What's Normal??

We have had some cRaZy weather here in Virginia which translates to some crazy schedules at school.  For example, we went to school 2 hours late this morning due to freezing rain.  This afternoon...the dog and I were hanging on the back patio enjoying the sunshine in short sleeves.  Well, I was wearing short sleeves...not so much the dog. 

 

We reserve dressing him up for special occasions. ;)

 

In other news...the crazy schedule means that my plan book is a hot mess!  My poor student teacher has yet to see a "normal" week or hardly a "normal" day since she's been with me. 

 

But I'm not complaining...the extra time off has given me a few extra days to snuggle with the newest sweetie in my life...my brand new niece and goddaughter. 

 

This is Hadleigh. 

 

 

Total sweetness.

 

We are quite smitten with her...obviously.

 

Well, I am off to do a little bit of laminating and watch the Bachelor... but I did manage to finish up my latest math pack and wanted to share with you in case you are getting ready to stock up for the BIG sale on Sunday!  Have ya heard??


All of my goodies will be 20% off and TPT is throwing in 10% off the discounted price as well!



So here it is! 

It's all about making sense of numbers...teens, beginning place value, skip counting, and more!  Check it out on TPT!

*The first 2 people to comment on this post will receive this new math pack for FREE* 


Oh, and before I go...
I know this is all over social media...but if by chance one person reading hasn't seen this, it's worth posting.  If you've seen it and havent clicked on it yet...it's worth it. 

Love him, love his message.  Just plain love!
 

 

"You got air comin' through your nose. You got a heartbeat. That means it's time to do something!

 

We were made to be awesome."

 

I need this little guy in my class every day to "pep talk" me. :)

 

Happy teaching to you!

 

 

 

 

Exciting Times!

Lots of pictures, lots of rambling, and LOTS of excitement

(oh, and a freebie if you can make it to the end)

Don't say I didn't warn you. ;) 

What a fabulous week! 

Here is what's been going on in my corner of the world...in list form...because there has been a lot of JOY to share.  I am SO blessed.

1. I hosted a brunch for my beautiful best friend, Maegan, who left for Uganda this week as a missionary.  Sad to say goodbye...but she'll be back in a few months for my wedding, and I'm so very excited for her new adventure in life.  I love a good excuse to get together with awesome friends and scour Pinterest for party ideas...and eat donut holes. 

If you are interested in her journey...she started a blog to document her work in Uganda - www.wordsoftruthindeed.wordpress.com

Trying out the "self timer" setting on the new camera to show off my messy house and fabulous friends. 

2. I met my student teacher and she is sweet as sugar.  I think I am going to love working with her this semester!  YES! 

(no picture of her...don't want to scare her off, yet.)

3. I HAVE A NEW NEICE! My brother and his wife welcomed their sweet girl, Hadleigh, into the world on Wednesday morning.  They got home safely today and we are planning our trip down to meet our new neice and goddaughter on Monday! I am ridiculously excited.

This is my beautiful momma. She will probably shoot me for posting this picture because she (gasp) forgot her makeup when she made the trip to my brother's house for Hadleigh's arrival. Clearly, she doesn't need it.  My dad didn't understand the trauma of forgetting her makeup.  He's a boy, what can you say?

4. It snowed like CRAZY on Thursday evening and we got a FREE snow day on Friday...making a 4 day weekend.  FREE, I tell ya! As in...no stealing our ONE teacher workday of the whole year on Tuesday, no snatching days from spring break, no crazy Saturday work days...FREE.  

Granted, I worked on report cards all day on my "free" snow day...but I did it with PJs on, Today show on in the background, snuggling with Sawyer so it barely counts.

Pure. Joy.

Sawyer helping dad "hit the books" to study for his paramedic exam on our snow day.

5. I have been busy trying to learn how to use my new camera.  I am 100% overwhelmed but I'm trying!  My favorite things so far have been learning to "blur" the background a little and playing around with the "sports/action" setting and taking way too many pictures of Sawyer on the move. Ta-da!

Does anyone know if there is a Guinness World Record for dog with the longest tongue? I feel like we might be in the running.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

I promised you some examples of work from my Winter Math Pack when we got to it.  We dove head first into some geometry this past week and the kids LOVED it.  I'm currently searching for some good tangram puzzles to challenge my smarties because they seemed to LOVE the pattern block work we did.

One of my favorite activities, as usual, was the "At First it Was a Shape" books. 

He later told me that he made this crown for me because I look like a princess...say no more, you got your "A" on this project. ;)

Can you read the sign? It says "Get hot dogs for free."

I'll be there.

If you are getting ready to teach geometry or patterns.... or if you need need some winter problem solving goodies...check out my latest product on TPT!

