Five for Friday

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for her Five for Friday linky party.  This week was my Spring Break and while I didn't go on a tropical trip I sure did enjoy all of my free time.

1. I went to eye doctor.  I hate going to the eye doctor.  My left eye is so awful I always feel like a dummy when I can't read their dang letter chart!  On the upside, I ordered some super cute new Kate Spade glasses.  I don't wear my glasses on the regular, but I love throwing them in once in awhile.

2. My hubby and I decided to jump on the spaghetti squash train and have a super healthy spaghetti dinner. I've been seeing different recipes on Pinterest using spaghetti squash, but I've been scared to try them.  I'm a real stickler for weird textures in my food and I thought for sure it'd make for a traumatic experience.  After seeing Jackson rave about it on The Biggest Loser, however, we decided to give it a go.  The verdict... It has very little taste and is a little crunchier than noodles (that could be because of our prep though), but not too bad overall.  We haven't decided if we'll do it again or just stick to our whole grain pasta.

3. I got my creative on and added some leather elbow patches to a cardigan!  I really wanted elbow patches on a black and white striped cardigan, but I went with something I already had in the closet.

{In case you haven't tried, getting a picture of elbow patches is a little awkward.}

4. I got a mailer advertisement for The Limited.  I usually put this type of mail directly in the garbage, but attached to this mailer was a gift card for $20!  I carefully read the fine print and made my husband read the fine print... it was really just $20 to spend in their store.  A.W.E.S.O.M.E.  This is what I got:

5. My mom and step dad are coming for a visit tomorrow!  I just love being closer to family.  :)

Happy weekend y'all!

Classes 4 Classes

So, I'm just sitting here on my spring break watching ABC World News.  {I know, it doesn't sound too exciting, but it's nice to not have anything that must be done.}  Anyways, a teacher from Sandy Hook Elementary was featured tonight for a new website that she just started up called Classes 4 Classes.  It's all about kids paying if forward.  She came up with the idea after people from around the world showered her students with gifts after the December tragedy.  I think it'd be a great classroom project and a wonderful life lesson.  Has anyone else heard of this website?

Get cracking... comparing numbers

Today we worked on comparing numbers.  Each table of students got a basket full of plastic Easter eggs.  Inside the eggs were numbers.  They also each had a supply of connecting cubes.  The directions were to pull two eggs out of the basket, open one, write the number, build it with cubes, and repeat for the second egg.  Then, they compared the two numbers by looking at their cube towers.  I was amazed at how well the lesson went.  Kiddos who normally struggle with math skills were rocking it out!

Here's a quick freebie for you to get cracking with your kids!

Directions:  Write the first number in the first egg and the second number in the second egg.

Then, make your symbol in the circle between the eggs.

Apologies for the blurry pictures.  I didn't have either of my cameras or my iPod with me so I used my old school phone to snap a few pictures.

Only 2 more days until Spring Break!  WOOHOO!  How about you?  When's your break?

Five for Friday... on Saturday

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for today's Five for Friday. It was a busy week at school celebrating Read Across America week and Dr. Seuss' birthday.

1. On Tuesday we had hockey players from our local team come read to our students.  The kiddos loved it!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

2. On Thursday we dropped everything to read.  After the reading fairy floated into our room we dropped what we were doing and headed out into the hall with the rest of the school to read.  The local news even showed up to feature our event on the evening news!

(Yes, my school is only one hallway and this is the entire student body!)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

3. I did my 'Where do readers read?' lesson that I've blogged about before.  It went really well and my students were engaged throughout the entire lesson.  I did this activity this week since we're studying Dr. Seuss, but I think I'm going to move this lesson to the beginning of the year in the future.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

4. On Friday we read Dr. Seuss' 'Green Eggs and Ham' and had ourselves a little green breakfast!  Aside from the 3 kids who absolutely refused to even try it they all loved it... they always do.  We graphed our results after eating.  Since it was also pajama/stuffed animal today we cozied up all around the room to read for awhile.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

5. We've got our data boards up and running!  One board is for DRA Reading Levels.  The other board is for results from our state's diagnostic assessments.  It's a great visual for seeing where our students are academically and will be a useful discussion tool during our meetings.

That was my week.  Next week I'm looking forward to putting a few new TPT purchases to use in my classroom.  I'll let you know how it goes!

100th Day Projects

I'm a few days late here on posting this, but I wanted to share some of my students' 100th day projects.  We celebrated our 100th day of kindergarten last week... on Valentine's Day.  That's right, folks... two of the craziest days wrapped up into one little school day!  We had lots of fun celebrating, but I must admit I was quite happy to see the clock strike 4:00.

This little girl made an entire binder/book full of 100 different items she found around the house.  Everything was neatly taped and arranged on paper and slid into page protectors.  The front of the binder even had a little biography about herself and list of the 100 different items!  It's really great!

I love this one!  It's so bright and cheery!

 Pinspiration?  This is so cute... and my kiddos are super excited to eat this one up!

Here's a quick shot of some of my other creations.  We had flower petals, cereal, stickers, candy, and more!  I was really impressed with their creativity.

Did your kids bring in projects to help celebrate the 100th day of school?  And, is it too early to start the countdown to summer?  Just wondering...... I can't believe how fast the first 104 have flown by!

Five for Friday

So, my very favorite non-teaching blog is The Small Things Blog.  It's truly amazing.  Fashion, make-up, home decor, and much more... all my favorite things wrapped up in one lil' blog.  You should really check it out if you aren't already a stalker follower of her blog.  Actually, it's quite likely you've run across her hair tutorials on Pinterest.  Ok, I'm digressing here.  My point was that every week she does a "High Five for Friday" post and I always enjoy reading it so I was super excited when I saw that Kacey over at Doodle Bugs Teaching has been hosting a "Five for Friday" linky party.

1. I am super impressed with the progress my kinders are making with their writing.  I recently moved my writing time to first thing in the morning (rather than after lunch).  They are writing the second they walk in the door before they even start unpacking.  I'm finding that they are so much more focused on their task.

2. We had a busy Thursday celebrating Valentine's Day and our 100th Day of School!  My sweet hubby surprised me at school with this beautiful bouquet of flowers.

3. My blog business cards arrived in the mail this week.  It's just easier to give someone a card than spell everything out for them.  Do other bloggers out there have business cards?

4. My principal and I have been working very hard on getting our data boards up and running.  (Keep in mind this is a first year school so it's one small step at a time.)  This is a picture from earlier in the week.  I'll post completed pictures once we get the data and headers up!  :)

5. It's a loooong weekend!  Happy President's Day!

Super Bowl Sale!

It's time to shop!  Head on over to my TPT store for some great deals today.  I'm offering 20% off every item in my store.... plus TPT is offering an additional 10% off using the promo code SUPER.

Thanks to Erin & Leslie for sharing this adorable banner!

Here are some products from my store that will help get you through the upcoming months...

My math journals are available for months August-May!

Happy shopping!