The First Taco Tuesday Linkup!

Summer for teachers means more time for blogging! Summer gives us time to spend with our families, reflect on our teaching, and RELAX. And I can't think of a better way to relax than with FOOD.

This summer I want to build upon my stash of recipes for the school year (planning weeknight meals is my kryptonite). 

SO, without further ado I welcome you to...

Since this is the first Taco Tuesday I felt it appropriate to begin with a taco/nacho recipe! (While Mexican food is amazing... Recipes do not have to be Mexican themed to share)

This is a basic nacho meat recipe that is quick and easy to prep and can be served multiple ways.  I like to make a batch on the weekend and serve it up several different ways during the week! I store the meat a tupperware container in the fridge for up to a week.
My favorite is with shredded cheese and tortilla chips!

I like my nachos spicy! When I make this I use HOT taco seasoning and HOT salsa. The best part is that you can customize the level of "hotness" to suit your tastebuds.

Have a great recipe you'd like to share? It could be an original recipe, an old family favorite, or a great Pinterest/cookbook find. Post about it on your blog and link it back here (Click HERE to download the Taco Tuesday Logo for your post)!

I can't wait to see what you're cooking up in the kitchen!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for linking up!

Walking up the "Summer Slide" one book at a time...

We've all been there before... That daunting task of getting students to read over summer vacation. As teachers we know how important summer reading is to help combat the "summer slide" that takes place over the months of July and August. Reading during the summer helps improve and retain literacy and language skills. Studies show that students who don't read or read rarely over the summer experience a decline or stagnation in their reading skills when school starts in the fall.

We don't want all the hard work done over the course of a school year to unravel at the beach or by the pool. We need to keep kids engaged in learning opportunities throughout the summer. Sounds simple enough, but how can we compete with the attraction of the great outdoors, sports, video games, and trips to the beach?

The answer is to keep reading FUN! We need to make reading as exciting as a pool party or the latest video game. Here are some tips for keeping reading fun and fresh throughout the summer:

1. Use technology to your advantage! Most families I know have an iPad or tablet and kids love to use them. There are some awesome interactive ebooks out there that will keep kid's attention. LeapFrog has some great ebooks for younger kids to use with their LeapPads. There are also some great sites out there that will help keep students engaged in literacy and language activities. RAZ Kids provides students with leveled texts that they can read themselves, have read to them, and even record themselves reading. They also complete quizzes after each book to earn points used to dress up their avatar. Storyline Online is a video database of favorite children's books read to you by celebrities. One of my favorites is Thank You Mr. Faulkner, by Patricia Polacco. It may be a picture book, but it's a good story perfect for 4th-5th graders. This book has a strong message about bullying and acceptance. Check out the Storyline video for this great book below:
2. Find new and interesting books! There is nothing more detrimental to a struggling reader than a boring book! To keep kids engaged you need to find out what they are interested in. Then search around to find books that are just the right fit. Throughout my 9 years teaching I've come across two very reluctant readers. Each one was considered a "troublemaker", did not care about their school work, and did not have any support at home. Instead of writing them off I guided them to read My Side of the Mountain, by Jeanne Craighead George (I based this on their love of the outdoors). The results were magical! Instead of being a distraction to the class with their usual shenanigans they had their noses in that book 24/7. Their classwork started to improve, homework was getting done, and their overall outlook on school changed. They were all the proof I needed that the right book in the right hands can be a game changer. Here are some great books, old and new, that might help grab the attention of your reluctant reader:
   
3. Create a climate for reading! Students need to see you read! Simple as that. We all have busy lives and often think "Who has time to read for pleasure?" But how can we expect our children and students to read when we don't? Kids need to know that their teachers and parents read for fun. Seeing adults read creates positive role models for students and helps create a community of readers in your school (or home). I know it's tempting to sit and correct papers or wash the dishes while your students/children read independently but fight that urge! I bring in a book from home and read while my students do. They often ask me about what I'm reading and we'll have impromptu discussions about our books. Here's what I'm looking forward to this summer...
   
4. Celebrate reading accomplishments! Every year our students in CT are asked to complete the Governor's Summer Reading Challenge. Mostly it's a pamphlet where students list all the books they read over the summer. It's cute, but alone it does not provide any incentive for students to read. At our school students get 1 inch of duct tape for ever book they read. Then, the use their duct tape to tape a teacher to the wall during lunch. It's fun, but it's not a huge motivator. I know a lot of schools that have great reading celebrations when school starts in the fall and I'm hoping that our school will soon too. This year I created a points system for summer reading that I will have my incoming students use. They get points for reading in various setting and for reading various types of text. During the first week of school they will count up their points and trade them in for a reward or celebration (I'm still working out what that will be...) Click on the image below to get this activity for your classroom: 
   

Good luck to teachers and parents everywhere as we battle to defeat the "summer slide"!
I'd love to hear how you keep your students engaged in summer reading. Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Have a GREAT summer!

Currently June

It's the FINAL COUNTDOWN!!
I seriously can't believe it's June already! We're in the home stretch! School's out for us June 17th!
So, I guess it's time to start thinking about summer with Farley and this month's Currently:

LOVING... my new "Teacherpreneur" Planner! I recently purchased some clipart from The 3AM Teacher on Etsy and she sent me a free gift, the complete HELLO Planner! I picked the pages I wanted, printed them off, and took them over to Staples to be spiral bound (only cost me $4.97)!!
The end result is a super cute and very functional planner for all my blogging and TpT-ing adventures.

