I'm Numb and this Post is all Over the Place! Oh and My very First Linky Party!

No, really, I'm numb from dental work! Grr cavities! I'm crazy about flossing and brushing but what can you do? That's enough complaining for one post. 

Okay, you guys (the Jersey in me) need to know that today was a crazy busy day. Even at the end of the day some of my kids said they were tired. I sometimes forget they're only 5, 6, and 7 years old. Yes, I said 5! 

Today I started off my lesson with a little inference activity that the wonderful and always brilliant Babbling Abby posted on her blog a few weeks back.  My basal is either way behind her's and I know she uses treasures, hmm?! Well I brought in my purse and filled it with goodies.  I explained to the children what making an inference means and at first they kind of gave me the "what on earth are you talking about crazy lady" look and then I related it to them and pulled out my asthma pump. Several of my kiddos have asthma so it finally clicked. "Oh, if I see someone use an inhaler that must mean that they are having trouble breathing or they don't feel good." YES! I get them!  So from there it was cake. I made a chart, that didn't come out as fancy as Abby's but I tried. I'm not artistic but I do try and I guess that's what counts! Check out the pic. below of one of my girl's inference paper.  She draws so well! If you haven't checked out Abby's page go on over and get it, it's a must!

The picture on the left is my wallet and the picture on the right is my pink camera!!!!! This one is def. going in my teaching portfolio.

Moving on... We also started learning about "ar" today! Is it just me or are some vowel-consonant combinations just so much more fun and easier to teach? Can I get a whoop-whoop! I'll get more to "whoop- whoop" in a minute. Again the pics go hand in hand with Abby's Pirate Lesson that you can get at her TPT for $5! SOOOOOO WORTH IT, trust me! I wore a bandana (thanks to charming for letting me borrow it last minute) and did the whole pirate voice thing. I can't draw or sing well but boy can I put on a good accent for ya, seriously, I should record myself. I do a mean Cookie Monster impression. Ha! Earlier in the morning I hid the words around the classroom without making it too obvious and only a few noticed. They we're so excited to look for the words and find the treasure. What's the treasure you ask? What's a pirate's favorite breakfast meal? Candy Bars! More like Twix. Since I went shopping with Momma Dukes yesterday, I picked up a pretty cheap treasure box that I will most likely be using for other things. So they got to eat their Twix and create their pirate craftivity. I'll be sure to post pictures of their pirates tomorrow. They put A LOT of work into it!

The treasure map is similar to Abby's but I took a warm tea bag  and spread the liquid all over the paper to give it that old treasure map effect. Then I took my candle burner and burned some of the edges off. There's a close up of the map below as well.

Making our pirates! Aaargh! (taking forever!)

"I'm ready for my close up Mr. DeMille" Oh-em-gee, I'm so corny! Oh in case you're wondering I give my students bathroom tickets. They get two each day. They can use it to get a drink or use the restroom and they must show me their ticket to leave my room. They must also place the hand sanitizer on their desk so other children know who left the room (or a reminder for myself). After they come back and we just know how "well" (I hope you're sensing my sarcasm) they wash their hands, they must pump and return it to the board. It's a great system and cuts back on the bathroom usage. They also get a free bathroom break at lunch and after recess. Using their signals of course! If you want to know more about my signals just let me know!

Okay, back to being all over the place. So I saw this cute thing to help the kids read their sight words using a Nerf gun. I bought one yesterday for $9 at Walmart. I didn't notice however that the darts weren't the suction kind so they were just bouncing off the board. So I plan on buying those darts instead! But overall, the kids had a great time trying to aim for the words. Whoever got a chance to shoot had to try and hit a sight word on the board and the children at their seat had to read it and write it. The boys were *loving* it!. Give it a try if you can, so-much-fun! I'll take pics of it next time!

"Can I get a Whoop- Whoop" - One final thing before I start planning for tomorrow. If you haven't already watched the video below. I highly recommend it. This teacher is just amazing! So I started searching more about Whole Brain Teaching last night and there are teachers out there who either love it or hate it.  Now I don't know if I would do the whole thing cause sometimes the kids seem like robots but some of it is really, really useful. I started implementing it today in my class and the children responded well. I must say I lucked out this year because the class I have is amazing.  But if you have time just watch her, she's great!

My students definitely think I'm crazy! I stand on desks, do funny voices, sing (even though I can't hit a note to save my life). I do anything to keep my kids engaged! My friends would say I'm charismatic. I can charm anyone that crosses my path, haha! Finally caring, I think anyone in my family would say I'm caring. I worry about everyone even if I don't know them well and want what's best for them. :) 

Okay not gonna lie this was the hardest thing to do, so I cheated and Googled adjectives that start with "C". :). I found another way to do this linky party thing. I use Picnic to upload and change images around. They even have amazing fonts. They are going to merge with Google+ soon so let's see what they have in store. So give it a try and see how easy it is. You have to have an imaged saved first!

Go here for the party http://ohboy3rdgrade.blogspot.com/

See ya! Back to work time!