Five for Fraturday...Guess Who I Met?!

Happy weekend!! I am in crunch time for school starting in two weeks!

Linking up Five for Fraturday with Doodle Bugs Teaching.

Here are some random "summer" happenings from my week!

Last Sunday I had the opportunity to meet one of my BBB's, Jessica, from I {Heart} Recess!! Wahoo!
We met at Bob Evans for lunch and talked for almost three hours and probably could have talked another three! It's crazy how she grew up right by my college town (which is only 40 minutes from where I grew up!). We also both worked at McDonald's in my college town at the same time...what a coincidence! I felt like I had known her forever and we were two old friends meeting for lunch. LOVE! :)

We had our family reunion two weeks ago but I wanted to share some fun pictures with games (you might be able to use in your classroom!).
This is the sawdust hunt (probably not great for the classroom) but we've been doing this for years. Throw candy and coins in the sawdust and let them go to town! I remember being about 17 and my cousins and I still loved this game! Our reunion has about 70 family members in attendance and there are so many kids that they have to do the hunt in "shifts". There were four girls and one boy born the year of my daughter's birth and four boys and one girl born the year of my son's birth! Fun!

 Cookie in mouth using only facial muscles minute to win it! Start with the cookie on your forehead. This is hysterical to watch and he got it in his mouth on the last second!

 This was a slinky on a headband that they had to try and get sitting on top of their head stacked neatly. The boy closest in the picture got this one at the last second too and it was hysterical to watch them bob their heads all around! Haha!

 This is using a straw to move Smarties from one plate to the other. Suck through the straw.

This is a potato where they put straws in the potato and balance skittles on the end of the straws.

This is using chopsticks to move beans into the container.

 Here is a cute salamander found in the creek!

 Crayfish!

 Hanging out in the pond at the reunion!

I did the Color Run last Saturday with some of my kickboxing friends. It was a blast!

The teacher that retired on my team gave me this awesome organizer with bins. My room is clean and the floors are waxed so I can get in next week to start organizing! I am going to give this a makeover with bins and nice labels. I can't wait! 

It is filled with math manipulatives and I am teaching MATH next year instead of ELA! We are still departmentalizing with three 80 minute blocks but our new team member, Emily from Style Closet to Classroom, will teach ELA because she loves it and has a strong background in ELA. Math is really my first love but I will miss ELA. I've already met with Emily and given her anything from my files that she wanted. As much as I will miss my old teammate, I LOVE Emily already. She was special ed before in our district and now will be general education on the 4th grade team...Yay!

Summer activities are drawing to a close for my kids. 

Here is Lilly at her end of the season swim show doing the back stroke (middle of the picture). 

She takes after me and loves the water!

 The kids also had their second week of karate camp this past week. My four year old will still nap, so karate camp from 10-3 everyday cut into nap time. Here are two pictures of what he would do after camp each day. He's my baby! He will start PreK in two weeks and had to be in the afternoon PreK from 12-3 because he is going to my school just for PreK and we live out of the district. I am SO nervous about him missing his nap everyday and how tired he will be. :( My daughter went to morning PreK when she was four and was able to take a nap in the afternoon but since then they have cut morning PreK to one section. Long story short, it is not ideal for my early risers to do afternoon PreK. Hopefully, I can get him up in the morning! :)

Have a great weekend everyone!! 

Five for Fraturday (Misty, Freebie, Finger, Dance!)

Happy weekend!! I have two weeks to go and am counting down! Linking up Five for Fraturday with Doodle Bugs Teaching.

Here are some random happenings from my week!

In my ELA blocks, we are reading Misty of Chincoteague.

From Amazon: Nobody could capture the Phantom. She was the wildest mare on Assateague Island. They said she was like the wind, that the white "map" on her shoulders was her mark of freedom. 

Paul and Maureen Beebe had their hearts set on owning her. They were itching to buy and tame her, and worked hard to earn the money that she would cost. But the roundup men had tried to capture her and for two years she had escaped them.... 

