Booking Across Canada

Hey Everyone,

This week I'm linking up with Mrs. D at Reading with Mrs. D for her "Booking Across Canada" linky party. One of the books from Manitoba that I thought of showcasing was  "Ruby's Hope" by Hannah Taylor.

However, there are already so many great resources to go with this book associated with the Ladybug Foundation that I didn't think there was much I could add.

So instead, I chose another Canadian book, "If You're Not from the Prairie..." by David Bouchard.

Although the author is writing about his experience growing up in Saskatchewan, it resonates for those across Manitoba as well. Plus, the illustrations by Henry Ripplinger are fantastic.


What I put together for this book is a poetry frame for students to fill out using the form that Bouchard uses in the book. Students can choose their community or a place that is special to them to create the poem.

It's available here:

"If You're Not from the Prairie" Writing Form


Hope that it is useful for you! You can also get students to illustrate their poems using Ripplinger's images as a guide.

Have a great day!

Announcement and a Design Change

Hey All,


The announcement and the design change sort of go together...so, first, it's official! I got a job at the school I was talking about earlier! :)

The only thing is that it's not the grade 3 job I applied for...I'm teaching kindergarten!

I was pretty nervous at first, I trained as a Middle Years teacher, and over the past few years have taught everything from 3-7. It was a little overwhelming at first, thinking about what a day would look like with my kinders, but over the past couple days it's become more exciting.

Now I'm mostly nervous about the first day. But I'm sure it'll be great.

So that's the reason for the design change. Thanks to Dreamlike Magic for the template!

Pretty soon I will be a "Middle Years Girl in an Early Years World"!



Thanks for reading!

Positive Thoughts...

Hey Everyone,

Just a quick note to ask you to keep your fingers ultra crossed for me this week as I had an interview at one of my favourite schools. Should hear back sometime after the long weekend. I went in pretty confident and with a lot of staff support, but you never know.

Thanks for the support!

May Currently!

Hello Again,

Linking up with Farley over at:

Click the picture to visit her blog!

For her monthly linky party!

I love reading through everyone's Currently's and finding new people to follow :)

Here's mine: 

 

A quick recap: 

Listening: My poor doggie just wants to be outside...but it's so yucky and wet that it's not worth it. Sorry goggie! 

Loving: I'm so excited about this job posting. But nervous too. I really want this job, and will be devastated if I don't get it. But it doesn't close for another week, so I really need to calm down. :)

Wanting/Needing: I have a bunch of things to finish (and start) which I need to get motivated to do. And, of course, a job! 

Summer Bucket List: As I mentioned in my last post, I need to do some more running, especially since Ultimate is starting up in a couple weeks! As well, I know, broken record, I would love a classroom to set up. And the last, I would love to spend some more time out at my family cabin at the lake! 

Have a great weekend, everyone! 

Linky & an Update

Hi All,

Before anything else, I would just like to let you know something. It snowed yesterday. Yes, SNOW. I am so cranky today. Maybe it's a good thing that I'm at home and didn't get a call to work. It is MAY and there is SNOW. {Sad face}. I needed to share. On a more positive note:

Today I'm linking up with Jess over at:

Click through to her blog

For her Monthly Goals linky party!

PS: Isn't her blog button so stinkin' cute?

My Goals:

Personal: I'm very sad at the moment when I look at the contents of my bank account. The new computer, a couple new all-season tires and my most recent car insurance payment wiped me out. Plus I haven't worked yet this week! Perils of substitute teaching!

Health: I was doing really well earlier this year using the Couch-to-5K running program. Then I got sick (evil cold that wouldn't go away) and fell off. I really need to get back to it (mostly so my body doesn't die of shock the first time that I have to sprint in an Ultimate game)!

Blogging: I had lots of aspirations for this blog and things I wanted to do and share. I need to get back to that. I have a couple of math game freebies that I'm working on for you :) and some other things I want to share. Just have to get around to it!

School: Pretty self-explanatory. I just want to work. Hubs is worried about me not having a job/wanting to start a family, so I'm under pressure to be employed or have to change careers for a while. Which isn't something I really want to do!

Fun: My poor dog just wants to be outside. Even though there is now snow on the ground. And I feel bad because we haven't walked him in ages. And that our backyard is teeny (another reason I need a job--new house)! But it's so wet out there, and he hates baths waaaay more than he likes walks. Well, maybe not waaaay. So I need to get on that.



Thanks for stopping by and reading about my goals. May is always the magic month for job postings around here, so keep your fingers & toes crossed. I know I am!


Have a great day!

Monday Made It!

Hi Everyone!

I'm finally getting another change to link up with Tara for this month's installment of Monday Made it!

It's been hard to get the motivation to make anything classroom-y, since I haven't been working this year, but this "home made it" could double for a school library. Being a teacher, I usually end up gifting books to all my friend's little ones. This year for birthdays, I decided to do something a little different. I still picked out three books for my little friend, but gave it a twist.

For this birthday, I picked out three of my favourite books, "Chester" by Melanie Watt, "The Pigeon Wants a Puppy" by Mo Willems, and "Click, Clack Moo" by Doreen Cronin. Then, I chose a picture or scene from the book and illustrated it, along with the title of the story. This could also be great (maybe on a smaller scale) for a classroom library. Without further ado, here are the finished products:

(Sorry for the crummy photos, took them with my phone)

I didn't think to take any "during" photos this time around, but basically I eyeballed them in pencil onto the canvas first and then painted. I think they turned out pretty well (except Chester is a little too yellow for me)!

Hope you like them! I hope to be back this week with a couple of freebie math games for you from that never-ending project I've been working on this year. It is finally done and put together. We present tomorrow (wish me luck)!

Have a great week, everyone! Go head over to Fourth Grade Frolics and link up!!

I (heart) Linkies!

Hello again!

Twice in one weekend? What?!? Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend, I spent it working at my P-T job and working on my PBDE project!

Our project is focused on Middle Years math, and helping students with what we identified as the "Top Ten" problem areas for kids (mostly in the "number" strand of math here in Manitoba). So today, I've been working on thinking and researching why basic fact knowledge, factors and multiples, place value, mental math and problem solving are so difficult for kids. It's been interesting, I'm glad that I've found this project valuable so far. Sometimes a lot of it feels like busywork in some courses.

Anyway, the main reason for me writing today is to link up with Ms. M (as an aside, I remember when I used to be a Ms. M! Now I have to settle for being Mrs. T [I'm still coming to terms with trading my awesome last name for a waaaay more popular one!]) over at Teaching is a Gift for her "Blog by Province" linky party.

 

It's nice when you can find Canadian bloggers to visit with sometimes! So if you are reading this, and are a Canadian blogger, go link up! 

Have a great week, everyone!