Five for Friday

It's Friday! Which means I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for another round of Five for Friday!

There's been lots of stuff going on this week. So here we go...

This week I posted two new items to my store. One is a birthday inferencing pack that I had sent out to some folks for my birthday! The other is also a birthday pack, but focuses on math skills. The kids will get to plan a birthday party and use different math skills to decide how many of the different items are needed and how much everything will cost. We did an activity like this for Thanksgiving and the kids loved it. So I knew I wanted to make another item with the same concept for more practice.

I had Monday off and of course the weather was not so delightful! It didn't help that I've really not been feeling all that well...so I really accomplished a whole bunch of not a darn thing. Such a bummer as report cards are due Monday!

Every marking period, I tell myself I need to start my report cards a bit earlier. And somehow I never manage to do that. But after this marking period, I absolutely must do something differently for third marking period. What do you do to keep up with report cards?

I had a half day Wednesday and finally made myself go to the doctor. And guess what? I probably should've gone earlier cause they diagnosed me with asthmatic bronchitis. I really should've known better than to wait so long as this is nothing new for my awful lungs. So now my day is wrapped in antibiotics, inhalers, and nasal spray (which I despise!).

Today was another half day. It was a good day for lunch with a friend and a haircut before a fun hockey game with my husband and some of my favorite family members!

Have a great weekend. I plan to finish up the last of my report cards and just lounging to let these meds do their job!

Sunday Scoop

It's Sunday, and I'm not feeling stressed! Yay, three day weekend!

I'm taking a little time today to link up with Teaching Trio for the Sunday Scoop.

I have been putting off laundry for a while and it's pretty much not an option to put it off any longer. So the stream of laundry loads has begun! I'm very thankful to be married to a farmer as I have a fully stocked freezer.  This means that I pick up chicken or seafood sometimes, but this girl here rarely has to purchase beef! This means that I typically just shop for produce or other dinner ingredients which tends to help cut down on meal prep cause I can go to the store with a plan!

I am really hoping to finish up a product I've been working on so I can get it uploaded and start on my next idea!  I am also really hoping to get some assessments graded and entered for report cards. I'm hoping to get to both so one doesn't have to get swept aside!

I plan to get up tomorrow and have a productive day in the house, since the weather they're calling for is supposed to be awful. And then I'll be able to enjoy dinner and a couch movie with the hubs tomorrow night.

Here's to a great start to your week!

Five for Friday!

It's Friday and I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday! This is one of my favorite linky's to participate in as it's so easy to snap a couple pictures during the week and blog about them...plus it helps me remember to blog!

This week, the house remodel kept on trucking! We bought this house over a year ago and have been remodeling ever since...seriously, we're so close to having fixed up/changed/remodeled all the things we wanted to! When the current projects are done, we will have the second bathroom and the laundry room left to tackle. We have taken down wallpaper, painted EVERY room, finished the basement, tiled the bathroom, refinished the bathroom countertops, installed new kitchen countertops, and added a beautiful new backsplash and cooktop (which is what the picture is!) The backsplash needs to be caulked, but I absolutely love it! 

The weather this winter has been crazy. It went from nicely above average and a green Christmas to lots of wind and snow. I definitely thought we were going to get a snowday earlier this week along with a bunch of other schools that closed, but we did not 😳

The hubs and I have our birthdays several days apart. But we always make sure to celebrate separately to allow the other person their day (read: to allow ourselves the chance to properly spoil each other!) Here's one of two cakes I made for the mister!

And speaking of birthdays, mine was yesterday. I put my store on sale for 20% off and if you check out yesterday's blog post, I mentioned a freebie which I will be sending out Saturday morning!

I'm super proud of my kids! I let them vote on our new read aloud book. I picked seven books for them to choose from. And let me tell you, they amazed me by stepping away from their usual picks and going with a book that hasn't been touched in our class library at all this year! So today, we started reading Tuck Everlasting!

Have a fabulous weekend!!

Birthday Celebration!

It's my birthday! And I would like to celebrate with you! So I have put my whole store on sale for today and tomorrow.

One of my students had a birthday yesterday and when I told her I was going home to make birthday cupcakes (pictured below...I think they turned out cute!) she was in shock that I should have to make cupcakes for my own birthday! When I asked her who she thought she make them, she named my husband as first in line for that job! So I explained to her that Mr. does NOT bake...he can cook, but in all the time I've known him, he's not been a baker. Mr. was not as amused by this little tale as I was!

Not only did I put my store on sale to celebrate with you, but, if you leave a comment with your email, I will send you my newest product, which I haven't even posted yet! This new product is part of my inferencing activities. Your students will put their inferencing skills to the test while figuring out what needs to be purchased for a birthday celebration!

Happy Thursday!

