Our Month in Paris - An eBook

After a year long adventure that ended with me strolling down the Champs-Elysee gnawing on a baguette, I managed to get my thoughts down on paper. Those thoughts turned into 124 pages when it was all done. What else could I do with it than turn it into a book. I had purchased many an eBook off the internet from this place called SmashWords not to look into it. SmashWords is a self-publishing institution that allows the authors to offer their works up for the public good. I thought it would be the best way to get my book out to the world. I pushed the button on Oct 14th of 2012 in honor of my furbaby, Scudder's what would be 13th birthday. I love looking at it online. It's gives me the giddies. If you have ever thought of traveling to Paris, you should check this out! Our Month in Paris

Math Exemplars - Gotta Love Them

I have a kinda Love-Hate relationship with math word problems. I see the basic need for the students to be able to attack these kinds of questions with skill. But teaching them to pull a four sentence prompt apart is harder than it sounds.

Exemplars is just a fancy term used to cover math word problems that require the kids to do a lot of thinking to find the answer. They combine reading skills, analysis, computation, reasoning, vocabulary, and writing skills to complete. They are a complete educational package in one! I've been using them twice a week in my classroom as part of our Calendar time.

I print out a word problem that uses their names to increase the participation. The students glue them into their math journals and then use a variety of techniques to complete them for the morning activity. I teach them simple strategies first, such as the CUBES method I found on Pinterest this summer. The kids just Circle important numbers, Underline questions, Box math vocabulary, Explain their thinking, and then Solve the problem.

Getting them to do this every time is a chore reminiscent of pulling teeth. But if you keep after them they will start internalizing the process. After the first quarter of school, I boost it up to the next level. G E P P S. This is more labor intensive but you get a really good insight into how they are thinking and if they can explain their process in a coherent manner. I've uploaded an explanation of this model over at TpT.

You can check it out here: GEPPS MODEL

I also put together my first set of 20 exemplars that start the school year off in one package that includes an Answer Key here: Set 01

I do believe the effort and time is worth putting in with these word problems. It really helps the kids focus on what the questions are asking and not to get tripped up in too much verbage. The BIG TEST is always chock full of these and this is a great way to help prepare them for that day. Have fun!

Planetary Project - Text Features

I was wracking my brain trying to figure out a project to do with the kids for our Science unit on Planets. I didn't want to be stuck doing the same old model of the solar system and have to grade tons of painted styrofoam balls this year. Flipping through our pacing guide for the second nine weeks, I spy my salvation. Text features!

I know, it doesn't sound like such an inspiring topic. But I began to think of how to make it work for me. Why couldn't I have the students create a research project on the planets that makes use of all the text features I have to teach? Kind of like a first hand experience, eh?

So I came up with this little seven page project that you can print out for the kids. You can pick it up for yourself, right over here: Planetary Project

 

Let me know how it works out for you!

Planet Postcard - FREE resource

I am so excited to start teaching our unit on Planets tomorrow. One of the first things I plan to do is share the story from Loreen Leedy, Postcards from Pluto. It's a tale of six children that venture out into the solar system and send their parents postcards from their stops. I plan to have my students make their own postcards to hang out on our bulletin board. The front has a spot for them to illustrate their choice of planets. The back has a traditional postcard format for them to write home with some amazing information they've learned on their journey. What's great about this is I am giving y'all the postcard for FREE! Send me a comment and let me know how you plan to use it. Teacher's are always the best at sharing, aren't they?

Planet Postcard

New Venture - TpT

If you haven't already been redirected to the site, TeachersPayTeachers, while browsing educational ideas over at Pinterest, then you are missing out! There are so many incredible resources available for the classroom and some of them are even free! Well, I have decided to throw my hat in this particular ring and give y'all a way to access my AWESOME brain. Actually, bragging aside, it's a way to acquire some really cool ideas and have someone else do all the hard work. So, if you are interested head on over to my 'store' at TpT and pick up some cool resources. Thanks! ScrappyGuy at TpT

Careful - Pinterest will SUCK you in!

As school got closer my Pinterest fascination grew exponentially. I am finding such awesome ideas to get my classroom ready for the new year. I am pinning like crazy and making so much. I love it, but I do need to spend some time doing other things, such as eating, sleeping, etc. My latest creation makes me so happy because it came out so cool. It is a behavior chart that also includes an area for students to move UP into the Outstanding column. So often those really great students are forgotten as you struggle to keep those interruptions in their seats. It's time we praise the GOOD! On that note, I created this chart with the Super Hero theme in mind. I used the amazing Super Pop Pack papers by DesignbyDani to be found at JessicaSprague.com. Here's a link for ya: http://www.jessicasprague.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.pbv.tabs.tpl&product_id=2399&category_id=31&keyword=super+hero&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=317

Y'all know I love me some WordArt. Wordle was a revelation. But now there's Tagxedo! Much more control and fun shapes to work with. It's a bit of a learning curve though. Here's one I made for the start of school!

