TPT Seller Challenge Week 2: Dare To Dream!

Happy Weekend!

I'm having a great summer,

but the days are packed...packed...packed....

and it seems like I have a small window

to do some blogging... nap time and weekends!

I'm excited to be here for week 2 of the 

TpT Seller Challenge hosted by

Third in Hollywood

Sparkling in Second

Peppy Zesty Teacherista &

Teach Create Motivate

This week's TpT Challenge is Dare To Dream

I'm fairly new to the TpT world and haven't made a ton of things. I try to focus on one or two things at a time that I need for my students.  As I get more comfortable I hope to expand and do more. Some of my dreams are...


Family Time- I would love to use TpT earnings to do fun family things with my husband and son. Not just the usual go to the park, have a picnic, etc.  Those are all super fun things to do and we do them a lot... what I want to do is those special extras.  Maybe going to a water park for the day, or to a special place for the weekend to get-a-way spontaneously. I'd love to just always jump at the chance to meet up with people and do things to make memories and not worry about money.   

TpT Conference- I really want to go to Vegas for the TpT conference.  I have met so many wonderful people through blogging and IG that I really would love to meet them and see what else I can learn. I'd love to save money from TpT to be able to join in on the fun.  Maybe next year???

Fun- I just want to be able to go out and do something for myself, my family or a friend.... to have fun.  Offer to treat someone to something special or just to be making memories.  I guess that goes along with my first goal, however sometimes I feel that us teachers don't get enough time to spoil ourselves or the people that we love.  

New House- My husband and I are in the process of building a new house.  We don't have an eta yet but it should be sometime this fall (you know, the perfect time for a teacher to move!!!) I'm hoping that we can really take the time to put into it what we want to get it started and off on the right track.  Sometimes money can hold you back from doing certain things to the house or adding certain decorations or splurging on something new like a comforter set.  I'm hoping that I can use my TpT earnings to help that process out a little bit more!


Be sure to stop by one of the blogs I mentioned above to read and connect with all of the other dreamers out there.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Currently May... wait...what??? May?? Really???

OMG! Where has the time gone.

 I just can't get over the fact that May is here. 

This has been the fastest and slowest

 school year at times this past year,

 but now I'm starting to panic... 

Am I really ready to be in the last month of school?

 Am I really ready to say goodbye to my sweet kiddos??? 

Ahhhh!!!  

Am I the only one feeling this way?  

Either way, I'm excited to finally be back to blogging!
I'm super excited today to link up with Farley

for Currently!  It's been awhile so I'm 

ready and excited to catch up on some

blog reading after writing this!

First of all don't you just LOVE the design this month?

I can't get enough of the purple!!!

Listening- The TV is on and the hubby is watching a movie. I can't sit still long enough to watch a movie these days.  I have no interest. So here I am just blogging away!

Loving- At the end of April I started to do a Pinned It Spinned It challenge on Instagram.  Have you heard of them?  I follow a few gals who pin different outfits from pinterest for each day, and you need to spin the outfit to make it your own.  It's really helped me stick with not wearing the same old things each day.  It's excited for the end of the school year too.  Are you on Insta?  Find me: MrsBentinsBlackboard!!!

Thinking- Sadly most nights around this time I'm already in bed.  We've gotten really used to a schedule with a baby and that means early to bed for H, early to bed for us!  He went to bed really early today and I'm worried bout what time he will wake up in the morning! :)  Cross your fingers for me. 

Wanting- I'm a new mom.. It was my first year as a teacher/wife/mother all rolled into one. I desperately need some "Me Time"! Enough said. 

Needing- I've recently started Weight Watchers with a group of teachers at school and I'm really wanting to finally get rid of that baby weight. I've been avoiding it for far too long. H turned a year old this month so it's time. It's important to me to stick with it and be more active especially with my family. So far so good especially since the nice weather. 

Summer: Yes- Building our new house starts this month. So this summer will be full of following the progress! I'm so excited.  Hoping- To just enjoy time with my family and forget what day of the week it is. I can't wait! I hope I can do it.  Dream- To get away on a mini-vacation. I feel it's been tooooo long and it would be a great way to start making some memories with my new little family!

