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Celebrate This Week: Routines 2/27

It's Saturday and that means it is time to reflect on the week and celebrate things both big and small. Join our community and celebrate this week by linking up or just stopping by the host Ruth Ayres' blog to read others' celebrations.

This week I am celebrating routines and rituals in my life. 

First, for the last six weeks, I have been doing a challenge. I discovered this challenge on Facebook when one of my friends shared that she had just finished. I quickly investigated and found out that this was exactly the kind of thing I was looking for to challenge myself to change my eating habits and be healthier. The Whole Life Challenge is an 8-week challenge in which you strive to do 7 daily habits: eat well, meet your sleep goal, exercise at least 10 minutes, stretch for 10 minutes, drink enough water, do a lifestyle practice, and reflect each night. The challenge lets you choose your level of nutrition so that you can decide how strict you want to be with your eating. The most difficult level is pretty much the Whole30 nutrition. I am doing the Kickstart level, which is basically cutting out bread/pasta and cheese and sugar. What is nice about this challenge is that there is an online game in which you earn points--you can eat that thing that is not compliant, but you lose a point for eating it. I love that this challenge is not expecting perfection, but is making me think twice about whether I really want the treat. It has been really surprising to me how I really don't miss cheese that much.  I have discovered some great and flavorful recipes.  I feel good about being healthier and forming some good habits to take care of myself. A bonus benefit has been some weight loss that I have experienced. 

In my classroom, I have been working on tweaking our math routines. The other day, I came across an article that mentioned the two sisters and their Daily 3 for math. I had not ever heard of this. I knew all about the Daily 5 for literacy instruction, but did not know about the math procedures. This really resonated with me with the kind of math instruction I want to be doing. So, I jumped in this week with both feet. We had math choices and we had mini-lessons in between. My students loved it. There are a lot of things we will need to fix next week. There are some things that I thought would transfer from the work we have done in literacy that I now know need to be practiced for math time. But, overall, I was happy with what we did this week. I will be working to tighten our routines and find activities that will work well with the idea of having work times and choosing Math by Myself, Math with Someone, and Math Writing. I love the way this makes my math classroom much more of a workshop classroom and frees me up to really work with my struggling mathematicians and provide the best support for each student. I like the way this structure also makes me really streamline the time I have with the whole group. 

The last celebration I have to share this week is the routine of independent reading in my classroom. My students are reading for stretches of 50 minutes to an hour. Yesterday, I stopped them after about 30 minutes of reading, because we had spent some of our reading time reflecting and writing goals. At the time when I stopped the reading, there was an audible protest from some students, even though they knew that board game time was next. I love that we have been able to create this sacred reading space that students look forward to each day. 

What do you have to celebrate this week?  I would love to hear from you in the comments!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 2/22

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? --From Picture Books to YA is a weekly meme started by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers. This is a chance for bloggers to recap their week of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take. Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating in this meme and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.

I didn't post last week so I will be writing about the books I finished in the last two weeks. I had a lot of books going at once, so the list seems impressive, but I really have been reading some of these books for a long time. I do have to say that I am really enjoying the variety of books that I have been reading. 

Books I Finished:

Part of my new morning routine is to read some self-help books to think about what I can do to improve my life. I appreciated Ruth Soukup's advice in Living Well, Spending Less about some things I can do to gain some more control over my finances and my life. I am definitely more interested in her blog now and have been using some of the advice already. 

The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom by Suze Orman is full of great financial advice. I was surprised at first with how much she links our financial picture to our emotional reactions to money. It was interesting for me to think about that connection. I appreciated the practical advice in this book, but had to skim through some parts that got way more technical than I was ready for. Overall, I am glad I read the book and I have confronted some of my financial challenges honestly. 

The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli was a book club pick. I really enjoyed the story and was glad for the book club because I most likely would not have selected this title on my own. It was fascinating and heartbreaking to read about a woman reporter who was living in Vietnam and going into the field to take pictures during the war.  So much was so awful for the people who were there. I appreciated learning more about it through this fictional lens. 

I listened to the audiobook of Bone Gap and found myself inventing excuses to put the book on. I loved this story and all of the characters. I thought the narrator did a fabulous job of reading this book as well. I don't really even have words to describe this one except: you should read it. 

