More than Five for Friday! ;-)

Hey there!

When I sat down to start my Five for Friday post, I couldn't believe all the pictures that I had to share. We had a great first FULL week back after Christmas break, and I just have some fun things to show you--including two success stories that are making my teacher heart happy!

1

This year I implemented the Whole Brain Teaching Super Improver Wall. I was a little nervous to move away from the things I had used before, but I have been very happy with it. The best part is the kids are LOVING it! They get so excited when someone moves to another level.

Notice the white paper behind the yellow name cards.

When a student gets to yellow, they take a picture with two friends. I let them choose a silly or smiley picture. Then I print it and we put it on the board. They don't get to see the picture until they reach the next level. :-) Then we turn it around and post it in the classroom for all to see. This brings me to my first success story...

This little guy right here...he is my little autistic friend. He is absolutely brilliant, but as you might expect, struggles with social skills and appropriate behavior. He has been doing wonderfully! One day after another day of smileys on his behavior chart, he said, "I have never been this good before at any school!" Insert heart emoji right here. ;-)

2

This is another one of my special friends. When I saw her  so focused on her fluency passage during read to self, I just had to snap a picture!

She has made amazing strides since Kindergarten! Really I can't even begin to explain her whole story, but she has improved so much. It has been so neat to watch her gain confidence and grow academically and socially this year. Insert another heart emoji here.

3

It was nice to get back into our routines this week! The kids especially love Daily 5 on Fridays because during "Time with Teacher" we play games. These are the Connect 4 and I Have...Who Has...? games that we made to go with Wonders.

4

This is why I love MobyMax!

This little smartie pants is practicing 4-digit addition while in class, we have only been working on 2-digit addition. I do my whole group lesson as usual and then use MobyMax during our math rotations.

5

Our stories in reading this week all had to do with music and instruments, so I challenged the kids to make an instrument at home and bring it to school on Friday.

These six students took the challenge. The creativity was impressive!

I wish you could see their faces..I really think I'll ask parents to sign a picture release next year.

6

I narrowed it down from 9, so you can thank me later. Ha!

My Bible study, There's a Fly in my Tea!, is now available directly from me! It is also available for pre-order at Amazon here. If you would like an autographed copy from me, I'm selling them for $10 each (retail price is $13.95) plus shipping. Just hop over to my website and use the contact form so we can work out the details.

I've been selling copies at my church, and  I came to services on Wednesday to find this REAL fly on my poster. My pastor is such a prankster! LOL! 

 Have a great weekend! 

Stay safe if you are in the icy areas...guess it is coming for us!

Five for…Well, You Understand!

Good morning! What a week this has been! 

I'm linking up with Doodlebugs to show you some of the highlights. 

We celebrated Read Across America Week with dress-up days. Each day was something different and comfortable (my favorite part). On Wacky Wednesday, we were all "Things."

I'm the large one--in the middle. They stuck me in the middle and crowded around, all turned to the side and looking skinny. Obviously, they are more skilled at taking pictures than me! Ha! I didn't even think about it until I saw it plastered on Facebook (thanks, Debbie!) so I figured I'd share it on here too. Might as well, right?

By the way, I was Thing 23 with a trivia question. 

What famous basketball player wore this number? 

So for fun…you can play too. First three to respond correctly WITH an e-mail can pick a freebie from our store. Leave me a comment below. :-)

On Friday, we wrapped up our celebration week by dividing up our 48 (yes, 48) K-2 students among three teachers and two fabulous paras. Each of us did an activity centered around a Seuss book and then we rotated kids every 25 minutes.

Last year, I was ambitious and made Oobleck…fun and messy!

This year I wanted something a little simpler and I found this graph online at Oopsey Daisy for One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. The graphing activity was great, but I was bored with the book after reading it to the third group and my tongue was thoroughly twisted! In the last two groups, I let the students take turns reading and that was fun for me…hearing those future second graders reading. :-)

My class has started exploring MobyMax!
This note is from my little gifted student. She is always leaving me notes on papers. Moby has been great for her because she is really being challenged! Equivalent fractions--yikes!
Stay tuned…giveaway coming soon. :-)

If you have an iPad, you must check out this app! It will put whatever is on your computer on your iPad so you can use it remotely. PERFECT for me since my projector is at the front of the room and my computer is at the back of the room.

I have this brilliant little mind in my class who told me about it. He is amazing with technology. I mean, really. The possibilities for him are exciting…I hope he remembers me when he becomes a millionaire. I'll be able to say I was his second grade teacher! :-) He got me all set up at recess yesterday and I am so excited to use this app more!

The highlights of the week would not be complete without a basketball picture. This is of my daughter, Harley, (left) and niece (right) last summer. They have been "separated" this season with Harley in middle school and my niece in high school. 
We spent Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday evenings at sub-state basketball this week. We were lucky enough to host it at our school so that was fun. I love watching the girls team because I coached most of them back when they were little and we cheered on my son's team (even though he is out with that knee injury). Both teams made it to the semi-finals and fought hard against the #1 teams in the tournament, but weren't able to pull out the wins.

After the girls lost, my niece said she was sad to have the season end, but excited that her next game would be with Harley on her team again. Harley feels the same way. I love that they are so close and share a passion for the game. 

 Well, that sums up my week! 

Next week is a short one for me...I'll be out Wednesday and Thursday for my son's knee surgery. Friday officially starts our Spring Break. :-)