Five on Friday

This week was a short one for me...only 4 days. Woohoo! But somehow we crammed a TON into those 4 little days. I'm linking up with Teaching Doodle Bugs for a recap. 

1) Fun with Easter Eggs

Did you see this super fun freebie from The Happy Teacher in the teachers pay teachers newsletter last Sunday??? 

I love that it it is truly a product that can be used with any grade level. The example shows the activity as away to practice adding whole numbers.  My students worked on adding decimals and had a great time. 

Earlier in the week we also used the plastic eggs for test prep. I filled the eggs with test questions and they answered the questions with partners. Much more fun than traditional test prep. 

2) Peeps 

I sent my kids home with this sweet treat:

 (pintrest inspired of course!)

Of course mine aren't as beautiful as the pintrest version (especially with the glare!)  but my kiddos were still thrilled with the sugary goodness. :) 

3) Observation 

I had a formal observation this week. We were told that they would be looking for our use  differentiated instruction which was one of the things I've been trying to work on using more this year. 

By the way, I ordered this book a few weeks ago and I'm loving it! Lots of great stuff...

My lesson seemed to go well but I won't get the formal evaluation/meet with my admin until I return from Spring Break. It's always a relief to just have it DONE. :)

4) Parent Game Day 

This week we had parent game day. Parents could come after school and play board games in each classroom. We played chess (my boys are obsessed) and Headbandz (I'm obsessed with this one. So fun!). 

5) Spring Break 

I am officially on Spring Break...enough. said. 

Now, I'm off to blog stalk. Enjoy your weekend and have a great Easter! :) 

Five on Friday

Well, it's been a lllloooonnnggg week! I feel like I've been away from blogland and all of my teacher friends for age because lately I haven't even had time to blog stalk! Things have been all kinds of busy with me.

So I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to show you what I've been up to.

1) Yosemite 
Last weekend I was lucky enough to spend time in one of the most beautiful places in the world.

(SOURCE) 

I didn't take this picture but I did stand in this exact spot. Such a beautiful view! 

We spent the three days in these great little cabins with 3 of my childhood friends and their husbands/boyfriends. The cabins were inside the park and pretty amazing. We had a full kitchen, cable TV and a fireplace. Now that's my kind of roughing it!

I did brave the elements and hiked around the valley floor and drove up the hill to play in the snow. It was my first time snowshoeing! So fun! 

Lots of beautiful scenery, good food, good wine and good friends! Couldn't ask for anything more! 

2) Giveaways 

While I was away in the woods, some of my favorite bloggers posted about giveaways for their big milestones. I was so excited to donate prizes to these amazing ladies! 

Donna of Hokie Teach is hosting her 100 follower giveaway. There are a whole bunch of gems in her giveaway including my Frindle Novel Study. 

Amanda and Stacia from Collaborative Cuties , are also having a giveaway!

 So many amazing products in this one too, including my Graphic Organizers for Any Novel. 

If you haven't entered already, GO! Enter now before it's too late! 

On the school front.........

3) Fact Trackers 

We are knee deep in science everywhere you look! I'm trying to cover EVERYTHING before our state science test in April. I've been integrating like crazy so that I can sneak it all in.


I just used this book as we continued our weather unit this week. I love the American Revolution one too!  These are so kid-friendly and make tough subjects much easier to understand. They are a third grade reading level  but still full of great content which is really helpful since I have so many students reading below grade level this year.

4) Really Good Stuff

I got a package this week! Guess what was inside?!?!?

This:  

And THIS: 

 

I am loving both of my new goodies! And I am also very proud of myself for only ordering two items. That is a first! 

5) Starbucks to the Rescue 

(Get this adorable sign HERE) 

I normally stick with chai tea lattes but this week I had to up the ante a little bit and go for old stand by.  I don't know what it is about this week (maybe it was being away for the weekend, or the IEP meeting, or the  2 hour common core meeting on Thursday or the 2 hour  committee meeting I had on today...yes on a Friday until 6:00 pm!) but lots of Starbucks got me through!

Well, I am finally off to catch up on my blogs and then it's straight to bed for me.

Happy weekend, my sweet friends! :) 

Five on Friday

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for the Five on Friday Linky (and I'm actually on time this week!). 

1) Tangram Fun! 

We had lots of fun with Laura Candler's Tangram Polygon Exploration freebie. It was really fun to see the kiddos working and thinking with shapes in new ways. The best part was seeing them work together and help each other meet each challenge. 

I love the paper tangram templates. Such an easy low tech way to create manipulatives. I printed mine on astrobrights paper and laminated. Easy-peezy! 

I also downloaded this fun app for the high tech version. The kids loved this one too! :) 

We have a few more activities with our tangrams next week and while I was searching for ideas on pintrest I found this gem! 

(Source)

How fun is that! I'd love to attempt this for a fun snack for my students.....we'll see if it happens....

