Five For Friday!

Happy Friday Friends!

Linking up with DoodleBugs Teaching and Teaching Maddeness for their Friday Linky Parties.

                                                       

#1 The countdown has begun! I wanted to do something fun to celebrate the end of school. I really liked the idea of hanging balloons and popping them, but my ceiling is WAY high and I am afraid of heights. So I made this paper chain instead.

This is a picture from last week. We are only down to 5 days! ( Plus 1 in service day for teachers!)

 

Each day before we leave we take off a chain and read what it says. We have done things like wear a hat to school and bring a book from home to read to a partner. Today they got to sit anywhere that they wanted to in the room.

 

They are really having a blast with it. Makes me wish I had done it in years past as well.  It has really helped with behavior too because we only get to do what it says on the link IF they have more tallies on the smile side of our scoreboard. So far so good. :)

#2 Next year we are switching from using Accelerated Math to TenMarks as a math enrichment activity. So we tested it out this week since they do have a component of it that you can use FOR FREE! You can check their site out HERE.

We were working on multiplication and division concepts.

Students can get help while working by watching a short video that explains how to solve a similar problem or get hints that will help them solve it.

 

 

When they are done I can check out how well they did, how many they got right/ wrong, if they watched any video prompts or needed hints. They will also be able to do this at home! It is pretty cool and I am excited to use it next year. 

#3 This is actually a picture from last week but since I didn't link up then I wanted to share it. These poor kids this year have had HORRIBLE weather to contend with. We had our Christmas Party rescheduled for two months due to snow days, we almost had an ice day for our last field trip, and then our fun movie day was cancelled because we had an Ice Day...IN APRIL!

 

So it should have come as NO surprise that it rained all day when we scheduled a trip for the zoo. And because of bussing and schedules there was no way to reschedule it. So it was now or never. We went and the kids had a great time...and of course it stopped raining after we got back on the bus to go home. 

 

 

This is all 75 of us huddled under a band shell in the zoo's park while we ate our lunch.

 

#4. Last Friday was my birthday. I aged backwards.  It was a modern day miracle. :) Ever since then, Peanut has been making me " birthday cakes" in her sandbox and singing me happy birthday. Love it, love her. I will REALLY miss my "Teaching Kids" but I am also SO ready to enjoy my summer time with her!

#5.  Stop by Hoots 'n Hollers blog. They are having a giveaway that yours truly is a part of. :) 

 

 

 

So that's my five. I'll be stopping by tomorrow to link up with June's Currently. ( What?! June already! Crazy!)

 



Classroom Quick Tips Linky #3

Happy Thursday Friends!

Angela and I are back with our weekly linky: Classroom Quick Tips.

Font: Jessica Stanford
Background: I Teach? What's Your Super Power?
Frame: Tonya's Treats for Teachers

Every Thursday we will be hosting for you to link up with the quick tips that make your classroom run smoother. The only thing we ask is that you don't link up with a paid product. (Freebies are A-OK!) And if you do link up, please include our button so other's can know where to join in on the fun! :)

( Also, if you didn't know, we have a Pinterest board where we pin all of your awesome tips every week. You can check that out HERE.)

Here is my quick tip!

It involves how I store my punch out letters and numbers.

This year I got two sets of these small plastic drawers. They are the perfect size to hold those letter sets, especially if you are like me and you only punch out what you need.

I keep each color in its own gallon size Ziploc baggie.

Then I keep them in rainbow order in the drawers.

They are easily accessible to me. ( I don't have to move anything to get to them like I did in years past.) And it is easy to find which color I want since they are in order and you can see through the drawers as well.

So that is my quick tip. Next week I will share how one of my grade level partner stores her letters. 

Have a quick tip?

Link up with us below! 
 

Summer Bucket List Linky and Birthday Winner!

Well, I never made it to the Five for Friday Linky. Too much birthday party. :) So I am going to share my winner with you first and then share my summer bucket list. ( Even though I have two weeks of school left.)

So first things first. Winner, winner, chicken dinner goes tooooooo...

