Dr. de Soto and The Grinch

Greetings friends!

We are wrapping up our community unit this week and I decided what better way to do that than with a narrative input on Dr. de Soto?

For those of you who have not read this book, it is about a dentist mouse and his wife who help a fox with a dental problem.  This fox, as I believe most foxes would agree, wanted to eat the mice and the mice suspected this was so.  The mice, being the clever little creatures they are, glued the fox's mouth shut by tricking him into believing it was a new pain medication.  Hardy harr harr.

To finish out the narrative input (pictures of which are coming, I promise) we made foxes!  It was directed art with NO blackline masters!  Their work is incredible!  We did it step by step, first cutting out rectangles, then triangles, then a tail, then a mouse-house shape and glued it all together.  Here's the master of the fox (that I made WHILE showing them what to do.  Little secret: this art project was so last minute, I nearly panicked!)

And shockingly, NO fox jokes!

Here's the background I drew for my narrative input on Dr. de Soto:

Last week, we did The Grinch.  Oh boy was that one fun!  Here's THAT background that I also drew:

Then I drew the cards for this story.  I chose key pictures from the story that I felt really helped summarize that particular chunk of the story.  Then, on the back, I wrote a brief summary of that part.  The idea is to limit the summaries to somewhere between 7-10 pictures.  Then you go through and tell the story as a story, not as a book.  The second time you do it, you create popsicle stick puppets that the kids use to act out the story.  The third time, you have them help you narrate the story and then act it out in person.  Here are the summary cards:

You put them on the background in sequential order, like this:

The last day, we made a Grinch craft.  In the Grinch's mouth we wrote a sentence about his emotion.  "Yo veo el Grinch ______".  Here's the anchor chart I made:

Sadly, I apparently have not taken a picture of the craft itself.

Tomorrow, we're doing the writing portion for Dr. de Soto.  I'll post that picture once we're done with it!

Ho ho ho and all that jazz!

More to come, I promise

I'm so sorry.  I really promise to get better at this blogging thing.

Anyways, I was recently asked to write an article for another blog and I just thought I'd post it!

Click here to read it!

A Tuesday Pick-Me-Up

Anybody ouuuuuuuttttttt theeeeerrrreeeeeee!!!!!

It's meeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!  Assisting Descubrimientooooooooooo!!!!!!

I swear, I am still around.  I just can't seem to find the time to blog.  New years resolution: Blog more.  And sleep more.

To compensate, I have a little Tuesday Pick-Me-Up.  One of my teacher friends forwarded this blog post to me and I HAD to share it.  Just click here!

Enjoy!

Life Altering

I really wanted to share with you some amazing advice I was given this morning.

It had been a really long time since I had spent such a special Sunday with two of the most important people in my life - my husband and my best friend.  Our morning started off amazingly in a place where some very wise, humbling and life changing advice was bestowed upon us.

It all comes down to managing your life.  We all struggle with maintaining a functioning balance in your life where all aspects of what is important to you are given equal attention.  We tend to, given what a busy society we live in, prioritize our jobs over everything else.  We spend so much time worrying about getting everything done, about working until we can't keep our eyes open that we often times cheat ourselves of our spouses, our friends, our family, etc.  So change that now.

In your journal, (or on a post it, or a piece of paper, or in your head) jot down your presuppositions, followed by your perspectives and then the three most important things in your life (in broad terms, for example people, stuff, etc).  Then plan out how you are going to attach each one of those aspects - your practices.  And just go back and remind yourself every day what those things are.

I am so excited to finally have a way to plan out my priorities and my practices.  With so much work this year, I feel like I never see my husband, or my family, or my friends.  And it's an empty feeling.  Now I have a way to counteract it.

I think this sums it up:

Presuppositions, perspectives, priorities and practices.  The 4Ps.

Other than that, what have I been up to?

Better yet, what have I NOT been up to?

We are in the middle of report card season!  (Can I get a "WHAT WHAT!!").

It makes my head hurt.

