gRAND oPENING

Grand Opening of my Teacher Notebook Store.  

Please come and check it out.  I have a couple of freebies and a ton of technology items.  Please come support me and leave your link I would love to support and purchase from you!

   

                                           

Pin it to win it GIVEAWAY!!

I'm looking to GIVE AWAY my technology triple play...

from my TPT store...I will choose my winner through Rafflecopter on Friday. Enter away!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

nEW pRODUCT tECHNOLOGY tRIPLE pLAY

tECHNOLOGY tRIPLE pLAY now posted in my teachers pay teachers store! !   I'm so excited for you all to take a look and tell me what you think!  Happy shopping!

Just click on my link to my TPT store! 

Dana

1000 fOLLOWER gIVEAWAY!

Yeah...I wish...it is not me, but "Teaching Maddeness" is doing a 1000 follower giveaway with lots up for grabs!  Head on over and enter to win!  Just click the link below!  Come on it's fun!!

sALE sALE sALE TPT

I'm throwing my first SALE at my TPT store!  All of my items are 10% off from 11/24 thru 11/27!  Please go check out my items.  You will find items on decimals, fractions, VOKI, Glogster, Animoto, classroom jobs, etc.  Team up with me and TPT for Cyber Monday where you can save up to 28% off all of my items!  I promise you won't be disappointed!!  Click on the link below!!

tHANK yOU bLOGGING wORLD

In the spirit of the holiday season I couldn't refuse linking up with "Teaching in Room 6" for a thankful linking party.  Since joining the blogging world I am amazed at the many many many things that people put at my finger tips to help me!  I have learned so much!  

I have many finds that I'm thankful for here in the blogging world I don't know exactly where to begin!  I guess I'll begin with my favorite blogs!  Most teaching...one inspirational.  

I {heart} the blogs

-Fourth Grade Frolics

Love this blog for their "Made It Monday's"...my only problem is I want to make everything!!

-The Teacher Wife

I love this blog because it seems that every time I read a post I learn something!  She has so many awesome ideas it is hard to choose just one!

-Mama Laughlin

This blog I have chosen for inspiration!  She is hilarious, down to earth, and just plain fun to read.  It is based around a weight loss journey, but it is so much more than that!

Jump on in and take a look at these I promise you won't be disappointed!  If you are looking to link up...do it...click the link below.

 

~Dana

fREEBIE AND a gIVEAWAY!

It doesn't get much better than this!  I'm linking up with Diving into Learning for a super fun party!  Not only is she giving away lots of goodies she also has quite a few free items in her Teachers Pay Teachers store.  I have chosen "Penguin Odd and Even Numbers" to share with you.  Everyone loves adorable penguins and it is just in time for winter.

Head on over and download your copy!  Just click the link below...

Happy Thanksgiving!!

tOP tEN tHINGS i'M tHANKFUL fOR

This is such a great time of year to reflect back on everything that I'm thankful for. I jumped at the chance to link up with Stories By Storie for her linky party "Top Ten Things I'm Thankful For". You should link up to!

If you would like to link up just click the link below!

sTUFFED wITH tHANKFULNESS lINKY pARTY

Thankfulness is something I can not get enough of this time of year!  So when I saw that "Miss Kindergarten" was having a linky party all about being thankful I jumped on board.

To begin I'm THANKFUL for my amazing little family!  I have a wonderful husband, beautiful healthy child, and I wouldn't want it any other way!  They are my life!

Next, I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for my parents and sister...they were the first to teach me about unconditional love.  They continue each day to show me what strong really looks like. 

Thankful can't even begin to touch how I'm feeling about being able to live each day healthy.  It only takes some uncertainty in life to make you realize exactly how thankful you should really be!  

Last I am thankful and fortunate to get to work with students all day!  Even through the trials and tribulations that come with teaching I can honestly say that I enjoy what I do and look forward to it each day...well okay most days!  I really believe I was called to be a teacher and therefore am very fortunate to live out this avenue of life.



If you want to link up click the link below...come on it's fun!!

