This and That

Wow, I have never been so busy in my entire life.  Let me just apologize about not blogging since March.  My husband made it home from Afghanistan!!!!  I have never been so happy in my entire life!!!  Our little family is reunited again.

Well, it's time to start packing!  My husband and I are getting ready for our big move back to Texas and have been super busy prepping the house to sale, getting things caked, getting rid of things, etc.  I can hardly wrap my mind around it all.  And to top it off, I still have 13 days left with my 2nd graders.  The end of the year seems to be the busiest.  We are reviewing, teaching new concepts (multiplication, cursive, vocabulary) and squeezing in last minute 2nd grade stuff.  Life, as you can see, has been crazy, but I am definitely blessed.

For the next 2 weekends I will be working.  We have a snow makeup day and I am volunteering for a fundraiser at our school to help assist a fellow teacher and her beautiful child, Liam.  I won't go into great details, but he has a rare condition that leaves the family with many medical bills.  If you would like to read more or donate in anyway check out the Facebook Page Love for Liam.

Our grade level made this really cool raffle basket, aka "The Man Basket".  It is perfect for father's day and filled with tons of goodies.  We used a fire pit and loaded everything into it.  It turned out awesome!

If you are in the Goldsboro, NC area, we invite you to Meadow Lane Elementary on June7th from 7:30-3:00 to join in the fun.  We have many raffle baskets, an auction, games, food, bands, and just plain fun!  I'll be running the dunking booth if you want to come dunk our principal!    It's going to be a blast!

Prefixes and Seuss

So, I'm a little being (as usual).  There.is.no.excuse!  Do you ever feel you finally completed a goal and then BAM! something else is piled on top of you.  Welcome to my life!  Ha!  Between the ice days and getting these kiddos to comprehend through written retell has been a roller coaster.  I am vey impressed with how much growth I have seen this year.  They love to read, but writing is a whole different story.  Let's just say that we are working on that.

This week we have been learning about everything Seuss!  Today we worked on rhyming words.  Sorry, I don't have any pictures of the cute rhymes we created.  The kids loved finding rhyming words.  This packet can be picked up free here on TPT!  It is more than amazing!  It includes literacy and math printable activities.

We also read the story Wacky Wednesday which is a must.  It is an easy read and the kids love finding all of the wacky things in the story.  Though, it can be somewhat time consuming (you've been forewarned).  The following pics are the 2nd grade teachers and my students with their wacky socks.

Along with rhyming words, we have been hard at work on prefixes.  The students really enjoyed reading the room to figure out prefixes and the new meaning of words.  You can pick up this activity in my prefix pack HERE!

 Tomorrow we will read The Lorax and discuss story elements.  On Friday, we will read Fox in Socks and students will create their own magical sock and write a creative story about it.  See there, I threw in a writing piece.  What activities have your students completed this week?

My Fitness Pal & Dance Fitness by Jessica

My journey to lose this weight has begun.  I don't consider myself overweight, but I just don't feel comfortable in my skin.  I have been doing so many diets over the years trying to find the most optimal program that fit with my job as a teacher.  I always come up with the excuses that include "I just don't have the time" or "I'm exhausted from working all day".  Well, enough is enough.  No more excuses.  It's time to focus on me.

I came across My Fitness Pal through Rachelle's (What the Teacher Wants) success story.  Go and read it now!!!  I started really diving into the food journaling the past 3 days and I already feel a difference in the energy I have.  My goal is to journal everyday and do at least 20-30 minutes of aerobics with some strength training.  I've lost 1 pound so far and am pretty proud of that.  My goal is to lose at least 20 and anything past that will be icing on the cake.

Go ahead and check out MyFitnessPal!  I like it because it reminds me of weight watchers, but it is FREE!  There is also an app for your phone so when you are eating out you can get a calorie count on a variety of meals from restaurants.


If you join, I'd love to be fitness pals with you so don't forget to add me.  I'll be back weekly to give you updates.

Also, be sure to check out Dance Fitness by Jessica on Facebook.  She is amazing!  I love doing these dances just to get my heart rate up.

