June Currently

It's time again for Currently with Farley over at Oh' Boy Fourth Grade! You can join up by clicking on her button below.


Before I get into my Currently, I want to challenge you to donate to Wimberly Adoption Group and Rescue (WAG), something that is near and dear to our host's heart. You've probably heard of the devastation in Wimberly from the massive flooding in Texas. What I wasn't really aware of was how much this affected pets and other animals. Thank you, Farley, for bring this to everyone's attention! If you are feeling lead to contribute to WAG, head over to Farley's page this week and find the donate button.

On to June Currently!!!

Listening: Texas wasn't the only place getting a ton of rain. I have never seen so much rain in Colorado. We had rain for I think 24 days in a row. Our basement flooded 3 times. Window wells are a NIGHTMARE. It floods during heavy rains, and then it continues to flood after it stops raining as all the water in the ground seeps up into it. Insurance won't cover anything unless there's a flash flood warning issued for our area. So...we used up every single towel-including beach and decorative towels-to sop up water in the basement. It was a constant wash and dry, wash and dry, as we tried to dry everything out for the past week. We finally put a sump pump in the one problematic window well, so hopefully this won't happen again!!! And the laundry is done!!! Hallelujah!!! 

Loving: I love summer break! I taught summer school last year and felt I was robbed of summer, so I am really taking the time to do what I want this summer. One of those things is to work out more. I'm following a couch to half-marathon plan, so I'm really getting those steps in on the Fitbit.

Thinking: I'm having my blog redesigned by Designs by Tenille and I am sooooo excited to see it. I like my design now, but after I saw some of the new blogs out that she designed, I just new I had to have her do mine, too! Can't wait to do a reveal!

Wanting: I have a great Babylock sewing and embroidery machine that my hubby gave me last year, and I love making shirts for my 2 year old. We're heading to a special night at the zoo this Friday, so I think a new shirt might be in order!

Needing: Okay, confession. I told my husband I was moving my classroom home before I move it to my new school. I'm pretty confident he thought into the basement or garage. And I dumped most of it in the dining room for a "couple" of days under the guise of sorting though it and reorganizing. And I have no intention of doing this any time soon. #helovesme

Summer Lovin': I'm trying to wean myself off the Dr. Peppers that keep me standing upright during the school year, but I still like to treat myself to a Diet Limeade on nice summer days. Plus, I bring home a bag of Sonic ice. I love chompin' on that ice! Also, I can't wait to get to Texas to visit my family and go to Canton First Monday. Oh, the crafts!!! The bows!!! The t-shirts!!! I can hardly wait. And finally...I've got a new found love of taking walks with my girl as the sun goes down. It's past her typical bedtime, but there's something so sweet about her noticing the moon and starting to count stars. I'm looking forward to many more walks this summer!

Well, that's a wrap for this month's Currently. See you next time...hopefully with a new blog design!!!

Five for Friday...a Linky Party!!!

I'm back for three weeks in a row of Five for Friday! You can link up over at Doodle Bugs Teaching or by clicking on the picture below.

Here's how I spent my first week of summer break!

One of the first things on my Summer To-Do List was recovering the bar stools. The kids have made a mess of them, and I was dying to fix them. It costs me about $5 in fabric to recover all 3. 

Since I finished Gilmore Girls just after Spring Break, the next item on the to-do list was to catch up on another one of my favorite shows, Switched at Birth. Since a lot of the show involves signing and subtitles, I have to actually sit and watch it, which just doesn't happen during the regular season. I linked up on Instagram with Ashley @thebubblyblonde for #netflixingteachers. If you're on IG, you should go check it out! 

You can also check out Ashley's blog by clicking on the button below.

The rain finally stopped long enough for a trip to the zoo. My girl LOVES feeding the giraffes, and this was her first time feeding Lucky the elephant. It was so much fun! I'm looking forward to many more trips there this summer.

I have been wanting to read this book for a while and actually bought the audiobook last fall, but I'm just now getting around to listening to it. It's making my time on the elliptical go by pretty fast, and I can't wait to listen to more of it. (PS: I'm a BIG fan of fictional audiobooks since I have a 35 minute drive to work.)

Today we went to the outlet mall to do some summer clothes shopping and stopped at Chef Sugar's on our way home. I had what was quite possibly the BEST chocolate cupcake I've ever had in my ENTIRE life. If you're ever near Colorado Springs, you must try it.

