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!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 1/4/2016

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.

This was a very interesting winter break for me. I did not really do as much reading as usual. I am not sure exactly why, but I don't really feel bad about it. I think I have just been focusing on other areas in my life lately and not spending so many hours reading. That is not to say that I am not reading...I just am not reading as much as usual. 

Books I finished this week:

I really enjoyed this audiobook. It was a great book for our road trip. Both my husband and I were very interested in the story. The backstories of Rachel and Megan were both so tragic. I did figure it out before it was revealed, but I was entertained by this mystery. 

The Miracle Morning is one of those titles that I just ran into. I was doing some research into bullet journals before setting mine up. I saw one person had a whole bunch of references to this routine and I bought the book so I could read about the routine. I will definitely be doing this routine. I had already started to transform my morning routine and I love the structure that Hal Elrod shares in this book. 

That's it. See? I usually would have finished at least a few books during a vacation week. Oh, well. 

What I am currently reading:

I am listening to Around the World in 80 Days, which I got for free this summer through the Sync Audiobook giveaways. I also am more than halfway through Dorothy Must Die. I am plugging away at 1Q84 but that one will take me a LONG time to finish. I also just started Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine and the Miracle that Set Them Free. I am supposed to have this one finished by Thursday for my book club. I am pretty sure that isn't going to happen, but I will make an effort to do so. 

What's Next? 

I have a pile from the library that I might dig into next. However, with the books I am reading now, I am not sure if I will really get to anything else. 

2015 Reflections and 2016 Goals

What I loved about 2015:

    A new principal who has been working to facilitate big changes in our school. She is not always appreciated by everyone, especially those who would like to dig in their heels and stay where they are, but the changes are needed and I am excited about the direction we are headed.

    The opportunities I have had this year for traveling and spending quality time with my family. It is so fun to watch my niece develop and learn.

     My new kitchen! It was so worth the headaches of construction and the cost of the remodel.

      So many opportunities for learning! I attended All Write last summer and loved it! I also went to Summer Spark, which is a new conference started in Milwaukee last year. This fall, I was able to attend a workshop with Lucy Calkins. I love being able to learn new things and solidify the understandings I already had.

    There are so many other things, big and small, that I had to celebrate in 2015. I love the Celebrate This Week blog posts because they helped me to focus on the positive.

My goals for 2016:

     One of my biggest stressors is the way I am not as organized with my financial picture as I would like to be. I have to be better at this. I plan to have a budget and stick to it. I have a couple of apps that are helping me with keeping better track of things and I know this will be much better from here on out.

     I want to write more. I really got lazy with my blogging this fall and I would also like to do some more writing of stories and possibly a book. Daily writing is my goal. I have some plans for some structures that will help me make the time for this.

     I set my reading goal at 130 books. I like that I was less obsessed this year with finishing a ton of books. I have given myself permission to do other things and have taken some of my reading time back. I still am a voracious reader. I just also have other things I want to do.

     I am excited to be participating in the Whole Life Challenge starting January 16th (if you are interested in joining my team, click here). I need to be healthier and lose weight. I think the fun online game way of doing this will be motivating for me. I am looking forward to eating cleaner and really focusing on some healthy habits each day.

    I am using a Bullet Journal for the first time in earnest this year. I did a variation of this for a couple months in 2015, but I had a planner and felt guilty that I wasn't using it so my bullet journal practice fizzled out. I am excited to use this system because I think it will really help me with productivity and keeping track of some things that I should be keeping better track of. I am looking forward to a small bedtime reflection routine which will include this tool.

    While looking around the internet at some different bullet journals, I stumbled upon a description of The Miracle Morning. The small description of this routine intrigued me, so I bought the book and read it. I had already been starting to rethink my morning routine and this book came into my life at just the right time. I am excited about implementing the Life SAVERS routines into my mornings. This is a great way for me to be able to incorporate a daily writing time. I am also happy to think about a structure in which I also will develop a meditation practice and do some exercise every morning.

I know that this all sounds like a lot. I just really think this is the time for me to take the bull by the horns and focus on some self-improvement. I hope I will be able to stick to the routines that will help me to do so.


Happy New Year!

Celebrate 1/2/2016

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 a nice two weeks of relaxing and rejuvenating. I have had a fabulous winter break and am ready to head back to work on Monday. I celebrate fun family times. We drove down to Savannah, where my sister and her family are now living, for Christmas. Then, we came back to Milwaukee just in time to drive through a winter storm and enjoy almost a full week relaxing at home. Here are some pictures that capture our days on the trip. Happy New Year to everyone!

My niece was super excited to ride on the trolley through Savannah.

My husband, Ramon, with the kid's menu hat and our adult beverage at The Pirate's House restaurant. Fun times!

Sometimes you end up with hilarious pictures when you try to force a pose. My mother did get a nicer picture with smiles for everyone, but this one is too funny! (And I am celebrating the smile on my mother's face. It is hard being recently widowed during the holidays)

Someone is quite pleased with her Christmas haul, without even really understanding what is going on. 

 

This is the best picture to sum up how yummy is the ice cream at Leopold's Ice Cream 

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and is ready for a fabulous 2016! What do you have to celebrate? I would love to hear from you in the comments!