Educational Chaos

This week was one of those weeks where we had to throw schedules and plans out the window... 

I call it educational chaos.

It started on Tuesday when our K-2 students traveled to the other building for a huge pep rally. It was the day of our last home basketball game and the staff had something special planned for the kids.

 It was great!

P.S. The crazy guy on the black team is our superintendent. His wife, in the red tutu, headed up the red team. :-)

The video even made the news--super exciting for our little district!

Then on Wednesday, we got to head back to the other school for  Body Venture! Have you heard of it?

It may be old news to some of you, but I got to experience it for the first time this week and it was so cool! My students loved it!

To summarize, you start your experience in the cafeteria and become a "food." Then you travel through the body learning all about nutrition and health along the way. 

We got back to our school in time for a little bit of math. What better way to review and practice perimeter than to use the Body Venture booklets we received?

 

Then on Friday afternoon, PTO held their Walk-a-Thon. This is their main fundraising event throughout the year. Kids collect donations and then we walk--although it is much more fun than that! They have obstacles set up, music and dancing along the way, and of course a yummy treat at the end.

What can I say? There was a lot of jumping!

So while we didn't get to everything I had on my lesson plans for the week, we did have fun AND learned along the way!

Educational chaos in a nutshell.

Have a blessed day!

Wisdom for Wednesday - A Hard Word

Late again…

I hope Kristi doesn't fire me! ;-)

All I can say is there is only a few more weeks of basketball, and I should be able to get my act together! My usual morning time at home has been rushed so I can get to school early and try to get work done.

Anyway, I'm glad you're here!

I don't know about you, but sometimes it is a 'hard word' that comes from my devotional time or the take-away from the sermon is a 'hard word.' 

But I know I need it...

The Lord never promised following Him would be easy. It takes diligence and a humble heart to be able to recognize and acknowledge areas of our life that need work in order to please Him. It is hard, but that is the only way to enjoy the sweet fellowship with Him.

It might be a 'hard word,' but it is for our good!

Place Value Grab and Salute!! Fun Math Games!!

We have been playing a couple of games that the kids have really loved in math.  The first one, I call place value grab.  The students get with a partner and put flats, longs and cubes in the middle.  One of them closes his/her eyes and has 3 seconds to grab from the pile.  When the time is up, they have to count how much they have.  If they are right, they get to keep them, if they are incorrect, they have to put the pieces back in the pile.  Whoever has the most at the end wins the game. 

 (Sorry, I didn't get a picture of this one)

The other game is called Salute and it comes from the Everyday Math Program.  This game helps students practice adding and finding missing addends.  Students get into groups of 3.  One person begins as the Dealer.  The Dealer gives one card to each of the other 2 players.  Without looking at their cards, the Players hold them on their foreheads with the number facing out.  The Dealer looks at both cards and says the sum of the 2 numbers.  Each player looks at the other Player's card.  They use the number they see and the sum said by the Dealer to figure out what the number on their card must be.  They say that number out loud.

The kids have been begging me to play these games every day!  

Have a great day!

Five for...A Beautiful Saturday Morning!

Hey there! I'm linking up with Doodlebugs to share some random things about my week.

1

I gave up my day off on Monday to go to an Anita Archer workshop and it was soooooooooo worth it! If you have not heard of her, clink the link to go her website on explicit instruction. There is a wealth of great information--including video clips.

 I love this! 

I have struggled with how to teach writing ever since I became a teacher. I know some people have said just let them write, don't "squash" their creativity, etc. 

I have tried that approach, and what I have found is that those that are good at it, are good at it. And those that struggle, struggle. 

It was nice to hear that providing some guidance is acceptable and actually a good thing.

2

We've been working on adverbs that last couple of weeks, so it was time to pull out these fun task cards to review.

 I'd share a link, but I can't remember where I got them and don't have the file here at home to look it up. If they are yours, feel free to let me know!

3

We did a two day art project inspired by Kandinsky (thanks to this blog post). They painted their backgrounds and then added the tree pieces the next day (forgot to take a picture of our finished work). Make sure you follow me on Instagram. I'll share some there next week.

4

 

This is my daughter's failed attempt to capture my vehicle reaching 111,111 miles while I was driving. What can I say? My kids have a thing about numbers... You may remember my son was disappointed to miss the 100,000 mile mark and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity...LOL! ;-)

 

5

 

 Spring fever is officially here! 

After a week of temperatures in the 70s here, I have been looking for opportunities to get outside for extra recess!

Enjoy your weekend!

 

Wisdom for Wednesday-Hand off the Steering Wheel

If you are anything like me, then this is very hard to do.  It sounds easy and I know in my heart that God can take control and take care of me better than I can.  But if I know that then why is it that I find myself trying to control things going on in my life?  If you have read some of my past blogs, you know that I am a worrier and I like to have control.  Therefore, I find myself trying to control situations in my life and I often worry about them as well.  Recently, I have been working a lot on letting go and realizing that if I allow God to take control, he will take me on a path that is much better than what I could even imagine.  Allowing him to take me on the right path would be so much easier and less stressful than me sitting around worrying about which path I think I should or shouldn't  take in my life.

Thanks for joining in on another week of:

Have a great day!

A Day Off!

I have to apologize because this blog isn't anything about education today.  We have today off and I have to admit that I am having a lazy day!  I haven't done a lot so far (just a little bit of laundry).  I'm not the only one as you can see:

My babies are being lazy like me.  They have been in bed all morning so far!  I'm wondering if they will venture out this afternoon????  

