HOLY, Holy Grails

And no, I am not talking about Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I think when I was 13 I saw one scene with a rabid rabbit and never looked at the Easter Bunny the same again.

My holy grail items, products, apps, what have you not, are things that I simply can NOT live without. Well, I mean I can, but life would be a lot less fabulous without these things. Today I am going to let you peek into my lair of holy grails and show you a glimpse of two things that will just make your life down right fantastic.

THE PERFECT PINK NUDE NAIL POLISH. 

Just picture the M&M's Christmas commercial with Santa...

 "What?! He does exist?" -M&M "WHAT? THEY DO EXIST?!" -Santa. 

IT EXISTS! I REPEAT THE PERFECT PINK NUDE NAIL POLISH IS A REAL THING!

The voyage for a perfectly opaque pink nude can take a lady ages, and I mean ages to discover. Look no further women of the interwebs - meet "Romper Room," by Essie. 

This dream polish applied completely opaque in 2 coats, unlike the other 10 pinky nude polishes I own. Not too pink, not too nude, I know... you are getting chills aren't you!? This gem is part of Essie's new spring collection - haul out to your local Walgreens, CVS, or Target and GET ALL UP IN this bottle of gold - you'll thank me now AND later.  :)

Could I say pink and nude anymore times? I think not.

Alright, alright, now that my fangirl moment of a dang bottle of nail lacquer is over I'll scoot on to my actual profession - teaching. With 12 iPads in my classroom full of projects on projects on projects of 25 students - management can be, well, a beast. Unless you have your right hand man... Sir Dropbox. He is a fancy man I tell ya. After a couple years of touch and go with this baby I am going to share with you some of my top tips for using Dropbox in your classroom.

It is a big fat lovely tech CLOUD for all of your student work. After lots of trial and error with this app, I have found letting students have and manage their own folders of work is key. They keep everything they are currently working on in their own folders by first name. When I want them to turn something in I create a folder with that assignment name and bada-bing-bada-boom, I grade them all on my one iPad. Here is a handy dandy bookmark to keep on hand so students can remember the username and password. 

Holy grails make me happy. And we all should...

Even if... and ESPECIALLY if it is painting our nails, laughing, learning, and teaching. 

:)

Stay chip free and standards based!

Doodle4Google

If there was ever a lesson that beats to the rhythm of my heart, this one would be it. It is state testing time and I've been moving my nest so posting will be short and sweet. All I have to say is #doodle4google

The lesson plan I used came straight from www.doodle4google.com and it was absolutely GENIUS. They have lessons for every grade level surrounding their theme of "if you could invent one thing to make the world a better place." The issues my students came up with that are apparent in their lives were so eye opening. Mostly when presented with the word "technology." They wrote all of the words that they so often use in everyday conversation as *issues* with technology. Facebook, Instagram, vine, selfies. They all claimed were issues with technology... Interesting. They picked a cause to doodle their own google logo based upon. It was actually magical :) 

Oh and yes, my nails are springy. Wishful thinking my friends. 

Stay chip free and standards based!

Happy Dances All Around.

Well it's February and I have been slumming it on Pinterest a lot these days with my cabin fever and all. So this happened...

Happy Dance #1. 

I toyed with the idea of graffiti for my next book project. Rewind: okay, book projects. The way this happens in my classroom has evolved over the past couple of years. I never wanted to do the classic book reports that I completed as a child (well that I partially completed and my mom partially completed at 2 am the night before it was due - LOVE YOU MOM!) and I had an insane struggle with Accelerated Reader... my 12 year grudge towards AR still taking up unnecessary space in my emotional bank - ha.

My first year teaching I gave a slew of options for book projects each month to my students. I had learned in college Choice = Good. I soon found myself trying to find new and exciting book projects each month for my students to complete... in fact as many as five a month (wipes sweat off forehead.) Not until April of my second year teaching did I see the value in all of my students completing the same project. My teammate brought Mr. Hughes' DODECAHEDRON book project to the table -

INSTANT SCORE!

They looked especially bomb hanging from the ceiling at open house. 

