Pulse Check.

Wow.  It has been OVER a month since I've had the time & energy to blog.  There have been about 20 different occasions when I've wanted to, but to be honest, I just couldn't muster up enough energy to sit down and get one going.

Things have been going great good in my neck of the woods.  Friday we wrapped up our first 9 weeks, which means, the year is 1/4 of the way over.  Are you kidding me?!

I have seriously been treading water for the past month.... and by saying treading water, that is truly a stretch.  I finally took some time last weekend to spend some time with my best friend, Lindsey, and her husband.  B and I haven't seen them since JUNE!

 We had a blast all weekend, but I think B especially loved our trip to Sharkosa!  She got to see all kinds of animals, kangaroos, camels, zonkeys, zebras, zorses, lemurs, and monkies or eww- eees as B calls them!

Oh & did I mention that this little priss got "pretties" in her ears?!?! Yes, we got her ears pierced! :)  She is obsessed!

Needless to say we had a blast and it was nice to get away for a weekend!

Today, I wanted to share two things with you all.... One that I have been wanting to share for eh, a month now.... but just getting around to it...

I have several students who really struggle keeping organized, finding the right materials when we are transitioning, etc, etc..... After losing sleep over this and the amount of time we spent trying to find things... I came up with this...

Basically each magazine/book box houses one subject journal.  Each student has a specific type of ribbon attached to their journal or folder so they can quickly identify which one is theirs.  Let me just tell you, this has been a time & sanity saver!  When need it, they just quickly go grab it out of the correct box and then when we are done they put it back in place!  L.O.V.E.

This past week was PIRATE week.  If you know me well, you know that I love PIRATE week, this is the week we study R-Controlled Vowels.  Lets just say the kids L.O.V.E.D it! :)

 My kiddos arrived on Monday morning to our classroom door looking like this! :)

My team & I dressed up as pirates on Monday as well to kick off the week.  We started learning all about the R-Controlled vowels on Monday.  We kicked it off with the "ar" since after all it makes the sound of "argghhhh!" :)  We had a ship for each sound, learning about the rebelous pirates that say "errrr" and the confused pirates that say "orrrr."

Anytime I can bring fun into learning, let me tell you... I DO!  So with this week, my kids earned "Gold" coins and collected them as a table.  The winner each day got to turn over a card from the treasure map, which of course some how I managed not to snap a picture of.  I still have it up, so maybe I will snap one before I take it down tomorrow.  Kids earned their coins individually and as a whole table based on behavior, participation, following basic directions, etc.

You can check out my post from last year to see how I did it last year and for a few pirate freebies! :) 

Click here for last years post! 

Oh & of course to extend and show our learning, students made pirate ships.  I didn't manage to snap a picture of completed ships, but I will make sure to as I hang them in the hall this week.  Each sail had a different sound for "arr," "or," and "er." 

 & Seriously, I couldn't resist buying eye patches for the kids in the Halloween section to make them feel like true pirates as they were working! :)

 I thank you all for reading & being understanding of the single full time working mom & teacher craziness that has been going on.  If this week goes well, just maybe I will be back to share some more fun things this week!! :)  Fingers crossed.