I’m BACK!

Well for those of you who are even still out there my little faithful 40! haha I am posting after a very long hiatus.  I really have no excuse other than I have been sooo busy and so tired at night I have had no ideas or anything worth posting about.  I have a little down time on this Sunday afternoon and decided it was about time to get back into the swing of things if I was going to continue to have Open House!  For those who have been following and know that I coach softball our JV season is over.  We finished up 21-7 with five of those losses coming from the same team which happens to be our rival and is coached by my best friend.. I think I have mentioned this before, but I am extremely proud of those 19 girls who I would claim as my own any day.  We finished 2nd in our county which isn’t what we wanted but it was better than going home…. right? Below is a picture after playing for about 10 hours in the sun and losing the county championship.. we are forcing smiles but we all truly love the game and had a great season!

So now we are on to the end of the Varsity season and we will be hosting our Area Tournament this week.  The top two teams will advance to the Regional Tournament in Huntsville next week.

Speaking of Huntsville,   I am sure that you have heard by now about the terrible devastation that our state (Alabama) is facing. E4 and E5 tornados ripped through the upper half of our state last Wednesday.  Luckily my town wasn’t hit terrible and we have very minimal damage with a few trees down, but neighboring towns like Hackleburg, East Limestone, Phil Campbell, and Tuscaloosa were not so lucky and are experiencing mind boggling devastation.  The link is from a local photographer, Amanda Chapman, Facebook page. You can click on her name or the picture below for more photographs. The destruction is uncomprehendable and these people need everything.  There are places taking donations to the cities by the truckloads.  It is amazing the generosity we are witnessing in our state in such a time of need.  We are truly a state that works together and serves a living God and we believe that He will take care of us through the storm!

I can’t keep but count my blessings and I think that we will remember how lucky we are to have a house to clean, a yard to mow, clothes to wash, and mouths to feed for a long time after hearing and seeing the heartache of the victims.

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10

I do have wedding and teaching related posts coming in between the loads of laundry :)

SO VERY THANKFUL

{Laura}

S-P-A-R-K-L-E

It is all the rage in my classroom! My kids play it in line, at the lunch table, during snack, you name it they are playing it.  The other day I went to my desk to get my reading book after calendar and I heard one of the say sparkle ready go …table… and I was like SERIOUSLY  I came to get my book not drink my mocha and browse the internet!  lol They take it extremely serious.  The main thing that I use it for is whole group rewards.  We start out with the whole word spelled on the board and every time I have to get on to the class as a whole I don’t have to yell or scream (sometimes I forget I don’t have to do this) I simply go erase a letter!  It works like a charm… here’s a video explaining the excitement and how to play if you are not familiar with the game.  We play with our spelling words and/or sight words for a challenge.

SPARKLE!

Rain Rain= School Dismissal

We got out at 11 today because the first of the April storms is supposed to bring tornados and very strong winds.  It was fine till about 15 minutes ago and the bottom dropped out.  Which is fine with me!  I got a much needed nap and some blog time!  I realize this is the first post in almost three weeks.  I had such high hopes for this little blog! Hopefully after softball season everything will chill out and I can get back to it like I had intended. 

Speaking of softball I would just like everyone to know that although it eats up most of my time and extra brain cells I.LOVE.IT!  I also love my team and every single girl on it.  We are 17-5, which is amazing, and three of the losses are to the same team!  (which happens to be our rival, which happens to be coached by my best friend, which makes for some exciting moments) This weekend wraps up our JV season with the county tournament and the varsity season will just be peaking with area games, and big tournaments.  We are going to the Gulf Shores Tournament next week for spring break and if the name doesn’t ring a bell to you… Gulf Shores is at the BEACH!  We are super pumped about going to the beach play softball!  haha it is a great mix! 

I am just going to post some pictures of things that we are doing in our classroom.  Most of them are activities that other bloggers post because I have no time to think of original ideas during ball season.  Maybe it isn’t too late for you to get an idea for a spring lesson from the pictures. 

 

 

Lettering Delights

They are having the best sale of the year!  I would know because I am a professional shopper!  They are having Dollar Days!  All of their fonts and clip art sets are $1 and other items are $2 and $3!  AWESOME!  I bought $35 worth of stuff for $27 with the code biggerbloom. Also, if you are new member you will get tons of freebies with freebies every month!  Who doesn’t love freebies?  Go Now… Maybe one day I will post some pictures and some activities.  Softball is kicking my tail, but on a better note we are 8-2 and we won our first tournament! So forgive me for not posting everynight, I will resume shortly.  Please pray for me because my kids have needed a break since Valentine’s day and we have THREE weeks till Spring Break!  Any suggestions on how to motivate them to behave, pay attention, listen, etc?  I did make some really cute sticker awards so I will try to post them tomorrow.

