I love Mom Time!

You are never too old to need your mom!  My mom came down and spent 2 nights here with me at the house.  I love being around her and spending time with her.  We took time to just relax!  Both of us tend to get a lot of things going and stay pretty busy.  That relaxing time doesn't happen often, but we did a lot of relaxing and just visiting these last couple of days!  We took time every morning to sit out on my porch and enjoy our coffee and listen to the birds!

My mom has such a green thumb and gave these plants to me.  I'm hoping I can keep them alive!  I didn't develop the green thumb that she has-these look good, but she said that they went through a hail storm at her house and she didn't think they looked as good.  Plus she started these by just a sprig!  No way could I do that!  

Unfortunately, she had to leave today and we both were teary eyed as she left.  She is only 2 1/2 hours away, but with schedules and everything going on it is hard to get together.  I am grateful for the days that I had with her and the relaxing that we both got to do.  I'm already looking forward to the next time we get to sit on the porch, relax and drink our coffee!

Hope you are having a great day!

Choosing to Read, Multiplication, Seeds, and Birds in a Cage!

Happy Saturday!

I'm linking up with Kacey from Doodlebugs again this week to share some random things from my week. 

1

After seven months of coaching and getting home anywhere between 6:00-11:00 p.m., I am trying to make myself leave school at 4:00. I love coaching, but having time for simple pleasure is nice too.

2

I finally have some kiddos choosing to read!

In my room, there is a standing direction that when they complete an activity or assignment they always check their work folders and then move on to "choices." 

Our choices are MobyMax, math games, read to self, fluency games, and word work activities. 

This class always chooses math games and it was driving me nuts. Don't get me wrong, math games are great! But so many of my kids this year need to be practicing their reading!

Anyway, I started a friendly AR competition between the boys and girls and now many are choosing to read and excited about earning points for their team. I still wish they were doing it for the love of reading, but I'm not going to complain! 

 3

Our Birds in a Cage artwork turned out pretty cute.

 Click here for a tutorial.

4

After studying about plants, we planted some seeds. I was a little worried because I had these seeds in the freezer, but they showed signs of sprouting in TWO days! 

The kids are thrilled!

5

And finally, the most exciting thing happening in my room is The Great Multiplication Race! 

Let's face it...a lot of second grade math is building on what they have learned in first grade, but multiplication... 

Well, that is new and exciting!

This pack came from Teacher's Gumbo although I don't currently see it in their store.

My awesome para (remember her name is Jackie :-)) came up with the idea to bind the pages and turn it into a book. We love it! The first several pages are filled with the strategies we've learned and then it goes into practicing them. I didn't really turn it into a "race," but I am allowing them to work at their own pace.

Well, that wraps up my week--at least the parts I have pictures for! ;-) 

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Five for Saturday!

Five for Saturday just doesn't have the same ring to it as Five for Friday, but I'm linking up anyway. 

I actually just walked up to the school to take these pictures since I completely forgot take pictures all week. If you remember from last week, I'm in survival mode people.

1

Speaking of survival, I have our 10 day balloon countdown ready to go. I love this! Such a simple incentive for good behavior at the end of the year. I have one simple rule. If you get a mark (that is our school-wide behavior system), you do not do the next balloon activity. Easy Peasy.

We will be having Ink Pen Day, Rearrange the Room Day, Ice Cream Day, Science Experiment Day, Puzzle Day (this class LOVES puzzles), Extra Recess Day, Kickball Day, Mystery Readers Day (reading with the K class), Movie Day, and Have a Kool Summer (gift from me) Day!

2

Our garden beans are sprouting! These are the ones we planted in cups. The ones in the paper towels may have gotten a little to wet. Some are sprouting, some are molding. Teacher FAIL.

3

We interviewed a friend, wrote biographies, and then typed them up. Yes, typed them! That part took us a good week or two, but the result is cute. Hee Hee!

We have an odd number, so one of my students wrote about me and drew a picture of me. Love the KU shirt! Not sure why I have brown tips and blonde roots--it should be the other way around…ha!

4

The Spring program is Monday. Praise the Lord! I am so ready to be done with it. Those of you that don't know I am the 2nd grade teacher AND the K-2 music teacher. Music is a challenge for me and well, let's just be honest, I hate teaching music! It is because I am a perfectionist and I know I'm not good at it, so…

Enough about that. Here's a neat-o quilt the students made squares for that will be auctioned off on Monday night. It is so cute! Dr. Seuss theme!

5

Teachers Appreciation Week is next week--which means SALES! I already started my wish-list shopping. Both of our stores are on sale, so shop away and enjoy the Teachers Appreciation discounts!

Have a great week! 

P.S. Or #6 or whatever…we are saying goodbye to my daughter's 29-year-old horse, Cosmo, today. :-(

So thankful we did a little "photo shoot" with him a few months ago before he got too bad. We are all broken-hearted, but it is time...

They go in 3's

Well, have you heard that saying that once one household appliance breaks, 2 more follow?  Unfortunately, it came true for me. Here is what all broke on me: 

 

1.  My dishwasher that I have had for 5 years.  The control panel went out on it and when I checked to see how much it would cost for just that part.....it was $300.....why are those parts so expensive?  My husband and I decided that it would probably be best just to invest in a new one since the control panel part was so expensive.  I was ready to buy, but we had started to do Dave Ramsey's financial peace last year and if you are familiar with it, he says that your emergency savings account is for emergencies only.  Well, to me this was like an emergency, but really it was just me being LAZY!  So, we decided that if we wanted a new dishwasher, then we would just have to save our money for one.  

The best part about this is that after a couple of weeks, we looked on ebay and found a control board and panel that was white but the individual had painted it black.  It was only $22, so we decided to get it. We thought it may not look the best because it had been painted, but we were fine with that as long as it worked.  When we got it my husband was actually able to take the board out and transfer it to our original panel and it worked!!!!!!   YAY!  Now, I have a working dishwasher and it only cost $22 in the end.  The funny thing is that I developed the habit of washing dishes by hand, so I've still done that a few times.  :-)

2.  My coffee pot that I've had for about 7 years was the next one to go.  It was probably time for it to go out.  It was a cheap one that I bought for about $10.  :-)  I haven't replaced it yet.  Maybe on next payday.  

3.  My dyson vacuum :-(.  

I have had this vacuum for about 10 years and thought it was broke a couple of years ago because the cord broke on it.  Luckily my hubby was able to fix that for me.  This has by far been the best vacuum cleaner that I have ever owned.  The hose on it where the suction is broke.  My hubby tried to fix it and thought he had it but it didn't work.  :-(  I'm still hopeful that maybe if he messes more with it that he will be able to get it fixed.  Unfortunately these vacuums are very expensive so I'll have to save up for one.

On a school note, I was told about these neat pumpkin plants at Growing in Pre K.  We have been talking about plants and seeds in Science and I thought this would be fun to do with the kids.  I wanted to see if anyone else has tried it.  I just don't want the pumpkin to rot in my room.  :-)

  

Open a pumpkin. Leave the "guts" inside. Add some soil, and just a little water. Look at all of the pumpkin plants that we'll have. 

Have a great week!