The Leprechauns Are Coming!

Yesterday was my 28th birthday and yes, I went to work. Apparently it's pretty common to call in on your special day, but just thinking about making sub plans gives me a headache AND the last time I had a sub (for a legit reason mind you) they never showed up! Our sub system isn't the most reliable process apparently. . .even if somebody shows up it's hit or miss if they actually have any background with children much less teaching. We have a few really awesome ladies that we call all the time, but everyone knows they're great and they're usually booked weeks in advance. My kids were really excited about it being my birthday and I didn't want them to miss out on that excitement with a frumpy dumpy sub being in the room instead of fabulous little OLD me. . .I kid, I kid 28 isn't old I know. My kids (and teacher friends) know me a little too well. ..giant bags of skittles, a huge chocolate bar and a cute coffee cup were pretty much sitting in the store with my name written on them in huge pink flashing letters. My kids were also little sneaky sneakies and made a huge flamingo card for me in art class on Thursday. Too cute! Of course I forgot to take a picture of it before I left, but trust me it was adorable. My mom of course knows me way too well and got me a GIANT cupcake shaped cupcake holder. I love it and am definitely making some "belated" birthday cupcakes to share with my loves...one day. I'm setting off on a new adventure in making everything from scratch (because I'm sickened by the canned frosting lately.  .it just isn't as yummy as icing should be). The husband got me a version of the anchor necklace that I've been wanting and some camo skinny pants (he insisted they would be pure hotness. . .I'm just hoping that I don't look like a hot mess).

Now that one amazing event has passed, it's on to the next thing that March has to offer::: St. Patrick's Day!! So far this week we've been having a lot of holiday themed fun- -read alouds, math activities, and writing. ..they've all been touched by a leprechaun! For math we're working on some activities from my unit: Erin Go Bragh Y'all! It's benchmark week and we're reviewing one last time before we take our summative tests. So far most of my loves are "knocking me socks off"...there are a few that apparently had a sudden case of amnesia, buuuuut such is life. (They'll get next time. . .they have to. . .right??).
Included in this unit are activities to review measuring with non-standard units, telling time to the half hour, solving word problems, graphing, and determining missing addends/subtrahends. All of the activities are inspired by St. Patricks' Day- -they're based on read alouds (of course holiday related). Today we measured with skittles and OH.MY.SHAMROCKS. the world could have ended and they would have still been shrieking with delight. They were stoked (I'm positive it was more so over the possibility of eating their units of measurement than actually measuring, but I'll take what I can get). Paired with the musical stylings of the Irish (thank you Pandora iPhone app), it was an Irish shindig in my class && there's more where that came from. On Friday we're graphing the marshmallows from Lucky Charms because they're so magically delicous. . .not so original, I know, I know, but why re-create the wheel when it rolls so smoothly?!? As always you can grab your copy of the unit at my TPT store if it tickles your fancy.

We're working on a super cute writing assignment as well. . .again nothing original, but it never fails to deliver h-i-l-a-r-i-o-u-s responses: How to Catch a Leprechaun! During their sharing/brainstorming time I overheard one of my cuties telling his share partner that he was going to trick the leprechaun into coming close by asking him if he wanted to go fishing. Tomorrow is our editing day where I will be helping them read through their stories and edit them. I can't wait to read what they've been working on. Friday will be our final draft and craftivity day. I'll share pictures when the hard work (and clean up of said hard work) is complete. We're also working on editing sentences (forever and always) with the help of the Lucky Sentences pack. Their summative assessment for punctuation went amazingly well- -all but 2 got a perfect score (they don't quite get the difference between telling and asking sentences yet, but we're working on it). In small groups we're playing the high frequency word game "Shamrock." It's played like the well known game BOOM! where the kids pick a card and read the word. If they read the word correctly they get to keep their word card. If they read it incorrectly or can't read it, I tell them the word (they repeat it) and it goes on the bottom of the deck of cards. If they pull a Shamrock card they have to turn in all of their cards to me. The player at the end of the game with the most cards is the winner. I love it because it doesn't necessarily mean the "best" reader wins every time. They love it because they get to scream shamrock out in their goofiest voice. It's the perfect combination- -they beg me to play it and what could be better than kids wanting to practice reading tricky words? Nothing. . .well maybe spring break.

In my other part of my life (the not teaching portion) I've been kicking butt in the gym. By that I mean 1 day's worth of kicking butt. . .and I'm going to be as stiff as road kill tomorrow morning (day 2 is always the worst)! I've also gotten back to my love of painting. There are few things as calming as painting. I'm no Picasso (in fact he would probably be disgusted at what I call painting), but it's all good. I started out painting picture frames and was pretty obsessed with it for a while. Then it evolved into painting wooden signs. I discovered TPT (and my love for Publisher) and painting took a back seat. However, one of my teaching friends that is the coffee to my creamer wanted a sign for her classroom and I finally found the inspiration and color selection that was perfect. This is: "Shake Your Tail Feathers" (I forgot to mention that I like to give them cheesy names). Every time I paint a new design it becomes my favorite and I am in LOVE with hers.

I've also been trying to cook more and I've got some pretty yummy looking stuffed chicken, spinach and cheese shells in the oven that are ready to get in my belly!They've been calling my name for a few weeks now- -I finally decided to try them out && let the cheese into my life sooooo until next time, live, love, && of course, TEACH!