Five for Friday!

Let me tell you, this week has been .... well not my favorite.   Monday started out rocky, not only did it start out rocky though, it was the only day this week that I was able to squeeze in some REAL instruction!  You will find out more down below...... :) 

1.  I posted Monday about it being a ROUGH day.  Well I would love to say Tuesday was better, but that would be a complete fib.  That's right Tuesday was even worse than my Monday.  I made it to school extra early knowing I needed to get my tests for the small group I would be pulling for the STAAR test.  Made it to school 15 minutes earlier than I technically have to be there... Didn't make it upstairs until AFTER the tardy bell, 35 minutes later.  Not to mention that on my way up the stairs, my clumsy self tripped on the stairs spilling my MUCH NEEDED coffee, EVERYWHERE!  Awesome.   I didn't get to head back to my classroom from testing until 12:45 that day.  Needless to say, very little teaching took place.  Wednesday was not much better.  I made it back at 10:30, just in time to pick up my kids from specials.  We did a little math, watched a little bit of Charlotte's Web, and then it was time for literacy centers.  I loathe you standardized testing. 

 

2. With unexpected absences and being pulled for testing 4 different days, I have gotten a little behind on teaching.  I have had to find ways to incorporate activities to reinforce what we are learning in science and social studies into centers.  So I began thinking and remembered that I bought some VERSA TILES at the SDE conference in January!  Remember these?? 

My mom bought some of these for me as a kid and I LOVED them!  I bought all the books they had for my grade level, which unfortunately were only science.  I would have loved to have bought some math and ELAR ones if they would have had them.  I began telling my mom about these when I bought them and she told me that she was pretty sure she had some she could give me, since she is no longer teaching.  She is now in the admin side.  Looky, looky, she found them!! :) 

Well I introduced these awesome tiles to my kids this week.  Oh. my. word.  I didn't realize they would be such a big hit!! They thought they were the most awesome things since sliced bread.  Ok, that wasn't their expression, but I'm pretty sure it is what they were thinking!  This week I had them focus on life science since we've been talking plant life cycle and insects life cycle.  They also had to observe our caterpillars since they are basically doubling in size everyday and will soon be forming their chrysalis.  Here is an inside peak at the book and tiles!

 

3. Wednesday, B therw up in the middle of the night.  Not a fun way for a baby, or anyone for that matter, to wake up!  She was up for 2 hours in the middle of the night and then slept until 10!  She was fine the rest of the day.  However, her babysitter and their whole house got the nasties too!  This meant a four day weekend was in order for this baby and mommy.  However, since I had not had a conference period since Monday and had very little opportunity to actually give my students meaningful work (because I've been out), I went in and organized lessons this morning with B.  What did she run to first thing?? 

Yep, right to the books.  No surprise here!  She had the books scattered everywhere!  We ended up spending 4 hours at school by the time I got lesson plans made, kids situated, paperwork done, my bag loaded down, and thoughts collected for Monday.  When we left, she was EXHAUSTED. B snatched a donut from the office before I could notice, thankfully our office ladies didn't mind sharing!

4. This week I managed to get my Springing into Summer Math centers done! 

I also revamped my Mother's Day Book I have used over the last 3 years and added it to TPT!! This is a favorite every year with my kids and their sweet mommies!  Check out this post for examples of some of the books from last years kiddos!  They always turn out so cute & funny! :)

5.  If you caught my Tuesday post, you saw all about the Teacher's Taking Care of Teachers fundraiser going on for West, Texas. 

Well by donating a mere $25, you received $150 worth of TPT products!  Wowza!  Let me tell you, these files did not disappoint! While there were several that I won't be able to use because they are for lower grade levels, there are a lot of good things I can use. The best part of all though.... $20,000 was raised!  How awesome to know I could help those teachers who have lost basically everything due to the explosion!  Check out this article about the fundraiser!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and get LOTS of rest!!