Currently ~ July!

Okay, I may have squealed a bit when I realized that I had actually managed to catch the Currently early in the month! I absolutely love linking up with Farley over at Oh Boy 4th Grade but somehow I'm always a few days late to the party! Then I realized that, even though I'm linking up on July 1st, somehow I'm still #100+ (currently there are 103 linked up so I'd be #104 but I just know someone will beat me to the punch by the time I put this little post to bed, so I'm just going to cross my fingers and hope that I get into the top 125) Not that it really matters what number I am, but I can't help but want to be close to the top lol!

Anyways, here's mine:

My husband is playing the latest video game with friends in Texas and Hawaii right now. Using Ventrillo helps them to stay connected and enjoy their gaming together. We only pay $4 a month for a "space" large enough for 10 - so we can talk to all of our friends online while we play. Saves a ton on phone bills, plus makes gaming more fun. Since we're military, friends move all over the world, but this way we can still keep in touch :)

Just finished watching The Next Food Network Star and am loving Justin even more. It could be because he's on Alton's team and there's just something about Alton that gets to me :)  The big joke in my house is that Alton Brown is my "boyfriend". Regardless, I think I could actually watch a whole show of Justin cooking and talking so I'm crossing my fingers for him!

It's my birthday tomorrow (well in 23 minutes!). I try to remain unaware of exactly how old I'm turning - I wouldn't lie about it, I just try not to think of it :) I'm not really big on presents, I'm just thrilled my husband actually seems to be on top of it this year - he's mentioned it several times. Which contrasts with the year when he forgot entirely and only remembered when we went to a friend's house for dinner and she put candles on the cake for me. He was totally confused ~ "What's with the candles?" he said. It's been 5 years and he still hasn't lived that one down lol!

I am wanting a new computer since my laptop keeps turning itself off. I need to take it in to be checked but I'm afraid of what they might say. It is old and slow and I really want a desktop again ~ however I would be satisfied if they could just figure out how to keep it on while I'm working!

Do you know how many cups 4 children use in one day? It's approximately 189,532. I know, because I've been washing dishes by hand (gasp!) for 2 weeks since my dishwasher broke. Somehow I keep forgetting to make the call to the serviceman until after 5pm! Tomorrow my one goal is to get that phone call made!

My all time favorite read aloud, as I've shared before is Mo Willem's "Don't Let The Pigeon Drive the Bus!" I read it (and the other Pigeon books) every year and we adapt it into different class books. It is so fun to hear the kids interact with the book and then they really get into the illustrations too!

Last year I read "The End of Molasses classes" by Ron Clark and loved it! So much inspiration packed into one book! I think it should be a must-read for every new teacher (and some old ones too!) If I had a choice between visiting his school and an all-expense paid trip to Vegas or somewhere I really think I would choose his school instead :)

 

Woot! Finished before midnight! Wouldn't it have been funny if I had actually aged a year while writing this post?! I'm off to follow the Rule of 3 (love that idea!). Be sure to link up too!

Winner! And Saturday Ramblings

Good afternoon everyone! I am having a lazy Saturday, playing on the computer. My mind is whirling trying to think of things I'll need for the first few weeks of school. To be honest, trying to think back to last August is hard! Part of me wants to play ostrich and not even think about school until at least August, but I am trying to ignore that part.

But, onto something more pleasant:

Lisa from Learning is Something to Treasure won my Texas Giveaway! I will be mailing her the Cowgirl Clipboard and Texas goodies :) Speaking of clipboards... I've been on a roll with them! Check out some of the ones I finished this week:

 Aren't the sock monkeys sweet?

 This one has lots of words of affirmation that make me smile!

This one is a mini clipboard, the picture is a bit washed out, the paper is much more green.

I love making them and have several more in the works - I do them in stages - I cover them all one night, then the next I do the trimming, the next I put the ribbons on etc. Since I've become addicted to The Mentalist lately and they keep showing marathons I've got a bunch of episodes dvr'd. So whenever I sit down to watch I grab a clipboard to work on. Tonight I'm putting the ribbons on a farm one, a mini pink board, and an ocean waves board. My only problem is that I now have way more clipboards than I could ever use! I'm going to make a set for my kinders to use for Write the Room, but those will all be foresty to match my "Where the Wild Things Are" theme. I also give these as gifts to my coworkers to match their classroom themes, but even still, since I have a stack of clipboards in the closet I'm going to be wading in fancy boards pretty soon! You'll probably see them for giveaway pretty regularly lol!

I am thrilled to announce that I will be guest blogging over at Castles and Crayons next Thursday! Kelli is having a whole week of guest bloggers and she's also giving away 28 prizes! Head over to her blog to leave a comment before the 4th to enter!

Alright, I am off to work on some center signs and some sort of freebie for when I guest blog for Kelli - if you have any ideas for me let me know! And, if you feel like giving me some virtual love, please Rustle up a Response below and let me know what you're up to this Saturday!

Picture Book Math Linky Party! (Freebie!)

 First up - don't forget to enter my giveaway, it ends soon! Just click the picture to go to that post :)

Yesterday I tried to combat my LTT by attending a webinar from Marygrove College. If you're not sure what LTT is, head over to Going Nutty for the full story -  basically it stands for Lack of Teachery Thoughts. Some days it's really hard to sit down at the computer and come up with something interesting to blog about!

Anyways, I saw this free webinar about Picture Perfect Math and decided to tune in. It was kind of fun to listen in - like a  talk show just for teachers! They had some good resources that I hadn't used before and recommended a few books that I don't have yet, so it was well worth the time!

I'm considering going back to school to get my Masters - it's the only way to get a pay raise in my district as all of the step-increases for years of experience are on indefinite hiatus - basically someone with 5 years in the district makes the same as a year 1 person!

I'm just not sure that I could continue teaching, wifeing, mothering and blogging while going back to school (yes I know wifeing isn't a word, but there should be some kind of word for it since it really is a big responsibility!) Not to mention I really don't feel like adding even more to  my student loan bills! Decisions, decisions!

Anyways, I looked up some of the books that they talked about and put them together here for you in case you're wanting to increase your math library too:




There were also a few websites that were interesting -

www.mathcats.com - this one is kind of cute, maybe a little advanced for kinders, but I do like the "Exactly how old are you?" activity which calculates how old you are down to the second, the "Polygon Playground" which would be great for patterns and symmetry, and the Elapsed Time calculator - I have 1 month, 14 days, 20 hours and 51 minutes before I am officially back at work!

http://illuminations.nctm.org/LessonDetail.aspx?id=L878 - fabulous lesson for getting students to count without manipulating objects - using tally marks, drawings, etc.

http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivitySearch.aspx - you can search by grade level for online activities that would be fabulous for whole group lesson on the smartboard or for individual practice on student computers.

http://www.thereadingnook.com/math/ - this site lists more picture book by math skill!

I'd love to turn this into a linky party! Do you have any picture books that you love to use for math instruction? Any websites that  are your go-to sites for math instructions ideas and activities? Please link up below!

(the super cute frame is from The 3am Teacher of course!)

Of course I can't throw a party without having favors, so click the picture below to get your freebie! I plan to use it along with the "Chicka Chicka 123" book, it's a fun little matching activity that we'll use in a pocket chart!