Five for ..... Saturday

As I mentioned last week... On Fridays I am so stinking exhausted,  even though I have every intention of writing, I can't gather the energy to do it!  I mean seriously, our Friday night staple for dinner this past month has been pizza, because I literally don't even have the energy to think about cooking!!  B doesn't complain though, she loves it!! She devours at least two pieces and sometimes three!!

 
So here I am, on Saturday night, sharing my Five for Friday and can't wait to because even though it was a stressful week back, it was a great week! :)

1.  Well I know I posted this picture on Monday, but last Friday my best friend came to visit.  The main purpose of this visit was for our race that we completed on Saturday... WARRIOR DASH!  It is a 5k with 12 obstacles... INSANE!  Seriously, the first third of the race was all up hill on a rock trail... We were about 2/3 of the way through and I began thinking to myself...."SERIOUSLY... not only did I sign myself up for this, but I PAID for it too?!?!?!?"  I was beyond excited to be done and honestly am contemplating doing it again!! Next time though, I will NOT forget my inhaler in the bag I checked... had I of had it, the race would have been much more enjoyable and quicker!! :)

2. On Monday, not only was I SORE and SUN BURNT from the race, but most excitingly we began CHARLOTTE'S WEB!!!!!! :)  I know, I know... I've shared this photo, too... but SERIOUSLY, how can you not be excited about Wilbur, Charlotte, Fern, and Templeton!!  I just LOVE reading and working through Charlotte's Web!  My kids are LOVING the new unit that I made, it is making my life teaching different elements of the story SUPER easy as well! :) 

3.  Tuesday was our field trip, the first one of two for my kiddos this year!! We went as a grade level to H-E-B (a large grocery store in Texas) and our county Museum.  The kids and parents were quite skeptical of our choice of a field trip, and well you may be too as you're reading this, but seriously it was a blast!  We did the same field trip last year and it was fun, this year it was even more enjoyable!  At the grocery store they talk about eating healthy, what a portion size is, the different parts of a grocery store and the kids even got several samples... bananas, freshly made tortillas,  as well as yummy salmon and pork!  I think know their favorite part of it though was when they got to "pet" the crab and lobster!  :) The museum was also really cool, I love learning about the history of our area and even though it is the third year we've gone, I learn something new every year because they are constantly changing out some of their displays!  My favorite part was the little old lady in character like she lived during the 1800's!  My kids were glued and completely drawn into her presentation as well! :)

4.  However, Thursday was probably one of the BEST days!  My mom was on spring break this week, it's wild that even though we are neighboring communities that we have different spring breaks!  Anyway..... She planned to pick up B early from her baby sitters and came to meet me for lunch!! I don't know who was more excited, my kids or me!! :)  My kids have been DYING to meet B for MONTHS!!!  The pictures and almost daily stories are NOT enough for them!  They were in complete awe of her and well she was in heaven being with so many "BIG" kids!  The best part of the whole thing though was the sweetest compliment I received from my team mate on Friday though. As we were talking after school she said that it was so sweet to see me with B and that when I was holding her that I was just glowing!!  Sweetest. Compliment. EVER!  Thanks, Kristin! :) So even though I didn't get a picture of her in my room, I did get a picture of her before the day started, the only way I was able to get her to pose for the picture was by telling her she was going to see her Gama!! She is definitely a Grandma's Girl!!

5.  I'm going to start this one with a picture and then explain.....

So... I am definitely that teacher that has crazy silly rules in her classroom.  One of them being we DON'T say the "c" word.... you know the one that starts with "craaa" and ends with "eee" .... That is how one of my kids described it to me last year and I cracked up laughing.  Yes, I do not allow my kids to say crazy.....  WHY?!??!? I'm sure that is what you're thinking.  Well, let me explain.  As a child that word was a NO, NO!  It was disrespectful to call someone that and inappropriate to say that something was crazy.  Plus, I admit that even myself now as an adult use the word too openly.  When I began my first year, I vowed that would be one of my rules.  It takes the kids a week, maybe two max to really be able to control themselves from saying it.  On top of the fact that I don't really like the meaning of the word and how loosely we use it in todays society, it makes the kids practice self control over the things they say and THINK before they think.  Something that TOO many kids today lack. :-/  Ok, so now let me explain the picture..... My first two years of teaching, I was NEVER caught saying the "c" word in my class.  This year, in the last two months though, this phrase above has slipped out of my mouth TWICE!! You should see my kids faces too when they realize what I've said!! Their eyes become bugged out, their mouth drops open, and they are in complete shock.  Thankfully, my first two times of slipping up, they have been easy on me and given me "warnings!" haha...

I hope you all have a great weekend!  Mine is going well, minus the fact that I think my little miss may just be getting sick :(  I am going to get back to watching my trashy tv reruns of old school Real World and my glass of wine! :)

Oh & a just because sale is now going on in my TPT Store! :)

Make that one Tardy....

As much as I wasn't ready for spring break to be over, I was eager to see my 22 kiddos. You would think with all of this excitement that I would of remembered one of the key things needed to start my day...... Turning on my alarm!! However, that was not the case this morning. I woke up to a sleeping whine of my daughter thinking "why are you awake already, it's Sunday!" ..... Only to realize seconds later that yesterday was in fact Sunday and that today was Monday! Light was peeking through my blinds as I turned over in a panic to check the time........ 6:55, the time that I usually already have B dropped off at her babysitters! Needless to say I was "tardy" my first day back from spring break. I hope this is not an indicator of the way the next 11ish weeks are going to go!!!