Revolution by Deborah Wiles was another amazing read. I loved the primary sources mixed in between chapters. I loved the way there were multiple narrators. I loved that this book helped me to learn more about a controversial time in our history. I loved this book. I highly recommend it. I am definitely going to look for the other books in the sixties trilogy now. 

I finished reading The Tiger Rising aloud to my class this week. I wrote about our emotional moments while sharing the final chapters in my Celebrate This Week post. This is the third or fourth time I have read this book, but the first time I did it as a read aloud. I will definitely continue to use this book as a teaching text. I am so glad the TCRWP chose it to be the anchor text in the first unit for fourth grade. If you haven't already read this one, you need to find a copy and get to it!

Books I am Currently Reading:

I am still reading 1Q84. I am still enjoying it and will still be reading it for quite some time. I am also reading The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer.

What's Next?

My book club is reading Cutting for Stone so I will probably pick that up to start it, although I am quite hesitant to do so since it is another long one. I have a stack of middle grade titles from my last Scholastic order that I will probably grab from so that I can get through a few books faster in the next week or so.

What are you reading this week? I would love to hear from you in the comments!

Celebrate This Week 2/20 The Power of a Good Book

It's Saturday and that means it is time to reflect on the week and celebrate things both big and small. Join our community and celebrate this week by linking up or just stopping by the host Ruth Ayres' blog to read others' celebrations.

This week I am celebrating the power of a good book. 

For the last several weeks, I have been making my way through the first Unit of Study in the 4th grade Units of Study for Teaching Reading. I went to see Lucy Calkins speak this fall, and I jumped in with both feet to the first unit. I have been busy working through the unit but also trying to bring it into the workshop routines I had already established. Like any time a teacher tries something for the first time, it has been slightly rocky for me, but I love the language and the ideas in the minilessons and I will continue to work with the Units of Study this year with the goal of starting with them from the beginning of the school year next year and getting a better start.  The best thing about this unit is that The Tiger Rising is the read aloud and the book that all the lessons are centered around. We have spent a lot of time analyzing Rob and Sistine and the way the author describes them and the decisions that they make. 

Yesterday, we were four chapters away from the end of the book. My students begged me to finish the book. So, I scrapped the minilesson for the day and we read. We read intensely. The atmosphere in the classroom was focused and silent. Anyone who has read The Tiger Rising will know that some intense things happen in those last few chapters...I won't spoil it here. Suffice it to say, I started crying while reading the chapters. My students were crying too. We had an intense moment of shared vulnerability while reading a particularly emotional scene. And then, a few students who were uncomfortable with this, started trying to make fun of those students who were crying. I was able to take this moment and make it into a lesson about the power of literature to make us feel. I talked about the way that Rob's feelings about missing his mother made me think about how I felt when my father died when I was young. I talked about how it was amazing that books have the power to help you bring out some things that you might have locked away in a suitcase the way Rob did. As we finished reading the book, the class got quiet again and soaked up the mood of the story. If someone had come into my classroom at that moment, they would have seen a handful of students with red-rimmed eyes and all students silently listening with rapt attention. 

We are not finished with the unit yet. We will be analyzing some of what happens in the book to see if we can find some themes and the evidence to back them up. But these students will remember the afternoon that Ms. Payan and some of their classmates were choked up and touched by a powerful story. I cherish these moments and celebrate sharing the power of literature in our lives. 

Celebrating Imagination 2/13

It's Saturday and that means it is time to reflect on the week and celebrate things both big and small. Join our community and celebrate this week by linking up or just stopping by the host Ruth Ayres' blog to read others' celebrations.

Field trips are always fun, but they are also the most stressful days for teachers. We worry about whether students will behave and be respectful to the educator at the destination. We worry about possibly losing someone or a kid having some sort of emergency while we are on the trip. We try to contain the unbridled excitement of the students all day. We also worry about what the parent chaperones might be thinking about the job we are doing keeping the students in check (at least I do). This week, on my field trip to the zoo, I had the chance to focus on fun rather than stressing out.

As I sat eating lunch with my students on our field trip to the zoo, I realized much more was going on than just a chance to learn about animals. 

"Mrs. Payan, we found clues!" Nicholas was glowing with excitement and ready to tell me all about it. 

