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Friday, February 28, 2014

Five for Friday


Hello blogger friends!  It's lunch time on Friday and I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five For Friday!  Here we go!




Well technically, this was last week, but I went on a ski trip last weekend with my Sunday school class to Wintergreen in Virginia.  We had a great weekend and it is definitely a trip I won't forget any time soon!  A few of us girls who aren't skiers decided to go tubing at the plunge...going 30mph+ down a hill on a tube is quite exhilarating!






Monday was a super exciting day for my kiddos because I could finally share a BIG secret with them!  My principal came our first day back in January and told me that a parent had anonymously donated money to my classroom for iPads...so we got 20 iPad minis.  They are refurbished of course, but they work great and the kids love them!  I used them with my Excel (RTI) group today for math and they were engaged the entire time!







This week was "Founder's Week" at my college and as with most things at Meredith College - they go all out!  Alumnae from all over were posting pictures of how Meredith made us strong and showing our Meredith pride!




I don't know if your school is doing Jump Rope for Heart, but we did last week and lanyards with ducks were added to the prizes for raising money.  They can earn all different kinds of ducks for how much and how they actually did raise the money (online, in person, etc).  I love the incentive as do the kids, but these ducks on the lanyards are about to drive me nuts!!



I teach at a charter school and our PAL (like PTA) hosts Dress Down Days each month since our students wear uniforms.  2 DDD a year are Grant DDD so teachers can write and apply for grants for things for their classroom.  I wrote a grant to purchase Knowledge Quest materials by Scholastic and found out this morning that I had received the grant!  So excited!!



I'm off to take my kids to Music and enjoy some planning time in my room!
Happy Friday and have a great weekend!



Sale is almost over!!

Click on the image below to head over to my store...like Cinderella, the magic ends at midnight!


Happy shopping!  I'll be back later for Five for Friday!

Monday, February 24, 2014

3 Million Strong Sale!


Hop on over to my store Thursday and Friday and load up on some classroom goodies on sale!  What teacher doesn't love a sale?
My entire store will be 15% plus an additional 10% from TPT with the promo code TPT3

Happy shopping!

Friday, February 21, 2014

Five for Friday

Hello Friends!  You are reading this on Friday, but I'm actually writing it on Wednesday.  This is the first time I've ever scheduled a blog post!  My team is having all-day planning today and so I'm taking a few minutes to write my Five for Friday since I'm going on a ski trip this weekend.

Anyways...here we go!





Monday was supposed to be a teacher workday for us...but with the snow last week, we had to come to school for a normal school day.  So, we celebrated Valentine's Day on Monday.  We made a snack mix and played BINGO and read Be Mine Valentine, Charlie Brown.








Tuesday during recess, I decided to walk laps around our playground.  It didn't take long before I had some walkers with me.  We took a feet picture before lining up to go inside for lunch!



My school is so fortunate to have the opportunity for each team to have an all-day planning about once a quarter.  This week on our planning day, we were able to plan for the rest of 3rd quarter, get our End of Year celebration set at a local skating place, and more.  It is so great to be able to go to the bathroom when you want!  That's probably the best part!


Erin Condren had a teacher sale leading up to Valentine's Day and I was finally able to order my very first EC Teacher Planner!  I was sooooo stink in' excited on Wednesday when I got home and the lovely box was on my porch.  I could't wait to open it, but I had to slowly to enjoy all the beautiful packaging.  I can't wait to use it next school year...but I've had to "hide" it on my bookshelf at home so I won't obsess about it until then.









Finally, I've been using some of my reading comprehension passages from my Olympics unit over the past couple weeks.  As I was reading the answers and grading papers this week, I came across these four very different answers to the same question.  Love it!


Have a great weekend!

Friday, February 14, 2014

Five For Friday

It's Friday!  Woohoo, although I've been out of school since Wednesday at lunch for snow.  I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five For Friday.





So I already did a quick blog post about this book last Saturday when I found it at one of my local teacher stores, but I'm just so excited about this book I had to blog about it again!  It is such a cute book and I can't wait to do some activities with this book later on in the year!




So, as a Beginning Teacher (year 3 almost done with BT program - PRAISE!), I have to video a lesson this quarter.  So I took the opportunity Tuesday morning when I only had a few kids left in the room to do my video.  I pulled a comprehension passage from my 2014 Winter Olympics unit.  We read the passage twice and then the camera quit!  Oh well, I got enough I think to write a quick review for my requirements.  But, after the camera quit I taught my kids a new strategy that I had seen on Pinterest and Instagram last week.  The rainbow strategy.  They loved having colorful papers and I love when they can easily go back to the text and find the answers.  Check out this strategy from its Teaching Maddeness here!


Check it out!


My bestie and team-mate found this on TPT before I did and I was over the moon excited!  Never did I ever think when I became a TPT Seller back in October that one of my products would be on the Best Sellers list!  It's on sale 15% off this weekend, so head over to my store and get it while it's on sale!  Only one more week of the Olympics!!