Pony Penning Day holds a surprise for everyone, for Paul not only brings in the Phantom, but her newborn colt as well. Can Paul and Maureen possibly earn enough to buy them both?

We happen to have this nonfiction article about the Wild Ponies of Chincoteague in the reading series Treasures that I have multiple copies of.

This book is full of challenging vocabulary. One activity I love doing for vocabulary is the graphic organizer below from Head Over Heels for Teaching product, Reading with Post Its II. These are pictures from vocabulary from Book Clubs since I forgot to take pictures with Misty.

 

We finished our Father's Day projects. I read The Best Part of Me to the students.

They choose the "best part" of their dad and wrote why that is their best part. They turned out cute!

I was really disappointed that the font didn't print right. My computer crashed last weekend and I sent the file to my colleagues email. She didn't realize how it was supposed to look (the font wasn't installed on her computer) and made copies for the whole grade. I didn't want to recopy all of them, so used it with the font looking off. I have this as a freebie in my TPT store. Pick up a copy for next year (there are Mother's Day templates too!).

Update on my pinky finger...Here is what it looked a few days after the injury (fractured from karate).

Here is my finger today. It is still swollen and now bent in. I could have surgery, but it is not necessary for just a pinky. I still can't make a full fist but it is feeling better. Medical tape has become my new best friend. :)

Last week we had NINE straight days of dance.

Four recitals

Arriving home at 10:30 pm three nights in a row with a child who goes to bed before 8:00 every night

Six costume changes for each recital

A big room full of dancers ages 3-7 (and dance moms!)

Whew!! Was it worth it? 

ABSOLUTELY!

To watch my daughter be so passionate about something at age 7 is priceless!

I needed a break after last weekend though. :)

These years are just going to fly by and I keep telling myself to just enjoy them.

Here a just a couple pictures with two of the costumes.

Don't forget to check out this amazing deal at Educents! Stock up on mentor text units in this HUGE Book Blowout! Included are EIGHTEEN products for only $19.99 (valued at $90)!! This deal is only for a limited time, so don't wait too long as you start thinking about next year!

Have a great weekend everyone!! 

Five for Fraturday and Spark Motivation {Kids, Ouch, Pen Pals}

It's been awhile since I have linked up Five For Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching.

Here are some random happenings from my week!

We have had book clubs all week in my three ELA blocks. The theme is "Animals are Characters Too". Here are the choice slips we used to make the groups. I will blog more about it in my Tried It Tuesday this week since this is the first time I have tried it since without ability grouping for ELA.

On Sunday, my oldest celebrated her 7th birthday with friends! We had a party at her dance studio and her amazing dance instructor kept the girls busy with all kinds of games! Works for me. :)

Here is the parachute game and two moms (me in the green pants) helping to play the headless horseman. I felt like I was in elementary school again! :)

Most of you know that I do kickboxing and karate. We had a karate tournament last Saturday and I did this little number to my pinky. I was sparring and looked down to see my pinky bent in two directions. The head referee straightened it, taped it, and I finished the match. I took first out of five women so it was almost worth it. :) It is fractured at the pip joint so I have to see the orthopedic surgeon on Tuesday. :(

My little guy had his first tball game this week! It's more like a babysitting job! Lol. He's four and doesn't listen to directions to save his life but we are enjoying watching him grow! :)

We received our last set of pen pal letters this week from my friends Jivey and Gary!! It has been such a rewarding experience for the students. Jivey and Gary sent pen pal permission forms from parents with addresses for students who had permission to give out their home address and continue writing to their pen pals! Isn't that a great idea?

 Pen pals are a great way to motivate even the most reluctant writers. Many of you are starting summer vacation or will be soon and this is the time to set up pen pals for next year! Give it a try! I am linking up this idea with my super sweet BBB, Joanne for Spark Student Motivation. :)

Have a great weekend everyone!!