Five for Friday

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching again this week! Love Five for Friday. A quick and easy way for me to make sure I've got a blog post even if I feel I've got nothing to share! This week was easy to crank out five things to share...

Did a little shopping for DIY Halloween costumes for me and three other teachers. And if you saw my insta post, you know we're going to be ninja turtles!!!!

The hubs and I had a nice Sunday date at the apple orchard and pumpkin patch two minutes from our house. As a born and raised city girl, I fall a little more in love with our country living everyday!!! We got pumpkins, apple cider, and homemade apple donuts. Heaven!

A bit of science fun with circuits. Thank you Five Below for the $5 all included (minus the batteries) science experiment! Don't mind my energy drink...it was one of those mornings!!!

My newest creation...autumn mix place value. Stop back tomorrow for a more in depth look and a first day to purchase sale!!! The kids loved it and it helped them to figure out the skills we were learning the much easier!

We had our first two classroom birthdays this week and both of my boys loved their treats from me!

Hope you e had a fabulous Friday! Check back tomorrow for a first purchase day sale and a look at autumn mix place value!

Double Linky and My Winner Reveal!

So last weekend I had a giveaway and then this week got CRAZY! New students and field trip paperwork and all sorts of crazy, plus a field trip yesterday! With all that being said, I've yet to name my winner for the giveaway I had! And so, my winner is...Crystal G! Congrats!

Now, onto the linky portion of this post.  I am linking up a bit late to both, but refer to the above paragraph for my excuses :P
I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday and with Oh Boy Fourth Grade for Currently...and here goes!

1. My mom loves star gazing and all that goodness, so the moon eclipse was a big deal! And since the hubs and I have the perfect location for observing, my parents drove out.  We had a nice fire and some s'mores too!

2. My class size has doubled so far this year.  I started with 14 students and have since made my way to 29! It's been a learning experience for all of us.  My kids have become very good helpers when we gain a new student.  They are good at helping them to learn the expectations and jump in to our Daily 5 rotations! But I think it has also been tiring for us...especially me!

3. Since we have had such an addition to our classroom, we have added in a bit of community building so that we are making sure everyone feels like they belong in our classroom.  This week we worked to complete puzzles in our table groups. It was great watching the kids work together. Even my few second language learners with minimal English skills joined in. This is the puzzle of the first group to finish!

4. We had our first field trip of the year yesterday...holy paperwork, Batman! The field trip went really well...we walked around for five hours! There were no complaints until the end. I think we were all tired of walking by the end and were so ready for the bus ride back to the school!

5. It's October! I love October it means that it is time for pumpkin spice, apple cider, and all other things fall! Plus it means it's time for Currently...

Listening: well, I was going to watch Pitch Perfect 2 while I got work and tpt stuff done. And then I put it in the player and it will play everything except the movie.  So I will be heading back into town tomorrow to get it exchanged! Instead, I got onto Netflix and am delving into How to Get Away with Murder!

I'm loving fall, but I could live without the crazy wind that is here with it. The weather went from higher than normal temps to lower than normal temps in less than a week.  I love the sweatshirt weather, but I could totally do without the wind!

I could totally go for a pumpkin spice latte right about now! It would be a great boost to my productivity since I have so much to do today.

I love that my husband takes time to ask questions about my day! It's very sweet!

Five for Friday!

So it's Friday, and I'm back again this week with more Five for Friday! I'm linking up again with Doodle Bugs Teaching for another fabulous Friday!

So I am a shop all year, not last minute, Christmas gift shopper.  And my husband has been looking for a particular clock for our recently finished (I'm talking cement walls and floor to drywall and carpet a la husband) basement. All of the clocks that he has found that he really has liked have been running about $150...outrageous!  So earlier this week, I spent a little time on amazon and found an amazing clock present at an amazing price (60% less than all the other clocks we've found!!) plus free shipping. So of course I had to buy it. Well it arrived a day before it was scheduled to arrive, bonus! And I couldn't keep the secret.  Usually I have no problem holding onto gifts until their intended gifting date.  But this one was just too much to hold onto for three months.  So I early gifted the MR. last night!

