It Never Rains in Florida!

Today we studied seasons and weather in Social Studies and made a foldable! I don't do a ton of foldables but my class really loves them. I think they're into the little flaps, haha.

They had to draw a picture of the season and then write a little something about the weather during that season.

Part of what we learned today was that different parts of the country have different weather at the same time. We talked about how people from Illinois go to Florida during the winter because it's warmer there than it is here, and then I learned from my class that it NEVER rains in Florida! Isn't that interesting?

In other news, our little zinnias are coming up beautifully!

And while I was by the window taking this picture, I noticed our sweet kite glyphs that are making our room so cute!

This glyph is from the Great Glyphs Around the Year e-book from Scholastic. 

I got it during one of the dollar specials and it is pretty sweet. I especially loved this particular glyph because there was no gluing involved! We have been totally out of glue since before Christmas... yikes.

And I leave you with this which made me die laughing today! I hope you're enjoying the last day of April, because starting tomorrow......

Spring Has Sprung!

Yesterday I had a guest in my class!

A friend of mine is going to school to be a teacher, and she needed to create and then teach a lesson for her Exceptional Child class. So she came on in and taught about poetry!

The entire class wrote acrostic poems about spring and then the second graders wrote cinquains about bees. I put them all in the hallway for a cutesy little spring display.

Spring is "steaming hot"? News to me... we haven't gotten above 50 degrees for a few weeks now!

Bees have a thorax, head, and abdomen! Shout-out to Kelley for teaching a memorable lesson. :)

Across the hall, the preschool display is looking fabulous!

The individual flowers are made up of the preschoolers' handprints. On the inside is squares of tissue paper glued onto a construction paper circle.

Our end of the hallway is looking so colorful and nice!

Also today I'm linking up with Jen's word wall linky party with an older post of mine. Go check out her party!!!

You Get a Tree! And You Get a Tree!

Today was Arbor Day! I was scrambling for something to do for it. Last year, I visited the Arbor Day website and found this really sweet Tree Diversity project that I did with my 7th and 8th graders. This year I had a hard time finding something age-appropriate that was fun.

So I just fell back on my favorite thing ever... read aloud!!!!

We read this lovely little book, Franklin Plants a Tree. I just happened to have it in my library! It's actually an Earth Day book but it worked out well enough for me today.

In the book, Franklin's teacher gives him and his classmates saplings of their own. Franklin starts out as a crabbypants about his tree being so small, but he eventually comes around and brightens up. Hooray for you, Franklin.

While we were reading the book, I stopped once and said, "Wow, how nice of Franklin's teacher to give him his very own tree. Wouldn't it be sweet if you guys got your own trees?"

"Yes," they sighed in envy.

Well well well! Luckily enough for them, my mom is a forward thinker and had bought 12 little saplings for my class! When the book was over, I told them I had something for them. Then I whipped out the trees, Oprah-style! "You get a tree! And YOU get a tree! Everybody gets trees!!!!!!!!!!"

To say they were pleased would be an understatement. I had screaming, lots of hugs, and general craziness. Some of the trees were named. These names included Red, Katie, Mr. Baby, and Isis.

It was really exciting and a great way to start the weekend! :)

Field Trip Guilt

So I have my very first field trip coming up, and tomorrow I need to announce the chaperones.

I can take two, and six want to go.

I am feeling so guilty and I don't know who to pick!!!!!!!! :(

Should I go with...

• the mom who works a lot and would probably appreciate a day to spend with her kid? Her kid is also INCREDIBLY well-behaved, which leads me to believe that she can definitely handle a group of kids.
• the stay-at-home mom who is super nice and volunteers at school? She has helped me out with a few things in the past. I love her daughter even though she is a little wild...
• the single working mom who only has one kid? She might not have a lot of other opportunities for field trips!!

Or should I just assign everyone a number and use Random.org?? Haha!

What is your school policy on choosing chaperones? Do you ask for volunteers and choose randomly? Do you ask for volunteers and "choose randomly" (that's what we do!!)? Do you call parents ahead of time and never ask for volunteers (that's what my student teaching school did)?

