4.28.2013

SHARE WHATCHA WEAR LINKY!! And a funny story :)

Happy Sunday my sweet friends! I am BEYOND excited to post today about a brand new, super fabby fab, monthly linky party that is starting today!

 
 Me and Brittany from "Closing the Gap... in a Cute Outfit" are hosting each month. This is totally fun and super chill. Here's how it works:

 
That's right - you can link up as MANY times as you want! Once a day, once a week, or once a month, it is completely up to you!
 
When you link up, please include a link back to the original post so that others can easily find us and join the party! Feel free to use the "Guidelines" button on your blog post as well!
 
I cannot wait to see all of the amazing outfits that you are wearing :)
 
JOIN THE FUN AND LINK UP HERE:
 
 
SO here is my link up for the month. I am using some pictures I have taken over the past month. I plan on linking up again at the end of next week with my outfits from this week :)
 
 
 
 There it is! The very first Share Whatcha Wear post! YAY! I truly hope you will link up and join in on the fashionable fun with us :)
 
And now to share yet another wonderful adventure from my life of kindergarten bliss. The kids were having a particularly rough day. We're talking tattles every two seconds, arguments about crayons/erasers/who is taller/who is shorter/who has darker hair/who has the cooler made-up club/who eats faster/who likes spiderman more/who can scream the loudest (which I ended real quickly)/who has longer toes/who can jump the highest/etc. I think you get the point. So I could immediately tell that centers were going to be more difficult than usual.
 
I am working with my small group when I hear, "I DID TOO BRING MY VA-J-J'S!!" I looked up, taking a deep breath, to see who was screaming this across the room. I see one of my BOYS standing up, red in the face, yelling this at the little guy next to him. And yes, you read that correctly. It was a boy screaming about his va-j-j's (plural. sigh.)  I could only imagine what was coming next. You know that moment when you are calling them over and you just think to yourself, "Seriously? How am I going to handle this one?" I was feeling that. So they came grumping over, all feisty. Here's how the conversation went:
 
Me: Boys, what's the trouble here?
Va - J: HE SAID I DIDN'T BRING MY VA-J-J'S TO SCHOOL AND I DID!
The rest of the class: WHAT'S A VA-J-J? WHY DID HE BRING IT TO SCHOOL? DO I HAVE A VA-J-J? CAN I HAVE ONE?
 
At this moment I am just praying that no one walks into my classroom. Can you imagine trying to explain why your entire class is screaming about vaginas? I'm not sure I could.
 
(After silencing the rest of the class)
Little guy: All I said was that he isn't supposed to bring his va-j-j's to school with him.
Me: Ok, little guy, take a seat for a moment while I talk to va-j-j.
(no I did not call them that - I used their actual names, but for clarification purposes I will call them by this)
Honey, can you please explain to me what it is that you brought to school?
Va - J: It's just my va-j-j's. They are in my bookbag.
Me: (hesitantly) Can you bring me your bookbag please?
 
I was pretty much praying that this was a huge misunderstanding because if I opened that bookbag and found multiple va-j-j's, I would quit.
 
So I opened the bookbag and guess what I saw - pajamas. Yes. Pajamas.
 
Me: Is this what you are talking about? Your pajamas?
Va - J: Yes, I left them in my bookbag after leaving my dad's house.
Me: Did you mean to say "pa-j-j"?
Va - J: That's what I said. Va-j-j.
Me: No honey, I think you mean PA-j-j.
(which, honestly, is still a questionable choice to call your pajamas. What ever happened to jammies or pj's? Did I miss a new trend here?)
 
So in the end, all was well. There were no pa-j-j's in bookbags and the quarrel ended with everyone being friends again. And, yet again, I am left wondering how I make it through each day with my sanity.
 
Hope you had a relaxing weekend my bloggy besties! Don't forget to link up your fashionable moments!
 
Love and hugs!
 

4.27.2013

Busy Life!! Circus Fun, Whatcha Wearin', and a FREEBIE!

Oh my sweet lovelies!! It has been SO long since my last post. I have missed the blogging world like crazy and am happy to be back. I feel like there are about 10 million things to do at every. single. second. Anyone else feeling cray-cray lately? Sigh.

I have been so busy. I feel like there is no time to breathe! This was FINALLY my last week of physical therapy - hooray! Going from 3 times per week to 0 times per week suits me just fine. I have also been busy finishing up my last course to get my Reading Endorsement! This is a long time coming and I am super excited to be done soon. Just a few more sessions of that.

And in super exciting news - WE FOUND A HOUSE! It is beeeeeautiful and I love love love it. We close at the end of the month. The very best news is that my sister only lives 3 doors down. I can have a conversation with her when we are both standing in our driveways! I could not be more excited about it. I can't believe that I am almost an official homeowner. Gosh I grew up fast.