Stop by Farley's blog and check out all of 

the currently linkys! It's a great way to 

meet some awesome people!

I'm Still Here! Five For Friday {4.24.15}

Happy Friday Friends!!!  I know that I have been absent for a really long time.... I do apologize for that. I am thankful for the connections I have still been able to keep through twitter and instagram though!  I needed to take some time to focus on life and school. It sure has been a very hectic year with getting back to work after having a baby (who is one now!!!yikes!!) and selling our house.... moving in with my parents and have had almost everything go wrong in the last 5 months to move on to a new adventure.  I'm happy to say that school in winding down, after a fabulous year and a wonderful group of students. I have a lot to share from what we did and I have a lot of great news in terms of our future--- we're building a house! I'm linking up for one of my favorite linkys today.... Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs teaching to give you a little look into what I've been doing this week, and maybe a little from last week.... it's been so long since I've blogged I have so much I want to share!! Enjoy!

I've been plugging away on fractions with my kiddos. We're using math expressions, anyone else?  I missed this part of the year last year b/c of being on maternity leave so it's been a little scary for me!  However, I have to say that it's been going very well.  My team is amazing and I've also teamed up with our ESL teacher, math interventionist and another teammate to do some team teaching and small group work with fractions.  My kids are doing well, but let me tell you, it's hard!  I'd love to know some of your suggestions for resources for fractions. We've been doing a lot of hands on activities. I've found that to be best, but I'm always on the lookout for more!

We end the school year with a great project in 3rd grade. I talked about it last year here.  We do a pioneer simulation where students are assigned to an identity and a group and they 'travel the trail' west.  We have a heavy emphasis on non-fiction reading and learning for 4th quarter and this fits perfectly with it.  One of my favorite activities is this interactive word wall.  We've done a lot with words and parts of speech this year, so it was a great activity to familiarize students with some of the pioneer vocabulary.  I love using vocabulary boxes with them as well.  It really helps them understand the words.  

Speaking of pioneers, we have changed up our teaching of it this year and have added some STEM activities to go along with our learning. It's been wonderful.  I will do a longer post when I have time, but here is a look at what we had to do this last week. Students had a limited amount of time and resources to create a shelter for their pioneers to protect them from a coming storm. I was very impressed with their creativity and teamwork. 

We're doing a school wide writing project this year at school. It's been going amazing and also everything can't get enough of it. We're all making cardboard books or cartoneras and publishing them for a celebration at the end of the year.  The process has been amazing. I'll share more at a later post, but wanted to let you know in case you wanted to get involved. You can check out more from my co-worker's blog Books Del Sur here!

We did a twitter challenge at school this week. It was amazing. I got to step outside of my box and do some things like a twitter chat, selfie with my co-workers and share ideas to those that I don't know.  It got people on twitter that didn't know much about it and it also got us collaborating from across the halls.  We always do a great job with collaboration but this was a different way! It was so fun.  If you want to know more let me know.  My coworker Jennifer set it up for us! She blogs at Mrs. Laffin's Laughings and also be sure to follow her link to her writing blog! Are you on twitter? I'd love to connect with you. I can be found @MrsBentin3

Happy Friday!

Have a great weekend! :)

Currently...Late (Again) and Anchors Away Monday

Happy 2015!!!

I'm back from a much needed

and wanted mini-break. 

We've had a lot going on in our family the past month,

so I decided to put some energy towards that. 

Unfortunately that meant that blogging needed to 

take a back seat....

Until NOW!

We're still working on finding a place to live

{We're currently with my parents},

which has been simply amazing, 

especially with the little one---

but it can't last forever!  

I'll be sure to keep you posted!

I'm linking up with 2 fabulous bloggers today.

First: Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade for

her 'Currently' linky {that was supposed to be done on the first of the month....}

Better late than never, right???

Listening:  As I mentioned earlier, we're currently living with my parents after recently selling our house.  We have our own space, but it's not exactly away from all that goes on.  I listen to their TV every night from my bed, which is right on the other side of the wall.  I love the show "Love it or List it" though.. so it's all good!!!

Loving:  We just had our first Christmas with our little one.  He is now 8.5 months old and such an adventure each day. Christmas was so magical...just makes me wonder how much more fun next year will bring!!  It sure does give a new meaning to the holiday time when you have a baby. 

