.  Groups A
 
Have I lost you yet? :-)  Just refer back to the picture of our schedule!
 
After the three rounds, the class meets again for about 20 minutes to review homework and wrap up the lesson.  We still run into kinks now and then, but over all it's working for us.  I am sure there is a better way to do it out there somewhere, and I don't claim our way is the best way, but as I wrote this is working for us.
 
If you've read this long, you deserve a little something!  Below, is the link that will take you to a printable version of the Math Workshop Schedule Board.  It is a PDF and has a few extra sections so you can play around with organizing it.  You also don't have to use them for a math workshop.  Those "Meet with Teacher" would be great to put a magnet on and use on the white board.  You could just write under it who you want to meet with for things like conferencing. 
 
 
So, that's our math workshop routine.  There are three things I love about it.  First, we are seeing good results with more small group instruction.  Second, the kids love it.  Third, the period really flies by with this type of schedule!
 
Thanks again to all of you that hung in there while I was out.  While I do this blog mainly for me (to keep track of what I'm doing and ideas I have) it's always nice to have readers.  So, with Thanksgiving quickly approaching, I can say in all honesty I am thankful for you!  And, no!  I never got around to changing my blog over.  Maybe over Christmas! :-)

Monday, November 5, 2012

Hurricane Sandy

I know that prior to October 30 I had been MIA for a while.  I was completely overwhelmed by my new position and needed some time to adjust.  And, adjust I did!  I wrote a few post that I had planned to post.  But then, I became MIA for a very different reason.  Hurricane Sandy. 
 
 The pictures below are taken of places that are no more than a 5 minute drive from my home.  I am on day 7 and counting with no power.  That means no heat, no electricity, no hot water, and obviously no Internet.  I am writing this at a hot spot I happened to find.  Despite all that, I am one of the very lucky ones.  My family is all ok.  Our homes are still standing.  That is not the case for so many in my community.
 




School has been cancelled for two weeks.  Even then, we are not sure if we will be going back next Monday or not.  Teachers I work with have lost their homes, most have no power, and those that still have their homes have had trees fall on them, fences down, and more.   I can't even tell you how our students fared.  Most seem to be doing ok, but then today I heard that one families house burned down last night.  The storm is over, but it doesn't seem as if it is for us yet.

Today, I spent the morning volunteering in a community two towns over that has been devastated by the hurricane.  On every corner you have the National Guard posted.  FEMA personnel are everywhere.  Several teachers and I got together to help families empty out water flooded homes and then went to help organize clothes and goods at a donation drop off center.  You can't imagine how overwhelming it is emotionally to see people putting everything they own on the curb.  So many people have lost literally everything except the clothes on their back.

If you can donate to help those so devastated by this hurricane, please do so.  They need your help so desperately.  A good place to donate it to the Hurricane Sandy NJ Relief Fund.  Money donated there is to go directly to New Jersey residents effected by the storm.

As for posting on this blog.  I have some fun things to post, but am not sure when I will be able to.  As I wrote, I have no power and no Internet service.  I'm not sure when I will have power.  However, as soon as I do I plan to get back to blogging.

Thanks for sticking around.  I promise to be back as soon as I can.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

A Day of Remembrance

I have to apologize for the lack of posts recently.  I feel as thought I've been swallowed by a new school year and a new position.  It has certainly brought its challenges in just a few short days!  I promise to be back soon with new posts.  However, I had to stop in to acknowledge the day.

It is September 11th.  It is a September 11th filled with all the emotions and memories it brings.  Rather than blog about it again, I will simply leave you with THIS LINK to my post last year regarding the day.  Living so close to New York, it was a day that greatly changed the lives of many in my community.  I think we have all been touched by the tragedy in some way, regardless of where we live.  Let us always keep those loved ones and heroes lost to us in our prayers.


See you soon with some new posts, 
but until then take a minute to hold those you love close and be thankful that you can.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Hello September!


