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!

Spring Break -- Picture Overload!

It is amazing how much time I have to take pictures when I'm not teaching. Ha!

I decided to document my Spring Break day by day...on Instagram (which you may or may not have seen since I hear they are doing things differently now). 

#NotHappy 

#ICanDecideForMyselfWhosPostsIWantToSee 

#IfIDidntWantToSeeTheirPostsIWouldntFollowThem

 So if you want to see my IG posts, you'll need to turn on notifications from me.

Anyway...spring break started a little early for me as I headed off to the Big 12 men's basketball tournament.

We are blessed to have friends who get us tickets every year. Love watching my Jayhawks!

#IHateSelfies

Day 1 (of my official Spring Break):

I wisely decided that after two weeks of doing nothing (fighting a cold/virus thingy), I should start a 5 day fitness challenge. 

I couldn't walk normally for three days. Ouch!

I also got carried away my first time shopping at Academy Sports and Sephora.

Day 2:

I went to work. :-(

 

But thankful my daughter helped me prep for next week's 4 day sub plans...I'll be out for shoulder surgery.

 Day 3:

More work...but not much. 

We are in the process of choosing a new reading curriculum for next year and who has time to look at samples during a school day?

Day 4:

Oh, the day I've waited all year for...official kick off of the NCAA basketball tournament!

FB frame--check!

Brackets complete - check!

In case you're wondering, Crystal's Upsets is doing the best...almost perfect. #ShouldHavePickedYale

Day 5:

Yes, I did complete the 5 day challenge.

 If you're looking for a good one, give Fitness Blender's Strong and Lean challenge a try. Today was another buns and thigh workout...hoping I can walk tomorrow. :-)

Have a great weekend!

I'm headed to the couch for another day of basketball...

LOVE MARCH MADNESS!

Spring Break!!!

I am officially on Spring Break now and I have to admit that I am being lazy today!  My mom is coming down today and will be here for a couple of days.  I asked her what she wanted to do and I loved her answer.....NOTHING!!!  So, it sounds like she will be ready to be lazy with me.  I hear my couch calling us and maybe a few good movies!  LOL!  I do have things that I should be getting done and some major spring cleaning to do.  Maybe that will occur when she leaves, we will see.  I usually feel guilty not getting things done and just relaxing, anyone else feel guilty like that?  

It has been rainy the last couple of days here and today the sun popped out and it is supposed to be 80 degrees outside.  YAY!  That is my kind of weather.  My mom and I will definitely have to sit outside a little bit to soak up some sun.  

I hope if you are on Spring Break, you are enjoying it and getting some much needed rest!  

Have a great day!

Spring Break = March Madness, Physical Therapy, and a Photo Project

It's my spring break, so I won't apologize for this being completely and totally unrelated to teaching.

I've done a lot of this...

After yesterday, I was a little worried about my Jayhawks and the Big 12 but today we are 2/2 so far. Woohoo! And yes, sadly, I do sit and watch the games all day flipping from one to the other during time-outs, etc. What can I say?

I've also done a lot of…taking care of Chaz. I'll admit that at the beginning of the week this mom was exhausted! On Monday he was frustrated, realizing for the first time how difficult and long this recovery will be. He perked up after a reminder of Who was in control and has made a lot of progress over the last few days. We even had good news yesterday at therapy! The therapist said that because he was doing so well with his exercises at home we can back down our visits from 3 per week to 2 per week. This is HUGE for us (when you live 30 minutes from town).

My daughter actually took on a project in between watching games and helping take care of her brother - HA! She changed out a display in her room that my sister made for her about 7 years ago. She has always had a love for horses. This picture shows the old pages with a "borrowed" horse.

She was so little!

Here's the new display:

She's growing up too fast--and no more borrowed horse! ;-)

I took all these pictures with my iPhone. When we went to develop them, they made me sign a release because they looked too professional. Cool, huh?

She wrote this poem for her "old guy."

