What a week... 5-4-F

I don't know about you, but this week has been nothing short of emotionally draining for me.  I feel like I could seriously do a 5 for Friday solely based on the tragic events that have occurred throughout the week.....However I refuse to focus on the negative!  So here it goes, a day late! :)

The usual link up with Kacey over at Doodle Bugs! :)

1. I will start with the ugly so I can end with the shine!  When this week began, I knew that it was going to be a hectic week, however I didn't realize with all of the tragedies that occurred it would be nearly as hectic as it was.  

The week began with the tragic bombings at the Boston Marathon.  I have been asked if it makes me scared to run now.  My answer is no, in two weeks I will be participating in the color run.  Living in fear, is not living.  When it is my time, I will go, until then I will live my life to the fullest enjoying all of the little things!

Thank you Melonheadz for the pictures!

 Tuesday as I spent the day running around the school getting last minute things together for our class field trip on Wednesday, I learned that a student at the high school, in the town I live, was taken to the hospital after a self inflicted gun shot wound.  This event occurred on school property at the stadium.  Although it didn't occur in the district I teach in, it still hit me hard knowing the situation occurred. 

If you're a fellow Texan, you surely know where West is. This is a sweet little town that I drove through on my way to school when I was in college as I came and went from home.  Currently, I live about 45 minutes from West.  Being that both sides of my family are of Czech decent I always LOVED stopping to grab some fresh kolaches, especially the pineapple and poppy seed ones!! I have a huge weakness when it comes to anything with poppy seed!!! Waking up to find out the news of what happened on Wednesday night in West was devastating!   I can say though that I couldn't be more proud of how people from all over the state of Texas have responded to the tragic events!

Thank you Melonheadz for the pictures!

I could go on with more that happened on Thursday and Friday... but I will stop here.

2.  Let's get happy!  Saturday of last weekend, my mom and I had a garage sale!! I would say it was quite successful!  We had a couple of friends bring over items in addition to ours... I meant to take a "before" and "after" sale shot and of course I forgot.  We were able to get rid of A TON of junk and make a little money, too!! Altogether, we made close to $400 between all the families!  Not too shabby for cleaning out the house!  Around lunchtime that day, two of my brothers came over to start putting up the shed I bought a couple weeks ago!  Let's just say what looked like an easy job .... was anything but easy!  Seven hours later we were finally done!  B even got to try and give the boys a hand!  The picture below is a snapshot of the weekend, including her first ice cream cone, first fortune cookie, helping out with the shed, and helping mommy make dinner on Sunday!

3. On Monday, I began introducing "how-to" writing.  As we began this, we did a fun little activity to introduce it.  EDIBLE CHARLOTTES!   Yep, you heard it right, we made edible Charlottes.  Two years ago I did this with my kids and it was a hit.  It worked out perfectly that we were introducing expository writing and focusing on "how-to" writing during our Charlotte's Web unit again this year!  My kids were so excited about this and so was I!  I started off the lesson by simply explaining what we were doing, telling students the supplies they were going to need, and showing students how-to make the edible Charlotte.  From that point, it was all in the students hands.  

After they finished making their Charlotte, I of course had to get pictures of them with their Charlotte! :) 

Once they finished making their Charlotte, they had to complete their "how-to" brainstorming map.  Let me tell you, I think was the MOST engaged and quiet they have ever been during writing time.  I would say it was because they love writing, especially expository-how-to writing so much, but lets be honest....It is really because they knew that once they were done with their writing and I checked it, they could eat their Charlotte! :)

  My favorite part of this lesson is without a doubt, taking their writing and then making a Charlotte following their directions!  Let me tell you......... They learn really quick exactly how specific and detailed they must be with their writing!  Here is just a sampling of how some of the spiders turned out following their directions! 

*You may think some of these look close... but none of the "eyes" have anything keeping them to the crackers!!*

Click Here to get the directions & Edible Charlotte How-To Brainstorming Map

If you haven't had the opportunity to check out my expository freebie writing on TPT, click here to check out the post with more details on the unit! 

4.  Wednesday, was a much awaited day for my kids!  Our class field trip!  I have been hearing NON-STOP for over a month the countdown to our field trip!  Back in August, I applied for a Target Grant for field trips.  I was one of the lucky picks to receive this grant, so my class ONLY was able to go on a field trip for a day!  I decided to take my kids out to a local retreat and we worked on team-building exercises outside in the AM and were able to go to their on-site theater in the afternoon!  I will do a longer more detailed post later about this so not to clog up this post, too much!! :) 

5. While I had every intention of getting my current unit I am working on completed this week, it did not happen!! I completely blame the craziness of this week on that!! I have just been mentally and physically exhausted, so it hasn't happened!!   I spent extra time this week cuddling on the couch with this cutie, she doesn't like to share her time with the computer!! I can't say that I blame her! :)

As we look forward, as we reflect upon this past week, I will leave you with the verse below.