Assessments, PD and Report Cards...Oh My!

The weekend is over? Already? Really? This week we gave DRA tests and other assessments and then Friday we had PD and Records Day. We can choose to stay at school or go home and do report cards. I always go home. At school, I can find a million things to do, like organize, clean, anything BUT work on the report cards. Instead, I stop by Starbucks, go home, get into some comfy clothes and work. But I never get them done. The comments take for.ev.er and no matter what I do, I just can't get them done faster.
I made some more gluten-free goodies this weekend. They are so not good for The Biggest Loser, but they are so good for my sweet tooth. I also made my hubby go grocery shopping. He only had to get a few things, but it was a big deal and he even got a few things on sale - usually he never even looks for sales even though I tell him to.
So this hasn't been a very exciting post, but that's okay. We have our first full week in while and I'm piloting a new math program so wish me luck! Do any of you use Investigations?

Here are a few freebies:
The first is just a quick little math assessment - Counting to 110. Clipart courtesy of Scrappin' Doodles.

The second is another page I made using kittens and mittens to work on 10 less and 10 more. Clipart courtesy of Scrappin' Doodles and Graphics From the Pond http://frompond.blogspot.com.

Have a great week!
:) Andrea

What's Better Than a Snow Day?

Not too much, but an unexpected ice day is awesome!
I was so excited when I got the call because, well I wasn't expecting it at all. It is supposed to be 50 degrees here today and in Michigan, that's a warm January day! Of course I can't just hear the phone call either. I check the website and TV just to be sure I'm not just dreaming.
So, just between us, I jumped on the bed to let my husband know about my excitement. He wasn't as excited...hmmm...must be jealous!
So I've been totally lazy today and I love it. I finished a little Animals in Winter unit and posted it on TPT. You may have already taught it, but if not, it will fit in perfectly before Groundhog's Day!

I also made energy balls from a Pinterest recipe. So yummy and gluten free. Yay!
OK, I better go get on the treadmill. I am so happy that I get to do that early enough so that I won't miss any of The Bachelor. Will he figure out that the model is a weirdo? I think another girl (can't think of her name, but I like her), is supposed to tell him.  We'll see...
So what shows are your guilty pleasures? I admitted to The Bachelor. You can admit it. The first 2 peeps can have a copy of my Animals in Winter unit. Just don't forget to leave your e-mail. And here is a happy snow day freebie just for you:

 
And one more freebie...This one is my fave, but only because I LOVE to sing. I turn anything and everything into a song. Last week it was eyes up front, ears listening and the kids would say "Do dah, do dah". Eyes up front ears listening, "Oh, do dah day". They like it, I like it, we're all happy. Anyway, back to the freebie. It's a song I made up to the tune of "Celebration" by Kool and the Gang. We put it in our poetry notebooks. The kids can sing most of it and I belt out the middle. :) Thanks to Graphics  From the Pond http://frompond.blogspot.com for the border!

Come on, admit it. You're singing along right now, aren't you?

:) Andrea

Ahhh...it's Saturday!

I know that many have a 3-day weekend, but in my district only the kids get the day off. We have PD. So I only have 2 days, but I love Saturdays. I don't even know what I'm doing today and that's okay!! It's COLD here in MI, so we'll be trying to stay warm.

We weighed in on Friday for our Biggest Loser contest at work. I lost 2.4 lbs this week. I'm pretty happy about it! :)

I really wish I could attend some of these fun meet-ups. We need a MI meet-up!

I went some more Dollar Trees, continuing to look for animals for my unit. Found a few, but also found some other great things! Check this out:

It WAS a goal chart, but yesterday, it became a super fun game board! I laminated it so that I could use it for many things. Yesterday, we were working on reading the whole word, including the suffixes at the end. They had to roll a die and then read a word card. If they read the word correctly, they could move the number of spaces they rolled. It was a blast!

I also found a pack of 50 foam dice! So excited because I have so many ways to use these.

We used them for the space game because I find that games can be over very quickly depending on what is rolled. I made the die so that it only had 1s and 2s on it. The game lasted a lot longer! I will also use these for word families and sight words.

Since we won't be in school Monday, we started reading about MLK. We completed the cutest project found here. (It's the yellow paper with the painted hands.)
Of course I forgot to take pics of our completed work, but they are precious! We wrote about our dreams for our classroom. Some of their ideas:

• To follow the Golden Rule.
• To have a peace table where we can solve our problems. (Love this!)
• To be helpful and kind to our friends.

I made this to go inside~

~and I put their picture in the left hand corner.

Enjoy the weekend!
:) Andrea

What's Going On Wednesday

It's Wednesday and it's late and I still haven't worked out yet. I'd like to just go to bed, but I can't. I'm really trying to work out for 1 hour a day and I've been doing well so far. I would get up in the morning to work out, but well, I can barely get up when the alarm goes off at 6! I've always wanted to be an early morning worker outer, but I just can't!!

My Lions didn't win, but they sure put up a good fight, at least for the 1st half.

Since when did the Dollar Tree get rid of their bags of animals in the toy section? I went there today to get some animals to sort and the only animals I could find were dinosaurs. Not going to help with animals in winter.

I just found out that an old friend's mom died last week. She was 60. I just cannot even imagine that. Sixty seems so young...It's funny because when I was younger, 60 seemed so old, now not so much.

OK, before I go, here is a freebie. I'm really trying to blog more, and then comment more. I just need time to look at your wonderful blogs!

This is a game to practice subtraction facts with 0, 1 and 2. It is played like Crash. They read the problem and try to solve it. If they can solve it, they keep it. If they get a mitten, the kittens have to go find their mittens and those cards must go back in the deck. Enjoy the rest of your week!

:) Andrea

Let's Go Lions!

I know we are major underdogs, but I am SO hoping that SOMEHOW the Lions can pull out a win over the Saints tonight. You never know! Come on Stafford!!! I was going to go out to watch the game, but we decided to stay home in our jammies and I'm much happier.

I'm in between sizes right now so my clothes don't fit right. My jeans are droopy. One of my first graders said yesterday, "I think your jeans are a little too big for you." How funny that they notice. And she is right, but what can I do about it? The smaller size is way too tight and the bigger size is too big. Hopefully I'll be able to lose some and be able to go with the smaller ones. (The Panera I just ate won't help...) Until then, it's Mrs. Saggypants.

As far as school goes, oh my, this past week was ROUGH! Getting up, going to bed...it was all tough. Hoping to get enough sleep this weekend to make up for it. I loved Jaime's snowman idea over at What's the Buzz, but I didn't have oil pastels, so I made this instead:

I used 3x3 squares for most of it and it worked quite well. (I'll get the pastels next year!) If you'd like the writing that goes along with this, visit http://whatsthebuzzinfirst.blogspot.com/
Most of the carrot noses were rounded and we think it is because most kids eat baby carrots now!

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!
:) Andrea

Snap back to reality...

Oh, there goes gravity....
Today I went back to work. It was really hard to get up this morning!
I'm excited about 2012 and wishing happiness to all of you! I'm hoping to post more often and comment more on your posts. Hoping to have some freebies to post soon, but until then, if you are in need of a fun reading incentive unit, check out What's the Buzz for Jaime's Blizzard of Books unit. The unit looks great and I know it will encourage reading.

Totally unrelated to teaching - Am I the only one who gets sucked in every season to The Bachelor? I know it's trashy and there are always super emotional women who are a little crazy over a man they just met, but I can't help it, and I know I'll be watching!

Okay, I need to go to bed soon. It was hard to  fall asleep last night, but after getting up at 5:30, it won't be so hard tonight.

:) Andrea