Summer Bucket List Linky

Well ~ it's almost here folks I can't believe how FAST this year went by!!  I will miss my precious little ones very much.

 

 

So I have joined up with Hadar, Teri and April to share my SUMMER BUCKET LIST!!!!

 

Here ya go...

 

First: REST UP/revisit some old {school} products that I made early on and update them a bit. 

 

 

 

Big ol' volleyball tournament in Anaheim for 4 days in a hotel and the team hitting up Disneyland right out of the gate.

 

Then heading up to beautiful Big Bear for the McGarvey Family Reunion we have every year.  This year we will be there over the 4th and our cabin looks right over the lake where they will be shooting off fireworks...should be AH mazing!!!

 

 

Next up...fit in my yearly tradition of swimming 100 miles. :o)

 

Now this is where it becomes all about MY lovely daughter...

We are headed to Disneyworld and Daytona Beach in July - she is soo excited.  We went when she was 7 but now she says she will go on the scary rides...whateves...to be honest Scott and I wanted to go to Hawaii but they won out.  Not sure how that happened.. :0/

Josh is excited too so we will have fun.

 

How cute are they?  Can you tell my son was a bit excited?!?!  { 6 years ago }

 

Now onto a 1Direction Concert!!!!!  Yes - my hubby hooked her up for her 13th bday in November and she was BESIDE herself.  She gets to bring 3 friends...LUCKY GIRL!!!!

 

 

Fill in trips to the beach, BBQ's and visit with friends and you have a recipe for a wonderful summer!  Hope yours is great too friends!!

 

Link on up with my blogging buddies to join in the fun.  I want to hear all about your summer too...

 

 

 

P.S. If you didn't see my comment on the previous post the winners are Robin and Wendy.  I just need Robin's email...thanks guys for playing along.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



End of the Year and did I say...{ Freebie ?!? } and mini giveaway!!!

Wow I can't believe it...I have 10 more teaching days left.  This year was awesome!  I love my kiddos so much - all 30 of them!  It was a HUGE transition going from 20 to 23 then all the way { and believe me that was quite a stretch } to 30.  But, they are each so special and unique and we've had a blast together!  Since I have taught 2nd and 3rd grade for a few years each I tend to think that I'm an expert ~ ha, just kidding...maybe not but I know enough to have made some end of the year packs for those grades....so check them out. 

 

 

Here's one for first grade hot off the presses!

 

 

Of course I still have last years pack that is super fun giving you specific activities to do each day that last week.

 

Here's the freebie that's been updated just this week too...enjoy!

 

***So...leave me a comment first about which pack you would like then what you liked best about this class or this year.  I will pick 3 lucky winners tomorrow.***  Happy { almost } summer!

xoxo

 



 

 



Five For Friday { Weekend Edition }

I have been sick as a dog...ugh!  Open House, my bestie flew in from Australia and our big field trip to the Wild Animal Park on Monday.  YIKES!!  Can you say summer vacation?!?!

Here are some pictures from Open House...we had a blast!  In first grade we showcase the habitats we have studied about all year...

 

{ 1 OPEN HOUSE }

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course I had to enjoy my son's last open house at my school...

 

 

 

 

His King George project

 

{ 2 art projects - to frantically casually prepare for Open House }

 

 

Prepping for our desert cactus project

 

{ Epsom Salt and green tempura paint }

 

 

 

Painting our desert sunsets

 

 

 

Ta-duh!  Add a cute tissue paper flower in the corner.

 

{ 3 Rachel's Rally }

 

 

 

 

While holding the 'links of kindness' Josh found one I wrote to our custodian. :o)

 

 

 

All the southern schools in my district held a Rachel's rally in honor of Rachel Scott ( from Columbine ) and it was amazing.  Those huge piles are links of kindness that the feeder schools wrote throughout the year.  The kids and staff carried them into the event on the high school field...it was amazing!

 

{ 4 BESTIE }

 

 

 

My bestie from Australia came in -- whoo-hoo!  We had a blast catching up.

 

 

{ 5 Testing/testing/testing...is it summer yet? }

 

 

 

{ 5 1/2 }

 

MY ERIN CRONDEN PLANNER CAME IN!!!