Help me out here!!

E is for Experiment!

I haven't been very diligent about updating you all on our ABC Countdown!! :(

So far we have gotten through A - Animal Day, B - Buddy Reading Day, C - Clean-Up Day, and D - Dancing Day. Dancing Day was definitely the best and reminded me that I NEED to incorporate movement breaks into my day on the regular!

Yesterday was E, Experiment Day! I was looking for something quick and fun, so I looked around online and found this cute little experiment using only a few materials: Skittles, bowls, and water!

Before we started, we each made a hypothesis about what would happen if we put Skittles in water. Some thought the Skittles would disappear, some thought they'd dissolve, and one wishful thinker thought they'd explode. Haha!

What really happens is that the colors come off and make a beautiful little display!

Here we are in our little experiment circle!

I gave each of the kids 3 Skittles. Then I filled their bowls with JUST enough water to cover a Skittle (so, hardly any). Then I instructed the kids to carefully place their 3 Skittles equally apart so they weren't touching in the bowl. And that was it!

It will take a few minutes to start dissolving, so don't despair if you don't see the color instantly start to spread! I was a little worried at first, but it just needed some time.

The kids are still talking about it excitedly today! Super fun, super simple, and hardly any cleanup. :)

Subtraction Sort {Freebie!}

In second grade, we are working on double-digit subtraction with regrouping.

They have caught on super fast. However, they have gone regrouping CRAZY! They will regroup anything and everything... which turns out to be a problem.

To help them stop and think before they regroup, I created this little double-digit subtraction sort for them to do today.

Based on the subtraction regrouping poem, the kids will sort problems into groups based on whether they need to regroup or not. After they sort the problems into the "more on the top", "more on the floor", or "numbers the same" groups, they can take a problem and solve it on a whiteboard.

Could you use this in your class? We're using it as a math work station. Click on the picture of the document to download it. Let me know if you use it!! This is the first idea that has come out of my own brain that I wanted to share so I am pretty excited!!!

Table of Contents?? Gasp!

In Social Studies right now, our chapter is called ... Our Earth, I think. This chapter includes such things as:

• city/state/country/continent
• landforms
• seasons
• taking care of the Earth
• how we change the Earth (mining... using too many resources... that sort of thing)

It seems semi-disjointed and random but they are all pretty fun topics so I'm happy I picked this chapter to end the year with!

We already finished the city/state/country/continent portion, and I will have to put up pictures of that soon... but today we began the landforms portion!

I was planning on spending the weekend making a landforms freebie, but the more I thought about it, the more I knew I could just use what I already had to make the same thing I was planning on spending hours creating.

So... here it is!

This was my sample... none of my kiddos has handwriting that is this amazing. ;)

I just folded a piece of construction paper, folded up six pieces of regular notebook paper, and stapled it together. Actually I had two kids in for recess detention today, so we had a little assembly line going on.

Over the course of our mini-unit on landforms, we're going to learn about 8 different kinds of landforms. For each one we learn about, the students will write a sentence explaining the landform and draw a picture of it. Today we learned about islands and peninsulas. I didn't take any peninsula pictures, but here are some of the island examples.

I had them skip the first page of the book so we could make a table of contents when we're finished with the whole book, but I didn't tell them that part right away. When I told the class about skipping the first page, one girl said, "Hmm... I'm thinking on that first page we might want to write, 'A landform is.....' and fill in the blank." I said, "Well, I was thinking we could make a table of contents so you can refer to the right page when you want to teach other people about landforms."

"A table of contents?????????" she cried. "Wow!!!!!!!!!"

So I think that one was a winner. :)

They are PSYCHED, seriously, about filling up this landform book. I am psyched about seeing how much they are absorbing about landforms. So far they've learned that the S in "island" is silent, and if you pronounce the S, their teacher will get mad. And they know that Florida is a peninsula. Haha! But for reals, it's been a great way to liven up Social Studies!!