Random Integer Generator

Here is your random number:

2

 

So congratulations E. Reyes at Reyes Remarkable Rants. You can pick anything for free from my TPT store and when I actually have some free time ( in two weeks) and I can start working again on my TPT items I will send you the first one I make for free! :)

 

( Side note: Seriously cannot wait for my Reading Assessment class to be done.  So far it has actually been SUPER beneficial but it is sucking ALL of my spare time...and you know there is very little to be had to at this time of year. I just want to CREATE!)

Now for my bucket list!

http://www.amodernteacher.com

 

Today I took some of my precious free time during Peanuts nap time and went through my Pinterest boards. I created a new one called SUMMER 2013 BUCKET LIST, which you can check out HERE.

 

Pinterest OBVIOUSLY has SO MANY great ideas and if you are like me you can get a little overwhelmed with all of the things you have pinned. So I went through my boards and picked out a mix of things like recipes to try, things to make for my classroom, clothes to wear, things to do with Peanut, books to read and projects to do at home. I tried to pick things that I have either A) wanted to do for sometime or B) thought I would ACTUALLY accomplish. I mean I love some of the sewing projects I have but I don't know how to sew! :)

 

These are some of things I am going to try to do this summer.

 

 (Check out my pin board for these pins addresses. )

 

 Enjoy your shortened week for those of you IN school. And for those of you OUT of school sleep an extra hour or two for the rest of us. :)

 



Happy Birthday To Me!

That's right! Today is my birthday but I am giving YOU a present! Keep reading to find out what!
 
Usually I take the day off for my birthday, but we are having track and field day today and I didn't want to saddle a sub with it miss it. :) I usually get McDonald's breakfast as a special treat, so I at least upheld that tradition and made a pit stop there before school this morning. 

YUMMY!

 
 So on to your present! I don't have a lot in my store but all that I DO have is 20% off through the weekend to celebrate. 

ALSO!
 
You have a chance to win any item of your choice from my store, PLUS the next item I create FOR FREE! It is super easy and simple to win. All you need to do is leave a comment ( with your email address) telling me about how YOU usually celebrate your birthday. 

That's it! I will do a random number pick later this weekend and then I will let you know who the winner is. :) 

I'll be back later to update with the Five for Friday part of this post. :)

Enjoy your day!   

Classroom Quick Tips Linky #2

Happy Thursday Friends!
Last week Angela ,from Hippo Hooray for 2nd Grade, and I started a new linky party called Classroom Quick Tips. AND we were SUPER psyched when we had 8 other people who also linked up with us!

Want to link up with us? Here is what you do! It's super simple. Just take a slow walk around your classroom. Take a close look around at EVERYTHING. What's something you have/do in your classroom that makes your life as a teacher easier? The key words are "Quick Tips." Snap a photo and tell us a little ditty about how your tip helps you. The only rule is that you may not link up with a paid product. Freebies are A-OK!

Font: Jessica Stanford
Background: I Teach? What's Your Super Power?
Frame: Tonya's Treats for Teachers

SO! Here is my quick tip! It has to do with your classroom calendar. This is mine.

 

My quick tip is that I put Velcro on the back side of all of my pieces. Then I put the corresponding Velcro piece on the calendar grid. Each month it is SUPER easy to take down the old pieces and put up the new.

My calendar came from one of my mentor teachers. I admired her calendar and how cute it was. So when my time was done, she bought one for me! I have used it for 7 years now and I think of her every time I use it. This fall I had a pre-student teacher in my classroom. When her time was done in my room, I also bought her a calendar. :)

 
So, there is my super quick tip. Do you have a quick tip to share? Link up with us below! OH! And check back tomorrow for a special giveaway! :)

Five for Friday!

Happy, Happy Friday!
Linking up with Doodlebugs Teaching and Teaching Maddeness to share what went on in my corner of the world this week.

          

 

#1. Angela ,from Hippo Hooray for 2nd Grade, and I hosted our very first linky party yesterday!

What's even more exciting is that we were not the ONLY ones to link up! :) If you want to link up this week you  still can. ( Go HERE.) It's up until next Thursday, when we will do it again. :) Angela also came up with a genius idea for a Pinterest board that will have all of these awesome tips on it. You can check that out HERE.


#2.

