Five for Friday

Today is my last official day of October Intercession... SAD DAY!!!! I still have the weekend, but my two weeks with my sweet little girl are virtually over :(  It is Friday, though and time for Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching.

Last Saturday, my hubby gave my second birthday gift (Halloween is my actual birthday, MUHAHAHA) that was two tickets to see Disney's Beauty and the Beast Broadway production!  I went with my MIL.  We got dressed up and went to the show which was AMAZING!!!!  I had never seen it before and it was a wonderful gift! Here we are before the show.  We even had matching shoes!

I've been very busy this week getting my students accounts for a variety of websites.  They are now each signed up for 

Pearson Success Net

Penzu

Kidblog

and Infuse Learning

It took quite a bit of time to double check passwords and such, but now on Monday we can get working! You can click on each picture to see what you can use each site for!

The little one and I went and worked on some Christmas presents for the grandparents this week.  I know it's a little early, but I figured while I had the time, I might as well make good use of it! Any guesses what caused this face??? I won't be able to post their actual presents until after Christmas, but I think they are going to love their gifts!

I finished all of my grades for report cards this week!  Report cards go home in Tuesday folders.  4th grade math is hard but my kids have worked their tales off this first quarter!

The hubby and I are going to a local consignment event tonight for the 50% off sale!  We need to get Little Bit some fall/winter clothes that fit!  She's 10 months but just started wearing 6-9 months clothes! I love a good sale!

Now I'm on my way over to check out everyone else's 5 random things!!!

Tried It Tuesday: Today's Meet

I've been wanting to blog about Today's Meet for a couple of weeks now, so I'm finally getting around to doing it today for Tried It Tuesday with Holly over at Fourth Grade Flipper.

Today's Meet is a "back channel" that allows you to chat in real time.  Here is what the homepage looks like.

You create a room and decide how long you want it to be available.  Your room has a unique URL address for you and your students to use.

Then you give the kids the link and they type in their name and then can start responding to the topic at hand.  

I used Today's meet when I working on a Project Based Learning assignment called Road Trip.  At the end of class I had the kids tell me what they needed to work on and what information they already had.  It was a great way to see where everyone was and what issues I needed to address next class.  Here is part of their responses.  I did have some students type some goofy things and they got their privileges taken away :(  

The kids really loved it and have asked several times since if we can use it again! This would be a great resource for bell work, entry/exit tickets, or feedback on presentations.  I've also used it during my 21st Technology PLC trainings where we share websites with each other. The list is endless!

Five for Friday

I'm so proud of myself!!!  This is the third time I've blogged in 7 days!!!  Go me!!! It's Friday and that means it's time to link up with Doodle Bugs for 

I don't think I've officially mentioned that I am on FALL BREAK!!!!  Look at the leaves changing colors!  Aren't they just beautiful!

Our fall break is two weeks, so I still have one more week left to play catch up at school and spend all kinds of time with my little girl!!!  This is really the reason I've actually been able to blog this week and why I don't have very much school stuff to write about. I love this break, but I start working on my to-do list on about the 2nd day of school. :)

Because it is fall break, my MIL is in town for the weekend for all the craft fairs that happen the third week in October!   I usually buy very little but instead take away a lot of inspiration for my own crafts. I will be looking for some items for my little one's first birthday! *** GASP***

Can I just say that I have a new obsession with my Nikon 3100!!! 

In the past two weeks I've taken over 400 pictures!!!! I love my birthday gift and I rarely leave home without it!

Not only is MIL in town, but Ainsleigh's great grandparents always come into town for the craft fairs!  Ainsleigh was giving her great grandpa a run for his money last night!  I just love this picture!!!!

Last, but not least, I got to go get my hair done this week!  I've decided that I'm not going to chop it until the end of the school year.  I figure that is a good timeline and my hairdresser is going to hold me to it!  I love the red!!!

Tried It Tuesday - First Time!!!!

I keep telling myself that I'm going to get ahead with my blogging, but it never seems to happen!  Here I sit at 8:00 at night after putting the little one to bed to blog... sigh... at least I'm blogging, right???

Well, today I'm linking up with Fourth Grade Flipper  for Tried It Tuesday for the first time!

I try new things every week, but usually I'm either too busy or tired to blog about them. Today, my "tried it" doesn't technically have to do with teaching in school, but definitely teaching my daughter! 