Happy Dance #2!

I then discovered if I give my students a highly engaging book project, that also, let's be honest - was fun and looked REALLY REALLY AWESOME - they would all totally buy in. So here starts my journey of the ever evolving book project. 

Now this is RIGHT up my alley. I love teaching reading and adore being creative so I'm not admitting this, but one of my secret pleasures is completing a book project model before I assign it to my students. This was another thing I struggled with - if I show them an example will it hinder their creativity? I found quite the opposite actually. My level of students need the scaffolding and need the model. My kids are now begging for their book projects each month, and dare I say it, they all seem to turn them in ON TIME.  Oh education Gods please don't jinx me for that one :)

Backtrack to graffiti. I love this quote by Steve Jobs and have it hanging in my classroom. 

This quote IS me. I am constantly being sparked by my surroundings, which is why when I saw this image on Pinterest about one of my favorite books - it stopped me in my (pinning) tracks - which isn't easy mind you.  

I couldn't NOT develop a book project like this. Then came a Powerpoint chalk-full of images of POSITIVE graffiti. We had a discussion about how graffiti is a powerful thing in society and how it has the capability to send positive messages to countless individuals who see it.

Positive Graffiti Powerpoint

I will let the students' Novel Locker Graffiti speak for itself... 

They did a beyond phenomenal job. Along with their graffiti they needed to pick 5 of the most essential quotes to elaborate on. They wrote a paragraph for each explaining how it connected to the plot or theme of their text. 

Happy Dance #3 :)

Quote Graffiti Book Project

I hope you have many moments to insert a little happy dance this wintery week, because life is pretty - dang - good.

Stay chip free and standards based!

Polar Vortex - TAKE 2

So my nails say "Spring is in the air..." and the imaginary birds are chirping. The 4 foot icicles hanging from the roof say "get real Jessica..." and the set in salt stains on my Uggs agree. I NEEDED a dose of Spring after TWO MORE COLD DAYS set our school schedule soaring into summertime. 4 days and counting people! 

Bikini So Teeny is one of my ALL TIME favorite summer colors. It looks bomb on the nails when you are sporting a tan - my paleness doesn't give this color justice. :sigh:

Then there is Mimosas for Mr. and Mrs. - Finding an opaque pinky neutral is near impossible. This one is legit, but know this is three coats. Yeesh.

This week in 6th grade it has been a whirl of realizations. The first one is that I really, and I mean REALLY love my students this year. The past two years on the last day of school I have cried, and just thinking about loosing this group is sickly painful. Okay enough sap, sorta. I also have realized how much of an impact I have actually had in my couple years in 6th grade. In the past couple weeks I have seen a handful of my past students who have come to visit me. I get some pretty tight hugs when they tell me that 7th grade just isn't the same. I think that's pretty gutsy for a cool 7th grader to admit. So THIS is that feeling you are supposed to get as a teacher? Pretty. Dang. Awesome. 

I also had my post conference for my second observation. I love walking out of those meetings. I always feel like I am in the right place. I also walk out thinking. As much as I think I think too much (yikes) I like thinking, and people who make me think. Oh hey, Ms. Spethmann rocking out that metacognition lesson - thinking about her own thinking. Is your brain exploding yet? Mine is :) One of the questions my AP posed to me was on my assessment of my students annotations. I had spent SO much time, SO many lessons, SO many smelly marker notes, SO many articles, and an anchor chart or two on the teaching of annotating - building a relationship with text. Here's the think tank moment: how was I assessing their annotations. BING! Hello Jessica, assessment driven instruction? Shame on you! So I posed the question to my team and blabbered on with my way of "thinking out loud," on how I want to develop a rubric for annotating. Here you have it....

 My fantastic teammate proposed the idea of an acronym. This would help the students focus while annotating. I started a couple of letters and passed on my notes. My other teammate flawlessly filled in the letters I had missing, and here you have it! 

In classic Ms. Spethmann fashion - I included a bookmark for the students to have out as they are annotating. Always supporting my 6th grade peeps! On neon paper of course, because REALLY is there any other way?

