A Really Quick Post!

A fellow teacher and I (well mostly him to be honest) have been working on a way to get iPads and other types of technology donated to our school. Well the website is finally up and we are so excited to launch it! Please click here to check it out. Please 'Like' us on Facebook as well! We are trying to spread the word and hopefully get iPads into our students' hands! Thanks so much and have a wonderful evening! Also, I should be studying...okay back to work I go!

M.I.A.

I'm going to be away from my blog for a while.  I am going to be taking my bilingual certification test in a few weeks and I'm sick to my stomach about it, nervous that I won't pass. So I need to study, study, and study! On top of studying, I still have to plan, teach, and try to have somewhat of a life. I'll probably pop in once in a while with pictures and short posts but nothing too crazy because I have a study plan setup already for the weekdays.

I take the test on April 9th, for the afternoon session.  We don't have school that day because we're off for Easter break. I just really hope I pass because bilingual certification in Texas means holy career boost Batman! So keep me in your thoughts, please!!!

Okay, I need to get off my blog and start planning the activities for tomorrow. We're going to be learning about the ow/ou sound (which I've been pre-teaching since forever, so hopefully they get it) and learning about color and number words. So it should be an easy week!

I hope you all have a beautiful Sunday!

  

Can You Say Busy?

 It's been a very crazy, busy week so far.  We have been doing lots of learning and having fun :).


This week we are learning the "or" sound. I was racking my brain trying to figure out what to do to get the children engaged in our phonics lessons.  So after much tossing and turning (yes things like this cause me to lose sleep, ha ha) I put together a new friend called, "Sorry Cory". I first showed the children a picture of him and they asked why he was sad, well I was ready for them. I wrote up a cute little story to explain why Cory had a sad face on and he pretty much does not like to do his chores.  I passed out 12 "or" words and sat them down around me.  We read the story together and every time we got to a blank line the children would quickly look down to see if they had the missing word.  They really had a lot of fun and didn't even notice it was lunch time by the time we had finished.

On Tuesday I drew a picture of "Sorry Cory" on 81/2 x 11 paper and put empty bubbles around him. I'm sorry I don't have a picture of it to show you but I can draw one up if anyone's interested or you can have a stab at it. Anyway, we all sat on the floor again and I had each student give me an "or" word.  I can't tell you how quick the were shooting words at me.  Amazing! So I asked the children where we should hang Mr. Cory and they said the sound board.  Up he went for my kiddos to reference to if they need him. :)  

Our reader required us to teach compare and contrast. I had taught it several months back but I don't think it really stuck with them. So I put it in a way that they can connect to.  This lesson comes from Abby. Go check it out if you haven't done so already.  Well I compared myself to the third grade teacher at my school.  I think the funniest thing on here is that she eats healthy food and I eat candy!? Okay, I have maybe had candy once or twice in front of them for a little pick-me-up, but I don't go chewing on candy all day long! They are too funny! The third grade teacher and I do bathroom break/snack after math so us teachers can use the bathroom too, since you know we can go whenever we please (are you sensing sarcasm?).

Our weekly basal reader is dealing with weather this week and the kids are LOVING it! I made this cute weather journals and each day we are checking the weather in a different country.  I honestly didn't think they would be THIS into it, but they can't wait to check the weather and use all their new weather vocabulary. :)

A few weeks ago at a faculty meeting I expressed my love for a Now Board! Google it now if you can! I want one terribly but they are $500 :*(. It converts any flat surface into a Smart Board! How cool is that?Well today my principal called me on the way home and said if I had heard about another piece of technology called a MimioTeach (click here to watch). We have money from Scholastic to get it and she wants to know more about it before actually getting it for our school. We can't seem to find any legit reviews on it so if anyone has heard good/bad reviews on it I would appreciate your feedback!  I'm just keeping my fingers crossed because it looks cool and there's no need for a bulky Smart or Promethean Board in my classroom.

Well it's time to plan some lessons for tomorrow. I like to do a big review on Thursday for our weekly reading test so the children think it's a piece of cake! See ya later alligator! I'm so first grade right?

A Case of the Sunday's

I think the title of this post sums up how I am feeling at this point.  It's my last day of spring break :( and I'm just not ready to go back yet! I have gotten most of my work complete, yea me! On the agenda was, report cards-check, lesson plans-check, Mass readings-Check, daily lessons- uncheck. Oh well, three out of four is not bad. :)

So I was featured in Laura's "Someone New Sunday" post. You can check out what I had to say if you have some extra reading time over at http://kinderkraziness.blogspot.com/.  I think it's so wonderful of her to do that especially since I'm just starting to get more followers.  It's a pretty sweet feeling.
Well this spring break was a very relaxing one. I'll break down my week for ya.