"Yeah, first it was the way the peahen was following us, then the elephant gave us a signal," Moises chimed in.

"Clues for what?" I innocently asked

"We're not sure yet...look there is a birthday balloon. I wonder whether it is his birthday or if he is going to give it to someone. Oh! That's another clue!" Nicholas stopped to take a bite of his sandwich and I turned around and looked where he had pointed. One of the zookeepers had a birthday balloon on his chair. 

"That's It! The animals are planning something. See, there is the peacock and he's acting suspicious. They're planning to get out," Moises was letting the gears turn quickly in his brain. His face lit up and he became quite animated. 

Now, Michael started to join in the conversation. "Yes. I knew it was suspicious when Christopher said, 'Have a nice day' at the end of our program. He was trying to keep us from finding out." 

At this point, I just sat back and continued listening. We had already had a zoo class about endangered animals and had a chance to see the big cats. We were eating lunch and then were going to head out to see as many other animals as possible before our bus came to get us. We had the cafeteria to ourselves, because it was a school day in the middle of February and super cold outside. My fourth grade students were incredibly hyper and excited about the opportunity to see all these cool animals. And this lunch time was a chance to take a small break. 

I looked around the cafeteria and was full of pride about how well my students were behaving. It never stops making my heart sing to see the way these kiddos get along with one another. And now, I was listening to the most imaginative thinking in a place that I didn't really expect to see imaginative play. As I listened to the mystery and the clues unravel at the lunch table, I took a minute to drink it all in. 

Throughout the rest of the day, I heard one of the boys say, "another clue!" every once in awhile. Then, when we were back at school, the boys had the whole conspiracy figured out and told me the whole story (which unfortunately I do not remember to write it here). 

I love how this regular field trip day turned into an opportunity for these students' imaginations to run wild. I love a great mystery and I know these boys had an awesome day full of mystery solving. Now, I need to go find my copy of Chasing Vermeer to give them! 

What do you have to celebrate this week? I would love to hear from you in the comments!

Slice of Life: How Writing is like Going to the Gym

   
          The number one excuse to not do something is that you don't have time for it. All of us are busy and our lives are full of things to do. How we choose to spend our time should be a matter of priorities, but many of us don't always prioritize. Many of us end up spending time on small things or time sucking, time wasting things such as addictive games or social media obsessions. Some of us are readers and can lose ourselves for hours on end in a good book. While this isn't exactly a waste of our time, in many instances we are taking those hours without really thinking about the things that we might be choosing not to do.

      Making the time to do something good for you is sometimes really hard. A good example is taking the time to go to the gym. If you have ever established a schedule for this, you will know that it is indeed possible and everyone can find the time if they try. But it is so hard to do this at first. It feels like you are robbing yourself of time for other things. Once you have the habit of going to the gym, your life adjusts around it and it doesn't seem like such a big deal anymore. But then, if you get sick or for some other reason stop going as regularly for a little while, it can feel like a huge hurdle to get back to the routine. Everyone understands that working out is good for you. You even probably feel awesome when you are finished working out, but it still takes a lot of willpower to establish the routine and really make the time for it.

     Writing is the same way for me. I know it is good for me. I even feel really good after spending time writing. But I still have a hard time adding it to my routine. I am still in those early stages of having to convince myself that it is worth giving up that time each day. Many times, I need to drag my butt to the chair to write. I have established a daily routine before, but then other things happened and I stopped. Now, I am confronting that hurdle of time and how I choose to spend it. Luckily, I know that prioritizing my time is important. I choose to make the time to write because it is important to me. Just as I choose to make the time to get to the gym. Both of these things will make me healthier. Now, I just have to stick to it.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 2/8

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? --From Picture Books to YA is a weekly meme started by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers. This is a chance for bloggers to recap their week of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take. Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating in this meme and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.

Books I Finished This Week: 

I really enjoyed the audiobook of Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear. The author, Elizabeth Gilbert, read the book and I loved the conversational style of the writing. She has many good points that she makes about being creative and honoring that part of who you are. I enjoyed many of the stories she tells in this book. I think I would like to get a hard copy of this book in order to refer back to some of the ideas. I highly recommend this book.