But I created this cool little Parent-Teacher Conference Guide in both English and Spanish.  This way, I can really keep my conferences to 20 minutes or so with this overview sheet.  It covers just about everything that is on the report card without going into the incredible depth on the report card.  Just a general overview and spaces to write my observations.  You can find it on my TpT store by clicking the picture.  Don't forget to leave me comments!

I also created a Thanksgiving book report!  You know the "Disguise the Turkey" art project, right?  You send home a clipart picture of a turkey (nice and big) and then have the kids disguise him at home however they'd like to.  So what I did was design a project where they read a book at home and then disguise their turkey as the main character.  If you click the picture, it will take you to my TpT store!

Gobble Gobble!  Until next time, friends!

It's Fall, Y'all!

It's my favorite time of year!  I love the grey weather (only for so long) and the sweaters, and the orange, and the fireplaces and the hot chocolate and fuzzy pajamas.  Best. Time. Of. Year.

Speaking of which, we just finished our weather unit and started a community workers unit last week.  If you remember in one of my last posts, I posted a picture of a future pictorial input.  Well, here's what the finished product looked like:

The kids really liked sitting through this one because they had plenty of opportunities to guess what season I was drawing. 

This week, we started blending syllables together to read words!  Ahh!!!  My kiddos are growing up so fast!  But you know what, they're doing an amazing job.  To help make it a little easier, these were our centers:

Starting at the top left, that is the teacher run center.  We chanted our syllables with "a", then I showed them my thinking in figuring out what the word was and we went through a series of picture cards together and found the syllables that belong in those words.  We even go to write them on a whiteboard!

Moving clockwise, the next one was a syllable matching game.  Match the syllables together and then write a list of words with "a". 

Next up we had a "Me gusta" book that the kids had to work on the carpet.  Using words written on sentence frames, they had to recreate the book (match individual words to the word in a sentence on the strip), then put an individual copy of the book together for themselves.  These books went in their book boxes.

This was a fun center.  I gave them foam die and a recording sheet.  Each number on the die corresponded to a syllable.  They were to roll the die and then record the syllable on the sheet.  SO FUN!

Lastly, we traced a word and then used stamps to stamp the word in the box.

My vice principal and assistant superintendent of bilingual ed came in to observe me during these centers.  I was blessed with receiving their approval and praise.  Phew! 

In math, we are still working on the numbers 6-10, although this week we'll be going back to 0-5 (since that's the major focus in the new common core standards).  But here's what we did:

Starting in the top left corner and moving clockwise, we had a numbers 0-10 sort.  They had a number card, a tally card and a dot card.  They had to sort them by number.

Moving on to number sequences.  What number is missing?  Find it, put it in the right place and then write it on the recording sheet. 

Next, match the number of beads to the number on the top of the pipe cleaner.

Tons, and tons of number writing worksheets.  Oddly enough, they loved this center!  Something about doing worksheets that makes kids feel like BIG kids. 

I got this wheel from this blog.  The kiddos have to find the write clothespin and match it to the number on the wheel.  Fantastic!

And lastly, we just started our community workers unit.  Embedded in that is the mapping unit.  So we started with a map of the United States and will be zooming in on our school and then zooming back out to match community workers to the map.  Here is the United States:

 

I projected this page from the book Me on the Map, traced it onto a piece of butcher paper and then did it again with markers when the kids were there. 

I'm working on some sight word worksheets, so I'll be back up and posting once that packet is done!

Donor's Choose...AGAIN

Hi everybody,

It's a boring post for now (I'll be putting up a more exciting one later today about all the cool stuff we've been doing) but for right now, it's something simple.  I have another Donor's Choose project!

Dramatic Play is back, and I HAVE NOTHING FOR IT!

So here's my project.  Spread the word please!

Thank you so much!

Las estaciones del año

So here we are, wrapping up our weather unit this week.

The catch:  Monday and Tuesday of this week our kiddos are with subs.  We are continuing our awesome training for SEAL (Sobrato Early Academic Language) so the subs are very briefly introducing the seasons.  When we get back on Wednesday, we'll continue with seasons and wrap it up so we can start community workers on Monday!

