One Little Thing Wednesday...Book Review edition!

It's Wednesday, which means it's time for One Little Thing Wednesday.

Here's how it all works: Each Wednesday, I will post what the One Little Thing question/topic is. You will then be able to share and detail your response to the One Little Things question on your own blog. Then you can come back here and link up using the link tool at the bottom of this post. Use the button image above in your post and then link back here. It's as easy as that!

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This week, the topic is One Little Book Review. And let me tell you, it's really nothing little! I am super excited to get to share a review for a new book with each of you.

I absolutely love the books that Maria Dismondy writes, so when I had the chance to receive an advance copy and write a review for her newest co-authored book with Stephen Tulloch of the Detroit Lions, I jumped at the chance!

This book, The Little Linebacker, is fantastic! I loved this story of determination and never giving up, even when you feel the odds are against you. This is such a great lesson for kids! This story is that of Tulloch's life and his determination to become an NFL player. This book shows some of the hard times that Tulloch went through as a student and really resonates with all readers the importance of believing in yourself and always pushing yourself forward to reach your goals. Plus, it never hurts to have positive people in your life telling you to, "dream bigger dreams" and that "hard work pays off."

This is a great book to read at any point of the year to your students, as we all sometimes need those reminders of determination getting us to our goals! I definitely recommend this book, it's fabulous!

Here is the trailer for the new book, which will be released June 1st!

You are definitely going to want to grab a copy of this book for yourself! And don't forget to link up below with your own Little Book Review!

One Little Thing Wednesday (May 18)

It's Wednesday again! Which means it's time for One Little Thing Wednesday!

Here's how it all works: Each Wednesday, I will post what the One Little Thing question/topic is. You will then be able to share and detail your response to the One Little Things question on your own blog. Then you can come back here and link up using the link tool at the bottom of this post. Use the button image above in your post and then link back here. It's as easy as that!

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Here is this week's topic:

It's definitely that time of year when you start to think about EOY gifts for all of the people who have helped you or supported you with your class. For me, I have a pretty big group of volunteers. They come in the form of mentors, tutors, and PTC parents. Which means I always try to do something, but I can't spend a ton of money because there's quite a few people.  So, here's what I've come up with...

The kids will also be writing thank you notes to go along with these! I really like how they turned out!

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!

Show and Tell Tuesday

I don't know if you've noticed this about me yet, but I love a good linky! 

So today, I'm linking up with Forever in 5th Grade for Show and Tell Tuesday.

                                  

My husband is the biggest Garth Brooks fan I've ever met. So when Garth announced that he was going to be touring, I knew I would need to make an attempt on tickets. I was lucky enough to get tickets last year when he came to Detroit. The show was awesome! And I knew I needed to do whatever I could to get tickets since he was coming to Grand Rapids, which was way less travel time than when we saw him in Detroit. And thankfully, I got tickets for us to see his this past Friday night. And the show was amazing!

And the best part was we had floor seats about 20 rows off the stage! My husband was in concert heaven!

We've been working really hard to make sure that we are showing kindness for the end of the school year. It's definitely helping to get rid of some of the drama that was starting to creep in...good ol' end of the year drama...blah!

A few days ago, the kids got to roll a dice to find out their kindness goal for the day. They did a great job of following through on their goals. We loved it!

We had field day, which means the school year is coming to a close. The teachers made tie dye shirts with our names on the back. The kids thought it was amazing! Who knew Teacher's could do stuff like that??? 😉

Since we are fully into end of year testing season, I've been trying to do some "keep it fun and engaging" activities! So we made a class story. Each student could only tell one sentence at a time and could not have another turn until everybody told their first sentence. Talk about focused and engaged! We took three pages of poster paper to make our sentences. The kids were proud of each other for their ideas and verbalizing it..."awesome, idea" or "I wouldn't have thought of that." It was great!

Be sure to stop back tomorrow so you can link up for One Little Thing Wednesday!

Five for Fraturday

So...I'm definitely late with this post. But I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching anyways!

 (This should've posted yesterday, but apparently decided it had other plans!)

And here we go...

This week, we've started our state testing 😕 Definitely not the most fun we've ever had! But I am doing my best to keep them upbeat and feeling good about their tests...testing treats! 

These little sweet hearts can always make me feel better about a crappy day. And with all the testing we've been doing...I've definitely made a few stops to the farm after work lately!

My air pressure light can on this week. Of course the hubs is quite busy at the farm, so I checked over my tires to make sure they were drive-able until hubs could get to them a couple days later. And here's what he found, in one tire!!!

We set some kindness goals this week. The kids did a fantastic job of getting a goal and sticking to it. There was lots of smiling and positive attitudes! It was wonderful!

We had field day yesterday, so the teachers made tie dye shirts. The kids were amazed with the shirts and had fun with all the games.

And the best part of my week?? The hubs and I went to see Garth Brooks last night. And it was fabulous. Even a bit better than when we saw him last February, if that's even possible!!!

One Little Thing Wednesday

Hello Bloggy Readers! It's Wednesday, which means two things...ONE: I've made it halfway through the first week of our state testing time and TWO: it's time for One Little Thing Wednesday!

Here's how it all works: Each Wednesday, I will post what the One Little Thing question/topic is. You will then be able to share and detail your response to the One Little Thing question on your own blog. Then you can come back here and link up using the link tool at the bottom of this post. Use the button image above in your post and then link back here. It's as easy as that!