Thinking: For once I didn't go into school over break, which I think is a good thing. I'm pretty well planned this week, however I usually have a couple weeks going at a time... that is not the case right now.  I could use one catch up or work day in my classroom....  I guess I will settle for staying late tomorrow to get caught up. 

Wanting: We sold our house in early December with the plan to build. Some things went wrong with the land we were going to purchase and no longer will buy it.  So that means we are now at square one again. Not sure if we will build or buy... but right now we've got no leads. It's super frustrating, just because the planner in me wants to know what will happen.  :)  Anyone have a crystal ball?

Needing:  I got my nails done over Winter break for the first time since the baby was born.  I LOVE getting my nails done.. just no time these days.  So, I finally get them just the way I like them, and sure enough two days later one of my nails broke really low....and the manicure is ruined and also hurts! I need to just get it fixed again.  Ahhh the little things!

YES- This year I am searching for 'Balance'..... balance between being a mom, wife, friend, sister, daughter, teacher, etc.  I'm doing good, but I can do better! I WILL do better this year. 

MAYBE- I want to be less anxious about life... and just be adventurous more this year.  This is really hard for me, being such a planner and type A person.  I understand it won't happen over night, but taking baby steps in the direction of wanting it will be  huge start!

I WISH-  I've always wanted to be a wedding planner or have my own planning business on the side or during the summer months. I would love to do that!

Well there you have it!  Stop by Farley's Blog to check out some of what other people are up to!

Now on to Deb's linky from Crafting Connections: Anchors Away Monday 

I'm sharing a simple Telling Time anchor chart today with you!

I actually took all ideas from what my kids already knew and started there.  

We did the basics first like how to write the numbers on a clock, how to count by 5's around the clock, that there are 60 minutes in an hour, labeling the minute and hour hand, etc.  

After we were done, I posed questions to them to get the digital clock on the chart and then also to break the time up into quarters.  We talked a lot about vocabulary for this part, and that seems to be most tricky for them. 

What I like about this is that all on one page, are the basics of reading a clock multiple ways.  This has been up in my classroom since we made it and we've been going back to reference it a lot.  Obviously there are still more things that we discussed and made other charts for those... but I wanted to share this one, because it's been more helpful.  

Would you add anything to this anchor chart? I'd love to hear. 

Stop by Deb's blog for some great examples of anchor charts!

Have a great week! 

Tech Talk- Xtra Math

Hi Strangers!  I've been absent for awhile. Life has been a whirlwind, but I'm super excited to be blogging today for a great new Blog Hop from "Great Minds Teach Alike!"  It's all about technology! Our school has gone 1:1 this year, and I'm really trying to incorporate so many aspects of technology into our daily schedule.  Sometimes I know that can be hard, however it has been a really great experience so far and I think that it's going great. You can read about some other technology happenings from my classroom this year here.  I'm excited to be doing this blog hop to share more resources and talk about what's working and what's not. I hope that I can help some of you along the way and also pick up some tips of my own!

Stop by Tasia's blog for some other great technology posts!!  

I first want to share, that I got the idea to use this site from a teammate at school. I have not been asked to write about this site, or review it by anyone. I like how it's has been a great addition to my classroom, and wanted to share it with others!

Xtra Math:

This site is a great addition resource to my morning work.  It's a free web-based math-fact fluency program for kids. The goal is to get students to recall their basic facts without having to use their fingers to count to free up more working memory in their brains!  There are a ton of explanation videos on site for you to get started, but I'll share some of the highlights for you.

- It allows for quick daily fact practice (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and mixed) for your students.  They only use the program for about 10 minutes a day.  It can also be used at home and there is a great parent component.

-It has simple activities for students to practice their facts each day, and helps regulate how long they are taking to answer each fact.  For example, it's goal for you student is to answer in 3 seconds, to show fluency.  If they do that, then when they answer they get a smile face.  If they answer in 10 seconds or less they get a green check mark and the fact is brought back around again. After 10 seconds the answer is shown to students and they must type it in to move forward.

