Five For Friday

Linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for some Five for Friday fun on a Saturday! This week marks the end of my first week of summer vacation. I have to admit, I texted my husband a few times complaining about how bored I was. I REALLY need to learn how to relax and relish not having a to do list a mile long.

 I think I am in need of a Dog Whisperer...stat! We rescued a sweet Dachshund/Russell Terrier mix a few months ago. Poor guy was abused and has a lot of insecurities due to that. However, he is the most loving and sweetest little guy! He gets along well with other dogs (I have two more Dachshunds), but when we take him on a walk all hell breaks loose. He finally stop trying to chew the leas off and actually walks somewhat straight ahead. He no longer barks incessantly at people walking or passing us by (it's not an aggressive bark, he just is way too excited...but it scares people). However, he can't handle being around other leashed dogs (minus my other two pups).

I tried walking them at the lake yesterday and that was an epic fail. He just wouldn't stop barking at other people walking their pups. It is quite embarrassing, because people are making remarks and giving me the look. Again, he is wagging his tail and barking because he is excited. But other peeps don't know that. So we had to get back in the car and head home. I feel bad for Buster and Hans because they love their walks and are well behaved.

I broke down and called a dog trainer. I'm hoping to get Clyde to learn how to settle down so we can enjoy our walks.

 

Isn't Clyde the cutest!

 

All three of my furbabies doing what they do best...relax!

 

 

I haven't been able to wear my wedding ring in the past year, because apparently my finger put on a little weight. I should clarify, I put it on a few months ago, only for it to get stuck. We almost had to head to the doctor to get that thing off. Today, I finally made it to the jeweler to get it resized. My ring resizing turned into the dismantling of the ring. I decided to upgrade and get a vintage inspired new ring (of course with the husbands blessing). Instead of resizing my solitaire ring, I am having the jeweler design  a necklace using the diamond. I don't wear many rings and figured this was a beautiful way to keep the sentiment behind my first ring and I wear necklaces all the time. I can't wait to pick them up tomorrow!

I have a stack, well, more like a box of books I plan on reading this summer. A mix of a little bit of everything. So far I have finished three books and it's only a week into my summer vacation! I read The Book Whisperer and Reading in the Wild, both written by Donalyn Miller. They were both great books (easy reads too). I can't wait to use her strategies with my 5th graders this fall. Catherine from The Brown Bag Teacher is starting a Summer Book Study (June 19th-July 29th) for the Reading in the Wild book. Head over to her blog for more information. It will be fun!

 

 

 

Since this was my first week of break, I got to catch up on Dexter. We are way behind (we started watching it late in the game). It is so good! We finished season 5 this week and are moving on to season 6.

 

I met up with some amazing Southern California teacher bloggers ( today at the Scholastic Warehouse sale. I'm hoping to restock my classroom library with a few good chapter books. Courtney from Ramona Reccomends had the idea of this meet up and lunch. She is a pro when it comes to children's literature and has great recommendations. You should all check out her blog....tons of great information  and ideas on there! She surprised us with some amazingly cute and yummy cookies. Beth over at A Kindergarten Life for Me is always so thoughtful and makes the cutest things for us! Love my crayon pencil holder!! Thanks for all the photos Courtney!!!

 

It's that time again: Five for Friday!

Friday is here!! Whoohoo! I can't wait for tomorrow! I will be heading to a Southern California teacher blogger meet up. It will be awesome to get the chance to finally meet a lot of the amazingly talented teachers in my neck of the woods.

We had a busy week in the classroom! Linking up with Doodle Bug Teaching for Five for Friday!

We've been reading the historical fiction novel, Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson. My kids absolutely love it and I heart how it aligns with our social studies standards (American Revolution). It's a lengthy book, but so interesting. We've only got four chapters left. Today we finished reading a chapter and it was time for us to get ready to head home. I caught these two students reading ahead instead of getting their things together. They just didn't want to put the book down. Don't you love it when this happens! 

