Thursday, February 27, 2014

Crazy Wild and Wonderful...

 Those are three words that pretty much sum up my life these days.  I have a gazillion pics of things I have been doing in the classroom that I so badly want and need to share with you all.  Particularly because I am proud of how much I have grown as a teacher in the last year and a half and how that growth has affected my students. 
 
BUT!!!  That will have to be a weekend post because it is like almost midnight my time and Ia was late to school this morning and cannot be late again.  So, here is what I want to share with you tonight.  I put up my sale just this afternoon because as you can read in the title of this post, life is crazy wild wonderful!  I didn't have class tonight so I snuck off to my classroom (put hubs in charge of kids and took care of much needed work to be done at school).  If you purchase tonight or tomorrow for that matter, I will send you a free item of your choice from my store. No strings attached my friends.  Just my little way of saying thanks for following my little blog and following my little TPT store.  I am just about to 100 followers in both places and for me that is a huge milestone and I will be holding a little weeklong celebration!!!  Stay tuned because I am almost there folks!!!
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
I love this post so much!  It makes me think of my own children and what I mentioned in a post the other day. I put some much of me into my students, do I put enough of me into my own babies????

 
 
 
 
 
 
Monday, February 10, 2014

Things are starting to look up around here...

 OK Peeps
Things are starting to look up around here at Shearerly Sadler 4th Grade...
Status on my broken foot...I am in a walking boot but not really walking yet.  I have to use the crutches because my weight is uncomfortable (in more ways than just bearing it on my injury) but I am able to make walking motions with my boot on, which is a step in the right direction (ha ha ha!)  
 
I am so very excited...I am going to get a new computer!  I am not sure what kind I am going to get yet but I'm having a lot of fun looking around...Granted its online window shopping but it passes the time :)  I totally welcome any input you have to help me out
 
Also, Shearer-ly Sadler 4th Grade is getting a face lift.  I contacted the fantastic folks at Honey Bunch Blog Designs to get the ball rolling. I am waiting with baited breath to hear back from them.   I have been wanting to do this for so long and now it is finally going to happen.  I am going to upgrade my classroom site as well with one of their Premade designs, but my blog is going to be totally custom and tricked out with Melonheadz!  That's my nonnegotiable!  Go over and check them out.  The blogs are totally adorable and affordable too!
http://honebunchblogdesign.blogspot.com
 
We are on the eve of our 102nd day of school and very well the eve of our 12th snow/cold weather
  day.  I don't like to speculate if it will be a day off because I LOVE SNOW DAYS!!!  I like summer don't get me wrong, but there is something special about getting some extra snuggle time with my babies and playing in the snow...I spend all day long with other people's kids, I relish every precious moment I get to spend with mine.  (I just finished building a bridge out of our sofa cushions with a broken foot and blogging while my preschooler does cannonballs off the "bridge" into the "ocean of sharks below")  They grow up too fast.  My four year old I think has finally moved into her own room.  Since breaking my foot, I've not been able  to take the stairs to my room so I've been in "Sofa City."  Riley usually sleeps with me and Daddy but decided she would sleep on the love seat.  Little sister joined us one night for a "slumber party" and the next night, she decided to go sleep in her bed in the room she and her little sis share!  It has helped little sister too.  I think maybe she has so many late nights up and down is maybe she's been a little lonely.  It was quite the silent night around her last night! 
 
Last but more importantly not least...I am proud member #211 of the Melonheadz Addict Club! 
 
 
 I have actually had an email conversation with the Queen Melonheadz Mother!  I feel like I am talking to blog royalty when I get a response from someone like Nikki or Jen Jones.  I think I made Nicole Shelby blush one day when I told her that I couldn't believe I was trading emails with her.  I told her she was a TPT celeb...she humbly responded with "just a regular teacher like you..."  I am so glad I started blogging and selling on TPT!!
 
I am fading fast and falling asleep at the keyboard and still have a SOOOOOO MANY THINGS TO DO!  I hope you all have a rest night and a wonderful tomorrow!!!
Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Do Bad Things Happen In Threes?