 

This week we had a fun assembly to celebrate MAP testing being done. It was called the Ned Show. ( Ned stands for: N.ever giving up, E.ncouraging others, and D.oing your best)The guy speaking is named Gary. He did all sorts of neat tricks with a yoyo and some other magic tricks while spreading his message about how to be a champion. It was one of the best assemblies we have ever had. You can check it out at their website HERE.

 

#3.
Changed out my bulletin board for the last time this year. :( I got a sailboat bulletin board set at JoAnn's back in September for like $2! I have been saving it for the end of the year.

 The little sailboat creations on the bottom are by Amy Lemons. You can check them out HERE.

The bottom part is a little booklet. ( There is actually 5 pages but for some reason that picture is turned the wrong way.! Woops!)

 



 
 
 
 
 
 

 #4.

Today was Mr. Schroeder Appreciation Day. Mr. Schroeder is my principal. Ever since he became our principal 5 years ago,  we have had a special day at the end of the year where we celebrate him and all he does for us and our school. The kids make him cards, sing songs, write him letters etc. And we also do a potluck lunch. My kiddo's made this cute poster for him.

My favorite one is the top right corner ( of the poster board). One of my kiddos said " I like how you dress up." So cute!


#5.

Finally, who doesn't love a picture, letter, or craft from one of your peanuts. The ones that are even more special to me are the ones that they do at home because they had to take their own time to make it.

One of my peanuts brought this to me this morning. Mrs. Robinson is WAY too emotional to not have teared up at this.

Oh honey, *I* WILL miss you. 
14 more days....that's it. And then this years babies move on....Ok, Mrs. Robinson is WAY too emotional to think about it right now...

Enjoy your Friday night friends and have a FABULOUS weekend!

 

Classroom Quick Tips Linky!

HAPPY, HAPPY, JOY, JOY! It's Thursday and it is the VERY first linky for Classroom Quick Tips. This is really the brainchild of my BBB Angela over at Hippo Hooray for 2nd Grade. (If you are not following her yet, stop reading, go over to the side of my blog list where I have some of my favorites, click on her name, and FOLLOW her! That girl is seriously AH-Mazing!)

Angela and I both started our blogs with the intention of sharing our classroom with other teachers. Lately though we have been feeling the immense pressure to buy and sell on TPT. NOW! Don't get me wrong. I LUH-HUV TPT. I love making stuff and I love buying stuff. What I'm not so much into is when that is all someone posts about or uses their Pinterest for. So Angela and I thought we would get back to our bloggy roots and share the things we DO in our classroom. And that is exactly what our new linky is all about.

Font: Jessica Stanford
Background: I Teach? What's Your Super Power?
Frame: Tonya's Treats for Teachers

So this is what you do. It's super simple. Just take a slow walk around your classroom. Take a close look around at EVERYTHING. What's something you have/do in your classroom that makes your life as a teacher easier? The key words are "Quick Tips." Snap a photo and tell us a little ditty about how your tip helps you. The only rule is that you may not link up with a paid product. Freebies are A-OK! This linky is set to launch TODAY! and will continue weekly on Thursdays. We hope you'll join in on the fun with us!

And now, here is my quick tip. I do Literacy Work Stations in my room and one of our stations is the Listening Station. My tip has to do with how I organized my books and c/ds.  Here is what I did to help keep my books and c/d's organized. Put a sticker with a number on the book. Put another sticker with that same number on the c/d. That way the kiddo's know to look for the same number and they aren't wasting a bunch of time searching for the matching book and c/d.

Now, if you are like me you have a TON of books and c/d's. I used to let the kiddo's choose any book and c/d but as my collection grew that just stopped being feasible. So I use the numbers to also have my kiddo's practice their ordering skills.  I put out about 10 books and c/ds at a time. I place them in order from smallest to largest. Sometimes I put a chunk out in order ( like below) and sometimes they are random numbers. They are responsible for making sure that they stay in number order when their time at listening station is done.

Since I am the one putting them out it is very easy to put them away ( in number order) and I don't have to worry about searching through the stack for a match. The numbers are right there.

So, that is my quick tip. I hope you will link up and share a quick tip from your classroom!