October Currently...Treat!

Happy Friday!

I'm linking up with Farley's Currently...finally. Kristi has been beating me to it the last few months. Ha! Really the first of the month just always seemed to fall around her turn to blog, so...my turn!

The kids are at pep band and spending the night at my brother's house, so hubby and I are enjoying a nice "date night" at home--my favorite date. We are watching Love it or List it, which kind of annoys me, but I watch anyway to see how they fix the houses up...

I signed up to work a volleyball tournament tomorrow...ugh. Love watching volleyball--and being paid to run the scoreboard--but hate getting up early on Saturday to get there!

Wanting...new dishes. I've had the same dishes for I think about 15 years. They no longer go with anything in my house and well, it is just time for something new. That being said, I probably won't get new ones anytime soon. I have a hard time spending money on things I just want (and don't need).

Needing sleep. What else?

And finally, a treat for you! I've changed this to a freebie in our TPT store for the next week. Enjoy!

We've been hard at work on place value in second grade. I used this I Have...Who Has...? game to review ones and tens. After we practiced a few times, we then went on to our game that includes the hundreds. 

My students seem to finally "get it." I've got a little quiz set for Monday to see if we can move on...here's hoping!

13 in '13 Linky

Well, since Kristi linked up her resolutions the other day, I thought I'd jump in with Thirteen in '13. Looked like fun and my mind is not back in to school mode yet! Thanks for a great linky, girls!

 

 

 

13. Favorite article of clothing:

 

Hoodies...

 

12. Favorite movie you watched:

 

Catching Fire

(this is the only movie I went to see this year...usually wait for things to show up on TV)

 

11. Favorite TV series:

 

Person of Interest

Blacklist (close second)

 

10. Favorite restaurant:

 

Chick-Fil-A

(P.F.  Changs, Gen Ghis Grill, Red Robin...I could go on!)

 

9. Favorite new thing you tried:

 

Teaching 2nd grade! :-)

 

8. Favorite gift you got:

 

Christmas 2012 - Ninja (blender) - I use it every day!

 

7. Favorite thing you pinned:

 

Favorite...I don't know. But my most recent that I have plans to make in the very near future...LOVE bookshelf. I'm excited to put it in my newly remodeled bedroom and put some of our wedding things and favorite pictures on it.

 

6. Favorite blog post:

 

The cupcakes...a total nightmare, but took Pinterest by storm. Kind of cool to see your own things popping up now and then. :-)

 

5. Best accomplishment:

 

Surviving my first semester in a new school, teaching a new grade (2nd), and teaching K-2 music!

 

4. Favorite pictures:

 

 

3. Favorite memory:

 

Big 12 Tournament! Some friends took hubby and I to the Big 12 basketball tournament last March. We watched all the games - the best part being KU winning the championship! Kicked off my March Madness (obsession with NCAA tournament). ;-)

 

2. Goals for 2014:

 

Spend more time in prayer...

Remember what is truly important...

Stick to the budget...

Stay healthy...

Organize more...

 

1. One Little Word:

Prioritize - I really want to stay focused on what is truly important this year. My relationship with the Lord. Enjoying my family and friends. Sometimes I get too wrapped in what keeps me "busy." So prioritize...a reminder to keep my priorities in line.

 

Hope you enjoy your week...oh, and look for a little Facebook action coming soon. :-)

Five for Friday Fun!

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs' Five for Friday! I finally remembered to take some pictures this week--my last days of freedom! I reported back today for new teacher orientation.

 

House guests! The last couple weeks I have let my kiddos have friends (the ones in this pic happen to also be their cousins) over. We are so busy during the school year that my answer is usually no... We had two friends Monday to Tuesday and these two Tuesday to Wednesday. I couldn't believe the dishes!!! Mental note: Buy paper plates next time!



Hair appointment! Of course, I had to get a last minute visit in to have my hair done. This pic was taken in my kitchen after the appointment - didn't want to be too weird taking pics at the salon. Hee hee!

I spent some time thinking about first day activities for my music classes. First I thought of musical chairs. Then I remembered horror stories of Kindergartners crying when they get out...and I don't have chairs--just benches--anyway. I decided to look for something else. I found a Hello song here. I then had my son write it to music for me. Yes, those are the fingering numbers above the notes. He was just horrified when I asked him to do that for me! Ha! Thankfully, the curriculum looks great and it came with CDs and fun Smart board files so I think I will do okay when I get going.
I also tried to make a deal with my principal that there would be no observations or walk-thrus during music for at least a couple months. He just laughed... :-)
***If you're just joining us, you can read about how I became a 2nd grade classroom teacher and the K-2 music teacher here.

