I'm linking up...a little late...with my five favorite things about this week! I apologize for the tardiness, but I just couldn't get it done last night. (And then I *almost* had it finished when my baby woke up from her nap. And then we had family from out of town pop over to visit for the rest of the afternoon and so it just got later and later and later.)
I. Love. My. Job. So much. For reasons like these... The first was randomly deposited on my desk on Tuesday morning. It is from a kid that I've had a bit of trouble connecting to (fault on both sides...but I know that I need to do better...it's on me). I love every bit of it. The second was from a lunch buncher this week. I invite three random students to eat lunch in the room a couple times a week on the days that I don't have recess duty. This week, one of my friends created this portrait of me out of her apple. She said, "It's you. Isn't it beautiful?" It was so silly and she was so sweet about it. I had to take a picture of it. Afterwards, she said, "I hope you got a good one, because you'll never be the same again." And then she took a big bite out of my nose.
It's fall break, y'all! I teach in a year round school. We have nine weeks on and then three weeks off. We started in July and so, it's time! My calendar is set for our return and our class fish, Fishie, has come home for the break. I LOVE LOVE LOVE our year round calendar. I had always taught under a traditional calendar before coming to my current school five years ago and I just don't think I could ever go back. It's great for my kids (because they work hard and then get a bit of a break, but not so much that they forget stuff), it's great as mom (I get to catch up around the house, schedule appointments, and just be with my kids), and it's great as a teacher (because it gives me some space to really reflect on and prepare for the next quarter). When all my traditional-calendared friends are feeling sorry for me in July, I tell them no worries... You'll be jealous come September!
Turtles!! I seem to be a turtle magnet this week. I found the little guy at the park. He was so tiny! I didn't think he was real at first. We relocated him from the playground to the bank of the lake. The big guy visited our yard this morning! He's a common snapping turtle (we think...thanks to @thatturtleguy who corrected me on Instagram when I thought he was an alligator snapping turtle) and his shell is about two feet in diameter. He frequents our neighborhood, but has never been this close to our house. He was hanging out between my yard and my neighbor's. He creeps me out.
I finally finished and uploaded a new TpT product! It is one of my goals this year to be more productive on Teachers Pay Teachers and so far, I've managed to finish two products and delete a few that were embarrassing. This was a fun one! I did this project with my kiddos and they loved it! I'm teaching social studies for the first time (in fourth grade) this year and so it's all a bit new, but I like it. This project integrates reading, research, technology, and social studies. (I'm hoping to blog about this project more specifically in the near future.) Click the picture if you'd like to check it out. Or if you don't, just high five me... I'm proud of myself for getting it done.
This is my absolute favorite thing about this week!
I joined Twitter this summer and really got into following some amazing teachers on Instagram, too. I'm hooked! I have learned so much in the short time that I've been playing around with it. If you don't follow Kayla Delzer from Top Dog Teaching (@mrsdelz) or Mr. Greg from Kindergarten Smorgasboard (@kindersmorgie)...go do it right now! I was inspired to join Twitter from The Greg and Kayla Show. It was also during the second installment of The Greg and Kayla Show that I learned about #happyclassrooms. It is so simple... In an effort to take back the narrative about education, Greg and Kayla encourage every teacher to post to something positive about their day under #happyclassrooms. Not only does it share just a bit of the amazing things going on in education (and your classroom) with the world, but it is really an uplifiting habit to get into.
Anyways, in an effort to encourage some of my colleagues in my not-too-into-Twitter-or-any-kind-of social-media-for-that-matter school to explore the amazing people and resources that can be accessed through Twitter, I created these little posters promoting the #happyclassrooms initiative and hung them all around the school. I included a picture of Woody from Toy Story. (You know the scene when he's telling the toys that if they don't have a moving buddy to get one?) On my poster, Woody says, "If you don't have Twitter, get Twitter!" They made me giggle. I haven't had anyone ask me about them yet, but I'm hoping that they at least get a few people thinking. We'll see...
Well... Now that I've finally finished this post, I'm off to snuggle on the couch a bit. I hope that everyone has a fabulous week!
I joined Twitter this summer and really got into following some amazing teachers on Instagram, too. I'm hooked! I have learned so much in the short time that I've been playing around with it. If you don't follow Kayla Delzer from Top Dog Teaching (@mrsdelz) or Mr. Greg from Kindergarten Smorgasboard (@kindersmorgie)...go do it right now! I was inspired to join Twitter from The Greg and Kayla Show. It was also during the second installment of The Greg and Kayla Show that I learned about #happyclassrooms. It is so simple... In an effort to take back the narrative about education, Greg and Kayla encourage every teacher to post to something positive about their day under #happyclassrooms. Not only does it share just a bit of the amazing things going on in education (and your classroom) with the world, but it is really an uplifiting habit to get into.
Anyways, in an effort to encourage some of my colleagues in my not-too-into-Twitter-or-any-kind-of social-media-for-that-matter school to explore the amazing people and resources that can be accessed through Twitter, I created these little posters promoting the #happyclassrooms initiative and hung them all around the school. I included a picture of Woody from Toy Story. (You know the scene when he's telling the toys that if they don't have a moving buddy to get one?) On my poster, Woody says, "If you don't have Twitter, get Twitter!" They made me giggle. I haven't had anyone ask me about them yet, but I'm hoping that they at least get a few people thinking. We'll see...
Well... Now that I've finally finished this post, I'm off to snuggle on the couch a bit. I hope that everyone has a fabulous week!