Happy New Year!

Although I must admit that it never really feels right to say that. For me, the "new" year has started in September since I was 3 years old! January 1st just feels like two weeks into term 2 in my world!

I hope everyone has had a very restful and lovely holiday time. We managed to move house, set up for a party, put up (and take down)our Christmas tree, bake Christmas cookies, enjoy Christmas, have a dinner party and unpack (plus lots more!) in the last two weeks. Can you say busy?!?!

I am feeling fairly settled in to our new home and am ready to get back to the routine of teaching. It is always nice to have some time off to rest but I do get a lot more done when I am in some sort of routine. Must admit that I thrive on the organizing and planning of my time and get far more done when I am busiest than when I have all the time in the world. Crazy!

Thought I would share some great ideas I have found on pinterest lately. Am hoping to be able to fit some of these ideas into the weeks ahead!

Snowman sequencing found at

http://mrsmorrowskindergarteners.blogspot.com/search/label/Winter

Groundhog day idea found at

http://growingkinders.blogspot.com

Sentence writing practice found at

http://thefirstgradeparade.blogspot.com/2011/03/potpourri.html

Sight word practice found at

http://kindergartencrayons.blogspot.com/2011/07/stars-are-falling-from-sky.html

Mapping ideas for grade 2 Social Studies found at

http://1stgradelearningstars.blogspot.com/2011/01/childrens-engineering-pirate-map.html

CD weaving - very cool! Found at

http://makeitawonderfullife.blogspot.com/2011/06/more-cd-weaving.html

Snowman art idea found at

http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/2009/02/adorable-close-up-snowman-painting/

Lesson on Kandinsky found at

http://funart4kids.blogspot.com

Doubles rap for math - we need to learn this!!!! Found at

http://mrstsfirstgradeclass-jill.blogspot.com/search/label/Math%20Tools

So many ideas and so little time! I will be happy if I get to do just some of these in the coming weeks. And I have a gazillion more ideas pinned on my pinterest boards. I love the internet for its ability to let people share ideas so easily. Between pinterest and my teaching boards I have a wealth of information at my fingertips!


Ms. Hughes

I have discovered the best way to keep lesson plans. For years I would draw out a weekly schedule and then painstakingly print in each activity. There were inevitably changes on a weekly basis for the first few months and white out was my best friend!

Then I started creating my weekly plans on my computer. Much easier but still needed lots of cutting and pasting as I had to change columns etc as the weeks went on. And another big negative was that my plans were saved on my computer at school and could only be accessed by me with my user name and password. This was really difficult on days when I was away as my sub couldn't access my weekly plans. I would have to get up (no matter how ill I was) and create an email to send in to my secretary with the plans. A major inconvenience and not always easy to do when I was sick!!!!

This year I have discover planbookedu and have been using it. I love, love, love it!!! First of all, I can easily access it at home or school. Secondly, it lets me attach files and links right to the lesson plans. Third, it is so easy!!!  Check out a sample of an upcoming week in October here. And have I mentioned how much I like being able to colour code? I live to colour code and organize!!!

If you have been thinking about entering the world of technology with your planning then this is the site to start with. You will not regret it!

Ms. Hughes

p.s. I need to just add that I am not in any way connected to planbookedu. I just am a very happy camper with the $25 I spent to create my plans for this school year!