And lastly, we made some Martin Luther King Jr. portraits.  I am kicking myself for not getting pictures of them for you because the mustaches were out of control.  Here are some sweet examples of their dreams, though.  Some of them "got" the assignment right away...others needed some help.

One little boy wrote "I have a dream that I get some chicks."

We didn't get into whether or not he meant the bird kind or the girl kind.  Either one is a legitimate dream, I suppose.  

Wish I could draw as good as this firstie!

Amen, sister.

My dream is I wish for everybody to be safe from the storm.  

My dream is people "picken" flowers because it is nice. LOVE!

My dream is that people will not judge on there disabilities. Love that invented spelling and love the message.

My dream is every "wan" to smile.  This makes my heart smile.

If you need a writing template for a "dream" writing, feel free to grab this one for, ummm...next year since I'm so late posting this. :)

Happy weekend to you!!

Snowmen in Bikinis?!?!

Happy Monday! 

Do those two words go together?  

They do when you come home to this little package on the front porch.

My new camera arrived and I'm so ridiculously excited! 

I forced myself grade some papers and enter some test scores before I opened it tonight.  Now...I shall open it and take approximately 2000 pictures of the dog while I watch The Bachelor.

Before that fun commences, I did want to drop in and share a cute little freebie with you.  This was a totally spur of the moment little writing activity that I put together last week to go with this fabulous book and review some science information on seasons.

After we read the book, we discussed what we would do with our snowmen if they stayed all year long.  My babies came up with some fun ideas for their "snow people".  They wanted to lounge at the pool with them, go trick or treating, carve pumpkins, and watch 4th of July fireworks!  It was a great review of the seasons and holidays associated with them.

Here is a your copy of the cover if you'd like to do this activity in your classroom, too! I just stapled this to a couple pages of writing paper (one side for each of the four seasons) and let them go to town!

Here are some fun examples! :)

They crack me up!

Happy teaching to you!

Party Animals

I had a vision of how I wanted my little New Year's craftivity to look hanging in the hall with their sweet little faces and glittery party hats. 

We did the project last year with simple little party horns and triangle hats. They were adorable.

I thought I'd step it up this year because I found some cool Happy New Year tiaras on sale at the grocery store.  They had glitter on them, I couldn't resist.  I'm a sucker for glitter.

Plus, let's be honest...there are a lot of ideas on Pinterest and I couldn't choose "just one."

So...I decided we needed hair to stick out under our hats.

Then... I decided the boys shouldn't wear tiaras...they needed top hats.

Then...I decided we needed "shirts" so that our heads weren't just floating above our writing.

Then...the tiaras broke my scissors when I tried to cut them apart.

Then...I learned a lesson.  More is not always better.

Ta-da.

Oh boy. This cutie's new year's resolution was to learn to hula hoop better.  Quite a goal, right?

Wow. 

I think they look like "morning after NYE" portraits.

Party animals!

Ol' Abraham Lincoln over there on the left is lookin' a little disheveled.  Am I right?  And I did help the blonde gal "curl" her hair.  No wonder my own hair always looks like a hot mess.

Bless their hearts (and mine).  I was really tired after we made these. Then, they made me giggle and the kids had a blast wearing the party hats and blowing those party horns so it was worth it.  

I read this book for the first time this year and it helped to explain what a resolution is.  I highly recommend it for your collection!



I forgot to take pictures of some more...successful...little projects we've done this week with these books.

    

I'll be back soon to share those with you!

Happy teaching to you! Happy Friday!

Happy 2013 & A Freebie For You!

Happy 2013!

 I hope everyone had fun ringing in the new year.  I celebrated at home with my two favorite guys for the first time in a long time and I must say...it was fabulous!

 

This was the extent of our celebration...

 

and I've never been more content on New Year's Eve!

 

Sawyer is actually modeling the tiaras that I got for our new year's resolution writing craftivity tomorrow when we return!  Not sure exactly how I'm going to use them yet, but they were on sale along with the party blowers so I'm thinking of a little combo of all of the cute "party hat people"  I've seen on pinterest! 

(Click the pictures to head to the original source)

 

 

 

 

 

 I bet the NYE accessories are even cheaper today!

 

 

Don't forget...

My "Hello Winter" Math Pack is on sale through midnight!  Are you teaching geometry or patterns when you return?  Working more on addition and subtraction story problems? 

If so...grab yourself a copy! My printer is working on it now!
 

I'm spending the day organizing and lesson planning to gear up for my return to reality tomorrow.  I'm excited to see my kiddos but not excited to have to change out of my PJs before 2 pm tomorrow!  Morning work for my babies tomorrow morning will be "Winter Break News" where they get to write all about what they got for Christmas, who they visited, where they went, and how they rang in the new year!

  Feel free to grab it as a google doc (click on the picture) if you would like to use it. :)
*Print in grayscale for best quality in B&W. I plan to run it front and back.*

 Happy teaching to you!