February Currently

It's been awhile since I've even done one of these! I'm excited to be back in a semi-groove with blogging.

This little guy is still sleeping away! Don't get me wrong he got up at 4 (usually only once a night) great for a 2 month old! He's growing up so fast! He changes every day!!

He can coo and talk with the best of them and I love recording him!

He has a pesky pretty bad cough, that we've been to the doctor twice for.  Thank goodness not RSV or anything just virus but geez....even with what they suggest...still haven't had any improvement.  He's been sick and so has my husband, One day soon I hope we're all well!

I am excited for our new traditional literature unit we are starting on Monday! We did a round of book clubs in between genres and my students really love what this genre has to offer.  

I created a Traditional Literature Tab Book  to help my students keep the different types of folktales straight.  They were so excited about this!

       

There are even QR codes on each page linked to video examples for students to watch and fill out.  There are definitions, examples, characteristics, and practice on each page. 

Also, if you have not tried this in your classroom - it is a great FREE management tool and privilege for a class.  Check out my post to see more details!

I chose that title because as you can see in this post, motherhood has slightly consumed my life.  One day it would be a dream to be a Balanced Betty but right now the scales have definitely tipped and I'm ok with that. 

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November Currently

I'm linking up to let you know what I've been up to lately:

Last night we through a Couples Halloween Minute to Win It party - SO FUN! Now that all the chaos has left....it is calm...back to some cleaning!    We had some really creative games and I know the couples had fun.      Here was our team name:  (only a couple weeks till we meet our little one!)

I'm loving that Halloween week is over - granted it was a great time in our class.  We had so much going on this week between Red Ribbon Events, end of quarter, etc....   We enjoyed our Biome projects and presented them to a younger class, we read our Descriptive Writing Haunted Houses by flashlight for a spooky effect, did some fun dialogue activities (with pasta! -see below), did some animal adaptation projects as well - WHEW!! 

   

   

I'm definitely relaxing after all the busy-iness that was this weekend so far, besides the grading papers ...has to be done sometime.

I'm in a dinner slump and have been looking for super easy ideas to eat throughout the week since I'm usually pretty exhausted.  

I'm reading:  

He is one of my favorite comedians - because he is CLEAN! Well about 99% of the time and just absolutely hilarious.  His first book (this one) is all about his take on parenting, perfect for what will happen in a couple weeks.  I'm so enjoying this fun read.

Our book club just finished: 

Besides not being much for historical fiction, I did read it and I thought it was pretty good.  I may not remember all the historical details but the plot and events were interesting and fun to read about. 

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Currently...October...can it be?!

This school year is flying by! I'm really excited with how far we have come though.  I'm getting my 4th grade groove on and really feeling better about this grade level - it just takes a little bit.


Loving....it has to be a tie! We just did this Monster Genetics Lab and it was FANTASTIC! My students loved it and I got to see their learning in such a cool way!

          

but celebrating National talk like a Pirate Day, was just plain awesome! You can check out that post and more here.  I love how much the upper grades really get into this!

Thinking: how lucky I am!  So this happened!!! Never in a million years, did I think I would make it there...little old me??  

Be sure to follow on Instagram and FB - had some giveaways yesterday for this milestone. 

I'm completely humbled and blessed by my followers :) 

Wanting: some motivation! This 33 week pregnant lady is tired, and my mind is mush most nights after school.  I have some great projects I want to work on but no energy or time to complete them.  I am enjoying the laziness though and just embracing it.

Needing: to finish up maternity plans and get over this cold! The teacher I took over for, retired, and she is my maternity sub, which really puts my mind at ease but I still want to make it as easy as possible for her and have copies made since the holidays are such a crazy busy time anyway! (Baby E is due 11/17....so it could work out to have Thanksgiving off and come back after Christmas!!)

My Monster Genetics Pack is on sale! TREAT for you wonderful followers! Also check out these goodies I created last year for October in Kindergarten.  One is FREE!

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July Currently

My newest addiction is listening to hymns on Pandora. It relaxes me and lets my mind wander and focus on great things.

Here's a pic of the business cards (they look really good printed too!) I was worried the QR codes would be too small but they do work you just have to hold them back farther!

Only 9 days till we leave for Vegas.  July 13th is our first anniversary so we decided to extend our trip and make it for the anniversary as well! It will be our first time in Vegas and we are excited .... anything we HAVE to see or do??

strawberry picking! 

