September's Pinterest Pick 3 Linky

September is here!  Yay!  My favorite season is almost upon us....fall!

I am linking up with Pawsitively Teaching and Inspired Owl's Corner for September's Pick 3 Pinterest Pins!  Here are a few Pinterest ideas that I will be using in September with my students.  I hope they will be helpful to you and your classroom

The first pin is from Who's Who and Who's New.  The post is called Close Reading with Oreos.

Picture from original post

Picture from original post

 I love this lesson....and it's not just the fact that I get to eat two Oreo cookies (they are definitely my weakness!).  This lesson is great for showing students the importance of reading things more than once.  First, the teacher gives the students an Oreo.  The teacher explains to the students that they must quickly eat their Oreo so that class can get started.  Once the students finish their Oreo, the students are asked to write on a post-it what they just ate.  Super easy, right?  Next, the students are handed another Oreo and are invited to sit on the carpet.  The students spend time touching and smelling the cookie.  Next, they close their eyes and take small bites, savoring the taste.  Afterwards, the teacher adds their descriptions and thoughts about the Oreo to an anchor chart.  The purpose of the lesson is to get students to understand the importance of reading a text more than once.  Just look at the difference between the first anchor chart after eating the first cookie to the second anchor chart after eating the second cookie.  Such a powerful lesson!

The second Pinterest pin I want to share is mostly for you (the teacher).  The post is from Emily at Education to The Core.  The post is titled, When Teachers Compete with Other Teachers.

I love this post because it is a great reminder that we are here to do our best and teach our kids. That's it.  We did not become teachers to see if we could be better than the teacher in the room across the hall from us. There are so many teachers out there that try to out-do or out-shine others.    Do you ever feel like another teacher is trying to compete with you or trying to compete to be the best?  This post gives great tips on how to rise above and be the best teacher you can be.  Some of these tips you may already know, but they are such a great reminder.  We need to take our energy and direct it towards what really matters....and that's our students!

My third Pinterest pin is from Angela at the Cornerstone for Teachers.

I don't know about you, but I am sick and tired of sending home reading logs.  They are boring and its always a struggle to even get my students to bring the logs back to school.  I really want to start my year off right and use an authentic way of making sure my students are held accountable for reading at home.  This post gives 10 great ways to hold your students accountable and foster a love for reading at home.  I think I will be using her idea #1 and replace my reading logs with book journals.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Let me know if these three pins will be of any help to you and your students!

An InLinkz Link-up

August Pick 3 Pinterest Linky

August is here!  Yikes!  There is always so much to do between now and the first day of school.

Source

So, to get back into the swing of things, I am linking up with The Inspired Owl and Pawsitively Teaching for some back-to-school inspirational Pinterest finds!

Inspirational Pinterest Find #1:  Sub Tub!!  We all have had days where we unexpectedly have to call in sick from work. I am embarrassed to even tell you how many days I missed last school year. Between my grandmother passing away, a car accident, my son having a sleep study/surgery, and my whole family getting MRSA....my personal life was a nightmare!  

So, on that note, I am going to make sure that I have an up-to-date sub tub! Thanks to Owl-Ways Be Inspired for reminding me what I need in my Sub Tub in order to have stress-free days when I have to call in sick (which I am praying will be nothing like last year!!!!).  Hop on over and check it out (click on the caption under the picture)!  Plus, she has a freebie for you!

Owl-Ways Be Inspired

Inspirational Pinterest Find #2:  Back to School: Building a Community! Hello Sunshine wrote a fabulous post about how you can build a community in your classroom with team-based activities.  The post is jammed with activities that can establish a culture of teamwork and cooperation.  I will be using some of these activities the first week of school.

My favorite team building activity that she described is called  The Marshmallow Challenge.  Groups have 20 minutes to build the tallest freestanding tower using only 20 sticks of spaghetti, 1 yard of masking tape, 1 yard of string, and 1 marshmallow (the marshmallow must be at the top of your tower).  Afterwards, you would debrief and discuss ways teams had to work together in order to be successful.  Jump over and check out the rest of her back-to-school team building activities (click on the caption under the picture)!

Hello Sunshine - Brightening Teachers' Days

Inspirational Pinterest Find #3:  Things That Interest Me! Survey (Book Whisperer).  I know...I know.....I am totally behind on reading the Book Whisperer.  I should have read it a LONG time ago!  I am embarrassed to say that I just read it this summer......(sigh of embarrassment).  Over the past ten years, I have given my students student interest surveys asking them what their interests are so I can pinpoint what kind of books they want to read.  I have to admit, I haven't always been the best at taking their surveys to heart (another sigh of embarrassment).  BUT-after reading this post from The Teacher Organizer, I like her idea of sending it home with the students.  On her website, not only does she include a student interest survey for FREE, but she also mentions how helpful it is for students to fill the survey out with their parents so they can hear the type of answers their child is giving.  This may be helpful making sure that the answers are accurate and not what their friend at school thinks.  This student interest survey will be going home the first day of school with my students (possibly open house).  Click the caption below the picture to go to her website.  Let me know what you think!!

The Teacher Organizer

Check out the friends below and their awesome Pinterest Finds for August.  Link up and share your inspirational finds!!!  Thanks for stopping by!

An InLinkz Link-up

July Pick 3 Pinterest Party

Today,  Inspired Owl's Corner  is hosting a link up for bloggers to post their favorite pick 3 Pinterest ideas.  I LOVE this!

Pinterest is my favorite....I sometimes wonder how I even functioned without Pinterest in my life.  I use Pinterest for everything.....school, home decor, dyi projects, kid ideas....and I could go on and on and on!  So, needless to say, when I saw this link up...I got SUPER excited!   There is one problem though...I have no idea how to narrow it down to 3!

My first July pin is a DIY project for my house.  It's a chalkboard calendar from an old window.  So cool!!!  I recently moved into a house (hopefully my last house for many, many, many years) and I have not had time or the desire to decorate.  Once I found this project, I knew I had the perfect place for it in my new house.  The school year is quickly approaching and it gets a little hectic in my household.  So what better way to keep my house in order than with this old window chalkboard calendar!  I actually went around to some garage sales looking for an old window this morning.  No luck :(, but I have quite a few more weeks of summer to find one!  I was thinking about putting it on an empty wall in my mudroom.  Below is a picture of where I want to hang it.  What do you think?

Click here for the link

My next pin is something for my two little ones, Lucy and Tommy. The weather in Ohio this summer has been awful!  It's been rainy and somewhat chilly.  I feel like I have spent most of my time indoors with them.  We have been to the library and Half Priced Books A LOT!  So, where would be a fun place for my kids to read all the books they are finding?  An easy DIY tent!  Sometimes it is hard to believe when I read projects that say "easy" because nothing seems to be easy when you aren't very handy.  But these DIY directions don't seem to be very hard.  According to the instructions, the materials will only cost $20.  Not bad!

Click here for the link

Have you ever made a project like this?  This tent will look super cool next to my DIY bookcase.  Check that at here.

My last pick for July is a tutorial on how to make cake pops.  Have you ever had a cake pop before?  My mouth is already starting to water.  YUMMMMM!  One of my friends at school makes wonderful cake pops and she brings them in for ever work party that we have.  Tomorrow my mother is throwing a 4th of July cookout and I am in charge of bringing a dessert.  So, tonight I am going to attempt to make some holiday cake pops (I bought cookie dough to pop in the oven if it doesn't go well)!  Wish my luck!

Click here for the link