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Five for Friday – July 31

Uncategorized July 31, 2015
Wow. I can’t believe July is over. That means school is just around the corner! Hard to believe how fast this summer has gone, but I feel like they all go this fast.  I’m linking up again with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. Link up with her here…
 
 
I’m so excited about my new addition to Writing Station.  I wrote all about how I plan to use Pick a Prompt here.  I just put up in my TPT store. Would be perfect to pick up during their Back to School Sale – August 3 and 4.
 
 
So, I don’t have a picture for this next one, but I got my class list on Wednesday! 18 new little second graders. I’m so excited for this new group and so excited for my second year.  It’ll be nice not being the “new” teacher at a school this year.  Not that it was bad experience, I’m just glad to know more of what I’m doing. 

Ok. If you like to read and you haven’t read this book – GO READ IT NOW! This book is amazing. I sat down for 3 hours and read it cover to cover. I don’t read like that anymore, but this book was so good I couldn’t put it down.  I highly recommend it if you have time for one more summer read!

My husband and I purchased a plan through HouseSeats.  No I’m not working for them, but you should check it out. You pay a certain amount for a year or two year subscription and they offer up shows that haven’t sold out and you can go for free (well technically you paid for the subscription). I know I’m not doing this explanation justice so check out their website if you’re interested. They only have it in certain cities.  We finally used it for the first time and went to the Laugh Factory Show at the Tropicana Hotel. It was hilarious! The comedians were so funny and it was a nice mid-week break.

So I love my Fitbit. I got one last summer and love it. Since I’m back on the workout train, I finally got 10,000 steps the other day. Now, I am supposed to get this everyday so I’m still a work in progress.  It’s funny – days teaching I get it easily. Definitely helps that we hardly have time to sit down during the day.  Would love to link up with some more friends on Fitbit and do some challenges. If you’re on it – add me – Jordan Johnson. My email for that one is sunsfan328@gmail.com
 
 
Hope everyone has a great weekend! Only one week left of summer break for me. When do you all go back?

 
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Five for Friday – July 24

Uncategorized July 24, 2015
I’m linking up again with Doodle Bug for Five for Friday.  Be sure to link up with her here…
 
After many months of too many things on my plate and having TPT block, I finally am on the TPT train again. I finally finished my first project in a long while – a book study.  I’m now working on creating writing prompts and a huge set of math story problems.  It feels good to have this writer’s/TPT block finally removed and the ideas are flowing!
Now that’s it’s summer and I have much more time, I’ve been trying to cook more. Here are some enchiladas I made over the past weekend.  My husband who is a picky eater even liked them!
So this quote is so perfect for me. I’ve been lacking motivation with working out. I want to lose weight, but I have to put in the work to do. I thought this quote was so true for me and I’m hitting the workout and eating right bandwagon hardcore!

 
I blogged about this the other day, but I’m in that oh so fun process of getting my name changed.  I’m almost officially Mrs. Johnson on all documents and have updated my blog, Facebook, Instagram, etc to fit my new name!
So I might be addicted to Netflix.  I started Scandal at the beginning of the summer and finished all 3 seasons in a week – then the fourth when it came out.  Now, I’m re-watching Friday Night Lights – such a good show. Andy and I have also started watching House of Cards.  Man that show is intense.  What are you all watching Netflix?

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Name Change…

Uncategorized July 21, 2015
Since getting married in June I’ve been going through the lovely name change process.  Don’t get me wrong, I was very excited to take my husband’s name and become Mrs. Johnson – just the waiting in line and dealing with all the government organizations was not a fun part of my summer plans. Now that I’ve dealt with the Social Security office and the dreaded DMV, it’s time to get my name updated on everything.
 
I originally started this blog as Team V’s 1st Grade Fun because I love sports.  I had a whole Phoenix Suns theme in my classroom and the team part just made sense.  As I  moved to Vegas and began teaching 2nd grade, I continued with a basketball theme (no Phoenix Suns or pro NBA team in Vegas) and changed to Team V’s 2nd Grade Fun to fit my new grade level.  Now as I’m changing my name and am at a different school the basketball theme has gone away. However, I’m a big sports fan.  My husband actually coaches a prep high school basketball team. As I’ve spent the last few weeks contemplating what to do with my blog name since I no longer have the sports theme in my classroom and my last name no longer begins with V, I’ve come to this…

Team J’s 2nd Grade Fun…

I know…not a huge change, however teaching is a team sport in it’s own way.  My classroom is like my team.  Each year I have new players and each year we work our way through the season/school year.  I also feel like a part of a team with teachers – every teacher through my own school, TPT, blogs, Instagram, etc we’re all on the same team.  So, that’s why I decided to not make any huge change and keep the team a part of my blog name because it fits in with what all of us do.

