My Introduction to Dropbox!

One of my favorite non-teaching bloggers is Rachel Held Evans.  Her way with words is something that I envy (a lot), and most of her posts will make you either laugh or cry.  This post did both.  She is in the middle of writing a book and proceeded to spill a chai latte all over her computer.  She spent a long couple of days wondering if her entire manuscript was lost.  I cannot encourage you enough to read the post.  It really is excellent writing.

Now, I'm not writing a book.  (Definitely not!)  But, I do have LOTS of files on my computer that I would hate to lose.  While I do try to back up the ones on my school laptop on the server at school, that's not always possible.  And my school laptop is almost six years old, which is almost elderly when you're talking about technology.  As a result, it dies.  A lot.  And when it dies, it needs to be re-imaged, which means I get it back just like it came to me the first time.  Every single file that is saved on my C Drive is gone.  So my constant fear is that it will die during a long break like Christmas or Summer.  Then, everything I've worked on for school would be gone.  Kaput.  Lost in the netherworld forever.

As a result, I've thought about how to save my work so it's not lost forever in a disaster of fire, flood, or pestilence.  And I've found Dropbox!  I know this site may be familiar to most of you, but it's all new to me, and I think I'm in love!  It was so easy to install and add files to.  I have Chrome as my browser, so it's easy to get to Google Docs, but it's harder to upload files to that.  I'm probably going to save my stuff to both, because I don't want to lose anything.

If you don't have a quick and easy way to save all of those great activities you've been creating for your classroom, I would definitely recommend Dropbox!

And, I can't leave you without a picture.  This was our day today.  While we didn't have snow, we did have single digit temperatures which only happens every couple of decades here in metro Atlanta, so schools were closed.  This is my two oldest playing on their Kindles with the new apps they were able to buy with the Amazon gift cards their aunt gave them.  It made for a quiet afternoon.  I think, however, that we're all ready to get back to our regular routine.  If only I could get school to start every day at 10:00 am. . .

Shepherds and Centers

What a weekend!  We had our Christmas Program at church today.  I got to spend time with a very cute shepherd.  :)

I had to help corral 30 of his fellow shepherds as well.  It was definitely interesting.  They did a great job though!!

I've finally finished my Winter Literacy Centers!  We've been using them this month, and I've been creating one or two a week for my students to use.  (Having them use them also means that I was able to work out some of the kinks.)  They cover the 2nd grade Common Core Standards, but they could be used for advanced first graders or for remediation in the upper grades.  I use them during my Daily 5 Word Work time twice a week.  It's a great way to review the grammar standards that there never seems to be enough time to practice.  They've been uploaded here in my TPT store!  (You can also click on the picture to go to my store.)

I hope everyone has a great week!  We only have five school days left before Winter Break!

Five for Friday. And a Freebie!!

It's the end of another week, and I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching with my Five for Friday!  We've had a busy week.  We started on Monday with our Elf arriving.  The kids named her "Jessie".  One of the choices was "Sparkles", and I was hoping that would win the vote, but luck wasn't with me.  So far, Jessie has brought the kids pencils and chocolate bells.

(Am I the only one who thinks the elf has really creepy eyes.  She's always staring at me!)

Here's a really cute video we watched together.  They loved it!

On Monday, we also made Hot Chocolate.  I made it, and the students wrote down the steps.  Then, we talked about using transition words in a how-to paragraph.  Finally we wrote the final copy of a paragraph.  We'll finish out the week by making this Hot Chocolate Craftivity that I got from Third Grade Bookworm.

Here's the recipe I used:

Creamy Hot Chocolate - serves 24
Adapted from www.mrshappyhomemaker.com

1/2 gallon milk (I used 2%, but whole milk would be divine!)
2 quarts half & half
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
12 oz bag chocolate chips (semi sweet or milk chocolate)
Mini marshmallows

Add first four ingredients to slow cooker.  Stir to combine completely.  Cook on low for 2 - 3 hours or until hot.  Serve with mini marshmallows.

Here's a picture.  The pic isn't great, but the hot chocolate was delicious!

Wednesday, I had someone from our county's ESOL office visit my classroom for the whole day.  She was also my instructor last year when I was getting my certification, so she is a wonderful resource!  It was so nice to have another person in my class.  I could really get used to it!  She also had some suggestions of ways I can help my ELs become more comfortable with academic language.  Plus, she's fluent in Spanish (which I am most definitely NOT), so my Spanish speaking students loved it!

And, finally, we've been stuck inside almost the whole week with rain.  While it's been in the 70's here in Georgia (and I know that's not the case for much of the country), no recess the week after Thanksgiving Break makes for stir crazy children (and teachers).  Here's hoping that next week will be sunny and beautiful!!

If you'd like to use the unit, it's free in my TpT store!  Just click on the pictures to go download it.

Enjoy Friday!  I've only got two more until it's Winter Break!!

My Truth Monday - How I Became a Teacher

It's Monday again, and I'm linking up with Denise at Sunny Days to share another "My Truth Monday."  This one's pretty easy.  :-)

So what's your truth about becoming a teacher?  Head over to Denise's blog and link up!

Brand New Blog Design!!

The blog has a fresh new look!  Thank you so much to Tessa from Tales From a Blog Designer!  I love the bright, clean look!!

Hopefully, having such a good lookin' blog will encourage me to post more often.  ;-)

Surviving Halloween!

Personally, I think that Halloween (and the day after) should be national holidays, so we don't have to go to school, but since no one's taken my suggestion, I had to figure out how to make it through the day with some very excited second graders.

I decided the best way to do it would be to cut and paste.  This is from Jen Ross's Spidey Literacy Pack.  We've been talking about spiders all week, so I thought making spiders would be a great way to spend our mornings.  We made quite a mess.

  

But the spiders turned out very cute!!

Pay no attention to the Hispanic Heritage paragraphs that are still up.  We haven't gotten any new writing up this month.

But, I got to go home to these happy trick or treaters!

For some reason, Little Miss doesn't ever want to get her picture taken.  She was supposed to be a farmer girl with freckles.  It didn't work out perfectly.  She did come home with a huge haul of candy.  Guess everyone loves a two year old trick or treating.  

How did you survive today?  And how are you going to handle tomorrow when they're in their sugar induced comas?  :)

My Truth Monday - Creepy!!

It's another My Truth Monday, and I'm linking up with Denise at Sunny Days to share my truth about what creeps me out.  (Perfect for Halloween, don't you think?)

Here's mine!

So, what's your truth about what creeps you out??  Besides Halloween week with little kids, that is.  ;-)