Whew!  Time is FLYING!  No lo puedo creer.  Pero así es la vida.

This is the pictorial input I modified from this one I saw on Pinterest.

I modified it to include a picture of a child wearing a typical outfit for this type of weather/season.  The last piece of our unit puzzle is how the weather affects us.

I can't wait to draw this one on Wednesday!  Pictures of the completed input chart to come!

Weather Weather Everywhere!

As promised, I took pictures of my weather pictorial inputs and am ready to start explaining them.  So get set, buckle your seat belts and get ready for a lot of words!

The first input we did was about the sun.

We went over the sun being a star and what we get from it.  Our major words were clima (weather), luz (light), vitaminas (vitamines) and calor (heat).  We discussed that the sun influences the weather in different ways.  The heat warms up the earth and water which helps create storms, snow, etc.  The light that comes from the sun helps trees, people, plants and animals grow.  As does the heat.  The vitamins from the sun help us be healthy.

I drew that picture on the poster paper while the kids were watching.  This helps them stay engaged and focused on what I'm saying and doing because they want to know what I'm doing.  I went through the whole thing in one day (chunked it into two 30 minute parts).  The next day, I went through the poster again and explained the whole poster again, showing them a real life picture for every major vocabulary word.  I then had the vocabulary word written on a sentence strip in red and called on non-volunteers (popsicle sticks) to match the sentence strip word to the word on the poster.  OH, and including as much TPR as possible into the explanation is CRUCIAL.

Next, we did clouds.

We reviewed the sun and heat and added Earth, warm Earth, humidity, cool down, condense and cloud.  We used a lot of TPR to explain how the sun heats up the earth.  The warm earth releases humidity and as it rises, it cools down and condenses creating a cloud.

The same strategies were used for this poster.

Today, we finished up the water cycle.

The major words here were cloud, precipitation, accumulation, ocean, river, lake, humidity, evaporation and condensation.

Oh boy, we have learned a lot!  Tomorrow, we move on to WIND!

Centers

Oh boy have I neglected to share with you guys what we're doing! 

You'll have to forgive my post, I'm writing it from my bed on my phone. I'm tired.

Anyways, we have been working with the NEW California science standards and a new strategy called SEAL, and needless to say, it's been a lot of designing, creating and coloring. 

I still need to take pictures of my pictorial inputs (which I'll do tomorrow, I promise!) and write a post about them.  But for now, I have our centers!

Last week:

Literature 

We worked with stamping our sonidos iniciales with Estrellita, a fantastic phonics program in Spanish. That's what the yellow sheets are in the too box. Moving clockwise we did a vowel sort, a pocket chart poem that they constructed (llueve llueve llueve), a letter "u" vocabulary builder and another vowel sort.

Math numbers 0-5

We had sticker numbers in the too left box. Moving clockwise we did a too and color, play dough numbers, number line number representation with counting bears and spinner numbers.

This week:

Literature

Top left, Estrellita listening center. The kids followed the letters on the yellow sheet with a Popsicle stick with a giant googly eye on it. Moving clockwise we did another poem (que llueva, que llueve), a 4 ways to write it with our sight words, sentence building with sight words, and sílabas con a.

Math numbers 0-5

*disclosure: these materials come from various Teachers Pay Teachers stores. Links to come soon.*

Top left: memory game with teacher. Moving clockwise we had apple counting trees, number sort, number-clothespin correspondence, and number write the room.

That's it for now. I'll post those links soon and weather unit pictures to come!!!

Check-In

Hi everybody!

Guess what?

My Donor's Choose project was funded!  Hooray!!  Thanks for all the help, once again.  Each time I am completely floored by everyone's generosity and selflessness.

Honestly, our classrooms would not be possible without the incredible help we get from the community.

So thank you.

We just finished up doing our Citizenship Unit and we're full steam ahead developing a Weather unit!  So far, we are pulling from a lot of different resources (HM, Science workbooks, TpT, etc.)  But I am really excited to get back into GLAD and watch the magic take place right before my eyes.