So...not much "teacher-related" stuff this week, but I think I just needed to step away for a couple of weeks in order to regroup and start thinking about next year.

Have a great week!

Five for Friday...A Linky Party!

What.a.week!!! The last week of school can be CRAZY...and this year was a doozy. Field Day was rescheduled because of bad weather, but it seems the bad weather never went away, so we went with an indoor field day. I'm really glad our PE teacher pushed through and that the kids were able to have fun, but between having it the last week of school, plus an awards' assembly, plus finishing DRA testing, and random students in and out on the last day going to sibling/cousin graduations...it was like taking a ride on the Hot Mess Express. 

But alas...it finally ended on Thursday, and I spent today packing up the rest of my classroom to move home while I wait to move into my new school!!! Eeeeeeekkk!!! I'm so excited!!! 

That's it for my recap...now on to Five for Friday! You can link up by clinking on the picture below.

I checked out all of these Mo Willems books from our city library in anticipation of our author study, but May just FLEW by. Nonetheless, the kids really enjoyed reading them. I really love being able to get so many books from the library that I can add to my personal collection. Checking them back in is a whole different story. 

This was another great activity we got from Kim Bearden during our visit to the Ron Clark Academy. Basically, it's a football field made from masking tape. The kids are split into 2 teams, but I also gave them partners to work with. I would ask a science review question, and then they would discuss what they thought the answer was and write it on their whiteboard. I would have them reveal their answers, and if they were correct, they got to roll a die. They got to move however many yard lines based on the number on the die. They scored points for their teams when they would get to the other sides of the field and made a "touchdown". Then they would go back the opposite direction. The kids LOVED IT. I will definitely be using it next year!

I loved the parachute when I was growing up. It's the one field day activity that I'm always really excited about!!! Plus we did it in the lunchroom, so that made it extra fun for the kids.

This picture doesn't do it justice, but this was the amazing gift basket I received from the staff at my school as a going away gift. It was full of Hershey bars, Dr. Peppers, gift cards, a grade book, a journal, and a pretty cool Wonder Woman hand towel, among other sweet gifts. 

 From here...

 To here...

And, finally, via 2 trips in the hubby's truck and 3 in my SUV, to here! The space formerly known as our dining room. For a while.

At least, that's what I told the husband.

Here's to summer!!!

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Five for Friday

There is no tired like 4 days left of school tired. Add a school carnival on top of that. And 78 antsy second graders who are waiting for their postponed-because-of-never-ending-rain field day. Oh-and DRA testing. Don't get me wrong...I love to see the growth on DRA. But...there comes a moment when a kid-or several kids for that matter-keep passing those tests. Again. And again. And again. Yay! But when you've given what feels like 150 individual tests and you still have 20 kids to go, and you're like...for the love. You just did awesome on that. Sigh. Now I have to do ANOTHER one. Seriously-it's a love-hate relationship. (But on a serious note...I cannot BELIEVE some of my reading class's growth this year!!!)

But-despite how tired I am, I just had to link up for Five for Friday! You can link up to by clicking on the picture below!

Here is my week!

Okay...so this was technically last Friday. But...it's Ron Clark! I cannot even begin to explain how amazing my visit was at his school. If you can ever go...do it. You will not regret it.

While I was at RCA, I learned some great new activities to use in the classroom. This was similar to Headbandz, and I used content specific science vocabulary (habitats) as a review activity for my students. The went nuts for it. We used it again today, but we used weather vocabulary from the beginning of the year. I'm sure I will use it again at some point in the next 4 days! I got the headbands at the Dollar Tree.

I took a personal day on Wednesday, and anytime I do, the next day seems to be pure chaos. My table that afternoon serves as evidence. (See that DRA book hidden in the tray?!?!)

I wanted to do something different to wrap up the year. With all the DRA testing, I feel like my paras and specialists are getting to do all the "fun" stuff, and I'm stuck in the hallway all day. So, I thought it would be fun to do a novel to wrap up the year. I saw this Chocolate Fever Novel Unit by Amy Lemons from Step into Second Grade. You can check it out by clicking on the picture below.

One of their favorite activities by far has been creating their own "fever". Some of these cracked me up!

