Favorite Things Linky!!

Wow. I cannot believe it has been two months since I have blogged. It is now safe to say that my New Year's resolution did NOT come true this year. I have been so busy with school ending and other things going on, that I never had time to just sit down and write. But now I do, because it's SUMMER VACATION!!! With that being said, I thought I would link up with the Teaching Trio for their monthly linky. You can write about three of your favorite anythings! So I thought I would write about three of my favorite pastimes. Here they are:

1. Reading - I always love a good book. I never have time during the school year to read, but I am planning on reading quite a few books over the summer. Currently, I am reading Saint John Paul the Great by Jason Evert. I will also soon start reading The Whole30 by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig. Can't wait to try it! Also, for professional development, I would like to read Comprehension Connections by Tanny McGregor. I am so excited!

2. Playing games - This includes any and all games. Board games, online games, individual games, puzzles, you name it, I love it. A few of my favorites include Pandemic, Monopoly Deal, Bananagrams, and Carcassonne.

3. Watching Friends - Ever since Friends started streaming on Netflix, I have been unable to watch anything else. I will watch all of the seasons over and over again. Great show!

Now it's your turn! Link up with the Teaching Trio for their favorite things linky on the first Wednesday of each month!

Michelle

April Currently

Well, here it is, my favorite month! April! I love April for many reasons, including my birthday, Easter, springtime, and almost the end of the school year! With all of this excitement going on, I am a few days late in linking up my Currently post. But I wouldn't miss it, so here it is!

Listening: Yes, I am at home today working on many chores, including cleaning and organizing a few things.

Loving: Easter weekend is one of my favorites. We got out of school Thursday at noon and don't go back until Tuesday. Plus, we just had spring break a two weeks ago, so it's a nice refresher.

Thinking: If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you may have noticed that our caterpillars arrived last Friday. When I left yesterday, one of the caterpillars was already in its chrysalis! So next week, we will be reading fiction and nonfiction books about butterflies. I hope to write a separate blog post for the different activities that we do.

Wanting: Both my husband and I have our birthdays within a week of each other. So, with this year being our first year of marriage, I decided to make only one large cake that we could share. Trust me, with it only being the two of us, it's a LOT of cake! But I made a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Only the best!

Needing: I recently started reading The Maze Runner by James Dashner. So far, it is a little strange and hard to get into. I just know that I need some time to sit down and read! Hopefully with the extended weekend, I will be able to find some time!

Eggs-plain your name: I knew when I created my blog/TPT name I wanted to include something with ducks, which are my favorite animal. I also knew that I wanted to create products that were for all subject areas and that could be differentiated for various levels. I was searching for different 'duck' words and I came across "dabbling." Dabbling is what ducks do when they put their bill into the water and try to get food. I thought this term was great because another definition of "dabbling" is to kind of play with something and try it out. With these two meanings of dabbling, I knew that it was the perfect word for my title. Add in a picture of a duck, and my name and logo were born!

Remember you can still link up with Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade! 

Have a great weekend!

Michelle

Mr. Popper's Penguins Read Aloud

After posting on my Facebook page asking for read aloud suggestions for my class, I decided to read Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater.

I only read aloud during morning snack time, roughly 10 minutes per day. This book has 139 pages, so it took me quite awhile to read. However, as always, I strongly believe that reading aloud to students should be a part of any literacy program. I chose to read a chapter book because some of my students are at the point where they are already reading them. Not only that, but I was taught that students should be read books that are at a higher level than what they can read. It helps to build vocabulary and enhances their knowledge of words. Some of the words we talked about included Antarctica, South Pole, North Pole, expedition, and rookery. We also learned many facts about penguins. For example, we learned that penguin usually lay only two eggs, but not in this story! There were 10 eggs! So we then hypothesized why there were so many eggs. In addition to learning all about penguins, hearing me this story aloud provided a good example of fluent reading.

Because reading this book aloud went so well, I am trying to think of what to read next!

Here are some of my choices:

Charlotte's Web

Little House in the Big Woods

More Books from the Magic Tree House Series

What do you think? Do you have any other read aloud suggestions for first grade?

Michelle

Markers and Dice

It comes as no surprise to me that my students love to write with dry-erase markers. Everyone knows this, and this is why I am constantly needing to buy more. What I didn't realize is that allowing them to write with these markers makes any type of learning more fun. One day, I decided to let the kids DRAW ON THE TABLE. And you're thinking WHAT?! How can they do that? Well, it's actually no big deal. The marker wipes right off and then, just to clean it, I use a Clorox wipe at the end of the day and it's ready for the next day. So one day I told my students, "Go ahead, it's ok. Write this problem on the table and solve it." And they LOVED it. And kept asking for more. What were they doing? Double-digit addition problems. That's it. Now, I love adding and if you give me a problem, I want to solve it right away. But they cannot get enough! It's almost to the point where they don't want to do anything else during math time. They try to finish as fast as they can so they can draw on the table or the board. To make this activity even more exciting and independent, I found these dice:

These are great dice because they have the place value right on them. The numbers go up to 9, not just up to 6 like regular dice, which is great when you want students to practice with carrying. So now I just give the students the tens and the ones dice, a marker, and some whiteboard space, and they are satisfied for the rest of math class. And I told them that if they kept getting correct answers, I would even add the Hundreds die! Needless to say, they worked extra hard after that to get that third die. I am so proud of how quickly they learned double and triple-digit addition and it pleases me even more that they enjoy it. Hopefully, by the end of the year we will be using the Thousands die!