We are in the process, as a K-2 team, of switching over to a new teaching strategy called SEAL (Sobrato Early Academic Language).  We are all very excited, but it means a lot of creation and development.  RIGHT up my alley!

I posted on TpT some cute writing assignments I made for our kinders.  Keep in mind that these are for the beginning of the year, so it is a lot of tracing and then they get to write a portion by themselves.  I'll post pictures of some of the completed ones once we have done them!  In the meantime, you can get them in my TpT store!

Another Donor's Choose

I've done it again!  This time, it's for the kindergarten Scholastic Magazine, "Let's Find Out" in Spanish.

I think it is incredibly important for students to be able to discover their world through literature that accurately represents the world that surrounds them.  For kindergarteners, that can be a difficult task.  But Scholastic has found a way to make it accessible to them!

Now we need subscriptions...

Again, just like last time, if you can't donate please spread the word.  This project will be an incredibly asset to our classroom.  Just click here to help however you can.

Thank you so much!

Week 2

Week 2 of kindergarten was fantastic. I'm feeling really good about my kids and really good about the kindergarten team and the school. We be jammin'.

I had to make some changes though.

I needed to post my standards so I found some adorable ones on TpT and purchased them. I then slipped the ones we are working on into page protectors and used washi tape to decorate the edges.

You can get the standards from www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/mrs-riccas-kindergarten. Sorry, writing from my phone makes links impossible.

I then also recreated this board after a pocket chart I saw (with my amazing coworker) in a Lakeshore catalog.

Ooh! And my Donors Choose rug arrived!! Yippee!!!  

To top things off, I went to Barnes and Noble's to get some books for my kiddos.

My coworker and I decided to do a series of lessons on writing our names. Starting with this Chicka Chicka Book Boom activity I saw on Pinterest and that I saw another coworker make. Here's mine:

And aaaalllllll the prep

But at least I had a feline helper.

Capitanes

"Yo tengo 26 años."

"Whoa, maestra!!! That's a lot of numbers!!!"

So began my morning. 

I promised I would show you my capitanes chart that I made, so here it is:

I wrote each one of my students' names on a star and stapled it to a pipe cleaner I had cut in half. I purchased those library card envelopes last year (or the year before that) at lakeshore on clearance ("pieces missing."  What does that even mean for a pack of envelopes??!! Whatever.)

Every week, on Monday, we pick new table captains. Their tables have a Dr. Seuss hat taped to them with a number written on them. Those correspond with my chart.

Capitanes help me pass out papers and materials. For now, that's a lot of responsibility!! As they grow, we'll add jobs and new charts. But for now, this is perfect!

Can I add it is insanely difficult to get work done with a frisky kitten who likes to sleep on your shoulder around?

Almost One Week Down!

Boy oh boy has this week given me a run for my money.

Coming from first grade land, kindergarten land is all "GO GO GO!"

I plan as though I'm going to get through everything.  And for as "GO GO GO" as kinder is, it's not the right kind of "GO GO GO".

Learning curve.

I have to say though, I am LOVING kindergarten.  The kiddos are so tiny, so cute, so innocent and they really do say the darndest things.  One of my moms told me today that her son informed her at dinner last night, "Mami, estoy bien contento con la maestra.  Pero no se su name!"

So cute.

My little 5 year olds now also know that they need to get a drink of water and use the restroom when they're out at recess.  One of my little girls walks in today and says to me, in her cutest little voice (which I'm sure she has practiced) "Maestra, can I PLEASE have a drink of water?  If I don't get one, I'll melt!"

Again, so cute.

The cuteness factor is too much to handle.

I really like my front wall, so I wanted to post a picture of it again.

My alphabet is from our reading program Estrellita.  It's an amazing reading program in Spanish that teaches kids how to read through syllables.  I also have my language board and my math board up.  I have another "Capitanes" poster that I made and it sits front and center.  I need to take a picture of that and post it.

My calendar area is pretty stinken cute too.  All Dr. Seuss'ed out!  And the BEST part?

