Inside Bell's Brain

The new year is off to an amazing start, and I wanted to share something with you that I've been working on for a while.  The school where I work practices the 7 Habits of Happy Kids.  I read the version for teenagers when I was a preteen and was made a believer!  The principles are timeless and logical and, perhaps most importantly, provide EVERYONE an opportunity to reflect and improve.  No matter where you are in the process, you've never "arrived"...you can always work to better yourself on some habit, in some way.  It's interesting to revisit the habits as an adult, after I've had tons more life experiences and my paradigms have grown and changed.  When we completed our training on the 7 Habits at the beginning of this school year, we contemplated our major roles and began establishing our personal mission statements.  I've been working on a "map" of that idea for a while, and I've finally had a chance to sit down and finish it.  I rel...

I've been busy over the Winter Break working on updating some of my TpT products (and making some completely new ones).  One of my products got a complete facelift, and my best-selling product is being seriously expanded.  Take a peek below to see what's up! My Chinese New Year Burrito Booklet is now ready for classroom use for CNY 2015.  This year, CNY falls in February, so I decided to put this product on sale for just $2 until the holiday begins (Feb. 19).  The dates of the holiday have been updated, and I made some general changes to the fonts, etc. to make it a little more visually appealing. I've also been doing a major overhaul to my Celebrations and Traditions Around the World Unit Bundle .  I've been working on this for weeks now, but it's coming along...slowly, but surely.  I'm adding scaffolded reading passages, black line masters, and suggested answer keys...just to name a few things.  I'll also be updating my web site companio...

Well, I suppose what they say is true...better late than never, right?  I stumbled upon this linky by complete accident, but the ironic thing was that I had been thinking about a post along this concept.  I just didn't know if others would be interested!  How wonderful that I discovered they are interested and so many fellow bloggers had already linked up!  So since I'm still in that reflective state of mind, here goes my 14 in '14.. . I'm quite the collector of quotes...I even have pin boards to prove it!   So this one is definitely a tough one for me to narrow down.  I've thought and thought, but one just doesn't seem right.  Here are few that have been on my mind and in my heart lately. This is my favorite Bible verse and has comforted me in many times of distress and concern. Again, I couldn't narrow it down to just one, but I was able to get them both in the same picture!  (Does that count?)  A f...

So this year is off to a spinning start already, but I wanted to contribute to the January Currently linky before the first new month of a brand new year was already over!  So...here's my current situation... I liked the idea of the "yes/maybe/I wish" feature on this month's Currently.  I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions because I try to live my life in such a way that TODAY is always the best day to start anything new.  But, with that said, I would like to be healthier and definitely achieve more balance...always remembering what's important and what I believe my purpose is.  (I'll have more on how I plan to do that soon!) Head back to Oh Boy Fourth Grade for the entire linky and how YOU can participate too!   Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I've had many conversations about Common Core State Standards (CCSS) with fellow teachers, concerned parents, and curious friends.  Throughout these conversations, several things kept coming to my mind, so I've had this blog post in my heart for quite some time. With that said, I want to establish that this post is NOT with any single person or conversation in mind .  It is simply a list of ideas that I think should be clearly explained when it comes to Common Core.  Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinions, but I think being able to intelligently discuss issues and explain ourselves is part of what learning and growing is all about.  So here it goes... Establishing a Context In this blog post, I am just talking about the standards themselves.  Historically, states and educational institutions have often received funding or been encouraged to receive funding for this or that initiative.  Many people focus on this funding issue, but my primary co...

So we're off to a fresh start in the 2014-2015 school year, and I just posted a new classroom project on Donors Choose.  I'm very interested and involved in incorporating technology with our language learning and in pursuing project-based learning approaches whenever possible.  To that end, we would really like to add a MacBook Air and a Google Chromebook to our classroom technology.  We need more experience with various forms of technology and with these two tools, we could create just about anything!  Continue reading for more info and visit this link when you're ready to give:  http://bit.ly/VMIHEA . What We Need: Amazon partners with Donors Choose to bring a wonderful shopping experience and variety of products for teacher projects.  These are the Amazon items we have our eyes on for this project. How You Can Help: We're in the first week of our project, so all donations are DOUBLED when you enter code INSPIRE.  It takes just 3 minut...

Hello, friends & followers!  I stumbled upon an awesome "Meet the Teacher" linky , and I've finally found the time to jot a few thoughts down.  I've been so busy in the back-to-school swing that it seems like a long time since I've blogged.  I thought this was a great way to get to know some new friends with common interests.   My name is Erika, and I am proud to be from Sweet Home Alabama.  (Roll Tide Roll!)  My undergraduate degree was in business, but then I realized my true purpose the semester before graduation.  That's when I went back to pursue teaching.  I earned my Masters degree in English as a Second Language.  I absolutely love my job and everything about education.  (In fact, sometimes I wonder what I was thinking when I detoured from that path in my undergrad years.  But I still learned important things along the way, so it was a great opportunity to build knowledge and experience.) So the directions...