Loving Letter Delights!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Transitions Made Easier

If your school system is like mine every website and its momma is blocked!  I get so frustrated sometimes.  I love using music in my classroom, but until I find the time to put my cds on my IPod there is no easy way to stop what we are doing, find the song I want to play, cross my fingers, and hold my breath and PRAY that the cd works.  Only to No AVAIL! So by now the kids are off task, I don’t even remember the number of the song I wanted them to do and I am ill because at least 5 of my 12 boys are either hitting each other, throwing erasers, or picking at the bottom of their shoes!  Sounds like a nightmare right?  YES!  After about the third time that happened I looked for alternate means of transitioning.  Viola! http://users.elite.net/gurpal/tv1.htm This amazing website that offers short commercial or sitcom jingles or longer movie themes. I use it on a daily basis. 

The Call to the Carpet… short song

Magic Trash..depends on how messy the room is if I need a short or a long song.

Get out your ______ book…short short!  Coca-cola is a great one.

Mix and match ..long and then I pause according to the number of times I want them to mix and match.

Get your wiggles out…depends on how restless they are

I still use my Dr. Jean CDs for movement songs, rewards (my kids are all about Peanut Butter right now), and learning skills, but this website is my quick go to website when I need an extra hand managing my very vivacious firsties!

Do you use any musical websites in your class?  What do you use music for in your classroom?

Fun Stuff

So February and March are really fun times to be a teacher.  There are so many things that teachers can use to incorporate “fun” activities to teach our objectives.  Sometimes I feel I have to do a dog and pony show for my kids to pay attention, but these past few weeks my kids have really been super great.  They are tired and worn out from being in school so long and there is no break insight {Spring Break is not till mid April}, but they are trying.  It helps that we have had Valentine’s, Presidents’ Day, and Dr. Seuss’s b-day to celebrate with some really cool activities. I am also looking forward to my St. Patrick’s Day and SPRING units.

What are you looking forward to in the next few weeks?  Don’t forget to click on the blogs on the sides.  There are some really talented and giving teachers out there.  I have no idea how they find time to put together the units and pintables that they do.  I am so thankful for their creativity and willingness to share with others.

Pictures are from my cell phone I missed placed my camera for several days sorry they are pretty much awful but maybe you can get the gist of what we did.

 

Presidents’ Day sort: I really need to do a better job of documenting where I get things from off the internet… If I got this from your blog please let me know I will give you credit for it.  I wanted the kids to have some independent working time but didn’t think that they could just read, cut and sort this cold turkey. So, We read each fact and decided together if it was about Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, or if it qualified for both.  As you can see we colored G.W. facts blue, A. L. red, and both Green.  After we colored coded everything the kids were able to cut and glue independently while I got some other things completed. The next morning I had all the piece for the presidents  on the kids desks and they glued them together.  Then they got to choose their scrapbooking paper color and design and glued the Venn diagram and presidents to the scrapbooking paper. I didn’t take the picture till after I took all of them off the wall… but they were pretty stinkin cute.

               

This was the first of our Dr. Seuss activities: We read Horton Hears a Who and we made specks… ohhh this went over with a BANG! The kids colored a popsicle stick with a marker {which makes the kids so happy when they can color with MARKERS}. Then they got to choose the color of their clover and I puff painted a speck on the craft ball.  They were all talking to their specks and making sure the Who’s were okay.  So cute!

I found my camera today and will take more pictures from our Dr. Seuss week tomorrow when I go plan for the week.

Happy Teaching!

Rainy Day Work Day

         After being rained on at the games last night our softball tournament was rained out. So instead of lying around and doing nothing {after sleeping till about 10:30} I decided to be productive.  With my Daddy gone on a boys trip {Court Side Seats at the Alabama/Georgia game} my Momma came over and we got started on the wedding favors.  I really DISLIKE wedding favors like bride and groom (anything) really, wedding cake candles, heart (anything) haha. I am more impressed when I go to a wedding and get something a. I can eat or b. I can use.  So I decided to incorporate both things.  I’m not gonna give our surprise away until after the wedding for the readers who will be in attendance at the wedding but I will give a sneak peak!  The clothes pins will have magnets on the back so they can be {used} and as you probably already figured out they will hold something that you can {eat}.

Nasty Nasty Rainy Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

The supplies strewn out all over the living room table and floor…    

My lovely mom and my “lovely” self haha this is what Saturday hair (that got rained on) and day old make up looks like..gross but this is the realness of my life:

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

We watched the Bama Game {Roll Tide, Yall} and about 4 different On Demand Shows, we got all 200 clothes pins covered with the paper and I got all but about 50 tied with the ribbon!

Finished product:

I love them. #1 because they are absolutely adorable #2 people can use them and most importantly #3 Momma and I made them together and had a great day despite the rain.

Roll Tide Yall! Laura