Five for Friday!

I cannot believe it's Friday!! I was absent 2 1/2 days this week, so it flew by! This was a super interesting week...

1. Baby Jackson had a well-baby checkup and his doctor was impressed with his verbal skills! :) Yay! He says a lot of "Gaga" and "dada". So precious!

 

2. We got our preview proofs for our family photo session. So far, so good!

 

 

 

 

3. My kids did really well on their fraction assessment! Yay!! I made some fraction cards for math stations using some clip art I got on TPT. I love TPT...I always find exactly what I need! I changed my cards from my previous post to include color and black and white! You can pick them up here.

 

 

 

4. My principal helped me organize a donation drive for the families in West, Texas. My kids are so excited about helping out and I cannot wait to see what our school comes up with!

 

5. My husband is running the Tough Mudder tomorrow...and I get to sleep in!! (Well sleep in as much as Baby Jackson lets me!) ;)

 

Oh and I'm going to add a #6...

WE SOLD OUR HOUSE! YAYYY! :)

 







Support West, Texas!

Click on the pic to find ways you can help!

Alright y'all...I cannot believe what kind of week it's been. First, Boston. Now, West. For those of you Texans out there, I feel like EVERYONE has visited the Czech Stop on their way to or from Dallas. In college we always stopped in West on the way to the Texas/OU game. The people there were always friendly and welcoming.

I cried and cried when I heard about the tragedy there. I feel so bad for those people who have lost their loved ones, homes and belongings. I have been absent the last two days, I've been sick as a dog, and I pulled up to school this morning and immediately approached my principal about starting a donation drive at our school. I called the Red Cross and I got a hold of two locations taking donations.

The Red Cross told me that they really need bottled water. It's very expensive for us to ship the water, but if you are interested in donating personally, please consider water! We are asking the families at our school to donate clothes, blankets and toiletries. 

Here are the two locations I have been told are taking donations:

Peas and Tots Clothing Store
8506 Oakdale Drive
Waco, Texas 76712

and 

Axtell High School
308 Ottawa Street
Axtell, Texas 76624

Our donation drive goes through Thursday. I hope we can give some joy to our fellow Texans. God Bless Y'all!

Fraction Cards Freebie!

Hey Y'all! Quick post tonight, I've been home sick for the last 3 days. You'd think I would get a ton of work done on my laptop (lesson plans, blogposts, etc) but not so much! I've felt pretty yucky and my 6 month old is feeling under the weather too. So it's been crazy! I did manage to grade some papers and get some fraction cards made. 

We are working on understanding the more fractional parts in a whole, the smaller the part. For example, 1/4 is smaller than 1/2. To reinforce this concept, I'm having my kids use these fraction cards to play "war". I added the directions with the cards. Pick them up if you think you can use them! :) 

I'm off to bed! 

Prayers for Boston

I feel like the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary happened just yesterday. Now, another tragedy strikes our nation. Words cannot express how much it saddens me to see such senseless acts of hate. So many innocent lives have been affected today. So many people have been hurt, some even killed today. 

When I heard that one of the victims was an 8 year old boy, I couldn't handle it. I'm a second grade teacher. My students are 8 years old. They are innocent and beautiful. I'm also a mother and I cannot imagine what that child's mother is going through right now. Please say a prayer for the people of Boston, for the victims, for the families of the victims and for everyone working to protect and save the lives of the innocent. I'm going to hug my baby boy a little tighter tonight and thank the Lord for taking care of me and keeping my family safe. 

If you want to leave your thoughts or join in for some prayers, you are welcome to. God Bless   You All!

Imaginative Stories Publishing Craft

Hey Y'all!

I'm going to keep this short and sweet, it's already almost 6 and I'm still at school! Just wanted to share this simple template I created for my kids to publish their imaginative stories tomorrow. I cannot upload it to Google Docs on this laptop but I uploaded it to TPT. Click on the picture to get the download. Have a great evening! :)

Bluebonnets!

I found bluebonnets growing in my yard this morning! I LOVE me some Texas bluebonnets. I also found a cute set of Texas style graphics from Melonheadz Illustrating so I was inspired to create some bluebonnet diddys for my kiddos. 

Here's a social studies/science worksheet, easy peasy label the bluebonnet!

We just read The Legend of the Bluebonnet last week. When I asked the kids what the theme was, one of my kids said, "Well, ya know, it's like sometimes you've gotta give, to get."  Pretty profound for a 7 year old I might say!

I created a reading response for recording theme. I left one blank because I'm going to have my kids use this for Daily Five reading responses for other texts. Feel free to grab it and use it! I've included a lined and unlined version. 

Have a great weekend y'all!

Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching

I have not participated in a Linky for a while, pretty excited! So my "Five for Friday" are...

1. We had some super yummy cupcakes for one of my students' birthdays! They were ADORABLE!

2. My class finished their endangered animals research. We made brochures for our animals. The kids took about 2 weeks to complete these. They went to the computer lab and library to research. I was really pleased with their final products:

I love her "close up look". So glad they picked up on this text feature!

3. My kids ROCKED an expository prompt I gave them in science. They had to write about how a frogs adaptations help it survive. We spent the previous week completing awesome science stations I found on www.stemscopes.com. (If you are a Texas teacher you HAVE to check out the activities on this site. I think your district has to subscribe to it, ask your administrators!) Here are some pics of the stations.

An animal picture sort according to characteristics.

Camoflauge activity where the kids timed themselves picking up pieces of paper and recording the number of each they could pick up.

Smelling jars: The kids smelled different scents, recorded what they thought it was, and wrote about how animals use their noses to survive.

A sample from one of my kids' science notebooks. They had to explain how the frog's characteristics help it survive. I was super proud of them! I think we are STAAR ready! (Texas teachers know what I'm talking about!) 

4. I got to see my dear friend Elissa who came home to Texas from Boston. Love you Smelly! ;)

5. I found a super cute fruit container for Jackson! This little contraption is made by Munchkin I believe? Not sure...but you stick whatever fruit or vegetable you want your baby to suck on and it keeps him from choking. The handle has a mesh bag on the end where he can suck the food out of in tiny pieces. He looked SO cute eating his banana in it! (It was quite messy, of course!)

I love this little angel! Happy Friday y'all! :)