Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Field Day {Exhausted} - Wordless Wednesday!

Excited to be linking up with the lovely Miss DeCarbo over at Sugar and Spice for another Wordless Wednesday.



This was the only picture I managed to get of Field Day today due to the chaos that ensued! With that being said, today is a 2 question day.

I have realized that many teachers have polarized feelings about this day every year. Do you love it or hate it? 

How does Field Day work at your school? At my current placement, teachers do not participate in Field Day and instead get the time for prep. At my previous school, teachers dressed down to play with the kids. I kind of missed that piece!


Anyways, I would love to hear your thoughts! I always love joining these link up parties and connecting with all of you! 







Monday, June 2, 2014

Trying to Keep My Health in Check During These Crazy Times

Well, it's official. I have lost my mind. We are smack dab in the middle of our end of the year countdown. Between grades, cum folders, end of the year festivities, packing, moving schools, etc, etc I can barely remember my name!

But I wanted to pop in and share a few things! I have gotten several questions about my health/fitness tips and tricks. I thought this was the perfect time to share because during all the hustle and bustle at the end of the year it can be really difficult to make time for our own health. Here are my 2 lifesavers right now!


The first one is this bad boy! I posted a picture of this on Instagram and it blew up! So I will share more about it! This little guy is my lifesaver. Fun fact about me: I am the absolute WORST at drinking water. Like seriously, I don't know how I'm not dead. It's not that I'm drinking other things, I just don't drink anything at all. SO a few years ago my husband bought me this and while I still struggle to reach my water goals, it has definitely had a huge impact and made me more aware! I like to see my average oz/hr go up! Weird, I know. 

Upon set up you get to input your water intake goal. Mine is set for 60oz. The bottle tracks how much you drink, your average oz/hr and what percentage of your goal you are currently at. Best $30 I ever spent! :)




Get your Hydracoach {here}


The next thing is this app called 30 Day Fitness Challenges! It is free on the Apple app store (I'm not sure if it is available for Android)! I found it a few weeks ago because a friend of mine was looking for a 30 day challenge. So far, it has been great! It has been difficult to get my regular workouts in with the school year coming to an end and my mile long to-do list. This app reminds me every day to do my workout. And it is only 2 moves so it can be done quickly. NO EXCUSES. 

It can be difficult to balance everything in this crazy thing called life. But it is always important to keep your health a priority. These 2 tools help keep me focused even when I can't go all out at the gym like I want to. Every little bit helps. 

I hope you guys are all ending the year strong or enjoying some much deserved down time. You all rock! I am so happy to have started this blogging adventure and am excited to see where it takes me. :)


Our Countdown:

9 - Marker day: We got to use markers for all of our activities today. Something so simple, but they loved it! And I loved the no prep!

8 - Glow stick day: We will get to turn off the lights and use glow sticks to read/write.

7 - Students become the teacher: We will work in partners to come up with words of wisdom for the incoming 1st graders.

6 - Compliment day: We will go around and write one compliment for each of our friends. I am going to compile these on Wordle for an end of the year gift.

5 - Field trip day: We're going on our field trip! That was convenient for planning :)

4 - Letter day: We will write a letter to next years teacher.

3 - PJ and stuffed animal day: We will wear our PJs to school and bring our favorite stuffed animal. We will read to our animals, write them a letter and help teach them the rules of the school.

2 - Game day: We will spend the day playing board games that we bring from home!

1 - Movie day: We are going to watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and compare it to Chocolate Fever the book we've been reading!

Can't believe the year is almost over! Going to soak up every last minute :) Happy Monday!

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Holy Moly, Is It June Already!?

I can't believe it is already June! Where did this year go!? I only have 9 more days with my kiddos. This year is going to be more bitter sweet than past years because I am changing schools. I'm very sad to leave my kids and my team, but also excited for the change!

How many days do you have left? Or are you already on break!?

Well, as the year comes to an end and I have serious writer's block due to the million things running through my head, I thought it would be fun to link up with Oh' Boy Fourth Grade for Currently June. Since I am new to the blogging world, this is my first time joining the currently link up. But it looked like fun! So here we go!


Listening: My husband and I just recently started Game of Thrones. And by recently, I mean binge watched 2 seasons in a week. Oops. I don't know what took us so long. We've had the first 1 (maybe 2?) seasons on DVD for a couple years now but never got around to watching them. 

Loving: I live in Oregon so sunshine is kind of a big deal. We rarely get it, especially this early in the year! We're lucky if we get it in July. I am soaking up every bit of this that I can! 

Thinking: The last few weeks of school are always such a whirlwind, not that I have to tell you that. Every time I check 1 thing off my to-do list, I add 5 more. I can't seem to shut my brain off these days!

Wanting: As I mentioned above, I am switching schools next year, but haven't been told my exact placement yet. I am hoping to find out this week *fingers crossed*. 

