Homework & Reading Log, Lesson Plans, & A Cute Kitty

Good Sunday morning!

Well... I decided I needed to spice up my blog a bit.  It needed something to make it pop, so I went in search of blog backgrounds and this is what I found!  What do you think?  I really like it and it makes me feel like a 'real' blogger LOL

I hope everyone's weekend is going well so far.  Right now I am sitting here with my dog begging for attention.  He has now started this terrible habit of whining when he wants something.... I must admit though he is very cute with the way he looks at me.

Aside from my dog needing attention I have been working on some other school related items.  Here is what I have done so far:

Homework Log

This set includes the homework log you see above, signs to print out and laminate for your homework board, and a PowerPoint presentation to fill out as your students fill out their log.  You can find the whole set HERE at my store.

Reading Log

 This is a 2 page reading log, can be printed back to back.  It includes a space for students to track what they've read and how long they've read each night with a parent signature line below it.  There is also an activity for the students to do each night to go along with their reading.  You can find the whole set HERE at my store.

Teacher Lesson Plans

This is just a cute, generic set of lesson plans.  Being an intermediate teacher I know how it is to not have the exact same schedule each day due to programs like Music, Art, Band, and Chorus.  Above each box is a spot for you to write the time and the subject.  This is FREE over HERE at my store.

Now I'm going to leave you with a picture of one of my 'babies'.

This little guy is Otter Pop.  He enjoys playing with toys and chasing my dog (all in good fun).  I believe he was the first born in the litter because he was the first to eat dry food and to use the litter box.  My adorable Otter Pop loves to cuddle right up against your neck and give you kisses on the cheek.

That's all for now, but be sure to check back tomorrow.  I'm going to join Classroom Freebies Too in their Manic Mondays, so I will be posting an awesome FREE activity!!

<3

Sarah

Photography, Teaching, and Writing Oh My!

Goodness sakes, I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since I last updated.  I'm trying to get on a schedule with my blogs so that you can expect updates on certain days.  Right now things have been a bit crazy.  I have a bit of a long update, so bear with me and I hope you enjoy it! :)

I have my first photography "job" today!  I am going to be photographing my brother's wedding.  I'm so excited, but also nervous about getting the perfect pictures. :)   I have been looking up other wedding photos to get some ideas of what I want to do and how I want them to look, but I also have a lot of ideas of my own.  We'll see how it goes! 

Speaking of photography, here are some pictures that I have taken for the Let's Do 52 Challenge. 

3/52 Every Day Tools

Television remote :) I would love feedback! I used Picnic to edit with the Gritty effect.

6/52 Chaos

Let the chaos begin... Julius is plotting.

When your cat jumps in the trash can after shredded paper, you know it's going to be a chaotic night.

Now on to teaching things.  I have uploaded a couple more items to my TeachersPayTeachers account.  One file includes all 30 spelling tests for the Macmillan/McGraw-Hill Treasures for CA.  It is all formatted to use with the Renaissance Responder and AccelTest system.  I am still working on transferring all of the vocabulary tests to that format as well.  I am also working on some Math tests using ExamView.  On a more creative side, I am working on my Creative Writing PowerPoint that will include several different writing prompts complete with graphic organizers. 

As far as my story goes I have added a bit more to it.  I'm kind of jumping around going on to whichever part I am inspired to write.  It's still a work in progress. Here's an excerpt from it though.

“No!” I yelled as I jumped out of my seat.  My heart raced in panic… embarrassment… fear…  Did I really just shout that out?  Am I really doing this now?  My chest tightened as I looked across the room.

Our eyes met.  Everything seemed to stop.  No one else seemed to exist.  There was just him and me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Life is full of firsts.

First steps.

First tooth.

First loose tooth.

First crush.

First love.

First loss.

First broken heart.

First act of craziness from said broken heart.

This is a story about my firsts.  I’ll save you from the beginning firsts and we will begin with my first love.

First Love… 

I’m not talking about high school crush who you stare at across the grounds hoping he pays attention to you, and then suddenly your attention shifts to another guy.  I am talking about true love, where you think about the person day and night.  You cannot even begin to picture your life without this person.  You speak to them every day and feel giddy as if you were back in high school.  The butterflies in your stomach start to flutter when you see him.  Your skin tingles when you hold hands and there is no way of explaining how wonderful he makes you feel to be around.

This is about my first love.

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment! :)

<3

Sarah

Happy Saturday!

Happy Saturday everyone!

I know I said I would try and post on Wednesday as well, but I will have to work on that.  Here we are though, another Saturday and another blog post!