Probably one of the highlights of the school year is the Star Lab. usually we get to go in and see constellations and such, but this year the kids learned a lot about travel to Mars.

This is what the Star Lab looks like. It's inflatable and the kids have to crawl in.

For some reason, crawling in is probably their favorite part! They giggle nonstop. But-my favorite part is hearing the "Ooooohhh!!! Ahhhhhh!!!" when they get inside. Plus, this year I caught a moth that was distracting ALL of them inside. I'm ninja like that.

It's hard to give a good visual of what it's really like inside, but this was projected on the ceiling. It was pretty cool!

Well, that was my week in a nutshell! Only four more days, but they are JAM PACKED. I can't wait!!!

Have a happy weekend!

Currently May

I always tell myself that I am going to better with this whole blog thing. Sigh.

I will get better at this!!!

In the meantime, here's this month's Currently. You can link up with Farley to join in!

Listening: I love that my daughter loves the Disney movies that I grew up with. And-I know most of the songs by heart, which she loves!

Loving: My friend/teammate and I are headed to Atlanta to visit The Ron Clark Academy this week. We are so giddy with excitement. I need inspiration, and I hope to find it here! My mother-in-law lives nearby, so I get to sneak in a visit with her, also. 

Thinking: I want to have my room cleared out by our last workday. The past few weeks I've taken a tote in with me and started packing things I haven't been using or know I won't use the these last 3 weeks. The only problem is I have to find a place at home to put it until I move into my new school. It's a good problem to have, but one that must be solved!

Wanting: Since I'm moving to a new school and changing grade levels, I think I want all new room decor. I love what I've had this year, which were more mute colors, but I really think I'm primary colored at heart.

Needing: I really need to just finish out my lesson plans for the year. I will be so happy I did.

Summer: I told the hubby that the garage is officially a dump, and I am OVER it! It will be purged my first week out of school while the girl is still in daycare. I don't care if I have to bring in one of those huge dumpster things in my driveway. What's the point of a 3 car garage if you can't get the cars in it???

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE going to Canton when we're in Texas. Our visits haven't really lined up with the dates though, so I always miss out. I'm trying to be very strategic on when we go this summer, so I can get there!

Last summer, I thought teaching summer school would be fun and a great way to earn extra money. I was WRONG. I was exhausted from the school year, even more exhausted when it was over, and then only had 4 weeks before starting all over again. It felt like I didn't even have a summer. My dream this summer is to just RELAX. (I'm really just naturally high-strung, so relaxing is a hard thing for me to do.)

Here's to 14 more days!!!

February Currently

It's been a while since I linked up with Farley for her monthly Currently. Since it's a long weekend for me, I thought it was better late than never!

Listening: Since I'm working on this while piled up in the bed, I get the added joy of listening to one of the hubby's favorite shows. He loves Kevin Smith and comics, so he can't go wrong with this show. He was beside himself when Adam West walked into the store. Eh.

Loving: A 3-day weekend? Yes, please! Let's see if I am actually as productive as I plan to be! (Since I'll be stranded at home thanks to the never ending snowfall!)

Thinking: Ah, yes. I do have to finish my lesson plans. And the laundry. And the dishes. Sigh.

Wanting: I am in desperate need of some allergy relief. The constant weather changes this year are killing me! One day it's 70 degrees, and then the next day it is 20 and a foot of snow. Enough already!!!

Needing: My literacy block has 37-yes, 37-kids in it. The good thing is that they are all at or above grade level. The problem right now is that with every new concept, I have the same 10-12 kids that move at a slower pace. Now, if the class was only 20 kids, this would pose a huge problem. But with those 12 students, there are 25 that are ready to move on. I have a para for one hour during literacy, so I'm looking at changing things up to try to better meet the needs of everyone. Any ideas you would like to share???

And I really need to watch the movie I rented from Redbox 2 days ago!!! It's today or never!!!

Pageant Title: I never do one thing at a time. In my mind, that is a waste of time. I will only watch TV if I'm doing something else-like folding laundry, running on the treadmill, making dinner, grading papers, or cleaning up. I read in the bathtub. I read standing in line at the grocery store. I was even downloading my antivirus while working on this. It's out of control.

And that's it in a nutshell. Hopefully I'll do better next month!

Happy Presidents' Day!