Thank you for reading through my rambling and thought process as I’ve gone from Miss Veenstra to Mrs. Johnson!

Have a great Monday!

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Five for Friday – July 17

Uncategorized July 17, 2015
I’m linking up again with Doodlebug’s Five for Friday.  Link up with her here…
Last weekend I was able to go to NBA Summer League at UNLV’s Thomas and Mack Arena.  My husband, Andy coaches Findlay Prep and two of their former players, Chris Wood (Houston Rockets) and Rashad Vaughn (Milwaukee Bucks) were playing.  So cool to see those two guys living out their NBA Dreams. 

Now that the house is semi-organized and the wedding gifts are put away, I got to use my new Kitchen Aid Mixer for the first time. It was so easy – I see why everyone loves them. I made some yummy peanut butter Hershey kiss cookies. 

 

I finally have joined the e-reader generation.  I’m probably one of the last people to do it, but I know have a Kindle.  I’m looking for any book suggestions, so please comment below….
I got some new goodies from Lakeshore Learning.  The store is like Target for teachers. I always go in planning to buy one thing and come out with like 20.  I got some new colorful borders for my classroom and also these file folder games. I thought the games would be perfect to use in math stations and they were on sale!

So excited to see Trainwreck tonight.  It looks so funny. Anyone else seeing it this weekend?
 

 
Hope everyone has a great weekend! Link up with Kacey here…

 
 
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Recap – SDE DI Conference

Uncategorized July 12, 2015
I was so lucky that each  member of the differentiation team at my school got to go to the SDE Differentiated Instruction Conference this week. I went on Thursday and got so many ideas from the four classes I took. For those unable to attend this week in Vegas, I thought I’d share a few take aways from each class. 
 
Here are a few brief thoughts from each class.
 
  • Project Based Learning – A Quest for Real World Knowledge with Dedra Stafford
    • This was by far my favorite course of the day.  She was a great presenter and had a lot of real examples to show us.  My favorite thing about her was that she kept it for a “real” classroom. 
    • PBL is a great way to bring together multiple curricular areas.
    • Students become engaged through a hook and a essential or driving question. Then, students go and take it on their own.  As the teacher meets with groups the teacher drops “bread crumbs” to help guide where the students go and make sure they understand and cover the important parts of the content.
    • Teacher is the facilitator as opposed to the “sage on the stage.”
    • Provides many opportunities for differentiation as kids are working and you can do quick formative assessments to see where kids are and then meet with groups as needed.
    • Some of my ideas – a project with map skills, social studies and math project with economics, and animal research project.

  • Dare to Differentiate: 50 Terrific Teacher Tricks with Danny Brassell
    • Danny Brassell was a very engaging instructor who threw in a lot of brain breaks to help us pay attention but to also show how important they are in the classroom.
    • One of the big things he said that stuck with me was that he wasn’t a big fan of labeling kids unless you’re labeling a kid a genius.  I thought that was a profound way of thinking and I agree with it. We are so quick to label kids and diagnose and we really need to think more of the positive and focus on how kids are a genius. Every kid is a genius at something – we need to focus on that as opposed to what they’re not good at.
    • Another key takeaway was to always ask why. He shared some examples of students answering questions where it seemed like it was the wrong answer. However, when he asked the child why the child was able to give evidence to support their reason and their answer made sense.

  • Writer’s Workshop in the Differentiated Classroom with Danny Brassell
    • Danny mentioned how often times when going through the writing process teachers tend to focus on editing every piece, which can kill the student’s motivation to write. I totally agree and in my room they write many drafts and then after a few weeks they pick one to edit and publish. If kids are so focused on editing it tends to give them writer’s block which defeats the purpose of writing workshop.
    • He provided examples for each trait but also shared how important it is for kids to write a variety of things – comics, recipes, how tos, journal, letters, books, etc.

  • Interactive Notebooks Ready to Go with LeAnn Nickelsen
    • Interactive notebooks are a way for kids to keep notes but also interact with the notes in a complex way.
    • LeAnn was very big on making sure that the right side was the teacher given information and that the left side was where the students processed the information. She mentioned that there are many cute ways to do it, but it’s more important that the processing be complex and really get the kids thinking.
    • She recommended a composition book, but you could also use a binder, spiral notebook, or make individual ones for units out of paper.