It is nice to have a day to do nothing.  I plan to head outside and just sit and soak up some sun this afternoon!  Check out our forecast for the week!  (Is it really February?)

On my phone, the forecast for Thursday shows 79 degrees.....we will see what temperature it hits.  I will take either one (74 or 79).  I love warm weather and I'm ready for it be here for good!  

I hope if you are off today, you are relaxing and enjoying your day off!

Wisdom for Wednesday - Spiritual Activity

Good morning! 

I missed Wednesday again--and for no good reason. I even had this post mostly ready. I guess this just shows exactly how my week has been going. My kids have been even more on the wild side. I blame Valentines Day! ;-)

I believe this week's quote can apply to many areas of life. 

Take a look:

Since Chambers is talking about our work for the Lord, I'll start there. 

Sometimes I think I am busy with "spiritual activity" and not focused enough on the "active work" I should be doing for the Lord. That active work being the reason why I am here--to be a witness and testimony for Him and to bring Him honor and glory!

 Spiritual activity (church involvement, giving, volunteering, ministry, etc.) is great, but I know I have to be careful that I don't allow that to give me a pass on the "active work" I am to be doing!

This quote struck me as a teacher and coach also.

Think about it.

Activity versus active work…

What thoughts come to mind about your classroom? 

(And in my case, our basketball team...)

I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

February Currently

I am linking up with Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade for her 

February linky!

Listening-We have had about 40 mph winds here in Kansas all day today so I have been listening the the wind all day long.

Loving-I have had the same color in my bedroom for about 16 years and I finally painted it a new color this last weekend!

Thinking-I am a little sore from painting the whole room.  I was fine the whole time I was painting, but my hands told me different the next morning.  

Wanting-I want to tackle the living room next because it hasn't been painted for probably 10 years or more. 

Needing-More time....I'm sure everyone could always use more time to get things done.

Swooning-I'm ready to have everything painted and sit back and enjoy it!

Make sure you link up for the February linky.

Have a great day!

Hotshots, Whacky Watches, Counting Races and More!

Hey there! I hope you're having a great weekend.

I spent 6ish hours at the school today. Ugh! 

But I accomplished so much, I can't be too upset...

Dinner's in the oven, so I can finally prop my feet up and relax blog for a few minutes. ;-) I'm linking up with Doodlebugs again.

My students were rocking our HOTSHOTS this week. They were so excited that our "Number of the Day" is in the thousands now!

I am absolutely loving these this year! We only do them 2-3 times a week, so I've been able to jump ahead as needed for the skills we're working on. Seriously...my favorite thing Kristi and I have created.

 

 

Thanks to The Teacher Idea Factory we had counting races this week. Tons of great ideas in the post I've linked for whole group math games. Check it out!

We worked on telling time again. This time to the minute. These Whacky Watches were a hit (she has them to the 5 minute too)! My kiddos love using QR codes and I love that they can check their own work. ;-)

 

On Thursdays during Daily 5, I always try to allow some game time in my groups. This week we played "I Have...Who Has...?" I think we should be playing more! The kids love it. They become familiar with our sight words from our reading series. There really is no downside. I've got to make time to play it more often--especially for my lower groups. If you're looking for some games, we have plenty in our TPT store.

 

And finally, this is what awaited me this morning. I just had to get out of there yesterday...no focus...even if I did only have a few minutes before having to leave for our basketball game anyway.

I was able to get it all cleaned up (no pic, but I promise I did) and get all of my reading copies and plans done for the next six weeks. I also took a bunch of those online classes we have to do (think bullying, slips and falls, etc.), cleaned out my e-mail box, and made some parent phone calls!

 It feels good to be caught up!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Wisdom for Wednesday-Starting your Day!

Welcome to another week of:

I have always tried to start each day in prayer with God, but I will admit that there have been several mornings that I was rushing around and felt like I just didn't have enough time.  The other day this happened to me as I was getting ready and sipping my cup of coffee.  I am a coffee drinker and wouldn't want to go a day without my coffee.  I realized then that I had time to get my coffee because I had made it a priority in my life.  HMMMM......coffee is definitely not as important as spending some time with God.  So, I decided that if I chose to make it my priority to spend some time talking with God in the morning (like coffee was a priority) then every day I would have time to talk with him.  Plus it always helps me start my day off on the right foot!

Have a great day!

100th Day of School!!

Today was the 100th day of school and we had the kids dress up like they were 100 years old.  They were so excited to do this and they looked adorable.  My co-teacher and I also dressed up like we were 100 years old as well (I sure felt like I was 100 years old after the day LOL!) .  Throughout the day, I pretended to forget what I was doing, pretended to be asleep, called the kids by a different name (pretending to forget their names) and many other things. 

 The kids were so funny because they would tell me not to fall asleep and would continue to remind me what we were doing.  Some of them even wrote in their journals about me.  I think they may have been a bit concerned-LOL!  One said that I was having a hard time remembering things because I was 100 years old and that they were having to remind me of many things.  It was a fun filled day.  Check out how cute they were:

We usually take brain breaks by using gonoodle, but I told them today that we couldn't do that because I didn't want them to get hurt.  So, I found a chair aerobics video on youtube that they did instead.   Here they are:

I hope you had a great day and if you celebrated the 100th day, I hope you had fun!