Teacher Week: Who?

I'm linking up with Blog Hoppin' for another year of Teacher Week!
Today's link up is all about who you are... I just linked up with a similar linky last week, so this week I'll be brief.

Okay so who am I?
I'm a wife, a runner, a sister, a mama (to my pup), a daughter, a teacher.

Wife.

My hubby and I have been married for almost a year, but we've known each other since I was 11! I am so lucky to have him in my life, he surely has my heart for life.

Runner.

I ran competitively from middle school through college. This blog's name came from my running addiction and even though there have been some "times off" of running, it's in my veins and the only time I feel 100% myself is when I'm running faithfully.

Sister.

I only have one sibling, a sister who is 4 years younger than me. We are pretty much polar opposites. I'm very type A always have to have things organized and figured out. My sister is an artist who is very free-spirited and let's life happen. Sometimes I am very envious that she is so creative and free.

Mama to this cute pup.

Love sharing pics of our baby... Bogey!

Daughter.

My parents are super important to me. My mom is a paraprofessional, this year will be her 16th year. She and my dad were always so supportive of my dream to become a teacher and have helped me every step of the way.

Teacher.

I've wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember and I simply can't imagine doing anything else. As hard as it is some days and as much as I think sometimes I can't take one more second of the stress, I would never ever do anything else. Maybe someday I'll get my certification to be a reading consultant, but that's as far away from a classroom full of kiddos that I can see myself.

Be sure to check out the link-up to meet other teacher-bloggers.

Meet the Teacher Link-Up

I stumbled across Falling Into First's link-up party Meet the Teacher... and since I showed up to school this morning to find wet wax floors and had to come back home, I decided to link up!

I'm Ashlee, it's my third year teaching 2nd grade. I'm finishing up my master's in Reading & Language and hope to eventually be a reading consultant, but not anytime soon as I'm very happy in a normal classroom right now. I'm a wife and a mommy to a very cute puppy named Bogey. We live on a golf course where my husband (& puppy) work. I am also a runner hence the name of the blog :)

In case it's your first time visiting my blog, it was created as an undergrad project for one of my reading classes. I was on the track team for my college so "teacherwillrunforbooks" seemed (and still does seem) appropriate. After my first year of teaching I decided to start posting more and expanding upon the original purpose of the blog which was reviewing & providing resources for children's books.

Q&A Session

These are a few of my favorite things...

Running. Reading. The Ocean. Iced coffee. Taking pictures. Baking. Cuddling with my pup. Hiking. Cool Cups. Pretty Tank Tops. Sitting Around a Fire. Ice Cream.

If you weren't a teacher, what would you want to be?

I've literally wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember so this is a hard question! I love seeing the world, so, maybe something where I could visit different countries. Perhaps teaching English in other countries. Is a different kind of teaching cheating on this question?

Three little words that describe you...

Passionate. Stubborn. Friendly.

Finish the sentence... "_____ said no teacher ever."

"I really hate the summer!"

It's your birthday and you can invite anyone [dead or alive] to the party. Who are you inviting?

This is going to seem silly, but... I'd be happy with just my hubby & puppy and a nice dinner.

If someone wrote a book about your life, what would be the title?

Controlled Chaos

You get to pick a superpower, what is it?

Superspeed!

What is your favorite quote or saying?

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." -Steve Prefontaine

&

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13

If you had to sing one song on American Idol what would it be?

3am by Matchbox Twenty... favorite song!

Are you a morning person or night owl?

Morning person! I get to school stupid early and am toast by the time the kiddos get on the bus!

What's your favorite resource that you've created in your TPT shop?

I love my recent morning work sets for 1st & 2nd grade... pretty fabulous that I won't have to think about morning work all year :)

I also love my money bundle of games & activities. Every one of the games & activities was tested out on my second graders last year with much success & fun! This bundle also is a bargain, saving you some $'s compared to buying each separately.

One last product I'm really excited about using this year is my spelling choice boards. I plan on using these for weekly spelling homework. This product also has versions of the spelling boards that can be used in the classroom for word work or for a spelling center.

