Total Savings for the Year

After my last blog post, I got some giggles and some comments such as "you crazy girl!". But I take those as compliments. Until you try couponing, it probably does seem a little crazy. But once you do it, you'll understand. Getting a good deal at the checkout is a huge adrenaline rush! Getting a product for free? Ammmaaazing feeling!

Since I started taking couponing seriously at the beginning of this year, I've been meaning to track my savings. However, once I get home from the grocery store and finish putting away all of my goodies, I always forget. After the big savings today, though, I was motivated to start tallying. I scrounged up as many crinkled receipts from the bottom of my purse as I could and broke out the calculator.

Minus a few receipts that didn't make it out of the bottomless pit that is my purse, my total savings from coupons so far this year is.........$132.80!

Awesome Target Trip!

I posted yesterday about an awesome deal on Smart Ones at Target, but the deal gets even better! Target is running a special this week that with EVERY 7 frozen food items you purchase, you receive a free $5 giftcard. You don't even have to do separate transactions! It prompts the cashier to scan you a giftcard each time you hit 7 items. The sale includes ANY frozen food items, too. Not just the Smart Ones. So it's a great time to refill your deep freezers!

So here is how this deal worked for me today.

1. Purchase 21 Smart Ones at $1.80 each.
2. Use 2-$5/10 Target coupons.
3. Use 2-$4/10 Manufacturer's coupons.
4. Receive 3 $5 giftcards good toward next purchase.
5. Total paid:  $19.80 or $.94 cents each.

However, if you take in account your $15 of future savings, that makes these puppies a whopping $4.80 or $.23 each!

We also picked up a few other goodies while they had some good sales running.

Our total after the giftcards from the previous purchase was $39.04. That includes:

• Swiffer WetJet Starter Kit--$19.99-$5 coupon=$14.99
• 2 Finish Dishwasher Tabs--On sale for $2.50 each-(2)$1.50 Target coupon-(2)$1 Man. coupon=FREE!!
• 4 ProGlide Razors--$9.99 each-(4)$4 Man. coupons=$5.99 each
• 2 Halls Fruit Breezers Drops--$1.39 each-(2)$.50 Man. coupons=$.89 each
• 4 Penne Pasta--$.87 each-$1 Target coupon=$.62 each
• Kraft Parmesan Cheese--On sale for $2.99-$.50 Target coupon=$2.49
• 2 Diet Dr. Pepper--$1.39 each-$1 Target coupon= $.89 each
• 2 Bertolli Pasta sauce--On sale for $1.79 each-$1 Target coupon-$.75 man. coupon=$.92 each 
• 2 Target brand toothbrushes--$1.29 each-(2)$1 Target coupons=.$29 each

So, overall, the total of our two transactions was $58.84, while our original total would have been around $130!

I recommend heading to Target Coupons to print some of these awesome deals. Remember, Target accepts 1 Target coupon + 1 Manufacturer's coupon per item, so that leads to big, big savings!

One more thing, there is a Target coupon for $5 off any women's denim. Many jeans are being clearanced out right now, so that can lead to free jeans!

Deal Alert!

Smart Ones make great teacher meals. They are tasty, quick, and cheap! Here is a way to make them even more affordable. It is only good at Target as Target allows you to stack one manufacturer's coupon with one Target coupon. Watch closely as your cashier scans your coupons because it doesn't always work.

1. Select Smart Ones are on sale this week at Target for $1.80 each.
2. Go to Target coupons to print a $5 off 10 Target coupon.
3. Stack that with a $4 off 10 coupon found here Smart Ones coupons.
4. Final price should be about .90 cents each depending on which varieties you choose!

Check out one of my favorite websites Totally Target for more great deals! Happy shopping!

Teaching Vocabulary?

During my student teaching I have a lot of freedom. I have to teach certain novels, but other than that, it is pretty much up to me what concepts I teach through the novels. I think learning vocabulary is very important, so I want to include some of it in my lessons. However, as I was planning how to teach it, I thought back to how I was taught it. It wasn't very effective.

It was very traditional. Each week we were given a list of words to learn on Monday, and then we were tested on Friday. So it was essentially a memorization game, not truly learning. Sure I would remember the word for Friday, but after that I would often forget the new words. Why? We were never truly using the word. Yes, we would put them into sentences, but doing that once was easy and didn't make the word concrete in my brain.

So I'm trying to think of a new way to teach my student their vocabulary. The first idea that came to mind was letting the students pick their own vocabulary words for the novel we are reading. Since students are at different levels, different words will be uknown to them. Therefore, I am having them pick 15 words from the novel that are new to them. I'm still having them use the words in a sentence, but I need more than that. That one small step didn't do it for me, so I'm guessing it won't do it for most of them either. What else can I do?

I think that letting them pick the words will make it meaningful, but what else do I do so that they truly learn the word? And how do I test them on their new words when they all have different lists. Any ideas?

