C-R-A-Z-Y week

I don't know when the last time I posted was...ugh.
Well Thanksgiving was great. Too bad both the Cougars and the Beavers lost. Better luck next year.
Teaching:
I have been crazy busy at school since then. Our report cards go home on Tuesday so I had a TON of assessment to complete. I am very thankful that my aide helped with that! We have been busy making Chritmas projects at school. I am VERY lucky in the fact that my school lets me do Christmas things! There is a tree in the entryway and in most classrooms (mine is going up tomorrow as I was not aware that they are on top of things and most people had them up last week...oops). The kids will be thrilled though since they have been asking me about a tree all week. We made gingerbread boys and girls, reindeer out of our feet, trees out of triangles and rectangles for math, countdown chains to work on our patterns. Oh and some super cute Santa's out of paper plates I cut in half :) This week the kids will be turned into reindeer as I borrow an idea from another blogger for a bulletin board idea. Oh and we wrote our letters to santa! I am telling you it was a C-R-A-Z-Y week. And the next two will probably be just as nuts if not more. What is your favorite book to read to your class? My very favorite book at Christmas is The Christmas Collie. We have always read it on Christmas Eve and I can't wait to read it to my class!
Funny story. I have a little one who is just...different. Doesn't much like participating with the group. Well she was particularly perky and bouncy on Friday. I said, "Who put ants in your pants today?" She actually started looking all over herself to fin the ants! I cracked up.



Life: I have been watching far too many Christmas movies while working on report cards. Oh and enjoying watching the National Finals Rodeo. Gotta love watching people ride bucking broncs, bucking bulls and catching little cows oh and don't forget the barrel racing. Also watched Fred Clause for the first time-if you haven't seen it I highly recommend.
I have definitely been getting fewer questions about whether or not I am going to move closer to my school (I drive 55 minutes each way everyday). But people still ask everyday how my drive was.
Alright I suppose I should go start some laundry or something...or continue to enjoy my cheesy Christmas movies.
Oh but did anyone else watch the finale of The Sing Off?! I was VERY pleased with the winner. Can't wait for tomorrows Christmas special! Hope everyone has a GREAT week! Hopefully I will post some pictures soon.

new siblings

I have three students with new little siblings (in the last 6 weeks). The newest one was born on Tuesday. The very proud big brother was telling us about his new little brother. I would ask a question and he would tell us about the baby. He told us how big he is, what his name is, and other baby things. Then I asked "Does he have a lot of hair?" His response, "Don't know, he came with a hat." It cracked me up! I am pretty sure that he thinks that his little brother will always wear a hat. Yesterday he told me that he finally has his baby-meaning that his mom and little brother are home from the hospital.

The kids thought it would be pretty awesome if their little brothers and sister were in the same kindergarten class when they get bigger like they are.

FIll in the Blank Friday

1.   A nervous habit I have is spinning my ring around...

2.   Something that makes me sad is when my students are sad. Like today when I had to carry the little guy onto the bus because he hates it so much-almost rode the bus with him today because I felt so bad. The crocodile tears get me every time.


3.  Today I am thankful for the amazing people in my life. My family! My friends, my friends who are more like family. And for my job! And all of the great memories that I have!




4. My favorite room in my house is... this is difficult. Either the living room with the view of the ocean or my bedroom-whichever one is warmer :)


5.  I can't stand when kids are not taken care of-or when I know that the student would be able to fulfill their potential if they had the support at home.


6.  If I had an extra $100 to spend on whatever I wanted today I would buy probably storage solutions to help me to be as organized as I want to be.

7.  The last person I hung out with was the other teachers at the Middle School lock in-and my mom she was there too. We were there to chaperone. Anyone who teaches middle school is a saint!

new look..and thankful

I decided it was time for a new look here in blog land. I have also decided that there is no other job where you have to write plans that describe every minute of the day. I just finished writing the plans for my sub for tomorrow so that I can kick this cold to the curb and they took me FOREVER. However they did make me realize just how THANKFUL I am for all of my blog friends! THANK YOU for all of the FABULOUS thanksgiving themed ideas! I love them! My kiddos will be doing the awesome turkey cut and glue that I found earlier today-and I can't wait to see how they turn out when I get back on Tuesday.

I also plan to spend my day at home on the couch making some very fun and math and literacy centers based on thanksgiving while I wait to go to a friends to watch Grimm and The Sing Off. (If you don't watch these two shows you should! Grimm is a little scary but also SO good and to make it better it's filmed In Portland, OR-which is only about 2 hours away from me. The Sing Off is simply wonderful! I love it! Past seasons have been even better but I definitely have my favorites on this season. Do you?)

 I have also given in and watched 2 (ok maybe 3) Christmas movies today...Hallmark was is having a marathon and I just couldn't pass it up. I do love a good mushy Christmas movie. I usually hold off until after Thanksgiving but when you have been laying on the couch sick for 2 days you run out of things to do-and I can't remember where I set my book. I am going to make myself wait to listen to Christmas music though.

I am a bit jealous of the bloggers who get all of next week off! We go to school Monday, Tuesday and half of Wednesday. I think the two Kinder classes are going to celebrate a Charlie Brown style Thanksgiving though-which should be very fun.

Hope everyone has a FABULOUS week!

3 day weekend...and I have a cold.

THANK YOU VETERANS FOR ALL YOU HAVE DONE, ARE DOING, AND CONTINUE TO DO FOR OUR COUNTRY!