MY DONORS CHOOSE PROJECT WAS FUNDED YESTERDAY!!!  That means that the little carpet that is currently in my calendar area will be moving to the front (near the language and math boards) and my new, bright, colorful rug will go here!  SO EXCITED!

Thank you to EVERYONE who helped spread the word, donated or even just looked at my page.  I am truly blessed.

How is your first week(s) of school going?

So Close

Hi everyone!

I, as I'm sure many of you out there in cyber land as well, have been working like a mad woman on and in my classroom.  Everyday has been a race against the clock to get as much done in my classroom as possible.  And finally, it feels like I'm almost done!

Of course, that means that if you open up my closets I still have a big box of "to-file" kinder stuff (that I figure I'll be going through throughout the year, so no rush to get that filed away RIGHT now) and a box or two of random things that I don't anticipate needing this year.  Other than that, all I have left to do tomorrow is sort through books, put up a conflict resolution corner, student labels and I'll be done!  Which is good, because the kinders come tomorrow for our Kindergarten Ice Cream Social!

So here is what it looks like right now (don't mind the minor messes in the corners of the room).

Ok, when you walk in the door and look to your left, this is what you see!  My calendar USED to be on yellow paper, but that whiteboard isn't magnetic so my board fell down 5 TIMES before I decided to just take the paper down and stick it directly to the whiteboard.  The corner is my focus wall corner.

Those closet doors will be where I hang my student writing work.  I don't have many bulletin board spaces, so I fancied up the doors and will be using those.  I LOVE how they turned out!  The wall right above my cubbies will also display students work (probably math, or social studies, or science, something along those lines.)

This is just another view of the cubby wall.

That is my back closet and my cabinets with my birthday cupcakes!  The book bins above are books that I will pull for specific units or once I can gauge my students' reading levels.  They are books geared more for second grade level reading, so I'll pull them down when I need them!

Ok, it's time to get this tired maestra in bed.  It's been a loooong couple of weeks and I want to be nice and rested for the Ice Cream Social tomorrow!  I'll let you know how it goes!

Help us out, please!

Here it is, my Donors Choose project. As I mentioned before, I don't have a classroom rug at the moment and want something colorful, practical, and fun! So I chose a rug, went on Donors Choose and set up my project. 

They approved it this morning.

To read more about my project, just click on this link and it will take you directly to my project page: http://www.donorschoose.org/project/snug-on-a-rug

The best part? If you decide to contribute, enter the code word INSPIRE at checkout and Donors Choose will MATCH YOUR DONATION!! So if you give $50, they will also give me $50 for a grand total of $100 donated to my project!

Remember, I do not expect everyone, or really anyone for that matter, to donate. But please do spread the word and the link for my project. The more people that know about it, the more likely this project will be fulfilled.

The goal is to have it fulfilled by mid next week. A stretch, I know, but a teacher can dream. 

Thank you so much!!!

Sneak Peek...

My classroom is NOWHERE NEAR being done, but I couldn't resist posting a sneak peek of my totally seusstastic room!

This is my calendar wall! That bulletin board is just about done, although I think some other sound-letter cards will be going up in this area.

The beginning of my reading nook.  I can't wait to finish it!

I did a little reconstructive surgery in The Cat in the Hat so that I could post him up on my closet doors. I love how he turned out!

Now it's on to more organizing, more decorating, more planning and more pictures. ¡Aye chihuahua el año está a punto de empezar!

Snug on a Rug!

Boy oh boy do I have some updates for you guys!

Ok, first thing first, husband and I got a kitten!!  She's so snuggly and so cute, I can't contain myself.  I will admit that I really, really, really  like cats.  So I am over the moon having a kitten in the house!  She keeps me on my toes, snuggles, sits on my lap, gives me the crazy, frisky, time-to-play eye and is very well behaved.

She does, however, enjoy climbing UP my leg.  She has made it all the way to my shoulders a few times (my back has the scratches and future scars to prove it.)  So a spray bottle is in her very near future.

Oh, her name is Oreo.

She looks a lot bigger here than she is, but I assure you, she's 3 months old and a tiny, little brat.

