A New Product

Hello Friends,

Just wanted to stop by and share my newest product! I have gotten so many positive responses with my First Grade Houghton Mifflin resource that I had to continue making the rest of the themes.  I just finished theme 3 and it is packed (268 pages to be exact!) with Thinking Maps, Depth and Complexity icons, comprehension strategies/skills, and many more fun and engaging activities to keep those neurons firing! What I love about this unit is that it is NOT busywork. I used my HM units when I taught a 1/2 combo last year and it felt so good knowing that the independent work that I was giving one grade (I have HM units for both first and second grade) while I worked with the other grade was meaningful.

Here is a sneak peak of the unit:

I LOVE LOVE Thinking Maps and have found them VERY effective in my classroom!

Do you notice the Depth and Complexity icons in the top corner when it applies to the worksheet? I went to the training at USC and really enjoyed implementing it into my classroom. My Firsties last year really caught on to the higher level thinking!

I love these vocabulary cards!!! They have worked great for not only my Language Learners, but for ALL learners,  It really gave my students a visual of what the word meant.

If you or someone you know is using 1st grade Houghton Mifflin, I would love for you to pass this resource along. It truly is a time saver!!!

Have a great weekend Friends!!!


Blessings,

Life Is Beautiful: Things I've Learned about Homeschooling (so far)

Hello there Friends!

Well, we have been in FULL homeschooling mode for over a month now and things are going well. I mean, I haven't cried yet or anything so I must be doing something right.....or ....maybe I'm not. What I mean is that I haven't hid from my kids yet and oh, I hear sometimes you even talk to yourself and rock in the corner... I haven't done that either....yet. I know that hard days will come but right now we are enjoying that our lives are sloooowing down. We are learning A LOT (by "we" I mean both the kids and me!) by doing Classical Conversations. The curriculum is SO rich and rigorous! Plus, we meet every Wednesday for school and so I could not pass up instant community...because this mama needs to speak to grown-ups, too.

When my friends found out that I would be homeschooling and how scared/nervous I was taking on this huge responsibility, they always reassured me that I would be fine since I was a teacher. BUT for me, I  had always heard that teachers have the hardest time adjusting because they want to run their homeschool day like a classroom.  Wait. WHAT??!! No bells to let me know when I could use the restroom or get a snack?? What was I to do???

I was ready to throw out (almost) everything I've learned from my 14 yrs. in the classroom because I heard that my mind needed to be "unschooled"...which I tried a little. BUT I just couldn't get around not being on a schedule. That's the way I feel most productive. So what I've found through trial and error (and again, I've only been doing this for a little over a month folks, so I still have MUCH to learn!) is that being in the classroom has helped me tremendously in homeschooling my children. This works for me and my personality.  I have very close friends who homeschool and are more free spirited. That works for THEM and not me. I had to realize that.

So these are just a few things that I've learned so far:

- I have more patience with my kids now that I am not working.

- I NEED a schedule. I use the idea from Managers of Their Homes where I schedule our school day in 30 min blocks. This has SAVED me because I can get SO much done! I felt  that I couldn't do this since it was too "classroom" like but really, I just had to find my rhythm. Of course, we will be adjusting our schedule as needed, but this is our day for now.

- I'm using my classroom experience to organize my "classroom" at home, for time and behavior management, for different teaching strategies, writing anchor charts, enriching the learning environment,  using Thinking Maps and Depth and Complexity, and how to just manage my students. :) I was SO relieved to see that there were so many crossovers! I don't know why I thought that I couldn't use my past experience to help me in this journey.

- Like I said, we can get SO much done! We start school at 9am and are pretty much done with the core subjects by lunch. It's weird.

- I'm actually enjoying my kids. Did I mention that I have more patience now?


Life is beautiful for us right now since we are able to enjoy things like this....


The principal (aka Daddy) teaches Bible on Friday mornings while teacher (aka me) takes a coffee break. :)

My students can come to school naked, just as long as they show up. :)

We have time to do special things like these PE days. My friend is the cross country coach at APU and teaches a running class. She is allowing our boys to run with her college class.

And my coach friend...yea, her hubby is the soccer coach for the college so he is privately training our boys and allowing them to come to the beginning of the team practice to help out.  Who else gets to train with a college soccer team??!!! I sure do have AMAZING friends!!!