Lookee what I made! It was Gordon's idea to save up all the Metro tickets while in Paris. For the entire month I couldn't stop myself from bending over to pick up all the littered tickets that were everywhere. This project uses all of the ticket stubs and restaurant cards we also gathered like squirrels' nuts. I used ModPodge to adhere everything. I wasn't liking how the tickets faded into the background so I modged them onto cardstock and cut out a small edge to make them stand out better. I like how it turned out, eventhough the S is a little wonky.

Lookee what I did!

Jessica Sprague is so COOL!

SADNESS! Blog Train has pulled out of the station

What fun we had, though. Right?
I can't thank Kelly enough for putting this together for all of us to enjoy.

I put all of your comments into the Randomizer and came up with one lucky winner.

She is going to get my FULL digital kit called Viva Venizia.

I am sending all of your names to Kelly for the opportunity to win other stuff. So if your name is not at the top of my random list, there is still hope!

Okay, so here's the winner:



Congratulations to Ann! I am going to send you think link very soon for your free kit.

Thanks again to each and every one of you for playing!

SCRAP SCRAP SCRAP Blog Train

Welcome to the Scrap Scrap Scrap Blog Train! All the participating designers have recently been certified as JessicaSprague.com Certified Digital Designers. We are celebrating our new status by giving away mini-kits on a subject we all love - scrapbooking! Here's what you need to know:

*All mini-kits will be available for download through October 18, 2010.

*You can also enter to win a full kit from each designer on their blog. Each blog has different rules on how to enter so make sure you follow the directions!

*We will randomly select one designer's blog and one random comment on that blog. If that person has commented on all 10 blogs he/she will win all 10 kits!

*Be sure to include your e-mail in each comment so we know how to contact you when you win!


Now that we have all that out of the way, let's get this party started!

Back when I discovered paper scrapping I wanted to be surrounded by people who got it, too. I jumped onto Scrapbook.com and drummed up a bunch of people. After several months of meeting together we nicknamed ourselves the GA Peaches. I created this MINI kit to honor those amazing people.



Peach Scrap Mini Kit by ScrappyGuy Designs.
Scrap Scrap Scrap Blog Train

LINK HAS BEEN TAKEN DOWN. SADNESS!

You can also enter to win my Viva Venizia full digital kit



I will give away this kit to one lucky commentor on this post. To enter, you can leave a comment on my post.
Please include your e-mail in each comment so you can be contacted when you win. Winner(s) will be chosen using random.org.

Your next train stop is Rill Studio. Click HERE


Here is the list of all the participating designers and their blogs in order. The designers are from all over the world so please be patient if the blog train posts aren't posted yet.

Simply Kelly Designs

Kelly Hedgespeth

Blog | Store

Erica Made Designs

Erica

Blog | Store

Latz Designs

Lisa Breuer

Blog | Store

Ka Boks

Siri Fjortoft

Blog

by the Shore designs by pammie~k

Pam Meeks

Blog | Store

Butterflies and Bluebells

Catherine Wood

Blog | Store

A Little Giggle Designs

Dodie Sarchet-Waller

Blog

September Blue

Kelly Sill

Blog | Store

Scrappy Guy Designs

Gary Fryns

Blog

Rill Studio

Jackie Hatton

Blog | Store

Happy scrapping until next time!

HERE IT IS!!

Art of Digital Design at Jessica Sprague

Sadly, this amazing class has come to an end. The first ever digital designers course has come to fruition and ended as of September 30th. My full kit

has been entered and generously critiqued by Carina Gardner. The final exam has been taken and passed. The actual certificate should be on its way in no time now.

I just wanted to thank Jessica Sprague for putting this amazing class together. I know I bugged her many times about creating such a class for all of us. I am thankful that she consented. Of course, she outdid my expectations. For that, I can never thank her enough.

If you have ever looked at designers kits and thought, "I wonder how they do that." Or, "I can make that." This class is for you! It's going to become available again after the new year, so jump on this bandwagon as soon as you can!

Art of Digital Design

Are you still awaiting the announcement?

And I hope you are, because the release date is coming soon!

Stay tuned.

Huge. HUGE! TH-UGE event

coming soon to this very blog!!

Yeah, you have to wait.

New Digital Kit? Check!

I've been on a digital kit bender ever since completing Jessica Sprague's awesome incredible Art of Digital Design course. Got my mojo back! I went back through all the elements and paper packs that I've created and found 35 full kits and several other element packs just raring to go. Spruced them all up and created previews using my logo design approved by Carina Gardner herself!

