It's the End of the Year && We Know It!

There are officially 4 more days (3 1/2 if you want to get really technical), but there are still 4 days that I have to wake up, put on my super teacher cape, and make miracles happen with kids who are high on summer time and the icecream that comes with it. Today was "the best day ever" as deemed by my kids... all because we had no tests and it was Friday. (I knew I wasn't alone on hating tests). Of course a popsicle and tie dying t-shirts upped the ratings a little bit. . .and not to mention a 3 day weekend! Today was definitely a good day and yes I might be a smidge crazy for tie dying shirts with 17 dye crazy kids...but they look so darn cute in their matching shirts on field day that I just can't help myself. I'll probably be singing another tune on Monday night when I start the cutting of the rubber bands, the rinsing of the shirts, the washing of the shirts, and the scrubbing of my dye stained tub. This will be my fifth year making tie dyed shirts with my kids and I may have finally perfected the process. I only had 1 friend walk away with dye stained clothes and he wasn't. listening.at.all. to my directions about where to sit in the grass &&& that means I'm the Tie Dye Queen y'all! Since I'm not about to get canned for posting pictures of my kids in blog land I only have a picture of myself from last year's field day. Just picture in your head 17 little tie dyed athletes running around with me.

The last time I blogged, I talked about my end of the year awards. They're made and ready to go for our last day, but before we can celebrate there's still a lot of first grade fun to be had. Unless you've been living under a rock that doesn't allow Pinterest talk to come in, you already know about the balloon pop thing-a-ma-jig. I didn't start planning in time to do the 20 day countdown so I altered it a little bit to create a 10 day countdown. It's all pretty simple. You get 10 pieces of paper and write down one fabulous idea/treat on each piece. Then you fold them up, insert them into a deflated balloon, blow the balloon up, and tie it up. A few of the girls have hung them from the ceiling, but I chose to thumbtack mine to the bulletin board strip above my smartboard (less clutter && is a better fit for my O.C.D.). Each day after our morning meeting, we pop a balloon to find out what the day's surprise activity or treat will be. It's exactly what the last 10 days of school need to keep everybody tuned in to school rules and expectations.  Here are my 10 ideas...

10. Lunch in the Classroom
9. No Homework Night
8. Extra Recess
7. Ice Cream Sundaes
6. Shoes Off to Learn
5. Sit By a Friend
4. Popsicles at Recess
3. Chew Gum in Class
2. Pizza Party
1. Hawaii Day

Surprisingly, lunch in the classroom has been their favorite so far with a close second being taking their shoes off in class. Both of them cost me absolutely nothing (except a few smirks from the custodial staff when we headed down the hallway with our trays) and there are tons of other ideas floating around out there if you want to use all free surprises. The daily surprises have definitely deluded the summer craziness..atleast to a manageable level.

Next week is our last week together and it's going to be crazy town. ..although it's only a 3 1/2 day week there's so much to pack in (and pack up) that I probably need to start sleeping now just to have extra energy stored to make it through. It's really going to be an emotional week...my kids are moving on and we're losing 2 of our team members. One is retiring and the other is getting married/moving out of state. I'm sure that I've mentioned at some point on here how close we all are- -it's not an easy change to accept when 1 person leaves much less 2. It's that time of year where everybody starts to think back on the things that happened. To help collect all of their memories in a more organized format we'll be making memory books. Last year I uploaded a file to TPT called "My Year Was a Hoot." This will be the memory book that we will be creating. (Clicking on the title will take you directly to my store where you can snag your copy for super cheap). Along with reflecting on our 180 days spent together, we'll be finishing up our Oceans unit with watching a movie...Finding Nemo! Super excited about this one! Field Day, Awards Day, End of the Year Pizza Party, and a half day round up the craziness of my week. It's going to be a wild 4 days, but knowing summer time is right around the corner makes it all worth it. Until next time...live, love, teach && think summer thoughts! :)