Books I am Currently Reading:

   This is such a long list that I feel like none of the books will ever be finished. I think I need to focus on one of them in order to finish it this week. I am still reading 1Q84, The Lotus Eaters, and 9 Steps to Financial Freedom. I also started listening to Bone Gap and reading Living Well, Spending Less.

 What's Next?

    I will focus on finishing The Lotus Eaters this week. I need to start reading Cutting for Stone since that is my book club's March selection. Otherwise, I will just focus on trying to finish some of the books I have started.

What are you reading this week? I would love to hear from you in the comments!

Slice of Life: My Miracle Mornings

     While scrolling the internet to get ideas for setting up my bullet journal, I came across this post from Kara at Boho Berry and was very intrigued by her description of a morning routine that seemed to be the kind of routine I had been thinking about. Being the reader that I am, I immediately bought a copy of The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod and read it in one weekend. I had already started getting up earlier to give myself more time to read and think in the morning. I had already been thinking that I wanted to try to do some exercise in the morning--nothing too strenuous, just enough to know that I had gotten in some activity before starting my day. This book was exactly the book I needed at exactly the time I needed it.

   In the book, Elrod came up with an acronym for the parts of the routine. He calls the elements the Life S.A.V.E.R.S. (silence, affirmations, visualization, exercise, reading, scribing). I have now been working on developing my routine for a month. Each morning I do some combination of all of these things, rising at 5am to do so. This is the way my morning works:

First, I get up and let the dog out. While she is out, I make coffee and stretch a little bit. Then, I let her in and feed her. Once the dog is taken care of, I can start my morning rituals (if I don't take care of her first, she will let me know that this is not right).

Silence--This has been my favorite part of the morning routine and something I had not anticipated loving so much. Every morning, I start my day with meditation. Since this practice was really new to me, I sought a resource that would help me with guided meditations. I downloaded the app Meditation Studio by Gaiam, Inc. This has been an excellent way to introduce myself to the practice of meditation. I have been surprised by how much this practice has really helped me center myself. I also have had some realizations about some resentments that I thought I had let go of, but it turns out they are still hiding in there. That has been eye-opening and has informed some of my goal setting lately.

Affirmations--This is hard for me. It feels sort of silly. Every time I do it, I picture Stuart Smiley looking into his mirror on Saturday Night Live. I know it is supposed to be a powerful practice, but it is hard to do without feeling silly. I don't spend as much time doing this as suggested in the book, but I do make sure to say some positive affirmations to myself each morning.

Visualization--This is also a shorter segment of my morning. I do spend a couple minutes taking the time to visualize the things I want to see happen in my life. I am aware of the ideas of vision boards and the idea that things come to you if you see them happening. I agree that positive energy helps bring you positivity, but I am a little skeptical of the law of attraction claims. Therefore, this part of my morning right now is also relatively short.

Exercise--I had been wanting to add some exercise to my morning routine. Some mornings, this means getting on the spin bike and working out for 20-30 minutes. Some mornings, I put on a yoga video and do 10-20 minutes of Yoga, some mornings this is just a few squats, some push-ups, and a plank. The good thing is that it is always some movement.

Reading--What was enlightening and refreshing for me about this part of the morning was the focus on reading self-help and motivational books. I already had been reading most mornings. Now, I read books that will help me in some way. It was a great way to add books I already wanted to read and to give them a place and a time. I love waking up my brain every morning to the possibilities that are out there for me.

Scribing (aka writing)--This part of the morning routine is awesome for me because I struggled to place a priority on making time for writing every day. Now that it is part of my morning routine, I at least do some journaling each day. I want to get to the point where I have a daily word count in mind and work to complete that each morning. Right now, I am content to establish the routine of writing each morning in some form or another.

This routine has really changed the way I feel in the mornings. I arrive at school with my brain fully awake and engaged. I have already had my coffee and done some movement. I have been awake for a couple hours. I am ready to face my day.

What is your morning routine? Have you found something that works for you in a way that this one works for me? I would love to hear from you in the comments!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 2/1

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? --From Picture Books to YA is a weekly meme started by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers. This is a chance for bloggers to recap their week of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take. Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating in this meme and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.

I am reading so many books right now and almost all of them are long ones. Therefore, I only finished one this week even though I am reading a lot. 