Hello September!  
When did that happen?!!!!  I know many of you have started school, but here in NJ the festivities don't begin until later this week.  I start on the 4th and my friends report for their first day of school on the 6th.  

Posting has been light as I've been juicing every bit of fun I can out of these last two weeks.  In fact, today I did the .NJ Color Run.  Did anyone else from Jersey do this today?  It was soooooo much fun!  I was a mess at the end. If you ever do it, be prepared to be messy!  I don't ever post pics of myself as I do this blog somewhat anonymously, but here is a picture of the back of my head after the run.
Thank goodness it all washed out.  You can't begin to imagine what the rest of me looked like.  I can't wait to do it again next year!  In the spirit of fun, this Labor Day weekend before school starts is going to be filled with fun things.  That includes The Color Run, the beach, friends, family, barbecues, and lots of frozen watermelon margaritas!  But, not a lot of posting on the blog.  I plan to get back in full swing once I'm back to school.  There's always plenty to post about then.

In the meantime, I will leave you with this little nugget.  Remember the post I did a while back about one of my favorite books by Patty Lovell, Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon?  


It is a great book for the beginning of the school year.  It's great to read as an example of how everyone is special in their own way.  If you click on the link, it will take you to the post I wrote and explain more about the book and how I use it.  The good news is that there is finally a new Molly Lou Melon book coming out!  It's called Have Fun Molly Lou Melon!


The book is due out on October 25, 2012, so I haven't read it yet.  Here is the blurb from the Amazon site:
  • The long-awaited return of an irresistible bookseller favorite!   Molly Lou Melon's new neighbor, Gertie, has all the latest toys, a cell phone and the biggest TV ever. But even after playing with all of them, she's still "bored, bored, BORED!" Luckily for Gertie, Molly Lou Melon has something even better: her grandma taught her how to make her own fun! With her elaborate homemade toys and imaginative backyard games, Molly Lou shows Gertie a whole new way to play.  This award-winning author-illustrator pair celebrates a trend that readers of all ages can get behind--good ol' fashioned imagination!

Just from the blurb, I'm thinking this book would be good for kicking off a creative writing piece.  "What homemade toy or backyard game can you invent?"  It could be used to kick off an expository piece for a how-to or description.  Your friends could explain their invented game or toy.  I especially like the theme of this book.  The idea that you don't need to have all the latest and greatest things out there to have fun is something all kids need to learn!  Even if you don't do a blessed thing other than use it as a fun read aloud, you will love it.  The illustrations are fantastic and you get to revisit Molly and her teeny, tiny grandmother.

As I wrote, I will be back to regular posting once the school year starts.  Until then. . . 
Enjoy Labor Day Weekend!
If you want to know a bit about the history of Labor Day, CLICK HERE
 It's not just about beach and barbecue!

Saturday, August 25, 2012

A Room For One

My room is ready for . . . me.  

I don't have a homeroom class this year, so I don't have to set-up my room for students.  However, I did.  Sort of.   Last year, I began to think my room was a bit too bright.  I had a lot of different bulletin board colors and borders going on, multi-colored baskets galore, and a bunch of big and bright polka dots on my window.  This year, my plan was to tone it all down a bit.  I wanted to have one color bulletin boards with the same border and some color unity throughout the room.  I was even going to break the bank and buy all new baskets in one color for my class library.  Then, I found out that I was going to be a push-in basic skills teachers.  Since there wouldn't be a class of students living in my room this year, I toned down the plans a bit a lot.  Take a look!


This is the view of the front of my room.  I moved my meeting table up to the front because I think I will probably be pulling some friends to the room for small group instruction sometimes.  Notice all my bulletin boards are sky blue and have the same cute triangle border.  I love it!  It might look a bit boring, but if I had a class in here they would be filled with student work which would provide plenty of interest.


