Student-Led Learning: Just the Place to Start

Welcome to The Best Days Blog! If it is your first time visiting, I'm glad you're here!  If you read my blog regularly, I love that you have come back to read it again!  I am SUPER excited to share with you my continual search for the Student-Led Classroom in the form of best practices and ideas that work for me and everyone!  I'm calling this Just the Place to Start because it is going to be a place where you can read and discover from past, present, and future blog posts based on my experiences in the Student-Led Classroom!  It will be, literally, a list that grows and changes so that you will have most of my posts in one place on this subject.  I'm just going to claim right now that "most" will be right.  You know how busy we get, so, be sure to follow me here on my blog so you get all the latest posts!  So, here we go! 

Fearless Learners Book Study

Fearless Learners   Grab a copy and join in the fun!  
Fearless Learners: Student-Led Learning with a Little Fear Added In!    
Student-Led Learning:  It's All Gonna' be Just Fine 
Student-Led Learning:  Go For It! 
Student-Led Learning:  Connect with EVERYONE!  
Student-Led Learning:  Failure IS an Option!  
Student-Led Learning:  Celebrate Good Time, Come On! 

Student-Led Learning Series:  

Where Can I Find More Information?
What Does the Research Say?
Classroom Design and Open Seating

Other Student-Led Musings:

Chew on This:  Student Inquiry with Dr. Larry Chew
Project Based Learning:  Shedding a Light on Area and Perimeter
Change Your Homework Collection Forever
Author's Point of View:  A Video Presentation 
Author's Point of View:  How we REALLY Learned the Style of Multiple Choice Questions
Author's Point of View:  Independently!  


That's a lot!  And there will be plenty more as I move into this model in my classrooms more and more!  I can't wait to share even more with you, so check back often!  Also, feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts, ideas, and experiences!  Let's learn together, so comment below! 

Welcome to the HOP!

Hello everyone and welcome to the HOP!  I'm so happy to be the first stop on Conversations From The Classroom's very first HOP celebrations!  So, since you are here, I'd like to share a little bit about myself!  

The Best Days

I'm a wife, a mom, and a full time teacher!  I've been teaching for 24 years in the same county.  I have been at two different schools within this system.  I currently teach 3rd grade, but have taught 1st-5th in self-contained classrooms and I spent two years in my schools Science Lab, teaching all grades for one period a day!  That was a great time to really practice those science inquiry skills on a daily basis. 

I also enjoy photography!  One of the greatest times I've had taking pictures had to be when my oldest son and I went on a mission trip to Denver.  We visited The Garden of the Gods and the Olympic Center before heading home.  Here's a few cool pics!  

Without a doubt, that mission trip was one of the most amazing times I've ever had learning about the world around me.  I learned what homelessness really is, how people are still people and loving them is key!  Here's a lovely lady I met.  She is Sioux and she opened my eyes to the truth about Reservation life.  I now long to go to a Reservation to work with people there!  

Teaching is so important to me, and it has opened up my life to so many ideas, thoughts, and emotions as a person.  It also makes my creative juices flow!  So, before I get to me giveaway, here's one more thing about me!  I LOVE to sew!  I learned when I was 14 years old and still love to create my own clothing!  Here's an outfit I made.  I made the shirt last year and the skirt this past summer.  I fell in love with that butterfly fabric!  It encompasses so much about me-color, nature, and fun!  

Now to the GIVEAWAY!!  WHOOT!  I have picked three products to giveaway.  I feel they show off my creative side!  The first two are writing based-one primary and one intermediate!  I have also picked one of my literature based products-Reading Response Pages: Any Book Literacy Pages Exploring Character Development!  Here's how this will work. Simply reply below with YOUR EMAIL and primary OR intermediate in the comment.  You can comment in any additional way you like!  

  

I will pick three winners from the comments below.  Please note, due to Blogger issue, I can't reply to any comments, so, email is the only way I can contact you!  :)  While your here, be sure to follow me by clicking the Follower button in the bar below or on Blog Lovin' or any of the other Social Media sources!  Winner announced on February 3rd!  (And you can all win because I'm having a sale too!)

Now, HOP on over to our next stop, ZIPPADEE ZAZZ!  Don't stop until you make your way all the way back to my blog!  That way you will know you have completed the HOP!  

Today I'm over at Conversations From The Classroom discussing planning in writing!  So many of us skip this part, not understanding the value within planning!  Jump on over and check out everything I have to share about this important step in the writing process!

Or, if you are visiting from CFTC, feel free to look around and enjoy my blog!  Leave me a comment while you are here.  I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Conversations from the Classroom Collaborative Blog

     I am super excited to be a part of a new collaborative blog, Conversations from the Classroom!  Today is our blog launch!  This includes a brief introduction of who we are and a chance at entering a contest!  This is the first of many posts to come from a variety of wonderful Teacher-Authors!  We have everything from Pre-k through 7th grade, including a mix of special education people also!  In addition to this, we have an upcoming Dollar Dash on January 2nd and 3rd, just in time to get some great materials for heading back into the classroom for "the long stretch"!  Tomorrow you can check out all of the deals available at the blog or search for them using #NewYearNewBeginning!  I'll give you a little peek at my deal!  Totally new too!  

So, head on over to Conversations from the Classroom and be sure to come back often, to both here and there!