Weekend Warriors: 3-2-1 Teacher Bio

I'm joining Primarily Speaking for the Weekend Warriors Linky Party!

I love getting a chance to read more about the teacher bloggers and their lives, it's a great community of educators who truly enjoy sharing their ideas!  After this post, I'm off to read more about the individuals in this community! 

#1 - I've been teaching for a while, but at times I still feel like a newbie.  One thing I truly love about teaching is that I'm still learning new things myself each year.  I found out what works for me and my class and what doesn't.  My teaching style has definitely changed since my first year of teaching, but I have always stayed true to myself.

#2 - One lesson I had done a few years ago for my formal observation was on congruent shapes.  Instead of introducing the concept, I showed digital cards that followed the "definition" (or RULE as I called it) and some that didn't.  I had students tell me what they could see, then I showed them another set of both following and not following.  The students told me their new observations, then they were given cards that they had to decipher if it followed the rule or not.  Then I asked the students "What does congruent shapes mean?" and they all were able to give the definition in their own words.  This was something the NEVER forgot throughout the year.  I truly believe that since they discovered and investigated it on their own that they could easily retain the information.

#3 - This is another big reason why I love the teacher blogging community, you get a chance to get exposed to new ideas!  I had never heard of SCOOT and I tried it once in math with my kids and they absolutely LOVED it!  I changed up my reading groups and applied Daily 5 and my students (and myself) enjoyed our reading block more and got more out of it!

#1 - I was a child of a Military family, but luckily didn't have to move THAT much compared to others.  I grew up in Hawaii from Kindergarten to 6th Grade, then moved to Florida.  I think that getting the chance to live in Hawaii, which was at the time VERY different to lifestyle in the rest of the "mainland" as we called it, gave me to bug to live overseas one day!  I had looked into teaching overseas at one point, but I actually ended up getting a teaching job nearby.  (I wasn't ready to move away from my family at that point.)  But after 5 years of teaching, I made the decision to move to Australia.  It was scary and I didn't realize how big of a move it was!  After being here for over a year I'm still loving it and finding myself really being "at home."  Let's hope my permanent visa goes through and I can stay here!

#2 - Thanks to my dad I'm a HUE technology nerd.  I had 2 iPads, an iPod Touch, current iPhone & an old iPhone, my MacBook and so on.  Really, should I say I'm an Apple/Mac nerd?  (Did I mention I also have an AppleTV?)  Either way I use EACH item in my classroom at some point!  I'm asking all my friends that if they're getting rid of their old iPhones to donate them to my class to use as an iPod Touch! We live in an age where technology is taking over, and I love incorporating it in the classroom!  (But only to a certain extent!  No terminator problems arising in my classroom please!)

I was all about moving and teaching overseas for years and I finally achieved it! (I'm still shocked I went through with this!)  My next goal is to take this blog to the next level!  I want to make sure I post regularly (and schedule posts ahead of time) and possibly get the chance to attend a meet up of some sort!  (Teacher Bloggers of Australia, think we could arrange this at some point?)  I'd love to collaborate more and participate in more of these linky parties! It exposes me to new blogs and bloggers!

Five for Friday!

Five for Friday is a weekly teacher linky party where you post five random things from today or this past week and on your blog. Check out the linky party at Doodle Bugs Teaching.

Getting Ready for Full-Time Teaching!

So excited to get back into the classroom regularly and have my own class again!  I have got so many new ideas I'd like to implement into my class.  My favourite at the moment is having the class update our classroom Twitter account with things we have learned throughout the day.  I got to meet with my class this week for a day of observation and meet with the team of teachers I'll be working with.  So anxious to get started in 3 weeks!

Teacher Bucket List

Got this from MyDayinK and wanted to quickly share my own Teacher Bucket List.  I've been teaching for 6 years now and I'm getting to the point in my career that I'd like to take on some kind of leadership role, mainly among the lines of helping other teachers through a workshop or something.  I'd like to go back to school and get a Master's in Reading Education (specifically) because I know there's so much more that I can learn.  And finally, I'd like to implement more class projects since I know these are the things students love most and can get the most out of it.

