Goodness Gracious: A Workshop, Classity Class, & Projects Galore

At the risk of sounding dramatic, I have hit a wall.  A very large concrete wall.  I seriously need a break in the BIGGEST way, but I still have one more week of my accelerated course to go and LOTS of work to do in between now and Friday.  No pressure, right?  The good news is... I can check the workshop off of my list.  That's one less thing haunting me in the recesses of my mind for now, but seriously, I LOVED presenting.  Last year was my very first speaking engagement, and I was a total bucket of nerves.  I don't know what happened between now and then, but I guess you could say I'm "growing up".  I was so much more confident, and of course it helped that I teamed up with two fabulous old colleagues of mine... from my old district.  It was so nice to work with them again and share a my love of teaching comprehension strategies with all of the participants.  Maybe that's what the difference was!  When you love something, it just bursts out of you, and enthusiasm is contagious!  I realized that I COULD teach two sessions... and I could do them twice... and that I could do it without freaking out.  Saying yes to new things is sooooo scary sometimes, but you just never know how it will go and how much it will impact you until you take a leap of faith, and I am glad that I did.  I really hope to continue sharing my love of literacy for years and years to come! :)

I don't have time to put everything into context, but if you're interested in seeing some of the posters that littered our walls, you can check them out below.  Not all of them are mine.  About half of them were created by my fabulous "unofficial mentor" Debbie.  She's seriously a total ROCK STAR!  Hopefully you'll be able to find something you can use/tweak for your own kiddos!

If you have any specific questions, just ask away!  I am pretty sure we were great advertisement for Tanny McGregor.  I'm practically a groupie.  :)  I may not have time to get to your questions right away due to my grad school projects & a baby shower this weekend (not mine).  I promise that I will try to address them as soon as I can though!  It's a promise! :)  I won't leave you hanging!

Other than the workshop, I am slowly trying to work on some projects I started for my classroom.  It took me forever to make all of the Sight Word Star Activities, but now I am in the process of trimming around them so they are ready to laminate and stick on rings once school starts.  I am also trying to add to my fluency arsenal, so I created some phrasing cards to stick in my center and use as a Vocabulary Star-esque game with a 50's vibe that I've coined, "Order Up!"  I had to create three separate bundles, because they are so big and I want to be able to offer choices!  So, I have a packet with Fry Phrases from the first 100 words and the first 200 words, a packet with the first 300 words and the first 400 words, and a packet with the first 500 words and 600 words.  As always, I want a big range in my classroom, because my kiddos come to me at alllllll different places.  :)  If you're interested in checking out the bundles, they are on sale for 20% off through tomorrow 6/23 as my little thank you for still following me even when I stink at posting regularly!  Thanks for hanging with me!  Have a wonderful weekend!