Last question... Share something we might not know about you.
I played basketball for years and years and still enjoy shooting some hoops. I love impressing the kiddos in my class at recess time doing a little between the legs dribbling, they always get a kick out of it :)

Now go join the party...

A Little Update

Wow I just realized that I have disappeared from the blogging world for a good 2 plus weeks now! I usually am pretty good about at least linking up with Five for Friday or another linky party during the week, but the past few weeks, not so much!

All the craziness that has prevented me from posting is some of what I'm sharing in today's post.

We have 2 weeks of school (including this week) left and oh man there's a lot to do! What's on your end of year count down checklist?

[one] Report cards! I don't know about you, but our district uses powerschool for report cards. As much as I like powerschool, I really wish our report cards defaulted to proficient (on our scale of NI - not instructed (at this time), T - time needed, P - proficient and M - mastery) because clicking on every single field is a pain! Even after my grade level partners taught me how to put everything to P via the summary mode I still find it a pain as I have to click [tab] [down arrow] [down arrow] wayyyy too many times! Oh AND the comments... our district does personalized comments for every child, none of those numbers I remember as a kid. I always put my comments into a word document as a safety but then all the copying and pasting, oy vey! What does your district use for report cards?

[two] Literacy folders. I will admit that I spend very little time [if any time at all] looking at my kiddos scores from the previous year. I like to be able to gauge where they are and not over or underestimate my kiddos. However, in order to keep our kiddos' files up to date, all their literacy info (DRA assessments and writing samples) travel with them to third grade. I learned that my filing system was anything but efficient this year and next year DRAs will go straight into the literacy file so I don't have to dig through their file full of other assessments to pull out DRAs... live and learn!

[three] Alert slips. In my district we have alert sheets for kiddos who next year's teachers should be aware of. Whether it be an academic problem, behavior problem or anything else, they go on these sheets. I'm interested to know how people feel about these. We had something similar in my previous district as well. While I do read them, I like to give myself a week or two to make my own opinions of my kiddos because I hate to think of approaching them with anything but an open mind.

[four] Sub plans. This is a biggie. I leave on Friday for the Whole Brain Teaching National Conference. I am SO excited but because we aren't out of school until next Friday (the 20th) I had 4 days of lesson plans to write. Luckily I already know I have an awesome sub AND wrote the plans about 2 weeks ago so I could start all the copying that is needed for all the fun "crafty" activities they'll get to do during the days I'm gone.

[five] End of Year Conferences. This is another area I'd love to hear about how your district is similar or different. Our non-tenured teachers are on a new evaluation plan. I'm not sure how it works in other states but in CT, districts have a choice of going with the state-made model of evaluation or creating their own (which I believe then has to be approved by the state). We are guinea pigs this year and using bloomboard for all our observation paperwork, year's goals, etc. Does anyone else use bloomboard? I feel like I haven't spent enough time getting to "know" the system and was not able to use it to its full potential. Anyone have any advice?

[six] End of year gifts for kiddos & parent volunteers. I have all the goodies for my kiddos, I'm going to do the "have a kool summer" with kool-aid, cup and straw that has been popular on pinterest for the kiddos. I found a tag I liked from Just Another Day in Paradise. Click the picture to go to her post. For parent volunteers I'm going to buy them a small potted plant with a sign that says "thanks for helping us grow." I guess I'm into corny sayings. I'm also going to put the year in pictures on discs for each family to enjoy.

[seven] PACK! Self explanatory... I have less than 4 days to get my act together (and do some laundry) so I have clothes to wear in Louisiana!

I'm pretty sure I have about ten million other things I need to do in the next 2 weeks, but I won't bore you! I'd LOVE to hear what the end of the year looks like for you as well as how you approach kiddo's files, alert-type papers, etc. Also, any bloomboarders? I would LOVE to hear about how you use bloomboard!

Have a wonderful week! Hoping to be back with Five for Friday to share what the kiddos have been up to over the past couple weeks.

Sunshine Blogger Award!