More on the Top?

Hello and happy Saturday!!

So right now in second grade, we are working on double-digit subtraction with regrouping. Honestly, this entire year in second grade math, the kids have known how to do everything already or caught on CRAZY fast. This is the first topic I've taught them where they haven't flown through it. It feels good to finally challenge their brains!!

The verbage in my book to teach this fantastical topic was so dry. So I remembered the subtraction poem I read on The Inspired Apple and taught it to them!

{source}

After I taught them how to do double-digit subtraction, I wrote a problem for each kid on the whiteboard and then they took a dry erase marker and solved it. After I checked their work, they made up their OWN problem and we did a mini Scoot game where they'd move around to solve their friend's problem! It was fun and they loved making up their own problems.

That's all of them.... all 5 second graders.

I'm looking forward to going back on Monday and working more on this super fun concept! They are loving the challenge so far!

Giveaway Winner!!

Happy Friday, friends!!

This was a long week for some reason. The kids are starting to lose it and the ABC Countdown is not helping... although they tend to shape up when I suggest that we just skip the ABC Countdown celebration for that specific day. Sigh.

Oh wells! Weekend time!

I have a winner for the Teacher Tipster giveaway!

Congratulations to Alyce!! I'll get in touch with you soon. :) And you all should check out her blog, too! She teaches at an ag/tech charter school and they have a farm there! Sooo interesting!

I always roll my eyes when other bloggers say this buuuuut I really wish I had a DVD for everyone who entered! Your stories about the Teacher Tipster made me so happy and I was just tickled by all of the comments. Also I have never use the word "tickled" in a sentence like that before! Haha!

I felt like there was something else I wanted to say... hmmm....

Oh yeah!

Tomorrow I am heading back to school in the morning because it is time for my second graders' First Reconciliation. We have been prepping and practicing and talking about sinning and forgiveness a lot. I hope they don't get scared and I hope they can remember what to do!

Also on Sunday I am going to a bridal shower! I am SUPER PUMPED! I love showers and I have the cutest gift! I will show you on Sunday afterwards... I don't think the bride reads my blog but you never know! I do post my posts on facebook and we are friends!

Hopefully I'll post again this weekend. I have an idea for a freebie I want to make on landforms. Anyone else doing geography/maps/landforms right now?

Dun Dun Dun...

Just some pictures to share today! I have a new obsession with the Picasa download! You can make collages very easily and I much recommend it.

First, I wanted to show off my clean room!

I guess this just looks moderately neat... but that entire windowsill by the circle table was COVERED with stuff. It's the only surface in my classroom where I can stack things, and stack I do. Before the open house I just shoved everything into that blue plastic tub there. I love the way the windowsill looks now!!

One of my little ladies was in India for three weeks and she brought me back a gift!

It hangs up and each panel is a pocket! It is so pretty and I love it!!

We also got to eat Indian candy!

It was a chocolate bar that was a little nougat-y in the middle. It says it had caramel but it wasn't overwhelmingly carmely. Yummo!

Last week we read The Pokey Little Puppy, and one of my second graders made a copycat version starring kittens. It was quite lengthy, but the last two pages were my favorites.

The End............ or is it? DUN DUN DUN! Haha!!!!! I always say "dun dun dun" at the end of our Magic Tree House chapters. This seriously cracked me up yesterday. I loved it more because her story was incredibly not suspenseful, as it was about kittens eating dinner. Haha!

Tomorrow we start our ABC Countdown! The last 26 days of school are upon us.... ridic. Are you doing an ABC Countdown? Here is my schedule if you need some ideas! Just click on the picture. :) And if you're interested, and want to know more about a specific day, let me know. Or stay tuned because I will be excited (hopefully) to post about the days of our countdown.

I am really hoping that I don't regret making tomorrow animal day..... let's see if we can keep it together!

If you haven't entered my giveaway for the Teacher Tipster's Musical Morning Routine DVD, you should!! It ends on Friday. Thank you to the people who have entered so far! You have warmed my heart 21 times over. :)

Happy Birthday to My Blog!!