From this view, you can see I went with blue shelf curtains.  Last year, it was lime green!  I went with blue this year for some unity.  It also hides the ugly copy boxes filled with my teacher books that are sitting on the shelves.  In the picture below, you can see that I did keep my colorful dots on the windows.  I think because the rest of the room is toned down a bit, they pop more.  And yes, those are the desks that will sit empty this year. :-(   


But, it's not all pretty blues.  Here's the back of the room with all the empty boxes I didn't need to unpack this year.  I'm not even going to show you the other side of my room with the four empty bookshelves.  It makes me sad to think about all my books packed away in boxes.  :-(


As I'm writing this post, I was asked, "Why would anyone want to see your empty classroom?"  Well, I don't know!  But, I do know I love seeing other teachers' classrooms.  It's kind of like sneaking a peak in someone's house when you walk by at night and the shades are up and the lights are on!  I admit, I totally do that!  Looking at the pictures above, it does seem like a very plain and boring room but I don't really have a need to put up anything right now.

If you click over, you can see my room set-up from last year. Holy cow, the crazy colors!  I loved it at the time, but I'm ready for my calming blues this year.  If you click over and look at the pictures, take note of the book baskets.  When I have my own homeroom again (hopefully next year!) I am definitely going to invest in new baskets in a single color.

On a happy note, remember when I telling you about the rolling cart I ordered for my travels from room to room this year?  Well, it came and I love it.  So many compartments to fill for my organizational OCD!  Or, as the saying goes, my CDO where the letters are in order AS THEY SHOULD BE!!   :-D

Loving those compartments.  This cart will be perfect for holding the papers, books, and supplies I need as I visit my friends throughout the day.  By the way, check out that close-up of the border.  Isn't it cute?  Gets all my crazy colors in without being overwhelming.

So, there you have it.  My room for one! 

A Question For You:  Have you ever looked around your room and decided something needed a major do-over for the next year?  This year for me it was toning down all the bright colors.  What was it for you? 






Thursday, August 23, 2012

Hallway Decorating and Great Printables

Two posts in one day!  
I know!  
Don't fall over!  
I'm just happy with how my last little 
school project came out and wanted to share.

I spent the last two mornings getting my classroom organized for the coming school year.  Since I don't have a homeroom, there wasn't much to do. . . if you are a normal person.  Which it seems I'm not.  Yes, I changed my bulletin boards and totally arranged the classroom for my nonexistent students!  Even thought I really only use the room on my prep periods, I still wanted it to look nice.  Also, it seems likely that I will be pulling some friends to the room for small group instruction.   I'll show you my new classroom set-up in another post.

Today, I want to share with a great web site that inspired me to use her printables to decorate the outside of my classroom.  Are you familiar with the web site technology rocks. seriously.?  I found the site through Pinterest.  This blog, written by a teacher, has AMAZING printable posters that are perfect for the classroom.   The link above will take you to her printable page of school themed signs.

Using her amazing posters and some sparkly border, this is now the outside of my classroom.

You know I have the gnarly orange lockers outside my room.  They always challenge me to find vertical displays.  I knew I wanted the posters up, but I wanted to connect them in some way.


I got some sparkly border paper and taped two pieces together from the back.  It gave me a nice wide design with cute wavy edges.  I put those on the lockers and wall.  I then printed out color copies of her posters on white copy paper.  Using a glue stick, I attached them to some bright yellow construction paper and laminated them all.


The last step was to stick the posters on top of the border to the wall and lockers.  Easy peasy!  I put two on each locker and three on the wall.  Here's are some up close.

As I noted, all the posters (except for one) are from the blog technology rocks. seriously. I used a couple of them in my room last year, but this year I used a bunch more. And, I didn't even print out all she has.  THIS LINK will take you to her printable page where you will find links for school signs, holiday signs, faith signs, and sonic signs.  Seems she has a thing for Sonic!  All her signs are wonderful!  And, they helped make the space outside my classroom a spot people stop, read, and think!

Don't forget to scroll down and read the professional goals and a winner post I published earlier today.  It really gives you some food for thought as to what is a priority to work on this year.  
And, if you are the big winner Silvia, don't forget to email me your mailing info!