A lot of places offer field trips that are FREE or at a discounted price for homeschoolers!  I get to plan the field trips.... and on my field trips, we get to go on any rides we choose! :)

I know that my days will not always be great and times will get tough, but today I am celebrating ONE month of NO tears from students and teacher!! :)

Have a great day!

Blessings,

My New Life and an Editable First Day of School Sign!

Hi Friends.

This next year I am starting a new chapter of my life. Ever since my kids reached the age where they began going to school, life kept getting busier and busier. Now that they are a bit older (ages 10,8,5) life is just CRAZY; sports, church, dinners on the run, taking kids to different practices, homework, projects, AHHHH!!!! I could not keep up! Last summer, my husband and I both agreed that we could not go on living like that. We did not like running on the hamster wheel. We wanted needed more family time. My husband works different hours than a normal "9 to 5" job so his day off are Fridays. My kids go to school on Fridays. See the problem? We had to make a change. We LOVE my husband's job so that wasn't changing. I LOVE teaching, so that wasn't changing either. We knew we wanted to kids to be home on Fridays so there was only one option. Change the way schooling looked. After 14 years of teaching in the classroom, I am taking a leave of absence to teach my kids...at home!

Yes... HOMESCHOOL!

I will be homeschooling my two boys (10,8) and my little one will be starting kinder at a school right up the street from our house. I felt that I needed to send her to kinder because seriously, I would not do kindergarten justice. I feel like I could not do all that learning through play and art projects well enough to give her a great experience.  Kinder teachers out there... YOU.ARE.AMAZING!!

Homeschool.   Ahhhhh.....I can hear the comments now. Don't worry, my husband (and I at times) felt the same way. Here are some concerns that ran through our minds and our answers to them that calmed our hearts.

Will your kids be "weird or awkward"? 
Well.. I'm weird and can be awkward and times....so yes. My kids will be "weird" and possibly awkward. :)  In all seriousness though, I think that the parents play a big part in if the kids come out weird or awkward. Our goal is "NORMAL" and hopefully "AWESOME!"  Ha!

Will they have enough socialization?
Oh friend, yes! Long gone are the days where there are no support for homeschooling mamas. We are doing a hybrid program where I drop them off a "school" once a week (Praise JESUS!) where I just signed them up for elective courses.  We will also continue camping with friends, being involved in club and city sports, church,  serving our community, and many more opportunities that we will now able to take advantage of.

Will they be up to standard academically?
Of course! My goal for my kids' lives have always been to first, love Jesus and love others, and to do things with excellence...whether on the field or off, doing chores, schoolwork, whatever! As I mentioned before, I just signed them up for classes that included STEM science, computers, Spanish, and Art and Drawing. I will be educating my kids classically (We are doing Classical Conversations).....which from what I hear, is pretty rigorous. This particular curriculum includes music theory, latin, history, and science (they will be dissecting this year). Because I am going through a charter school, my kids are also going to be taking the state test.

How can you be with your kids ALL.DAY.LONG?
I'm not sure. I'm sure that there will be days that I will be crying in the corner, rocking myself to self soothe. I'm sure the drop off program once a week will help.


Editable Back to School Sign

Since we are all getting ready for the beginning of the school year I have a sign that I created for my kids last year. I just updated them for myself and thought that you guys may want an EDITABLE copy for less than a latte! I think they turned out adorable!!  If school already started for  your kiddos, no worries. Just put this together, catch them before school one day, and make ask your kids to stand still so you can snap a quick shot.... AND no one will EVER know that it wasn't the first day of school. Shhhh.. I won't tell either. We mamas (and daddys) have to stick together here.

Your secret is safe with me. :)

After you purchase it, you will need to download some fonts if you want yours to look like mine. You can download them for free from Kevin and Amanda Fonts.  Here is a list of fonts I used. WATCH OUT though! I can spend FOREVER downloading EVERY.SINGLE.FONT on Kevin and Amanda Fonts and not remember the project that I went there to do.

UPDATE: Although Kevin and Amanda Fonts have adorable fonts, I've heard you cannot find these fonts there anymore...BUT they are on Teachers Pay Teachers. Search the font by name and download for FREE.


Here are the fonts you will need:

This resource comes with this page so no need to write all this down right now. I've also included ALL the links for the fonts!

You have different options as to how you want them printed.

