You Don't Know What You Got...Until It's Gone

 

I’ve grown up hearing this phrase and through the ups and downs in life/teaching I know how true these words are. Sometimes you have a party when certain things/situations leave your life, but other times tears are shed. Or in my case, sweat flows like the Mississippi River. That’s right…sweat…you read it right. Over the weekend our air conditioning decided to poop out on us in the middle of the mess that moving/cleaning/packing creates. I’ve seriously never been more excited to get into my car and drive to work to air condition. I was actually early today (a task that hasn’t been accomplished in a really, really long time). I promised myself in the car on the drive to work that I would never take the cool air given by my air condition unit for granted again. Thankfully it wasn’t in the middle of the summer, but when it’s cooler outside than in your house…Houston we have a problem! A friend of ours does A.C. work so by the time I got home today order was restored and the packing continued. Moving is something that I will not miss when it leaves my life. 

 

As if packing up a house doesn’t add enough cray cray to my life… enter the end of the year's mad dash to the finish line. We officially have 8 days left in the school year. Today was the last "Muumuu Monday" of the 2012-2013 school year!

I can’t believe it’s flying by so fast and there’s still so much left to do. We just finished up all of the end of the year assessments that the kids had to take and I’m getting ready to pack the last few days we have together with fun of all sorts. The end of the year is always such a bittersweet time for me as I’m sure it is for every teacher out there. I’m so incredibly excited about having my summer off to be a house wife beach bum (let’s be honest there will be more tanning than cooking & cleaning combined), but there’s a certain sadness to this time of year that even the tastiest margarita can’t fix. It all boils down to that I’m not ready to let my babies go. I’m not ready to tear off their name tags, clean the tables with shaving cream and pass them on to the next teacher. They drive me all kinds of crazy and use up all of my energy and patience, but they’re my babies and like most of my loves that I spend my day with- -I don’t like sharing. Last year I cried like a baby when one of my favorites refused to let go of my leg at dismissal on the last day of school (yes my leg..yes an ugly cry before noon..no it wasn’t pretty). I still get teary eyed thinking about how emotional she was and how huge of a chunk of my heart left with her that day. They all still stop in to visit from time to time (some of them every morning), but the fact remains that they are now somebody else’s babies and growing up way too fast. I’m sure the last day of school will be the same this year- -just as ugly because I have yet to perfect a “pretty cry.” I’m preparing for the hot mess of goodbyes now because I sat down to fill in my end of the year “Warm & Fuzzy Awards” last night and had to pull myself together at more than one point during the process. What’s a Warm & Fuzzy Award? Well, at the end of each nine weeks we give awards for academic achievement (Wonderful Writer/Radical Reader/Magnificent Mathematician). In addition to these, I give out my “Warm and Fuzzy” awards (Curious George/Brightest Smile/Future Zoo-ologist/Class Diva). It’s just my way of acknowledging each kids’ unique traits that make me love them so much- -things that make them special- -things that make them…well… them. Here’s a shot of my stack of sweetness that led to my emotional breakdown last night. 

I created the awards on Publisher, printed/cut them out, and pasted them onto construction paper matting. Really simple process- -the only thing that would have made them easier is if somebody else made them for me. Which leads me to my point of this blog (besides revealing myself as the big cry baby that I am). My "Who's Who" Awards are now available on my TPT store ...just in time for your end of the year celebration (hopefully). There are 2 versions included within the file- -1 without clipart  and 1 with clipart. Super affordable solution if you don't have time/don't care to create your own awards. Unfortunately my computer smartness is drawing a blank on how to create editable text boxes within a PDF file so I've left lines for you to 1. Write the students' names, 2. Sign your name, and 3. Put a date on it...because if you like it you should always put a date on it! (Ok, now I've gone too far into crazy town twisting Beyonce's words..my apologies).

I really should be packing right now...like really, really, really have a lot left to pack before Friday's move...and dinner still needs to be cooked. So, with that I'll leave blog land for the night. Until next time...live, love, teach &&& think summer thoughts!

Grand Slam, Teacher Appreciation, && Mother's Day

This past week for math we revisited fact families (related facts for those of y'all out there that refer to them as a different title). Since summer is right around the corner and baseball season is starting up I couldn't think of a more perfect theme for our math lessons this week than baseball. I remember staying up way past my 8:30 bed time as a kid to watch the Atlanta Braves play with my mom. I remember even clearer the squabble over the signed Javy Lopez card that resulted in my brother pinching me under the chin and the card going missing. . .f-o-r-e-v-e-r!!! (seriously, it's never been found). AND even clearer, I remember actually going to an Atlanta Braves game and being absolutely miserable because it was so hot and I couldn't hear the announcers...who knew you had to have headhphones to hear the commentary?? All I can say is hopefully fact families will stick in the brains of my kids as much as my baseball memories have stuck in mine. They did an amazing job on their formative test, but they're famous for forgetting everything a week later.   I have a few friends who are still a little shaky with creating fact families completely independently, but they're getting there. I infused my math lessons with baseball fun with a little help from my Batter Up! unit.