That's all I've got…back to basketball for me! If you're on break, I hope you're enjoying it. If you're not there yet, hang in there! :-)

Paleo Diet and Spring Break

Today is my first official day of Spring Break and of course I woke up at 5:30.  Why is it that when you can sleep in, you wake up early, but when you have to get up, you could sleep forever?  :-)  Anyways, the weather here is amazing!  Does it get any better than this?  Of course Wednesday and Thursday is a little chilly for me, but it's not snow so I can deal with it!  It seems like it has been a long time since we have had a Spring Break that has been nice.  In fact, I believe that last year it snowed.  UGGHHH!

ksn.com

I have so many things that I need and would like to get done during Spring Break, but Dr.'s orders said that I should really rest the whole time.  Rest when it is 83 degrees outside, how do you do that?  I suppose I can sit outside and soak up some of the sun.  But it will be hard not to do things around the house.  :-)  

On another note, not school related-sorry!  I started the Paleo diet on Saturday.  It really hasn't been too bad so far.  I started doing it more for health reasons-although I could stand to lose weight as well, so If I do lose weight in the process, I definitely won't get mad.   :-)  So I was wondering if anyone else is doing the diet and have some really good recipes that you would share with me.  It is pretty limited on what you can eat and I think you have to get really creative with recipes.  Please share if you have any that you really liked.

Hope you are having a relaxing Spring Break if you are on it!

Have a great day!

Thing 1 and Thing 2

We have been on Spring Break this week and I have to say that I have accomplished some things that I wanted to get done.  I did some spring cleaning in the house and realized that I shouldn't be waiting for Spring Break to do my spring cleaning!  UCK.....it's amazing how much dust can collect under things like your bed.  :-(  Anyways, it took forever, but it sure felt good when I got it done. 

Before Spring Break, we did a writing on Dr. Seuss Thing 1 and Thing 2. We read The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss and discussed what it would be like to have Thing 1 and Thing 2 at your house.  Then the kids wrote what they would do with them if they showed up at their house.  When they finished they drew Thing 1 and Thing 2.  I found this cute and easy drawing at Kindergarten Hugs.  Here are a few of them:

Congratulations to Louise for winning $75 to WiseDecor! You should be receiving an e-mail from them shortly. :-)

 

I hope all of you have had a great week!

Dr. Seuss Week and Countdown Until Spring Break!!!

First, let me tell you about a new blog I found (well, new to me) which led me to a new (to me) app - Frame Magic. I have been having a blast playing with it.

 

The blog is FlapJack Educational Resources. Lots of great techy information on there, including a new video series on how to make your photos look awesome...hence my new obsession with Frame Magic. Check out my first creation:

 

 

Last week, we celebrated Dr. Seuss week (remember I was "in charge" of our activities).

 

Monday was a SNOW DAY! Hip! Hip! Hooray! I enjoyed the day resting up for the rest of the week. Ha!

 

Tuesday was Crazy Socks Day. This was the best I could do...

 

Wednesday was Wacky, of course. The teachers and staff all dressed up as "Things." I loved the blue hair one of the para's found for all of us. :-)

 

Thursday was Pajama Day. You can never have too many pajama days, right?

 

Friday was Wear a T-Shirt with a Message Day, but I forgot to take a picture of myself. Nothing exciting though...just showing some school pride. I do have to show you a shirt I really, really want. It fits my coaching personality perfectly (and no, I wouldn't have worn it to school):

 

 

Anyway, Friday was also our Seuss rotations. We split our K-2 into five groups and rotated them through. Each teacher chose a book and had an activity to go along with it. I chose Bartholomew and the Oobleck and used this summary. Then we played in the oobleck...the picture above is me playing in it the night before. It was my first experience with oobleck, and I must confess I played with it for a good 30 minutes. :-)

 

Now the countdown is on! We have four days of school this week and staff development on Friday; however, I'm leaving right after school Wednesday and heading to the Big 12 basketball tournament. Rock Chalk! Go Hawks!