Here's to a healthy and happy week!

100th Day and A New Classroom Makeover (Sort of)!

This year is truly flying by!  The 100th day of school has come and gone.  Sad, I know.  It's my last time to celebrate the hundredth day at this school.  I decide to get dressed up like a 100 year old just like my students.  I wish I could post pics of what they looked like because they went ALL out!  One student had bushy eyebrows, mustache, hat and a big brown wooden cane.  He was adorable!  Check out these pics.  Not too shabby for a 100 year old!

For the past 2 weeks my life has been in complete chaos, but I would have it no other way.  My class had to move out of our class because our classroom was being painted.  Shudder!  Can you imagine being uprooted from your home away from home and transported to another classroom that was just plain BLAH.  No pretty decorations, no technology, chairs and desks of all different sizes, and just no resources whatsoever.  I had to tote my little rolling cart full of rings to keep my kids learning while our room was beautified for 2 days.  Look at the chaos!

I'm still in the process of putting it back together, but I'm not sure if I am going to put anything back up.  Since I'll be leaving in June I may just put up posters and anchor charts about what we are studying.  Of course, my bulletin boards will still be kid-created.  Notice the moving boxes below.  Time to begin the packing.  :(

Lastly, I leave you with a pic of my sweet Sydnee.  We were out of school Tuesday-Friday for the snowstorm/ice storm that just hit NC.  Oh, we had a blast.  We are not looking forward to having to make up the days though.  Good-bye Spring Break!

The good news is that warmer weather is on the way!  Bring on the heat!  Have an amazing week.

Regrouping

Hope you are or are not enjoying this years Superbowl.  I tuned out after the 1st quarter, but I did watch half-time.  I do love me some Bruno Mars!  It's funny because my kids and I danced on Monday to "Just the Way You Are!"  Perfect Song!

I'm just getting back into the groove of things since we had 4 snow days last week.  I guess you could say "Happy Spring Break".  We aren't sure when the makeup days will be, but I can almost bet they will fall right when we need the break the most.  So in keeping with what we have been working on in Room 22, I have revised my freebie "Crazy About Addition".  I made this activity 2 years ago, but like all things it was time for a makeover.  You can pick up this freebie by clicking on any of the pics below.  It is a wonderful activity for those active kids that just need to get moving.

Happy Monday to all of you!

The Packing Begins

I apologize for my absence in recent months.  I've had a ton of things thrown at me all at once and well, I just haven't been able to bring myself to post about it all.  That is until now.

My huge announcement is that I will be mooing back to Texas this summer.  Smiles and tears all rolled into this announcement.  Most of you know my husband is in the Air Force.  Well, we received word at the beginning of December that we had orders.  He will serve a one year tour in Korea (without us).  first thought were that this isn't fair.  My husband is currently deployed and we will only get to be with him for 3-4 months before he is god again.  How do I explain this to a 4 year old when I can't even wrap my brain around it?  Trust me.  So many questions have been running through my mind.

Why Texas?  Well, my that is my home state.  While I miss all my friends and co-workers, I feel that I must go home.  We will not be coming back to NC.  As of now we are waiting for a follow-on assignment which could be Texas anyway or Germany.  It is a waiting game for the next few months. But, in the meantime, I need to be with my family.  I need my daughter to grow up knowing them and for them to cherish all of the time they can with her.

Will I teach in Texas?  This one I am not quite sure about yet.  Possibly, yes.  But, it all depends on where our follow-on assignment is to and when we need to report there.  I may just sub for a while and be a parent volunteer.  This will be her first year of school, Kindergarten.  I just want to lap up all of her innocence while I can.

There you have it!  The craziness of my life the past month or so.  But, I am going to make the best of my teaching for the next few months.  I've got lots of great units in store and hope to share them with you soon.  Here is a sneak peak I am working on for Common Core RL 2.1 and RL 3.2 for you 2nd and 3rd grade teachers.  This will be helpful for those in NC that must complete writing portfolios for your students.