Now, all of the sessions got me thinking and I had a billion ideas and things I wanted to do this year in my classroom. As a day or two has passed, I know that realistically you can’t do all of these things right away. My goal is to start with the Project Based Learning and try implementing that especially with Social Studies lessons.

Has anyone else done Project Based Learning?  Any ideas or great websites to use?

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Five for Friday – July 10

Uncategorized July 10, 2015

I’m linking up with Doodlebug Teaching for Five for Friday.  Be sure to link up with her here…

 

I was lucky last weekend to go to the Kenny Chesney concert not only once, but twice.  We had tickets for Friday night at the Joint at Hard Rock Hotel and then our friend had a connection and got us tickets for a table on Saturday.  Can’t beat that show twice – he’s an amazing performer!

 

 

 
 
 
Cleaning.  My favorite thing…NOT.  So since we moved in last August and I started at a new school in August things didn’t really get arranged in our place.  Now that we also have all of these wonderful wedding gifts we also need a place for them. So, this week I’ve been on a cleaning and organizing rampage. I’m making some progress….
 
Here’s the after of our linen closet in our bathroom…
 
So this will not be the last I talk of our wedding, but I’m so excited because our awesome photographer Alli at LTL Photography has gotten a few images done. I love, love, love everything she has shown so far.  Here are two that are completed…
 
 
This one is my favorite- first look with Andy –
 
 
 
I was also lucky this week to get to attend a day of the SDE Differentiation Instruction Conference at the Venetian.  Wow – what great presenters they have.  I will have a separate post on some of my takeaways from my DI day this weekend.
 
Barre class – I have a love and hate relationship with this. I tried it in April and signed up soon after. I used to dance so this workout was right up my ally.  Boy is it a workout. My first day I was like oh this is easy, you hardly use any wait, you hardly use any movement – boy was I hurting the next day.  After being gone the last month off and on I finally went back to class this week.  I missed it! What a great workout!
 
 
 
 
Thanks for stopping by and seeing what I was up to this week. Be sure to link up with Kacey here.

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July Currently

Uncategorized July 1, 2015
I’m linking up with Farley for her July Currently.  2 posts in 2 days – I’m starting to get the hang of this blog thing again!  Can’t believe June is gone, but looking forward to a fun, relaxing, productive July.
 
Listening: Another Law and Order SVU Marathon on USA.  I’m finding these are on most days lol.
 
Loving: I love, love, love summer.  We don’t report back until August 10 so I’m excited that will still have about a month and a half left!
 
Thinking: I’m thinking about what to wear and where to get dinner reservations before the Kenny Chesney concert on Friday.  My husband and I saw him 2 years ago in Vegas and are so excited to see him again Friday. He puts on an amazing show!
 
Wanting: We just got back from a week long honeymoon to Riveria Maya Mexico. I miss it. I miss the beach, listening to the ocean, the delicious food, the bottomless drinks and all the fun things the all-inclusive had.  I could’ve used a few more days there.
 
Needing: So, my July project is reorganizing and cleaning out our apartment. We moved in last year in August which is when school started, so there are boxes that were just put in a closet (no clue what’s in them). We also are very lucky to have many new items from our wedding registry.  I need to do some major organization and cleaning and get this place ready so upkeep will be easy once school starts.
 
All Star: Planning – I love to plan.  I love to plan for school (working on long-range plans now), planning the wedding, and the honeymoon. While two of those things are over, I feel like I did a pretty successful job on both and just love to have a plan – each day and every day!
 
 
Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to link up with Farley!
 
 

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I’m Back…

Uncategorized June 30, 2015
I know it has been forever since I’ve blogged, but I’m back and have many ideas and new products I’m excited to share in the next few weeks!  The past few months have been crazy.  With the end of school, wedding, and honeymoon – time has flown by!
 
On a personal note, I’m super excited to share a few wedding pictures here.  Andy and I got married June 12 in AZ and it was perfect. I wouldn’t have done anything differently, just wish the day could’ve lasted longer!

We then went on our honeymoon last week to Riveria Maya Mexico. We stayed at the Valentin Imperial Resort. It was gorgeous.  We had an amazing time.  Here are a few pictures below…

I will now get back to blogging educational things – just had to show what I’ve been up to the last few months.  Excited to be back in the blogging world!

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