Sunday Reflections

It's Sunday. The last day of break before going back to work tomorrow. I am taking some time today to be reflective...thank you Pinterest for this wonderful quote to really get me thinking!

There are a few things I'm taking a bit of time to think about today. First, I'm reflecting on what I can do to make sure that my planning time is productive. No more multiple trips between my room and the copy machine. It never fails, I think I have everything I've planned to make copies of only to get to the copier and realize I've forgotten something. Because of this, I've decided to make myself a copy folder. The folder will have the originals that need to be copied and a list showing what the copies are for. I am also intending to have my lesson plans completed at least 80% by end of day Thursday. This will also help me to start my copy folder for the next week!

My second item of reflection is math. We've started a new math program this year. It's different than what the students are used to and it's different from what the teachers are used to. And for me it's even more different because I taught kindergarten last year! With all that being said, I have a wide array of mastered skills levels in my students' math skills. So I've decided, I'm going to change up/add to what I'm already doing in class. I am going to add fifteen-twenty minutes of focused and differentiated math where the kids will be working on the skill level they are currently most ready for and this will free up time for me to meet with students on their particular skills. Some days this will include multiplication facts, differentiated lists for different levels of readiness. Other days this will include remediation or enhancement of skills taught that week. I have a tub with folders, one pet student labeled with their number. This way each student can grab their materials during this time without me needing to pass out multiple levels of materials during our 15-20 minute focus time. 

The third thing I've been reflecting on today was growing my kids' writing skills. We use interactive writing notebooks and some other writing tools in our classroom and we love them! But I have also decided to add in more free choice writing into my classroom. We have lots of topic directed writing that takes place, but I want the students to be able to focus on the skills we are using versus always making sure to write to a provided topic. My hope is this will help us build the skills so that when we do have to write to a prompt, the skills will already be there. Before break, we were very focused on paragraph format and so we will focus on that, but with their own choice of topic, and see how that helps our skills. 

What are you up to on this first Sunday of January?

January Currently

It's January (almost first)...a big month in this household as both the hubs and I were January born babies! And since I'm close enough to the first (ha!), I am linking up with Farley from Oh Boy Fourth Grade! for her January Currently. I love filling these out...so fun!

LISTENING: So, over the break, I have been doing a little Netflixing and my current binge may or may not be a little bit of a guilty pleasure! I'm really enjoying Jane the Virgin; it's so ridiculous you can't help but laugh!
LOVING: The sun is out today.  Although the temperature is quite cold, the sun is out!  It's been a while since the sun has been out.  We've had some nice above average temperatures, but it's been quite gloomy. I guess the sun coming out is a trade-off I can live with to have a little sunshine grace my life!
THINKING: This one is pretty self explanatory.  It's the same way I feel after all of my breaks! I just need more time!
WANTING: I love the Christmas break. But with the large family I have married into, I have easily doubled the amount of holiday gatherings I am accustom to...I used to have 3 tops, and now I have 7-8! So I am just needing a little bit more of the vacation-y, do what you please aspect of this break!  Plus, we've (mostly the hubs!) done lots of demo over the break, so that' kept us busy as well!

NEEDING: I still have all of my Christmas decorations out, which doesn't really bother me. But I really should pack them up as January is a busy month for us and I'm not sure when I'll really have time within the next couple of weekends to do it otherwise!
ONE LITTLE WORD: Of course I couldn't pick just one! But my two words go hand in hand with each other.  I want to make an effort to be more present in life. To me this means making sure my planning time is well utilized and my "the mister is still working" time is well utilized.  That way, when I do have time to do things with friends, family, and the hubs, I won't be worried about getting lesson plans together or finishing up a task on the computer. I want to be present and focused so that I can utilize the rest of my time to make as many wonderful memories with my husband, family, and friends as possible. Kind of a little resolution-y, if I do say so!

Product Exchange

So I was recently offered the option to take part in a product exchange that is being hosted by Kovescence of the Mind...

It's always a great way to try something new or find a new favorite TpT'er.

I was partnered with Christin from Shifting Teacher K-2. I asked for her Let's Sequence Sentences: Winter Edition. And let me tell you, it's great! I taught Kinder last year and am currently teaching Fourth. I would've definitely used this item with my Kinders last year, for sure! But this year, with my fourth graders, this is perfect for my second language students who are in the very early stages of their reading and writing skills. 

I love that each image has two sentence options, one that is a bit shorter and one that has a very more sight words packed into it!

This is a shorter sentence. 

This one had a few more sight words. Sorry for the shine, my laminated cards did not want to lay nicely.

Check out the different products that people swapped and complete the rafflecopter to enter to win them for yourself!  Links for more products and the rafflecopter are below! Good luck!

Kovescene of the Mind Product Swap Products

An InLinkz Link-up