Roller Coaster Ride Monday

Today was a Monday in rare form, and when I say in rare form, I don't mean that in a good way.  I have 6 alarms set every morning, yes SIX!  The first four are my WAKE-UP, SERIOUSLY TIME TO GET MOVING, ROLL OUT OF BED, YOU'RE GOING TO LOOK A HOT MESS alarms!  The last two are my "HEY YOU, HEAD FOR THE DOOR OR YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE" alarms!  Apparently this morning when the first four went off, I ignored them.  Yep, I didn't actually wake up enough until the 5th alarm.  Once I realized what time it was, I woke up in a PANIC!! I had about an hour and ten minutes until I had to be at school!  Since I live about 30 minutes away from my school and STILL had to drop off B, I'm sure you can understand the panic!  On mornings like this (which really has been rare this year), it seems to set the mood for the day unfortunately.

My morning, even beyond waking up LATE though, was rough. My kids were OFF the chain.  Goofing off and not paying attention was their TOP priority today.  I was convinced it was just going to be one of those days.

Then, at lunch as I was waiting in line at Subway (since I obviously didn't have time to pack my lunch today) and I was checking my email.   No sooner than my phone updated the emails did I see an email from Tracy Teagler!  Yep, yesterday she posted a giveaway for her new Troll themed reading strategies and skills unit! Aren't the Trolls cute, I swear Melonheadz never disappoints when it comes to her clip art! :)

I always enter to win these fun things, but to be honest, I NEVER seem to win!  However, the subject line was WINNER, WINNER!  Let me tell you, this was the HIGH of the day!! ****INSERT INSTANT CHEESY GRIN!****I was on cloud nine! This unit was already something I planned to add to my "wishlist" for next year! Once I made it home and downloaded the unit and was able to really check it out, I have to say it's probably one of my favorite units of hers yet!!

Onto, other exciting news......I managed to get one of the three units I was working on DONE yesterday, HOORAY!!   I will have it on sale in my store until Sunday! :)

There are a total of 10 centers, plus a fun probability extension!  These centers will last my kids until the end of the year once I add a few others that I have from prior years and units!  When I began planning this unit knowing it would be my last set of math centers before summer I knew incorporating baseball and the beach into this unit was a MUST!  Then I saw Krista Wallden's bubblegum clip art and couldn't resist!  Plus when I think baseball I think sunflower seeds, peanuts, and BIG LEAGUE CHEW!

Centers included in this unit cover:

• Addition with regrouping (to 99)
• Subtraction with regrouping (to 99)
• Place Value (to 999)
• Coin Collections (These actually go up to $1.25 and offer a differentiated option for your kiddos who are ready for more of a challenge!)
• Patterns (Finding the pattern within a sequence of numbers and identifying the missing number)
• Comparing Numbers (Comparing numbers and number sentences)
• Fractions (2 DIFFERENT CENTERS, 1 with multiple options)
• Time (in 5 minute increments)
• Probability 
• Probability Extension Mini-Book

Tomorrow I get the dreadful miserable  joyful opportunity of administering the STAAR test to a small group of 4th graders.  Can't wait.  I'm sure you can sense my excitement.  Maybe my kids will appreciate me more this week after I'm gone for 2 mornings! Hah :)

I plan WILL have my Mother's Day Book finished this week and can't wait for my kids to get started on the revamped version of the book!  It is amazing how much I have learned in the last year and how far I come in this blogging and TPT world!

I wish you all a WONDERFUL week! :)

Five For Friday

Whew, what. a. week.  I kid you not, this week has felt like I have been waiting an eternity for today to arrive!  Major props to all teachers to have to go through the prep and agony of sitting through standardized testing.  I am NOT the least bit envious, especially after doing two days of back to back small group administration!  I can't even begin to explain how happy I am that today is FINALLY Friday!

I meant to post this earlier this week and never got around to it...

Today makes 3 weeks straight that I have been able to post my Five for Friday!! Whoop, whoop! 

1.  Monday I began laying the ground work for teaching about the government!  We did our fun lesson about the Tired King, Louie.  If you are not familiar check out my post earlier this week about it!  The kids had a blast and when it came time to introduce the 3 branches of government, let me tell you, THEY GOT IT!!! Between the King Louie lesson and their new book (which they loved!) they are experts about the 3 branches of government and our government leaders!

2.  We continued to work our way through the Knuffle Bunny unit I bought from Hope King.  This week we focused on Character Traits that describe Trixie, writing stories about when we lost our favorite toy/stuffed animal/blankie, and finishing our glyphs from last week!! So much fun!!

3.  One of my new FAVORITE bloggers is hands down Tracy Teagler over at Creekside Tales.  If you haven't checked her out, her blog is a must!! She has so many awesome ideas, tons of freebies she shares with her followers, and just overall some great quality work!! I have bought several items from her and don't pass up any of her freebies.  A little while back Tracy posted about teaching No to Bullies, Yes to Buddies, she shared several activites she did with her kiddos and books used as read alouds.  I LOVE books, especially when they have a great lesson attached, so I immediately went to amazon and purchased the books!  We watched the Birds short film made by Pixar (like Tracy suggested) talked about how they treated others and then read a new favorite Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun!  We talked about how we are all Unique and how important it is to treat others, even when we aren't being treated the way we deserve to be treated.  The kids then completed one of the writing assignments she shared about bullying, shared ways they are unique, and made their unique bird!! I couldn't resist but to put all their birds on a "wire."  The kids loved the display and so have all of our friends that walk by our bulletin board daily! :)   Thanks, Tracy for sharing your great work!

4.  We are through week 3 of Charlotte's Web, my kids are HOOKED!  They loved as we read "never hurry, never worry" in a chapter this week!  I think there was a gasp of excitement from everyone of my kids because it is the quote on their bookmark! :)  They also get all excited when we come across our pre-reading vocabulary words!!  I'm so impressed with how well they have been using the words in context and identifying behaviors with the words... Their new favorite word is GULLIBLE!  :)

One of their literacy centers this week (and probably next because they are working hard with adding the detail) is to make plates full of Charlotte and Wilbur's diet!  They are making them 3-D and they are turning out SUPER cute! I can't wait so share some of their finished products!

5. As I was planning for next week with one of my best friends and co-worker Diana, we ironed out our writing plans for the next two weeks!  We are digging in deep with expository writing and really explaining the difference between expository and narrative writing.  In an attempt to scaffold the steps/lesson and make it as user friendly as possible for our kids we came up with a mini-book and outlines for the two types of expository writing.  This is my freebie for this week!  I am super excited because next week we will be making an "edible" Charlotte!  The kids will then be writing a How-To make an Edible Charlotte.  I did this two years ago and it really helped the kids realize how DETAILED they must be when it comes to writing a how-to!  Be on the lookout next week (probably on my Five for Friday) of our Edible Charlottes! :)

I hope you all have a FAST Friday and a WONDERFUL weekend!