* If you want them on a regular 8.5x11 paper (picture below), just print it as you normally do.

*** This is an old picture. I've since revised and updated the sign to what you see above. :)

* If you want them poster size (picture below with my boys), you will have to go into your printing options. DISCLAIMER! There was some weird box thing going on around my apple clipart last year and I didn't have time to change it since I didn't notice it until it was too late. I fixed it and just used a different and cuter apple. So you will NOT have the weird dark square around the apple. My daughter (pictured above) has the new version with the new apple. :)

To get the poster size, all you have to do is change the setting on your printing options. I have a PC so these are directions for my computer. I'm thinking a Mac is not much different as far as the printing goes.

1. Go to your print page. Click Print Properties.

2.Go to the tab that says "Finishing".

3. When you get to the finishing tab, go to the drop down menu that says "Pages per sheet". I click 2x2. This will give you 4 sheets, which as you can see from the picture of my kids, is PLENTY big! You will have to put the sheets together. I print them on cardstock and attach them with packaging tape (scotch tape will also work) on the back. You can also laminate the pages FIRST then connect them with tape.

You can also get the bundle and compare First and Last Day pictures with the same sign.

Hope you enjoy this resource! Have a great year Friends! 

Blessings,

Angela Linzay

How Do I Get Parents and Students to Remember Things?

Hi All!

Do your students ever forget to tell their parents about signing forms, events, due dates, or _________ (fill in the blank)?

Every year I have students forget about picture day, emergency forms,  or turning in school fundraiser slips/money/whatever else. I then talk to the parents and they always say that they never got the note. Ahhh.....THE note. We go searching into the abyss (aka the student's backpack) and find a crumbled mess padding the bottom of the bag.

I go through this EVERY.YEAR.

You always have "that one". You know which one. You can picture him/her right now. {sigh} The one who always utilizes your "extra" copies. EVERYONE has brought in their permission slips/forms/money/whatever back but not THIS special angel. Ohhhh no. She/he is the reason you make extra copies, so you don't have to send a note to your neighboring teacher asking for HER extra copies.

I used to send MORE notes home to replace the other notes that were lost/eaten/thrown away.  It was dumb.

Then I came up with a solution!

Introducing.... my You've Been Banned resource!

These bands are made in black in white to save ink on your printer. All you have to do is print them on colored paper, cut, and you are done!

I sat down and brainstormed all the things that I would need reminders for in my class.  Things that I have sent multiple letters home for..that never really made it home. Things that students forgot about.. like picture day, money due, fundraisers, etc.  I came up with a big list and added Celebration Bands, too. I love the thought of the Celebration Bands because 1) I wanted an easy way to celebrate a student's accomplishment. I don't always have time to fill out a little award and 2) I wanted to acknowledge these students in front of their peers. (During recess or lunch others will ask what that gold band around their wrist says/means).  Public recognition. Kids love that.

I thought you could differentiate the reminders and celebratory bands by only copying the celebrations on gold/yellow paper (or cardstock for durability).  That way when students get a "GOLD band" they know that they are celebrating something. :)

Currently there are 31 Reminder Bands and 15 Celebration Bands BUT this is a growing resource! That means that I will be adding new bands and if you purchase this resource, you will get FREE updates for LIFE! So if you have any ideas or bands that you want to see created, let me know and if enough people want it, I make it and you have it!

Just in case you were wondering what is included, here is a list.

Here are some close ups:

**TIP: Print them on bright colorful paper!

What I love most is that you can staple these colorful little reminders on a student's wrist and not hope/cross your fingers/pray that they will remember to tell their parents about the field trip money that's due or that library book that they've had for months that needs to be brought back to school. PARENTS are the ones that will ask what that little thing around their wrist is all about.

I love that you can gently remind that student who ALWAYS forgets to bring their homework or project or forgets that they have Show and Tell the next day and you've already slotted a time for them to share. Instead of screaming in your head, pulling your hair out getting a little frustrated, you can grit your teeth  just smile nicely, give them a reminder band at the end of the day, and send them home.

Is this a cure all? No. Will students ever forget again? Of course! But at least you have a better chance with these Reminder Bands as oppose to sending students home and watching them walk away knowing that they will forget to ______________ (you fill in the blank).

I hope you will give these Reminder and Celebration Bands a try. I mean, what have you got to lose?

Have a great school year Friends!


Blessings,