Holy long time no blog!!!

Hello blog world!!  I feel like I have not had a single second to get online and get blogging since idkkkkk January?  (January 9th to be exact:))

The main reason for this is my stress load at school.  This is only my 3rd year teaching, so I only have two other groups of students to compare them too, but this group of kids is demanding a lot of my time.  I have definitely had to learn a lot about differentiated instruction this year, that is for sure!  Not to mention all those little 3 letter acronyms that consume most of my time at home.  IEP, PEP, EOG, PLC......you get the drift.  Anddd to top it all of NC is going over to the common core, which is a good thing, but is something that I am going to have to learn about.

The second reason for my leave of absence has been that my BESTIE was getting married!!!  And, being the matron of honor, I had a LOT of matronly duties to attend to:)

Me (left) and Grayson back in 3rd grade!!

But, I am back now, and have really missed catching up on all of the inspirational things that you all have to say!!  Blogging is definitely an outlet for me to find out what other teachers are doing and going through, and I can't wait to get caught back up!

Here are a few highlights from my few months while I was out of the loop!!

Valentine Candy Heart Graphing

Our class was donated a set of chapter books (Loser by Jerry Spinelli)  from Donor's Choose!!

I've been wondering:

**How did changing to the common core make teaching different for you?

**How do you find it easiest to differentiate instruction??

Thank you Donors Choose!!

Thanks to Donors Choose, our class has received a brand new set of listening center books!!  Hooray!!  I am so excited about this, and so are my kids!!  If you don't know about Donor's Choose, please go check out their website.  It is a fabulous resource for teachers, and has helped me so much in my classroom already!  Here are some pictures of my kids with their new books:

Some of the kids with one of the new book sets:)

All of the students are holding one of the 8 new book sets from our Donors!

And again.....just can't get enough of these sweet faces!!

We wrote friendly letters to thank our generous donators!

Also, right now, Sonic is holding it's annual Limeades for Learning competition.  I am sure most of you already know, but in case you didn't.....Sonic will fund the projects that receive the most votes on the Limeades for Learning website.  Please take a second to check it out and vote!  My project is aimed at getting a NOOK color for my classroom:)  Here is the link to my project:

Mrs. Newman's "Bringing Words to Life with a NOOK Color" Project

If that link doesn't take you there, type in "Bringing Words to Life with a NOOK Color", and my project will appear.  It is TOTALLY FREE to vote!!  And hey, even if you aren't hyped about my project, vote for someone's!!  It is a great cause and all votes are appreciated!!

Happy Monday All!

Literacy Centers

Since I just started my blog, I want to go back and put up some ideas for things that I used at the beginning of the year that I found too be really effective.  I used literacy centers at the beginning of the year while I held guided reading groups, and the kids LOVED the centers!  I have included pictures and descriptions for how I managed the class below!!




This is my management chart/student schedule that I use for managing my centers.  The numbers at the top of the chart represent the table numbers in the room.  Those numbers rotate daily.  Each table has 3 center options for the day (those centers are listed below the table number).  The students rotate on three 20 minute rotations while I am working with guided reading groups.  No more than two students can be at one center at a time.  The rotation is effective for management because the students do not spend the whole hour with the same classmates.  Also, the kids usually have at least one "favorite" center each day.  Since the rotations are based on tables, I am able to flexibly pull as many or as few students as I need based on the skill that the students need, rather than by ability.



 This is the timer that I use to let the kids know when it is time to clean their center and rotate to the next center.  If you are interested in purchasing the timer, click here.

This is the text features center in action!  Student's learn about text features that are used, and use this center to locate the text features.  I make sure that there are sharpened pencils and highlighters at this center!

Reader's Notebook Center:  I must give credit where credit is due-I got all of the ideas for the reader's notebook center from Beth Newingham, who is one of Scholastic's Top Teachers.

This is the Writing Center.  Students get a chance to work on their writing skills in a small group setting.  I make sure that there are pencils, colored pencils, makers, crayons, notebook paper, decorative paper, and magazine clippings for inspiration at this center!

This is the writing "in-progress" station.  Students can store their work that is not quite finished here, so that they may continue their work next time they are at the writing center.

Hot Dots!  Students love getting to use the hot dots to practice their question/answer skills!

At the Word Work Center, Students are using wikki stix to practice making their spelling words for the week.  They also use white boards to call each others word's for practice.  To purchase wikki stix of your own, click here.

This is our class listening center.  Until this year, I was unfortunately stuck using a tape player that I think zapped straight out of the 80's.  But, thanks to Donor's Choose, my class now has a fully functional listening center, and four of the students can enjoy books together!  Follow the link to see my current project, A Flashy New Look for our Class Listening Nook!

These girls are at the Easel Center.  My county is a "Thinking Map" County, so the easel center is used for creating thinking maps.  The studnets work with a partner to create the weekly thinking map using information from a current book that we are reading in class.

These are the notebooks that I use during guided reading for the students to document what they are learning.  I organize them by groups.  The groups change often, so I like to make sure I keep the notebooks separated.

This little girl is at the Buddy Reading center.  Student's read books together, then toss a question ball or use question dice to guide discussion of the story together.