One year ago on this very day I started my little blogaroo!

You have been with me through a lot! This includes...

• When I was still teaching seventh and eighth grade as a maternity leave sub
• When I found out that I got my job for this year
• All the crazy stuff I found when I first got into my classroom
• My first day of school
• My first classroom party
• When I felt confident enough to give advice to other multiage teachers

And so much more!

As I've said before... my school community is miniature and so having you all out there to support me has been crazy awesome. Seriously, CRAZY AWESOME.

So as a thank you, I'm having my very first giveaway! Yay!!!!!!!!

You have a chance to get the Teacher Tipster's Musical Morning Routine DVD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As I just said yesterday, I love this DVD so, so much. If you want to make your morning routine more interactive, more happy, and more fun - then this is for you! Even if you have the best morning routine EVER, you might learn a few new little songs and fun ways to recognize student achievement!

Here's the promo video if you're wondering what it's all about!

In the DVD, he tells us that his morning routine covers up to 100 skills a day. 100!!!! A day!!!!

So, if you want to win, here's the scoop!

All you need to do is follow me (thanks!!!!) and leave me a comment. In this comment please tell me two things...

1. That you follow me
2. Your favorite Teacher Tipster video!! I know I haven't seen them all. :)

So that is just one comment!

If you'd like another chance, feel free to write about my giveaway in your blog or on facebook! Or wherever! You can only get 1 extra chance for this. Two chances in all if you wish! Leave me a comment for that too with the link where you shared it. :)

This blog birthday giveaway will end this Friday, April 20 at 2:40 PM - the very minute that my weekend begins. Good luck friends!!! The Teacher Tipster rules, and you will be so happy if you win!! :)

Thanks again for being there for me! <3

Where Do Teachers Go For Tips?

If you can't answer that question in my post title..... please get on the Teacher Tipster train!!!

So for a while, I have been wanting to buy the Teacher Tipster's Musical Morning Routine DVD. I think I asked for it for Christmas buuuuuuut I didn't get it. So on Wednesday afternoon, I was at school late and I decided just to go for it and buy the DVD!

Within an hour, I got an email saying it had been shipped and I had it in my little hands by Saturday morning. Pretty awesome.

And the DVD is great. Maybe you have a great calendar routine... I don't. I really need to revamp it for next year and I think this DVD can help! My class loves to sing!

Moving on...

Today we had a prospective new family open house. As I talked about in my My Teeny Tiny School post, we have a really small school community and we're always trying to recruit new students!

I came to school early, cleaned up a ton (as in... I dumped tons of stuff into a tub and shoved it in a corner), and my room looked so beautiful! I should take a picture tomorrow because it probably won't look like that again. :)

And sadly.... no one came. :( We went to two Masses and the priests introduced us to the church families, but nobody stopped by. It was okay with me because I needed to make copies and finish planning for this week. But it was a little bit sad.

I also found out that I am losing a Kindergartener that I thought would be in my class next year! His family is moving away. So now I am down to 17 for next year. I will have a semi-normal class size!!! Now you can be a little bit less mad at me.

Come back tomorrow because... guess what! It is my blog's first birthday tomorrow!!!!!!!! And I have a little something something in store for ya.

Vowel Bat!

Happy Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Every day after we go to the computer lab for XtraMath, I play a little video that I've found while we're in the lab. I like to break up the intense concentration with a little singing! I typically get my videos from Harry Kindergarten's Youtube channel. The kids sing like crazy people and seem to have no idea that they are still doing school stuff...

For the past few days, there has been a Batman-looking video that keeps showing up in the "related videos" sidebar. Every day, my boys are like, "BATMAN VIDEO!!!!!!!!!!" So finally I gave in and it ended up being the bomb dot com.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, Vowel Bat.

We watched it again today by popular demand.

