Hello Mrs Sykes

So... we got the email this week.  The one I dread every year.  You know which one - the one reminding you about copying quotas, and how we all need to limit our copies as much as possible.  I always try to limit my copies by projecting as much as possible and having the students use whiteboards, but I'm trying out some new things this week to avoid making copies.  I thought I'd share... If you really need to make copies, do you need a class set?   Check out these C-Line Reusable Dry Erase Pockets .  I've tried tons of alternatives, like a piece of cardstock in a sheet projector, a laminated sheet, and a sheet inside a zip-lock bag.  (Teachers liked to reduce, reuse, and recycle before it was cool, right?)  Ummm, those alternatives might work for a while, but then they look ragged and icky.  These pockets are rugged, sturdy enough to use in the classroom, and wipe clean easily with a felt eraser, a tissue, etc.  We've been using this set like crazy for a couple of mon

I adore the team I work with.  We had a meeting scheduled for today during planning, and a teacher found out her class' special was cancelled.  What's a dedicated group to do?  Meet in the hall, just outside of the classroom door while the students watch a video about Life Cycles... A few of my teammates.... Me... a couple hours before I went home sick. Love it!

Today is the fourth day in my (slightly occasional) series to empower teachers, Supporting Struggling Readers in Grades 3-5.  If you are new to the series, or want to see what the hype is about, click on the button below to visit the  other posts in this series . So far, you've created an Assessment Binder, made  your list of struggling readers , assessed  Fluency , and assessed Comprehension .   Our focus today is Decoding!! Decoding sounds scary, so you can call it Phonics if you want.  Basically, you want to see what they already know about letters and sounds so you can target their instruction accordingly.  Here's an example:  I was a Literacy Coach with a 5th grade teacher (who is an amazingly awesome teacher), and she said she didn't understand what else to do for her struggling reader.  She had already assessed fluency and comprehension, and was targeting those areas with little results.  We worked out a plan of attack - fast and easy - the Names test.  Af

I *may* have already told you that I'm loving my home laminator... No?  Consider yourself told.  Here's what I'm laminating this week: 12 Fiction Passages, 12  Non-Fiction Passages Love these, from my buddy Casey! For a few of my darlings who need help with CVCe word patterns Also... here's my new mini-me!  What do you think? Thanks to The Library Fox for my custom graphic!!

Good morning!!  I recently received a free pair of glasses from Firmoo, which is an online eyeglasses store. Since I don't wear glasses right now, I went ahead and got a pair for my hubby.  He  usually  wears contacts, but needed a backup pair of glasses.   Here are the glasses I got for the Mr:  Here is the Mr. wearing them:  My guy in his new glasses - great for a backup pair! The ordering process was fairly straightforward.  We got the prescription information from the  optometrist, went shopping online, and filed in the eyeglass prescription online.  I wasn't sure about a lot of the jargon, but the website had little help buttons everywhere directing me to the proper part of the prescription, so it was pretty easy.   Y'all know I'm fairly cheap   frugal   a penny pincher broke, so when I get an opportunity for free stuff for my family, I'm in.  Last time we bought glasses for the Mr., it cost over a hundred bucks.  I'm sold now... th

Welcome!  I'm not here today...  I am uber excited about where I'm guest-blogging today, though!  To read about how to dye colored rice for word study (and a freebie!) visit Christina's blog at Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge.

I've been MIA lately... Usually I avoid the three-letter descriptions, but I've been buried in them lately.  IEP, LEP, PEP, and (my favorite) EASi (pronounced "easy" - but it's incredibly complicated!)  I'll be back to the Struggling Readers in Grades 3-5 series soon, after I tie up a few loose ends. One of those lose ends is my Math Training I've been attending this year.  It has been helpful in helping me understand the intricacies and common misconceptions in teaching 2nd grade math - fascinating stuff for a Lit. Geek like me. I'm being observed for the next 2 days in math with my students engaging in Math Talk in small groups.  I whipped up this little math talk prompt card for students to use when asking questions, and thought I'd share.   Click the pic below for a free copy .  :) For the record, I'm still loving the new laminator, and even laminated sets of these for my class and my math buddy's class, too!  For those of you

Yay!  April is here, and it was over 70 degrees today in NC.  It's a happy day to link up with Farley ! My hubby plays guitar.   I may have mentioned this before - and I am loving it.  We have music in the house all the time, and it's definitely a good thing for our kiddos - they are very musical. I bought a laminator, and I love, love, love it!  It's a Crofton from Aldi (love that store!) and it was marked down to $12.99.  Laminator love... a beautiful thing.  Here it is in action: laminating my Context Clues task cards laminating Tick Tock time cards from Christina Bainbridge Truly, I was able to spend some time reflecting this weekend on the blessings in my life - there are many.  I need to remember to focus on my blessings.  :) I want a vacay, and need a manicure... though I suppose they could both go in the "wants." My advice for future TpT sellers - proofread everything!  Have others proofread.  Mistakes happen, but they are embarrassing