Needing: See above. 

Summer Bucket List: This part is pretty self explanatory!
1. I want to spend as much time out in the sun as possible. Soak up every bit I can. 
2. I want to re-structure my writing program over the summer. I would love to hear how some of you teach writing! 
3. My husband and I are hoping to visit NYC this year. One of our best friends recently moved there and we want to go visit him and check NY off of our travel list. I would also love to see a broadway show while there. :)
4. I didn't have space for this one on the image, but I also want to fill out my TPT store. I have so many items from before that I never posted and several others in progress. It's going to be a busy summer!


Well, back to Game of Thrones. Have a wonderful week! We start our end of school countdown! Tomorrow is Marker Day where we get to do all of our work in markers. So simple, but they love it! 

Friday, May 30, 2014

Five for Friday {Linky Party} - And also, can I sleep yet?

Hey hey hey! It's finally my favorite day of the week! And not just because it's Friday, although might I say thank goodness, but because I get to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching and all of you other fantastic teachers out there for Five for Friday!  So let's get the party started!


I warn you now, this post is going to be all over the place, much like my brain right about now.



I am so, so, so excited that So You Think You Can Dance is back! And you best believe that I will be dancing around my house like I'm auditioning for the show! *fingers crossed* In all seriousness though, I love this show. The dancing is so inspirational, and the bodies aren't bad either! ;-) They are just so strong, fit and beautiful! 



After a month of waiting, I finally got my stitch fix and I must say I was super disappointed. I have done it once before and looooved everything I got. But this time, the price wasn't in my range and nothing fit right. The dress was too big, the capris were about a million inches too long and they sent me a bag even though I specified no accessories in my profile. I am pretty bummed. 

I think that with their big business boom they did not have the inventory or stylist power to support their new found success. Maybe I will try it again once they get through their "growing pains". 


I am almost embarrassed to post these photos, but I figured that in order to be impressed by the after photos that I need to show the before. Since my husband and I recently signed another year lease (to give us some more time to find the perfect home) I decided to redo our wanna-be backyard. Those weeds were literally almost as tall as me, which doesn't say much since I am only 5'1'' but still! I tore them all out with the help of my younger sisters and then laid soil, fertilizer and grass seeds. Now we patiently wait. 


Here is a little sneak peak of the graduation party I am helping plan for my beautiful friend Claire. She has busted her butt the last 2 years in nursing school and I couldn't be more proud of her! I can't wait to celebrate all of her accomplishments. :) 

And last but not least, Friday Fun Day! The kids love playing sight word hangman! I am sure going to miss these kiddos! I am sad to be switching schools! 



My brain is so frazzled. My to-do list keeps growing. I am ready for a break! 

I saw this floating around the internet world and it is so spot on I just had to share. 

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Chocolate Fever...

Hey guys! I hope you all had a wonderful (long) Memorial Day Weekend! I know that many of you are finished with your school year, and I must say, I am super jealous! We have 13 days left, and as you know, that means its crunch time. Not to mention, my placement for next year is still up in the air. So I am packing up without knowing where I'm moving to. But I should know something tomorrow! Fingers crossed!

My to-do list grows with every passing minute and yet all I want to do is watch Game of Thrones, try on my new Stitch Fix and read my Cosmo.

But before I start "lesson planning" I thought I would link up with Teaching Maddeness for Must Read Monday! :)
Must-Read Monday Linky
I like to end each school year with a chapter book, and my classes always love, lovelove Chocolate Fever by Robert Kimmel Smith. Now, personally I don't understand the concept of Chocolate Fever. I am not a sweets kind of gal. I prefer salty. Popcorn fever, potato chip fever, beef jerky fever….That's more like it.

 If you've never read Chocolate Fever, I highly recommend it!

(Click on photo to check this book out on Amazon!)

We started this book today! The kids were so sad when I got to the end of the first chapter. They even asked if they could come in during recess so I could keep reading it to them. I love when they get excited about reading! 

Before we read the first chapter, we discussed some of the tricky words and came up with body movements for each word. The words we used were:
hatched: They pretended to hatch out of an egg
slim: They held their hands close together to show "skinny"
bitter: They made some awesome faces for this one, I wish I had taken pictures. 
fever: They placed their hand on their head and looked "ill"

Anytime they heard these words in the book, they did the movement to help them remember the meaning! I do this with any story we read. It's my little way to front load those tricky vocab words and the kids have fun coming up with the body movements!

After reading, we worked on our Chocolate Fever Menus for Henry Green. Here are some photos! This is just our brainstorm sheet. We will make more formal menus tomorrow!








(Some of their handwriting still, I tell ya…Sheesh).


I hope you are all enjoying your final days in the classroom or you are relaxing and enjoying your summer vacay! 

I think I'll post about my summer bucket list soon to get me in the mindset! Until next time :)