Reading for Badges

There has been a lot of buzz around learning through gaming lately in the education community. It makes 100% sense. What do kids all talk about? Video games. What do they all play on their phones? Video games. What do they ask for for birthday gifts? Video games. What do their teachers play when they can't stand thinking anymore? Candy crush. Wait... !

So what is it that is so addicting about games? When you fail, you re-spawn, automatically start back over. It isn't scary. You are also working towards a goal - and you are earning something (anything!) I recently attended a PD workshop and came to the conclusion that I would love to teach through games, but there was no way to develop them myself (coding = scary). So how could I utilize this appeal in my classroom to motivate students?

We use Donalyn Miller's 40 Book Challenge on my team. I have mixed emotions about it because Accelerated Reader scarred me as a child because I was a VERY slow reader. One aspect I love about the challenge though, is the push to explore different genres. I was that kiddo who only read Roald Dahl (whoops). LOVE MATILDA!

 

Behold, genre badges were born. 

In the 40 Book Challenge students are required to read a certain amount of books in each genre. This CHALLENGE part with a numeric goal, gets the students all sorts of revved up. My serial genre readers last year were forced to explore other worlds, it was awesome. Once a student completes the required number of books for that genre, they earn the badge. They level up. They win. Just like they would in any video game.

I figure the badges will be two-fold in my classroom. On Edmodo you can award students badges, I am hoping this same concept will apply with my students blogs this year. Instead of a brag tag to wear around school, for a 6th grader they would have the "brag tag" mentality as their personal blog sports their genre badges. (After a couple years of trial and error with blogs - I find KidBlog is my go-to).

Visual reminders of success and pride are also very important. I have not quite decided where their  badges will be sported yet, but it will either be on their desktop or perhaps the front of their locker for all to see. After all, multiple books in a new genre is a HUGE success.

The beautiful thing about the 40 Book Challenge and the genre badges is the differentiation can happen in a snap. Create a list for each student that is attainable for them. They will be master readers in no time :) Or at least a little more motivated... take what you can get right?

Let the games begin!

Stay chip free and standards based!

ALSO! Interested in the badges - leave a comment with your email and I will send them on over :)

Meet the Teacher (Linky Party!)

So as I fall more and more into this blogging thing, I am LOVING creeping on anyone and everyone. Now as much as I know people by their blogs - it is important to remember they are real people too (right Pinocchio?) So LINKY PARTY, bring it on - thanks Falling into First for providing this fab get together :)

THAT'S ME! Jessica Spethmann, 6th grade teacher in the suburbs of Chicago. Oh, and this is me in 6th grade. 

My students crack up at this picture, they think I have not changed one bit! It's one of my favorites to break out for sheer entertainment. 

I am the only girl in my family, 3 bro-has. 

They rock. Our family is a bit Disney obsessed. My mother will make it there every single year with some combination of kids - this spring break it was Eric and I. We are going again next week!

I live with my FANTABULOUS boyfriend Jordan and our pupster Dakota. 

He had some big shoes to fill when I was lookin' for a man. I promised myself that they must make me laugh just as much as my dad and brothers. I cry laughing on the weekly with this hunk. It's fantastic. 

 THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS...

Target. I mean who doesn't love Target? I tend to roam the halls of Target when I'm feeling down, does that qualify me for Shopaholics Anonymous? Coffee. Coffee, coffee, coffee. The love affair started during student teaching and we've been going strong since. I also love art and beauty. I love doing makeup - I feel like its face art (that might be weird.)

 IF YOU WEREN'T A TEACHER, WHAT WOULD YOU WANT TO BE?

I knew I wanted to be a teacher since... forever. I did go through a stint in Jr. High where it was teacher/news anchor. I was Barbara Walters for a bio project... quite a hoot. 

THREE LITTLE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE YOU.

Outgoing, passionate, crafty.

FINISH THE SENTENCE, "________,  SAID NO TEACHER EVER!!"

 "I love standardized testing." HA!

Q: IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY AND YOU CAN INVITE ANYONE {DEAD OR ALIVE} TO THE PARTY. WHO ARE YOU INVITING?

Kenny Chesney (country lover over here) These questions make me nervous because I wouldn't know what to do with my hands if I ever met a celebrity!

Q: IF SOMEONE WROTE A BOOK ABOUT YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD BE THE TITLE?

Probably my blog name - Lacquer, Teach, Repeat. Ask anyone, I can talk about education and nail polish FOR DAYS.

 Q:YOU GET TO PICK ONE SUPERPOWER. WHAT IS IT?

Mind reading. Although, I feel like it may get me into trouble. I am already an over-thinker!

Q: WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE QUOTE OR SAYING?

He was always my favorite author, and this will forever be my favorite quote. 

