Oh Boy It's Farley: May 2011

can you help a girl out???

I need a blog make-over....
since I am going to be changing the name of my blog to
Oh' Boy 4th grade
I thought I needed a TOTAL EXTREME MAKEOVER!!!!
and I have searched and searched and searched
for the perfect person to transform my little
piece of BLOG WORLD and I found her!!!!
PLUS she is a teacher too!!!! ((((LUV))))

AND AND AND she is running a contest...
if I can send 30 peeps to her FB page
HERE http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/sweetiebabys

and you LIKE her and tell her I (Meghan Farley) sent you
I could win a makeover!!!!
PURTY PLEASE!!!!
&
THANK YOU!!!!

so long...farewell, Auf wiedersehen

So long, farewell, Auf wiedersehen, good night,
I hate to go and leave this pretty sight.
So long, farewell, Auf wiedersehen, adieu,
Adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu.
SOOOOO first let me ease your fears
I am not leaving BLOGLAND!!!
although that might be easier to do than
to leave my favorite grade.
That's right folks
I am moving grade levels.
I have mixed feelings about it all!!!

I have taught 3rd grade for 10 years!!!
WOW 10 years and 3rd grade is the only grade I have ever taught
(unless you count student teaching
and then I taught 4th for ohhhh like 2 weeks or maybe 3)
AND the tear jerker is... this year was one of the bestEST EVA!!!
*tear * tear*
We got a new team member (Heather) this year and
she was a true blessing to not only my teaching but also my life!!!
She rejuvenated my teaching juices with her
refreshing ideas and MAD organizational skills!!!!
We did things this year that we have NEVER done
in the years past. It was an absolute joy!!!

Why am I moving???
About a month ago, my principal called
3rd grade into his office to tell us we
do NOT have the numbers to keep 3 teachers in 3rd!
YES we only have 3 teachers in each grade level.
ANYwho I said I would go to a new grade level before
I would let Heather go.
(She had just moved to 3rd from
2nd and has a new baby at home
and they are fixing to build a new home.)

So the day came for my Principal to make a decision on who was
moving and he called me in to ask if I would consider it...
I said YES!!!
I admit I am sad, ~~scared~~ terrified, and it is WAY out of my comfort zone
BUT BUT BUT
I am excited about....
Keeping the majority of my class for next year!!! YAY
Keeping my room...(it is just 2 doors down from 4th and the room next to me is vacant so does it even count?) keeping my room means I am still close to my 3rd grade peeps
AND I get to teach 4th with one of my closest friends who happens to be a fantastic math teacher
AND I get to teach with a veteran teacher who is a phenomenal writing teacher
SO my move is bittersweet!!!

On a different note but still a so long farewell moment....
SO LONG to the TAKS test!!!
TAKS is our State Test
and once again 3rd grade kicked its BOOTY!!!
For 2 years in a row we had 100% pass the READING and had
over 90% pass the MATH!!!
not to toot my own horn BUT
TOOT TOOT
for 5 years in a row I had 100% pass the Reading in my class!!!
I am very very proud of my kids!!!
They worked so hard and it paid off!!!
I am glad I get to keep most of them and next year
we will kick the STAAR's booty too!!!
STAAR is the new state test!!! YIPPEE (sarcasm)

OK and for a final farewell
I am thinking that I need to change my blog name
because I am now Oh' Boy 4th grade!!!
I think this has been my biggest hurdle to accepting my new
grade level.... But I am thinking a blog make-over will be in the works for this summer and every girl loves a good make-over!!!

OK Pitty Party is officially DONE!!!
Just had to get it out there!!!
and thanks for ~~listening!!!~~ reading!!!

excuses, project, pictures, and more

I am sorry I have been a bad bad blogger...

But I do have good excuses....

I have been a

PARTY ANIMAL!!!

It all started (back at the end of March)

with my nephew's 3rd birthday party.

Then ~ there was my brother and future sis in law's

engagement party!!!

This is my mom, grandma, my bro, & ME!!!