Of course I got this awful cold I have been trying to avoid while I have a wonderful and very welcome 3 day weekend.


Being sick I have been spending WAY too much time online looking for lesson ideas. I have found a TON! Needless to say it will be a week full of Thanksgiving themed lessons. I even bought my first unit from TpT! Very exciting stuff here. I have been trying to find activities that are meaningful and fit learning objectives while still being exciting and cute for Thanksgiving. 

Pinterest has become my friend. I have found SO MANY things that I want to do. I just wish I had 3 more hours in the day to do them and the energy to make it through those 3 hours :)


On other non school related news I watched all of Harry Potter year 7. I just love HP!
I also tried a new recipe-major FAIL. Don't try the 2 ingredient pumpkin muffins that are all over pinterest. Unless I did something completely wrong they are not good. Oh and I burned my hand while making them. ugh.
My plan for the rest of tonight-cozy up with a mug of hot chocolate and watch Country Strong ( I heard good things about it today so I decided to watch). I will let you know how it is.

I have decided on a random facts post for today...

1) I HATE being cold! I would much rather be way too hot than being cold at all. And recently it has been VERY cold-in the mornings, during the day, at night. Just makes me realize I need some new sweaters.
2) Kinders are very open. I had a boy who had an unfortunate accident the other day. Another student was in the bathroom at the same time and they both came to tell me what happened. Then the rest of the class heard of course-when you come back crying and saying what happened very loudly that tends to happen-then the rest of the class proceeded to say things like: "I still wet my pants sometimes" "I do to" "It happens sometimes". This cracked me up.
3) Halloween was an interesting experience in Kinderland. The two days after were the bad part-those are some crabby kids when they are coming down from a sugar high.
4) We have completed the alphabet in class... My kids still continue to ask daily what letter we are going to do.
5) I have been reading my kids "Ramona the Pest." THEY LOVE IT! But it's almost over. They are completely comprehending it and I love having them recall the things that have happened in the last few days in the book. I don't know what to read to them next! HELP! Any suggestions?
6) I am not ready for winter weather. I drive 50 minutes each way to school and adding snow to that will make my mornings much more difficult... I don't mind driving in the snow however my car does and I don't like to when it's dark-which is pretty much the only time that I do any driving.
7) I watch WAY too much TV. Here is a list of the shows I watch on a regular basis: General Hospital (I know it's bad but I can't stop), Desperate Housewives, CSI Miami, Sister Wives (this is just plain strange I know but it is entertaining and interesting), Ridiculousness (if you need a laugh this is your show), The Sing Off, Glee, Last man Standing (so funny! Especially since I am the oldest of 3 girls myself), NCIS (sort of), Only in America with Larry the Cable guy (haha!), CSI Vegas, CSI New York, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, Grimm (this is a new one, but I am liking it.), Revenge. I now feel like I have absolutely NO life! yikes. At least I watch them on the DVR so that they are not taking up as much time and I am nearly always doing some type of school work while I watch.
8) Apparently for me an extra hour of sleep in the fall means going to bed at 1:30 and waking up at 5:30. Seriously?! I did manage to stay in be until 7:30 though.
9) I have a dog. Her name is Napili-this is the bay I stayed on when I went to Hawaii. But I am renting a place so she is not allowed to live with me. It makes me sad because there is nothing better than coming home from a long day to a dog that is so excited to see you that her tail nearly falls off from wagging so hard. She is living with my mom-only 15 minutes from me but I haven't been spending anywhere near enough time with her. I think that will be my goal this month.
10) I hate being disorganized-but I constantly am. It drives me NUTS! I need about a week to get all of my organization in order so that it can stay that way. I could also use about 2 extra hours each day to get everything done.
11) I am TERRIBLE at video games. I realized this once again last night. And I am sure after that embarrassing pitiful attempt I made I will never hear the end of it.
Hopefully I will also find more time to write this month. I can't wait for the three day weekend! And then a regular week followed my THANKSGIVING! I can't wait! And I get to have it at my house this year! Super excited! Hope everyone out there in blogland is enjoying this wonderful weekend.

Sorry I have neglected my blog...

I haven't written in forever! Teaching is exhausting and there isn't much time to write. So I have a list of the things that have been happening in hopes of shortening this post, so I can go bake some cookies.

1) Today I was told that my hair looks like Rapunzel. My hair is really not that long-it's blonde but seriously Rapunzel?! I guess I have to look at it from a 5 year olds view... Just makes me think that I need to cut my hair more-or change my halloween costume :)

2) We went to the pumpkin patch on Tuesday. I wish I would have had more adults go with us. But we survived and didn't forget anyone. And everyone came home with a pumpkin.

3) I let my students vote on what I should be for Halloween. I gave them choices: witch, princess, tennis ball, teacher, cat. They chose Witch. We get to do all sorts of stuff for Halloween at our school-including parties, kids wearing costumes at school and we are going to have a whole school activity race. Should be very fun! I am planning to go all out in my room-just because I can. Oh and my sister is going to help with the party-she is going to be the black cat :)

4) I survived conference week. And actually had my last one tonight. Conference week is the longest week with the shortest days! ugh. I was EXHAUSTED! But I was glad I got to talk to all of those parents.

Other things going on here in my little world:
Tomorrow is the WSU vs. OSU game and I can't wait to go!

It's raining here-I actually don't mind it because that means soup, warm cookies and being cozy on the couch with a movie.

Speaking of movies: I definitely suggest Footloose-it's a very good remake.

I got to watch the home team win a volleyball game last night!