FIVE, Fiesta, and Fredericksburg

It is that tie again... 

http://doodlebugsteaching.blogspot.com/2013/04/five-for-friday-linky-party-april-26.html

I always like this link up because it gives me a chance to reflect on my week's blessings

in and out of the classroom.

This week was a STATE TESTING week... BLEH

excuse me I think I just threw up in my mouth!!!

OK back to blessings

since the last week was that...

we didn't do too much in the classroom

BUT what we did do I took pics of it 

(((SMILE)))

so join me now for my FIVE 

but there are more than five pics *wink*

I realized you might need a better up close and personal pic of...
no NOT our new custodian
but of our fab nest building supply holder....

I have to say our new custodian is
AWESOME...
his first day was the day I discovered the
OPOSSUM DEATH
so he was initiated into our school family on a very sour slimy note!!!
and now my room has flies...
lots and lots of FLIES
GIANT FLIES
and let's just say they were actively monitoring during the test too...
I know I have personally swatted over 30 of them into little fly heaven...
and let me tell you they are HUGE.
and SUPER SLOW
I think they are full on opossum guts
but hey what do I know...
I wrote cocoon
*wink*
anyways our new guy...
I'll call him Mr. D
is our official FLY WRANGLER
yee haw
welcome to Texas Mr. D

and that my friends is that...
next week we have some fun things in store in my classroom
I mean I am now able to spread my wings and fly...
state testing traps me like a CHRYSALIS and now that it is over
I can spread my wings and SOAR...
hopefully our little injured butterfly is NOT a metaphor for my future week...
but hey having sugar water and fresh flowers delivered daily isn't too bad... right?

toodles

ONE LAST THING....
please head on over to my buddy Reagan's blog and support a wonderful cause
http://tunstalltimes.blogspot.com/2013/04/fighting-bone-cancer.html

PURTY PLEASE go check out her fund raiser...
link above the pic
thanks so much!!!

FIVE, moose, and butterflies

http://doodlebugsteaching.blogspot.com/2013/04/five-for-friday-linky-partyapril-19th.html

I love joining this party and I am pretty sure I say this every weekend :)

but I am going to say it again... 

I LOVE JOINING THIS LINKY!!! 

alrighty number one

got my new computer...

I decided on a MAC and I am so excited I did!!!

this is a pic of all the "geeks" getting my mac just the way I like it

they were super sweet and set it up 

just for me...

they bookmarked stuff and set up my numerous email accounts and all kinds of stuff...

great experience

how cute are they???

 ******************************

TWO

my mama and I LOVE going to auctions

and the big red barn auction in San Marcos, Texas is one of our FAVES

so we had a girls day

I wanted this big bad boy 

but I ended up at my top price and it still went for couple hundred above that

WHAAAAAA

still wish I would have gone for it

oh well 

guess I will have to go to another auction

another thing I spotted at the auction 

right from the beginning was this GIANT MOOSE

OH I wanted this moose so BAD

we waited and WAITED for the moose to come up...

and waited some more

the more I waited the more I thought of all the fun things I could do with this in my

CLASSROOM

yeppers in my CLASS

I had thoughts of bunny ears for Easter, a red nose and Santa hat for Christmas, giant sunglasses and a beach towel for summer vaycay, 

I mean these thoughts just kept popping up and every time I thought of a new costume I got more excited

I finally went up to one of the auction assistants and asked when he would be coming up

and 

with tears in my eyes I am going to tell you this....

he said it was already auctioned off a few weeks ago 

BUT the owner hasn't picked him up yet

WHAAAAA

the new owner obviously does NOT appreciate McConaughey the Moose the way I would

he would have a HAPPY 4ever home with me!!!

WHAAAAAAA

 so if you have a giant moose head you are looking to get rid of or know someone that does
and you want to help me in my moosey dreams
please let me know
needless to say my little fam is going to a market days tomorrow and first on my list is
GIANT MOOSE HEAD!!!

***********************

ok school related

 we have been doing quick reviews on poetry and reading and dramas
 and everything else I can
squeeze into their little 4th grade brains
to do a final last minute prep for
THE TEST
yes we have another TEST
2 to be exact...
we took the writing test a few weeks ago and next week we have
reading and math
YAY
anywho...
I constantly get asked about
point of view soooooo
this anchor chart is my solution
and YES it has helped
and WHOOOO doesn't think it is cute
WHOOOO???

