Classroom Flip

The official first day of spring was this week! Spring Break is over and the summer count down has begun. According to my partner teacher, we have 53 school days to go. Not that I'm counting or anything ;-)

Do you spring clean your classroom? Well, I did!I haven't touched my house, my classroom got re-do before Spring Break. My room really felt cramped. My firsties have grown, for sure, but surely they're not taking up extra square footage! Regardless, I decided to over haul my room. It's been great - a definite improvement. And, even though I was concerned about changing things up mid-year, the kiddies love it as much as I do. We have waaayyyy more space on the carpet now and we're loving it. Here's the BEFORE pics:

I had six groups located centrally in the room. The library, writing center, computers, and shelves were located at  the edges of the room. Then, I flipped it:

BAM! Look at all that space!!!! Now the writing center and storage shelves are in the center of the room. I reduced the groups from six to four and moved the groups to the outer edges against the walls. Soooo much more space for EVERYTHING. The writing center desks never move or get pushed out of place because they are lined up behind the shelving that holds our book boxes and math manipulatives. It's great. And the groups move less to because they are pressed against the walls. Whowouldathunkit? 

Have a great weekend!

Five for Friday + Two FREEBIES

Hi friends,

I'm back for another Five for Friday!

I got a new blog look! It's been up since Monday. The talented Tenille created it for me. Yesterday was my birthday. I purchased it as a gift to myself and I L.O.V.E. it!

All school year long I've been telling myself that I should upload a few resources to Teachers Pay Teachers. But, I gotta tell ya, a little fear was holding me back. What if my stuff just didn't cut the mustard, ya know? But, I decided to woman up and give it try. I uploaded a couple of very simple FREEBIES. After I revise/edit/beautify/add some cover pages to a few more things I'll add some more products. 

Rhyming Rocks!

Play, Paste & Write Contractions

This week I discovered BeFunky. BeFunky is a free photo editor. You probably already know about it, but I'm completely fascinated. I went a little overboard editing photos for a post I did earlier this week about the 290 Wine Shuttle. Case in point: 

Ya'll! If you've been blogging for awhile you know this too. But, I learned how to install new fonts to my computer this week. {Dude, like, I'm getting soooo technologically advanced...hehehe.} I downloaded free fonts from Kevin & Amanda. That was easy enough so I got ambitious and downloaded some fonts from TpT, but I can't figure out how to install those. It doesn't work the same way! But, I'll google it. I google everything. Google should be a verb. 

And, finally, I went with my sister-in-law to check out a store called Oil & Vinegar. Oh my! If you're into cooking or Food Network, you should check out this place! I purchased some Roasted Garlic EVOO, Lime Grapeseed EVOO, Mango Pulp Vinegar, and Marc de Champagne Vinegar. Tonight at dinner we dipped French bread in the champagne vinegar and roasted garlic oil...delicious!

I keepin' short & sweet this week. I'm back at school on Monday. I hope you enjoyed your Spring Break!

{Spring Break}

Hi friends,

Before you read any further, please know there is NOTHING educational about this post. It's just me familiarizing myself with my new blog design (pretty cool, huh?) and going crazy with BeFunky!

My Spring Break started off with a girls' trip to wine country. Some of my former co-workers (i.e. 6th grade teachers) and I met up on Friday after school and road tripped it to Fredericksburg.

I discovered BeFunky, the FREE photo editor, and I may have gone a little overboard here. :-)

Anyway, I went on this trip determined to discover my inner wine drinker and spend some quality time with my girlfriends. We arrived in Fredericksburg on Friday night and found our accommodations to be cozy and charming:

As you can see I figured out how to create a border and label my photos. Ha! It's so simple, but I feel quite accomplished.

Anyway, on Saturday morning we made our way to the visitor's center to take the 290 Wine Shuttle. For $20 you can vineyard hop between eight different wineries. Try as I might to enjoy the wine, I made "the face" almost every time I took a sip. It didn't matter which Texas wine I tried, white or red, dry or sweet, I just couldn't find one for me. But, I had a great time catching up and hanging out with the girls! We started off at Grape Creek Vineyards. The atmosphere was nice and I got a wine glass outta the deal. $15 for six tastes and they give you a little score card so you can keep track of what you like. Then, we headed over to Torri De Pietra. This place was packed and it had a live band under a covered pavillion so you could sip and dance, sip some more, dance some more. The wines here had really interesting names like Dirty Girl and Red Flirt. Last, we checked out Mendlebaum Cellars. This place offered Holy Land wines from Isreal. It wasn't as crowded, and you could also sample olive oils from Isreal. This is the only place we purchased bottles of wine. Well, not me. But Miranda and Amy really liked the reds here. That evening we had dinner at Auslander Restaurant and Beirgarten. I'm a pale ale kinda girl, so this place suited me just fine. I don't know if I just don't like Texas wines, or if I'm just not cultured enough (he he he) to enjoy wine. Actually, I did bring home one bottle of Muscat Canelli from Sister Creek Vineyards. This place wasn't on the tour, but I tasted the wine at one of the cellars on Main St. and felt like I had found a winner. The gentleman there told me this particular wine is closer to an Italian wine than the Texas variety. So, maybe I have more European taste (he he he again).

