Even though I've been counting down the days to summer.... since day like 50... The reality that school ends TOMORROW didn't actually set in until about 1:30 today during our awards ceremony. I actually had to work really hard to hold back the tears as SEVERAL of my kids were getting their awards! I'm such a sap! Every year I've had a good group of kids, but I have said all year long that there is something "special" about this group. I can't pin-point it, but we just all mesh so good together, I'm pretty positive I may shed a few a lot of tears tomorrow. I love my sweet kiddos!!
My kids have been working for about 3 weeks on their animal research project! I will share pictures, hopefully later this week of their journals, but today we had our Animal Wax Museum and my kids were presh! .... most of them at least!! :) I would say that it was a huge hit & after staying perfectly still until their button was pressed performing for ALMOST an hour for 5 other 2nd grade classes and two 3rd grade classes.... they were EXHAUSTED! It was a proud teacher moment, they really impressed me & everyone else! :) Some kids costumes were much more detailed than others, but this is 100% authentic KID work... I let them have free reign WITHOUT micromanaging ANY of their costume choices! I just supplied materials & gave suggestions as they were asked for! Wish I had videos of some of their actions and facts they shared!
Wolf Spider
Gorilla
Zebra
Tiger
Falcon
Killer Whale
Orangutan
After this long & hard performance they put on they SO deserved a laid back day and we watched a movie!
I will leave you with a picture of what I was doing about an hour ago!
Whew... I'm done! Nothing better than a teacher's procrastination!! I had good intentions, they were printed off 2 weeks ago at least!! I think the kids are going to L-O-V-E their awards!
I've already thought of a few new ones to add the the selection!
If tomorrow is your last day.... I hope you enjoy and savor the last few moments with your little ones!!
I feel like a huge sense of PANIC has set over my body, mind, ....Oh & classroom! I have 7 days to pack up my classroom... which will mostly be done the last two because we aren't supposed to break anything down really until the end of the last school day. I have however been trying to reorganize.
I received these AH-MAZING boxes on Tuesday!!! EEEE.... I might have done a happy squeal and dance when I got news they were on their way up to my room! I purchased LOTS of new storage boxes... an even more AH-MAZING pocket chart (I will share about that on another day) & some new FABULOUSLY colored book boxes.
This is what I got started on IMMEDIATELY after my kids were out the door!! :)
BEFORE:
AFTER:
You can see there is a major difference!! My favorite thing is that you can actually SEE what is INSIDE of the boxes!! Hello! There has been even more change now after today... But I didn't think far enough ahead to actually take pictures of that!! Once it's all done & I'm happy with it I will share another picture!!
This weekend we had a B.L.A.S.T. & enjoyed every moment of our 3 day weekend!
B & I had a blast out on the lake with my parents and grandma!! :)
We met up with a sweet friend 2 nights in a row to catch up!! She lives in Houston so it's a rare occasion for us to see her! We love you Ker! :)
Then... Monday night I prepared for my end of the year BALLOON popping incentive!!
Of course B had to get in on the action!! :) This year I added a little more fun to the balloons and put tissue paper confetti inside of the balloons!! It has made quite a mess, but of course my kids L.O.V.E. it! :)
Here is a close up of the cards! You can get them for {FREE} in my TPT store!! :)
This has been a HUGE hit with my kids, just as it was last year!! My kids were ecstatic when the got into the room!!! :) Thank you Pinterest teacher who pinned it long ago. If you were the original creator & pinner or know of them, let me know so I can give them some Kudos & Credit! :)
I got to thinking that these cards could also be used on a prize board or something too! Just another idea.... :)
So tonight I shall TRY to get some rest & be asleep in bed BEFORE 10! I will be back on Friday to share lots of other fun pictures of things I'm doing in my classroom for NEXT year... I've been having a blast using my vinyl and Silhouette Portrait machine this week!!! :)
Oh & my AC is FINALLY getting better.... That is it's only 76ish degrees instead of 80 .... It's amazing how much cooler 4 degrees is!!
Happy Wednesday! 6 more days, 6 more days, ONLY 6 more days!!!!!!!!!! .... school days that is... with my kids!
