Penny TALK!

PHEW! Winter break is officially over. After a two day (miraculous) extension because of the frozen tundra that is Illinois, we are finally back into the swing of things. First and foremost - this busy week back I am teaching in Penny Talk by Essie. A metallic rose gold to die for. I had to let go of my darks for the sake of repetitive nail polish blogging... but I've got money on another dark nail next week, surprise surprise!

Yes, Disney World is the happiest place on Earth - but welcome to the SECOND happiest place on Earth...

Just bask in the glory of this picture please (because that is all I did for hours after putting this bad boy up, sorry I'm not sorry). My Essie polishes are just so HAPPY! Courtesy of my best friend (who clearly knows and fully supports my sickness) this frame is just perfect for those little loves! Over in the world of OPI...

They aren't my ugly step children I promise... I really do love my OPI. That's NEXT Saturday's  project :)

I also need to give a quick shout out to my most favorite new nail polish remover thingy-ma-jig. Compliments of my other bestie (God bless them for supporting my addiction.) You push the top of this and the nail polish remover comes right on out - MAGIC! Makes removing my polish not a complete chore.

Over to the classroom - Happy Place #3 (is there a limit to happy places you are allowed to have? Let's just go with no...)

We are focusing on collaboration and working together - positively. I won't go into a long yada-yada on my educational philosophy, but just know collaboration is HUGE in my classroom. Respectful collaboration is SO important - and happens to be a Common Core State Standard for my sixth graders - fancy that!                                                                                                             This is our CCSS "I Can" statement that talks about participating in group discussion (thank you tpt)! In a staff meeting once, we did a "yes, but - yes, and" activity. Saying "yes, and" to build on others during discussion is so important. Keeping things positive in the way you talk to others is such an important life skill. I showed the following YouTube clips to my students and we made anchor charts coinciding with the clips.

This was the perfect introduction to classroom collaboration. Not only did the students respond to the fantastic humor, I thought that they really tapped into the important messages in both video clips. It is so important to respect and rely on each other in our learning, and the students really got that. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       As we came back to a fresh start in January, resolutions were a must. In an academic setting we rolled right into goals, SMART goals to be specific. We discussed how important it was to strategically set goals, and I absolutely LOVE the SMART goal model.  I let the students (semi) create their own new name tags.  Right smack-dab on their new tags is their SMART goal they developed. I told them how I frame my New Year's resolution each year in my bedroom to help motivate me to reach my goals, and HIP HIP HOORAY - goals on their name tags. Also slipped a little "yes, and" graphic in there for a constant reminder of POSITIVE collaboration.                                                                                  

They make me oh so happy!

Stay chip free and standards based!