(The picture links you too a great blog with lots of other great ideas with tangrams, too!) 

2) Yummy Soup

On the home front, I am trying to cook more meals at home. I tried this crock pot soup this week and it was super yummy and super easy! 

It is from 365saysofcrockpot.com. If you haven't already, go check it out. So many great recipes on my "to try" list! 

3) Pizza! Pizza! 

Our admin had a pizza party to celebrate the students who improved their benchmark grades. There was lots of extra pizza left over for the teachers....it's the little things that make this teacher happy! :) 

4) Astrobirghts Everything

I love this paper and cardstock! I even just found sentence strips in astrobright colors t Michale's, Live, love, love! 

5) Cheap, comfy, cute shoes! 

I love these Payless flats. They are the comfiest flats I own....even better than my more expensive pairs. I own four different colors and I think I'm gonna swing for this black and white pair this weekend. So cute! 

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway! 

To Enter: 
-Follow my blog and leave a comment w/your email address saying that you are a follower....
-If you are already a follower, you can play, too!  Just leave me comment telling me that you already follow my blog.
-Don't forget to leave your email address so that I can contact you if you are the winner.

Drawing ends  next Tuesday (Feb. 26th)!

a Rafflecopter giveaway Thanks so much for entering! :)

Enjoy your weekend, teacher friends! 

Five on Friday (a little late :) )

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching  for another round of Five on Friday. Yes, I know I am a little late! Whoops!

1) Facebook Character Activity 

We just finished one of  my all time favorite books, Because of Winn-Dixie. I seriously L-O-V-E that book.

 There are so many interesting characters in the novel so I really wanted to do some sort of character project. I had seen some really cute projects using Twitter or Facebook formats and found this FREE template on freeology.com. 

(Click on the Picture to download your own copy) 

My kids really worked hard on their profile sheets! I wish I would have snapped a few pics but I didn't. They were also pretty impressed that I knew some FB lingo. :) 

2) Because of Winn-Dixie Party 

At the end of Because of Winn-Dixie, all of the characters get together for a big party. On Friday we recreated the party in our classroom. The kids decorated their desks with streamers and  we had pickles, "Dump Punch" (orange juice and 7up), Litmus Lozenges and brownies. (In the book they had egg salad sandwiches but I did not have access to a fridge so I subbed brownies....the kids didn't seem to mind. :) ) 

Then we watched the movie version. I have to say I really prefer the book over the movie but it was a still a nice way to end our week and wrap up our novel. 

3) Assessment/Data Binders are D-O-N-E! (Thank goodness!) 

This year we are implementing assessment binders at my school. We turn them into our administrators every 8 weeks to be reviewed. Ours were due Friday. I'm so glad to get rid of those binders for awhile!!  Don't get me wrong, in some ways I really see the benefit and like the idea but they are a lot of work! 

4) Mani 

Okay, okay enough about school...it is the weekend after all! I am also in love with my new mani. It is pintrest inspired and basically looks like this: 

(SOURCE) 

Except my heart is dark pink. The pin is a tutorial but I am the worst manicurist ever so I treated myself with a trip to the nail salon. I never get my nails done because I just can't justify spending the money but I splurged this morning and I am so happy I did. :) It's the little things! 

5) Story of my LIFE: 

 

I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend! Now I am off to blog stalk.......

PS I am at 98 followers. If your not following yet please clickity -clackity  on the followers button. Pretty, pretty please! :) 

Five For Friday

So glad it's Friday!! I am looking forward to a weekend full of lots of rest and relaxation. :) I am also (finally!) linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for a fun little linky. I have seen this linky floating around for awhile now but now I am officially linking  up. Hop on over and link up too!

1) Martin Luther King Jr. Posters 

I love seeing our MLK posters in the hallway. My kiddos worked so hard on them! I love their portraits of Dr. King! My poor photogrpahy skills/camera phone really don't do these justice. :) 

2) Zombies in Love 

 I started pulling out my Feburary resources and found my favorite Valentine's Day book. Makes me smile everytime!

3) Poetry Unit

We just started our poetry unit. My fabulous student teacher created the first week of  the unit and today the students were able to recite some of the poems that they explored during the week. Two of my kiddos rapped "Smart" by Shel Silverstein. They were so into it! :) Makes my teacher heart happy.

4) Magic School Bus 

We have been working on benchmark tests ALL week. My kids are totally burnt out by lunch so the afternoons have been crazy  ineteresting.The Magic School Bus for Luch totally saved our afternoon Thursday and also hit some major science standards. Gotta love that!

5) Factor Samuri

Our new favorite app! Feels just like fruit ninga but there's some math in there (it sneaks in all ninja-like).

Hope you all had a fabulous week!! I am sending you good thoughts for a relaxing weekend!!! I know that  am looking forward to blog stalking this weekend....