Teaching Kinder last year, we made an alphabet interactive notebook and both the kids and I loved putting them together and referencing back to them when possible.  But my love for interactive notebooks grew immensely this year when I was switched to fourth grade and came across the WONDERFUL interactive notebooks that Christina Bainbridge from Bunting, Books, and Bright Ideas has in her store...I LOVE THEM! And, to make them even better, my kids love them just as much, if not more, than I do! We are using her grammar, reading, and writing interactive notebooks. Love them!

We've been really focusing on rounding in math. It's been a little bit of a struggle for my kids to remember how to know whether to round up or round down.  And then I came across a wonderful anchor chart on Pinterest (here).  I left a little bit of what I felt was extra and would have made my chart seem cluttered off and the kids loved it!  It was a great tool for the kids and they loved the idea of a roller coaster since most of them have been to Michigan Adventure!

After we had a better grasp on rounding skills, we busted out my newest classroom quest...Is It Round? Of course, I forgot to get pictures of it in action...what can I say, it was Thursday afternoon and we were all a bit tired!  But the kids loved that they got to go around the room and hunt out the questions instead of just sitting at their desk and answering a sheet of rounding questions.  They also really liked the bonus at the bottom! It definitely sold me on making more Quests for my fourth graders.  I already have some Quests in my store with a few lower level topics. Which leads me to...

So yesterday I blogged about an upcoming giveaway...and here it is! I am giving away one of my Classroom Quests...winner's choice, of course! Check out my store and definitely check out this giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy Friday and good luck! The giveaway runs through the weekend with the winner named Monday!

Five for Friday!

It's Friday and I actually remembered to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday! Yay me! Here's a peek at my week...

I had a super productive day on Sunday! I got my lesson plans finalized, decorated my house with some fall decor, and canned the rest of my tomatoes...world's yummiest pasta sauce with no extra junk!

We kicked off our mini unit about the scientific method by completing The Bouncing Corn experiment. The kids adored this experiment and were so engaged!

Open House took place the night before I received eight, yes eight, new students!

After receiving eight new kids, we started over on our expectations (of course) and used Save Fred as a way to help our new kids feel a part of our classroom community which a wonderful place to be. My kids have a ton of buy-in towards our "everyone feels safe, no bullying" classroom community! Loving how this year has started out!

Earlier this month, I placed my first order with NAEIR. Today, my package arrived. Here are all my classroom goodies! Super excited that this stuff came today!

So that is how my week played out. I hope you had a great week and can do something relaxing for you this weekend!

Five for Sunday!

Last week was exhausting and so of course I didn't last very long once I actually made it home Friday night and for some reason this never posted last night!

I'm feeling fresh and renewed today, so I'm linking up for Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching!

Here it goes...

Monday was Minion Monday and the kids had a blast! And of course I found even more fun minion things at the store today...oops!

We had our awards and gifts presentation on Tuesday because we had full to the brim half days coming up and I wanted this to be special!

Wednesday, we used play dough to make CVC words! You just can't beat scented play dough that "smells like our markers!" The kinders were very excited!

I actually blogged! It was crazy to realize when the last time was that I actually blogged. Need to get better about it!

Friday was our last day of school and we celebrated with my favorite end of year traditions...ice cream cone cupcakes!!!

So that was my week! I'm off to go decide what should be put in our garage sale and start pricing!

A blog post...what?!

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've posted on the blog. The beginning of this year has been really busy. I finally feel like it might be calming down a little...I hope!

With that being said, I'm linking up with Doodlebugs Teaching for Five for Friday. Here's what's been going on this week:

1. We have been practicing our counting and one to one correspondence skills during math centers. What is more fun than using spider rings to count? This is posted in my store for 20% off for 24 hours...or you could win a copy!

2. We also used the spider web baskets to help us practice our new popcorn words (sight words) during literacy centers. Magnets are super fun!

3. I love Grey's Anatomy!  And while I was out shopping at my finance's family store...look what I ran across. Christmas present for the bestie?!

4. Got to spend some time at the farm this week with the fiancé. Had to snap a picture of the truck and it's little growth!