~Dana https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNt2Z7k00yM_M19s9LRg8pxKg595WgXcuUUpL81horUqI0uNsxFFGA7D0zLuKeTyKB_Fyq2ktM5l_A7mvOtvpaYfhyoHGfV9T1sUJpjh9LQeq1gokIAC6SErQDYSKPpTdqIo9ynhEuK4o/s220/Live+Learn+Teach+Blog.jpg

lEARNING tHROUGH tECHNOLOGY

I know there are a ton of teachers out there, myself included that wonders what exactly is the best way to use technology in the classroom.  I love technology and I could use it all day, but how can I use it to help my students master common core? 

I have found that sometimes no matter how hard it is for teachers to admit sometimes kids learn the most when we facilitate instead of doing so much talking.   I had a class that needed a lot from me last year so I tended to talk more.   Wrong thing to do. .. it didn't mean anything to them.   So I decided to have them take the reins and let them be a leader of their own learning... guess what I figured out. .. ready for this. .. they did better than they had ever done before!   I gave them an objective, a rubric, and some written directions for the websites and passwords... really that's all.   I then let them go for a week and I facilitated.   I know it was had for me too!   You know what my results were though. .. my students who never wrote anything had pages and pages of notes for this project, my gifted and talented students had created final products I never could have assigned, and my in betweens strived for personal success.   If you still don't believe it I gave an assessment after a weekend and I had 23 out of 24 with 100% ♥.  Success! !! 

I know it takes a while to implement and it can be tough to handle, but you will be amazed!  

What's your favorite technology to use??  I would love to hear from your experiences!   Link up and share!

~ Dana

bEHAVIOR mANAGEMENT hEAVEN

Behavior management heaven is what I call "Class Dojo" in my classroom.  I have used it for a little over a year and am in love!  It is a great motivator and extremely teacher friendly!  I have compiled a list of how I use Dojo...and I would love to add to the list.  Have you used it please share!!

• -Focus on class management (academic and behavior) 
• -Helps keep students accountable
• -Gives immediate feedback
• -Parent communication
• -Tracks information (days, weeks, months)
• -Can be used many different ways

• Debates
• Group work evaluations
• Behavior plan
• Assigning task +1 by the students who are finished completing something
• Checklist for completed assignment
• Each point stands for a part of the writing process
• Complete and incomplete homework
• Dojo competitions among classes or grade levels

~Dana

iCLUDING tECHNOLOGY

I know I don't have many followers yet, but I wanted to share a new way that I am including technology with students.  Sometimes it is hard to implement technology...I know for a fact that having enough computers has been a great struggle for me!  We have a computer lab, but it is used for classes all day and then the library computers well we'll just say they are ALWAYS booked!!  Anyway I have made due to with my 4 classroom computers and the students are raving about it!!

Honestly technology is my love...I think and reflect on my lessons each week to see how I can involve the students in technology.  We all know that that is as real life as we can get.  Any way I decided I was going to have the students to use Voki.  If you have not heard of it basically it is a free website that allows the students to create talking avatars. 

 I made sure that I had about 4 students who were Voki experts so I didn't have to troubleshoot all by myself and they were on their way.  I put together a guide sheet, directions, and a rubric for expectations and let the students go.  SUCCESS is all I can say.  In a nut shell they were to take their book they had been reading and create a Voki on the main character.  They made the background of the voki look like the setting of the story, the voki itself had to resemble the character as much as possible, and then they had to make the voki tell a summary of the story.

After everyone had completed their Voki we viewed them as a class.  Talk about motivating, exciting, and learning all rolled into one.  We all enjoyed them so much and the students got some ideas for new books they are excited about reading.  My next step is to actually load them to our classroom wiki so that students can view them whenever they like.

If you are interested in more information about this lesson I have the guide and rubric posted on my Teachers Pay Teachers website, just click below.  I promise you will not be disappointed!!

Hint - When typing in voki you can slow down the voice by putting extra spaces between your words! (a lovely student figured that one out!)



~Dana

fREEBIE fRIDAY!!!

I know I know it is not Friday anymore, but oh well...I'm linking up with TBA for a FREEBIE FRIDAY!  Click the link below to get to my freebie and download it now!  You will see it is just in time for Thanksgiving and perfect for almost any elementary age!

Don't you just love a freebie!

~Dana

Currently...Linky Party

I can't believe it is already NOVEMBER!  Where has the time gone!  I mean really we are like 50 days away from Christmas break!   Anyway I love Farley's Currently's from Oh Boy 4th grade so I knew I had to link up.  Drum roll...here is my currently

Make sure you head on over and link up...just click on the button below!

~Dana