Summertime Top 10 To-Do's

I cannot believe that my school year is done. We finished up at 1:15 yesterday and in all the craziness I may have neglected this blog a bit... but I'll be blogging about all the fun we had this last week in the next few days. For now though, I'm joining the fabulous Denna Jump and looking forward to the following plans this summer!

Finishing up my Masters in Special Education. I'm so close, just a two week course, a couple more sections of my portfolio to tweak, and a short interview stand in my way. It'll be beyond great to be completely done!

Celebrating my birthday! My portfolio is due on my birthday, so there will be double the celebrating come June 13th!

With #1 & #2 being big deals for me this summer, I'm hoping that I can celebrate on the blog too... a thousand follower giveaway isn't too far away... send your friends my way!

Las Vegas to meet many of my blogging buddies in real life and many teachers that I admire. Cannot wait!!

Our new to us home, is full of projects. We bought a few more gallons of paint this afternoon and I have a date with some blue trim and door in one of the bedrooms. It's got to go!!

With summer comes a little more freedom with our dinner menu. Last summer I hosted a recipe/restaurant recommendation linky and I am reviving it again. Every Monday of the summer starting in June. So if there is a recipe or fun restaurant you run across this summer, be sure to link up!

 

Working in our first garden. Hopefully by the end of the growing season we will have a bunch of veggies and watermelon too! 

 

Learning a new ELA curriculum, Journeys, and figuring out ways to keep it engaging while utilizing our iPads.

Pool time, grilling, hanging out with friends. Enjoying the lazy, hazy, days of summer as much as I can.

Working on a few of my projects. With my course work ending in the beginning of June I'm looking forward to a few projects I've had on my to-do list and keep pushing back: figuring out my camera more, working on some projects for the next school year, crafting, getting my workout groove back on... I'm sure there is more on this list than I'll get done.

So what are you up to this summer? Be sure to join in the fun and link up!

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Surviving Spring & Welcome to Summer Blog Hop & Freebie!

We are in the final countdown of the school year {19.5 days, not that I'm counting...}

It's also that time of the year when it starts getting crazy. Schedule changes = crazy kids. Crazy kiddos on top of altered schedules = crazy teacher. This past week was full: a home room day, music practice/ spring program, water festival field trip, and an arbor day presentation. By the end of the week I had several students asking when things would go back to normal; I couldn't have agreed with them more! Although we had a fun week, it was exhausting.

Spring fever has most definitely hit my classroom. After talking to several of my BBBs, it seems to be a rampant fever that has spread across the country. We've come together to share a few survival tips, freebies, and giveaways (TPT Gift Certificates or a Classroom Friendly Pencil Sharpener) along the way to help us all survive until the end of the school year!

Now, I know that food isn't always allowed in schools as a reward. We don't have those restrictions yet... so I'm going to hold an ice cream day for one of my classes. This group was a struggling group at the beginning of the year and have come so far. I want to be able to reward this group while throwing in some review too. {If your school doesn't allow food, maybe your students would still enjoy some summery treat fun in activities you use.}

I created a pack of math and ELA centers with an ice cream theme. If you use an ABC countdown to the end of the school year, this pack could be utilized on an "I is for ice cream day" too. Activities include: Scoops of Synonyms, Dishin' Up Decimals, Equivalent Fraction Sundaes, Parts of Speech Push-Ups, Sentence Shake Up, and Colorful Cones Place Value Scoot.

You can check out the full pack by clicking here or on the pictures below.

The freebie I'm sharing with you comes from this pack. It's a decimal game that can be played with partners or small groups to work with decimals. Students are asked to round or distinguish between odd or even numbers in a certain place value. I hope that you can use this game in your math centers this spring!

After entering my code below in the Rafflecopter, be sure to visit Michele to continue the blog hop!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also, be sure to catch more motivating ideas and link up your own at Joanne's Student Motivation Saturdays linky! Just a few more weeks friends and sweet summer time will be here... we can make it!

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Reflecting on Spring, All things New, & Easter: Fuel Your Faith Fridays

My friend Jessica has had a new linky going for awhile now and I've finally found the time to join in. Easter time is by far one of my favorite times of the year so I think it's perfect timing to link up.

