Five for Friday: Things that made me happy!

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs for FFF! This week, I'm trying to focus on the positive. I needed an "attitude adjustment" on Monday and I'm happy to say that I finally got one!

 Ok, technically this happened last Friday after school....but it is way too exciting not to share! Last spring I won a grant to get iPads for my classroom and they finally arrived! Wooohoooo! I was so excited that I didn't mind staying at school until 7:00 on a Friday evening to set them up! I got enough money to get 14 iPad minis and cases! My principal walked in and took this picture:

I was given an unused charging station by my school that holds 10 of them. I'm still working on a secure solution for the other four. Any suggestions?

 Every other Tuesday I don't have a prep period, so I decided to make it something fun. I found a few cool art projects on Pinterest, but knew this one would be perfect for the first day of fall. You can see my Pin here. They are fall trees inspired by Kandinsky. What I really loved is that there is a common element to bring them all together, but each one is so unique and different. I think they all turned out beautifully! It was also super easy to prep!

We're practicing double digit addition and to make my station more fun/cool I let the kids write directly on the tables with dry erase. I totally stole this idea from a blog I read a few weeks ago. I really can't remember which one! Shout out to you if it was you! Anyway, they all felt like they were doing something taboo, but I let them know it was ok because they had my permission. It was funny to see them so nervous about writing on the table. We're practicing the strategy of adding using a hundred chart and counting forward by 10s and 1s. They are really picking it up and have gradually started using mental math to solve these problems.

I found this quote that I love:

 Part of my attitude adjustment plan was this seasonal favorite of mine:

I am in love with the Salted Caramel Mocha and I even got my daughter hooked on the Frappuccino version. This was my "Congratulations! You made it to Friday" celebration!