But I couldn't stop there now, could I? Not only did I finish the kit required for the class, but I pumped out three brand new full digital kits! My newest one has been haunting me since last year. Venice was such a beautiful city that I couldn't let it just fade into the past. I found tons of fun things to use as ephemera in this kit. Hope you like it.

I thought I'd share my latest preview with y'all and see what you thought. AND if I can get up to 25 comments on it by next Sunday night at 7 P.M. I will bundle up a small sampling of it to offer to you for FREE. Okay, okay. So I would appreciate the love, but there's no reason why you shouldn't benefit as well, right?

Also, check me out on Facebook. I need some friends!

SpragueFest - Album Day

Good morning, fellow friends.

It is I, Mr. Exhausted. And I am here to tell you that the last day spent amongst the SpragueMates was bittersweet indeed.

We got up a little later than expected, so I just ran down to get a few snapshots of the Bagel Breakfast then got some coffee and headed back to the room.

Meg and I showed up for the Album class right at 9 A.M. and found our seats quickly. The room was packed with a rainbow of laptop screens open and ready. As the class downloads were making their way through the room, Jess had each of us stand and give some background info about us. So inspiring to hear how all these far-flung folks came together on this day in history.

Jessica lead us in opening the Exclusive SpragueFest 3 mega collaboration kit. Whoo HOO! Some really great stuff to play with. Many many templates. My personal favorite. I spent a ton of time getting my pic files uploaded, organized, and labeled correctly. Not sure if you know, but real life descends again at 6 A.M. on Wednesday morning. School is set to depart from the Fun Harbor for the rollicking seas ahead. So, I needed to use this time productively and get my photos up and running. Especially the KUH-razy ones of Carina and the Tongue. >:-)

After three hours of goodness we broke for lunch and headed over to Giardino's for some Chicago Deep Dish Pizza. We took over the entire front half of the restaurant again and shared pie after pie. Such fun hanging out with Rayvelle, Deb and Pammie K. Joan made sure that everyone took the leftovers out of the restaurant. Then we gathered for a group shot.

Shopping was next on the list for many of the Spraguers. They were headed to the Nordstrom's Mother ship. I, on the other hand was headed back to the room for a much needed NAP! We were meeting up with Meg's friend, Byron, from school later on. The Hotel Wit has a fantastic rooftop bar where Meg and Byron spent an hour catching up with each other and sharing lives over the past 17 years.

It was time to meet up with Jana, Joan, Jeanne and special guest appearance by Meg's hubby, Bennett! We were going to Shaw's Crab House for some amazing LOB-stah!! Just as we were finishing we got a text from Kari. Their Blue Man Group show was done. Would it be possible to meet up for dessert? DUH!!

We busted in on Stetson's after hours and begged and pleaded. Deborah was more than happy to accomodate 12 sleep deprived punchy SpragueMates. we ordered every single dessert they had and even some chocolate adult yumminess. What a way to wind down an incredible five days. It felt like a whirling dervish sweeping me up, but with a smile on my face the entire time really helped!

Chicago Walking Tour - Making the Noodle Happy

I am very late getting this ready for today. Bagel breakfast started at 8 AM (EEK!) and then class at 9. So, I'm behind.

Yesterday was all about Chicago. The Great Windy City that hosted the 2010 SpragueFest. Jenn's husband Tim was so gracious to offer his history buff-ness for the walking portion of the tour. He even did vast research to make sure we hit all the highlights with great information in hand. He started off with a walk down Wacker towards Fort Dearborn. Then we headed straight down Michigan. Can you imagine over 30 people all walking down the street with camera viewfinders attached to their heads? It was fun!

Our next stop was the Millenium Park with its beautiful fountains and water areas. The most exciting part was seeing the Chicago Bean. I think it has an actual correct name, but it is a huge bean shaped mirror that was so fun to just walk around. I got some amazing shots of the city skyline that looks like I took it with a fisheye lens. We lost Jess to a NineWest store for a bit, but with her being such a good shopper, she was back with us soon.

On towards the Picasso Horse statue and some beautiful stained glass outdoor museum. Next was the Theater District and the original Chicago theater sign. People started to disappear around this time. We found them later at a popcorn store. Meg and I were getting hungry around this time so we headed towards the Noodle House for some rice noodles and curry!

The next few moments were about to make us very UN-popular with the SpragueMates. As we were walking back to the Hyatt, we happened near the Transformers 3 set. It's hard to miss since it takes up like three city blocks. Anyways, people were screaming and pointing and I thought, "Hm, I'm going to take a picture now and figure out why they are so excited later."

Turns out Patrick Dempsey was right across the street waving to his adoring fans. O_M_G! I start snapping away and then my D90 just stops working. WHAT? My card was full and the security was yelling at us to move along. So Meg stepped up and took up the slack. We made many people very mad later when they discovered our secret rendezvous with Mr. McDreamy.

