Monday Monday...

Monday...Monday...ahah...ahahahahah...

Is that a Beatles Song?! I'm really not sure and those are the only lyrics I know but that's exactly how I feel right now! I am so...glad to be home and have my feet propped up on Buddy, my electric heater!
Nothing elaborate that we did today except get back into the swing of things!

 We did crack into our "rock candy" after lunch and they literally had to CRACK into those suckers! There was absolutely NOTHING on the skewer but a lot of hardened candy on the top and bottom. Most of the students didn't like it but I had about 5 giggly girls that loved it! I had to make them throw it in the trash!

The pics below are what it looked like after sitting for 3 weeks with the skewers inside. Not sure where we experimentally went wrong but somewhere we did!

Whelp...a bowl of cereal is calling my name so I'm gonna go answer it!

CURRENTLY BABY!

Oh my soul! I cannot express how excited I am to do this! Farley's currently links have been something I've been reading and loving since she started them! She was the second blogger that I found and that's when I started my blog stalkness. (Although, I really think I broke Farley's rule number one...I couldn't figure out how to link to this exact post..so sorry! I just put my blog url in...any advice on how to link to this exact post?!) I'm really not a rule breaker!!!

Here it is:

The electric heater has been my buddy for the last 2 weeks! It's always directly in front of me and blowing on me if I'm in my living room! I even had burn marks on my legs one night. Yep. Love this guy. I think I should name him...*Buddy...Buddy the electric heater*
I love that I don't have any plans today...my hubby is working but I think I should make some plans to clean this house!

 I really want to lose some weight fast and it's not going anywhere without some work so I need a routine and I seriously need to be dedicated!

 I am wearing a Little Mermaid tee and this is my first currently ever so ob-V...I'm not a total computer savy nerd or I would have known how to do this a LONG time ago and I'd also know how to not have those big bulky white text boxes that do not blend in with the format.

Yay for currently!
That. Is. All.

Bye Bye January...Hello February!

I cannot believe January is over! Usually it is the most productive month for me but not this year.

Fifth. Grade. Is. Serious.

We also had an unexpected week of Snow Days!!! Don't get me wrong...I greatly enjoyed the unexpected week but if we get anymore our make up days are after Memorial Day and into summer break...ugh.

And I am EXTREMELY behind in my classroom so forget the fun stuff! While I planned to study the Arctic vs. Antarctic this month, I've yet to even finish Mr. Popper's Penguins and Monday is February! Yep. I'm still struggling with adjusting to upper elementary and a new school with an incredible amount of specials. 

So...what did I do in January?!?

We BEGAN this chapter in science...

The layers of the earth and rocks/minerals. Thankfully, I had some study hall high school students come in and cut out all the circles for me...otherwise, I wouldn't have gotten this done. They had to list 3 facts about each layer. 

We also attempted rock candy...

 

Epic. Fail.

This is the only pic I have (it was attempt 2) but I pretty much followed an "EASY DIY ROCK CANDY" recipe that I found on pinterest. It sounded a whole lot easier than the traditional string way. Unfortunately, when we put the sugar coated skewers into the cup mixture, everything dissolved off the skewer. I tried coating them again and letting them dry for an hour (what they are doing in the pic above) vs. the 15 min. the recipe called for but the coating still dissolved. I've been letting the "candy" crystals form in the cup and while it has hardened, it just doesn't seem like rock candy. Getting rid of it Monday morning because I'm ready to move on! 

We celebrated the 100th Day of School for a whole 5 minutes of the morning with a breakfast treat and morning work assignment before they went to their Band/Chorus class. 

Ain't nobody got time fo that in fifth grade! Honestly, I think they were more excited to learn that we only have 70 days of school left!

We also celebrated Milk Day...no intentional pun there. One year I had a first grader look at our class calendar and ask "What is Milk Day?" when he saw MLK DAY. What a funny moment in the life of a first grader learning to read.

 We read a biography on his life and discussed several of his most famous quotes. The students really seemed to learn a lot and then we did this craftivity paragraph writing for display. (Again, this wouldn't have happened except I had some study hall helpers!)

