Five for Friday -- Games, Magnets, and my Awesome Closet!

Woohoo Friday!!!

This was my first week back after Spring Break, and it seemed like a LONG one! We made it though and I even snapped a few pictures to share with you.

As always, I appreciate Kacey hosting this linky!

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It was a good day for games!

These Connect Four games are awesome--easy differentiation. They have the high-frequency words of the week on one side (great for my struggling readers) and the vocabulary words on the back (great for my higher readers who have to read the word AND use it correctly in a sentence to claim their space). 

The kids also love to play "I have...who has...?" so we split our group time in half between the two games.

All of these games were made to go with our Reading Wonders series,  but they are in the Sight Word section of our store if you are interested. 

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Magnets exploration day! 

The 1st and 2nd graders have been learning about magnets so we had an extended science period to explore with them.

One student had the great idea to put a paper clip in a balloon and see what would happen so we gave it at try! So FUN!

We even did one station of exploring magnets with water, but I didn't get any pictures! :-(

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This is my post-spring break seating arrangement.

#IHateRows

My kids were so talkative right before break, I thought I'd give this a try. I like "groups" much better, but eliminating the "face partner" has seemed to help at least for now!

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Worth waiting for...

When my husband and I bought our fixer upper nine years ago, we did not have a closet. We used one in another bedroom. Then when that bedroom became the laundry room, we shared with our kids. A couple of years ago, we FINALLY started piecing this walk-in closet together. Over spring break, we bought and installed the last "shoe shelves" and "corner shelves." 

I find myself opening the doors and just looking at it! LOL! I'm pretty sure there is a devotional coming soon about things being worth the wait all because of this closet. ;-)

Hope your weekend is happy!

Wisdom for Wednesday - Quieting a Noisy Soul

Good afternoon!

This is so strange for me to be able to sit down after school and blog! I'm still getting used to not coaching after school. :-)

Before we get to the wisdom, can I just say…WOW! 

Today was quite a day with my kiddos. 

We came back Monday from Spring Break and I was pretty pleased with how things were going…until today. It just seemed like I was dealing with one student after another for behaviors that I hadn't seen in weeks (or months…or maybe even ever). I knew I should have reviewed routines and procedures on Monday!

Anyway, thanks for stopping by for today's wisdom post! 

Did that post title catch your attention? 

That phrase, quieting a noisy soul, certainly got my attention as I began a new devotional book called God is More than Enough by Jim Berg.

The full quote is this: 

If we are going to quiet the noise in our souls, we will have to track our thinking not our feelings, and then we must evaluate those thoughts against the Word of God. Where our thoughts are wrong, we must repent of them and replace them with thoughts that honor God.

There is so much in those two sentences to think about it!

Quieting a noisy soul. 

Yes, please!

Jim Berg explains noise in the soul consists of our thoughts.

Evaluating our thoughts against the Word of God. 

Yes…with a little apprehension.

It doesn't take much evaluating on my part to know that I have some areas in my thought life that need work.

I love the next sentence because it gives us the action plan.

Repent and replace.

It isn't enough to repent. 

We must also replace.

If we don't replace our wrong thoughts with God-honoring thoughts, those wrong thoughts will find their way right back into our hearts and minds.

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

II Corinthians 10:5

I'm so excited to dig into this study. 

I know I've got some work to do, but I do long for a "quiet" soul. ;-)

Spring Break!

We had parent-teacher conferences this week and officially started Spring Break on Friday.  I was so excited to sleep in on Friday and was sleeping very well until my alarm went off!!!! 

Yes, that's right-5:30 a.m.!!  I have my alarm set for the week and I completely forgot to turn it off.  I was so disappointed-anyways, I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep.  So much for sleeping in on my first day on Spring Break.

I have been spending some precious time with my babies (pets).  

I have already been out enjoying this wonderful weather as well and have worked out in my yard.  The weather is beautiful and it is 88 degrees outside right now.

My other plans for the break is to be able to see my family and hopefully take a quick day trip with Crystal.  

I have also been trying some Paleo and now that I have a little time, I'm going to try to make my own paleo bread (we will see how that goes).  

I hope if you are on Spring Break, you are enjoying your time!  

Crystal and I have decided since we are on Spring Break, we will not blog this week, but will return the week after Spring Break!

Have a great day!

Wisdom for Wednesday-He will be with You!

Welcome to another week of:

I love this verse and let's just face it, there are seasons in our lives that this is exactly what we need to remember.  When facing those tough times, knowing that God is with us is what can get us through it!

Have a great day!

