Halloween Hullabaloo

YEEE HAW!!!

YAY red ribbon week is over!!!

Western Day was the best!!

I so sported the petticoat

and this cutie with me

is Heather... she is AH-MAZING!!!

I taught 3rd grade with her last year

(insert super frowny face) I MISS her

even though she is right across the hall

I still miss her!!!

don't get me wrong I LOVE my 4th grade team

BUT I still miss my Heather!!!

She has the best ideas and is SUPER CUTE to BOOT

(yes intentional pun inserted b/c of Western Day)

She really should start a BLOG because she is so WONDERFUL

and has TONS and TONS of ORIGINAL and FUN and FABULOUS ideas!!!

Heather is the reason I got rejuvenated last year.

I was in a funk and she and her creativity pulled me out

YAY Heather!!! THANKS Heather...

I can only pray that she will stay at our school so she can teach Drew :)

Heather is also my RHW and Blog Stalking Buddy

we often talk about did you see this or did you see what she did!!!

She is like my little sis and I ADORE HER!!!

PLEASE HEATHER START A BLOG!!!

FAB IDEA ALERT

Mrs. Monk is on my 4th grade team and this is her unit!!!

I in NO way am taking credit for the idea!!!

She told me she found it in a book BUT anywho...

here it is....

It is called the Minute (MY-noot) Arachnid

and what you do is....

have your kiddos write the Itsy Bitsy Spider

skipping lines as they go.

Then you talk about what words you could replace with a better and fabulous synonym...

We highlighted the words and they were off...

rewriting the Itsy Bitsy Spider using their new found and fabulous synonyms!!!

They loved it

I LOVED IT!!!

we went through the writing process and published!!!

NO I do not have only 7 kiddos

Not everyone is published!!

They will ALL be up on Monday!!!

I just wanted you to get an idea of how I published them!!

We made snowflake like webs and glued on our spiders

I mean arachnids!!!

Some webs were not successful because someone

maybe me 

told them to cut it wrong 

so they came out in 2 pieces ooops

BUT we figured out a way to get it to work

take a look at these examples

they are too too too cute

 and another thing
NOT MY IDEA
NOT MY IDEA
but LOVE LOVE LOVE it...
this is the Pumpkin Book Project
and you can find it here...



WORTH EVERY SINGLE CENT!!!
GO BUY IT NOW FOR NEXT YEAR!!!
it was a HUGE success

and the kiddos did an AWESOME JOB!!!

and on a final note
here is the HULLABALOO

(insert serious soap opera music here)

I am having a personal struggle with copy cats

I have said and will continue to say...

TAKE my ideas and make them your own

give me credit please

and take my ideas and share on the web....

give credit though

BUT PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PLEASE

do NOT take my ideas and sell them as your own

for one

NOT COOL

and two

JUST WRONG

and three

NOT COOL & WRONG

even if you give me credit for the inspiration... it was my idea PEOPLE

NOT YOURS

you should NOT be making a profit off of someone else's ideas!!!

these FABULOUS teacher stores

say the products you sell need to be your ORIGINAL ideas!!!

just because you change Moby Dick to a Catfish put him in a pond and write it in Helvetica instead of Comic Sans DOES NOT MAKE IT YOUR OWN!!!

it is WRONG WRONG WRONG

I am at a breaking point because this is hitting closer to home than I would like!!!

by breaking point I mean...

eating cookie dough and drinking soda

both of which I gave up months ago

ok yesterday

I will not go into details or dish out names BUT

please take note... IF IT IS NOT YOUR IDEA DON'T SELL IT!!!

and when I get stressed I don't clean like some people I know...

wish I did because my laundry might be done and dishes loaded or unloaded

what ev

I create
so maybe if it is on a poster

the message might get across

3rd times a charm right?

and please note this is not directed to 99.98% of you guys!!!

and feel free to use this however you please!!!

all papers and elements are by the fabulous gina miller and

shared with special permission!!!

love gmiller

ALRIGHTY peeps

Wishing you luck tomorrow!!!

Halloween can be SCARE-EEE!!!

and once again thanks for allowing me to dish out

the good the better and the sometimes ugly!!!

Keep-n it real for the BIG girls

so I entered... did you?

I think this is a great idea!!! Go enter fast... time is running out!!!

BOO... did I scare ya?

Halloween is almost here and it is going to be SUPER UBER BUSY!!!

Like it already isn't busy...

***********

Last week.... let's talk about last week....

