Lets Talk About ME!!

So excited to be participating in this years teacher week!  Per Blog Hoppin' this posts all about me!  Get ready to know me, Ms. Lovelace through my Ten Facts...

1.  Lovelace is my maiden name. My married name is Guishard but my husband says kids would mess it up so I go by Lovelace. It's also the nickname my husband uses. 

2.  I have 3 kids, Ava 8, Kohen 5 and Elena 3. I would love one more, but Kevin says no way!  They are my life but I couldn't see myself as a stay at home mom. I lack the discipline if requires. I think AJ does a better job, I call her my little general cause she keeps us all on track.

3.  I love nicknames!! If I love you I have one for you, Ava is AJ, Kohen is Koey or Ko, Elena is Ellie and Kevin is Kev or Gish.  

4.  I teach at a small Catholic school in Montgomery County MD.  I was baptized Catholic, raised Baptist but have been Catholic since I turned 16. 

5.  I hated first grade when I was in school but LOVE teaching it!  

6.  Reading is my favorite subject to teach.  It's my passion and I'm a dork about if. 

7.  99% of my clothes come from Ann Taylor Loft. The other 1% are either Gap or BR. When it comes to shoes I stick to Toms, Uggs, Reefs and Rainbows. 

8.  My favorite shows are Duck Dynasty and Disney Channel shows like Good Luck Charlie, Hey Jessie. Not that it matters since during the school year I'm in bed by 9:30. 

9.  My classroom is owl themed but my favorite animals are giraffes.  It all started when I found cute owl fabric for my curtains. 

10.  I love drinks, I probably ingest most of my calories through bubble tea, Starbucks, smoothies, slurpies or sodas. The rest probs comes from my addiction to gas station food (chips and obscure candy).  

Don't forget to link up with Blog Hoppin

Guided Reading Organization Part 1 (The Binder)

I'll start off my by telling you that I am NOT an organized person.  For the most part I know where my things are and their placement makes sense to me but probably not to anyone else.  So I'm guessing if anyone who knows me in real life would read this they'd be laughing their tail off.  It's not that I don't want to be organized, I do, it more that I typically can't find an idea and stick with it. I blame it on my ADHD but who knows.  Last year all my rearranging and trying new things led me to the perfect GR organization method and thought I'd share... I'll start off my by telling you that I am NOT an organized person.  For the most part I know where my things are and their placement makes sense to me but probably not to anyone else.  So I'm guessing if anyone who knows me in real life would read this they'd be laughing their tail off.  It's not that I don't want to be organized, I do, it more that I typically can't find an idea and stick with it. I blame it on my ADHD but who knows.  Last year all my rearranging and trying new things led me to the perfect GR organization method and thought I'd share how I keep myself organized for my favorite part of the school day. Today's topic will be my Guided Reading Binder 

This is my binder from last year. It's seen better days and I can't wait to slip all my resources into a crisp new binder.  I like to keep all my lesson plans and lesson materials in one place. I keep records of all the lessons I've taught my groups and any notes I took during each lesson, guess you could say I'm pretty paranoid.  I found the best way to keep everything together is in a binder. I recommend a 2 inch binder. 

The first thing I have inside is my schedule of when I meet with each group. 

I keep this in a sheet protector because I update it every quarter and like to keep track of prior quarters. 

Next I have my groups laid out. 

Behind this I keep my class reading level chart. 

I update this every quarter as well.  It helps me see where everyone is all at once and form my groups.  

The next section is where I keep my blank running record score sheets and cheat sheet. 

I try to keep at least 15 blank sheets so I always have one available. These are what I use to when I take a running record on one of my students cold reads during our lesson. I use leveled readers for this, I only use the benchmark books for my quarterly benchmark assessments.

The final section(s) in my binder are for my actual plans. 

I have a tab for each group and keep all their lessons behind each tab. 

This is a lesson plan template off Jan Richardson's website and as you can see I wrote all around it. I can't wait to put the lesson plan templates I made this summer to use!  

In the inside pocket of my binder I keep my anecdotal notes labels. 

I have the originals in the back and the actual labels, at least 5 sheets, in the front.

And that's how I keep my Guided Reading lessons together. If you're interested in my running records sheets checkout this freebie in my TPT shop, the lesson plan templates are also free here, and everything else is in my Guided Reading Goodies file.  

I would highly recommend reading The Next Step in Guided Reading by Jan Richardson if you want to use my templates.   My favorite TPT files on guided reading are by Lesson Plan SOS and What the Teacher Wants. 

I'll be back tomorrow to share how I organize my guided reading area!  

Five for Friday

Linking up with Kacey for Five for Friday, this is my first time and I'm excited to share 5 random things its you!