In APRIL.....

Then it was time for the party hosting to kick in....

FIRST I planned, decorated, and was one of the hostesses of a bridal shower for my LUVERLY cousin

Andrea!!!

The theme was

WHO is getting married???

Then I planned, decorated, and helped host a

Bridal Shower for my future sis in law

Lyssa.

The theme for this one was Country Chic.

In MAY

I went to a feather party

hosted by my

FAVORITE Giftique

Bless Your Heart!!!!

(I work part-time for this FaNtAbULouS place)

if you look you can see

my new feathers!!!

Unfortunately they fell out after about a week!!!

I also was one of the hostesses for this

future bride

Krystal!!!

We had a lingerie party at a local pub!!!

and then....

Bridal Shower (I am NOT a host)

for my future sis in law...

It was 50's housewife theme

so my side of the FAM

sported some fab aprons!!!

me and my momma!!!

Then it was my bday and Mother's Day on the same day!!!!

We spent the day with family and friends at my Grandparent's house!!!

Bubble guns were a hit with the boys!!!

My last hosting duty was for a friend at work!!!

She is having a baby girl and we threw her a

Baby Shower.... sorry no pics!!!

but it was cute!!!

ALRIGHT and then I got to attend some more parties...

This past Friday we had

the rehersal dinner for

Andrea....

here

Ken and I are posing before the festivities.

& YES my hair is REALLY RED!!!

(I let my hair goddess Abby do whatever she wants

and usually the last few weeks of school I get a

FUN color and cut!!!)

thank goodness my PrinciPAL is

cool with my craziness!!!

This is Andi and I

sporting our PARTY

STACHES!!!

WEDDING DAY!!!

and Andi was BEE U TEE FULL!!!

This was last night!!!

My little family before the ceremony!!!

JUST IN CASE you

needed a close up of my little man's

duds....can you see he is ROCK-n

some PINK CHUCKS!!!!

yep that is how we roll!!!! :) * WINK *

It was a lot of fun!!!!

I think that about covers it!!!

As you can see

I have been going and going and going

for the last few months!!!

In between all of my out of school CRAZINESS...

we have had some fun in school too!!!!

BRING ON SOME MORE PICS....

We just finshed our habitat unit!!!

We began our unit by studying a SPECIFIC habitat!!!

We studied the Australian desert in class!!!

The kids then had to study a different habitat and

create a Cinco de Mayo Float representing their habitat!!!

We do this every year and it is a HUGE hit!!!

We parade around the school to show off our hard work!!!

On the float they have to label all the plants and animals

and have a 5 step food chain represented!!!

Here are some examples of some of the best ones!!!

Don't worry she is my bestie's daughter

and her habitat is Texas Hill Country!!!

I've done this for 8 years now and this was my first

Hill Country Float!!!

She did an AWESOME job representing nonliving components too!!!

Another bestie's kiddo!!! :)

He did a really hard habitat....

as you can see!!!

ONE OF MY FAVES of all time...

this is the North American Plains Float

This was the

African Savannah Float...

he explained that since most of the animals are nocturnal

he made the setting in the dark

with STARS of course!!!

Pond Habitat...

with a fisherman being the top of the food chain!!!

LOVE IT!!!!

and of course...

I can't leave out this CAVE habitat

complete with

a pile of bat guano and

cockroaches (because they eat bat poop...YUM)

I {puffy}heart this float project

and will miss it when

I go to 4th grade next year!!!

oooops cat is out of the bag!!!!

good thing is

I get to take the majority of my class with me!!!

So I have hAppY and Sad tears!!!

Good thing about moving up...

I get to have these patooties again!!!!

Not the 2 in uniform BUT the short ones!!!!!

wondering about that pic above????

Well my class came running in from recess

( I was off from duty that day)

and they said they saw kids

throwing rocks and kicking at an injured bird.

Well I couldn't stand it

so I told them after we got done

with our Spelling Test

we could go see if it was still there

and call Animal Control to pick it up!