60 Second Recap

60 Second Recap is a great resource I have found for teaching any literature. It is a YouTube channel dedicated to producing short, engaging videos about numerous literature titles. It can be found here.

Next week I am starting The Crucible with my junior classes. In addition to an introduction PowerPoint, I will be sharing these short videos to get the students excited about the play and to give them a little background knowledge before beginning. This is an engaging, easy way to get the students prepared to begin a story or play. Here is an example of one of the videos I will be sharing with my students next week...

Facebook for the classroom!

I wanted to create a classroom website where my students could find information regarding class if they are gone from school one day. I also wanted somewhere that students could blog, either personally or as though they are characters for assignments. After exploring many different options to meet those needs, I have decided on Schoology.

Schoology is a social networking site designed for use by educational institutions. It looks almost identical to Facebook, and its features are also very similar to Facebook. I think the students will enjoy this source of online communication as it so closely resembles the medium they are using daily. And I will be honest, I thoroughly enjoy Facebook, too, and I know I will enjoy communicating with my students in this way....only on a safer level.

Schoology verifies each user's email address before they are given access to an account. This way, it can be established that each user is, in fact, a member of an educational institution. In addition, there are extra security features that allow you to set who can see your profile and courses.

These are the potential uses and benefits of Schoology:

• Access to assignments when one is ill or at a school activity
• Access to assignments if they are forgotten at school
• Access to homework help via the teacher or other students
• Access to a calendar to stay updated on due dates and events
• Access to a blog for personal use or educational use
• Personal file storage for assignments and materials

I am going to present this option of communication to my students next week. I'm interested to see how many of them will take advantage of it. I intend on giving a survey regarding their use of it at the end of the school year to see if it is worth repeating. I will also give periodical updates to any new uses or benefits.

First Observation Today!

Today is my first formal observation with my supervisor. I'm honestly not as nervous as I thought I'd be. After a week in the classroom with my freshmen classes, I'm feeling pretty confident. However, I know the day is going to drag on until she arrives at 1:45 this afternoon.

The plan for the day is paraphrasing vs. summarizing. In order to define the two, we are going to do some brainstorming on each one. I found a quote in my planner today that sums up the lesson. "The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas." -Linus Pauling. It also speaks to my teaching philosophy...learning by doing or exploring. I don't want to simply give my students the answer...I want them to discover it on their own.

I want to wish my friend Brittany good luck as she also has a formal observation today. I know she is going to do great!

I also want to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day! The hubby and I are going to use the grill we received as a wedding gift for the first time tonight and grill bratwursts. It should be a great dinner as the weather has been beautiful the past couple of days. It's supposed to be almost 70 on Thursday! Early spring?! Yes, please!

First Lesson=Definitely Not My Best

Well, I just finished teaching my first lesson to a class of freshmen. To be completely honest, I feel as though I fell flat on my face. I'm disappointed in myself for not creating a more engaging lesson plan. I was pretty proud of the lesson on paper, but in practice, it just didn't work out. The problem was the students already knew all of the information I was presenting. It ended up being a review for them, but I don't even feel a review was necessary. Since they already knew the information, the lesson went way faster than I had anticipated. Thank goodness my cooperating teacher had something available for them to work on. Not that I didn't have a back up plan. I could have continued with the unit, but then my classes would all end up in different places.

The only positive I'm finding in my lesson is that I remembered to give the students the rationale for the lesson. So hopefully even if the information wasn't new, they understand the importance of why we were going over it.

I'm eager to be able to discuss the lesson with my cooperating teacher. It will be interesting to see what she thought about the lesson. Maybe I'm being too hard on myself. Maybe not. We'll see...

About to dive in...

It's been awhile since I've updated, but there hasn't really been anything new to write about. I've been spending my time in the classroom preparing for when I take over classes...which is this week! I'm very grateful for the free time I've had while I've been observing to prepare for this time. Rather than plan day-to-day, I've been able to get a big jump start on things and get ahead. I'm planned through the month of March for the most part. I hope that I've planned engaging activities for the kiddos that will get them thinking and questioning!

When I take over the freshmen classes this week, I want to get to know them a little bit better before we just dive into things. So, I decided to search out a getting to know you activity. I came across this awesome idea called six word memoirs. Ernest Hemingway was asked to write one. His response? "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." The trick is to choose your words wisely as you are only allowed six...it's a great activity for working on word choice! Plus, the responses really make you think and wonder. I'm having my students also accompany their memoir with a collage of drawings/photos to add to their message.

I've been thinking of what I will have mine be as an example for them...It's so hard to sum up your entire life into six words. Here are a few ideas...

Still learning to live life full
Dreams not yet discovered, hiding somewhere
I found me, not the rest
Learning is love, teaching is sharing

Some of those are kind of personal that I probably won't share with my students. I'll have to keep working on it. However, here is a video with more examples. They're fun to read!