Regardless of the hectic morning, my day was overall very exciting and productive!

Once I actually arrived, almost 30 minutes late, and the kids excitement subsided ... We dug into math. We began reviewing multiplication strategies that we learned before spring break, to my surprise, they actually remembered!! :) After we reviewed multiplication we began with division strategies!! This is one of my favorite math lessons ver to teach!! :) *** disclaimer: while I say multiplication and division... I don't call it that in my class, we don't actually use the multiplication and division signs. I explain to them that what we are doing is the begging steps to these processes, setting them up for multiplication and division in third grade....  ***. Each year, for the past three years, I have read The Doorbell Rang. Such a cute book and great intro to this strategy! After we work our way through the book, the kids had the opportunity work through some problems with cookies of their own, cookie crisp that is! :) They enjoy this lesson just as much as me, wish you could have seen their excitement! Nothing like a fun and engaging Monday!!

I have posted a couple times about our upcoming unit over Charlotte's Web! Well, today was the day, we FINALLY got to begin!!! I make such a big deal out of this for my kids because it is our first, well their first, novel study!! I read this book in elementary school and I read to my kids from my original book from elementary school!! It's definitely weathered over the years, but it's still overall in great on condition!!  Reading from my copy as a kid makes it even more special to them.... And me!  I love that they are always amazed with it!! :)

When we headed in from recess, I told the kids there was a surprise for them! During lunch I set out their Charlotte's Web study book, bookmark, and Charlotte's Web book for them on their table. Thanks to a generous parent, ALL of my kids had their own personal copy!! :)

On top of all of this funness... I decided for our brain break to try out the ants in your pants dance video for our brain break today... Let's just say, it was HUGE hit!! If you haven't checked it out, you must!! :)

Tomorrow is field trip day and this momma is exhausted and still sore from completing the warrior dash this weekend, so I will leave you with picture of my best friend and I from the race!! I hope you all enjoy your week!!! :)

Five for Friday & Freebie

It's hard to believe that my Spring Break is basically over. :(  While it has flown by, B and I have had a blast, I sure do love my one on one time with her!  For WEEKS I have been wanting to link up for Doodle Bugs Five for Friday.  Usually by the time I get home on Friday though I am so tired exhausted drained, mentally and physically, that I don't have the energy to write, well that and I usually don't have pictures of the things I want to share because of my horrible memory!  I told myself that this week would be my exception! :)  So here it goes.

One: Monday we went to the Dallas World Aquarium.  If you are a Texan and have never been, put it on your list of things to do.  Seriously, it was awesome, minus the fact that it was PACKED!!  I like to be able to move around and there were several times that we had difficulty doing due to the abundance of strollers and gawking. 

Two: Tuesday we had another fun packed day at the zoo!  A friend of mine lives within walking distance of the Ft.Worth zoo so we made a full day out of it!  We made it to the zoo by about 11, left around 1:30 since little miss NEEDED a nap badly!  After her nap, we hit the zoo for round 2 and stayed until they closed at 5!  B was exhausted and so was I after two days on the go!! We were happy to finally make it home late that evening!

Three: Wednesday we made a trip to the park, as if we hadn't been go, go, go enough!  :)  This little girl loves any and everything to do with being outside, so this week has been a dream come true for her!

Four:  Since I get a little anxious staying inside the house all the time, we met Bubba for lunch on Thursday.  Berklee thought she needed to be in control of the salad mixing!

Five: I FINALLLYYYYYYYY finished my Charlotte's Web Unit!!  Yeesh!  I have been working on this in spurts for the past two weeks.  My problem is that once I get into it.... I lose all track of time and am oblivious to everything else going on around!  I am super excited about it... mostly because it is going to be SOOO helpful during our unit!  When I get to doing fun things like book studys, I HAVE to have it laid out specifically, exactly like I plan to do it, otherwise I get distracted and it doesn't go so well.  This is my third year doing Charlotte's Web and I am super-duper excited about reading this book with my kids!  Each one of my kids will have their own copy this year thanks to a generous parent who purchased a class set of the books!  I also was able to bind their study guides together, we make a BIG deal out it!! :)  I don't have a picture, because of course, I forgot to take one of the bound books, but I have put everything together for purchase on TPT!

This unit is by far, my favorite unit I have created yet!  There is a study guide that has pre-reading questions/vocabulary and then a reading reflection.  I have also included 8 different foldables, 4 comparing characters and 4 that students can work on throughout the book so they can see how the character has changed from the beginning, middle, to the end.  A formative assessment/quiz that students must read the clues to identify the correct characters and TWO, yes, TWO different tests with keys!  Along with all of this there are templates for acrostic poems, writing paper, and extension activities listed by chapter!  A lot of work went into this, but it is going to make the next 6 weeks or so of reading a breeze when it comes to planning! :) Click the picture below to check it out in my TPT store, I will have it on sale through the weekend! :) 

Also, if you didn't get a chance to download the bookmarks that I made to go along with this as a freebie, click the picture below! :) 

I hope you all have a great weekend!! I know I will, my best friend is on her way NOW and tomorrow we will compete in Warrior Dash!! I can't believe it's already that time!! :)  For those of you just starting spring break, ENJOY.... for those of you that are ending your spring break, savor the last few days!!