Last week was slightly stressful...
my dad was recovering from an emergency heart cath stent thingy
so my Camp Paw Paw was down to one member...Mia (aka grandma)
I am super blessed to have my parents watch Drew but
Paw Paw doesn't like to follow doc's orders so I was a little stressed
Last weekend was Drew's first soccer game...
let's just say he kicked the ball once and I cried,,, not because her kicked the ball once BUT
3 year olds playing soccer is more like herding cats high on catnip
AND the field is like 25 yards away from the ROAD
a BUSY ROAD with no fence
did you read that
NO FENCE... so between yelling Drew STOP
and DREW get the ball or DREW kick it or
DREW STOP NOW as he headed for the ROAD!!!
I was a MESS and seriously my dad had to drive home because I was
crying all the way home... and need I say that I was stressing about it all this week because we had a game yesterday too!!!

we also had benchmark testing on w, th, and f.
I kinda enjoyed this because for 4 hours I monitored the students and got  A TON of work done!!!
I completed my data binder, entered grades, graded and graded some more, updated my teacher web-page, made lesson plans, graded, typed up data labels and typed them again SERIOUSLY 10 minutes later after an email came through telling us to do it differently (((frowny face))) and I straightened my room for a walk through....
Last week we also had our district walk through.
Do you guys have those?
Our head district peeps walk through our halls and classrooms looking at
various things like...
journals, data binders, journals, anchor charts, journals, hall displays, journals, posted objectives, and journals.
They never came into my room BUT did visit a few rooms in my hall and
took pics of our hall displays....
and my new Principal gave us the good, the bad, & the UGLY of the visit
FRIDAY after school!!! What a great start to my weekend!!!
and AND AND come tomorrow I have to spend my conference time with my new
principal discussing the specifics of their visit and how our grade level crashed and burned!!!
so I am assuming...

Oh and I almost forgot...
I got called a FAT A_ _
at recess on Friday...
to which I replied... tell me something I don't know!!!
He was probably just jealous I could kick the ball pretty far for a FAT BOTTOM GIRL!!!


and speaking of next week...
I mean this week...
OH EM GEE
Yesterday after a much anticipated soccer game...
my 3year old ROCKED the field and did AWESOME...
he wants to be goalie BUT in 3 year old soccer there is NO goalie so he
just stands on the DESIGNATED white line and waits for me to
YELL go get the ball DREW!!!
He blocked 3 shots and had 2 goal kicks!!! YAY BUB!!!
and there is a BUY next week and then a double header the following.
REALLY??? a double header for 3 year olds!!!
Anyways after his ROCK STAR game... Drew came down with a FEVER
when we got home and I am talking about FEVER 103 FEVER!!
called the Dr and he told us to get him some allergy meds and generic tylenol
it did the trick at 1 in the morning...and after about 3 long luke warm baths and about 10 otter pops!!!
OH and Drew can say deliciously refreshing but calls a fever BEAVER
so it took for ever to get rid of that
HORRIBLE BEAVER!!!

more stuff I am stressing over...kinda

I am practically in charge of the Halloween Carnival...

on Thursday...

wait we call it Fall Festival to be PC and the date changes every year

so sometimes it is before and sometimes it is after Halloween

so keeping it the same name is the only thing

consistent with it (((SMILE)))

and I am blessed with great friends at my school that help a bunch

BUT that old saying is true... 10% of the people do 90% of the job!!!

We have Red Ribbon Week too (not in charge of that)

so everyday I get to wear something KooKy!!!

Now I get to plan a FUNKY outfit... YAY (((sarcasm)))

really a plus sized chick like me in a western outfit... I am thinking I am going

BIG or go home so I pulled out my teal petticoat and I have some fab boots and

this Cow Girl is ready

thank goodness tomorrow is just wear red... I can do that!!!

HMMM what else... 4th grade does not dress up for Halloween  BUT we do

Vocabulary Hats...

each kiddo picks a word off of our word wall list

(the list contains ALL of the vocab we have or will use for the entire year)

anywho they have to create a fun and funky hat that depicts the word they chose!!!

the word has to be posted on the hat as well

*just in case*

The new principal told us we (the teachers) can dress up but I am still debating that...
and to tell you the truth I haven't even started on my hat yet
BOO
I am stuck between the words hemisphere, brainstorm, and any other word the kids didn't pick... I wanted to do Spooktacular BUT not a word...

***************
so as hubby is playing golf
and bub is playing trains (BEAVER FREE)
I am blogging and creating!!!
because that is how I destress!!!
blog and make
blog and make

Something fun we do at my school is BOO BUDDIES...
or you might know it as You've been BOOed...
whatever you call it... I made one for you
because ONE
I {PUFFY} HEART MY BLOGGY FRIENDS & FOLLOWERS
and two
let's face it the Boo we have been passing around my school has seen its better days

and since I am the one that begins it... I get to choose RIGHT!!!