So today was our first official Homework Club luncheon! Due to some absences, I had 6 out of my 12 kids for lunch today. Everyone got hot lunch, which was grilled cheese, we ate Fruit Rollups for dessert, and we watched 10 minutes of Dolphin Tale.

The Homework Club luncheon got RAVE reviews. I heard such comments as, "This is the best lunch ever!!!" And, "I love Homework Club because we can throw away our trays whenever we want to!!!!!!!!!!!" Haha! Here is a really sunny picture of us enjoying our lunch together.

Last thing - on Sunday we are having a prospective family open house. I was telling this to two of my first graders today at recess, and I asked them if they wanted more kids in our class. They said yes, and when I asked why, they told me that they would "get more candy." When I inquired further, I found that they were talking specifically about the Valentine's Day party, and that if we had more than 12 kids on Valentine's Day, they would get more Valentines and more candy.

I guess that is a plus?

12 on the 12th: April Edition

Today was so much more fun since it was a 12 on the 12th day!!!

And without further ado.... here's my day in photographs!

And here is the scoop on each picture! I'm going left to right on each row. :)

(1) There was frost on my car today. FROST. Inappropriate.

(2) I have been listening to the audiobook of Jon Stewart's book, Earth, while I am driving. I haven't ever listened to an audiobook before and I don't know if I would again... but Jon Stewart read it and it was funny.

(3) Today I decided to teach a comprehension strategy - questioning! My reading series doesn't teach strategies outright so I haven't had a chance to do this very often this year. I read a Curious George book that actually lent itself incredibly well to the teaching of this strategy because a lot of weird things happened. Anyway, afterwards, the kids had to pick out a book to read and then write a question they asked themselves on a post-it note. This is one girl hard at work on a Frog and Toad book!

(4) And here are the questions we asked ourselves about the Curious George book! We had way more than this but I only took one question per page.

(5) Every day at 1:00, I relieve the Pre-K teacher so she can take a bathroom break. The kids are so so cute and we are like BFFs now.

(6) We have a prospective family open house on Sunday, so I got these little beach baskets from Dollar Tree to hold books at each table. They're working out really well!

(7) We planted zinnias on Tuesday! I overwatered them. :(

(8) In first grade math, we're working on place value. Today we regrouped numbers up to 50 using cubes. It went super well!

(9) I had my first (and only) observation of the year today and I told the kids if they were not crazy that we could do something fun. So I gave them a 5 minute extra recess. I'm soooooooo nice, haha!

(10) Off to ESL class I go! Driving down the tollway here.

(11) Finally home! Only 14 hours after I left............ sigh.

(12) And I left my phone in the bathroom at my house!!! All day I had no idea what time it was... what the weather was outside... how long the kids were on the computer... it was all a guessing game. Note to self: don't do that again.

Hooray! Thanks, Kacey, for hosting. :)

Split Class Tricks and Tips

Happy Monday!! It is happy for me because we have Easter Monday off from school. :) So far I have read a lot, taken a nap, ridden my bike to the post office, and I'm about to have lunch!

Christina Bainbridge is having a linky party about tips and tricks for managing a split class! I have gotten some emails about this as well, and I'm super pumped to read everyone else's great ideas.

Just as a little bit of background - I teach a first/second grade multiage classroom in the suburbs of Chicago. I work in a Catholic school, so the multiage situation is purely out of necessity because of numbers. If you want to know more about my school, I wrote about that in my My Teeny Tiny School post. If you want to get a play-by-play of how a typical day in my classroom goes, I wrote about that in my A Day in My Shoes post. So feel free to check those out for more background info.

Moving on to my tips and tricks!