 ***********************

your Starbucks equals my Panera

Wild Black Cherry Smoothie

NUFF SAID

 *************

Drew collected caterpillars a few weeks ago on our walk 

and we had about 10 in a little critter cage

well

yesterday we had  butterflies

it was really fun to watch him let them go

we still have about 4 more that need to come out of their cocoons

so there you have it...

my FIVE

and I do have some news to tell you about...

I was going to be moving grade levels BUT I am not

I am staying in 4th

YAY me!!!

even though my room is the opossum graveyard 

I was getting a little sad with the thought of me leaving my room...

I love my room 

I have been in it for like 12 years...

it is MINE!!! 

okie dokie I'm outta here

go check out everyone else's links... 

it is super fun to see what everyone is up to!!!

toodles

Looky Lou with Teaching Maths With Meaning

Alison Hislop is a 3/4 grade teacher in
AUSTRALIA...
How awesome is that?
and her blog....

is my LOOKY LOU BLOG!!!

ONE I can't get over the fact that Alison is in Australia 

I am super excited to be able to feature a  teacher in AUSTRALIA!!!!

AND TWO....

she has some really great ideas!!!

REALLY GREAT IDEAS!!!

I mean check this out!!!

 on Mondays Alison posts math games...
this is so cool and they are fantastic!!!
click on the pic to head to her latest game
which is...

FLIP 3 and ADD...all of the directions are included in the free download...

FREE DOWNLOAD

not only does she have cool math game freebies BUT 

she also has some really fun paid items too...

seriously look at all of that stuff...

that is a bunch of resources and activities piled into one nice big unit

click on the pic to head to this item....

it is over 70 pages of decimal and fraction yumminess!!!

and then while I was stalking her blog...

I saw this...

I am always looking for great activities that reinforce number sense

and this my friends is a perfect activity for that...

plus 

it is under $2

YEPPERS under $2

this is just a sample of Alison's creativeness... 

her blog is full of ideas and strategies...

and not to mention it cures my nosiness

 about how things are done in AUSTRALIA!!!

so if you haven't guessed it... 

I HIGHLY recommend you head on over and check all of her posts and products 

you won't be disappointed

and if you do happen to stroll on over..

tell her Farley sent ya :)

BLOG http://mathswithmeaning.blogspot.com.au

TpT http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Alimath

Pinterest http://pinterest.com/alisonh88/

TOODLES

1970's car smell, Farley and the DELL, and FIVE for FRIDAY

Well ladies and gents...
the opossum situation is somewhat resolved!!!
We are back in our room BUT
it still has a lingering odor of this crazy smelling deodorizer thingy ma bob that they placed in my ceiling.
SERIOUSLY I kinda would prefer the slime smell...
OK not really but this deodorizer was OBViously picked out by a MAN...
I can only think that it is probably named
1970's mirror hanging car deodorizer
good news is I got a completely new ceiling, my room has never been cleaner (it was sanitized and disinfected more than once), and I get to teach with my windows open to help get the 1970s smell out... not so bad...
and side note the deodorizer thingy is suppose to be dissolved within 2 weeks...
one down one to go :)

and I know it is Saturday BUT I love linking up with Doodle Bugs
for her FIVE for Friday...
LOVE IT

so here we go
and it is not going to be soooo cute because my BRAND NEW DELL laptop
has the blue screen of death and
after some awesome customer service said the Farleys NEVER
they said there is nothing they can do for me except for me to send it into them and they will replace it...
WHY WOULD I want a NEW one...this one IS NEW and it already DIED...
HELLO people...
WHAT
and they said that they couldn't save my files
all of my stuff ( I know I should have backed it up)
all of my stuff would be lost forever in cyber space...
hopefully it is swirling on a glitter galaxy or greatness

WHAT?

but I could have someone else save them for me
like the GEEKS and I would pay for the expense...
seriously my laptop is less than 3 months old...
YES LESS THAN THREE MONTHS OLD
I am a little mad
OK I am way TICKED off
hubby told them they were lucky he was talking to them because it would not be good if they were talking to me
HAH!!!
so long story short...
ONE a good friend of hub's saved all of my files and it cost me a fresh batch of homemade cookies
and TWO I bought it at Costco and they have a great return policy and
THERE
put a fork in it DELL that situation is DONE!!!
and I am DONE with DELL
the END
and now I am on my Hub's puter trying to do my blog...
and now I am on the look out for a NEW computer AGAIN!!!


now for something I LOVE...the

http://doodlebugsteaching.blogspot.com/2013/04/five-for-friday-linky-party-april-12.html

ONE

my kids love me...

they might be my toughest and roughest group yet...