My school district sent me an email yesterday asking if I could train the trainers over this summer for our in-service next year and I said yes. I hope it's not too much more work, I'm pretty swamped. At least it's extra money that I will be needing very soon to pay for my new house :)

And it is official - I will be team leader for my grade level next year! I'm thrilled about it really. It will be a challenge I'm sure, but one that I am ready and eager to take on. Any tips out there for a newbie leader?!

Moving on to our classroom fun!!

This week was circus week in my room! We did so many exciting activities to prepare for our circus field trip that we went on yesterday. Most of my activities came from these two amazing purchases:

 
They were both FULL of awesome centers, printables, experiments, and more.
Here are two of the centers that the kids worked on and loved.
 
CIRCUS MEASURING
(from Deedee's Silly Circus pack)
The students used little star rulers (included in Deedee's unit) to measure the silly circus pictures and record how many stars long each was. It was a perfect fit for our measuring unit that we are currently working on in math.
 

CIRCUS WRITE THE ROOM
(from Miss Davis' Under the Big Top unit)
The kids had to find the circus vocabulary words around the room and write them on their recording sheet!


One of the littles favorite things of all was the cotton candy experiment! I think they liked eating it the best :)
 

 On Thursday we made a super cute circus snack and the kids were totally pumped. Here are all of the yummy snacks we included:
 
 
Click on the picture below to grab a fun circus snack mix bag topper freebie and see what each piece of the snack mix represents.
 
 
We worked together and mixed everything up. Then each of the littles scooped some out and filled their ziplock baggie with it. They then put the ziplock baggie inside a brown lunch sack with a Hi-C juice box and some fruit snacks. We also brought some deeeelicious cotton candy!
 
 
 So finally it was time to go yesterday. The kids were just ecstatic. I made each of them a little ticket with their picture on it.
 
 
 Here we are, all ready to go, and on our way! I had them all wear matching t-shirts that said "We're On A Field Trip" to help make sure I could spot them all in a crowd.
 
 
 Our picture with the clowns
 
 
We bought all of the kids light up wands to use during the show! They sell them there for about $12 a piece (ridiculous) so we pre-ordered them online in bulk and got them super cheap. The kids were ecstatic and it looked really cool when all the lights went out.
 
 
 After the show, the kids were able to see the animals and feed them carrots!
 
 
At the end of the day, we were all completely exhausted. The kids had an unbelievable time though, so it was well worth it.
 
 And now I am happy to share an awesome new venture that I am starting with the amazing Brittany over at "Closing the Gap... in a Cute Outfit!"
 
 
 This is going to be a super fun, super chill monthly linky party where bloggers can link up and share their fabby fab teacher style. You can link up as many times as you want during the month with all of your different outfits. Feel free to link up once, twice, or twenty times each month!  We will be starting this Sunday (as in TOMORROW) and I am totally excited to see what you are all wearing!
 Check out the guidelines below:

 
You know I love you guys. You are the best :) Check back tomorrow - I have some ridiculous stories and some cute outfits to share! Love ya!

4.15.2013

Bossy e, Fun on the Moon, and Let's Get Acquainted

Happy Monday sweet friends! Oh my shining stars - there are only 5 Mondays left this year! EEK! How hard was it to wake up this morning? I mean seriously. If it weren't for the fuzz heads clawing at my face to take them out, I'm not sure I would ever wake up. Today went pretty quickly though, so that was good. Our schedule has been rearranged due to FCAT testing. Of course we don't give it in kindergarten, but they don't want us moving all over the building. Which is completely understandable, since my kids always choose to scream about the most ridiculous things in the hallway and humiliate me. I may or may not give them the look of death when they attempt to talk to me in the halls. Today one of my kids attempted to eat her boogers on the way to specials. I caught her in time and said, "Do not eat that, it is gross. Wait until we get there and you can use a tissue". Meanwhile, she's holding the ball of boogers in her hand. Until, the little guy in front of her turned around and said "Stop pushing me". We all know where this is going, right? Yes. She wiped her entire hand of snot down his face. He is standing their with her snot running down his forehead and I am listening to myself saying "WHY ARE YOU WIPING YOUR SNOT DOWN HIS FACE?!" This is the only job where you would find yourself saying that to another human. And the fourth graders are walking by, shaking their heads, giving me the you-poor-thing look. And all I could think was: Yes, this is my life. Now the 9 year olds are taking pity on me. I am ready for some summer my friends! Time to trade boogers for Bacardi. Can I get an amen? AMEN!
 
Today we started learning about Bossy e in our classroom. I made super cute bossy e and vowel clipart set and wrote a story to introduce Bossy e to the littles. They LOVED it and totally ate it up. I am working on putting a Bossy e activity pack together soon and the story will be available in there :) Here's the cover:
 
 
The story basically explains who Bossy e is and what he does. After reading the story, we completed a bossy e freebie activity from the amazing Traci over at Dragonflies in First. Click the picture below to grab it for yourself!
 