• I teach all subjects as a whole group except for reading and math. My reading program is very scripted and doesn't allow for differentiated groups, so I meet with one grade level while the other grade does a worksheet. For math, I meet with one grade level while the other does math centers/stations.
• Like Christina, I encourage my first graders to work to a second grade level. The subject in which I find myself differentiating most often is writing. For example, we researched animals a while back, and I required the first graders to write a 5-sentence paragraph while I required the second graders to write an essay. But the researching and writing process was the same!
• I utilize peer teaching opportunities whenever possible. The second graders love to help the first graders solve math problems. I also utilize peer teaching quite a bit when we are revising and editing our writing.
• Many times throughout the year, I have "caught" the first graders listening in on the second graders' lessons, which has allowed for lots of unplanned mini-lessons and enrichment!! For example, earlier this year we covered homonyms in second grade, which our first grade curriculum has not touched at all. Since most of the first graders learned homonyms through osmosis (haha), we did a little homonym activity that I wouldn't have done otherwise with only the 5 second graders! This is happening right now with fractions - the second graders are learning fractions like 5/6 and 4/5, and I have a few first graders who sit on the side of the carpet and answer the questions along with the second graders. :)
• As our first whole group activity of the day, we complete a little Chit Chat morning message inspired by Deanna Jump. Typically, I cover what we learned the day before in science or social studies and then I'll pick the first grade or second grade math lesson from the day before to review. If I pick the first grade lesson, it's a great way to get everyone to get a little reinforcement on the skill, and if I pick the second grade lesson, it helps me see which second graders are comfortable enough with the skill to teach a first grader. It's an easy informal assessment that doesn't feel like one to the kiddos!

It's important to keep in mind that I am only a first-year teacher! So every day is a new adventure, I definitely don't have all the answers, and I keep trying new things to be the best teacher I can be to my multiage classroom!!

Making Models of Fossils and Homework Club

Last week we did a fun little guided inquiry lab to learn about fossil imprints.

First, we used Play Doh and a plastic cube to make an imprint.

Then we wrote down how our imprint and the cube were alike and different. Size and shape were two of the ideas the kids had.

After that, the class had to secretly make an imprint of something else in the room. They shared their imprint and the rest of the class had to guess what the original object was.

The dice one was my favorite! It absolutely illustrated what we were trying to learn - that imprints and fossils look like the animal or plant that made them. And that observing and studying fossils teach us about what came before us!

We had a great time and it really drove home important information about fossils. :)

And in other news - a few people wanted to know more information about Homework Club. I actually got the idea from Molly at Lessons with Laughter. 

I made a little chart that I hung on the whiteboard in the front of the room with everyone's name on it. At the beginning of the day, I put a little sticker next to everyone's name who brought back their finished homework. After 5 days have passed, whoever has brought their finished homework back every day will get to eat in the room (instead of the cafegymatorium - haha), I'll show 20 minutes of a movie, and I'll give them a little treat. Once the initial "trial period" of 5 days is over, I'll probably extend it to a few weeks before we have a special lunch. I just wanted our first try to be doable for all the kids.

Like I said yesterday, two of my boys who have regularly missed recess for most of the year have brought their work back finished BOTH days so far, and that is a big deal to me! I wish I would have done this earlier, but now I will know for next year. :) I feel like I say that a lot!

What Went Right Today?

Not a sarcastic title!!

This is a great linky party hosted by Confessions of a Teaching Junkie. Since we didn't have school today, my answers are more like a "what went right yesterday" situation. 

I love focusing on positives so here we go!

And now I will explain!

1. The entire last half of the day yesterday was consumed by an Easter egg hunt and games. I managed to squeeze in math in the morning luckily! Anyway, for the hunt each kid was allowed to find and keep two eggs. We went over this a bunch of times but I still wasn't sure how it would go down. Luckily, as soon as each kid found their two eggs, they came running back to the room just like they were supposed to! Yay! And for the games, each classroom was a different station and I stayed in my room while the kids rotated around. No one said anything afterwards about how they behaved so I'm assuming they were fine, which is also a relief!! :)
2. Transitions take us a while... which is something I want to focus on for next year. Yesterday, however, we somehow had like 3 minutes before it was time for lunch, so we got to play a little Silent Ball which we haven't played in months!
3. I mentioned that I was thinking about starting a Homework Club to reward all the kids who do their homework and bring it back. Two of my boys who legit have not come back to school with finished work in many, many days have both brought their homework back since Homework Club started. I did a little happy dance both days and I'm pretty sure they think I am a weirdo. Haha! Whatever works!!

