Foldable Fun + Goodbye Student Teacher

I am a huge fan of foldables in my math classroom.I think they make note-taking so much more interesting. My first year of teaching, I remember going to a Dinah Zike's workshop and falling in love. My students had foldables galore that they put in a sheet protector in their binders. When I asked students to pull out their notes though, very few still had them.

Then, interactive notebooking inters my life. My students now use spiral or composition notebooks, have a table of contents, and their foldables are glued in on a specific page they can find. Now,more students have their notes and can locate them at a later date to study if needed.

Then, I attend CAMT 2013 in San Antonio, and not only does Jennifer of 4mulaFun do interactive notebooks, but her foldables (flippables as she calls them) are interactive too! I was coming up on the topic of converting rational numbers in my 6th grade math classroom. Taking notes for converting between fractions, decimals, and percents can be a long process and very cumbersome...but not with this product I bought from Jennifer.

So, instead of me going through notes, students started with a foldable that only had the outside labels. They cut out all the pieces that would fill the inside of the foldable with an example and written directions for each process. Students then did a matching activity where they used their prior knowledge to complete the foldable with all directions and examples in the correct places.

I checked off each groups' placements before allowing them to glue them in. Within 10 minutes, all students had completed notes that were not dictated by me.

And we were able to move on to using the notes to get the practice needed to apply the information.

I loved it and the kids did a great job! I will definitely be looking to make my note-taking more interactive in the future. Thanks so much to Jennifer for being willing to share a great product. If you're not familiar with her, you should definitely check out her blog and TeachersPayTeachers store.

In addition to a great day of math class, it was also my student teacher's last day, which made it bitter sweet. I had the kids write a note to her using templates I found here. Students chose to either write about something they remember her teaching, five reasons she'll be a great teacher, advice for teaching, or why they loved having her as a student teacher. I then took all of their notes and made a keepsake book with pictures of the kids, all their notes, and a few notes from me along with a gift card to a local teacher supply store to get her started on her way.

Unfortunately, because of the crazy Texas weather, my student teacher didn't get to walk the stage, but she's a graduate nonetheless. I hope she had a great experience in our classroom and I wish her all the best!

January Cara Box Reveal

So, this was my first time participating in the Cara Box Exchange organized by Kaitlyn @ Wifessionals! I had the opportunity to be paired up with two awesome women, Kayla @ A Momma's 15 Minute Time Out and Gayle @ Grace for Gayle!

{One} I had a blast getting to know Kayla and shopping for her! I absolutely love giving gifts. I think I enjoy giving more than receiving!

Want to see what I got her, head on over to Kayla's blog to find out!

{Two} I was looking forward to receiving a box from Gayle! And this weird thing happened...through our emails and blog stalking, we found out that we live in the same city. Crazy, right? So instead of mailing my Cara Box to me, Gayle and I met up for coffee at our local Starbucks! Super cool, right? Who can say that they met their Cara Box Match in person? I can!!!

This month's Cara Box theme was resolutions! If you read my resolutions post, you know that my two focuses for 2013 are spiritual and physical fitness! Gayle did an excellent job buying items that will be great for helping me achieve my 2013 goals!

I had been considering buying weight lifting gloves since I crossed the great divide and moved into weight lifting and not just cardio at the gym. I was so excited when I opened my box and found weight lifting gloves, a water bottle, a tennis ball for rolling out those pesky knots, Gatorade fuel, a scripture-filled journal, and heart-shaped sticky notes! Gayle also wrote a sweet note of encouragement that had me smiling from ear to ear!

Gayle, thanks for not making me feel like a stalker! So glad you wanted to meet in person. I truly enjoyed our two-hour coffee date! Someone sitting near would have thought we'd known each other forever. I am encouraged by your life and the struggles you've overcome. I appreciate you letting me into your life and I am inspired by your love for Jesus! I look forward to keeping in touch!

Kayla, thanks so much for being so open and honest with me. It is so obvious that you strive to live for God in all you do! I am thankful to know you and really enjoyed getting to know you this month and praying for you. Thanks for educating me on the Siesta Scripture Memorization Team, raw eating, and juicing!

Thanks again, Kayla and Gayle for making my first Cara Box Exchange unforgettable! Happy to have two new friends in the blogosphere (and in real life)! I had a great Cara Box experience and will probably participate again in the future. If you want to know more about the Cara Box Exchange and/or want to sign up, head over to Wifessionals!

Want to see more Cara Box Reveals for the month of January? Check out the link-up!

What a Weekend?!

My weekend began with work....yuck! But, it actually wasn't that bad. We had Saturday School, which is completely voluntary. Students can get some proactive tutoring lessons to prepare for their semester exams. We had 156 students turn out! That's about 1/4 of our school. I was so encouraged by their willingness to come to school when it wasn't mandatory.

I spent the afternoon shopping for baby shower gifts and Christmas gifts for my team of teachers at work!

The result was a cart filled with all of this...

Read more about the Christmas gifts I made here. I am very happy with the end result!

I then proceeded to my friend Jill's baby shower! Jill and I taught together and have continued to keep in touch, even though I've moved on to a different school.

Our whole gang was there! Even, our girl Shayna, who recently moved back home to Lubbock to be with family!

We call our little book club "50 Shades of Cray!" We didn't read the book you're thinking of together...you'd have to ask Thanh for a story behind the name. Anyway, it was so cool celebrating the parents-to-be and to get our whole gang together!

Sunday started out with a great church service, followed by celebrating my hubby's birthday! He was totally caught off guard when I told him his ride had arrived...when he looked out side, he was greeted by a limo! And, when the door was opened for him, some of his closest friends were already inside!

Read more about his birthday experience here.

With all the men out spending time together, I got so spend some much-needed time with my dear friend, Angela! We didn't take any pictures, but we did do a little shopping! Can't wait to share some of the steals I found...including a skirt from the LOFT on final sale for $4.88! Woot! Woot! Or in Angela's words, POW!

And to top it all off...I won my fantasy football game this week! I'll be playing in the championship game next week! Woot! Woot! That means I'm guaranteed to end the season at least in second place! I'm super excited!

Hope you guys had a great weekend! I'm so excited that there's only one more week before winter break! So excited to visit my family soon!

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