 

I'm currently sitting on my front porch blogging. It's not silent, there are many birds chirping along. There is a cool breeze, yet it's nice enough to wear a t-shirt. Out front, the first of the Iris' are starting to come up. It's definitely {finally} spring time here.

I love spring for the renewal it brings. It seems, to me at least, in the winter I'm fairly lazy. I want to cuddle up and just do things that can be done from the comfort of my blanket fortress. Come spring though, all of the new life, fresh air, and sunshine inspire me to leave the comfort of my covers and accomplish so much more. I love the newness the fresh start.

The newness and the freshness of spring is one thing. It's great. However, when Easter rolls around I'm more reflective of a change in my life that brought something new to me, that refreshed and restored me.

I am not perfect. I am a sinner. I mess up more times a day than I can count. I don't deserve what I have in life. I am nothing on my own. By myself, I am as incomplete as incomplete can be.

Something changed. Something big happened. Several years ago, I recognized these pitfalls in myself. Taking a conscious look at myself I knew I had fallen short. I am a perfectionist in many aspects of my life, yet spiritually there was a longing, and a realization of how unworthy I was.

 For all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. Romans 3:23

And in those moments of seeing who I was, what I was, what I brought to the table; I knew deep within me that I had fallen short. However, a loving Savior, was willing to look past, to see the damaged person that I was and accept me for who I am.

For if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will cleans us from all unrighteousness.  1 John 1:9.

I was unrighteous. I was a mess. I had no way of making it on my own. I am so very, very thankful that God had a plan for people like me. He knew I'd mess up. He knew I would think I had everything figured out. He had a plan.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe in Him would have everlasting life.  John 3:16

For God so loved me, Christy, that He sent His only Son to die for me. He loved me that much. He loves you that much.

I still mess up. I mess up countless ways everyday. I serve and I love a God who no matter what time of the year wants a relationship with me.

So as I sit back, soak in the newness of spring: the fresh air, the new blooms. I am also sitting and reflecting back on all that transpired, the great love that there was to make me new too.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. The old has gone away; behold all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17.

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Workshop Wednesday: Biographies

 

A beautiful Wednesday afternoon. Short week of school. Two days of blogging in a row. Whoa! This hasn't happened in awhile. I'm so happy to be joining with my BBB Jivey for her Workshop Wednesday!

Before spring break, we worked on our biographies. This is the first major research project for my students, so I wanted to keep it simple and organized. We covered the basics of reliable resources. How to keep track of information. Then, how to take that information and put it into a cohesive paper. Small, simple feat. Right?

It is a time consuming process, but the process was helped greatly with Erin's biography lessons from her interactive writing packs. We worked through an example together on Dav Pilkey and enjoyed some extension activities with creating our own comics. {See more on this project here.}

What I love about Erin's interactive project, is how step by step and organized it was. After having completed an example together, tied with our new knowledge on proper research, the kiddos were off and running. I had students start by choosing from one of the biographies in their reading range. One day of research was strictly from books. As students found information, they added it to their notes (which we later ordered and grouped together to help with our outlines). The following days of research included online resources as well.

From information gathering, we moved to creating outlines. Final drafts (typed straight to computer for editing due to how rapidly spring break approached) followed soon after. I was so proud of my student's 'mini-biographies'. Each student wrote about a page worth of information, but did so fabulously!

How do you do biographies in your classroom? Be sure to link up with Jivey and check out the other ideas in this link up too!
 

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Classroom "App"lications & Workshop Wednesday: Geometry

This week has to be the longest week I've had in awhile. Monday night, I went to bed and was happy with the thought that I could sleep in the next day. Then I had the rude realization that the next day was not Saturday, but only Tuesday. Yesterday felt like Thursday. Today felt like a Friday. Finally though, it's hump day, and I'm here to join in with one of my BBB's for Workshop Wednesday!

This weeks topic is geometry. My kiddos had a new batch of apps downloaded to their iPads recently and one of the apps was GeoBoard. For a simple app, my kiddos have fun with it and it's a new twist to an activity I did as a kid {with the actual rubber bands}. This time without the threat of rubber bands flying around the room too.

A fun, free app, to use during a geometry study! Be sure to check out Jivey's blog for more ideas when teaching geometry!

What apps do you use in the classroom? Be sure to link up your ideas all month long. You can link up any app (whether you use iPads or Chrome Books, or Android device) come join in the fun all month long!

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