1. My family and I ran away to Rehoboth Beach DE earlier this week. It was so fun to spend time with my gang. The kids loved the beach and we loved watching them. I also loved all the yummy food we ate. I swear I came back 12 lbs heavier.  :( 

I saw them doing this and had to take a pic. Of course by the time I pulled out my iPhone poor Kevin had to stage them for me :/ 

They really enjoyed playing in the sand and building sand castles with Daddy.

The weather was pretty crummy for us most days but the kids were such troopers and wanted to hang out at the beach regardless.

 They stuck it out in the cold drizzle and just kept playing.

We met up with my cousin and his family for dinner a couple nights. Ellie was so happy to spend time with her cousin. We're so lucky they are so close in age.

They got to ride a lot of the rides at FunLand together. 

My older 2 were great buddies and had tons of fun as well.

Burying daddy may have been their favorite thing though. I had a the hardest time digging a whole big enough for him. It took FOREVER!

I did have a wonderful time hanging out with my Gish, but even more than that I loved watching him with our crew.  Something about seeing him play with them and teaching them things makes me love him even more.

So all and all we had a great family vacation!  

2.  Can't explain how excited I was to be going to the beach because of Sonic! I love me some Sonic!  I went Coastal Carolina in SC and fell in love with Cherry Limeades. I'm not sure if it's the ice or the actual limeade but its my fave. So much so I made Gish take detours each way so I could get some of the sweet yumminess. Now my AJ is in love too!!

Waiting for the sweet goodness during our first stop!

Finding out we were going going again on our way home!  Heehee 

3.  While I was away we got our schedules and I finally got to put mine in place. 

I just need to submit mine for approval on Monday but I think I'm pretty much set.  Got to say I'm pretty happy! 

4.  My friends and I are starting a 21 day challenge today. Our goal is to workout and eat right for the next 21 days. I actually had started last week but then vacation hit and I need to reset.  Any who I plan to run, walk or shred for the next 21 days. Hopefully much longer but I chose 21 days because I read that's how long it takes to form a habit. I seem to do better when I run with Gish but we'll see if he keeps running with me when it gets cooler. Probably the hardest thing will be eating right. I happen to have an addiction to gas station food, chips, salsa, candy and crackers are my weakness. I think I spent more on myself at Candy Kitchen than I did on the kids :/. Wish me luck. 

5.  My school gave us all the opportunity to write a proposal for a wish list item at the end of last year. I asked for a Copernicus Reading and Writing Center and it came in last week so of course I hauled Gish in the day before we left to set it up for me.

While he worked on that I worked some more on my room. This is how it looks at the moment.

Can I just tell you just hanging my curtains helped so much!

My library with my new reading and writing center =D

Just a few more bins need to be added.

Books I have to level when I go back.

My GR area is starting to come together. I won't be able to get back in until probably Monday because we have no power at school today and I don't want to go during the weekend because its one of my last ones. So Monday it is.

And there you have it my Five for Friday!  I'll be back tomorrow to share how I prep for guided reading and all about my Guided Reading Goodies... 

Till then have a happy Friday!! 

August Currently

Woohoo!  I'm linking up with Farley for the 2nd month in a ROW!  Look at me go!  We won't discuss what may happen when I go back to school in two weeks :/

Listening:  It's time for Sunday morning cartoons and the kids are in our bed watching Charlie and Lola. Though I'm not a huge fan of Lola's I do love their accents!

Loving:  We're off to Rehoboth tomorrow!!!  Though it's a short vacation I'm excited to get away.  We've haven't been away since we went to Bald Head Island a couple years ago so this is perfect.  

Thinking:  Piggybacking off my Sunday morning cartoons, do anyone else kids switch between channels?  Kohen and Ellie are big Disney Junior fans, they love Sofia and Jake, well Gish (the remote king) doesn't believe me that Disney Junior shows are on the Disney Channel until 9 am.  So we missed Jake, can anyone say meltdown.  If he only listened to me!

Wanting:  I left my library a mess on Thursday with the best intentions to go back and never did :( I'll have to try and sneak away today.  

Needing:  We got our specials schedule on Friday and I need to do some serious thinking so I can draft how I want our days to go.  I'm excited because I have huge chunks of time but on the flip side my kiddos won't have specials some days until 8th period (2:10).  I'm hoping to map somethings out this week.  Does anyone else get to set up their days or is it a private school thing?

B2s: 

• I have to have a new lunch bag each year.  It's the only thing that gets my excited about packing all those lunches :/  This year I am debating between these two.

• Good picture books are a must for those first days back! Last year my kids loved The Kissing Hand and You're Finally Here.

• CAFFEINE-  I'm not sure about y'all but those first few weeks back are a huge adjustment for me.  I've been pretty successful in my pursuit of  giving up coke during the week and limiting my weekend intake but I'm worried about back to school time.  I've started drinking tea and am hopeful it will be enough.  Anyone have any suggestions??  

See you next month!