Monday- Hmm, see I thought I would be able to remember what I did on Monday but now I just can't. I think it was a lot of nothing to be honest with you.

Tuesday- Well now that it's been several days I think I'm ready to blog about it.  I had to put my cat Tigger to sleep on Tuesday. It was probably one of the hardest things I have ever had to do.  He's been a part of my life since he was just a few weeks old.  He lived a pretty good 13 years of life I would say. The weird thing is his birthday was sometime in March. :( Well a few weeks back my mom and I started noticing some odd behaviors in him, just not like him. We took him in and he got some blood work done (poor baby) and he was diagnosed with Hyperthyroidism. That's pretty much equivalent to cancer in kitties. The doctor said we could give him medication and that would keep him alive for another 6 to 12 months or give him a radiation treatment. I'm sorry but I just didn't want to see my poor baby suffer that way. It was an extremely difficult thing to do and thank goodness I was with the people I love the most to ease the day.  But he will forever be in my heart. Check him out below, he was always such a handsome fellow. I just love him and will miss him dearly. :*( Oh boy here come the water works....

One thing that did make Tuesday better was that I won Vicky's giveaway. $20 to Target..woo hoo! That was really surprising and neat. Check her out she's so sweet! http://traditionslaughterandhappilyeverafter.blogspot.com/

Wednesday- Prince Charming and I went up to the really neat park in northern Fort Worth (I think). I'll have to get back to you on the name but it was a very nice day. We saw some pretty neat things on our hike.   I also think I did very well for someone who has never been hiking before. I didn't complain once! :D 

Me looking terrible and pointing to buffalo.

Buffalo..'nuff said!

Butterfly! There were tons of these!

Thursday- I did a lot of nothing again...haha!

Friday- Went to school did lesson plans and re-did my entire library. The kids are going to be amazed when the walk into the class and see this...

It's never been this organized before! I'm so excited!!!! 

Some really great news to share. I am finally paired up with a teacher who lost her school building in the wake of the tornadoes. Her name is Mrs. Tracy Mullins and she teaches first grade.  I went to Target last night and bought her a few things. I'm going to look around my classroom and see what else I can send off for her. I have also written a note up for my parents to see if they want to join in and help Mrs. Mullins.  I feel so great about this and helping another teacher is a beautiful thing!

Well I think that's all for now. My mother and I did mother-daughter hang out day yesterday because she knew I was going to be super busy today.  I'm going to go do some groceries for the week and finish planning some things.

One more thing, I added a weekly weather journal to my TPT store. I'm selling it for $1. Go check it by clicking on my tab. It's perfect for firsties and even some second graders.  It's also my very first product that I am selling, so I'm nervous!

Okay time for me to get started on worrying about me, haha. Thanks for visiting and if it's your first time, please follow my blog and I'll be sure to return the favor.

A Giveaway and a Linky Party!

http://firstwithfranklin.blogspot.com is having a cute giveaway. Click and join the fun! I promise you won't be disappointed!
Also, http://www.kindergartenlifestyle.blogspot.com is hosting a Kinder-2nd  grade Linky Party. Who doesn't love having more followers and meeting wonderful new teachers?

 

Teachers Taking Care of Teachers

I broke the "one post a day rule" but it's for a great cause! I came across http://kreativeinkinder.blogspot.com/ and saw that she's having a linky party to help those teachers that lost everything in the tornadoes that hit our country two weeks ago.  I can't imagine what I would do if I lost my entire classroom worth of things and let alone my school.

I've decided to help out one teacher with supplies he/she will need in order to get some things running again.  I am going to pass this on to other teachers at my school and even parents to see what they can donate.  I think this is a great cause to join! So please do what you can!

I'm Back Sooner Than I Expected!

So the children went home on Thursday after they completed their Styrofoam hat coloring and were so excited because the Leprechaun was going to do magic. 

I had one of my wonderful mom's take a video of the children walking into the classroom. Because don't you know that our Leprechaun friend left our room a mess! There were chairs all over the place as well as their Daily Five Book Bags. The look on their faces says it all. Watch the video below for all the real fun. Once they saw the "gold coins" it was just crazy!  Click below!

Well I didn't want to make this a long post because I'm trying not to think of school since I'm on break. 

Have a great Sunday everyone!