Spread a Little Sunshine- {Linky Party}

I joined in with Jennifer, over at Rowdy in First Grade, yesterday in thinking positively!

Today- I'm linking up with her in her "Spread a Little Sunshine-Linky Party!"

My School Positives

* I have some amazing parent volunteers! Seriously I would probably be off my rocker and drowning right now w/ out their support and help! {I have at least 3 that come in once a week to help!}

* I have math stations up and running :) I'm so excited- I love it!

* Daily Five is ready to begin- we have done weeks of setting expectations and procedures and now we are fully ready to rotate and for me to begin conferencing- double excited!

My Home Positives
* I am going on my first real vacation since my honeymoon (5 years ago) in October- and started finalizing things today! I will be in New Orleans and Leesville, LA in October for a family reunion and my mom's college reunion!

I have to say- I think the more I do this the easier it will get! :)

Positive Thinking...

Let me just preface this post by stating that I tend to be a very negative person....it just comes more naturally to me than being positive. 

With that being said- I have honestly been working for a few years now on how to change this trait...and let me tell you it's not easy!!! Especially in teaching- I tend to find the negative before the positive. There are always negative situations that arrive during a school year, especially during a the beginning of the year and it is so easy for me to get caught up in that negative web.  It's easy to get sucked into the gossip or the rut of the day to day or even just plain complaining. 

This year, however, I am reading "The Energy Bus"- and although my progress is slow- I am at least "aware" of my attitude and some of the things I can do to change it!! I have to embrace each new day as a blessing from above and be thankful for what I have. My attitude will show through to my students, my co-workers, administration, husband, daughter etc. 

I am coming to realize that this is my life and my path- no dress rehearsal! This is it and I have to make the best of it! I am trying my best to find a positive in every situation that I encounter! 

So for today 3 things I am thankful for:

-my beautiful daughter (she truly puts a smile on my face no matter what)

-my  ever supportive husband (he is amazing, enough said)

- my class ( I have a great group this year- I got to loop about half of them from last year and I have to admit it is nice having the majority of the class now how I run things)

What do you do to keep a positive attitude? How do you drive your Energy Bus? 

CAFE Question

well we are on the fifth week of implementing Daily 5/CAFE and let me tell you- I {heart} it! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the daily 5 block of my day. Mini- lessons and rotations are so much more fulfilling and fun than I imagined! I can't wait to get it fully up and running in about another week or two.

Here's my question- as far as assessments- in my district we use DIBELS....and the STAR reading assessment so as far as my grouping I mainly base off of that- BUT how do I assess based on CAFE strategy needs? How do I determine what strategy they should be working towards on their Cafe Menu?

I gave each student a copy of the CAFE menu and have a copy for each one in my daily 5 binder just don't know how to get that up and running....HELP??