 So last week, I got a text from my cousin in PHX asking me if I wanted to do a kids book exchange.  Of course I said yes even though we have a book shelf overflowing with books.  Is there such a thing as too many books???? I think not!  Well today, I got my letter from my cousin and the directions for how the book exchange works.  There are two names on the letter, one I didn't know and then my cousin's son's name.  I send a book to the first name and then I send out the same letter out with the names of my cousin's son and my daughter out to 6 people.  Basically it's a chain letter but the outcome isn't some bogus "you will live x number of days" but BOOKS!!!!  I sent out a round of texts and Facebook messages and actually got 8 friends to agree!!!  I made my copies and addressed the envelopes and will get them out in the mail tomorrow!!! 

Then I got on Amazon and bought this book to send the little girl on my letter.

This was way easier than going out and buying a book, plus with my Amazon Prime account, I got free shipping!!!  SCORE!!!!  Now, I just wait to get books for Ainsleigh!!!  I can't wait to see what books we get!

If you want to start your own Kids Book Exchange here is the link to the form I used.  Enjoy!!!

Monday Made It - Cardinals Blanket

It's Monday and Columbus Day... which means I got an extra day with the hubby!!!!  I love three day weekends!!!!

It's Monday and that means it's time for Monday Made It with Tara at Fourth Grade Frolics!

I only have one item to contribute and it has absolutely NOTHING to do with school, but I love it and so does the hubby!  It was a joint effort by me and the hubby.  So, my hubby is a huge fan of the St. Louis Cardinals ( We are watching game 3 of the NLCS as I blog).  A few weeks back we bought some Cardinals fleece at Johann's to make a no sew blanket as fall is finally setting in.  Our date night on Saturday included Star Trek: Into Darkness and blanket making! :)  Doesn't get much sweeter than that!

Here is the fleece.  We got two yards of each.  It's a great STL pattern.  As I said, it's no sew so all we needed was scissors.  

There was some remnant edges, so the first thing I did was cut off the edges so I would have a clean edge to start with.

Next, just lay the two pieces on top of one another.  Try to line them up as best as possible.

Now here is where I made a mistake.  I should have cut the corners out first, but I got a little ahead of myself and starting cutting the strips to tie.  I also made a second mistake here and didn't cut my strips long enough the first try.  I tied about 5 and then had to take them out and cut everything a little longer and start tying again.  

I did all the cutting and then the hubby would start tying at one end, while I started tying at the other end.  We did one side at a time, cut then tie.  I didn't get any pictures of the tied strips.

Here is the final product!!!!  It's just the perfect size for curling up and watching the Cardinals win another World Series!!!

I think he likes it!

Now I'm off to go check out everyone else's Monday Made It's!!!

Five for Fraturday

I've been MIA from the blogging world for a while, and I am terribly sorry!  With conferences and the hubby's administration schedule, life has been a little hectic!  I'm even late for Five for Friday, with Doodle Bugs Teaching but I really want to get caught up and recommit to blogging!  Here it goes...

Little Bit has started walking!!!  I can't believe how fast she is growing.  We are slowly trying to get her to wear shoes more often... she HATES them!!!  Hopefully she will grow out that!  She got a sweet new ride this week that she loves to play with.

Our school's fall carnival was this week, because as of yesterday, we are October Intercession!  Each class has a booth and the teachers who work the carnival for an hour get a cut of the money made from the carnival.  Last year, it was about $80!  

My booth was baseball toss and here is one of my awesome parents working the booth!

No carnvial would be complete without an adorable little 9 month old dressed up for Halloween!  She doesn't have her costume yet, so this had to do!

Yesterday, all of the teachers in the district who won 21st Century Technology grants got together for some PD.  This is a picture of us doing a fishbowl discussion outside on a beautiful October day!  It was so good to be able to talk and discuss what we are doing with our laptops and how the students are progressing and learning.  Teaching can be an isolating profession if you let it be, so collaboration is key!

One of my wonderful friends, Lisa , who moved to the other side of the country this summer, came for a visit this week!  I didn't get to spend a lot of time with her, but it was so good to see her!!!

Last but not least, we took the little girl to her first pumpkin patch today!  We went with some of our friends who also have a daughter almost exactly 1 year older than Ainsleigh.  It was great day for beautiful pictures with my wonderful new camera that I got as an early birthday present! 

Overall, I'd say it was a great week!  How was your week?