 

 

 



Enjoy your week - whether you're already on Spring Break or counting down the days!

 

Crystal

 

Returning From Spring Break

We are on the last days of our spring break....we start back again on Monday.  Sounds like a lot of you are getting ready to go on spring break.  I was able to see my mom and spend some mother-daughter time with her.  We had a great time (eating, shopping, going to the movies, laughing)!  It's nice to take the time off and spend it with family.

When we return from spring break, Crystal and I are hoping that our boot camps that we did will still be fresh in their little minds. 
 :-)  Our hopes are that they remember all about the place value and counting money.  As a quick review, I plan on having the kiddos play the game that Crystal made on money (I Have Who Has). 

Come grab your free version of it:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/I-Have-Who-Has-Money-FREEBIE-Pennies-and-Nickels

 

 

If you are getting ready for spring break, I hope you have a great one and have some nice weather for it.  We had some nice days during spring break and then it got cold.  Now we have another winter storm heading our way.  :-(  I'm so ready for that spring weather. 

 

Have a great week and don't forget to check out our sale on TPT (it ends on March 23): 

 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Teaching-Little-Miracles

 

Kristi

 



Money Boot Camp

We finished our week off with money boot camp.  The kids had a blast!!  We started each day of our boot camp marching and singing the Honey Bunny Money song (not really army chant, but it worked LOL).  We found it at the following:

After singing the chant, we called groups up to the front of the room where they had to stand in a straight line.  (After having boot camp last week, they were really good at standing in a straight line with straight backs.  :-))   Check them out! 

They were each given a coin and the other groups had to work together to determine the amount of money the group had.  They then wrote it on their whiteboards.  If they got it right, they patted themselves on the back, but if they missed it, they owed us some exercises. 



After practicing a few of these, we put them with partners and passed out movie tickets that each had an amount on them.  They had to use their play money and get the coins out to pay for each movie.  We got this idea from teachertipster.com.

Wednesday was the last day with kids since we had parent teacher conferences on Thursday and then spring break.  So, we decided that after practicing counting coins the days before, we would show a movie on Wednesday.  The kids had to use their play money to pay for the movie and we opened up what we called a concession stand where they could come buy pop, popcorn, and candy with their play money.  They really thought this was neat! 

Luckily, we had some other teachers in the building that were available and more than happy to help us with it!  This made our concession stand go a lot faster and smoother. 

We our now officially on spring break and the temperature outside right now is 76 degrees ( I love it!).  But, rain and cooler weather is on its way.  :-( 

Any of you start your spring break yet?  If not, when do you start?

Enjoy your weekend!  Kristi

Spring Break, K-2 Linky Party, and a Freebie!

SPRING BREAK is finally here! We finished up parent teacher conferences yesterday and are now officially on break. In fact I slept in (until 8)and am sitting comfortably in my PJs as I write this. :-)

To celebrate Spring Break, Kristi and I wanted to direct you to one of our TPT product FREEBIES. It is great game that your kiddos will love AND they will be practicing the /oo/ digraphs!

Click here to grab it: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/I-Have-Who-Has-Game-vowel-digraphs-oo-and-oo 

We're linking up! Kindergarten Lifestyle is having a linky party to get links to all the awesome primary blogs in one place. Check it out at http://kindergartenlifestyle.blogspot.com/2012/03/kinder-2nd-linky-party-woot-woot.html

Hope you have a blessed day!

Crystal

First Grade Authors!

Wow! What a busy week! With spring break approaching, our first graders were counting down the days - 3 more to be exact. To keep them busy, we have been working diligently on a writing project for our bulletin boards. Next Tuesday and Thursday parents will be coming for conferences and our little kiddos wanted to show off their writing skills. This year we have started doing Writer's Workshop and we both love it! The students are writing so much better. Here's some pictures:

Hope you enjoy the weekend - the calm before the storm of those final days before spring break!

Kristi and Crystal