Crazy Busy

First off I want to appoligize for not posting in such a long tme! I have been working feverishly to get my room ready, lessons planned and keeping my sanity! Everytime I thought I had knocked everything off my list....I had to start on a new list of things to do UGH! I know none of you know what I am talking about right?? RIIIIGGGHHHTT!


Anyways we had Meet the Teacher last night and I got to meet about half of my smarties and their adorable families. I am so excited for this upcoming school year....I have a great group of students and a very supportive 4th grade community. Before and after pics of my room to come soon (as soon as I find my camera)! ~Jen

Donors Choose

I am so very excited to announce that my first project on Donors Choose has been published! This project will help me to implement Readers Workshop in my classroom and help build my classroom library. The Book Whisperer has inspired me to share my love of reading with my students and what better way to do that then surrounding them with great books.

Please check out my project and help spread the word!

Wowza! What a giveaway!

Head on over to Oh Boy 4th Grade to find out about the mother of all giveaways. Up for grabs are entire stores valued at over $800! You don't want to miss this. Stop what you are doing and head on over NOW!!

Teaching Heart Giveaway!

Teaching Heart ( www.teachingheart.net ) is hosting their annual back to school party on July 24th till July 30th. Each Day a new prize! Gift cards, Books, Teaching Heart Products, and more!!! Plus a free printable will be posted during the week. You need to visit the blog at; http://teachingheartmom.blogspot.com/ daily to check out the prizes each day and enter for the ones you want to win!!!"

Halushki

Clutter Free Classroom is having a week long linky party and I thought i'd get in on the fun today. Today's assignment is fav. back to school recipes. One of mine is called Halushki. It was one of my husbands favorite dishes growing up and now it is one of our kiddos favorites.

Ingredients:
1 head of cabbage-chopped
16 oz container of small curd cottage cheese
3/4 stick of butter
1 tablespoon of veg. oil
1/2 lb small macaroni noodles
Salt and Pepper


Directions:
Boil the noodles.
Saute the cabbage in butter and oil until slightly browned.
Add noodles and cottage cheese to cabbage.
Stir until cottage cheese starts to melt.
Salt and pepper to taste.
And enjoy!

It is easy peasy, filling and even better the next day! You can serve it as a main dish or as a side with a ham steak.

Post it!

Create Teach Share is having a giveaway and "Post It" Linky party!  The "Post It" party is such a cute idea!  I love post its, my desk often looks like a bag of skittles with all my to do lists and reminders.

In my classroom I like to take notes on post its as I observe students while they are are working  as well as use them for positive reinforcement. As I see them quietly working, on task,  and using their strategies I will leave a quick note on their desk. 

I also leave  them on desks as missing work reminders, as well as for kind behavior.

Head on over  to Create Teach Share, get in on the fun and share your ideas! Goodnight everyone!





Parent Communication

I am all about staying organized this year.   So to make my life easier, I am going to make a parent communication binder.  Last year I had notes from home, notes from phone conferences, and emails tucked into one folder. It was not organized, as one would come in, in to the folder it would go. Yes they were all in one place, however they were tough to find later. 

The binder will have a tab/divider for each student....the dividers with pockets will work best to keep each students notes form home.  I will also include a communication log  for each student to keep track of  calls/meetings and notes from those calls/meetings.

You can check out a copy of the log here



How do you keep track of parent communications?