Engineering Process

I had a relief day where they asked me to come up with a lesson to do with a variety of ages.  I only had 50 minutes with each class and I was allowed photocopying time, but I opted out from worksheets and more of a hands-on lesson.  The students used tape and straws to build a structure to stand during our make shift earthquake.  I was worried about the Year 1s, but they did awesome!  Look at this one!  Great structure and done all by themselves!  That was a good day!

The Day the Crayons Quit!

I did a small reading group activity using this book about describing characters.  We described the boy in the story, which was interesting because all we knew about the boy was from letters from each crayon.  It was amazing how much we could tell about the boy without ever meeting him!  Loved this book, I'm definitely going to look out for more from this author!

School Holidays!

In just a little under a week I'll be on school holidays!  I'm ready to spend some time reading up on Daily 5 & Teaching with Intention, once my books get in.  I can't wait to get into my classroom and organize some things and look over information I need to know.  Nice to get 2 weeks off to restart!

Technology Tips: Flubaroo & Google Forms

I love spending some downtime on Pinterest, you often find some amazing ideas.  I recently came across using Google Forms  & the add on "Flubaroo" to grade work.  

Now I don't often give worksheets/quizzes to give to students, but I will give one every once in a while to assess and/or document progress.  (Unfortunately, our system focuses a lot on data.)

Why waste time on grading multiple choice work when you can a script to do that for you?  

I came across this idea through this Tech with Jen post & she has a great tutorial for how to set up Flubaroo!  Check out her post and video, I found it very helpful.

Here's a video featured on their website:

Add your technology tip!

An InLinkz Link-up

Five for Friday!

Five for Friday is a weekly teacher linky party where you post five random things from today or this past week and on your blog. Check out the linky party at Doodle Bugs Teaching.

Figurative Language

I was in a class the past two weeks and the teacher had been working on Figurative Language.  She was in those days, but I was in for Planning relief or assistance.  She was excited to have me in because of how enthusiastic I was with teaching Figurative Language.  I love analyzing them with students and have them use it in their own writing.  Make sure to check out these task cards by Rachel Lynette!

Making 100 with Year 2s

This was something I worked with students that they had a hard time understanding.  I found that ABCYA.com had an interactive 100 chart that you could use to demonstrate.  They had to roll the dice to make a 2-digit number and colour it one colour, then had to figure out how much more they needed to make 100 using the chart.  

Science with PrePrimary

We have been learning about the necessities for living things.  The past two weeks we focused on our bodies.  We did an activity that caused us to move around and compare our heartbeats before and after activity, then we talked about what causes sweat and how sweat helps us.  This was a cute video at the end of the lesson regarding heartbeat that the young ones enjoyed.  My group is pretty good with science and LOVE learning more!

Writing Anchor Charts

If you haven't checked it out yet, I've uploaded another set of Anchor Charts!   This one focuses on writing!  I posted this last month, but I've noticed more buyers purchasing this along with my Language Arts & Reading Anchor charts!  Found them all at my TPT store!

Job Offers

No picture here, but recently I was offered a full-time position here in Australia!  Once that one job offer came in I got a call for an interview and offered another position at a school nearby.  I'm just so happy to have the opportunity to be in a classroom regularly!  It's been great doing relief work for 7 months to get used to Aussie schools & curriculum.  So anxious!

Currently in June

Oh Boy 4th Grade

Listening ... The Hills

Been in bed for a few days, and I've just been re-watching The Hills and reliving all the drama!

Loving ... My Class Website Updates

Fixed up my "class website" even though I don't have a class at the moment.  Just did some fine tweaking so that it can be ready to go for when I do get a class! (http://StephanieBillings.blogspot.com.au)

Thinking ... Job Offers

Seems like things are finally picking up for me and teaching in Australia.  I got an interview lined up, then a job offer, and another one once a school found out I got offered a job.  I hope I picked the right one for me. 

Wanting ... School Holiday to Start

Although I've only been doing relief work, I've been working every school day for the past month and a half.  I'm like the kiddos, I'm ready for school holidays so I can organize some things.

Needing ... Sickness to be Dunzo

I've been sick for nearly 2 weeks and I thought I was getting better, but I ran out of meds yesterday and I wasn't feeling well this morning.  I hate that even though I don't really get sick often (1-2 a year), but when I do I seem to truly crash.

Summer Lovin ... It's Winter?!

Well, no summer here in Australia, it's just the start of WINTER! I'm in desperate need of some pants to add to m collection of clothes.