I may have sent the above text to Kristi while she was at a 'work day' on Wednesday. ;-)
***Sorry it is blurry...I think I need an app to do a screenshot...
We have had a few weeks of rain and cooler weather...and I mean lots of rain! The lakes, ponds, and rivers have filled up--and so has my yard. It really has been crazy! I felt like I was losing my summer tan before summer was even over so I decided to brave the cooler weather and water to do one of my favorite summer activities - float on my raft in my pool.

I had new teacher orientation this morning. It was a quick meeting - small district - only 3 new teachers total. Then the administrators took us out for lunch. Afterwards we went back to our rooms and worked. This is a picture of one thing that I accomplished. I have no wall space! Two whole walls are whiteboards. One wall is windows. And the last wall is bookshelves. This was a challenge...it is a "bulletin board" attached with scotch tape because I don't want to damage the whiteboards!

That's my FIVE! Click the button below to go link up!

 Have a blessed weekend!

Let's Get APP Happy - Link up!

Graphics by The 3AM Teacher. Font From the Pond.

Yay!  I'm so excited because I now have an iPad.  I am also a little overwhelmed because I know there are so many cool apps that you can use with the students, but I don't know where to start.  Ok, so I do know what one of the number one apps is...........Candy Crush--lol!  

 

Although this one isn't really educational, I know it's addicting and fun!   That is about the only one I really know about and I don't think I could use it too much in the teaching day!  So I thought it would be neat to have a favorite iPad app linky party.  

Grab the button above, paste it in your blog post with a link back to us, and come back over here to link up.

I can't wait to read about your favorite iPad apps!

 

 

Monday Made-It - Birthday Cupcakes and an Awesome Piano!

Made-It #1

 

 

Aren't these cute?

 

I'm glad you think so...

 

...because getting to this final product was a nightmare!

 

You know when you have a "great idea" but then you get started and that great idea transforms...many times. I'm not going to go into details, but I will admit that I spent about 2 hours total getting to this point and it took a friend of mine (thanks Sara!) to give me the idea to line them up in this straight line.

 

Go ahead...laugh and make fun of me (Kristi).

 

I will admit that I am--hmmm--particular about things. I had seen the cupcakes with candles for birthdays on Pinterest. I thought it would be pretty cool to somehow make them 3-D -- easier thought than done.

 

Anyway, I'm going to tell you how to make these cool cupcakes and save you the headache (and trial and error) that I had after messing with them.

 

First, get the corrugated border that has been hiding in your cabinet or closet from back when it was cool. Then cut it the length you want to make the bottom of your cupcakes. Hold in place and staple to your bulletin board. Next fluff and stuff tissue paper in the top. Finally, add glittery "fire-looking" poms to craft sticks (mine are small because I wanted colored and my jumbos were plain - I think jumbos would be easier to see...). Write your kiddos' names and birthdays on the sticks. Use a tiny bit of hot glue to hold them in place. Add the month labels--I'm sure you could make your labels cuter but I was DONE by this point in my experiment. Ha!

 

Easy peasy...well, for you anyway because you get to benefit from my OCD ways! :-)

 

Made-It #2

 

Check out this piano!

 

I tell you, my kids are such a blessing to me! They are always willing to help me in my classroom. My 13-year-old son made this awesome piano and put together this bulletin board. We are planning to add some black Mustangs (that is our school mascot) to finish it off.

 

Why am I decorating a music bulletin board? Well, I told you I'd explain later so I guess this is it...

 

My new job is at a very small  K-2 school. The specials teacher--she taught music, PE, art, and technology--retired and the district decided not to fill her position so the classroom teachers are each taking a "special."

 

The K teacher is also teaching PE.

The 1st grade teacher is also teaching Art/Technology.

The 2nd grade teacher (me) is also teaching Music.

 

We will have one hour a day where we rotate the classes through the specials (20 minutes each).

 

No, I do not play piano nor do I consider myself all that musical, but I can push play on a CD player and the school does have a music curriculum for me to use. It's going to be a learning experience, but I am going to try my best! I made the principal promise that I wouldn't get fired over my music teaching - HA!

 

My son has played piano since he was in the first grade. He loves music AND he loves to organize. While I worked in my 2nd grade classroom, I was able to send him over to the music room to organize and tidy up. He was perfectly happy to do so because it meant he could stop and play on the Clavinova every so often. :-)

 

My daughter was also helping during this time. She did another bulletin board, passed out all my books, and labeled almost everything.

 

Like I said I really do have the best kids!

 

Oh, and the winner is...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Congrats, Jennifer! I'll be e-mailing you shortly. :-) 

 

Head on over to link up your Monday Made-It (or to check out all the other cool projects)!

