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!

One Little Thing Wednesday

So as I was blogging the other day, I had an idea for my own linky. I love participating in linky parties. I love how it brings bloggers together and really gets ideas flowing. So here, today is the first (of hopefully many) One Little Thing Wednesday Link Ups!

Here's how this link up will work. 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 so, without further ado, here is my first One Little Thing Wednesday topic...

So I know, that my response should be, "I drink so much water throughout the day to help stay hydrated and be the best me I can be." But let's be real, that's not always the case! Do I drink a good deal of water during the school day? Absolutely! But if I'm picking my One Little School Day Drink, that has got to be a Super Iced Coffee with Caramel from Biggby Coffee. 

And for those of you who are like, "Biggby what?!" I am so sorry...you must come visit in the land of Biggby. They are, BY FAR, my favorite coffee shop! How creamy and delicious does that look? Mind you, I don't drink this everyday. But it is definitely my go to week-started-on-the-right-foot drink! (Mondays!)

So, what's your One Little School Day Drink? I can't wait to see if I find something new I should try! Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to use the picture above and link back with your own post on this One Little Thing Wednesday!

Tips and Tricks for a Phenomenal End of Year!

The end of the year is quickly approaching. Someone told me the other day that we have under 40 days left and I about had a heart attack! And that is why I am here...to get you ready, along with some other fabulous ladies, for a fabulous and phenomenal end to your school year!

I hope you're excited, cause I know I am! Not only will you hop through our posts, picking up great tips, tricks, and freebies...BUT, you'll also be able to collect letters and be able to enter yourself into a drawing for $50 TpT gift card and a $50 Target gift card. Couldn't you just do so much with either of those!

So here's how it works: read through my ideas for the end of the year, hop around to some other great blogs to check out their ideas too.  Along the way, you'll be collecting letters to make a mystery phrase. Once you have hopped through all the posts and end up back here, you'll be able to put your mystery phrase into the rafflecopter in hopes of winning one of those wonderful gift cards!

Now, onto the good stuff. So, it's the last semester of the year (and you're already part way through it), and you've got that "gotta make it to summer" feeling. I'm here to help. I know at the end of the year, the kids also start to get that same kind of feeling. One thing that I love to do in my classroom is call out all the acts of kindness I can. And let me tell you, I am running full steam ahead with those kindness shout outs to keep us going to the end of the year. We have a Kindness Cookie

                           

who came to visit us for the month of December. Kindness stopped in for Valentine's week and will be making a reappearance in May to help us to think about showing kindness to others through the end of the school year. He leaves fun little notes and things for us to do or pass along to others. The kids absolutely loved him and all the fun of being kind. So I'm sure they will be ecstatic to see him again. One thing he brought us in February were these awesome Kindness Shout Outs

and we've been using them ever since. The kids love to find each other doing kind things and the ability to anonymously shout them out. When an act of kindness is observed by one of my students, he or she grabs one of the shout out slips and fills it out. We have a collection bucket set out for them. At the end of the day, I read the shout outs, out loud, and the kids get to take them home with them. The best part is that the kids clap for each other (I never prompted it, they did it all themselves the first shout outs we did!). If you'd like your own copy of the Kindness Shout Outs, they're a freebie in my store!

Another way to make sure to make it through to the end of the year is to keep your structure in your classroom in place. I find that my kids do so much better when they know what the plan is. Now, do some things eventually change? Yes! For example, we've got a whole slew of end of year testing coming up. But that doesn't mean that I let everything go and have no structure left in our day. The expectations stay the same. Do I maybe add in a little fun to keep them focused on their learning? Absolutely! Structure is a huge thing for my kids and I do everything I can to keep the end of the school year very structured. So fun, in my classroom, comes in the form of "color by" what ever the skill may be or taking a paper with just a squiggle, turning it into a whole picture

                 

and then writing a story about the squiggle picture.

                 

Another thing I really focus on at the end of the year is my management. Like I said before, I feel that keeping your expectations and structure in place is very important to having a smooth end to your year. In my classroom, we have individual and group management expectations that come with consequences and rewards. As the end of the year comes closer and closer, my kids have been discussing their want to fulfill our group management goal one more time before the end of the year. For my whole class, my students have the opportunity to earn a whole class reward for earning class compliments.

                          

The compliments can come from any adult in the school, but must be directed toward the whole class. When we earn a class compliment, the students earn a piece of popcorn to add to the bucket. Once the bucket is full, the students earn a popcorn and movie celebration.