This one was very well drawn and I LOVE the quote above on the right! SO...true! 

 We also enjoyed many snow days. I had parents send me pics of their kiddos in the snow because I thought we'd be at school on Friday...that didn't happen (well, it did for me but not them) so I won't be having a Snow Day Show and Tell. Instead, I took their pics and put them in blue hearts to somewhat bring in Valentines. I wanted a catchy "Love Snow" phrase but this was the best I came up with. It won't stay up long because I'll be getting out the pink and red, but it's a nice way to welcome them back!

I'm really terrible at free handing hearts...

Me and my love enjoying the snow!

Well...Now that January is gone, the only thing in February that I'm ready for is Valentine's Day with my hunny. For the first time in 3 years of marriage, I actually have him a Valentine's gift! I can't wait to give it to him!

Back in the Saddle Again and New Years

When my alarm went off this morning these words literally came flowing all countrified right outta my mouth "Back in the Saddle Again"....I  was right back into my groove and not even half way through the day when I felt my voice begin to get weak. I could not believe it. I guess I just had too much enthusiasm in my voice?!
Anywhoo...it was a good day back but I am pooped. We reviewed and practiced ALL of our procedures for the classroom, hall, and lunchroom. (which is probably why my voice went weak...I talked TOO much today)

Me in 2014

We did this "Me in 2014" paragraph writing and I emphasized the use of pronouns. I downloaded the freebie from Teachers Pay Teachers from Amy Murdock. There were a lot of cute options for printing and even the cute little faces with several different options.  If you click on my pic above, it will take you to her TPT store. I also downloaded and laminated the banner below from TPT. Click on the pic below for the link for it also. It's great because it can be used year after year!

I hope the links work, I think I remembered how to link them;) HA! It has been a while!

I do sincerely appreciate all the amazing teachers who share their work, talents, and creativity on TPT as a free download. You all are extremely talented and I will go to Heaven with many thankful praises for you all!

sNOw Way!

So after being out for 2 1/2 weeks there was sNOw way I wasn't going to school today because of cold weather! My inner soul just desired to be there! I didn't do anything plan-productive...and really my plans are shot because of the "snow" days... but I did organize and make it a little more winter-friendly. I have a TON of winter books and games from teaching younger grades. I debated on taking most of it to school but the reality of it is BIG kids are still LITTLE kids they just don't want you to think so and with all this cold weather this will give them plenty of indoor recess entertainment.  Some of my favorite winter reads are Balto the True Story, the Tacky series, and Mr. Popper's Penguins. I plan to read all of these and start tomorrow out with Mr. Popper's Penguins.

When my fifth graders finish early, they like to work on puzzles.

 I found some loot on clearance and I LOVE Michael's clearance. I couldn't resist all the circus animal plush ornaments! I will save them for next year's Christmas tree. I also bought a super cute 2013 teacher owl ornament for one of my fifth grade teacher friends. Upon first impression, I likened her to James and the Giant Peach'es  "Spiker" which I soon learned she is nothing of the sort and is every bit of sweetness that there is and also super dedicated! I wanted her to know that she has been a CRUCIAL and SPECIAL part of my adjusting to a new school year for the 2013-2014 school year...and she will appreciate the clearance part because she is one of the biggest  penny pinching, recycling tree huggers that I have ever met. She's been a great influence on me in many ways and I'm very thankful for her. The "Let it Snow" wreath is for my door and then they had some great Barnum and Bailey circus stuff but it wasn't clearanced so I only bought what I couldn't resist.

Are they not the cutest circus ornaments ever?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can't ever resist photo booth props!