 
The kids loved reading the words and adding that mean, bossy e to each.
 
 
 
When we were done with this, we played a fun game called "The Magic e". I had the littles work in two teams to answer the questions. It was perfect because there were some other words that contained the digraphs the we have been learning. The kids had such a blast with this. Click below to see the game!
 
 
We also watched this ADORABLE Bossy e video. It is ridiculously cute!
 
The kids are doing such a great job with Bossy e already, and I have a week's worth of fun coming their way. They should be pros by Friday :)
 
Today we also started learning about the moon! We read one of the best stories - "On The Moon" by Anna Milbourne.
 
 
We skimmed through the first few minutes of the video below. The kids were completely engrossed with the images of the moon. When I told them that some of the craters were even bigger than our school, they were just beside themselves. I was adorable :)
Then I did a little demonstration with a flashlight, a mirror, and a globe. The students sat in a circle and we put a star on Florida on the globe. I explained that we were pretending it was nighttime where we live. I turned off all the lights. The mirror (ahem, I use that term loosely -  I forgot to bring my little mirror so we ended up using the back of an empty Capri Sun. It worked though, so that's all that matters) so anywho, the mirror was the moon, the flashlight was the sun, and the globe is our Earth.| I reiterated that the moon does not glow and does not give off any light of its own, that it just reflects the light from the sun. They were surprised to hear that :) I wish I had some pictures of this but I forgot! Sheesh! What good am I?!
 
Then it was time to make some moons of our own!
Each of the littles got a piece of black construction paper. They drew a large circle (the moon) in the middle of their plate.
 
 
Next it was time for the Moon goop! We used shaving cream and glue for this. I mixed it all together in a big bowl and gave each table a big scoop.
 
 
They spread it onto their moons to make it look like the moons surface, craters and all! Of course this was their favorite part! They really came out well. I'll take some pictures of them tomorrow once they have dried. They end up with the neatest texture. The glue keeps the shaving cream puffy, but it is dry to the touch. It almost feels like one of those foam bed toppers.
 
 
 
Tomorrow we will have more 'far out' fun!
I also wanted to show you what ended up hatching from our dinosaur eggs! They looked like turtles at first, but after they grew a bit more, you could tell they were little stegosauruses!
To see the original dinosaur post, click HERE.
 
 
And in other random news, I was craving a s'more pretty wickedly earlier. After rummaging the pantry, all I could find was graham crackers. But let me tell you - that was not going to stop me. Nothing can get in the way of a s'more craving. So I got inventive! I found a chocolate bunny and some peeps left over from Easter. And - VOILA! Easter S'mores! B-T-DUBBS, it was pretty disgusting. The sugar totally ruined it. But once again, that did not stop me. I ate it. And then made a second one. I have no shame. Don't judge me.
 
 
And now I am linking up with the ALWAYS brilliant Latoya from Flying into First Grade for her weekly "Let's Get Acquainted" Linky Party!
 
 
This week's topic is....
THE SKITTLES GAME
 
 
Red
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor
I LOVE ice cream. It is literally one of my favorite things in the entire world. Deeeelish. This is a tough call because I have two favorites, one for the fall and one for the rest of the year.
All Year Ice Cream: Moose Tracks
 
Fall Ice Cream: Pumpkin Cheesecake
I am seriously craving ice cream right now. And I don't have any. It may be time to get inventive again....
 
Orange
Favorite Memory from College
This is going to be the most LAME memory from college ever. It was a rainy, cold day. I sat in my room, under the cozy blankets, with literally no obligations, eating an ENTIRE raspberry breakfast pastry from Publix, and an ENTIRE huge Ziploc bag of homemade chocolate chip cookies, while watching the ENTIRE first season of Desperate Housewives on DVD. I know, it is pathetic. But it was one of the best days ever. My life doesn't really allow those kind of days anymore, so I think that is what I miss the most!
 
Yellow
Favorite Sports Team
Ew. Sports. BLECH. I guess I'll go with the family favorite, even though I DESPISE sports all together. I'm technically a St. Louis Ram's fan, though not much of one.
 
Green
Favorite Fast Food Place
This is tough because I have two favorites. Right by my house there is a Chick-fil-a and a Burger King directly next to each other. Now here's the thing, I am obsessed with the fries and lemonade from Chick-fil-a, but being a vegetarian, they don't have many other options for me. And Burger King makes a mean veggie burger. So my favorite thing to do is grab my fries and lemonade from the Chick and then scooch through the BK drive through next and grab my burger (let me just say that I know how pathetic I must look, making the rounds through the local fast food joints). Best meal ever!
 
Purple
Wild Card (Tell anything about yourself)
I am so super starving right now after all of this food talk and am going to go make some spaghetti :) ha!
 
Hope your Monday was just marvelous!
Love and hugs!