Repost - Free Math Resources!!!

Happy Friday!

If all goes as planned, I'm watching KU in the Big 12 basketball tournament today so…

I decided to look back and find an old post that I thought was worthy of putting out there again. I found this one--which shows me at a KU game--HA!--that has some links to great FREE math resources. Hopefully, if you missed them the first time around, you can snag them this time.

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Hey there! 

I'm linking up with Kacey at Doodlebugs for Five for Friday again! Lots of math stuff this week--hopefully you'll get a few ideas. :-)

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This Five for Friday has to kick off with pictures from last night's KU game. We decided it was time to take our kids to Allen Fieldhouse for a game--before their basketball seasons got started. The Jayhawks did not disappoint!

 

This picture actually made it on the big screen! I'm pretty sure we are famous now. ;-)

 

This was our attempt at a family selfie. The usher felt sorry for us and took the one above. Ha! And yes, if you're keeping track, I am now a "coppery" brunette.

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Math Rotations!

They are in full swing! 

I just love it. 

The kids love it.  

Here's how it works in my room:

 

I have three rounds of math rotations each day. 

This PowerPoint is projected on the board. It is a basic pie chart and I just added the names to it. Easy Peasy!

The activities change daily and are written on the whiteboard (in the example - Math Game, MM/ML (Mountain Math/Mountain Language), and Mrs. R. When I change slides, the groups move to the next activity.

We rotate groups every 15-20 minutes.

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Here's a snapshot of one day of math rotations (including links to some great free math resources):

 

 

Comparing Numbers Task Cards (freebie from ChiliMath)

 Double Digit Addition (w/o regrouping) Word Problems (freebie from Step Into 2nd)

Rounding With A Number Line (freebie from Rachael Parlett)

Note to Self - rounding to 10 is okay this time of year...100 not so much. 

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I was asked to make sheet cakes for the Booster Club to sell at our theater production--Wizard of Oz. I can't wait to see it tonight! I couldn't resist tasting them, so I made minis for my family and me.

 P.S. Peanut butter wins for me, but hubby says chocolate!

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We're rocking and rolling on our HOTSHOTS! 

We do one 2-3 times a week and the kids are pretty much working by themselves now. They get excited when I tell them to get out their "Hotshots" folder.

Our first grade teacher has a math smartie who needed an extra challenge, so she is actually using the 1st grade HOTSHOTS designed for later in the year.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, here's a snapshot: 

Sometimes I project on the screen so we can work through it together or to explain a challenging problem. 

These are a great way to get some daily math review along with a "Fix the Sentence." Easy to differentiate too. LOVE them!

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Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Spring break is just around the corner for me…how 'bout you?

Wisdom for Wednesday - Broken Heart

Hi there.

Thanks for stopping in for this week's wisdom post.

My heart is a little heavy this week. 

It seems all around me people are hurting. 

People are broken-hearted. 

And my heart breaks for them, so I'm keeping this short and simple.

…and He's listening!

#Thankful

Fact Families, Kahoot, I Have Who Has, and Grade Cards

1.  Fact Families-We have been reviewing fact families and the kids loved making a snowman while practicing their fact family.  

2.  Kahoot-I love Kahoot!  We practiced our shapes by playing a game of Kahoot!   I played with the kids and they all were working hard to try and beat me!  (Some of the kids are wearing hats because we wore hats for Dr. Seuss day).

3.  I Have Who Has-Some of the groups practiced sight words with I Have Who Has while other groups practiced words with a vowel sound.  They always love it when we play I Have Who Has and they love to be timed.  One group made it in 41 seconds....that has been the fastest so far.  They were very excited!

4.  Grade Cards-We have parent teacher conferences coming up in a couple of weeks and I love doing this kid grade card with the kids that I found at What the Teacher Wants.  It is always interesting to see how they think they are doing in the different areas.  At the bottom part it asks what you think about when you think about school.  This one said I Have Who Has and I asked him what he meant by it.  He told me that he absolutely loved playing I Have Who Has!  He said every day he comes to school he always wakes up saying, I sure hope we play a game of I Have Who Has today!  (Kids are so cute!  I love it when they love something and are learning at the same time!)

Have a great week!

Wisdom for Wednesday-THINK

Welcome to this week's:

I have been seeing this around a lot lately and thought that it is really something that should be thought about before I speak.  It is a good one to live by on a daily basis whether it be at work around students, adults or even around strangers.  Good words to live by before you do speak because you can't ever take back anything that comes out of your mouth.  Once something has been said, you can't change it at that point.

Have a great day!