Here is my second week photo for the "Let's Do 52" challenge:

"Open for Possibilities"

Since I write so much the thought just came to me to take a picture of a pen on a blank page.  It was just something completely open, where you could start where ever you wanted to.

On the note of writing, my students were working on their first poems this past week.  Some of them were still stuck in paragraph mode, so we wrote a poem all together.  Suddenly I saw the light bulbs going off.  The poems they turned in were so amazing! I am so proud of them!

Then today I received some wonderful news!  My project "Spark the Ember" received full funding!  Between Chevron, some wonderful friends, and anonymous donors, my students will be receiving a class set of The City of Ember and several electricity circuit building kits.  My students will be so excited on Tuesday to hear about this!  My next project should be posting next week, so please keep an eye out for it.

Well that's all I have for now!  Have a great rest of your weekend!!

<3
Sarah

End of Week 1/52

Evening guys!

Well it's another late night over here, for no particular reason.  This is not necessarily a good thing considering that I have to be up early for work tomorrow.  It will be a slam back to reality when the alarm goes off at 5:00 am.

Anyways...

I am participating in the Paint The Moon 52 Week Photo Challenge.  It's a really cool challenge.  What happens is each week you are given a choice of two themes.  The themes are open to your interpretation.  This past week the theme was All Natural or Sharing.  I really had not decided on which theme I was going to participate with.  I figured that I'll know it when I get the right shot.

All week long I took pictures of my animals naturally and sharing.  Then my niece came over Friday night for a slumber party.  We were raking leaves in the front yard and she was so excited to jump in them!  She lives in an apartment that has gardeners so she has not had the opportunity to play in leaves like this.  We raked them all up in to a huge pile and she went nuts.  Then it hit me.  This was perfect.  She was being a natural kid!  I ran inside to retrieve my camera.

I just kept snapping pictures, figuring I would get at least one good shot.  I ended up taking over 100 pictures, but they turned out so cute.  Here is the one I finally decided to submit:

What do you guys think?  I used Picnik.com to edit the original photo.  I really did not do much to it.  I increased the saturation to make the colors pop a bit, then I used the Cinemascope effect... mainly because I'm in love with that effect LOL

My goal is to post twice a week to this blog.  I'm not quite certain which days yet, but I'm thinking something along the lines of Saturday night and maybe Wednesday night... Like I said I'm still debating on it.

On a different note I was totally inspired to begin a new story!  Here is the opening:

                “No!” I yelled as I jumped out of my seat.  My heart raced in panic… embarrassment… fear…  Did I really just shout that out?  Am I really doing this now?  My chest tightened as I looked across the room.

Our eyes met.  Everything seemed to stop.  No one else seemed to exist.  There was just him and me.

So... what do you think?! :)  Well this is it for me tonight.  It is now 11:20 and I really should be getting to bed.  I'm actually a bit excited to go back to work tomorrow. I get to share with my kids about their 2 Donors Choose projects that got funded.  They're going to be so excited!  If you can, my class would be very grateful, if you would take a look at our Donors Choose page. The link is on the right hand side of this page.  If you are not able to donate you can still help just by spreading the word.  Thank you so much!

Good night guys! I hope you guys have a WONDERFUL Monday!

<3
Sarah

Here We Go!

Well, here it goes.  I have been talking about doing a blog for some time now and now I am finally doing it!  I guess first things first.  Who am I? What is this blog about?

Well first off, if you want to know more about me just visit the 'About Me' page using the link on the right. :)  Short story: I am a teacher, a writer, a photographer, a daydreamer, Disney enthusiast, animal lover, and all around geek (I'm talking like anime, comic books, and super heroes).  I dream of traveling to new places, especially Paris.

Now... What is this blog about?

This blog will be used to share my experiences, thoughts, writings, photos, daydreams, and ramblings.  I will be posting photos I have taken, excerpts from stories and poems I have written, as well as lesson plans and ideas I have used in my classroom.

I will admit that I am very nervous to put myself out there like this, but I am really hoping to receive some helpful and insightful comments to make myself a better writer, photographer, and teacher.  The only way one can become better at anything is to open themselves up and share their work with others and learn from the comments.

What better way to start the new year than to start something new?  I was very determined to begin a blog at the beginning of this year and now here we are.  Thank you so much for stopping by.  Please share this with your friends. I promise it will get more exciting. :)

Now to leave you with a picture I took of one of my roses with the morning dew on it.  What do you think?  I edited it using Picnik.  I used the Cinemascope effect after sharpening it with the basic editing tools.

<3
Sarah