It was so great to see these kids

care so much about an injured dove.

We have a window bird feeder

and they were sad to think it might be one of our

frequent dining guests!!!

When we went outside, she was still

out there but near the road.

SO I grabbed a rag and did some

SWAT TEAM like

procedures to surround her!!

We were impressive to say the least....

and we made a big circle around her

and held hands and took steps in until

we were close enough for me to toss the

rag on her and pick her up.

We put her in a box (with air holes of course)

and went to the office to call

Animal Control!!!

My school is in a TINY town and so Animal Control

was more than willing to come and get her.

They unfortunately showed up

after school so these two familiar faces

got to hand her over!!!

Well there it is...

the LONGEST post I will probably ever do!!!!

and I hope you enjoyed it!!!!

I will be posting more frequently I am sure because

I am hanging up my PARTY shoes

for some flip flops!!! and can't wait to hang out with

my little man this summer!!!!

any body else have a kid OBSESSED over the

FAKE dog at OLD NAVY???

we have to say hi to him

A LOT!!!

I wonder if they will sell him to me???

got the pics up....

ok so maybe it took me a little longer to post

BUT

here they are

our final products and they are SOOOOO cute!!!

and if you are curious about this pic....

this is Shawna

she is one of my besties and

our Secretary

she is the BESTEST SECRETARY EVA

plus I have taught her kids!!!

ANYWHO

3rd grade keeps her office decorated

and she is being over run by echidnas

because we are in the middle of our

Australian Habitat Unit!!!

How To Blow A Bubble.....LOVE IT!!!!

OH my goodness...

I have been waiting a

loooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time

OK only since March 23rd :)

to do this lesson!!!

It is from one of my FaVoRiTe BLoGs....

Lesson Plan SOS....

have I mentioned.......

anywho...

I stumbled across this lesson:

Bubble Blowing Blast

and I KNEW my kids would LOVE IT!!!!

We followed the plans just like the

lesson told us to and the outcome was

DeLiCiOuS!!!

We used our writing journals

to write our final rough draft before publishing.

They LOVED making themselves with a paper plate!!!

This stinker's last sentence is so full of VOICE!!!

She is my little comic and her last sentence says:

I don't know what they liked better...

being artsy crafty or chewing on gum all week!!!

I let them chew gum ALL week

(yes I am a little crazy

but I will stoop to anything

to get them to behave

SUMMERITIS has kicked in for all of us )

back to the gum chewing....

I let them chew all week

because when it came to editing they had to read their

HOW TO BLOW A BUBBLE

to 3 friends before they could come to me to edit.

While they read their HOW TO to their friends,

the friend had to follow their directions.

They needed a piece of gum in their mouth ready to

follow the directions!!!

I did have some gum blown on the floor...

because the directions never stated to stretch the gum over your tongue.

I think it said to put it on the tip of your tongue and blow....

results....gum on the floor and more editing :)

I think I got too big of balloons

BUT I figured as they deflate it will be ok!!!

They are still way cute!!!

Even my reluctant writers worked SUPER DUPER hard

and made me PROUD!!!!

I liked this plate because he made the mouth look

like it was blowing a bubble!!!

These two worked very hard to get their plates JUST RIGHT!!!

and they did a GREAT JOB!!!

We published the paper just like SOS

and I would have pics of that

BUT of course my camera died!!!!

SOOOOOO tune in tomorrow for pics of our

final product!!!

THANKS SOS for all of your great ideas

and for helping this teacher survive the last few

weeks of school!!!

SOS Your Momma Portraits

SOOOO I was stalking blogs ...like I always do and came across this cute cute cute lessonHERE From Lesson Plan SOS AND I was so so so excited to see such a CUTE Mother's Day Project!!!!so I had to ~~steal~~ borrow it!!!I showed the lesson to my team
and we all agreed if we combined all of CRAFTY leftovers we could pull this off!!!and we did!!!Here are some pics of our YOUR MOMMA PORTRAITS(get it YOUR MOMMA)