Books I Finished this week:

Blog, Inc: Blogging for Passion, Profit, and to Create Community was a quick read. I am thinking a lot about how to bring out more of my voice and write more. I will be changing a few things with my blog and working to make it more than it is right now. This book had some good advice, but was more about how to monetize your blog which is not really where I think I will go from here. It also had advice for people who are just starting out with blogging. 

Books I am Currently Reading: 

   I am reading 1Q84 and will be for quite some time more. I am also reading Revolution by Deborah Wiles and The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli. For personal improvement, I am listening to Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert and reading The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom by Suze Orman. 

What's Next? 

   I don't know what will be next. Right now, I will just hope to finish at least one of the books I have going. 

What are you reading this week? I would love to hear from you in the comments! 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 1/25

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? --From Picture Books to YA is a weekly meme started by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers. This is a chance for bloggers to recap their week of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take. Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating in this meme and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.

Books I Finished This Week:

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan was a really fun read. I was curious about this book because of Jen Vincent. She reads this book every holiday season and I was curious about what would bring her back to it every year. I now completely understand. What a fun book! I love the premise of this book and the scavenger hunt of ideas that occurred in the story. 

I was home sick on Friday and had some time to read. I picked up The Thing About Jellyfish and did not move for the few hours that it took for me to finish it. This is a beautiful and heartbreaking story. The author did an amazing job of making me fascinated and very curious about jellyfish. She also pulled at my heartstrings with the description of Suzy's grief and how she dealt with it. This is a fabulous novel that I highly recommend for middle grades and up. 

Currently Reading:

I am still reading 1Q84. I am about a third of the way through this monster. It is still a great story so far. I also started Revolution by Deborah Wiles. I love the primary sources and the way the story is unfolding. I am also reading The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom and Blog, Inc. one chapter at a time as part of my morning routine. 

What's Next?

I need to start reading The Lotus Eaters for my book club in two weeks. I have a hold on a digital copy at the library. I hope it comes in soon. Or else I will have to find my way to a bookstore in the next couple days. I am not sure what else I will decide to pick up to read. 

What are you reading this week? I would love to hear from you in the comments! 

Celebrate This Week: Creativity, Innovation, and Teamwork 1/23

It's Saturday and that means it is time to reflect on the week and celebrate things both big and small. Join our community and celebrate this week by linking up or just stopping by the host Ruth Ayres' blog to read others' celebrations.


This week was a short week because we had Monday off for MLK day and then Friday was a teacher PD day so students had off. Unfortunately, all week I have been nursing a ridiculously awful head cold. So the first celebration for the week is the fact that I could call in sick on Friday and rest without having to make sub plans. I also love having a boss who understands that you are human and sometimes need to take sick days. I haven't always had bosses who didn't make me feel guilty when calling in sick. 

My second celebration has to do with the community that has formed in my classroom. It isn't perfect, we all make mistakes and some days I am ready to pull out all my hair with frustration because some students won't stop talking, but this group of students gets along. I mean, they all get along. They work together no matter who I put in a group together. They help each other, they play together, we have a harmonious existence in our classroom. 

I know that this community has been helped along by the rituals and routines that we have every day at school. We always do a morning meeting and often end up doing something silly together as part of the meeting (this idea is from Responsive Classroom there are many free resources on the website). We almost always recap our day and evaluate how we did today at school (this one came from Learn Like a Pirate which I highly recommend reading). We work together in groups and partnerships frequently. Our norms have been crafted together. We have agreed how we will treat each other and students will hold each other accountable for this respectful behavior. We read books together and laugh and feel sad together as the characters make their journeys through the novel. Our community is strong because of these rituals and routines, but it is also because of these amazing kiddos. They understood the lessons on growth mindset and they have run with them. I don't have to do much damage control when I challenge them. I don't have kiddos who break down in frustration and give up. They get it that this is the time that their brain is growing and that their learning is strongest. This is something amazing that I love celebrating each and every day. 