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If you caught my post yesterday, you know it has been one heck of a week, actually I'm going to go with month. I'm exhausted and finally hitting the acceptance stage when it comes to realizing that it is almost summer break! Not that I am not ready for it.... I just have SO much left to teach and do before the school year is over. With that said, I'm going to start my five for Friday so you can see what I checked off our list this week! Thank you Kasey for hosting the linky! :)
1. The most exciting news about this week... I officially finished ALL of my end of the year assessments!! MClass (math), TPRI (state reading), and Fountus and Pinnell (our district reading assessment) are D-O-N-E! I don't have to listen to the story about the firefighters, sharks, or Nathan for well .... a good 3ish months at least!! My favorite part of the assessments.... wait the only think I enjoyed about the assessments was when my kids would read one of the assessment books for our F&P assessment... The book was called The Thing About Nathan.... in the first line it uses the word "crazy".... and if you've read my blog enough times, you know that CRAZY is NOT a word that is allowed in my classroom. (Confused click here to read more on it.) EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. one of my kids got to that word... their eyes got big and they looked to me with hesitation before saying it... I had to reassure them that it was "ok" to say it just this time! haha I think that they loved that part the most too!
It is literally in the first line of the first page!
2. I've hit my spring cleaning mode in my classroom. I have managed to be the last one to leave multiple times this week on my team.... which is usually not the case. Gwen and Diana ALWAYS stay later than me, but this week I outlasted them twice due to my spring cleaning freak out! Eventually, maybe one day, I will have my room so nice and organized that I will not have this freak out EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR! I have a feeling that I will be waiting quite a while too... Especially since Gwen, my co-worker who has lived next to me for 3 years, supported me, and taken me under her wing is moving to another position and leaving me a TON of her awesome stuff!! While I'm still bitter she is leaving our team, I'm happy for her! This will leave only 2 of the original 8 that were on the team when I began 3 years ago. So sad.
The mess.
The organization. My tracer templates have doubled thanks to Gwen! I am now super organized too! I labeled the boxes with the templates inside, then inside of the boxes they are in JUMBO ziploc bags organized by seasons or subject! Makes me happy! :)
3. With all the stress of this week has brought on... I've successfully, please don't confuse that with proudly, managed to empty this once full jar of peanut m&m's and down a pepsi.... everyday this week. Thankfully I haven't gained any weight due to the fact that my room is like a sauna and I seem to have sweat out all the extra calories I consumed this week.
4. Once I finally made it home on the evenings, I've savored every moment. We've spent a lot of time outside this week. Her favorite thing this week has been the park though, this little girl would stay out there all day if she could!!
5. I was contacted the other day by a reader. Her name is Heather Von St. James. Heather had a very touching story, she was diagnosed with Mesothelioma when her daughter was was just three and a half weeks home. Heather's story hit me hard, one because I think about how devastating it would be to be told I only have a little over a year to live when my sweet baby has just been born. I couldn't imagine, even now having to deal with the fact that I wouldn't be able to see my little angel grow up. When I learned that it was Mesothelioma though, it hit me even harder. My grandfather died almost 10 years ago. I still have very vivid memories of him. My grandfather worked for a company called Alcoa for about 40 years after he got out of the Navy. Alcoa was a company that used products with Asbestos, even though they were aware of the harmful side effects. While I don't have memories of my grandfather working there, my mom explained to me that workers had to change clothes when they arrived, shower after they were done working, and change back into their normal clothing. My grandfather died due to a heart condition, however it was a condition that he could have had surgery for to fix, except for the fact that his lungs were too weak due to the exposure and effects of the Asbestos. It is believed that is health declined so rapidly and his lungs were so week due to Mesothelioma, however it was never officially confirmed. The purpose of sharing all of this is because Heather has asked me to share her video on my blog. Not for donations, not for any other reason, but to make people aware. If you have a moment, it is a very touching story.
I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!! For some of you, I am super JEALOUS... you have less days than me... Only 12 more school days!! :)
Oh & one more thing... I don't know about you, but when I get my book order boxes from Scholastic, I'm in what I like to call Book Heaven! My kids are hilarious and now say it when we get boxes in!! My new favorite thing from Scholastic are their Knowledge Quest sets that are a mix of fiction and non-fiction books within a specific category! Love. I ordered almost $300 worth of Knowledge Quest sets with grant money!! Yippee, I'm obviously a little bit excited!! :)
