A Dead Computer and Some Sparkling Words

Last week, my poor computer kicked the bucket.  Yep, dead as a door nail.  Sot I can still get online and check out all your cool blog posts, but I can't save or print anything.  This is KILLING me!  I usually spend most of my summer printing things and getting ready for the new school year.  Now, we only have black and white printers at school, so I can't print anything in color.   GRRRRR!

On another note, I wanted to share an idea I had while I was sitting in some boring intriguing summer workshops this week.  Last year,  I had a "Sparkling Words" wall where we put the words introduced in our Making Meaning Vocabulary program.  These are those tier 2 words that kids will encounter in their reading.  After the words were introduced, I would write them on sentence strips and place them on our Sparkling Words wall.  When the kids used the words in conversation, they got to put a sticker on the word.  When they used the words in their writing, they got a jewel on their paper.  I used some of those sticky jewels I got at Dollar General.  You would not believe the way the kiddos would work for those little jewels!

So this year, we have both a new principal and a new AP.  Our theme for this year is "Wild About Reading!".  To tie in with this theme, I came up with some animal ideas for the word wall.  I thought I would share them with you in case you needed some ideas.  Most of these are jungle animals, but I've added a few others I've thought of.  Here goes:
                           Alligator/Crocodile: "Snapping Up Great Words" - add the words on the teeth
                           Lion/Tiger/Jaguar etc: "Words to Roar About" - add the words to the mane of the
                                                                  lion, the stripes of the tiger, or the spots on the jaguar
                           Parrot/Macaw: "Colorful Words" - add the words on feathers
                           Monkey: "Monkey-ing Around With Words" - add words to bananas on trees
                           Birds: "Words To Tweet About" - add words to the leaves on trees
                           Owls:  "Owl-standing Words" - add words to the leaves on the trees
                           Giraffe: "Spotting Great Words" - add words to the spots
                           Cats: "Purrrr-fectly Wonderful Words" - add words to balls of yarn
I hope you can use some  of these ideas!

Currently...It's Almost Summer!

Summer is so close, I can taste it! We made it through water day today, my memory books are finished, and report cards are in mailboxes waiting for the kiddos to take them home tomorrow. Let's kick off the summer with a Currently!

Listening - One of my most favorite summer shows is America's Got Talent. I'm just amazed at some of these acts!

Loving -  My favorite substitute teacher teaches a workout class.  I started last month and she is kicking my butt.

Thinking - We only have a half day tomorrow.  We'll spend it cleaning and watching movies.  Hey, if I made it through Water Day today, I can make it until 11:45 tomorrow!

Wanting - Hey, who doesn't wanna lose weight, huh?  I bought a bunch of clothes last summer and they already are too little.  I guess the stress of this year helped me put on some pounds.  Hopefully, I'll be able to get some of it off before we go back to school.

Needing - My room looks like a tornado went through it.  Any of you who are out already for summer, feel free to come by and help me clean up!

Summer bucket list - 1.  Through the school year, I very rarely get to read for pleasure, but it is really my very favorite thing to do.  My goal this summer is to read a book per week.
                                2.  I really NEED to organize my files (both paper and digital).  I have things in too many places and just need to get them all together and organized.  I'm thinking this might be a project that takes the whole summer!
                                3.  I can finally see the light at the end of the renovation tunnel.  The only room left to do is the kids' bathroom.  We still have to add baseboard and trim throughout the house, and build a bookshelf, but other than that the rest is finally done!