Monday Made It!

It's definitely a Monday Made It post for me this week!  I have been non-stop working by butt off since school ending on June 12th!  I had 2 days of summer break and then I was back at again with teaching Summer Reading Recovery lessons, common core summer work (30+ hours), and tutoring!  Today was my last day of summer reading lessons and finished up common core work yesterday!  I am so excited to enjoy the whole month of July with relaxing days at the pool, catching up on some reading, and spending time with my hubby, family, and friends!

Earlier in the week as I was working with one of the students I tutor we worked on the strategy of "Reading is Thinking!"  We read a cute little book called "The Burglar Next Door."  This was a great way for my little guy to learn all about the different things we think about as we read.  On his post its, he wrote about a part he was surprised by, a question he was wondering about, a prediction he had, and his favorite part.   These cute little "Reading is Thinking" cards with sentence stems were a perfect way to help him write complete sentences about his thinking!  You can get a copy of these cards here!  Click here to learn more about how we used the "Thinking with Post- Its"during guided reading!

  

As I was tutoring my little friend, I thought it would be beneficial for me to check up on how he was doing with reading the 2nd grade dolch sight words.  Instead of placing flash cards in front of him or a sheet with a list of words, I created a colorful and engaging powerpoint to assess dolch sight words.  Here are some pictures and a small snapshot video of how to use the dolch sight words for assessment. I was pleased to see that he was able to read 95% of the sight words tested. Now I have a better understanding of where I need to continue or re-teach sight words while tutoring him.  You can pick up this pdf powerpoint here!

Later in the week I had the pleasure of playing in a "Parent-Kid" baseball game! {Side not, I am not a parent yet, but I got to play against my little 7 year old brother and his team with my mother-in-law!} We had such a fun time playing against the kids!  I was terrified for my life when my little bro-in-law was pitching against me!  I thought for sure I was going to get nailed by the ball!  I didn't know whether to whack it or let him strike me out!  I, of course, had to play hard ball and hit it! :)

 

 After the game the team had a fun picnic dinner at the beach in Barrington, Illinois.  I couldn't resist taking a few pictures! It was so quaint and cute!  Beautiful homes that overlooked the lake and fun little beach for the kids!

Later that night, little Ethan {brother-in-law} came over and we got to do a fun scavenger hunt around my house with double digit addition and subtraction task cards with QR codes!  He absolutely loved it!  He had no idea he was even doing academics!  Perfect way to get some extra practice in over the summer!  You can grab this fun activity here! You can also check out my post from earlier this year to see how it worked in the clasroom.  Click here for the post!

 

One of my newer things I am trying to do as I become all grown up is to be a better cook!  I really don't find any part of cooking enjoyable, but I do love good food! My mother-in-law introduced this yummy recipe to me last summer and I just had to make it again for a little summer get together I had with some of my teacher friends! This is a great orzo shrimp pasta dish that is a perfect side dish!   Click here for Barefoot Contessa's Orzo Shrimp Recipe!!

Lastly, these past 2 weeks have been very busy with making activities for Kindergarten Common Core units.  I had the pleasure of working with our K team and creating supplemental activities for helping our beginning learners to recognize numbers from 0-25.  This 100+ page package is filled with common core aligned activities that are colorful, interactive, and allows students to become familiar with numbers in lots of different ways! Click here to get a copy of your own package!

Hope you enjoyed today's Monday Made It!  Thanks so much for stopping by :)

*Caitlin