Guest Blogger!

I'm just popping in to say that I'm a guest blogger for Erin at Learning to Be Awesome today. I wrote a post about using QR codes in math centers. Check it out!

Five for Friday!

I'm linking up with Doodlebugs for FFF.

 My nephew just finished basic training for the Air Force. I wish I could be with him and his family during this proud moment. My students wrote him a bunch of letters recently and can't wait to get his responses to their silly questions: Do you have to parachute out of a plane? Do you get to launch missiles? What are you going to be for Halloween?

 We were off school on Tuesday and I had planned to get tons done but ended up going to Target and treating myself to lunch instead. I think I deserved it.

 This week we're learning subtraction strategies and I've been using the Subtraction Interactive Notebook from Angie at Lucky Little Learners. My kids love making these aspects of their interactive notebooks. It also gives them a chance to work on some of their fine motor skills.

sorry it's sideways...too tired to care.

 We're also continuing to practice other skills such as telling time, skip counting and working with three digit numbers. We've been using my Skip Counting Stars activity pack for math stations. The task cards with QR codes have skip counting by 2's, 5's, 10's and 100's. The kids love scanning the QR codes to check their answers.

High school soccer wrapped up this past weekend, with my oldest daughter's team taking 2nd in state! I'm just such a proud mama and can't wait to see my girls honored at the banquet tonight. I know it will be emotional because my oldest is a senior and will be going off to college before I know it. 

Sunday Scoop 11/9

I've been AWOL on this linky for a while...but I'm back. I'm usually so busy on Sundays I don't even have time to think! I'm linking up with The Teaching Trio for their Sunday Scoop Linky.

I have LOADS of laundry to do. It really never ends. On Sundays, I try to brainstorm all the dinners I'm going to make for the week and then make the list with the hubs, who doesn't mind going grocery shopping on his day off (Monday). This usually frees me up to do other things, but he isn't off tomorrow so I GUESS we're going to have to do it today. I really can't explain why I hate the grocery store so much. There isn't really a logical reason I can come up with.

I have been wanting to get together with friends for months now and there is just never time. Maybe Veterans Day will work? 

Last night I was watching Orange is the New Black with the hubs while also doing some work on my laptop. He looks over and says, "I wish I loved working as much as you do. You really seem to love it." He was talking about my little TpT store that I've been working on for almost a year now. I really do love creating new things for my class or my friends' classes that I can also sell on TpT. It is like therapy to get to be creative. Or maybe it's a sickness. Either way, I'm hooked.

Click the button below to head back to The Teaching Trio to see what everyone else is planning for the week!

Five for Friday & a Giveaway!

Hey everyone! I'm super duper tired this week even with the extra hour of sleep so I'm going to make this a quick one! I'm linking up with Doodlebugs for FFF! Read alllllll the way to find out how to win one of my products. It's easy peasy!

 Are you on Tsu yet? I just joined it and it has been pretty fun so far! I'm excited that this social media site lets ALL of your friends see your posts, not just a select few like you-know-who. If you'd like to join, you need to be invited, so here's your invitation!! Click here to sign up under my account! Then get going on friending everyone!

 I had my observation on Tuesday and even though I was super prepared, it didn't go as well as I had hoped. My AP thought I did great but I guess I just expected things to be smoother. It was one of my worst days of the year. Seriously. It got me thinking about how I beat myself up too much. It's one thing to demand excellence from yourself and a whole other thing to expect too much. Lesson learned: I'm a great teacher who can have an occasional bad day.

 I'm a winner! Woohoo! I just got an email this morning from sweet Christa from Learnin' Books (she has the cutest blog) about a contest I entered to win an Elf on a Shelf for my classroom. I wanted to do it last year but never got around to it and now I'm plotting and scheming. Any great ideas out there for me?

 On Tuesday, we held a grade level election. We gave students the opportunity to vote on our next field trip. They were so excited to be able to have a vote in something very important to them. It was adorable to see their smiling faces as they handed over their "voter registration card" and were given an "I voted" sticker after casting their ballots. It was priceless and I hope this moment will stay with them as they grow older and remember the importance of voting!

Last night was our Hollywood themed Family Math Night at school. We got a little carried away with the theme, but had a blast. We made a red carpet down the hall to the cafeteria and had a backdrop set up with "paparazzi"to take their pictures.

One of my students even wore a suit to our "premier"! Then we had popcorn, and of course, lots of math games and activities. We made a concessions sign for the popcorn area and had all the games on the "backlot".

Then we showed math movies in our computer lab screening room. It was topped off with a slideshow of all their red carpet pictures. It was so much fun! I used my Popcorn Time task cards with QR codes as one of the 2nd grade math games. I think it was the most popular station!!!

I even got my name on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

It has been a crazy, busy week! Leave a comment for a chance to win my Popcorn Time telling time activities pack.

Wordless Wednesday

I'm linking up with Miss DeCarbo at Sugar and Spice:

I love to use these expanders to teach place value with my intervention group. What do you use to help students grasp place value concepts?

November Currently

Fashionably late is what I'm calling this...but I couldn't miss a Currently with Farley at Oh Boy 4th Grade! 

Listening:
I love this song and can't get enough of it! I wasn't a huge fan of her first song, but this one is awesome!

Loving:
*Disclaimer*: I am a summer girl. I like it hot. I'd like to wear flip flops year round. However, I have to admit that the cooler temps are pretty nice once in a while. It isn't cold here yet so I'm still happy. Here in NM, we get 50 Shades of Brown during the winter and it is just depressing!

Thinking:
I'm ready. Right? What do I have to worry about? I'm a great teacher, gosh darn it! So why am I worrying? Oh yeah. It's that kid. The one who knows how to throw a wrench into the best lesson? You know what I'm talking about....

Wanting:
Conferences are coming in 3 weeks. I dread writing report cards and my district has changed them YET AGAIN this year. I just wish there was a magic app that could automatically enter my grade book scores onto the report card. How hard could that be????

Needing:
We haven't had one day since the beginning of October that the entire family was healthy. My oldest is still recovering from pneumonia and a nasty cough and now the hubs is sick, which is actually worse than the kids being sick. Sigh.

Reading:
Ha! I am in the middle of Allegiant, but I haven't read in a few weeks. I'd like to read, but there are more pressing things to do like watching Sons of Anarchy, Scandal, and my new favorites, Red Band Society and Scorpion. I really do love to read but my worn out brain just craves some down time. I read like a mad woman during breaks to make up for my lack of school year reading. Unless you count reading student work...which I think you should.

Five for Freaky Friday!

I'm linking up with Doodlebugs for a spooky Five for Friday.

 My student teacher is solo teaching this week, so I don't have tons to share. It is kinda nice to have some time to "catch up" on all the nagging tasks I've been meaning to get done since school started. I set up office in the teachers lounge all week, which is fun because I get to talk to people in other grades that I normally don't get to chat with. This also means I'm not all that productive. Can you say social butterfly?

 My student teacher is working with the students on measurement and did a few activities from the oh-so-fabulous Amy Lemons' I Can Measure pack. It is just too adorable and really full of good hands on activities to practice measurement. Here's my favorite part:

 We are also gearing up for an election next week so we're learning about election concepts. BTW, can all those senators, governors, and other people just STOP calling my house all evening?!? Sigh. I digress, but the kids are making lapbooks with some election vocabulary and other elements and then we're going to vote next week. Stay tuned for the results!

It is a well known fact that I'm a book hoarder bibliophile. The kids love my featured book shelf which changes frequently. Do I have enough Halloween books? I think not.

I'm Purplicious! Our admin requires that costumes be based on a book. This was the easiest and most comfy costume ever!