Five for Friday

It's Friday!  Yay!  I'm linking up again with Doodle Bugs Teaching this week to bring you 5 random happenings from my week.  Let's get to it, shall we?

Did you hear that there is a new collaborative blog on the block?  We are The Primary Punchbowl and we are a group of primary teachers who are passionate about teaching, children, and sharing with others.  To celebrate the launch of our new blog, we have an HUGE blog hop going on.  You can collect over 20 freebies, enter to win one of over 20 TpT gift cards, AND enter the extra special giveaway on The Primary Punchbowl.  Hurry over and enter...all giveaways close on Sunday!

The weather here has been downright gorgeous this week and any excuse to get outside is a good one.  We are lucky to have a beautiful school garden and classes with our outdoor education teacher once a week.  This week, we worked on using our 5 senses in the garden and looking for different shapes.

I love, love, love Reader's Workshop!  This week, we worked on partner reading.  My littles totally rocked this!  They loved sharing books with their reading partners.  How cute are these two?!?!

My kinders are rockin' Writer's Workshop this year.  We are working on personal narratives and the stories these kiddos are writing are fantastic!  I love using these golf pencils for their little hands.  

You are not going to want to miss this!  Some hauntingly good fun is coming to the blog on Saturday morning!  Check back for a TREAT from some of my best bloggy buddies!

And check out Doodle Bugs Teaching to catch up on what others have been up to this week!

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Five For Friday

Yay!  It's Friday! And it's a three day weekend.  We have Monday off for Indigenous Peoples Day (aka Columbus Day).  I'm really looking forward to the long weekend.  I'm excited to be linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday for the first time in a while.

We use FOSS kits for science in our district and this week was all about Trees!  We were busy observing trees, painting trees, learning about the parts of trees and what trees need to live.  I'd say my little scientists are now tree experts!

This week has also been all about writing numbers 0-9.  I absolutely LOVE these Number Construction sets from Learning Resources.  You can find them on Amazon here.

It's Fleet Week and our school is up high on a hill.  The Blue Angels fly right over the school during their practice runs.  The moment my Kinders hear the jets, all else stops.  So we headed outside to watch.  The giggles and shrieks of joy are so worth it.

We are getting ready for pumpkin week!  It's one of my favorite units to teach.  We will head to the pumpkin patch, explore pumpkins, eat pumpkin treats.  I might be more excited than the kids!  :)  We will be using the activities in my Pumpkin Science Unit that you can find on TpT here.

I am super excited to announce the launch of a new collaborative blog, The Primary Punchbowl!  Check back this Sunday for an exciting Fall Blog Hop where you can pick up some great freebies and enter exciting giveaways! 

Will you join us?

Head over to Doodle Bugs Teaching and see what everyone else has been up to this week.

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Five for Friday

Whew!  It's been a busy few weeks and I've neglected this little blog 'o' mine.  So sorry, friends!  I'm so glad for Doodle Bugs Teaching Five for Friday to catch you all up on what's been going on.  So here goes...five random happenings from the last few weeks.

We spent 10 glorious days in Lake Tahoe at the end of July/beginning of August.  It's always a great time.  Both girls are much more comfortable in the water now and love the beach.  While we were there, the mister and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary.

The day after we got home, I headed back to my classroom for the first time all summer.  As many of you know, my school site has been under construction for the past year.  Although I didn't have to unpack over a hundred boxes this year, I was greeted with this mess.

The sawdust was EVERYWHERE!  It took me days to clean it up.  I am really looking forward to this being over.  

This is a big year for us.  Our youngest daughter started Kindergarten and now I have both girls at school with me!  Everyone had a fantastic first day of school.  The mister came to see us off on our first day.

We've spent the first week of school working on procedures, agreements, and exploration.  Before asking them to do any "work," I always let the students explore our materials.  

Do you let your students play in Kindergarten?  We do.  It's so important for language and social development.  My favorite quote of the week, "Mrs. S, do you want hot sauce on your hamburger?  

Yes, friend.  Every time.

#letthembelittle

How was your week?

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Five for Friday

It's been a few weeks since I've linked up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday.  It's a problem really, not knowing what day of the week it is.  Oh who am I kidding, I love summer!  

Here are my five random ramblings for this week...

Although I didn't attend the conferences in Vegas this year, the bloggers who were there have done a great job of sharing many of the things they learned.  One of the messages that came out loud and clear was #findyourtribe.  I'm so grateful to have found some other great California teachers to connect with.

My Erin Condren teacher planner arrived this week!  I love, love, love it!  It almost makes me want to go back to school....almost.  If you want to order one, they are currently 25% off.  And you can use my referral link to receive $10 off your first purchase!

https://www.erincondren.com/referral/invite/andreasimmons1017

Have you joined Periscope yet?  My #FOMO was in hyperdrive while everyone was in Vegas and after an internal struggle with the thought of managing yet another form of social media, I decided to see what all the fuss was about.  I have to say, I LOVE all the amazing things I have learned from the scopes I have seen so far.  I have yet to broadcast myself (although I have been challenged by my girls at Hooo-Ray For Teaching and My Day in K!).  Maybe I'll work up the nerve soon. ;)

My principal texted me this picture of my classroom this week.  This was right after he told me that we can't get back in until early August.  Sigh....construction is such a pain.  If you've read about my classroom, you know that construction at our school site began LAST summer.  I'm over it.  I guess the bright side is that all of my rugs have been cleaned!

On a personal note, my big girl got her braces off this week!  She was SO excited (I was, too.)!  Such an awesome mommy moment.  

How was your week?  

Let me know in the comments and then head over to Doodle Bugs Teaching to see what others have been up to.

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Five for Friday

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching today to share my Five for Friday this week.  I have to say, I really love the time I have to do "other" things during the summer.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my job, but it really does sort of take over my world during the school year.  Summer is definitely the time to relax, recharge, and have a little fun!  Here's what I've been up to this week:

Last Friday, we said, "See you later" to my sister and her family as they head across the country to their new home.  It was a tough send off but we're excited to have a new place to visit.

To cheer ourselves up, we headed to the county fair last weekend.  There was an amazing butterfly exhibit where you could interact with the butterflies.  The girls and I spent over a half an hour in there and I posted this photo on Instagram.  Imagine my surprise when Teachers Pay Teachers reposted it on Facebook as a part of their #TpTSummerSnapshot series.  Totally made my day!

I'm excited to be a part of the #TPTSellerChallenge hosted by Sparkling in Second, Peppy Zesty Teacherista, Teach Create Motivate, and Third in Hollywood.  This week's challenge was Makeover Madness.  Since I am at the beginning of my journey on TPT, I gave my Baseball Label It Freebie a bright new cover!  Check it out here.

By far, the best part of blogging is the relationships you make.  And when virtual friends become real life friends, well it doesn't get much better than that!  I got to have lunch with Molly from Lucky to Be in First this week.  LOVE this girl!

My oldest daughter has been in a visual and performing arts day camp for the last two weeks.  So, I've been spending my days with my youngest and we've been getting into all sorts of fun.  It's a treat to have one on one time with your kids once in a while.  It's rare that they get that sort of attention.

(Yes, that is my disaster of a house in the background.  This is real life people!)

How was your week?

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