If for nothing else but to prove it is a SMALL world, I have to share the story of how I got nominated for the Sunshine blogger award... a blogger who went through the same undergrad program as myself and had viewed my blog via one of our professors nominated my blog for the Sunshine Award! She too had a blog assignment for our professor's class and made my day saying that my blog helped motivate her to start blogging again! Thanks to Katie from Teaching Voracious Learners! Makes me feel like I need to do a few book reviews to add to the "Great Books" section of my blog soon since that's how this all got started in undergrad... anywho, enough about how small the world is...

So there are 4 parts to receiving this award...
1. Post 11 random facts about yourself.
2. Answer the 11 facts asked by the blogger who nominated you.
3. Nominate 11 bloggers you think bring sunshine sunshine to the world.
4. Make up 11 questions for your nominees to answer.
I secretly feel like there should be 11 parts since the number 11 is obviously key in these steps ;)

Here are my 11 facts...

1. I married the love of my life who I have known since I was 11 in October.

2. We have a puppy... (well technically he's not a puppy anymore) named Bogey (as in the golf term).

3. I'm in my 2nd year of teaching, both years in 2nd grade and I'm increasingly convinced I will have to be dragged out of that grade level kicking and screaming because I love it so much.

4. My grade level partners are both men. I love working with them because it's NO DRAMA! Plus we have way too much fun. I'll be very sad if either of them ever leaves the team.

5. I'm a Whole Brainer. I love the way whole brain teaching and learning activates all parts of the brain. I have seen so much success in my students over the past 2 years and I think it has a lot to do with the use of all parts of the brain being involved in almost all the learning that happens in my room.

6. In high school I played 3 years of basketball and ran 5 seasons of indoor/outdoor track & field, I then competed in 11 seasons combined of cross country and indoor/outdoor track & field in college. I competed in nearly every event (except throwing) and have had a love/hate relationship with running since graduation. Here I am after Color Me Rad.

7. My husband is first assistant superintendent at a golf course. Said golf course is literally my backyard. It's pretty amazing to have such a big back yard to walk the pup or go for a run or hit up the driving range late at night (I'm terrible at golf though)!

8. I also live about a mile from the beach. Clearly my husband should have picked a less appealing place to work as our first home haha!

9. The summer before student teaching I went to Ireland for 5 weeks with a group from my college, it was probably the most amazing experience of my life!

10. I HATE the dark! But, I can't sleep unless it is completely dark... makes no sense, but it's true!

11. I love to bake! I actually just made 7 dozen chocolate chip cookies for the hubby because it's his birthday and he doesn't like cake :)

Here are my 11 answers to Katie's questions...

1. If it was your birthday and you could do ANYTHING you want, what would it be?

Go back to Ireland :)

2. What’s your #1 favorite book?

Hunger Games. I couldn't put any of the 3 books down and neither movie has disappointed!

3. If you could play any sport, what would it be?

If I was going to compete professionally it would be a close call between track & field and basketball.

4. Could you not watch TV for one month?

If netflix didn't count then yes :) Sometimes I just need to zone out in front of the tv!

5. Who is your biggest role model in life?

My mom! She never went to college because she hated school but ironically ended up working as a paraprofessional. She has always supported my dream of being a teacher and is always, always there for me!

6. What are your nicknames?

I used to have a few that involved my former last name, but those don't really count anymore. So, the only one I can really think of is Ash.

7. What did you want to do with your life when you were 7?

Be a teacher. My 1st grade teacher inspired me :)

8. If you could have ANY superpower, what would it be?

To read people's minds as long as I could turn it on and off at will. It would be so helpful especially when kiddos try to pull one over on me haha.

9. If you had to wear pants or a dress for the rest of your life, which would you choose?

Pants! I was NEVER a dress/skirt person until I started teaching and needed a way to not sweat my butt off in terribly warm classrooms at the beginning and end of the year.

10. Why do you think there are SO many women teacher bloggers but not a lot of men?

I think a majority of teacher bloggers teach younger grade levels and there just aren't a lot of men who teach younger grades, despite my grade level team being me and 2 guys.

