Inspiration is everywhere!

I have been avoiding "Daily 5 Math" for the entire year... making excuses about why I'm not ready to jump in. Fighting it. Being a whiny brat... etc, etc.
All of a sudden during class yesterday, I had a moment of clarity that made me remember a sign I saw at Alan Wong's restaurant in Honolulu. It said:

CHANGE=STRESS=GROWTH

Not only does this apply for the award winning chef, who has created a Hawaiian fusion cuisine and continued to excel at his craft; this applies to me in teaching and in life. His poster stood out to me as it featured a beautiful picture of flowers blooming on rocks.  "Bloom where you are planted" came to mind.
What is holding you back?

What can you let go of today so you can move forward tomorrow?

I know that baby steps in any goal will get me where I want to go. So yesterday I started Daily 5 Math (which is amazing and is rocking our math world).  Today I got running outside again instead of on the treadmill. Actual ground and distance behind me seems to be the best motivator when it comes to running!

What am I willing to change in order to grow?

This is going to get posted on our classroom wall. Boys and girls who are learning to read, write, and challenge themselves in math are facing stress each day in our classrooms. By changing the classroom dynamics and allowing for student choice, we can ease the stress for students as they make great learning gains each day.

What can I let go of today?

Letting go lets me open up to new and exciting opportunities! I love this journey!

CP

Inspiration

I have been thinking about getting rid of clutter and anything that I haven't been using in the classroom...
Today via twitter I discovered www.schoolgirlstyle.com and I am so excited! I can't wait to start decorating and planning some classroom themes. Seeing this was just what I needed to start thinking outside the box and start creating a space that honours the students (and me) as learners.
But first...
Easter break! Off to Oahu I go on April 6th!

I'm really bad for not blogging!

So blogging regularly doesn't seem to be working for me, but I'm still here! I am definitely better at micro-blogging (www.twitter.com @Mrs_P_teaches) and keeping in touch that way. I am usually on twitter for the Daily 5/CAFE chat each Friday night at 6pm MST. Check us out by searching #d5chat on twitter.
But here is my exciting news!
I am so excited to be able to share my learning about Daily 5, CAFE, & individualized instruction with the teachers of the Fort McMurray Special Education Council! I am going to be sharing the prezi I made last year for my presentation to my school board, and then sharing a bit of what our class is doing this year.  I AM EXCITED!
It is a bit intimidating to be taking part in my first PD opportunity as a presenter, but at the same time I am excited to learn from all who attend.
This chance to share what we do in our room for literacy is a great opportunity to share the benefits of Gail & Joan's methodology.
I will be co-presenting with another teacher in our district who also uses the methodology and went to the 2 Sisters workshops (find out more by visiting their website www.thedailycafe.com).
As long as we only share how this method has impacted our teaching, and fully respect the 2 Sisters copyright, I think things will go fine!
I'll post after the session on February 22nd. Wish me luck!

Online Card Making

Are you ready for the holidays? We just spent a few minutes creating our own cards online with shutterfly.com! It's easy and quick. You should try it!
You can check out my card here:

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

I can't wait to share and send this card!

Thinking & Sharing

Thanks so much to David Truss @datruss for posting his video "A Brave New World". You can visit his website here.  I emailed a link to this video to my co-workers today. I am very inspired by the two discussions that came from sharing this! Also by the two colleagues who emailed that they were glad I shared this with them. We are too busy at school to all sit down and watch this together, but by sending an email, I had conversations with a couple of colleagues that I might not have had a chance to talk with during a busy day.
I love David's message to "lead, learn, engage, & be brave, do not go quietly into your classroom!"
Thank you David for making me think, and thanks for inspiring me to share this with my colleagues.
Often I am teased for my love of Twitter.
Without my Twitter account, I would not have made the changes that I have in the last year in my teaching. Thank you PLN for inspiring, leading, sharing, encouraging and challenging my thoughts on learning!

It's the simple things...

We're all busy! Planning, assessing, helping, facilitating... The list goes on and on!
Today I was humbled by the simple joy of changing a liquid into a solid. Popsicles!
In Grade Two Science, we have a topic called "Exploring Liquids". Yesterday we made a sugar drink (mmm sugar drink that is grape flavoured) and put it in little dixie cups. We added popsicle sticks and placed it in the freezer overnight.
All the excitement today was "when is Science?" and "Will we have popsicles?"
The joy & smiles that the students had on their faces were the best!
We went back to the classroom, put on some fun tunes, and sat around visiting and eating our popsicles.
I overheard a few conversations in the room as we ate, "This is the best day of school ever!" or "Popsicles are so good!", and even "Did you know if you suck out all the juice in the  popsicle it will just leave the ice behind?". Many sticky hands and purple tongues later, students agreed that this was the best Science experiment!
We plan, we assess, we create, we help, we do so much. How many times to I forget to stop and taste the popsicles? Sometimes it's the simple things that have the greatest impact!
Those purple tongued students will remember changing a liquid into a solid for a long time.
So will I.
But my biggest lesson today?
You can have all the newest technologies (like IWB, iPads, computers), you can use the most current research to plan your teaching/facilitating, you can plan things to the closest minute, but something as simple as a hands-on Science experiment can bring true learning, active participation, and create memories.
Here's to finding more simple things and creating memories!

Not giving up!

I hope everyone had a great summer break! I am getting the classroom ready as we are about to return to work on August 24th.
I was just inspired by Deb from www.smittenkitchen.com in an interview she did with Everyday Food (A Martha Stewart Magazine). So here I am!
She said, "Don't worry about what everyone else is doing [in blogging]; don't worry if it takes people a long time to find you. Just be your bad, dorky self and they'll get there sooner or later." and that is advice to take to the bank. If I'm not blogging, there is nothing to read.
What are your "back to school" goals?
I am going to drink more water, and purchased a Black & Decker My Water personal water cooler for the classroom. Filtered tap water instead of bottled water. I think it's going to be a great thing and it will save me money if I use it for the whole year. I'll let you know how it goes. Right now I am running lots of water through the system at home to get the plastic taste out of the cold water line.
I have spent the last week, after returning from holidays, doing things I want to do! This has included painting my nails (with CND Shellac), cooking a few new recipes (Chef Michael Smith's Grilled Pineapple & Red Onion Salad, and Martha Stewart's Blackberry Shortbread Squares). Both recipes were delicious - according to my friends, not just me!
I love cooking & relaxing. Doing the dishes is not my bag.

Here are the cookbooks. I had the pleasure of meeting Chef Michael Smith here in Fort McMurray at the
Indoor Picnic fundraiser event. He was so nice & signed my book for me!

Page 116 of Dinner at Home has the Blackberry Shortbread Squares! Yummy!

Here is the pineapple & onion salad picture from the cookbook!

So those are some of my other interests. Tonight we took our 9 year old Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Zeus, for a bike ride. He ran while we biked!
During the day I started setting up our classroom for the new school year. I can't wait to meet the new group of students I will have the pleasure of working with for the 2011-2012 school year! It's going to be great!
Here are the new books that just arrived from Chapters today:

Check out this YouTube trailer of "It's A Book" by Lane Smith. I had a 7 hour delay in the Vancouver Airport and this book made me laugh out loud in the store. Really and truly, I LOL'd in the store. (I really dislike using LOL, but it's true in this case).
I shared the "Press Here" book with 2 former students visiting the school today. Their read aloud of the story sold me on how good it was! Thanks to Lori Sabo [@lorilovesbooks ] for recommending it on Twitter!
Well, I think I'll end this post here. I hope your summer was great! Next post maybe I'll share some French Polynesia pictures!