The next news is I got into my classroom and have started decorating and putting things away!  And oh boy am I going to need a lot of help getting it done.  But I have a week and a half before Kinder Meet and Greet, so I should be good to go by then.  I'll post pictures as soon as my room doesn't look like a Lakeshore explosion.

Lastly, as I mentioned in another post, I don't have a classroom rug.  So tonight I went on my Donors Choose account and created a project for a rug.  I'm really hoping to have it fulfilled by mid-week next week, but I'm thinking that's a stretch.  So that's where YOU come in.

I know it's a lot to ask for people to donate, and I am not expecting every person who reads my blog to donate.  Not by any means.  But spreading the word about my project makes just as big of an impact as making a donation.  The more people who stumble across my project, the bigger the probability is of it being fulfilled.

As soon as I have that link, I will post it.  EVERYWHERE.  I'm being super hopeful here.  I guess we'll have to wait and see how it turns out!

I can't believe school starts in a little under 2 weeks!  Where did the summer go???

Recognize Your Numbers!

If there is one thing more than anything else that is a challenge for me, it's teaching math.  At any level. I struggle with making it meaningful, but am getting much better at it the more time I get to practice it.  Anyways, that got me thinking and I remembered these cool math number recognition manipulatives that one of my most awesomest, closest friends (Maestra R) made:  they were pipe cleaners with a number on top that the kids have to match with pony beads they thread on the pipe cleaner.

Glad it makes sense to you too.

You really just need to see it.

All you need is a hot glue gun, a stapler, pipe cleaners, pony beads, calendar numbers and a laminator (if the calendar numbers aren't thick enough, which mine weren't.)  So, I laminated the numbers, hot glued them to the pipe cleaner and then stapled it there just to make it extra secure.  I think the kinders will handle them rather roughly.

Cute, right?  But I realized the stems were too long, so I lined them all up and cut them to make it easier to store.

In a Dr. Seuss Target $1 spot cup.  Hehe.

Yeah.  They're cute.  I'm excited.  Killing two birds with one stone: fine motor skills and number recognition.

Craft

I made these letters with my Cricut today and had to share!

I'm Late!

I'm a couple of days late, or several days early, for Made-It Monday.  But that's ok, it was worth the wait!

As I'm sure you know, my classroom is going to be Dr. Seuss themed again this year.  My first and second graders liked it last year which leads me to believe that my kinders will LOVE it this year.  It should be right up their, and my, alley.

I already have a Dr. Seuss upholstered chair that I use for calendar time (thanks to an amazing mom from my school last year), posters, cut outs, books, bulletin boards, calendar, clocks, even a DRAPE for my reading corner, a rocking chair and other little knick knacks.

What I didn't have was wall art.  Not just the punch out Eureka decorations, but something a little more substantial.

Ok, back story.  Last year I went to Target and bought, from the $1 spot, those cute little canvas Dr. Seuss bags.  I didn't use them at all last year and thusly semi reluctantly bought the 4 new ones they had this year thinking I would find some use for them.  I thought about using them as New Student bags (but I want the bag back!), reading book bags (they would fight over which character bag they got), center bags (center stuff almost always is destroyed), and finally gave up.

UNTIL the brilliant idea to glue them to art canvasses came to me!  Turns out, it's not an original idea (click here to see another example).  Oh well, great minds think alike!

The first thing I did was cut the bags in half.  I tried to cut along the seams as much as possible.  I cut off the handles and hot glued them to canvas (with lots of tricksy folding involved.)  The canvas size I used was 8x10.  I LOVE them!

I also went to Lakeshore yesterday.  That store is a dangerous place.  But I picked up some cool Dr. Seuss stuff and an awesome plastic mailbox that I'll have my kiddos use to turn in their morning work!

How are YOU decorating your room?

Soy Una Pizza

I was looking back at a video of my summer camp kids (as well as my awesome fellow teachers' kids) performing a song by Charlotte Diamond and realized that I never posted a sampling of songs that I use with the kids all the time.  Several of them are also new ones that I learned this summer AT summer camp.

