Happy New Year and more stuff that's on my mind...

Happy 2013 everybody!!  

Remember when we were 13 and the year 2013 seemed like the space age?  Well, it's here! 

I can't wait to see what this year brings!! My oldest son will be graduating from LSU this year (My oh my,  how did I get a son that old?!) and my youngest son is going to be finishing up his freshman year of high school (again, HOW did this happen?!). We have been enjoying an awesome Christmas break together- my whole family is just footloose & fancy free (and lazy bums!) Don't you just LOVE that?

Too bad the chaos will resume on Monday....back to school! Basically, those of us who work in the school system actually feel like our year ends in MAY, not December!  Can you relate? 

So during this stupendous, amazing Christmas break I've already texted both my principal and teacher coach about concerns and ideas I have for our benchmark exams (9 weeks exams in ELA, math, social studies and science).  

This is how that went....

Me:   ramblings about how the vocabulary and sentence structure of the questions should be more developmentally appropriate for each grade level and how it may be the case that we are actually assessing the students' LANGUAGE skills rather than knowledge of the subject matter, and I bet if we experimented with this, our students would perform better.  blah blah blah

Teacher Coach:  Ummm....where did this come from? It's Christmas break!  Enjoy ur holiday!  Let's discuss this another time over drinks

Principal:  Did you finally rest enough to put all of that in your head into words?  You're supposed to be resting your brain! etc., etc.  

Hey!  At least I didn't go to the actual school building during the break like some of my co-workers! (you guys need to stop!) 

I DID, however, work from the comfort of my recliner, blankie and PJs (with Lola perched) atop the blankie).  Here's the proof...... 

I mean, we have a whole HALF of the school year left to go- and this half doesn't have incredible things like Thanksgiving and Christmas break!  

So I worked on a few things to help us get through the rest of our first year tackling the common core!! 

My inclusion teachers (who let me take over their classes and whom I ADORE!) liked my first making inferences activity so much that I thought I'd make another :)

My kids Loved this!!  I got to take out my iphone and play with it as part of the lesson!  (I am not ashamed of the fast that I'm in love with my iphone).  Watching me make these phony phone calls even made my 4th graders giggle, AND THEY GOT IT.  

Making inferences isn't rocket science- it's stuff we do everyday.  THEY GOT IT. 

The first one is a freebie in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  (and wow if you haven't become a regular customer at TPT, it is time for you check it out!) 

This is the freebie!!  Get it here for free! 

If you like it or love and want some more of it, you can get the follow up activity for just a buck here

Tomorrow I plan to try to whip up something for my students so we can discuss their New Year's Resolutions when we return to school on January 7.  I hope to post about it so keep an eye out.

As for me, I haven't put my resolutions on paper yet.  Like I said in my first post, I did resolve to start blogging (yay me- resolutiona achieved!).  Besides that, in 2013 I'm trying to keep it simple so maybe I will keep my resolution short and sweet.  I'll never forget a few years ago when I said my New Year's resolution was "to exercise, eat healthy, and lose weight."  My son's response to that (who was 9 or 10 at the time) was "Oh, mom, that never works." 

LOL!

 He really wasn't trying to be ugly, he was just keepin' it real.  

So in honor of that wise boy, I'm keeping it simple and keeping it real.  In 2013 I will be a better ME. 

What's yours?