Sharing Sunday - Planning for Testing

I am teaming up with The Primary Peach to bring you the January Edition of Sharing Sunday. This month I am helping you plan for standardized testing.  

It took about 10 years of teaching to realize I need to really jump the ball on preparing for standardized testing.  I would feel the crunch as faculty meetings were filled with testing information and the date of the test drew closer.  I finally realized that January was a great place for me to start getting my students ready for testing.  

As a result of starting early, I found that we were all less stressed and were ready to dive in the first day of testing.  My students had ample time to reflect and ask questions so as the days drew closer my test anxiety kids were happier and my students who waited until the day of the test to ask questions that I couldn’t answer asked questions earlier.  

Below you will find reading and math resources, freebies, and blog posts geared toward 3rd grade testing standards. (These can be adapted to meet other grade level standards.) Click on the image to download the PDF that contains all of the links.

Sneaking these test prep activities in your lessons in January, will give students extra time to use these skills on their classroom assessments as well.

Head back to the Primary Peach for MORE January fun and freebies.

Plan With Me Sundays

About a week ago we were heading home from the beach and I felt stressed.  I needed organization and I needed it quickly.  Luckily, I came across a blog post titled Plan With Me Sundays by Keeping Up With Mrs. Harris.  She and Kreative in Kindergarten had started a link up about planning and it was the perfect thing for me.  After reading the first post in the link from Keeping Up With Mrs. Harris, I came home and bought the Hello Teacher Planner from the 3am Teacher.  What a life saver! Now instead of notebooks, post-it notes, and piles; I have everything in one spot.  I even have all of my Teachers Pay Teachers Vegas conference notes printed and in the notebook!

I then got my office organized and set up in a way that I could see the house, see outside, and enjoy my new blue walls with white trim.  I even managed to set up a space for Gabriella to "do her work." We even took the time to place her notebook and pens where her little brother couldn't reach them.

Everything I couldn't put in my notebook or I had on the multitude of post-it notes (which would mysteriously disappear) are now on a spreadsheet in my google drive.  No more disappearing.  Plus, I get satisfaction out of deleting something I have accomplished and having more white space on the screen.  Thursday night the list of things on the left was all the way down to 32!  Ecstatic that the list is up to where I can see it all at once!

Two years ago I took the leap from teaching for 15 years to being a stay-at-home mom.  I have had the hardest time going from knowing that I ate lunch at 11:52 to figuring out how to fit it in between the laundry, kid lunches, and the numerous things that just don't happen at home.

When I made this leap I had a 10-month-old and another one quickly on his way.  I have also tried to keep up my teachers pay teachers store, my blog, run a house, clean a house, keep a blog, and finish my EdS in School Library Media and Instructional Technology.

The degree is now done and I am finding my way through the laundry and dishes back to my blog and store.  Thankfully Plan With Me Sundays have given me the opportunity to make time to focus on organizing the Zannini household, my blog, and my store.  I want a give a special thank you to all of your who have shared your planning ideas and allowed me to find my way back to this lovely space!

This week I head to Vegas for the TPT conference and my plan for next Sunday is to organize a way to maintain my social media.

Happy Sunday! 

Jessica 

New Design Coming Soon!

I am so excited! I am working with Designs by Kassie to create a design that reflects my work! I've seen a sample and I feel like a kid waiting on Christmas to have it all in place! 

You can also follow me now on Bloglovin'.