Back to the hotel for a brief 15 min shut eye, then down to the lobby. Wendella Boat Tours wanted us on site a half hour early before the Architecture Tour was to leave. Jana led us all over across the river to the meeting place. We boarded and then spent the next 90 mins calmly floating along the Chicago River, through the locks and out into Lake Michigan. It was a beautiful sunny day for doing this.

We got back a little later than expected so we walked immediately to the restaurant, Italian Village. We took over with all FIFTY of the Spraguers plopped down right through the middle of the place. Linguini and clams was yummy. But apparently nothing like Kristen's cream sauce experience.

I had saved myself for gelato, but made the mistake of telling Carina where we were going. What started out as an innocent gelato run quickly became a night of feral debauchery. Including wild taxi rides, noodle attacks (which Joan continues to deny), flying through the sky with just chains attached, 30 foot skyline turns, and finally begging for ice cream. We made it back to our rooms exhausted, but alive.

CHA - Day Two

I'm back and feeling fine! As soon as I had my coffee yesterday, I was good to go. And I needed it too!

Meg and I arrived back at CHA around 10:30. We didn't have to be in the Sprague Booth until noon, so we did our shopping ahead of time. We stocked up on some Christmas stamps and embossing glitter to make our cards this year. Did a few make-n-takes and Meg scored some great iron on Bling.

We had to fight our way into the booth because it was PUH-ACKED! We both jumped right in on the computer lines helping folks see just how easy Digital Scrapbooking is. The light bulbs going on and the looks of amazement on the thousand or so faces that stopped by was fantastic to see. Sadly we couldn't spend all the quality time we wanted to with each guest because the lines kept backing up. But they did get to play with the Lucky Me quickpage and get a basic gist of working with Photoshop Elements.

Before I knew it, two hours had passed. When you're talking a mile a minute about things you love, that Time sure does fly. Meg and I hopped over to the fruit smoothie boost and stocked up on strawberry and blueberry smoothies and mango smoothies. Then I sat down to make a painted letter G with glitter polka dots. Shhh! It was fun. Meg made herself a pair of earrings. BTW, Nicole? You would love CHA. So many beading booths.

It was time to go back to the booth where the eight folks or so who were working the crowd needed a break. So we all rotated duties. I found myself as the appointed computer guy who stocked inks and paper and then handed out prints for folks who came back later for their pages. Can I just stop for a second and extol the virtues of the Epson R1900? We had three machines working over time these past two days. Even with that, the quality of the pages being printed were amazing from start to finish. Even as ink ran low, I never saw any nasty striations or blurry inks coming out. We rarely had to redo anyone's pages. So many happy smiling faces went away with a gorgeous 12x12 keepsake from JessicaSprague.com.

Later on, I don't quite know how it happened, I managed to shift myself 180 degrees to the other side of the booth to work the camera. I was having so much fun telling folks to turn their shoulders out, pull their chins down just a bit, and give me some sexy hair flips. Candice, you would have been so proud of me! What a great feeling it is to see many people walk away with smiling holding a photo that you took. It didn't hurt that they also had a AWESOME Jessica Sprague layout to show it off, right?

As six o'clock was approaching and we were still clicking and dragging and printing people out, the concept of pulling down the booth began to enter our minds. I don't think any of us liked the idea of leaving poor Jenn all alone in the booth until 9 PM to pack it all up. The last guest skipped away and the lights in the convention center were lowered. We rabidly attacked the booth. There were cables flying, tape being ripped up, cords wrapping themselves almost, pictures being plucked down, banners trickled down and posters were rolled up. Joan and I had the most fun wrapping plastic wrap around the boxes being shipped. Yep, you just heard sarcasm there. When you're trying to flip a box with a 40" monitor and wrap it as well it is interesting.

Yet, the smile that lit up Jenn's face when we had everything packed and labeled and on the carts by 7:30 was worth it all.

We hobbled out to the beautiful white stretch limo driven by Driver Tom. He promptly took us back to the hotel expertly diverting around the movie set for Transformers 3. We changed and met back down in the lobby to walk over to the Tavern on the Park where Jana had finagled us a private room upstairs. The Grand Entrance was made and hugs were passed out. Here's another side note: Kelly (SeaTurtleBean), Pammie-K, and Anne (PinewoodToo) are just the cutest things in person.

We ordered and ate and talked and laughed and snapped many many pictures. So much that we felt like the papparazzi just spotted Nicole Kidman. Afterwards Meg and I were appointed the Hollywood Movie Set tour guides. We lead a group over to where they were filming a scene which apparently included the top half of a building being sheared off and embedded into the pavement below. More pictures ensued. Even one just for Meg and the hot cop.

Back to the hotel around midnight and crawling into bed.