Q: IF YOU HAD TO SING ONE SONG ON AMERICAN IDOL, WHAT WOULD IT BE? 

Oh my, I can't sing. Zero musical inclination over here. I would plead the 5th.

 Q: ARE YOU A MORNING PERSON OR A NIGHT OWL?

Eh, both. My dad used to get me up and we'd work out together every morning when I lived at home. I was SO morning person. This summer I've been a late night crafting machine, therefore, night owl.

Q: WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE RESOURCE THAT YOU'VE CREATED IN YOUR TPT SHOP?

EEK! I think my CCSS vocabulary definition cards. I could not WAIT to get these up in my classroom. 

Q: SHARE SOMETHING WE MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT YOU!

I was a figure skater for 12 years of my life. I used to skate before school, after school, and during lunch/recess. I met some of the most amazing people through skating. One of my best friends, who was also in my sorority in college, and I am now on a teaching team with her mom! I quit in high school because I told my parents I wanted more of a social life (my mom was secretly heartbroken). I sometimes get upset with myself for quitting. All of my friends who continued to skate got to travel the world in high school and college. But it played a huge part in my perseverance and discipline that make up who I am today. And I saved up and went to Europe after college, so I can sort of forgive myself :)

Loved this linky party!  Click on over to Falling in First to check out some other amazing friends!

Stay chip free and standards based!

#MondayMadeIt

I feel like all days of the week are "made-its" during the summer for me. Mostly Sunday nights as my honey watches baseball, I post up at the dining room table and make a muck! Trying this whole linky business for the first time too :)

Here is what happened after I slept off my red-eye flight home from Seattle yesterday...

#1 - I love painting, and inspirational quotes are my fave. I couldn't pass this quote up. You can see some of my previous work under, that Miss Perfectionist over here couldn't bear to look at - so RE-DO! 

 #2 - We are not allowed to have curtains in our room (curse you fire code) - but does a ribbon curtain count? We will find out soon enough when this cutie gets hung in my small window by the door. It was SO easy too! A $.59 dowel rod and some ribbon - thank YOU Michaels.

-Paint dowel black
-Cut 5 strips of each color (7 colors)
-Fold and snip
-Wrap around dowel and pull ribbon through!

  

#3 - I have seen all of these super cute welcome gifts for students - and could simply not resist. So if I can find a deal on rock candy, rock candy it is - and if I can't then HELLO pop rocks!

Stay chip free and standards based y'all!

Digitally Organize! & INSTALOVE!

Still obsessing over my new dotting tool - even if it doesn't create the most SOPHISTICATED manicures.

I have also just joined the teacher world on Instagram and oh my LANTA. I am quite a social media lover. I do it all (twitter, fb, youtube, instagram, you name it) and with multiple accounts for teaching and personal. It's actually a little out of hand. Since I am so visual and such a creative soul Instagram was always my favorite. I have had a personal forever, but my heart now, is with my teacher Instagram (lacquer_teach_repeat) AHH IT'S SO FAB! I have discovered a beyond fabulous 6th grade teacher over at LESSONS WITH COFFEE 

... I can not get enough of this MN lady! I have decided to sign up for my first #SLANT box too. It makes me nervous, but I love giving gifts, love everything teacher, and LOVE creating and sharing - so why not?! EEK!

So this digital organization piece. In my 3 years of teaching I have struggled with am I a binder person? Am I a file folder person? Am I a computer person? Fact: I am all. I have multiples of documents in all places YIKES. So I decided this year, you know what Google Drive, we are officially in a relationship (sorry you had no say). I have a Mac at home and a dinosaur PC at school. I am hoping this will help with transfer of docs between school and home too.  

We will see how it goes! 

My desktop also got a makeover. Ever since I've been on a creation binge, my desktop was getting out of control. An intervention was needed! One of my nearest and dearest teacher friends organizes her desktop like this (I have also seen tons of other teachers do this too!) It just makes too much sense!

Behold - ORGANIZATION!

Gosh colorful graphics and a dotting tool, how easy happy is that? :)

Stay chip free and standards based!

Sweet Summertime.

I have been attmepting to relax this summer, but as one of my coworkers put it - "Jess, you will NEVER be able to be a stay at home mom." Hmph. It's a nice thought right? The truth is a week after school got out I was doodling lists for next year and my *must do's.* Here are a couple of my summer highlights before I dive into 6th grade teacher, puppy mama, green team coach, student council lady, and grad school student in the fall.

Nails have been SO SUMMERY. Is summery a word? Yup. I like to call these my mermaid nails - swoon. 