5. We have been loving the sight word booklets from Maria Manore. It's so nice to be able to practice so many skills with one activity...popcorn words, cutting, gluing, ordering letters to make a word, coloring in the lines! So great!

That was my week. I am going to post a photo of the spider web counting on Instagram. Head that way to win your own copy...or buy a copy of your own, 20% off for 24 hours! Have a wonderful weekend!

Also, be sure to check  back tomorrow to see what I got in September's SLANT box!

Five for Friday AND A GIVEAWAY!!!

I'm linking up with Doodlebugs Teaching for Five for Friday (on Saturday)!  Make sure you head over and check out what others have been up to this week.

Here's how my week shaped up...

1. We started end of the year testing this week.  We spent a lot of time talking about things that would help us rock our test. We had our first day of testing and kicked it off with a testing treat and reminder to rock the test!

2. I created an interview/writing packet for young kids that's on sale for the first 24 hours!

3. I started a Facebook page to go along with my blog. And I'm having a giveaway for new Facebook followers...check it out!

4. We wrote about what would happen if we were the principal. Their ideas were cute!

5. We also had a snack to help us sort out flat and solid shapes. Definitely a hit!

I hope your weekend is starting off well.  Don't forget to get a copy of my new interview packet while it's on sale and to enter to win an item of your choice for following me on Facebook!

Five for Friday!

It's Friday! We made it. There was definitely a point this week when I was not sure I was going to be able to say that! Who's with me?  But since we did make it, I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs for another round of Five for Friday!

We have been working on American Symbols.  I was lucky enough a few weeks ago to win my very own copy of  Simply Skilled in Second's Traveling Tourist Unit!  The kids (and I) have really been enjoying this Unit!

 We have also been working on weather this week as well. We just wrapped it up on Thursday. The kids did such a great job. Next week we will start learning about how to be safe in severe weather.  I'm working to finish up that unit, look for a post about it (hopefully this weekend, or Monday!)

We had a half day today for our monthly grade level planning.  We also had gym, so that took a huge chunk of the morning! Enter a productive math review...each child was given a shape template and a piece of paper. They were told that they had to make a picture, but could only use shapes from the template! Then we graphed to find the median number for shapes used.  The kids loved it and did a wonderful job! Here's a little gem from this activity.

That's my Five for Friday...more than five pictures, less than five activities!!! Hope your weekend weather sounds as great as mine (and actually holds up as projected!)

Five for Friday!...Shockingly on a Saturday ;)

So I've been a little MIA this week.  I've been feeling a little blah with headaches coming and going (dang weather!). And I had my evaluation this week.  So I'm happy to say, I've made it to Friday in one piece! So in celebration of making it to Friday, I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for her weekly Five for Friday linky!

So here goes my random five things from my week...

First up, the weather. The weather has been crazy around here.  We've had snow, rain, and hail within the past few days.  We have major flooding going on here...not so fun! But the lovely part of this weather happened to be a teachable/aha moment! As we were filling in our Weather Observation Journal and discussing what hail means, it starts to hail outside! So wonderful!

As I said, the weather this week has been a rainy (snowy), awful mess.  Which as you all know means indoor recess.  Ugh...enough said there.  But I do have a question for you, what activities do you do with your students for indoor recess? It's supposed to rain some more this week and I could use some new ideas!

So after all the weather, we've needed a little pick me up.  What's better than this...

Doesn't it just look delicious? Who doesn't love a good s'more? I know we did! But we did s'mores in a cup, with a twist. Sometimes you have to earn your treat before you can eat it! So we did a little math first.

We estimated and then completed actual counts.  After that, we answered a few questions and then graphed our s'more pieces.  By this time, the kids were really wanting to eat those pieces.  Our classroom was smelling so good and they'd been putting in good work all day!  So we finished up and enjoyed our snack!

And to finish off our week, we made a class book. I found this book and knew it would be too perfect for this week! The kids loved it and it was a great way to wrap up our week.  You can find this from All Students Can Shine!

If you want your own copy of my S'mores in a Cup Graphing, go grab one for free!  I'd love a little feedback! The link is in the picture!

Hope your weekend is off to a great start!