BUT they love me and I LOVE THEM..

they have decided 

on their own I might add...

that every Monday is now

MUSTACHE MONDAY 

and everyone should wear something mustache...

I didn't know this until this Monday 

and look at all this cuteness!!!

 NUMBER TWO

I found these BIC Poster sized markers at

TARGET and I am in LOVE

they are great for making Anchor Charts and 

they are BRIGHT!!!

I am not being asked to review these and if I was my opinion would be the same...

THESE are FANTABULOUS!!!

they would get 3 out of 3 {puffy} hearts

 on the

 Farley Grading Scale of Love

NUMBER THREE

 We have more wonderful STATE tests coming up... 

so excited about that (sarcasm)

and we needed some quick and fun review of poetry...

so where else does a teacher go to look for fun activities...

TpT

and I found a fab item by...

it is in her store...
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Shel-Silverstein-Poetry-Task-Cards-Volume-1-Common-Core-Aligned

I LOVE IT
it is Shel Silverstein Poetry Task Cards and let me tell you
I love them
my kids LOVE them
they are fun
and quizative
and well just a really nice activity!!!
I encourage you to check them out :)
I hang mine around the room to get my kiddos moving around and searching.
see it on the giant orange in the tree???
there is another on the zebra's nose
Keeps them busy and it is a great way to see if they are on task because they shouldn't be in one spot of the room for very long... see sneaky sneaky

take NOTE...this is the corner where the Opossum died... look up and see the far corner tile and the one right in front of it against the white wall... that is where the slime was... on the tile and ooozing down this wall... NOTICE the fan... it has dryer sheets attached to it to get my room smelling fresh laundry like and not...  dead critter like...

NUMBER FOUR

here are some of my anchor charts I made for our poetry review and 

BECAUSE I had NEW MARKERS

HOLLA

on the above I am off center... oh well didn't realize it was such a LOOOOOOONG word 

and then

I think my mom asked me what it was (below)... it is a tree a SWIRLY tree!!! 

it is suppose to be artsy because poetry (IMO) is artsy

NUMBER FIVE

I got to take this sweet girl to a birthday GIRLIE DAY

I wasn't able to make it to her party soooooo

I treated her to a spa day...

we had cupcakes and manis

I love this girl

her mama is one of my besties and is our school secretary

I taught this one's older brother too

and I had her for 3rd and she looped with me to 4th

YAY

now she is in 5th

boo

well we had too much fun getting our nails done...

it was her first time :)

Melissa from Covington's Corner Blog went with us 

and here is what we all got...

I got mint tips with a pink on pink bow on my favorite nail

Melissa got purple with polkadots and teal nails

and B got red with a ladybug on her fave nail :)

Well that about does it...

I love looking at all of the recaps from the week

you should go join too

it is not too late!!!

and stay tuned

because I might have some exciting, thrilling, maybe news 

next Friday 

toodles

ooze, active monitoring, and good luck

So I posted this yesterday
on my facebook page...

So came to school today... Needing to prep my room for THE STATE test tomorrow and a opossum decided to die in my ceiling over the 3 day weekend!!! I have a ceiling tile oozing red and yellow dead critter slime, my room smells like dead opossum nastiness, and apparently GIANT flies are having a complete life cycle party within the deceased animal because they are buzzing all around too. So what did I do??? I turned on my scentsy and high tailed it out of there!!! How was your day?

Yep that happened to me yesterday...
can you believe people actually questioned if it was an April Fools Joke...
PEOPLE I cannot make this possum slime up!!!  
IT REALLY HAPPENED... 
I was told today that we will not be back into our class until Monday...
MAJOR cleaning and disinfecting will be going on!!! 
MAJOR!!!!

well today was the test and
after I promised my first born if I make a mistake while administering the test...
which is funny if you REALLY KNOW ME...
well after that and while I was on my 10th mile of active monitoring... 
I started thinking about that rotten opossum and  how the stinky slime that oozed down our wall and through the tiles was kinda like a metaphor to State Testing... 

It stinks....

good luck to all of you guys who are testing.. 
it stinks fo sho 
but hey it could be worse...
we could be the opossum that was in my ceiling

toodles