Oh and don't tell anyone... SHHHHH they all think someone else starts it. TEE HEE HEE!!

here is a more printer FRIENDLY version!!!

and directions too!!!

and just in case you want to be an

UBER FAB FOLLOWER

you can go and vote for me at the

MOM TEACHER BLOG contest

the link is here

http://www.circleofmoms.com/top25/top-teacher-mom-blogs-2011?trk=t25_top-teacher-mom-blogs-2011

and here is the download for SCRIBD

sometimes it can be wonky so if it looks off then refresh the page or click on the title right above the frame

see it

!!
!!
!!

V

Booed

and if you made it all the way down here to the very bottom of what might be my longest post ever..
I just wanted to tell you I have a HUGE sale going on over at my Teacher Store!!!
and just in case you were wondering all graphics in the BOOed stuff are by gina miller designs and I have special permission to share them with you!!! YAY I love GINA!!!

Vote for me and a Halloweeny freebie and Plug

 I have been nominated to the Top Mom Blogs and need your votes!!!
READ my speech first and then come back up here and click on the apple and books to vote :)
and now to my campaign speech!!!
This is an honor beyond belief...
for YEARS (like 7 felt like a bazillion)
Ken and I prayed and prayed to become parents!!!

***I am now going to give a NOVEL worth of info SQUEEZED into a short paraphrase-ish post and I am going to use a whole bunch of ... and a lot of !!!***

We did everything you can think of
my butt was a dart board for years
even hubby got to target practice
and hormone pill after hormone shot after dr visit
( I swear I paid for my Dr's vet... pretty sure we did)

and too too too many surgeries to count and nothing!!!
there were somethings just nothing that lasted more than 9 weeks
Finally after ANOTHER emergency surgery (triple tubal)
I woke up and realized that hey this is NOT my destiny!!!
We started our paperwork in November of 07 and in Aug of 08 we were on our way
to becoming parents!!!

SO when I got an email saying
you are nominated as a MOM blogger I was so so so so so happy!!!
I AM a MOM... and a blogger
I AM A MOM BLOGGER...
light bulb moment...
I AM A MOM.... I almost cried
i cried

anyways
becoming a MOM was such a difficult road
and in the end I would DO it ALL again to get my Drew!!
and when I saw MOM blogger
it hit me...

Thanks in advance for voting!!!
I really appreciate it!!
and if you want you could vote every single day for 19 days
if you want :)

and just in case you want to know... the first picture of BABY Drew is the EXACT moment I became a mom!!!

now after that DEEP heartfelt and touching campaign speech to go and vote could I possibly go into a
shallow plug for a UNIT I created....
WHY YES I CAN...
(((smile)))

Ok remember where I told you
I WOULD NOT use this blog as an advertising board for my teacher store at
TEACHERS NOTEBOOK???
I am having sleepless nights about it...
I want to share a unit I created and can't unless I PLUG it here...
I mean my kids are LOVING IT!!!
SERIOUSLY today they cheered when I gave them the Candy Corn Multiplication...
really I thought I had a gas leak in my room or something...
they really cheered OUT LOUD!!!
(((happy teacher moment)))
so after much thought on my way home...
(i live like 5 minutes away and that is if I hit the 2 stop lights)
I thought...
 that every time I do "PLUG" something in my store
I will also post a FREEBIE for you!!!
so we both win... you get a freebie and I get to PLUG
does that sound OK? hope so!!! because that is what I did!!!

ok I gave you 2 FREEBIES!!!

my guilt got to me...

click on the pics above to download them :)

or click here... I was having a really hard time getting Googledocs to take the background on the word problem :( and so I downloaded it as a slide and if you click here it is a PDF with no background...sorry

and here is what else is in the unit

this unit is only at my Teachers Notebook store

and proof they LOVED it or at least pics of their work...
using the word problem I gave ya :)

and please don't forget to vote for this
MOM BLOGGER!!!
I still grin ear to ear when I think if that!!!
go all the way back to the top and hit the apple and books
thanks again!!!

FAB VOCAB & more

when I moved up to 4th grade I knew writing would be our focus
because it is one of those marvelous *sarcasm* state tests 4th graders must take
BUT  also because it is important....
SIDE NOTE...
can you believe that our "NEW" state test is now called the STAAR test
REALLY?
why? I am not even sure what it stands for... and frankly I DO NOT CARE
I am pretty sure the T stands for Texas and an A probably assessment
but honestly who cares
I just know it is going to be another STATE TEST that takes up too much of my valuable teaching time and it determines my kiddos worth
BECAUSE we all know these tests show growth and are completely data driven and comparable to other states
HAH I LAUGH

and since I am being FRANK... WHY couldn't they come up with a different name
STAAR sound so sparkly and pretty...it just ruins it for me.... maybe because we are the LONE star state... whatever... I think it should be like the T-NAS-T...which stands for Texas Needed Another State Test!!!