Essie and Deborah Lippman (Yes, that glitter was a BEAST to remove)

This is the new furbaby Dakota. And she is the absolute best. My boyfriend and I adopted her from a program assistant at my school who fosters animals... lets just say we joined the very large club of friends at school who have adopted pups from her, and we couldn't be happier :)

I just can not stay away from that creative bug that bit me a long, long time ago when my Gramma Dee let me push the pedal on her sewing machine for the first time. With that being said, classroom crafts are just a summer staple in the life of Jessica Spethmann. Here are a couple of my digital faves for the fall.

The infamous "Teacher Toolkit" that floats on every teacher's Pinterest board. I also love these labels because I can use them for just about everything. They are in my TPT store with some blank ones to use for whatever the heart desires! 

Now for a blinking neon sign to hang above this bad boy saying "NO 6TH GRADE HANDS ALLOWED." Can I buy that on Teachers Pay Teachers?! Shucks. 

New subject labels!! I have developed a serious obsession with Mellonheadz. They are semi-primary, but if I like it - I make my 6th graders like it (muahaha). I laminated these with my smaller laminator that clearly was sent from Heaven above. The lamination is much thicker than the school laminator - heavy duty for these babes. 

Tonight I finished my nametags - simple yet sweet. I will end up typing the students names in with my beloved KG fonts (another obsession). We all know that new students pops up a week before school, so I am trying to hold off on the typing of the names - we'll see how that goes!

 

There are a couple more colors too :) 

This came. And move over boyfriend - may be the new love of my life. Erin Condren you peach you! I tweeted her this and she (well probably an intern?) tweeted me back - AHH! 

Here's one more of the babe for ya!

THAT FACE!

Stay chip free and standards based!

You Are Worthy (echo: YOU ARE WORTHY!)

Year three of teaching has come with so many insane changes I can't even begin to count. Before we get into the backstory of my post title - mind you - includes a literary illusion to the Greek nature myth of Echo (I just got done teaching Ancient Greece, this year's class just ate the myths up! Cough Chronos). Chronos ate all of his children, incase you needed a brush up on your Greek mythology :) OKAY OKAY OKAY NAILS.

As per the Pantone color of the year: radiant orchid, my tips are currently sporting Too Taboo from the Essie neons collection.

I was intrigued by this pretty little bottle in Walgreens because my nails just can not get enough of the purples. It comes off more pink on camera, definitely. Too Taboo applies semi matte - so for me a top coat was a must. This is the case with most neons. It was more opaque than I imagined it would be. Props Essie, props.

Now I know in all professions you will run into days like this...

But, I find myself looking EXACTLY like this sad, sad little canine a bit too often. As a sixth grade teacher I always struggle with the message I want to just imprint into my students brains (well there's lots of them, but overwhelmingly this one). I was a very self aware adolescent. I feel very deeply, and I was aware of every single pain and struggle I went through. It hurts me now to know this is all just beginning with my students. I want to save them from it and I know I can't ::sigh:: If I feel this way about my students, Lord help me when I have children. This is all I want them to know.

In college psych classes you learn about Maslow's Hierarchy of needs. Until you have met a child who is not getting their basic needs met, and you are trying to teach them how to divide fractions and identify the parts of an atom - you don't really see the true weight in each level of the pyramid. 

Each needs to be met before advancing to the next. As educators we are presented with the task of  meeting the needs of kids ALL over and around this pyramid - and hey, pat on the back to us, somehow it happens. 

In order to throw out my best attempt at letting my students know EVERY SINGLE ONE of them is worthy, I have to set the example myself. 

I am a go-getter (eh, in most aspects of my life) and I really have been resinating on that top tier of the pyramid for a while. How many people actually make it there? In the scheme of the cosmos (yes, we are just little specs of dust and if you haven't watched Cosmos on Nat Geo or Fox, get on it yo!) how many people in our human race who have a substantial influence on the rest of our lives, our leaders perhaps, actually make it to the top tier? My 24 year old mostly optimistic self takes a look in the mirror. 

One of my best friends shared this article with me. We were about 4 mimosas deep and I was spewing about my newfound wordly-ness after spending my weekend with a cup of coffee, the couch, and Cosmos on demand. I have recently been entranced in the whole "why/how are we really here?" mind-set. She shared with me this article - and I proceeded to forward it to anyone I knew who would give a dang. 

7 Things Self-actualized People Don't Do

These seven very important things are now pasted to the front of my teacher binder. I see so many opportunities for improvement, yet also some of my strengths peeking through - and it's pretty cool. I suggest you give it a go. 

All in all, you are going to have those ruff days. As for me, I have to accept my students are going to have ruff days - and for the mere fact that they are 11 years old, they have a heck of a lot of ruff days ahead of them. It's my job to give them the set of skills to take on those ruff days and teach them how to...

Stay chip free and standards based,