Because let's face it - life is better in neon :)

Snag the Annotation Assessment Rubric and Bookmarks HERE :)

Stay chip free and standards based!

#GeminiProblems

June 8th is my birthday, which makes me - yes - a Gemini. Now as much as I read my horoscope and somehow convince myself the stars know my life, there is one thing they most definitely have on point. I am constantly and consistently an INDECISIVE human being. I am notorious for NOT being able to make a decision about pretty much anything. Enter: nails of the week. Yes, thank you Gemini status for giving me the curse of sometimes painting my nails 5 times in one day because I can't pick a color. Alright, it was only four three times today so I'm sharing my top two (anxiety semi-averted).

Tasmanian Devil Made Me Do It - OPI

I wanted to brighten things up a bit - and this polish did it. It is a hot red/orange which lasted about... hmm three hours on my nails. 

Then I went into Sephora - got a sample of their new Formula X polish I've been hearing loads about. That lasted about 10 minutes on my nails (not even enough for a picture - ouch). Just wasn't a fan of the color, soon I'll give it another go.

Take 3.

Koala Berry - OPI

It photographed a bit more purple than it is on the nail. It's the perfect pink/purple mix. Thank you OPI and the Australia collection! Here is where I shamelessly admit I may have picked this color because I saw Keith Urban (and all his GODLY Australian everything) in concert and am slightly fan-girling over him at the moment, so I gave him a nice tribute manicure. I feel like one of my sixth graders, oye. 

On the lower portion of the pic, you will find my bulletproof manicure must haves - just do it. 

So I am apologizing in advance for the lack of graphic evidence from my classroom this week. I had my second formal observation of the year on Thursday. My wheels were constantly spinning on what to do for my lesson and I just couldn't put my thumb (or all ten fingers) on a set of ideas/strategies/activities. Thank you Gemini tendencies. I am one of those people that has SO many things I want to do that I need to force myself to s i m p l i f y. I tend to just hold multiple brainstorming sessions on multiple sticky notes until something really stands out. I want to show off how amazing my students are, so I let their skill set guide my (forced) decision making. 

In the past we have ordered Scholastic News as a nonfiction resource, which I do love. This year our district offered an additional resource for nonfiction and we chose National Geographic magazine. LOVE LOVE LOVE. I'm a complete sucker for a good layout, accessible information, and AMAZING GRAPHICS. 

Behold: the glory of this informational text goldmine. 

This magazine also comes with some phenomenal resources. There is a wonderful website containing lessons. With the subscription you also have access to a digital version of the issue, an interactive whiteboard version, projectable edition, and teacher's guide. 

As much as I love Scholastic News, the Nat Geo magazine has three longer articles that contain a decent amount of depth for the students. 

Penguins happen to be my favorite animal, sooo there's that. I have penguins be-bopping all around my classroom so my 6th graders didn't expect anything less from their penguin-obsessed teacher.  I introduced the lesson with discussion about genre. I showed the following movie clips. 

March of the Penguins Trailer (ooh and ahh, then die of cuteness) 

Happy Feet Trailer (done!)

What I loved the most about the Happy Feet trailer is that the Spanish speaking penguins were featured. My Spanish speaking students LOVED it (well really, all of them loved it). It was a great opportunity for my second language learners to lead discussion with their classmates on what was said in the clip. Oh hey, awesome. 

We used my reciprocal teaching strategy called "Baseball Reading," for this lesson - which is hands down my FAVORITE way to have the kiddos reading and collaborating. My first year teaching my beyond fabulous teammate showed me her version called "Football Reading," and I knew it was a must. Baseball Reading will need it's own spotlight post, for sure. 

Happy MLK Day my fellow educators and polish enthusiasts!

Stay chip free and standards based!

  

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!

Merry Christmas!!

Never too old for an argyle sweater Christmas manicure! No teaching for a couple weeks. Many breaths of relaxation will be taken. Until January... Happy holidays to all :) now go rock those glitzy New Years manis!!