 

 

 

 

Day in the Life...

I am on a mission...mission impossible possible! Can you hear the theme song playing in your head?

 

No? Well, I can. Maybe it is because I've been working on my Mission impossible Possible math slides to go with Hope's FREEBIE and I searched for the song to play in class while we work on our math missions. :-) I am on lesson 31 (out of 135) so not bad...

 

Anyway, my mission:

 

Work feverishly to get as much school stuff done this week as I can and then I have a goal to STOP THINKING SCHOOL until I report back August 16th. My hubby says, "Yeah, right!" LOL!

 

But, hey, I'm going to try...

 

To take a break from turning boring calendar activities into engaging, secret missions, I'm linking up with Jessica at the Second Grade Nest for...

 

 

 

This was my day yesterday...definitely not a typical summer day.

 

The first difference was that we left a car in town after church Sunday, so I had to ride in with hubby early in order to make my son's orthodontist appointment at 10:00.

 

The other difference is the weather! I am wearing a jacket - in Kansas - at the end of July. It has been cooler here since Saturday (I think). I even went to bed with a fuzzy blanket the last couple nights!

 

Well, back to my mission... :-)

 

Many Monday Made-Its = Freebies!

Let me apologize in advance...this post is kind of all over the place, but it does have lots of pictures! You will want to stick with me - our 400+ Giveaway is at the bottom. :-)

 

First my daughter's "made-it"...she's been busy! Check out how she dressed up some of her school supplies from last year in preparation for back-to-school:

 

Made-It #1 - Flower Bed

This summer I finally put in a flower bed...we moved to the country in 2007 and there was so much dirt work to be done around the house, I kind of gave up the idea of having flowers like at my house in town. I had hubby move a giant rock out by our driveway and created the flower bed around it. Here's my first Dahlia bloom. Beautiful!

Made-It #2 - S'mores Pie

 

Birthday picture - not a great one! But hey, I told you I would let you know about the S'mores Pie (pinterest inspired). I think it should be called S'mores Candy, but it was pretty tasty. :-)

 

 

Made-It #3 - Rules Posters (Freebie)

 

Click the picture to grab it!

 Here they are up in my room!

 

 

These posters were inspired by Stephanie at 3rd Grade Thoughts. I loved hers, which are also free, but I didn't want...

"Raise your hand for permission to stand."

(which was part of her rule #3)

 

My posters say:

1. Listen when your teacher is talking.

2. Follow directions quickly.

3. Raise your hand for permission to speak.

4. Respect others. Respect yourself. Respect our school.

5. Be safe. Be kind. Be honest.

 

 

Just had to add this picture too...it is my Reading Focus Wall coming together (below the rules). Hooray!

Please note - if you downloaded my free Focus Wall Headers, I changed the yellow to orange so they would be easier to read (same with my thought bubbles - see below). You may want to redownload.

 

Aren't they cute??? Love how they turned out.

 Made-It #4 - Binder

 

This binder part goes along with a great linky going on over at:

 

 

 

I blogged about the binder pack I purchased here. It comes from Bridget at Little Lovely Learners. The made-it part comes as I have put it together and added to it... I was going to wait to post this because I'm not all the way done, but I know some of you are already back at it and thought you might benefit from seeing how I'm putting mine together, so... 

First thing you see when you open it up is my daily check-list. I know my check-list will change this year, but I went ahead and put it in to remind me to include it. This truly saved me so much time last year!

 



 

Monthly Calendar - The binder pack comes with a good 1-page calendar...it took me awhile to choose, but eventually I went with this FREE 2-page spread from Marshall in the Middle.

Weekly Calendar - I wanted to combine my binder...personal and school...so I wanted a weekly spread to keep me organized with all our activities through the week. Grab them here free if you want.

 

A place to write dinner plans at the bottom = one less page in my home management binder.

 

Okay, back to more school sections:

 

I made this yearly planning calendar.

I got the idea from someone else - it was chevron backgrounds. If it is you, let me know and I will point people in the right direction. I also don't want to give this away in case that person had it for sale. Sorry... :-(

 

The binder pack comes with MANY more covers and pages for inside your binders. I plan to make at least three more binders: Student Information/Data, MTSS (Bridget made by special request), and a Sub binder.

***I also absolutely LOVE a work skills/behavior checklist that Bridget includes in the pack.

 

Okay, if you've stuck with me this long, you deserve a giveaway! Kristi and I are so excited that we reached 400 followers on Bloglovin' that we wanted to celebrate. We figured anyone can enjoy a $25 gift card to Target! Use the Rafflecopter below to enter and good luck!

 

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget to link up your Monday Made-It with Tara!