11. What or who made you want to teach or work with children?

My first grade teacher was simply amazing. She made me love learning and from the time I left her class I knew I would be a teacher. We are still in contact, she was even at my wedding :)

Here are my nominations (in no order)...

1. Butterflying through Teaching

2. A Rocky Top Teacher

3. Teachers are Terrific

4. Magic Mistakes and Mayhem

5. Confessions of a 3rd Grade Teacher

6. The 4th Grade Journey

7. The Perks of Teaching Primary

8. Seconds at the Beach

9. Live Laugh I Love Kindergarten

10. Kindergarten: Holding Hands and Sticking Together

11. Time Two Teach

11 questions for nominees to answer...

1. What do you order at your favorite coffee place?

2. Give your #1 behavior management strategy in your classroom.

3. Why are you a teacher?

4. What's the best part of teaching?

5. What's the worst part of teaching?

6. If you won the lottery, what would you do with the money?

7. What's your favorite thing to do over the summer?

8. Do you have any siblings? Are you close with them?

9. Do you have any pets?

10. Why do you think so many people leave teaching after 5 or fewer years?

11. If you weren't a teacher, what would your profession be?

Thanks to Katie for the nomination! Excited to read the posts by my nominees :)

2 Fantastic Websites for Teachers

I am SO excited about the 2 websites I just found...

How often have you wanted to make a worksheet or anything else to sell on TPT and struggled to find clip art that was free to fit your needs? Yes of course mycutegraphics is wonderful (& free), but of course as any site, it's limited. In google searching I came across openclipart.org

This amazing website is for ANYONE to use and download clip art FOR FREE and there isn't even any "credit" that needs to be given within a product that you sell. Trust me, I looked through terms of use and FAQ's... here's what I found... How Can Clips be Used?

If you haven't checked out mycutegraphics before, this post officially will be giving you 3 great resources ;)

Okay and finally... when I was all done with each month's calendar sets for my TPT Store, I was freaking out at the thought of how long it would take for me to put all the files together in Mac Pages. Then I thought, hmmm there has to be a way to combine PDF files... so if I take off the credits page for all months except December and put all the credits onto December then merge the PDF files it'll be wayyyy less time & work... so a google search ensued and I found this gem...

All you have to do is upload the PDF files you want merged and in seconds you have one big merged PDF file. This is SO useful for TPT sellers who like to offer products both separately and in bundles. Hooray for some precious time saved!

I hope some of these resources can help you out as you either sell on TPT or simply make worksheets for your classroom (which if you do, you should totally open a TPT store and share with the rest of us out there!)

Educating Esmé

A Must Read for Teachers, Especially First Year or Aspiring Teachers!!!

I orginially created this blog as a class project (those of you who read my first entry, you may have figured that out). Since then I have been adding to this collection of children's novels and providing tons of ideas and resources to help teachers to use these books in the classroom. In doing so I hope I have attracted many current teachers as well as aspiring teachers, like myself (almost there, all my tests are passed (CT Foundations of Reading & Praxis 2) only student teaching to finish!!!). So, I decided it would be a good idea to include this book on my blog for all my teacher readers.

This has been the most inspiring book I have read in a LONG time.

Esmé takes the reader through her first year as a teacher the ups the downs, including the rock bottoms. Esmé was a typical first year teacher, ready to change the world, but being in a inner-city school with a principle who was a complete idiot made changing the world have a whole new meaning. This book is honest in every way and is full of amazing ideas that I hope to someday be able to use in my own classroom. I was impressed with the ability for Esmé to admit that some days she just didn't care while other days she cared too much. I think ALL teachers have something to learn from this book. It is probably one of the most important books you could read as a teacher. And since it is so important, I won't spoil anymore of it!

I'm very tempted to now type: web resources or vocabulary!

There is now an expanded version (pictured at left)... I wonder what I'm missing out on! Check it out! 

Codell, E. R. (1999). Educating Esmé: diary of a teacher's first year. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.

And as always,

Happy Reading (& Running) =)