Last week, we did a STEM challenge day. I have some kits that I got through a project on DonorsChoose (something else to celebrate). These kits are available from Lakeshore Learning. I gave students a choice between building a roller coaster in which a marble would continue to roll the whole time without stopping, building a structure that would withstand 20 shakes on the shake table, or building a grip that would pick up a ball from 12 inches away. We did very little preparation for it. I just gave them a pep talk about group work and reminded them that rock, paper, scissors is often a good way to resolve a conflict, and off they went. It was awesome! I was able to circulate and answer questions and offer pointers and they were working. No group had a conflict I had to intervene with. Only one group had someone I had to coach not to give up. At the end, one group building the structure failed gloriously and they all laughed about it...the boys in that group were the first ones to laugh. No one was feeling awful that their ideas had not worked. Everyone had an amazing time. And I started thinking about how to incorporate this type of challenge more often. 

Although this is something we tackled last week, I am still celebrating. I know we will have this day to look back upon as the first of many days in which we built collaboration and celebrated our community of growth mindset learners. 

What do you have to celebrate this week? I would love to hear from you in the comments! 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 1/18

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? --From Picture Books to YA is a weekly meme started by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers. This is a chance for bloggers to recap their week of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take. Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating in this meme and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.

Books I Finished This Week:

Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free by Hector Tobar was a fascinating read. There were so many things that surprised me about the lives of these men and the culture that they come from. The story of how the mine collapsed and how the men were rescued is only a part of the story that is told in this book. It was an eye-opening read and I am curious to see which stories they chose to share in the movie. I highly recommend this one for adults. 

A few years ago, I made it a goal to try to read more classics. In fact, I think I even made it a goal to read a classic every month. I am glad that the Sync audiobook program in the summer decided to pair a classic with the more recent YA book each week. I have been able to get to more of the classics with these free audiobooks. I started listening to Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne with my husband on our road trip.  I finished listening this week. I love to listen to audiobooks or podcasts while I cook dinner each day. I am really curious and interested in reading more Jules Verne books now too. 

I loved reading The Adventures of Beekle with my class. This group is such a great group of kids with excellent insights. They notice everything in the pictures so it is fun to read picture books with them. I highly recommend this picture book.  

Books I Am Currently Reading:

I am still reading 1Q84 (surprise, surprise), I also am reading Revolution by Deborah Wiles, and The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom: Practical and Spiritual Steps So You Can Stop Worrying by Suze Orman. I also started listening to Buddha Boy by Kathe Koja. 

What's Next?

As part of my new morning routine, I am planning to read self-help books. If I finish the Suze Orman book this week, I will start The Five Love Languages. I have a pile from the library that includes Dash and Lily's Book of Dares and The Thing About Jellyfish. I also have to start reading my book club's February selection, which I am pretty sure is The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli. 

What are you reading this week? I would love to hear from you in the comments! 

Celebrate This Week 1/16

It's Saturday and that means it is time to reflect on the week and celebrate things both big and small. Join our community and celebrate this week by linking up or just stopping by the host Ruth Ayres' blog to read others' celebrations.
I'm late to the party this week. I have MLK day off on Monday, so that has made me a little bit lazy this weekend.  I love having the extra day to relax and reboot.


I loved this week! I have so many things that I am so blessed to have. I am so grateful for my wonderful life.

This week, the Student Council at my school, of which I am the supervisor, sponsored a Bully-Free week. The students came up with the awesome ideas and made sure that each day was successful. I was so proud of the group of 6-8 grade students for really stepping up and being leaders. The best part of the week was the fact that the Student Council went to classrooms of younger students to teach them a lesson about bullying. I got glowing reviews from teachers about how the students did. The kids loved it too. I think this is a great start to opening some doors and getting teachers of lower grades to give the middle school students a chance.

My students got a chance to do some STEM challenges this week. I had requested these STEM kits in a project on Donors Choose last year. I finally got them out and let the students have at it. They did phenomenal with it and really loved it. I am excited to work more of this type of challenge into my plans in the future.

This week, I continued to work on some of my resolutions for self-improvement. I am loving the morning routine and feel great about the way I am focusing on the things that really matter to me. The bullet journal is a great way to keep myself focused on productivity. I started the Whole Life Challenge on Saturday. I am excited to have this game to focus on some great daily habits.


What do you have to celebrate this week? I would love to hear from you in the comments!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 1/11

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? --From Picture Books to YA is a weekly meme started by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers. This is a chance for bloggers to recap their week of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take. Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating in this meme and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.