 
 OK...Do bad things happen in threes???  I REALLY hope they don't.  Here's the skinny on my weekend.  Most folks relish Friday afternoons as a time to jet out of work and get their weekend on!  Well, if you are a teacher, that is prime time to get your plans set and/or copies made for the week to come.  I don't usually leave school until 4:30 on any given Friday.  I went down to my besties classroom afterschool Friday to see a biography she wrote for an assessment she creative (she's my creative partner in crime at my school and in life as a whole)  We ended up talking for about 30 minutes so my preptime was pushed back by that amount.  No big deal, we do it just about every Friday...I go back to my room and procrastinate some more...I finish a blog hop and then 4:40 rolls around and I end up taking everything home knowing I'm not going to do a thing with it.  So I'm rolling in Hellen Wheels (AKA My Chrysler minivan) and I get to a stop light in town.  I have been fighting a cold all day; snotting, watery eyes, sneezing, coughing the whole gamut.  I see the first car in the line start to move and I feel the mother of all sneezes coming on... an epic whole body curling sneeze.  I sneeze once and then I begin curling for the next one.  As I am recovering...CRASH!  I hit the car in front of me who hits the car in front of them.  Long story short, I get out to see if everyone is ok.  First car, all good.  The car I actually hit, DRAMA.  They are both complaining of neck injuries and get BACKBOADED AND TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL VIA AMBULANCE.  I just about died.  To beat it all, the lady was laughing when they were loading her up and the tow truck driver was able to move their car to load it on the tow  truck.  I get they could be sore, but was the drama necessary.  I think not.  That was Friday...
Saturday, I broke my foot, two long bones in my foot.  The last time I broke a bone, I was three.  I tried to tough it out but lets face it, broken bones HURT!!!!!!!  My 5 year old was outside with me when it happened.  She was such a huge help to me.  She immediately ran to the house and began knocking on doors to get Daddy.  When she couldn't get his attention, she started to cry.  I got her to calm down and she helped pull me off the ground.  Daddy came out and helped me try to get into the house.  That was a no go.  I told him to stay put and I drove myself to the hospital.  Picked my mom up on the way so I could have some help getting in.  Quickest ER visit EVER!  The doc even took a picture of my x-ray because I just couldn't fathom it being broken.
 
So now my husband has had to become  do it all Daddy and its a rough way to go.  I think he might be seeing my usefulness around this house now.  I hate that he has to do it all... I am so stubborn that I refuse to rest.  I have been vacuuming on my knees which is hilarious to see but I am surely going to further injure myself.  I go to the ortho doc tomorrow and I pray there is no surgery necessary...So you can see why I am hopeful that bad things just happen and not in a certain number...
 
I hope you all have a wonderfully productive week...Good night!!!
 
 
 
 
 
 
Shearerly Sadler 4th Grade
Monday, January 27, 2014

Out of the winter woods...NOT!!!!!!!

 Old man winter visited the bluegrass this past week and even though I was off school for AN ENTIRE WEEK...I didn't blog much due to no wifi.  I did what I could do on my phone but short of that, it was quiet in my blog world. 
But I did do this...
 
 
 
 
  
We had such an awesome "unplugged" time!  Hubs braved the roads to go Lowe's and buy sleds.  We don't usually have winter like this in Kentucky so he had to drive to the next county to get them!!!  Crazy I know!  I am so blessed to have such a sweet and wonderful little family and then to be gifted this extra time to spend with them was just too wonderful! I learned how much of a daredevil my oldest and boldest daughter is...She is a tough country cookie in a girly-girl package.  That last pick is her on the bobsled down into our front field.  I learned my baby girl is not quite the wild child she seems to be, especially when in a new and unfamiliar situation.  I learned my youngest baby boy is a go with the flow kinda guy who likes to hang with his daddy...
 
 
Isn't he a cutie patootie!!!
 
 
Mommy's little band of snow angels (and ol' Molly, the eternal pup)
 
Hubs also got himself a new electric smoker!  He is in heaven, a smoked meat heaven!  He has taken care of dinner for two straight nights...smoked chicken wings and a whole chicken one night and then smoked ribs and chicken breast the next night.  We are having smoked brisket tomorrow night.  I am loving not having to cook the hard stuff!!  He loves cooking outdoors and this has made his winter! I am not posting pictures because if I did, you would demand smell-o-vision...
 
Just found out we have another day off tomorrow due to temps being in single digits.  As I was driving into school this morning, I saw a dad and a little guy walking to school this morning and I am thankful I work for a district that at least has the wherewithal to consider children and their families that walk to school when we have really dangerous weather.  I couldn't imagine being out in -10 degree weather walking my little one to school.  I won't let my animals stay out when we have single digits much less than below zero which is what the weather man is calling for in the bluegrass for the next two days. 
 
I posted a really great product over at Shearer-ly Sadler 4th Grade's TPT shop.  It's the first in a product line I have been working on called Grab N' Go Teach.  It's an all inclusive math (for now)lesson plan including a manipulative for interaction during small groups, guided practice and/or homework sheets, a set of task cards and a quiz.  It congruent to the standard it addresses, in this case 4.NF.4a. 
 