My boys really, really liked the baseball theme (my girls did too, but the boys were really stoked about it). It's packed with 3 different games, homework options, and a craftivity that is perfect for the end of a very long week. It's up and ready to pick up at my TPT store. The craftivity is also available as a freebie if you aren't wanting to purchase the whole pack and just want some cuteness in your life.

Speaking of cuteness, Teacher Appreciation Week was pretty darn cute. Our school organized 3 themed days for our kids to participate in (if they wanted to).

Tuesday: Our Teachers Are Noteworthy (bring in a card for your teacher)
Wednesday: Our Teachers Are the Sweetest (bring in a sweet treat for your teacher)
Thursday: Our Teachers Help Us Bloom (bring in a flower or a plant for you teacher)

It's really something special to be acknolwedged for the work that you do on a daily basis. I didn't expect anything, but 5 of my sweet things completely knocked the socks off of me. Thanks to them I now have a garden of flowers in my windowsill to greet me every morning and a handful of really sweet cards to read when I'm feeling down. The healthy eating train has also derailed due to all of the chocolate that my friends brought in (they know me too well).  Keeping the fun going, administration got us even more pumped for summer (as if that's possible) by giving out embroidered beach towels &&& we got a duty free lunch on Monday. Nothing says "I appreciate you" like a lunch free from opening ketchup packets and reminding friends to chew with their mouths closed. It must be what heaven is like!

The next 14 days are going to be slam packed with end of the year stuff. . .I'm in complete disbelief that it's approaching so quickly. We'll be reviewing EVERYTHING for the next few weeks and diving deeper into our study of the ocean with an animal research project. On top of all of the learning/teaching stuff we do have a little fun mixed in. This week is our annual Career Week and there are some pretty fun dress up days involved with it. Tomorrow is College day and I'll be representing the REAL USC...Go Gamecocks!!

Before I shut the lap top off for the night, I figured it was only fitting to share a little Mother's Day activity that kept us busy on Friday. As part of our writing lessons for the week we discussed making lists. We practiced making lists together (grocery lists/to do lists/class lists) and then we got busy making a list of reasons why we loved our moms/grandmoms/aunts (I have a really diverse class this year in regards to family make ups). We wrote our rough drafts in our writing journals and our final drafts on the fancy recording sheets (it's amazing how a few different fonts will make a sheet of paper fancy to a 7 year old). As they were creating their final drafts I was busy stuffing our treat bags with s/mores ingredients and attaching their "I Love You S'more Than Anything" tags to the bags with curly ribbons.

I have a feeling that a few of these didn't make it home intact && a few moms are scratching their heads wondering why they have a list of reasons why their kids love them s'more than anything, but no s'mores. Hey! Atleast I tried! Anyway, I'll be posting a freebie of the labels and the fancy pants recording sheet to my TPT if you want to grab a copy for next year.

Until next time...live, love, teach!

Ice Cream Inventions

With the end of the school year quickly approaching, I needed a fun topic and I needed it fast. What better topic than ice cream? Everybody loves it and there are endless possibilities for fun classroom activities. When I announced that we would be talking about ice cream and having a sundae party at the end of the week, my lovelies were beyond excited. For the end of the school year to be so close (3 days and counting) my kids worked hard and created some of their best work. To start the unit we watched an "EyeWonder" Video on how ice cream is made. My lovlies were assigned to be reporters. This meant that they were responsible for writing down three interesting facts from the video. . .another sneaky trick that teachers use to get their kids to pay attention without fussing at them. :)

After watching the video, we shared our interesting facts with each other. The kids really enjoyed sharing their facts and hearing what their classmates found interesting. I created a cute form for them to record their interesting ice cream facts.

The next part of the lesson provided practice on comparing and contrasting. My lovelies were given two sticky notes (a pink and a yellow). They then participated in a taste testing of two types of ice cream: Cookies and Cream & Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. As they tasted each flavor, the recorded descriptive words and their thoughts about each flavor on the sticky notes. They each filled out this cute compare and contrast sheet using their notes. It was incredible to see how serious they took the assignment. Food is truly the way to their hearts! :)

For the next portion of the lesson, we read the book Ice Cream Larry by Daniel Pinkwater. The kids loved the story and the illustrations. My lovelies and I began to compare ourselves to the book's main character Larry. Their responses to this activity were equally impressive as their responses from the taste testing activity.