So, Wednesday we went to school and had a planned early release at 11:30 due to snow coming our way.  By the time carpool was over and I made it back to my room around 12:00, the flakes were already flying.  I made it home quickly and safely, but so many others did not.
But, with the snow days at the end of the week, I got to be productive adding some new stuff to my TPT store!

Go check them out!


Well, Monday morning I was finally able to find out my team members for next year and I'm so excited about next year now!  Rumors had been flying over the past week or so and I even heard through the grapevine that I was going to 3rd grade...uh, no!
I'm super sad that my bestie is moving up to 3rd grade next year, but I know she is going to make it great and she gets to loop with her class, so I'm a little jealous for that reason.  But I'm excited because my team is getting 2 new additions!  Both are moving from other positions and I'm so excited to have them on my team and can't wait to start planning with them!

Have a great weekend y'all!
I'll try to stop by next week to show you some of our Valentine's festivities that are going to take place on Monday!  Going on a church ski trip next weekend, so I won't be around for Five for Friday next Friday!




Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Mystery Box February

Hello again friends!  Home from school and it is such a beautiful sight outside with the falling snow and it is coming down fast!

Wanted to pop in really quick and share about the February Mystery Box being put on by a set of wonderful teacher bloggers.

Hop on over and enter the Rafflecopter to win.  There are some great prizes this month and I hope to be the winner!


Snow Day Sale!!

Hello friends!  Here in central NC we are expecting a BIG winter storm today with snow and ice - ack!  My school decided last night to go in and leave at 11:30, which makes this teacher oh so happy because we won't have to make the day up!  Plus, all of our craziness with trying to get our hot lunch stuff taken care of will be solved because money is due on Wednesdays anyways when we have hot lunch.  Can't wait for some Chick Fil A on Friday!

Anyway, just wanted to pop in super early this morning and let y'all know I've got my whole TPT store 10% off today for the snow day!  Plus, I got super excited when my bestie tagged me in an Instagram pic for my Olympic unit being in TPT's best seller list!  So I am in a good mood early this morning even though I should still be asleep.  Boo to waking up early and not being able to go back to sleep.

Stay warm and happy hump day!  Whoop whoop!

Saturday, February 8, 2014

So excited about my find today!

Made a trip to a newly relocated teacher store in my area today and fell in LOVE!  I have been a loyal TeachMe store shopper over the past few years, in part because it is closer to me, but the new Stone's Education Superstore has won me over!  They used to be so cramped in their old location, but their new store is so BIG and bright and has space!

Anyways, like most teachers, I went looking for one thing and ended up finding something else! As soon as I walked in the store, I saw a display set up for this book:


I thought it looked cute and kept going, but my mom loved it.  Saw another display for it as I made my way around the store, so I picked it up and started flipping through it.  It is so cute and I love the personalities of all the crayons. 

Can't wait to read this book to my kiddos in the coming months and do an activity for a bulletin board.  Will probably wait until later in the year to do it because of other activities planned for our bulletin board...March writing, Flat Stanley projects...so it might be May!  But I can't wait to share it with my kiddos and I'll be sure to share our final product with you!

Have a great Saturday :)

Friday, February 7, 2014

Five For Friday!

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for this week's Five For Friday.  So here it goes!




Well last Sunday was Superbowl Sunday and this NC gal has never cared one bit about the Superbowl or who was playing in the game.  But this year, my former Wolfpacker Russell Wilson was starring as Seattle Seahawks quarterback...so I finally cared!
We didn't have a party, but we had pizza and cookie cake as we cheered our team to victory!  Go Seahawks and way to go Russell!  So sad you left State, but know you wouldn't be where you are today if you had stayed with us!



Last Monday, a friend of mine from college posted a picture on Facebook over her preschoolers making Valentine's cards for children in local hospitals.  This was being hosted my a local radio station, so I was instantly inspired to make this a quick project after our math test that afternoon.  The kids really enjoyed it and it got them to thinking about others for a minute rather than just thinking about themselves.



 Driving East each morning to work can be a blessing or a curse.  In just a couple months I will be breaking my sunglasses out again each morning even when I leave the house at 6:40!  I love spring, but the sun can be killer on the way to work!  But Thursday morning, I had the best view of clouds and color.  I had to stop on my way in the building to capture all of God's beauty he sent for me.



With the Olympics starting "officially" tonight, it was time to break out some activities from my Olympic unit to do with my kiddos.  The first up was the graphing activity to graph medals.  One side has a graph for Gold, Silver, and Bronze for the USA and the other side compares total medal counts for up to 5 countries.  I got to choose USA as one and then let each table discuss and decide on one country.  I was surprised (and pleased) with their choices.  I figured Canada and some other "big" countries they had heard of would be their choices, but they never cease to surprise me.


The group that chose Israel chose that country because "that is where Jesus was born".  Gotta love 'em!  They definitely covered the whole globe and their choices will make for interesting conversation at the end of the Olympic games as to why some countries did better at the WINTER Olympic games than others.


We had Wear Red for Women day today at work, so I cracked out my Read Women Wear Red NC State Shirt.  Not only did I get to support my team, but the shirt went with the theme of the day.


That's all for now folks!
Have a great weekend :)