Books I Finished This Week:

I have to admit, I wasn't sure I would like Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige. I am not always a fan of adaptations of stories like this. (I really did not like the book Wicked, for example) However, I really liked this one. It was very imaginative and twisted. I know that teenagers would absolutely love this twist on the classic story. I am very curious to see what happens next in Oz. I recommend this one to teens and adults. 

Books I Am Currently Reading:

I think 1Q84 is going to be on this list for months! It is SOOOO long. I am really enjoying it so far though so I will stick through it. I am also still reading Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine and the Miracle that Set Them Free. The book reads like a novel even though it is a true story. I am listening to Around the World in 80 Days also. 

What's Next?

I am not really sure what to read next. I have the book Revolution on my shelf and want to read that, but I haven't read Countdown and don't have that one. Do I need to read Countdown first? 

What are you reading this week? I would love to hear from you in the comments! Have a great reading week!

Celebrate 1/9

It's Saturday and that means it is time to reflect on the week and celebrate things both big and small. Join our community and celebrate this week by linking up or just stopping by the host Ruth Ayres' blog to read others' celebrations.

This week I am celebrating the making of avid, voracious readers. 

Coming back from winter break is always a little rocky. Students need to be reminded of the procedures and routines and it takes a little while for them to re-adjust to being in school. I was not so nervous this year about that new beginning. My group of students this year is just a great group of kids. They are kind and funny and they love to learn. I missed them over the break and was happy to see them again this week. 

On Monday, the assistant who works in my classroom told me that her son has become a reading fiend this year in my classroom. She said he always liked to read, but this year he is devouring books. I LOVE to hear that I influence kiddos in this way.  

Every other routine was a little bit shaky on Monday, but not independent reading. My students were able to sustain their reading for 50 minutes. I was trying to re-establish our Words Their Way groups and routines so it took a little longer than usual, but that didn't matter to this class. I continue to be amazed at how engaged this group is in really losing themselves in their books. 

On Wednesday, I was trying to get my Scholastic catalogs together so that I could hand them out to my students. I had not had enough time before our Art class to give them out, so I was working on sorting and stapling them during their Art time, which goes right up to the end of our school day. The catalogs were in 5 piles, 4 piles of separate catalogs and one pile of stapled together catalogs ready to hand out. When it was time to get ready and line up for dismissal, I turned around and saw a mob at my table. The students were so excited about the Scholastic catalog that they ignored what they knew they should be doing and created this mess trying to look at the catalogs. I couldn't even be that mad at them because I was glowing with the fact that they were so excited about the catalogs. 

Then, on Thursday, when I was going to hand out the catalogs, I decided to show them books that I would recommend. I got about halfway through showing them my recommendations when one of the students spoke up. Lucas raised his hand and very politely said, "Mrs. Payan, can you please stop spoiling it for us?" I didn't get what he meant at first. I thought he meant that I was spoiling the books for them, so I immediately defended myself saying, "I'm not spoiling anything" to which he replied, "Yeah, you kinda are." And then I realized he meant that I was spoiling their experience of looking through the catalog for the first time and finding the treasures that they want to order. So I stopped going through the catalog. 

At the end of the day on Thursday, I stopped early so that I could give students time with the Scholastic catalogs. I knew that they would be looking at them instead of getting ready if I waited until our usual dismissal time. It was amazing when they had those five minutes to look through the catalog. They were clustered in little groups. Most had markers or pens in hand and they were circling and starring the papers. It was magical. 

Thursday was also the day that I introduced reading partners. At the end of our independent reading time, I had students come back to our gathering space and tell their partners about a place that they were really envisioning the story. Every single partner group was completely engaged in discussing their books. I just sat there and soaked it in knowing that we still have half the school year to go and I know we will go far with our reading work. 

My other celebration this week is the introduction of blogs. I had my students set up their blogs on Kidblog this week. We started by doing a paper blog experience and discussing comments. I showed the students my It's Monday! post and the comments posted there. It was a good way to start the discussion about what makes a good comment. The students did the best job of any class I have worked with so far of putting meaningful comments on each others' work. The best is when students want more post-it notes so they can leave more comments. 

On Wednesday, the students were able to start writing on their blogs. Writing time this week has been focused and quiet and amazing. 

What do you have to celebrate this week? I would love to hear from you in the comments!