In the book, Larry is a polar bear who eats a lot of ice cream at an ice cream shop. This draws the attention of a businessman (I. Berg) who comes to see Larry. Larry and I. Berg have serveral meetings, but nobody knows what they are about. At the end of the story it is revealed that Larry helped I. Berg create a new line of ice cream called "Larry Bars." This book provided the perfect opening for our writing/art activity. I told my lovelies that they would each be creating their very own new ice cream flavor. They were told to write about the name, the flavors of the ice cream and how they would package it. After the writing process was completed, they made their new flavor ice cream with construction paper, crayons and markers. They had an absolute blast making their ice cream cones! I was blown away by how much thought they put into the creation of their new ice cream flavor. Some of my favorites included: Worm Pie (cake batter and gummy worms), Blueberry Blue (blueberry ice cream with blue berry cobbler bites), Strawberry Chocolate Skittles, and Cinnamon Cookie Dough.

♥ Ms. Lee

Life is Sweet

While cleaning out my file cabinets for next year, I found all of the cute letters and pictures that were in my "sunshine" file from my kids this year. Looking through the file made me realize once again that teaching is truly the best job in the world! It isn't always easy getting up at 5:30 and diffusing the fights of eight year olds all day long, but knowing that I've made a difference in their lives is worth more than any high paying desk job could ever be. Over the years as I've followed my original group of lovelies from Pre-K to second grade, their notes have gotten longer and their pictures have gotten more detailed. I know because I've saved them all. If I could give one piece of advice to new teachers, it would be to start your own sunshine file. Save the notes, letters, and pictures that are given to you and look through them every now and then. It really is a great feeling to be loved by twenty three little ones. . .some love you so much that they give you gigantic, delicious cupcakes!

And sometimes you'll love them so much that you will bake and hand ice twenty three flamingo cookies for part of their end of the year gift. Life is what you make it. . .so why not make it sweet!

♥ Ms. Lee

Under the Sea

Before our big trip to the aquarium, we started studying about the ocean and all of the animals that call it home. My lovlies have become very interested in research, so what could be better than an ocean animal research project for them to dig into? Each of my kids got to pick an ocean animal that they were interested in learning more about. They researched these animals and recorded their facts in their writing journals. At the end of the researching period, the kids recorded all of their information in fabulous fact books. All of the books turned out so good it was hard to pick just one for a picture. . .so I picked three!

They did such a great job that I absolutely couldn't stop there. . .so they wrote about an under the sea adventure and made super cute divers to hold up their work.

♥ Ms. Lee

Loco for Mexico

Cinco de Mayo week with my lovlies was one of the best weeks of the school year. It's always refreshing to see how excited they get when they are learning about new cultures. . .especially the cultures of some of their classmates. For Cinco de Mayo we talked about the importance of the day and then we started studying everything that makes Mexico so fabulous. Along with a taste testing of dips that go along with chips (queso won by the way), my lovlies also completed a writing assignment. . .and a super cute craft to accompany it. Each day of the week, we pulled a writing topic out of a sombrero. The topics included some of our favorite Mexcian treats including: burritos, tacos, and nachos. The kids then wrote creative stories about these topics. I was really impressed in the wide range of stories that were created- -mysterious, descriptive, humorous. Every day they shared their stories with their group friends. Each group had to vote on the best story from their group to be shared with the entire class. That meant that 5 stories were shared with the class each day. I absolutely loved seeing the smiles on the faces of the kids who were voted as the best at their table. At the end of the week, the kids picked their favorite or best story that they wrote during the week. We edited these stories, they wrote their final drafts, and then came the ART PROJECT! 

Of course I HAD to hang their fabulous work out in the hallway for everyone to see! It was a huge hit and my lovlies were so proud to hear from other teachers and students how great their work was.

♥ Ms. Lee

Toucan Trivia

During our study of the different habitats around the world, we stopped to learn about the rain forest and the fascinating animals that call it home. One of the animals that we learned about was the toucan. One of the skills that we have been working on recently is distinguishing between facts and opinions. After reading informative texts about toucans the kids were given the task of writing one opinion and one fact about these fine feathered friends. The toucan facts were then written on colorful sentence strips. The kids also created a toucan craft to complete our fabulous bulletin board.

The kids also got to pick their favorite rain forest animal to research and put together an animal step book. Unfortunately, I forgot to get pictures of these before they were taken home.

♥ Ms. Lee