Five for Friday

It has been a very unusal week for us. My peaches just couldn't keep it together. The bickering and tattle tailing was off the charts. We didn't get too much curriculum done due to special events and I blame it all on the full moon this past Monday. I'm hoping that next week will be WAY better!

Can I just say that I had the most awesome weekend last week! My sister had a birthday and my family, sister's boyfriends, my hubby and I went to Bodega Bay which is literally 35 minutes from my house. We stayed in a cute little trailer, by cute I mean it only slept 4 and there were 8 of us. I must say, three couples in a small space led to little beauty rest. Anyways, we spent Saturday exploring the bay and the little town of Bodega. That night my parents were so sweet and cooked us all dinner while we all napped (this camping thing is some hard work). All of it was delicious and for dessert we had s'mores. We spent Sunday packing up and cleaning the trailer. Then everyone came to our house and the women had a cleaning session while the men vegged out and watched football. All in all it was much needed family time and a nice break from all the hot weather we've been getting. 

Me, my sister and mom

me and my hubby

Me and my sissy

My dad

My room after all the cleaning (wish I had a before picture)

 Last Friday, I decided to start writer's workshop with my peaches and boy did they enjoy it. I took the suggestions from Sarah Jones from TGIF! I turned off the lights, played some calming music and they got right to work telling me about what they like to do at recess (all of course after brainstorming ideas together, modeling and going over my expectations for them as writers). This is the first year where I didn't have to convince one of them to write they all were willing participants (hooray!).

 

This week I tried to wear more professional clothing, I'm really a t-shirt/jeans/running shorts/mickey mouse tops kind of girl! I went shopping over the weekend with my mom and sister and found this cute top from Target (on CLEARANCE!) I loved it. It was perfect for this week since it doesn't seem like it's going to get cold here in Cali anytime soon.

Can I just say puppies make life so much sweeter! Last week my fifth grade student's dog had puppies they are Akbash mixed with some other kind of BIG dog but they are the sweetest, helpless, most adorable puppies EVER! We got to hold them when they were two weeks old and then again this week and they are just now opening their eyes. I've fallen in love with them and want to take every single one of them home with me! Alas my landlord doesn't want us to have dogs and these dogs get HUGE, like miniature horse HUGE! But all this puppy holding has confirmed that I want a puppy in the near future, fingers crossed!

"This is a good day, just like yesterday, yes yesterday was a good day too." I am so thankful for the community I live in. I put my Donors Choose project out there and in a week it was fully funded from people in my area. Ever since I checked out my first Piggie and Gerald book "Should I Share My Ice Cream?" there has been nothing but smiles, laughter and giggles in my classroom during read aloud time. Each student connects to the stories and can't help but laugh at the adventures of this elephant/pig duo. I find that soon after I'm done reading the students are already reciting the dialouge and taking the books to read on their own. I wanted to create this joy everyday in the classroom so I put together a list of all the Piggie and Gerald books I could find and asked for help. I didn't think much of it after I put it up. I put some statuses on Facebook but nothing came of it. I feel so grateful to the two people who donated to our classroom. They didn't know me or my school but saw the yearning for learning through my post. I'm excited to write them thank you notes to express our gratitude for helping out our little school.    

September Currently

I'm linking up with Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade for September Currently. I'm glad I had an extra day to do so much blogging! 

Listening- My family is simply amazing whenever the hubby and I come to visit. My sister took charge of the kitchen today and cooked an amazing tri-tip, lots of veggies, and turkey dogs. I loved every ounce of food I ate! 

Loving- After looking at everyone's Peek at My Week I decided I needed to change up my lesson plan template. So I spruced mine up in an effort to link up with Deedee from Mrs. Wills Kindergarten peek at my week. 

Thinking- On Friday it will be this beautiful girl's birthday (my sissy)! To celebrate we are going camping in my neck of the woods in Bodega Bay. I'm super excited to have some more family time!

Wanting- Some Emergen-C, I ran out and instead of buying some last weekend sooo I ended up getting my first cold of the school year. I've been fighting it all weekend. 