July is going to be 1 crazy month for us! We are travelling to Vegas for the TPT conference and our anniversary then only a few days in Minnesota before we move back to Missouri.   I can't wait to be in our first house but am not looking forward to the move.  

Our 4th plans don't consist of much - we usually have big family gatherings back home but this is our first 4th away so we'll celebrate by watching the small fireworks in our town I suppose.  

It is illegal to buy big fireworks here? How crazy is that?? I feel like the biggest redneck when I am missing buying fireworks (Missouri - 1, Minnesota - 0)  sadly that score does not also include weather otherwise MO would have more ;)          There are some things I love about Minnesota, don't get me wrong just a little homesick I guess.   

I'll leave you with this awesomeness

Gooey Cinnamon Roll Cake - every bit as good as it sounds.  Yes I am pregnant (that could be to blame) but it has yeast and I made it - A HUGE FEAT! So really anybody could do it!! 

Recipe

Can't wait to see what everyone else has in store this July!

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June Currently

I know I have been a horrible blogger but end of the year and big changes (see below) have made blogging take a back seat.  I have so many ideas for next year - I can hopefully get lots finished and show you this summer!

I'm linking up with Farley to let you know what I have been up to :

I'm LOVING the time off for summer.  We had 3 weeks in between school and starting summer school (yep I signed up to teach) and boy has it been awesome!  What a relaxing time!

I'm THINKING and planning and analyzing and blog stalking all things 4th grade!!! Yep I'm moving up and couldn't be more excited!  You can see more about it here. I'm so type A and am already going through curriculum and planning my room.  So excited to move up to the older grades

I'm WANTING  a personal mover and packer because moving 2 states away is no fun.  I'm so glad we will be back home and closer to family but the moving and packing is not so fun.  Luckily we live in a small apartment and don't have too much - yet!  We just bought a house back home (Missouri) and close on it in June.

My bucket list is pretty short: 

1.  moving and packing will be the biggest but I luckily get to head to Vegas for the TPT conference (who else is going?!) and it falls over my first wedding anniversary so we are spending some extra days enjoying the place!

I'm excited about my new classroom as well - definitely a sign that you are a teacher when you are creating away and can't wait to get in.  

Here are just a few things I've made for my "big kids"

   

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The next BIG thing

So its that time again, bet you think I was gone for good! I have thought about blogging so many times but have not gotten up the energy to do so yet.  I do have good reason!! So end of the year is fast approaching less than 15 days for us!!!

If you haven't heard TPT is having a Teacher Appreciation Sale! Can I just say how well timed Teacher Appreciation week is? At the end of the year just a one more week for us to push through- couldn't be better! Here are some of my favorite goodies for end of the year:

This code breaker activity is perfect for those last weeks! So much fun and laughter involved!

    

Looking for a twist on your traditional awards? Check these out:

Or if you are anything like me and are switching grade levels then, you might already be stocking up for next year! I'm moving WAY up but am really excited so I will definitely be buying some items to get me ready!

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An Infamous Birthday Boy...Read Across America

Gosh, what a sale! I'm up early to print and work on all my goodies and this THRILLS ME! Please tell me I'm not the only one out there! I'm so jealous of all the awesome blog designs and I do love mine, but I'm thinking of renaming(ish) the blog and want to match!

My last questions is so easy - anyone guess what the question could be?

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Ok...now back to your regularly scheduled Dr. Seuss post ;)

 Nothing like last minute planning for Read Across America! I didn't know if I should do activities this week or next, but the planner in me won. I wanted it to stay in the hall for awhile so I went ahead and did some. 

Since I did plan last minute - there were no copies of Cat in the Hat left in the library, so we resorted to Justin Bieber reading from Youtube.  My class LOVED that he was reading to us - they couldn't believe it! Click the link to go there - the animations fit the book so it worked really well. 

After reading we did Guided Drawing for Cat in the Hat! It went SO WELL! My students love guided drawing!!!  Here are some of our examples:

My Drawing on Smartboard!

Some of our Cats!

Then we used our writing paper to recap three events from the story and our hallway display is complete!

If your computer works (mine didn't :( you can play some Seussville games for Balancing Cat in the Hat!

Also in the "Teacher" part at the top there is some AWESOME resources to go with the book - rhyming, addition, word search, ABC order!!! I definitely have those printed and ready to go next week.  You can click the picture to check out Seussville.  

 Any other Seuss activities/tips you have? We'll really be hitting rhyming next week!

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