Ever since day 1, I have wanted something for sweet notes, cards, drawings...that you feel so bad to just throw away so I came up with something for that hopeless door that I hope will next year be a closet...NOT GOING TO HAPPEN...it leads to that nasty disturbance of the server room. It makes the inconvenience much more bearable to me! This isn't nearly all of the notes I've gotten this year and most of them are from the same 3 girls :) Except the handsome pictures of 2 boys and the paper airplane! It happens to be from the sweetest little boy *EVER* and has my name written on it as Ms. St"u"wart...I shall treasure it forever...though I'm sure he'd much rather see it flying around the room than taped onto a door. He also gave me this cute picture frame with a sweet quote by Anne Frank for Christmas so I found a spot to put it as well! I used that super de dooper outdoor sticky stuff that holds up to ten pounds to adhere it.

 I also covered my door. I feel much better about going back now...though I do need to spend some time on my plans!
Happy Second Semester!

Break from Reality

Can it really be that after 4 months of challenging reality...I desire to post something...stop.the.world.

Seriously, I don't know how all of you teacher-mom-wives-bloggers do it!? A typical school day for me Wears Me Slap Out. This is coming from a gal who has no chil-ren of her own and who now lives only *25* minutes away from her job... But, of course, seeing as how I'm on Christmas Break...I'm actually getting the itch to be teacher-y. If only that would happen when I'm actually teaching. I have learned lots during this half year transition to a new school and new grade. I could probably list 100+ things but I think I'll stick to ten. 

1. Fifth grade is FULL of girl drama! 

Not really my cup of tea...The girl drama that is. I could write a rather lengthy book on the girl drama from this year alone. The boys all definitely have my favor this year, whereas, usually they're the goof balls, tattletales, and cheeky ones....it's definitely the girls this year. They're at that cycle starting (oh yes!), friend rivalry, boys are cute stage. A naturally good and very normal stage but its definitely taking some adjusting for me. I liken their trials to Disney's Mulan singing "Reflection". I sure hope they grow out of it. One of the other  5th grade teachers and I are even working on an optional Bible study to help the girls based off of Anne of Green Gables. We shall see and hopefully come the end of the year this will be my specialty age. Ha!  Here's hoping. 

2. Every school is different. No two are the same. Administrators, expectations, co-workers, programs,extra classes, dismissals, book fairs, fundraisers, lunch, etc... No two are the same. I'm very happy with where I'm at though every move has had its share of adjustments. I especially find that I have more time this year to grade and work on special assignments during the school day. For example, the bookmarks I made as Christmas presents for my kiddos... I was able to make those and wrap those during the school day and they took literally almost all day. Here they are:

3. Classroom organization, time management, and class decor all mean nothing if you don't love your students. Sometimes, that means asking God to help you love them like He loves them. 

4. There is a fine definite line between being teacher and being friend. Don't cross it. 

5. First impressions are NOT always what they seem. 

6. Parents think their children are perfect. I re-learn this every year. Good professional parent-teacher relationships are very important to a student's success in your classroom. 

7. Bathroom breaks are necessary...even though they are time consuming...I thought with older kiddos they could just go as they needed but nope...they need potty breaks, first grade style.

8. The best teacher teams are not when all the teachers think and do things similarly but when everyone has something special they bring to the table. 

9. When students want to help....let them help. many hands makes light work. 

10.Big kids are really little kids with bigger bodies and wiser minds.

Done.Blogged.Sweet Satisfaction. 

Ready or not...here it comes!

Ready or not...tomorrow is my first day! There are still several things in my classroom that I feel aren't ready but regardless... it's coming!

We had Meet and Greet/Open House/Orientation...whatever...last Thursday and I got to meet all but 3 of my kiddos...I have another good looking group! I took their pics in the photobooth with a mustache for my Question of the Day board and managed to snap a family photo and pic with student and Mom to use later in the year for Mother's Day.Here's the goody bag they got at Open House...I was excited to be able to use the UP2U gum.

 This is a pic of what their desks looked like: Books, Agenda, goody bag, and C.I.R.C.U.S. binder.

 I was super concerned about those bags toppling over as my car has been loaded down for the past 3 weeks but managed a pose...

They all took pics here...

 I also mailed postcards to all of my students on Friday morning! Hopefully they all got them Saturday!

I'm getting the First Day Jitters ;) and still have a lot to do so adios hippos!