I had no idea Staples could bind books for you so quickly and cheaply! I've made my own lesson planning pages for years now and have always hated carting around a clunky binder. I will definitely be getting it spiral bound in the fall!!

Click on the image below to head on over the The 3AM Teacher's shop on Etsy.

THINKING... about a Disney trip this fall. Possibly without the kids to celebrate our 10 year anniversary (wow time has flown by!)! My husband and I have never been on a solo vacation and the idea is soooooo tempting. However I would feel so guilty going to Disney without the boys... DILEMMA!

WANTING... my nose to feel better. My adorable, sweet, loving toddler head-butted me over the weekend. Waiting to hear back from the doctor to see if there is a fracture... LOL, the joys of parenthood!

NEEDING... more time! Like always!

SUMMER LOVIN... time to plan and prep for another grade level next year! We got our teaching assignments today and it looks like I'm moving... again! 5th move in 10 years (all in the same little school). Back to 5th grade I go!

I hope you all have a great end to your school years!!

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!!

Today I'm linking up with Techie Turtle Teacher for...

This clip is for pure enjoyment only! No lesson plan or educational objective here! I just wanted something fun to celebrate teachers this week... and who doesn't love a good Uptown Funk parody! So take a break during lunch, put down the pen, stop correcting papers, and get "funky" : )

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!!

Don't forget to stop by my TpT store and take advantage of a great sale!!

Thank you for all that you do!

Book Review: The Slated Trilogy

Have you ever finished reading a really great book and experienced a feeling of anger and frustration? Not because the book was over... but because you wish you had written the book yourself? I LOVED Slated so much I found myself wishing that the story was mine. I wished that story had come from my imagination and flowed through my fingers onto the paper. Teri Terry did a fantastic job creating relatable characters, making you fall for them, and then throwing them (and your emotions) through the ringer. Be careful, just when you think everything is over another surprising plot twist sneaks it's way in!

Slated is set in a futuristic London where student riots have caused the government to go to extreme measures to protect their youth. Kids under the age of 16 who are suspected of committing terrorist acts are sentenced to undergo a procedure known as slating. Their memories and personalities are wiped clean essentially making them a "clean slate". They are assigned to a new family to start their lives over with no memories of who they once were or what they had done to warrant slating.

Kyla has been slated and given a second chance... as long as she plays by the government's rules. She's sent to live with a new family and forced to wear a Levo, a device that monitors her happiness levels. If she drops to low it causes pain, blackouts, and possibly death.

Slated follows Kyla's journey as she tries to find a way to fit into her new life, understand her romantic feelings for Ben, another slated, and put together pieces of her past that keep popping up when she least expects it. Through twists and turns Kyla struggles to know who to trust. A difficult task when she doesn't even know who she is. Be prepared for an adrenaline pumping adventure you won't be able to put down!

This book would be perfect to use for literature circles in upper grades, especially for fans of modern dystopians like Hunger Games, Maze Runner, and Divergent. Slated provides a great opportunity for students to discuss what is ethically right and how much control governments should have. It would also be great paired with Among the Hidden (Haddix). Having one group reading Slated and one reading Among the Hidden would lead to great classroom discussions as both books feature governments abusing their power. (Oh how I wish I taught 8th grade right now!!)

Don't forget to stop by Reading Toward the Stars for...

Happy Reading : )

It's CURRENTLY May!

TIme to link up with Farley again at Oh Boy 4th Grade for this month's Currently...

Listening: Thanks to big brothers, my two-year-old's new favorite word is nincompoop! I think we will be spending a lot of time in time out this weekend...

Loving: That we "slept" in till 7am. That means the boys were up at 5:45 and watched a movie in our bed while we slept, finally crawling out of bed when their movie ended at 7. Sometimes a parent's gotta do what a parent's gotta do!

Thinking: About grocery shopping, my least favorite activity...

Wanting: new Jamberry nail wraps! These are my new obsession! Here's the combo I'm sporting right now:

Needing: to get these seasonal allergies under control...

SUMMER: Can't wait!!!

Happy May everyone : )

Book Spine Poetry

Yesterday I tried a great little lesson inspired by a PBS Facebook post. I wanted to do some kind of poetry related activity this month in honor of April being National Poetry Month, but I was having difficulty fitting it into our already jam packed schedule. 

This quick Book Spine Poetry activity was the solution to my problem! My students chose books from our classroom library and used the titles on their spines to create poems, phrases, and silly sentences. It was great for reluctant writers who have difficulty creating original sentences from scratch. By working with existing book titles as sentences and phrases students only had to look for a connection between them to create a beautiful piece of original writing.

After showing the class my example, I told students to head to our classroom bookshelves and choose 5 or 6 books with titles they liked or found interesting. Students brought these books back to their seats and started stacking them in different ways to see if any interesting sentences or phrases appeared. If books in their stack didn't work or they needed something else they went back to the shelves to find another.

Stop by my TpT store to grab this quick and easy activity for your classroom! 

Let me know if you try this out in your classroom! I'd love to hear the poems your students create!