Needing- As I just stated I'm sick and I've tried every cold remedy possible. Emergen-C, zicam, dylsum, Mucinex, some alergy pills and hot tea. I don't feel any better! I hope this head cold goes away!

3 Trips- Going to Bodega Bay this weekend, Disneyland for New Years and Hawaii in May. I can't wait for all these trips!

This is one of my favorite linky parties, besides Five for Friday. Go link up, it's super fun!

Five for Friday!!

 Well, hello there and happy labor day weekend! 

I would love to say that I'm off doing something super fun to say good bye to summer but I'm just relaxin' with my family! Oh and I got a haircut today! It's been 4 months since my last cut and a couple of years since I seriously cut it. Anyways here's my Five for Friday!

My peaches spent Friday afternoon doing some Go Noodle videos to get out the wiggles! They love the racing, high jump, long jump and Let It Go. Here's one of them doing the stretches!

 This week my second graders learned about homophones and I found this awesome packet by Sarah Cooley. Since my class is super duper small I'm able to use these lessons as a preview for my first graders! We had a lot of fun making these pairs of homophone pears. They did an awesome job sounding out their sentences!

Next week we're going to make these cuties as a review and play Pingo. 

 

I had to share that Starbucks has Pumpkin Spice Lattes again! I was so excited when I saw the sign at our local Starbucks, I had to get one!

 Before we started our weekend the hubby and I went on a little date to one of our favorite pizza eateries, Old Chicago pizza. I could only eat one piece but that means yummy leftovers for the weekend! We started the weekend off right with a Stella and Sangria.

 Lastly, I had to share this beautiful summer night photo. I love when the sky is painted with the colors of the sunset it makes for amazing pictures! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Classroom Reveal

Well I did it. I survived the first week back at work! I'm exhausted but wanted to show off my classroom. Since it's my first blog for the soon to be fall I had to go all out this year for my classroom. Give me a theme and I'm sooo down! My co-worker and I talked in early August and this year we followed this theme...

 

Yes we are super hero themed this year! I married a geek and the last few years my inner geek had been yearning to come out and this was the perfect opportunity. I dug right in and found some amazing resources on TPT, including this cute sign below (Bethany Ray)

 

A lot of my ideas came from Pinterest. I love crafting so I took to Pinterest found some ideas and hit the ground running.  (Superhero Quotes)

 

 

I'm using the whole brain teaching rules with my students and I must say they must love saying Oh Yes just as much as I love saying Oh Class. Thanks to Miss. DeCarbo for the freebie. I love using the rules in my class.

Below are some jobs I have for my little guys when they are in my room. Last year I found my self spending countless minutes cleaning up after my Kinders and first graders. Even though they have jobs in the classroom, they get an extra sense of responsibility by having more jobs in my classroom. I also got my calendar up and ready so we can do our Calendar Notebooks. We started today and I'm determined to get my peaches days of the week knowledge down pat! 

Last year I had a lot of tattling and behavior issues. After I purchased a behavior management plan from Educent I browsed through and found this baby. To help with self-regulation in the classroom I'm using Take A Break. She gives you all the print outs and even shows how she sets it up in the classroom. I found some of my old stuffed animals and added band aids so if it's something minor like a cut they know where to go to feel comfort. I like this resource because I have put my students on time out countless times but I felt like they need to recognize their own behavior too. I feel like this system will do just that!

I also am doing an individual visual behavior system, good ole clip chart. They start over each day on blue and it's just a reminder to them to make smart choices. I also have a group incentive for remarkable behavior. My kiddos love popcorn so when they fill the popcorn pan they get a popcorn party.

Their name tags...

To lighten up my cubby area I added some scrapbook paper from Michaels. It made that area a thousand times better!

I found this at Kohls and couldn't help but but it. It reminds me of Clark Kent!

One of my amazing friends, Ashley, got me this cute cup for the school year. I've already started using it!

This year I was in charge of 2 bulletin boards and took to Pinterest for ideas. I wanted some heroines in the classroom so I made this girl below (Super Heroes In Training).

This one is fun! Listening to my kids and even adults sound out the letters and words makes me laugh. Can you guess that tune?

Next week we start curriculum! Wohoo!