New Year, New Goals!

So I’ve decided this year, to not set a New Years Resolution for myself. They’re usually (and lets be honest, easily) broken...usually in January! Instead, I plan to set some goals for the year for myself. Goals, unlike resolutions, are not a fail and done type situation. Goals are typically more long term and (IMO) a little more forgiving of hiccups. 

So I’m putting my goals out here, for anyone who reads this to see... a little element of accountability as well!

So far, I’d say I’m doing pretty well on meeting these goals. Obviously, I’ve written a blog post! I actually ate breakfast this morning... and hitch is definitely a healthier choice than my usual skipping of breakfast. I’m currently on my second bottle of water for the day. I’m working on things that would normally take away from family time during nap time to be more present. And I’m thinking of my "me time" activity for the week...probably changing up my nails!

What are your goals for 2019?

A Little Dusty...

Oh man, y’all! My poor little blog is a bit dusty! It’s been a little bit (read as: almost two years)! Since I last checked in, I’ve been pregnant...

Had my sweet baby boy...

And celebrated my little love’s first birthday...

So I feel like I am ready now to get myself back into the world of blogging. Now, am I planning to be a super blogger mom and blog daily? Probably not. Let’s be realistic, it just probably won’t work out that way! But I am going to set a goal of blogging AT LEAST once a week. I think that’s a reasonable and attainable goal. 

Check back later this week to see what I’m up to! I’ll be sharing with you a bit about my summer teacher read. Have a great Wednesday!

Winners and a sale!

Good morning everyone! I thought I would check in this morning to announce my winners before heading into school to work on my classroom!

I have emailed both of you...congratulations!

Now, don't forget, there is a one day sale going on over at TpT. Be sure to head over and stock up on things you may have forgotten or are now wishing you'd purchased during their last site-wide sale!

Happy Monday!

Back to School and a Giveaway

So back to school is just around the corner for me (if you're already back, just remember you'll be finished before I will)! So I'm running through some of my favorite things to do for back to school. And I'm participating in a giveaway blog hop!

I'll be giving away a $10 TpT card to one winner and an item of the winners choice from my store to another winner!

I love to do community building activities at the beginning of the year. And the kids really seem to enjoy them as well. One of the things we do, within the first two weeks of school, is a table group activity. I usually have 4-5 table groups in my classroom. So this activity is a nice way to get them used to working together. Each table group is given a different 100 piece puzzle. Before the groups are given their puzzles, I remind them of a few things: every person in the group MUST participate and they cannot touch the puzzle until the five minutes of discussion time is up. I then remind them that they may want to keep their table discussions at an appropriate voice level (which gives me the opportunity to remind them of our voice levels!) so that the other tables cannot hear their puzzle plan! This activity usually takes 30-40 minutes. But it is well worth the time. The kids get to practice making a plan together and using appropriate voice levels while working with their groups. Plus, it's great to see the different ways that they go about putting their puzzles together!

I also love to have the kids share about their summer.

This is a writing activity that also includes a snack and is a great way for me to learn about my new kids.

The kids will get to eat a snack of s'mores in a cup/bag/whatever vessel you may have on hand while they write about a given summer topic.

Who doesn't love an activity that includes a snack? I know all of my past classes have!

The other thing I am doing to kick start my classroom on a journey for kindness this year is to start the year with kindness shout outs.

I started these last year, during the second half of the year, and totally wish I had started them sooner! My kids LOVED having the ability to shout each other out for the acts of kindness they were witnessing.

Then, at the end of the day, I would read them all out loud and the kids would get to take home their shout outs. And let me tell you, I was quickly reminded to do this if we were running short of time at the end of the day!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Looking for another chance to win...keep hopping through for even more chances! Mrs. Willyerd's Virtual Classroom is up next!

Bad Blogger and a Meet-Up

So this summer has definitely gotten the better of me, when it comes to blogging! I've been very busy. But now that Back to School time is fast approaching, I'm trying to get myself back into the swing of multiple things...planned bathroom breaks, waking up before 7:30, and blogging regularly!

With that being said, I'm quite excited about my plans for today. I am off to Lansing for a Michigan blogger meet-up! 

I can't wait to meet up with other teacher bloggers from my own state. I've gone to a meet-up once before and really enjoyed the conversations and meeting other bloggers, whose blogs I enjoy reading!

Have a fabulous Thursday! 

One Little Thing Wednesday...The End is Near!

It's Wednesday! My favorite blog day, since I've started my linky! It's 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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Here's this week's topic:

I have about a week and a half left, so I've been getting all of my end of year activities planned out. I have a couple things that I added this year that I absolutely love! But before I get to that, let me tell you all about my "usual" end of year stuff.

Since I'm teaching older kids this year, we are doing Minute to Win It as part of our year end activities. We played some of the holiday themed games around the holidays and my kids STILL talk about it. So it was a no-brainer to bring round two to the end of the year! And of course, we will be playing Face the Cookie...look it up, if you don't know what I'm talking about...it's hilarious! I don't know who enjoys it more, me or the kids!

We've added in a lot of tech stuff this semester as we had a set of chromebooks donated. It's been great! So one of my year end activities, to go with all of our kindness activities, was for the students to write one positive character trait about each of their peers. They made a copy of a google doc I shared with them and then shared back the filled out version. I then compiled them and made each student a wonderful 5x7 subway art

personalized for them using those positive character traits...best $1.75 I've spent recently on TPT...check it our here. It's not my creation, but definitely worth a share! The glare doesn't do it justice...stinking lamination glare! 😁

So my kids will get their candy awards, a new book

(at their reading level), some fun Minute to Win It time, the personalized subway art, and a popcorn party 

where they'll see why keeping some of our economy money to the end was so important (but that I'll save for another blog post!).

Don't forget to link up with your own end of year activity!

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!!!