 

 

That's all friends...and I know that was a lot!!!

Don't forget to link on up over at Doodle Bugs Teaching to join in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





 



Stock up ~~ we are celebrating you!!! ~~ and a giveaway to my one of my 'shoppers'

 

I am so excited to celebrate with you my teacher friends!!!  The BIG sale is tomorrow and Wednesday - so don't miss out.  Stock up on end of the year items and items you might need for the beginning of next year too.  I have TONS of new items too.

 

 

 

Just for a little fun!!!  If you are a 'shopper' at my store I will give 2 products away to the person who ends up buying the most products from me at the sale.  I know a certain clipart seller that I will be stocking up my cart with so maybe you have some things on your wishlist of mine.  If you end up purchasing the most during this sale I will reward you with 2 products OF YOUR CHOICE!!!

So go shopping it's 30% off which is awesome and enjoy my friends. Thank you for supporting me and I hope you love all your products!!!  Happy Teacher Appreciation to you!!!!

5 for Friday

Gotta love 5 for Friday!!!  It was such a fun week.  We studied one of my favorite phonics skills /ar/...so of course we had our pirate hooks ready to go and wore them on our way home.

 

 

 

 

Click the picture to see my unit...

 

We also did a little more work on our rainforest habitat...here is an adorable rainforest monkey...not in my unit but super cute!

 

 

 

 

We also did a little celebrating of Cinco de Mayo today...some tortilla chips, guacamole and fun activities...

 

 

 

 

These cracked me up...what they would do if they ate a hot pepper...

 

 

 

 

My sweet ex student was a mystery reader today...so much fun!

 

 

 

Lastly we tried to wrap up our 'people' habitats.  Every child is part of one of our habitats for open house...I'm not quite finished with this part yet.  Some are inuit people, desert people, safari people, scuba divers - I think that's it.  Here's one of our cute swimmer girls.  Hope your week was fun too...what were you up?  Link on up and share over at Doodle Bugs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Fluency~~It really does matter! and CUrRentLy

~~~Fluency ~~~

 

I used to teach in an inner city setting many moons ago...I was hired late in the year.  They had been meeting in a small semi corner of the MPR. { yeah, I'm sure that was quiet } and all the first grade teachers got rid of 4-6 students each.  Can you imagine what I had walked into?!?  My first year teaching and 32 students and 98% spanish speaking.  YIKES!!!!

My mom who I speak about often and was an educator for many years said, "sweetheart I can promise you that you will never have a year like this again."  and she was right of course.  I had a CLASS full of discipline problems and an aide that left every day at 12:30.  --and don't think I bribed, begged, pulled her arm to make her stay...but she never did.

I knew SOME Spanish.  I mean I took Spanish in high school and went to Spain and Mexico.  I practiced wherever I went and people were always very gracious with me...especially in Spain.  I loved it there!

Was I smooth and was there an easy flow to my sentences?  Absolutely not!  But when your students are fluent there is an ease to their reading, they aren't stopping every couple words to decode and sound.words.out.  They can now focus on reading to LEARN.  Go figure...isn't that a nice goal?  They can actually spend the time focusing on what the text is saying instead of getting tripped up on words.  Don't get me wrong I love teaching phonic skills and playing decoding type games. 

But I love to see my little ones reading fluently after a year of struggling and learning and trying so hard.  I see fluency kind of like a bridge

 

We worked on fluency today during our reading groups...

 

 

 

 

Today we took turns reading a passage fluently in our small groups.  I timed the kids and made it like a game...the fastest/most fluent reader received a ticket.  They loved it!!!How do you include fluency practice in your classroom?

 

And to leave you with this.... ha!ha!

 

 

 I know you had to read a lot to get here...gotta love currently!
LInk up with Farley and join in the fun!!!!  I can't believe it's MAY!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





WINNER ~ WiNNER

Just a quick post to say thank you to everyone for joining in  my BIG giveaway fun!  The winner is...

 

 

 

 

 

Congrats Lisa!!!  We will get your prizes off to you before the end of the week. 

 

Be sure to join us for our instagram fun tomorrow...