Resources That Keep Us Afloat!

This school-year has been a whirlwind, and I swear every day I come home looking like I just walked through a tornado—with windswept hair to boot!  This terrible transformation takes place where I leave the house looking polished every morning, and I come home with disheveled bangs, smudged eyeliner, and bags under my eyes.  It’s not pretty, friends.  It’s not pretty at all.  Some days, I feel just as frazzled as I look too. Like today.  I am just plain tired.  {Just keepin’ it real.} 

That said, I love the challenge this year has presented me with, and I really enjoy my new position, but the learning curve has been pretty sharp!  Let’s just say, I have a whole new appreciation for people who change grade levels, and I have a deeper appreciation for teachers who work with gifted students.  Learning a whole new curriculum while simultaneously teaching two different grade levels has been exhilarating and exhausting at the same time.  🙂  I honestly don’t feel like I have been floundering.  At all.  I have just had to be even more intentional about my planning, and I have spent a lot more time prepping resources outside of the contractual day.  Considering I have always spent a lot of time on school outside of school, that’s a pretty BIG statement.  I have revamped my plans about umpteen times, but this is the current schedule I’m working with.  So far, so good.

This year, half of my students in each grade level are identified, and half of them are not.  Between the two grade levels, as far as comprehension is concerned, my students currently span eight grade levels from first grade through seventh grade.  Differentiation has become more of a survival tool than anything.  I HAVE TO DIFFERENTIATE because my kiddos are all so very different.  The one-size-fits-all approach would never work in my class, not that I feel it’s appropriate for ANY class, but it’s a definite necessity for me this year, so literally every day there is a layer upon a layer upon a layer.  Going to school (again) on top of that has been an extra challenge, but it’s also been really rewarding.  Sometimes, when I am the busiest, I am amazed by everything that I manage to get done.  Honestly though, I cannot do it all. I TRY sometimes, but it never works out.  I have limitations… and time is the biggest one of all…as I am sure it is for everyone reading this blog post.  If only life came with a pause button.  Things would be so much easier.  Am I right?!  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.  I am SO glad that TpT exists because it saves my sanity.  I can’t make it all.  I can’t do it all.  There are only so many hours in the day.  The resources I buy on TpT allow me to plan, attend to all of my kiddos’ diverse needs, AND still have a life outside of my job.  Happy, happy, happy!  🙂

I definitely get by with a little help from my friends, and that is why I am teaming up with my second and third grade teaching buddies at Owl-ways Be Inspired for a little “Resources That Keep Us Afloat” Linky!  This post is devoted to some of the products that have made my life a little easier this year, although truly, it’s just the tip of the iceberg.  Thank you to all of the teachers out there who create, share, and encourage other teachers like me! You help me keep growing!

First of all, let me just say how much I adore Ashleigh from Ashleigh’s Education Journey.  She is just the sweetest, and she makes wonderful resources too.  She has been basically saving my life with her social studies goodies this year.  I LOVE her Social Studies Interactive Notebooks!  I have used them with both grade levels across different units, and they are always a hit with the kids too!  These pictures show how I incorporated them into a lapbook format for an interactive study guide!  I have also used her Government Close Reads with my fourth graders.  I think they are well-done, and I am kind of a “Close Reading Snob” to be truthful.  I rant on occasion about the oversimplification of the close reading strategy because it’s so much more than selective underlining and just rereading.  I like Ashleigh’s approach to everything, and I will definitely be checking out more of her packs.

I also really LOVE resources from Stephanie at Third Grade Thoughts.  I have all of her “brochure” packs!  I have her Strategy Brochures, her Bloom’s Taxonomy Brochures, and her Depth and Complexity Brochures.  I love the format and the novelty they provide.  I love how they take my kiddos deeper, and I love how they all work with a variety of different texts.  Flexibility is HUGE for me with my population.  I am a BIG fan.  I also use her Mountain Climbers resource as a formative tool in my classroom.  I stuck magnets on the back of little numbered circles to allow my kiddos to rate their learning quickly and effortlessly.  🙂 

I already posted about some of my favorite resources yesterday, so I don’t want to be too repetitive here, BUT I do have to reiterate again how much my Reader Response Menus have simplified the homework process for me this year.  I wrote a more detailed post HERE, but I just can’t resist sharing a few more recent examples!

Another simple resource that I use over and over and over again is my Jot Spot Formative Flaps!  I created them in Jot Spot Form to use with Post-Its in small groups, but I use the flap book format a TON in my classroom!  Here’s a few examples in action!  One is a classroom shot, and one is from my last conference with SDE! 🙂

Now, because I adore my followers SO much and because I am on a bit of a gift-giving mood lately, I am going to tell you how you can score an amazing new book by one of my blogging friends, Stephie McCumbee!  It’s called “The Garden in My Mind: Growing through Positive Choices”, and it is a precious story about making positive choices.  It reminds me a little bit of the Bucket Filler books, but in this series, everyone has an invisible sponge with flowering gardens or wilting flowers based upon their positive or negative choices. So stinkin’ cute!  If you want to enter to win a copy of this book, make sure to enter via Rafflecopter below! 🙂  The giveaway will end next Wednesday at midnight!  Good luck!  🙂

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now, if you want to hop around a bit to see what my other friends have to share, click away!  🙂