Do you have any fun strategies for teaching addition? I would love to hear your ideas!

Michelle

March Currently

Ok...Ok I know I posted my New Year's Resolutions on my blog to try to get me more motivated to post more. However, that didn't happen. I have been so caught up in other things that my last post was the February Currently! Yikes! Hopefully, I can revisit my resolutions and post more frequently. Spring break should help with that too. But I wouldn't miss a Currently so here it is!

Listening: Yes, I am behind on watching The Bachelor. But due to a conflict on Monday nights and because I don't have DVR, I have to watch the episodes a week later.

Loving: Sometimes when I get home from work, I have some time to myself to just watch Netflix (or in today's case, The Bachelor), and I have really started enjoying this time. After a long day teaching the kids, it's just nice to sit quietly and work by myself. I also enjoy jigsaw puzzles and crossword puzzles.

Thinking: Another of my New Year's Resolutions was to start exercising more and, like my blogging resolution, I have gotten nowhere. I think I really need to set concrete goals for myself in order to accomplish this. Any ideas?

Wanting: I really need some ice cream right now to put out the fire in my mouth. I burned the roof of my mouth on the soup I made for dinner, and some ice cream would really help it feel better. Doesn't ice cream make everything feel better?! And peanut butter ice cream is even better.

Needing: There is just never enough time! I need time to create TPT products, time to lesson plan, time to grade, time to blog, time to clean, time, Time, TIME!! Another goal of mine is to be more efficient. We'll see how that goes.

Spring Break Plans: I wish I had exciting spring break travel plans, but alas, that is not the case. But, I will have plenty of time to catch up on all of my to-do lists, including making and updating some TPT products! I had not been in the creating mood for awhile but I just got back into it this past weekend. Hopefully, I can keep the momentum going until the end of the school year!

Don't forget to link up with Farley at http://ohboy3rdgrade.blogspot.com/

Have a great week!

Michelle

February Currently

Where did January go?!? It was gone in the blink of an eye! While I am sad to see January go, I do love February. It's the shortest month! Plus, it has Valentine's Day, one of my favorite classroom holidays. This morning I am linking up with Farley at Oh Boy 4th Grade to share my February Currently!

Listening: One of the few stations I like to listen to while I work on lesson plans: COUNTRY!

Loving: I just tried the MultiGrain Cheerios Dark Chocolate Crunch. This cereal is AMAZING! I recommend trying it for yourself.

 

Thinking: As usual, I am always thinking ahead about what needs to be done. And with the Super Bowl this evening, there is a lot to do before that.

Wanting: I would love to take a small vacation. The weather has been so nice down here in Texas and it makes me just want to be outside and do some hiking.

Needing: I am currently reading two books and would like to purchase another one soon. But in order to read them, I need the time! Here is what I am currently reading:

Pageant Name: I think the name says it all: Miss Read-a-lot. I LOVE to read and would do it all day if I could!

Happy Super Bowl Sunday!

Michelle

Yes Ma'am

Well, there goes the New Year's Resolution of blogging more frequently. This has been my first post in a few weeks and my goal was to blog once per week. Oops.

Anyways, moving on.

I have noticed on many other blogs that teachers have been visiting the Ron Clark Academy. So I decided to get Ron Clark's book The Essential 55 from my library. I had heard about Ron Clark and his book when I was in college, but I never found the time to read it. I still don't have the time to read it, but I decided to make reading this book a priority.

I started reading it and so far, I love it! In the book, Ron Clark gives 55 rules that should be included in every classroom. Not only that, but they are great life lessons, basic things that everyone should be doing anyways.

Rule number one is to respond to adults with "Yes ma'am" or "No ma'am." This may seem like a really simple rule, but I love it.

I am from Illinois and where I come from, the majority of students do not use "ma'am" or "sir" when addressing adults. However, when I moved to Texas, these words were ingrained in my students' vocabulary. I was so shocked on the first day of school when I asked the students a question and they responded with "Yes ma'am." I have also heard young parents using these words with their children. If their child is grabbing for something that they are not supposed, the parent will catch them and say "No ma'am." I think this is something worth instilling in children at a young age. I have also taken to addressing my students in the same way. When I call on my students to answer a question, I will say "Yes ma'am" or "Yes, sir."

Since reading this rule in the book, I have addressed with my class the need to speak these words whenever addressing an adult, or even another student. I believe that it will foster a culture of respect in the classroom.

I can't wait to see what other great tips I gain from reading this book! Check it out for yourself!

Michelle