Do You Follow the Fly Lady?

Some of you know who the Fly Lady is -- Marla Cilley who runs the home organization website.  Every summer, I work at getting my routines going.  I have to confess that every school year, I lose momentum somewhat.  The website and books are great resources.

In case you are not familiar with this process, the idea is to accomplish housecleaning tasks through a series of morning and evening routines.  The emphasis is not on perfection, but getting to the point that you can automatically get some tasks done each day. 

I found a free downloadable control journal for teachers that I am using to create routines at home and school.  I am not following this plan exactly.  I figured out that I have a set of tasks that I complete on a two-week cycle.  I'm not shooting for perfection, but sanity.

Quotes of the Week and TPT Sale

A friend sent me a post "16 Quotes About Writing for Children."  Here is my favorite:

“Let children read whatever they want and then talk about it with them. If parents and kids can talk together, we won't have as much censorship because we won't have as much fear.”

Judy Blume

As a parent, this is how I read with my stepdaughter.  I committed to reading what she was interested in and talking about it with her.  There probably isn't a topic we haven't talked about over the years.
 

Don't forget today and tomorrow:

Yes, it's that time again.  Everything in my Teachers Pay Teachers store will be 20% August 18 & 19.  If you enter the promo code BTS13 at check out, you will get 10% off of that.  So a $10 would be $8.00 from my sale and then with the promo code, it would cost $7.20.

Apple Patterning Freebie -- Back to School #4

 

Click here for the Apple Patterning Free Printable

 

 

 

Here is another in my series of patterning activities.  Before computers, I would trace a tag board pattern on graph paper and tell students to color the outside one pattern and the inside a different pattern. 

 

This activity comes in three sizes of graph paper: 1/4 inch, 1/2 inch and 1 inch. 

 



Don't forget the Teachers Pay Teachers Sale this weekend.

Yes, it's that time again.  Everything in my Teachers Pay Teachers store will be 20% August 18 & 19.  If you enter the promo code BTS13 at check out, you will get 10% off of that.  So a $10 would be $8.00 from my sale and then with the promo code, it would cost $7.20.

 

Teachers Pay Teachers Back to School Sale

Yes, it's that time again.  Everything in my Teachers Pay Teachers store will be 20% August 18 & 19.  If you enter the promo code BTS13 at check out, you will get 10% off of that.  So a $10 would be $8.00 from my sale and then with the promo code, it would cost $7.20.

All the Wrong Questions by Lemony Snicket

Over last summer, I discovered Lemony Snicket's four book series, All the Wrong Questions.  Only the first book is available and the second will be released October 13, 2013.  This is a prequel to his popular Series of Unfortunate Events.  We learn about Lemony Snicket's adolescence.

Update: now three books in the series are available.



I have to say that the first three books in the original series were my favorites.  I faithfully bought and read the entire series, but I was disappointed in The End.  There were so many questions left unanswered.  I hope this prequel series will sort out a few loose ends and not just add more.

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Find me at Goodreads.



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Have you heard of Professor Sugata Mitra?

I first heard Professor Sugata Mitra speak on the morning show of the local oldies station.  Usually reading comprehension isn't a hot topic in mainstream media, but when the Huffington Post quoted him as saying spelling and grammar isn't important his views went viral.  To summarize, with the autocorrect features in technology, learning the rules isn't necessary.  I think his remarks were taken out of context.

After finding this TED talk about bringing computers to very poor children in other countries, I'm glad I have discovered his work.  Children teach themselves using technology.  The underprivileged excel given the opportunity. The key is having groups of students using the same computer so they have to solve the problems together.

My favorite part of the video is where Italian students who speak no English, use Google translate and search engines to find the answers to questions presented to them in English. 

Now Professor Sugata Mitra is focused on reading comprehension.  I can't wait to see his results.

Quote of the Week -- August 11, 2013

"Develop success from failures.
Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success."
Dale Carnegie