Happy Friday to you!

My Day in a List

I have lots of stuff to say today so I'm just going to make a list!

• Let's start by saying that today my class was very well-behaved in comparison to a normal day. This always happens to me... the week gets progressively better as it goes on and right when they are on track, it is time for the weekend again! Ay yi yi.
• When I walked into my room this morning, I found these sitting on my desk:

My two favorite things!!!!!!!! They definitely brightened my day. Thank you, BTF (code for Best Teaching Friend), for starting my day off well. :)

• Today I started a new class for my ESL endorsement! It is called Developing Cultural Awareness through Multicultural Children's Literature. I legit planned my entire program schedule around this class because, as you may know, I loooooooooooooooooooooooooove children's lit. And let me just say that I LOVE my new teacher! She is super sarcastic and funny, and I think it will be a fun class! That is good news since our class runs for 4 hours on Thursday nights and sometimes I can get a little sleepy... haha!
• My first graders took the test on their measurement unit and they all did pretty well! That makes me happy.
• I'm having my first observation of the year on Tuesday morning. I didn't really think it through when I scheduled it as it will be the first day after a long Easter weekend... I hope the kids will have come down from their sugar highs by that time. I'm introducing contractions for the first graders while my principal will be there and I'm thinking of doing the contraction surgery that everyone has been doing. If you did it, where did you get your masks and gloves and stuff? And would you recommend it for my observation lesson? I'm probably going to do it either way. :)
• Jess at Rambling About Reading tagged me! I'm not going to tag anyone but here are my answers to her questions!!

If you could live in any other country what would it be? 

I have never even left this country... so I have no idea! But somewhere warmer. :)

If you could have any animal what would it be? 

I always wanted a min pin puppy... so cute! But I love my pupster, Max!

What is your favorite thing to do on the weekend? 

I am boring... I like to read blogs, haha! Although tomorrow, since we have the day off, I am getting together for lunch with two of my college friends! I am super pumped.

What's your favorite day of the week and why?

For some reason, I've always liked Thursdays and I sort of still do! The weekend is in sight, and in my class, that means my class has returned from Crazy Town and is ready to learn!! Haha!

What is your favorite activity you've done with your students this year? 

This is a great question! I went back a few months and found my Chinese New Year post. We learned a lot, explored with chopsticks, read some great books, and listened to a story on Starfall! My kids say that they're still eating with their chopsticks at home. I'm not sure how sanitary that is, but it makes me feel good that they loved it so much!

How many days do you have until summer? 

I have no idea! Is that weird? I know that it was the 145th day of school today though! My mind still thinks it's September... this year has gone WAY too fast!

What are you doing for Easter this weekend? 

I have a 4 day weekend! Tomorrow is my college friend lunch, and then on Sunday my family is coming over to our house for brunch. I am making a delicioso potato casserole thing.

What is your favorite song right now? 

Oh my. I am loving Love You Like a Love Song by Selena Gomez... International Love by Pitbull... and that's all I can remember. But you get the idea.

What is your favorite nail polish color? 

I never paint my nails! But I do my toes in the summer! I just use whatever I see in my house... I just used some Ulta color that was super pink. My first grade girls loved it!

What is your favorite font to use? 

I have a new favorite actually! It is CK Shannon. Here is a picture of it.

I really, really love it. And I really, really love Creating Keepsakes also. I bought a subscription to Creating Keepsakes for my aunt for Christmas, and they sent me like 20 free fonts as a thank you! I emailed them to see if I could use their fonts for freebies, and they wrote back quickly and said, "Absolutely!!!!!" I really appreciate when I email people about Terms of Use and they write back nicely instead of saying something like, "You should read the Terms of Use before you email us." I do read them! Sometimes I just want to double check to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong! Geez louise people.

Okay.... end rant! Thanks for reading!!! Happy (hopefully for you) long weekend!