- If you don't have a 1:1 computer situation in your room, the program also helps you set up a roster of students to go through like a list each day. One student will log into the site, and then when they are done they can see who is next on the list and let that student know that it's their turn to go on to the program.  There is also an iPad app.

-Progress reports are sent weekly to teachers (or parents) showing how each student has progressed through the past week.

-Students also see progress grids during their practice to see where they're at.

- It's easy for a teacher to set up a class (less than 5 minutes!!! YAY!!)

- There are no advertisements on the site to distract students.


My kids are really loving this daily fact practice! I also find it helpful for them to get their facts in multiple ways, so this is just one more thing that they can do to practice them.  If you're looking for something to add to your daily routine that won't take a lot of time, this program would be perfect for you!!  Thanks for stopping by!

Anything is Possible! Positive Thinking Thursday 11.13.14

Happy Thursday!  Man, the first part of this week... SLOW for me.  Then all of a sudden it's Thursday! I have a full day ahead with my first round of parent teacher conferences tonight.  When do you do your first round of conferences?  I'm excited to sit down and talk with families!  Since it's Thursday that can only mean one thing: I'm linking up with Jennifer from Mrs. Laffin's Laughings for Positive Thinking Thursday!  Be sure to stop by to start your day off on the right foot. 

I'm going to share a quote that just struck me as I'm going into the second quarter of school and feeling like I'm making more goals for myself and students than I can even remember...... But I know we can do it!

Source

Anything truly is possible if you simply have the guts to go for it. I think that it can just remind us that we make things possible each day for the lives we touch!  I also am a HUGE JK Rowling fan too... so I just love that the quote comes from her. 

Have an awesome day! Happy almost Friday!

Mentor Sentences- Tried It Tuesday!

Happy Tuesday all!  Hope you are all having a great week so far. I'm not looking forward to the colder weather that is headed our way, but other than that I can't complain!  Life is good!  I'm super excited to share some bits and pieces of something that I tried this year, and that I'm loving!  Hope you enjoy!! I'm linking up with Holly from Fourth Grade Flipper for another Tried It Tuesday!

First of all, after blog stalking this past summer, I cam across the idea of mentor sentences.  After much reading and discussion back and forth (thanks Jessica) I finally bit the bullet and decided to try it.  If you're interested, I got my resources from Ideas by Jivey.  She does a great job putting mentor sentences into action and also shares so much to make it happen in your classroom. You can start small by just getting one or two or getting a whole bundle pack. I started with the first 10 weeks mentor sentences and then bought the rest of her bundle.  I know that you can make them work with any book you're reading, but for me, having it already prepped and done has been a life saver! It's great that you can do what works for you!  

**Also, this blog post is a post on my experience and success with mentor sentences. I have not been asked to write this or to promote this product in anyway.  I'm just really loving this great resource, and appreciate the hard work that went into it! My students are showing great success with it and I am pleased to share what we're doing!


Mentor Sentences:
1- Monday I read aloud a story to the students and then write a mentor sentence from the book on the board.  We do some guessing why I picked it and just read it a few times to get a feel for it.  I am also using the picture books to teach them. So Monday we spend a lot of time picking a theme for the book and adding it to our theme wall!

2- Tuesday: For morning work students put the sentence in their writing notebook, rewrite it on the lines and then start to label things that they notice.  Then at the beginning of our writing block each day we discuss and do things with the sentence.  We will label and notice the sentence and talk about special features (quotations, alliteration, contractions, etc.)

Here is the sentence for one of our books on the board.
I write it out and then we label it with everything that
they can come up with.  This one isn't all of the way done,
but I was impressed that they did a lot on their own!
It took us several tries to get to that point.  When they are
done labeling and noticing, I bring other things to their attention
that maybe they didn't think of.

3- Wednesday is our revision day.  We talk about changing up just a few small things in the sentence to still keep the general message.  We talk about how changing adjectives or verbs can simply add a new dimension to writing.  I also write my own on the board and then they have the chance to write their own revision too.  These are revisions from The Widow's Broom. Their revision is under the sentence that we label.  