We finished our ABC's of the American Revolution posters! This idea came from Teaching with a Touch of Twang's blog. I'm planning on blogging about it (along with many other things we've been doing...). It was great to see them so engaged in their learning.

 

Today we finished up our unit on the digestive and circulatory systems with some science experiments/activities. The students made a stomach and observed what happens to food (cracker) when our stomach acid (OJ) mixes together. I heard quite a few "ewww" or "gross" as they were working. After that they participated in a circulatory system activity in which they graphed their heartbeat while resting, jogging slowly, jumping vigorously, and resting again.

I finally got around to having my students work on a fun project called One Word 2014 I found at A Full Classroom's blog. It should have been completed in January, but you know how it goes...better late than never. Instead of creating a list of new year's resolutions, they think of one word that will define how they want to live this new year by. A word they can reflect upon daily. My kids really enjoyed the activity and they came up with some great words.

 

I got a little cooking in this week! I made my favorite Brussels sprouts recipe, Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and aged balsamic vinegar. Delicious!

Five for Friday

I don't know about you, but I am GLAD it's Friday! I'm absolutely drained this week, physical therapy is kicking my butt!

Linking up again with Doodle Bugs Teaching for her Five for Friday linky :)

Donuts with Dads was a huge success yesterday! I work at an inner city school and a few years ago the principal started Donuts with Dads. This was a way to get the dads more involved in the school. We had over 100 dads and male community members visit our classrooms and read with or to the students. I had 8 awesome dads read in my class! My 5th graders loved it. I wish you could see the smiles on their faces...

We are still working on the American Revolution and my students were so engaged with this great activity I found on Sabra's blog, Teaching with a Touch of Twang. They are making ABC's of the American Revolution posters. It was awesome walking around today and listening to them discuss history and fully involved in research!

Big news!!! Tomorrow we are adopting another pup!! Call me crazy because now I will have three little Dachshunds running around my house. We are rescuing Bella from a Dachshund rescue organization. She is 11 months old and apparently quite the character.  We will meet her tomorrow and take her home the same day. Hans and Buster have no idea that they will have a sister on the way. I can't help it, I LOVE dogs!

This happened 4 days this week. Thank goodness next week I get to go down to three days of week of physical therapy. I must say it is definitely helping, but I feel like I have no time for me. My favorite part of PT is getting heat! Thanks to my amazing physical therapist I am no longer limping! Whoohoo!

I absolutely love receiving nifty little notes/drawings from my students. This one magically appeared on my desk. Apparently, I talk about my boys (aka dogs) a lot! Lol....

Have a  fabulous weekend everyone!

Five for Friday the Saturday Edition

This week has been hectic to say the least!
Linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday.

This is what made for a hectic week:

This was the FUN part of my week! Two of our afternoons were filled with science experiments and my kids loved every minute of it! We were finishing up our physical science unit, I will be posting about all this awesomeness later on this week.

After three years, I finally upgraded my phone. Yup, you read that right...3 years...I'm not one to care too much about having the latest and greatest technology gadget/phone. The only reason I upgraded was because my Driod was dying. I've always been a mac girl and now that Verizon sells iPhones, it was the only way to go. I'm lovin' the bright green color!

The not so fun part of my week: physical therapy. For the past two months, I've had some pretty painful knee problems. I kept thinking the pain would go away. After 2 months, I decided it was probably time to go to the orthopedic surgeon. The doctor believes something is wrong with my patella and the tracking and has sent me to  physical therapy 3 days a week for 2 months. Friday was my first visit. A bit painful, but my physical therapist is very friendly and I am hoping my knee heals. Walking with a limp and having to take the steps one at a time is no fun.

This pile of papers is just getting bigger and bigger as the week progresses. I never have time at school to grade papers and when I bring them home, they just seem to pile up. I really need to get on the ball with grading, because report cards are due next week. 

My boys always put a smile on my face! 

Now it's time to relax!