                          

I bring in my popper and we have fresh popcorn and a little movie in the afternoon. Now on the flip-side of this coin is the ability to lose popcorn pieces (which rarely happens!).  This happens if we get a whole class complaint. I really have a fabulous crew of kids this year. And I honestly would not be surprised if they were able to fill their bucket one more time! I love the fact that they kids have completely taken ownership of this system and have set a goal for themselves!

Now...my letter is:
D

Remember to keep hopping through to collect the rest of the letters! Now, head over to the next blog (link in picture below) and see what awesome ideas they have to share with you!
                                           

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Show and Tell Tuesday

I love when I find new linkys.  They're a great way to reach a new or larger audience and get my ideas out there while finding other great blogs and ideas too! So today, I'm linking up with Stephanie at Forever in 5th Grade for Show and Tell Tuesday!

 Check out what's been going on in my sweet country corner of the world lately...

It's finally that time of year when bonfires occur and friends meet up to make good memories. We had our first bonfire this past weekend. We have the perfect backyard to have people over (really, I'm biased, but we actually have the perfect house for entertaining!).Who doesn't love sitting around a fire, seeing all the stars, eating s'mores and making great memories with friends and family? I know I do!

We've been working on fractions a lot in math. We recently worked on fractions using s'mores. You can read more about that here. And since Earth Day is coming up, and many teachers like to read the Lorax near Earth Day, I have another fraction pack.

This one has the students using seeds (nerd jelly beans, if you can find them, or skittles) to answer questions about fractions.

Hands on math is always more fun than just plain paper/pencil!

I've been doing a little crafty creating lately. It's something I've always loved to do and it's nice that I can take a little time and get back to it. Here's my latest creation: a reversible, embroidered receiving blanket.

Being a born and raised city (or just on the border of) girl is so different from where I am now. And I have to tell you, I wouldn't change my life for anything. I love living in the country. I love the wide open spaces. I love the privacy and the help your neighbor camaraderie. I love knowing that some day I will raise kids in this beautiful place. And I say all this because we started this past Sunday with many plans for the day. The Mr. and I were planning to get some quality time in since the weather is getting nice and the inevitability of long nights is looming. And then our plans hit a huge speed bump in the form of this little dear.

New life really makes you stop and think about what really matters and makes the trivial things matter less.

Five for Friday!

It's Friday, finally. I'm just back to school this week from a frigid and snowy spring break! And it's been one of those really long, really tiring weeks.  And not because of behaviors of anything like that, but because I've had a week to create my own schedule which included doing things at my leisure. I think we all know that that is not the pace of a classroom! So, with all that being said, I'm quite thankful to have made it to Friday this week! And on that note, I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday.

Here's what's been happening this week...

 As I mentioned, we were coming back from Spring Break this week. And what better to do than a Spring Break writing to ease everybody back into their learning?

The kids were excited to be able to share about their Spring Break and the fact that it had a coloring component! Fourth graders love when they can bust out some crayons!

 We practiced fraction skills this week. Fractions are made so much better when they're hands-on and can be eaten when you're done! And so of course, we did this activity because it does both!

I blogged about it earlier this week and you can read about that here.

And here's all you need for a little s'more fraction fun.

 We were gifted with Chromebooks for our school, right before Spring Break. So we've been doing some research on them. I also have been using Google Classroom with my kids. If you haven't heard of this, or haven't tried it out, you should! And you can use any computer/tablet, Chromebook for it as it is web-based. My kids love that they can respond to a question I post and then read each peer's response and write them a reply too! We LOVE it. And I'm currently contemplating creating some google items to put in my store! Do you use Google Classroom; let me know below about how you use it, if you do!

 My classroom is a Hollywood theme. So I have a whole class incentive that goes along with it!

The kids can earn pieces of popcorn for the container when we earn a whole class compliment from an adult in our building. On the flip side of that, they can lose popcorn pieces when the entire class makes has an issue with behavior (this can be with a guest teacher, during a special, or at recess). We talk about how to earn or lose popcorn at the very beginning of the year and have reminder conversations throughout the year. The kids are really great about saying, "Wasn't that a compliment?" When they fill their bucket, they get a movie and popcorn party. We filled our bucket this week and had our party.

I'm thinking they may be able to fill it one more time before the end of the school year.  This is a great incentive for my kids to make good choices no matter which adult they may be with!

The weather is finally getting nice here. I had recess duty earlier this week and was able to bust out my Four Square skills. My kids were amazed, apparently they weren't sure that someone "so much older than them" could play Four Square! But they've been loving that I've given up my break time to come out and spend some time with them at recess where we can all have fun together. And truthfully, I've been enjoying it as well!

Have a fabulous weekend. I hope you can get out and enjoy the weather like I plan to do this weekend!!!