4- Thursday: On Thursday we get to be our own sentence authors and imitate the style of our author from the week.  We take the basic structure of the sentence that we've worked with and totally mix it up and make it our own sentence that could be used in our own writing. I always do one first to show the students an example and then they write one last sentence in their notebook to go along with our weekly mentor sentence. We then hang up a few on a bulletin board each week and use them as sentence models.  Here is our display. 

Here are our sentences to go along with Enemy Pie.
This was one of the earlier ones we did. I am super
impressed with how they have grown.  I can't seem to find my
more updated picture tonight of more samples.. :(....
But you get the picture!!!

5. Friday: On Friday I give students the "Invitation to Edit" quiz that Jessica includes with all of her mentor sentence units.  It gives the students time to use all of the skills that were used on the sentence for that week and they also find some mistakes in the sentence that we used and correct them. It's like a mini quiz to end the sentence and to end the week. 




I'm also doing a book study with several colleagues at my school. It's called Everyday Editing. Mentor sentences come from the idea behind this book. I'm very excited to be using this book and Jessica's great resource to help my students with their writing! If you don't know where to start, but you want to learn more, I suggest this book!  I love how it also has a whole section dedicated to in class implementation and practice.  What a great way to actually try something out!! I love books that are designed for that. 

I'm so loving how great my students are doing with using mentor sentences! I also love how they are fitting into my daily teaching so nicely.  Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Question Writers Ask- Anchors Away Monday!

Happy Monday!  I'm getting in a quick post before I call it an early night tonight.  I made an anchor chart with my class about a week and a half ago and we've used it so much that I thought that it would be a great one to share with you all. 

As I've mentioned in the past, we've recently started using a new writing resource at our school from Portland Public Schools. You can check it out, here. It's common core aligned, and also written in a way that gives you everything, so it doesn't matter how comfortable you feel with teaching writing....it can work for you at any level of comfort. I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to give this a try, and it's been very successful in my opinion.  I'm taking it slow, but I've really loved the connection between reading and writing that it's helped me make with my students. 

This anchor chart came from the above resource that I mentioned.  I really like how it's simple, and easy for the kids to understand. We've used it so much of the last several lessons when it comes to going back and revising our writing. That is such a hard concept for students to grasp, that my going through each question here, they are finding it a little bit easier.  I especially love how we got to include our weekly mentor sentences into the chart.  I'll hopefully get to blog about that tomorrow!  I'm excited to keep this chart up for the rest of the year, as I feel my writers will use it a lot!  Do you have any other ways to get kids thinking about the questions that they need to ask when they are writing? I'd love for you to share!!!


I'm linking up with Deb, over at Crafting Connections for her linky: Anchors Away Monday, where you can share anchor charts and ideas.  I'm super excited to be linking up with her for the first time! Be sure to stop by her blog to check out some other great anchor charts!!!

Have a great week!

The Sunday Scoop: 11.9.14

Happy Sunday Friends! I'm linking up today with the Teaching Trio for the Sunday Scoop!!  Be sure to stop by and check it out. 

On a side note, I am making a personal goal to blog three times this week. I've been a little light on the posting lately, and it's not because of lack of ideas...just lack of time. I'm really hoping to share a lot of great things! Hope everyone has a great week!!

Oh Sunday... Three thing I have to do: 
1. Plan Meals- If we don't plan for the week on Friday we starve. Literally... or eat randomness out of the cupboard.  It's really sad. So I must plan meals and go grocery shopping today!
2. I have procrastinated a bit on finishing report cards. I'm super close to being done... just have to sit down and knock them out. 
3. Of course the typical Sunday routine... cleaning up for the week ahead.  Why does cleaning have to happen so often??

Here are my two things that I hope to do:
1. Organize- I have a big old bag of school stuff that I really must organize before this week starts. We have our first round of parent teacher conferences this week, and I really need to be ready!
2. Dinner.. We had nothing planned for dinner tonight. I'm not really sure why. We were going to be doing a lo of running around today, so I'm guessing we thought we'd do leftovers.  Does anyone have a quick something they recommend that I can whip together?

Finally my one thing:
1. Today I really just want to cuddle on the couch with a blanket and a Bloody Mary. Bring on football Sunday! :) Too bad it's already 4:30 and the TV has yet to be on, and my eyes have not seen a bloody. 

There's always next week??!!!  
Have a great one!