Saturday night we played a card game called Cards Against Humanity. Holy guacamole, Batman! I was cracking up. Look it up!

Sunday morning I spent way more money in just a couple of hours buying gifts for my children, husband, dog, and one of my sisters than I spent on myself all weekend. It's because I'm a mother. Only a mother feels like if she got to get away she should buy gifts for the poor people stuck at home doing the "norm". Sheesh!

On to other matters - can you believe my new blog design???? Tenille at Templates by Tenille fixed me up. It's my birthday gift to me. Now my blog looks better, so I need to be a better blogger. I read about Tenille on a blog called Teach 123. I checked out her portfolio and I was sold. I'll be updating all my new tabs over Spring Break. Once I get my blog in order, maybe I can finally focus on TpT. That's my next project.

Ahhhhhh! Look at the time! Spring forward stinks.

March Currently

I haven't linked up with Farley at Oh, Boy 4th Grade in forever! But, my four year old has made herself a cozy spot on the living room floor out of throw blankets and pillows to watch Netflix Kids, my one year old is chilling out in my bed and watching Dora, my seventeen year old is doing whatever he does in his bedroom, so I've had a few uninterrupted minutes on the computer. What! What?

LISTENING

LOVING

THINKING

WANTING

NEEDING

My teenage son can eat an entire large pizza by himself and still ask for a side of hot wings. 

???????

Guess the answer by leaving a comment. If you read my most recent prior post, you'll know this answer. 

Resource Rewind: February & Five for Friday

Check out my favorite February resources!

Valentine's Day
I HEART<3 this writing activity from What I Have Learned. The reason why I love it is because children brainstorm and write positive affirmations about themselves.

We used this hug bug craft made by From the Pond on the front of a Valentine Card for our parents. On the inside of the card we wrote a note telling the special person how much we love hugs from him/her. 

President's Day/Lincoln/Washington
There are a ton of great President's Day resources on TpT, but my favorite is probably the mini book in this resource from Teacher to the Core.

Now it's time for...

I rearranged my classroom! First, I got a bit of Spring Cleaning Fever. Then, I was thinking about how my room is cute, but could definately be more functional. I decided that next school year I definately needed more floor space at the front of the room because I teach "from the floor" with the kids all sitting on the carpet at front of the room. When you put 20 bodies, even little bodies, down there at the same time it is cramped! We didn't have very much room for math games or a large circle either, so I decided I had to fix it. Then, I thougth, "What am I waiting for?!" Why try a new arrangement on a new group of kids, when you can try it now on a group that already knows the rules and expectations? So I did. I arranged the desks around the outer edge of the room and moved the storage shelves to the center of the room. We are loving the larger space we have at the front of the room. It's A-W-E-S-O-M-E. I'll have to edit this post with a pic. 

You gotta see the portraits we painted of Abe Lincoln! This month we learned about President's Day, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. We read books, created anchor charts, made a venn diagram, and did some crafts. We did a guided drawing of Lincoln and then used water colors to paint him. These two crafts will part of our patriotic Open House diplay.

Here are some other crafts I'm considering for Open House. We will read and write about the eagle and the White House before we complete each craftivity, of course!

Both of these were Pinterest finds, but here are the links to Mrs. Jump's Class and Adventures in Mrs. Martin's Room where the pins originated from.

Today we built a little 32 square foot raised garden in our back yard. My four year old is so excited to grow strawberries, tomatoes, and peppers. I can't wait until we can actually see a fruit growing on a vine! I hope I have a green thumb.

This week we learned about air in science. On Friday I hosted the Balloon Olympics.

 We competed to see who keep their balloon in the air the longest.

Students used coffee straws and their own air to blow styrofoam balls  across the finish line. Check out the kiddo laying down. He said he laying like a seal!

In my favorite game students blow bubbles then pick one and try to blow it across the room and through a hula hoop.

Did I mention I visited Phoenix and Sedona recently? Well, I did. It was beautiful. My husband had a conference in Phoenix, so I went along for the weekend to do a little sight seeing. Here I am "hanging around".