This is an oldie, but TREASURE GOODIE.  It's called "Juanito cuando baila."  It's performed by Jose Luis Orozco normally, but the youtube video is by someone else.  The kids LOVE this one and they learn all of their body parts in Spanish.  This version is slower, but just as good.  I think it's a little easier for the little ones to catch on.

This is another Jose Luis Orozco song.  Actually, this video has two:  "Buenos dias" and "Diez deditos".  These are two more classics that the kids really enjoy.  The first one is great for starting off your morning circle time with and "Diez deditos" is a fun way for them to learn their numbers to ten.

Another very popular one with the kiddos by Charlotte Diamond.  Mostly because they know the English version (Slippery Fish) but also because, as much as I don't like having kids songs stuck in my head, this one is catchy.

This is another Charlotte Diamond classic.  It's a repeat after me song, which makes it very easy for the kids to learn it.  And this one is also very catchy.  Not to mention, who doesn't want to sing as loudly as they can?

This one comes from Cepillin, a popular Mexican kids' tv show.  This song is awesome.  The kids love dancing to it and singing along with the different instruments.  It is also very, very catchy.

And lastly, a mom from my summer school program posted this video of the kiddos singing for the parent performances.  They did such a good job.  I am SO proud of them!  My kiddos are in the front two rows.  What cuties.

What songs and interactive media sources do YOU use in your classroom?

Off the Grid

Hi everyone! 

It sure has been a while!  Hubby and I took a much needed vacation for the past week to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary.  Can you believe it?  It has already been a year!  Crazy crazy crazy.  Time sure has flown.  To sum up our adventure, we took a completely unplanned, 1200 mile trek up the coast.  Spontaneity at it's best.  Here's a little picture to give you an idea:

1200 miles, 6 tanks of gas, great music on repeat (Imagine Dragons, Kid Cudi, Mumford and Sons, The Killers, etc) and pit stops and photo ops later, we're back home and doing loads upon loads of laundry, cleaning out coolers, washing camping supplies and putting things away.

Anyways, I just wanted to check in with everyone.  Thank you for still reading my blog even while I was gone!  That's amazing!  Over 1700 views, WOW.

I get the keys to my new classroom this week which means that there will be plenty of posts and pictures to keep you up to date on my newest adventure/endeavor: kinderland!

Stay tuned!

Cheerios

Now I don't know any of these kiddos personally, but this video really touched me in a lot of ways and for many different reasons.

Listen to these little scholars.

For your viewing pleasure.

Sacred Saturday Round 2

For Sacred Saturday this week, hubby and I are planning on going to the beach, maybe try out some paddle-boarding. Neither one of us have ever done this before but we're really curious to see how it works. Worst case scenario, it doesn't work out and we spend the afternoon lazing on the beach. They both sound like pretty amazing ideas to me. Who knows, maybe we'll even take a little daycation trip somewhere! Any suggestions?

Favorite Pins Friday

On this week's installment of Favorite Pins Friday (brought to you by The First Grade Parade)

*RULES*

{1} Pin away all week on Pinterest.
{2} Join the linky party and share your favorite pins from the week!
{3} Give credit to the original source (NOT the pinterest pin or pinboard, but the REAL source).

My favorites for this week are:

QUOTABLES

This gem comes from 9gag.  I thought this was solely an issue in my household, but apparently it isn't.  

Please, this movie was amazing.  Who doesn't love Two of a Kind?  You can find this here.

CRAFTING

Yeah yeah, I know it's from my blog, but HOW CUTE it THIS???  I'm such a proud wreath mama.  It's from yesterday's post.

So, I'm not sure where this pin comes from (I think from the Second Grade Super Kids Blog).  How CUTE is this?  And so easy to make!

SCHOOL

I seriously love this door.  This will be my door on the first day of school.  Not sure where this one comes from though.  Here's the link to the google image.

This chair would be perfect in my room.  Too bad it's probably incredibly expensive.  Here's the picture on Flickr.

What are YOUR favorite pins?