I just started my specialist degree in instructional leadership/principal and I want to have a much tighter grasp on all the standards...SSSSSSSSOOOOOOO I'll trade you a freebie and a chance to get this product for free if you give me some feedback to help differentiate for grades 3 and 5.  I will send you the worksheets from the packet for your time. Leave me your feedback in comments and don't forget your email address for the attachments.   If you mention this product on  your blog and follow my blog, you could win this Grab N' Go Teach activity.  Simply leave me a link to your blogpost and the name you follow under and I will choose a winner at random.  I will choose the winner tomorrow night  at 10 pm EST (just in case there is school on Wednesday and I have to go to bed) so don't wait!!!
 
Thanks for your help and I am off to bed!!!  Have a Tubular Tuesday!!!
 
 
 
 
 
Shearerly Sadler 4th Grade

I on ATUE! Today...Go check me out and get you some freebies!!!

All Things Upper Elementary: Guest Poster Shearer-ly Sadler: RACE Reading Responses



 
 
 
 
 
 
Shearerly Sadler 4th Grade
Tuesday, January 21, 2014

I'm entirely too busy for my own life!!!

 I think I am a crazy person. I feel like a big ol' blogger letdown...I can't remember the last time I blogged but I have been working like cray cray on some products for Shearerly Sadler 4th grade.  I also lost a follower over there!   I don't have that many and to lose one kind of hurt a little.  If I don't get these products posted all of you all are going to defect on me and I will never get to have a big giveaway (that was for you Deb!)   
 
I have been doing some cool things in the classroom since going back to school.  Tune in over at ATUE on Monday and read my guest post over there to get a looky lou at what me and my gang have been up to with biographies.  Its just the start of something great I tell ya!  We are neck deep in fractions in my classroom as well...and I have to say, I love the common core math standards.  I have really been a teacher these past two years of common core inception in Kentucky.  Here is a peek at what I am working on for 4 NF 4 A B & C...
 
 
We were supposed to have district walkthroughs today (a surprise visit that my awesome principal refused to let us be surprised by).  I was going to use this to teach 4NF4A in small groups and some other great things like Snowball Smack from Tara at 4th Grade Frolics, Task Cards from Math Mojo (love me some Math Mojo products), homework and assessments from the Awesome Jennifer Findley...Now these are all things I would be using anyway, but I wanted to show off my TPT and Blogger Pride today since it is TPT and the blogosphere which has totally reshaped my classroom and how I teach in the world today.  I love having a global presence in my curriculum, cause Lord knows I do not corner the market on creativity, organization or planning!  However, with all the great resources I have come across in the past year, I feel like a force to be reckoned with!  My district has taken notice or so I've been told! 
 
 
I just decided to take on a specialists degree!  I should probably be seeing a specialist right now because I am just not busy enough!!!  I started my classes this week and I registered late, praying some financial aid comes through.  Its just one of those things the good Lord puts on your heart to do and you do it and ask questions later.  My hubs is in full support of me doing this...Plus, I am a big old school nerd.  I love learning and sitting in a classroom just reminds me why I do what I do! But, today was a snow day and since the world (including the roads) are blanketed in white, I do not have class tonight.  I think its one of those hybrid classes where you have a couple face to face meetings but the rest is on blackboard.  I will let you know what I find out.  My prof is supposed to email the deets later on today he said.  This is my foundational class, my other class is a full face to face gig and is teaching at risk students.  This is right up my alley since I teach at a school with a sizeable at risk population. 
 
AND, I have an applied learning student from the University where I am doing my graduate work, My Alma Mater, Eastern Kentucky University.  This girl was one of our former students (hence I am getting old) and she is going to be a wonderful teacher.  No reservations, jumped right in on her first day to work with kids.  She wrote a quiz on her first day and I gave it Friday.  Supervising her might be the easiest thing I do this semester!  Since she went to school there, the only thing I had to show her was how to use the copier.  Easier than supervising a student teacher with all the perks of one!  I have been lucky...3 of 4 really good ones aint too shabby! 
 
So as you can tell, I am one busy little woman.  But, I couldn't call it life if I was sitting on the couch blogging all day...There would be nothing to talk about!  My family, my career, my hobbies keep me busy and gives me something to look forward to each day.  So, I wanted to leave you with a little freebie, one that makes my life a bit easier when I need to time to do other thing and still be the mama who feeds her family.  Literally just put it in the oven add to it once and a few hours later dinner is on the table.  I will post up the leftovers recipe next week!  Just right click and save picture!  Enjoy my friends!!!
 
 
 
 
 
Shearerly Sadler 4th Grade