CCSS Stress and Fabulous Finds on TPT

The days are beginining to smooth out a little bit as my kiddos and I start to settle in to our daily routines.  Thank goodness for routines! I begin to have stress cracks don't do well without a routine.  I know how important it is as a teacher to be flexible and have the ability to think on your feet, but I can be much more flexible and my feet are a whole lot happier if I have a plan and a routine in place. I love adding new ideas or changing the way I approach things when I find a better way.  Making last minute changes because someone threw up, adjusting my instruction because a lesson didn't go as well as I thought it would, or scrapping the plan altogether if needed, don't bother me a bit, but I have serious anxiety if don't feel prepared!  And friends, Common Core math has caused me fits and tears the kind of stress I haven't felt since I was a first year teacher!  With absolutely no training from our district....zero...zilch....nada...my team and I are really struggling to adjust.  I feel very insecure about whether I am teaching the right thing and teaching it in the right way. Many of the standards are so broad, especially the ELA standards, that it seems to me they leave a lot of room for interpretation.   YouTube and researching on common core websites are on my list of new best friends.

(Right up there with Otter Pops!)

I should also mention, in all fairness, that I think my hormones are not helping, and every routine at home has just changed in the last few months.  We sold the house our kids grew up in and moved this summer, our two oldest are now out of college and on their own, my husband changed jobs, and we lost our beloved dog.  I'm usually pretty steady, but I have to admit, it's been a bit too much

 all at once. 

I am starting to recover and see the light at the end of the tunnel though. That light happened to pop into my classroom this week and say. "Hi!  I'm the new district math coach.  I was wondering how it was going and if you needed anything?"  I was literally jumping for joy inside!  Long story short, she's coming to our next PLC to save us!!

Another light at the end of my tunnel has been some REALLY helpful math, reading, and writing resources I've purchased from Jamie Rector's TPT store.  Jamie is my go-to girl for Common Core! We've never met and only emailed-she's the sweetest!- but I'm seriously adding her to my list of new best friends...at the top of the list... ABOVE the Otter Pops!

 Not only am I planning to use the math packet for quick assessments, and the reading organizers for practice, responding to reading during my Daily 5 time, and assessing, but these have  really helped me to clarify what the expectation is for each standard.  Thank you, Jamie!!

I used the August Writing Activities the first two weeks of school as I introduced classroom communities and the different types of writing we would be working on this year.  These were perfect for the first weeks of school even if you start in Sept.  I used one of the pieces to save as a baseline writing assessment.  I'll be using the Personal Narrative Unit beginning this week.  I haven't yet used the Persuasive Letter Writing Unit, but am planning to use it to introduce persuasive writing and include parts of it in my Daily 5 Working on Writing.

If you haven't checked out Jamie's blog, 2nd Grade Stuff...you should! 

 Like I said...better than Otter Pops!