Spring Cleaning Wrote this for Carson Dellosa and almost forgot to post it here! Good thing it isn't quite SPRING yet! lol We had a two-hour delay today because of ice. So the thought of SPRING, even if it’s spring cleaning makes me smile. Did your mother spring clean? My mother cleaned EVERY day! She would dust the whole house before I got up for school. The house was spotless. My theory is that is why I don’t worry so much about it. I clean don’t get me wrong – there is no filth in the house, but I don’t dust every day like my mom. I, personally, like to organize more than clean. I love taking things apart and putting them back neater. My mother is 90 – moved her two years ago to a full care facility. We “cleaned out” her house. OMG the woman saved EVERYTHING for 70 years! My husband and I have vowed not to have our children have to do that. So, we have been doing “spring cleaning” all year. We have thrown out tons! Literally! I feel like the house is skinnier! Now I want ...

Math Workshop 2,4,6,8 Who do we appreciate? Carson Dellosa! Have you been thinking about math workshop? Are you already doing it? Do you need some ideas and some support? Ready to take the plunge? Carson Dellosa has your back! The new Math Workshop book from Carson Dellosa can help – no matter what stage you are in. They covered lots of information in a concise way and an easy to use way. I’m somewhere in the middle of Math Workshop. I try to do it as often as possible, but some days just don’t go as planned. Some days we can’t handle the centers, some days a whole group lesson goes longer than I thought, some days a fire drill throws everything off. It happens. It’s real life. CD has set up the book in a very user-friendly way. There is an explanation of what Math Workshop is – my thinking has always been to run it like Reading Workshop. Just different material being worked on.  Just like Literacy – warm-up, mini-lesson, rotations/groups and closure. I personally se...

December Monthly Collection Life is all about being digital now. So why not Carson Dellosa books? Remember having all those open ended and seasonal worksheet books? Well, now Carson-Dellosa has those as printable downloads! It ’ s a small blast from the past! The December one covers lots of skills. I know we are all trying to get away from worksheets, but sometimes you just need one! They are great as a quick review, as a five minute filler (who really ever has five free minutes???), as a quick homework page, or as a guick assessment.  These are awesome because they come in color and black and white. So it doesn ’ t matter what your printing options are, they have you covered. I like this December one because it is not all Christmasy. It has more of a winter theme that can last a little longer. Maybe in January it will be helpful as we are all trying to get back into morning school mode! Haha Cutting and pasting are still skills we need to teach and they need to learn...

Holiday Fun December – like it or not- it’s here! I love this month despite the craziness. I even wish (sometimes) it could be a little longer because there is so much to do in it! So many cute ideas all over! What a great way to learn and have fun! Plus, I really think this is when we finally start gelling as a class. We finally start figuring everything out. I am glad when it’s over though too because that means time with my adult children! I love when they come home – most days! LOL I’m loving this little set Holiday Fun from Carson Dellosa for a bulletin board or more. They call it mini – but it’s 55 pieces!  So many cute things included. I love all the Gingerbread Man stuff in it. That’s my favorite stuff we do. He runs away! Can you believe that? Then he sends us packages from around the world telling us about different holidays. This set is perfect for that! We can use the signs to label the countries that he has visited as we show off the project...

Interactive Notebooks Click the title to go to the website.  These interactive notebooks are HOT! They make so much sense too! Carson Dellosa is helpful with this! Their Interactive Notebook series is great! They are well organized, give tons of useful tips, have ways to get started, keeping them organized, planning them out and even grading them. The Interactive Notebook Science for kindergarten is fun! It covers Life Science, Physical Science and Earth and Space Science. It works with my curriculum. It works with my standards. They won’t be doing the same type page over and over. They mix it up! There are pockets, folds, flaps, petals and accordion folds. The book even has some templates for you to make your own if you need. Carson Dellosa has this interactive notebook thing covered! I participate in the Brand Ambassador Program from Carson-Dellosa and have received this product for free.

Keeping Track of All the Data Teachers are held accountable to the students, the parents and the school districts. We need to make sure that we are showing growth in our students. We need to be able to show this. We also need to plan what our students need to know. We need to make sure we know what we have done and where we are going. The students need to be able to see what growth they are making. They need to be able to see what they need and where they are going. Tracking data helps us. Tracking data helps the students. Tracking data proves what we are doing and where we are going. Tracking data gives us support and the students support. Data Binders or Data Notebooks whatever you call them- will help with all of this. They can be work to set them up in the beginning, but once you think it through about how you want it set up, what you will include in it, and how they will be used and stored – it will be worth it. Just like everything – planning is key to implementati...

WOW! This book has a lot in it's 96 pages! All those big reading comprehension standards are covered. This will be so useful to help assess and form groups by skills. There are skill assessment and practice pages - story elements, summarizing, compare and contrast, cause and effect, and inferring are all covered. I think the best part is the skill assessment analysis. Use that DATA! It shows the skill, the standard, the assessment item and the practice pages. It's organized and done for us! THANK YOU Carson Dellosa! This is NOT for the beginning of the year. You may need to use this whole group or individually as a teacher. We need to use our teacher judgement. We may look at it and have it spark an idea for a class lesson that is more hands on. This is the age we live in. These are the standards we are responsible for. We need to make the best of it and show our students how they can succeed. This will be a great tool for that, I believe.  I participate in the Brand Ambassad...