OK back to writing
I wanted my kiddos to be more aware of fabulous words they come across while reading....sooooooo

I made this Word Choice board...

and nomination slips for them to nominate FAB VOCAB from their reading.



ignore the dirt in the corner..

I'm keep-n it real and frankly

our substitute custodian just kinda mops in a circle

(my room is a square)

bless her heart she is like 100 years old

hard of hearing

and doesn't speak much English and I speak un piquito espanol

which I am pretty sure translates to very little spanish

so I basically used hand signals to ask her to dust and sweep first then mop

as NICELY as I could

 but

I looked more like I was auditioning for the Chim Chimney routine in Mary Poppins

(((SIGH)))

so my floor is somewhat shiny now

but still I have dust bunnies the size of tumble weeds

in the corners of EVERYTHING

I have now hired students to attack the bunnies
and I think one of them lost the fight
(I kid...maybe)

alright back to my FAB VOCAB

( i think i might have ADD...seriously I am not even half way through this BLOG and I have bird walked twice...

hand in the air... I promise to try to stay on track for the rest of this blog post)

I also made a model of what I want their nomination slips to look like... we did it together on the big screen :) so they got it

I use their nominations to pick our word of the week... OK sometimes I forget and so we might do a word every other week... whatever don't judge

when they come in from PE and they see this on the screen they know to get their FAB VOCAB folders out

and the kiddo that picked this word gets a GOLDEN BRAIN... with the word written on the bottom!!!

if you have no idea what the golden brain is GO HERE :)

They can work in groups or not to complete this paper...

*** I DID NOT MAKE THIS PAPER & I DO NOT KNOW WHERE IT CAME FROM...

 ALL I KNOW IS I LOVE IT AND IF SOMEONE KNOWS WHO MADE THIS PERFECT PAPER FOR MY FAB VOCAB STUFF PLEASE LET ME KNOW***

found the source and it from one of my BFFs (blogger friend forever) Rojas
http://mrsrojasteaches.blogspot.com/2011/08/word-of-week-freebie.html

dictionary skills are important :)

 

after completing their paper they put it in their FAB VOCAB folder

and after we discuss the word and I hand out the GOLDEN BRAIN

I hang up our framed word on our FAB VOCAB board :)

and why are they framed???

because all FABULOUSNESS NEEDS FRAMING (or pinning tee hee hee)

 this is just a pic so you can see how the 2 boards are close to each other and yes I could have taken a far away shot but must I remind you of my Chim Chimney routine again? OK THANKS

I am working on a way to make my nomination forms cuter and will post that soon... bub has his first soccer game today and so I need to get everything ready for that...

so if you read this early

CHECK back because instead of posting twice I am going to just edit this one and add it in... I'll post on my FB page that I added it in...

ok here it is.... and by the way soccer game with a 3 year old NOT what I thought... I needed a nap... imagine herding cats high on catnip... and that sums it up!!!



Fab Vocab Nomination Forms

ONE more thing before I am outta here...

I am so so so so so so so so EXCITED to be awarded with this

and you should read the review they gave me...

SUMS me up perfectly... really you should head on over there and read it

OH FORGET IT

here is my review...

Mrs. Farley is the creative word inventor and onetime Disney worker graduating to 4th grade after a decade teaching in 3rd; her photogenic 3-year-old co-stars on Oh’ Boy Fourth Grade, a blog overflowing with freebies, story problem strategies, carnival-themed classroom highlights, and regrets about the constraints of a robotic curriculum with no room for glitter.

pretty sure that is a perfect review...

and you really need to head on over there because

they have a great list of bloggers to check out!!!

CuRReNtLy in OcToBeR

Can you believe it is already October?

I LOVE October...
it is probably my FAVE month
I love the weather
the decorations
Halloween
and PUMPKINS
not Jack -O- lanterns
PUMPKINS!!!
why take a perfectly cute pumpkin and carve into it?
In October I have
lots of Birthdays to celebrate
and my anniversary (yay)
and parties
and did I mention decorations
I LOVE HaLLoWeeN Decor
(did I say that already?)

anyways with October here...
it is time
for the next CURRENTLY Linky Party
YAY

Write down what you are currently

listening

loving

thinking

wanting

needing

&

stalking

 (include 2 Blogs)

alrighty...

here is mine

here are the links for the 2 blogs I mentioned
Second Grade Shenanigans
Happydally

I also have a blank one for you...
only if you want it...
and I did NOT make one for the kiddos
BUT if you want me to make one let me know in the comments!!!

okee dokey your turn

to link up