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Kindness is something we have been working on all year. Whether it's showing kindness to each other, showing kindness to strangers, or just being kind in general...we've been working on it all year long! As the year starts heading to the close, I wanted to share a little bit of kindness that will be taking place in our classroom. We already use Kindness Shout Outs. They are a great way to see a kindness, write it down anonymously, and have the person showing kindness receive a shout out at the end of the day as we read them all!

Today, we will be writing little notes to each other to show encouragement on our state testing (that will continue tomorrow). I will have sticky notes on the board and the students will have to pick two.

 The names will be on the back, so my students won't know who they will be writing to until they have chosen their sticky note. I think my students will love this idea as we've been talking about great ways to show kindness without having to spend any money! (Thanks to Miss 5th...I felt inspired by her cute whiteboard posts on IG and thought I'd try one!)

So what's something you personally do or you do in your classroom to promote and foster kindness? I can't wait to hear what you do!

An InLinkz Link-up

One Little Thing Wednesday 5/4/16

It's Wednesday, which means I'm hosting another round of One Little Thing Wednesday!

I started this link up last week. You can check out the very first One Little Thing Wednesday here. 

Here's how it all  works: Each Wednesday, I will post what the One Little Thing question/topic is. You will then be able to share and detail your response to the One Little Thing question on your own blog. Then you can come back here and link up using the link tool at the bottom of this post. Use the button image above in your post and then link back here. It's as easy as that!

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And here's this week's One Little Thing:

My one little classroom supply would have to be post-it notes. I absolutely love them! We use them in my class for so many things. Little notes to others, mini printed rubrics, peer editing, exit slips...the list goes on and on. So of course I bought one of the treasure boxes when they were marked down to a wonderful price at the beginning of the school year!

So incredibly worth it. There were so many colors, shapes, and sizes inside. Definitely worth the money!

So what's your One Little Classroom Supply? Link up below and let us know!

An InLinkz Link-up

Are You Ready for a Sale???

Happy Teacher Appreciation week! In case you haven't heard, TpT is throwing a Teacher Appreciation Sale. The sale will run Tuesday and Wednesday (May 3-4).  You will find many participating teacher-authors who have marked their stores on sale (up to 20% off). You will then be able to enter the discount code for an additional 10% off.

Jen from Teaching in the Tongass has put together an awesome Wishlist Linky to help you find some of the top wish-listed items from various stores.

This will help you to be sure you're not missing out on anything!

Let's get this celebration started with my most wish-listed item: States of Matter with Jello!

This is one of my most favorite science activities to complete with my students. I have completed this assignment with younger students and with older students. It's a great experiment and all the kids I've used it with have absolutely loved it!

Up next is: Theme with a Bad Case of Stripes

Who doesn't love the story A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon? I absolutely love it. On a side note, I also really love that Story Line Online has a version that is narrated by Sean Astin. If you've never checked this site out before, you should! This item did wonders for helping my kids to understand how to find the theme of a story/book. It uses a text which keeps the kids' attention, which is also a plus!

My last item is: Base Ten Block Addition With and Without Regrouping

Not only is this one of my top wish-listed, it's also one of my best sellers. This is a great item for using with kids who are on different levels of understanding addition. It gives the kids the scaffolding and help they may need with the base ten blocks. There are several sets in this item, either with or without regrouping, depending on what your kids are ready for. Are your kids ready for subtraction? I have Base Ten Subtraction that can be used when your kids are ready for subtraction, also with and without regrouping!

I hope that you find some great things during the sale. But until then, be sure to run through this linky and find some great wish-listed items and some reviews of them! And then get ready for some shopping!

Currently...The Final One?!?

Wow! It's May! I've got less than six weeks left in the school year. Where did the year go? It absolutely flew...even those months that seemed never-ending, seem to have flown in retrospect!

Since it's May, that means it's time to link up with Farley for her monthly Currently linky. And on that note, this is the last month for the Currently linky as announced by Farley earlier today. I've been doing Currentlies for quite a while now. I am sad to see them go, but I totally understand her reasoning!

Here's what I'm up to, Currently...

Listening: This past week was so busy, as was this weekend, so I am just now catching up on Scandal. I'm hoping that this week isn't quite as busy, but I definitely cannot make any promises!

Loving: This past week, I started a new recurring linky called One Little Thing Wednesday! I am very excited about it. I am excited to see how it grows in the future and how it helps to connect people. You can check out the very first link up here.

Thinking: I need to decide which topic I am going to pick as the One Little Thing for this Wednesday's linky! I have lots of ideas and just need to pick one and run with it!

Wanting: As part of our classroom economy, my students can buy lunch with me and a friend. When they do this, we go and eat in a different location in the school AND I bring dessert. I was telling my kids about this new recipe I found (since we are all a bit obsessed with s'mores) and one of my kids bought lunch bunch and requested my new recipe. Let me tell you, they're delicious. And I really, really want to dig into one right now!

Needing: I am so in need of another day in this weekend. This weekend went by so quickly. We had lots of things to get to this weekend. And I don't feel like I really had much of a break or any me time. And I would definitely like just a little taste of that!

Truth: I've kind of fallen off the workout wagon and am struggling to get back on the closer the end of the year gets. I know that I'll have no problem jumping back up as soon as the school year is over. But, man, am I ever struggling with it right now. At least I am putting forth effort on eating healthy and limiting my non-healthy food intake (hence the reason the s'more rice krispies are still hanging out in their pan!).

And that's it for me. Be sure to check back in tomorrow for some fabulous news! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!