Daily 5: Work on Writing & The Award!

Thanks so much for all of your kind feedback to my Teacher Time Bin! It's so exciting to hear from you how your's looks similar/different and all of the wonderful resources that are out there to jazz up Teacher Time :)

It has been a crazy week, but more on that excitement in a bit.

First, I wanted to share with you that we are delving into adding "Work on Writing" to our Daily 5 rotation and I couldn't be happier! I found with my current schedule that I wasn't able to keep the long Writer's Workshop time that I did last year and I was missing it. So were my kids, actually {I'm lucky to have a class full of kids who love to write! It's rare, but it's awesome!!}, so I knew something had to change.

We had a visiting author to our school today: Justin Matott.

Ohmagoodness, ah-ma-zing!! He is hilarious and totally engaging-- he spoke to a group of 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders for an hour and it felt too short. He had us all in stitches and left every kid inspired to write, revise {miracle man!}, and use writing as a way to be heard in the world..... sigh, he was honestly incredible. Check out his website HERE.

Inspired by this wonderful author, we launched Work on Writing and created our Anchor Chart (quickly, since they are pro's by now) and jumped in:

The 101 Writing Prompts that I mention come from Katie Jones and can be picked up from her TpT Store HERE. These prompts are awesome and the kids loved trying a few today!

I included Justin Matott's story starter on the bottom and the kids helped me remember it word-for-word as we were making the chart. He even stayed through lunch to hang out with kids and talk to them about their writing in the lunchroom. See?! Awesome :)

Ok, onto my celebration- last week was the ca-raziest week of my whole life. I had been nominated and was a finalist for our district's highest honor for an educator: The Impact on Education Award. It's so incredible to even be a finalist since it encompasses all teachers, staff, volunteers, administrators, anyone in the district who has a high impact in their work with kids. My teammate and mentor nominated me and I am still overwhelmed by that gesture!


My interview was Wednesday and let's just say that although it was the nicest interview committee ever, I was sososo nervous and I think I just rambled incoherently for 30 minutes straight :)

On Friday, during an assembly on safety drills, all of the sudden, our principal starts talking about how teachers make the difference and then two teachers bring in a HUGE banner with my name & "Congratulations" on it...... and, I started crying as our principal told the whole school I had been chosen as one of the winners :)

Turns out my super-nice interview committee was there, along with district admin, and even my husband and little girl (more tears). There was a camera crew, a gym-full of students, and all of my favorite friends (aka, the other teachers in my building)-- it was seriously the bestest day ever :) :)

I was even in the paper-- they called for me and I fainted, then pulled myself together to ramble incoherently to them for a few minutes :) A copy of the article is HERE.

It was the single greatest surprise and honor of my teacher life-- I think I am still recovering and the celebratory dinner is still a month and a half away.

So, that's been my week and I am still just stunned. I wanted to tell you all of this to also say THANK YOU-- because if it weren't for blogging, following your blogs, and being inspired by you day in and day out, I never would have been challenged to raise the level of my teaching and this award would not have been possible. So, thank you for being a part of such an amazing experience :) :)

Have a wonderful week, my friends!



29 comments

  1. Congratulations!!! That's so awesome!

    Kathy S

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  2. What an awesome award!!! Congratulations!

    Elizabeth

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  3. What a fantastic week!!! Congratulations on your award! I LOVE the Daily 5. I incorporated Work on Writing at the beginning of the year. My kids just love it. I like that the can practice what I teach in writer's workshop.
    Gina
    Beach Sand and Lesson Plans

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    1. Thanks, Gina :) I think I was spoiled last year because I had a HUGE chunk of time for D5 and a HUGE chunk of time for Writer's Workshop, so Work on Writing never seemed necessary. This year, however, it all seems loopty-loo, so I am really loving this new opportunity to cram as much as possible into our D5 time :)

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  4. Congratulations!!!! That is awesome!!!
    Diane

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  5. That is so exciting!!!! Congrats!

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  6. That is WONDERFUL!! You definitely deserve it, because lord knows that you have inspired me so much...I can't imagine what you have done for your kids-they must love being in your class and learn so much! Congrats!

    :) Kaitlyn
    Smiles and Sunshine

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    1. Thank you sososo much, Kaitlyn- your comment totally made me teary-eyed {again!} :) :)

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  7. Congrats!!! SOOOOOOO well deserved. You don't only make a difference in your kids' lives, you make a difference in teachers' lives too (me included!). Keep up the fabulous work!!!

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    1. Thank you sosososososo much! I can't tell you how much your words mean to me :)

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  8. Congrats, Stephanie!!! I got teary-eyed just reading your post!! That sounds like such an amazing award and you definitely deserve it!! It sounds like you work with a wonderful, supportive staff! What a great surprise! :)

    Molly
    Lessons with Laughter

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    1. Thank you so much, sweet Molly!! I truly do work with the most amazing people, so I am super-duper lucky in that regard. I am also so lucky to be in this larger blogging faculty with amazing teachers like you, so one could say I am surrounded by awesomeness :) :)

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  9. Way to go, Stephanie! You were one of the very first blogs I started following and continue to follow because you are one of the few who actually shares relevant, helpful, and meaningful ideas and teaching practices, and while I've fallen off the blogging bandwagon recently myself, when I saw this post via my RSS feed, I knew I had to come over and leave a comment because this is too big a deal to go unnoticed! Congratulations on your much-deserved award! :)

    katherine
    Yay Third Grade

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    1. Thank you so much for your incredibly kind words, Katherine :)

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  10. Congratulations on your award! You deserve it. I've been teaching for two years and you are such an inspiration! Please keep doing what you do and inspiring teachers everywhere!!

    Best,
    Jessica
    Look Who's Teaching

    Ps. I haven't updated my blog in a while :( I really need to get on that again.

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  11. Way to go Stephanie! Congratulations are your award. I can't think of a more deserving teacher than you!
    Julie
    First Grade Critter Cafe

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  12. You are so deserving of this award! I look at your blog everyday to learn something new or to be reminded of a great activity from the past! I truly love your work and appreciate everything that you post and offer "us"!
    Congratulations! So- So- deserving!

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  13. Congrats on the award! However, I'm not one bit surprised as it is very well deserved! As a first year 3rd grade teacher (15th year total) I LOVE your blog. You inspire me daily! Thank you!

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  14. Wahoo....what a great way to end your week! You definitely deserve it.

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  15. I'm catching up (again!) on all of my blog reading and just saw your post! Congratulations!!! What an honor and accomplishment :) The newspaper article was great, too! I love how they ambush everyone! It sounds like you teach in a great community!

    Kate
    EduKate and Inspire

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  16. I just started working with the third grade at my school. I'm an academic interventionist. Everyone mentions your blog when they write about third grade. Now I know why. I'm your newest follower. This post made me tear up. Congratulations.

    Kimberley
    First in Maine

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