Five for Friday...I'm leavin' on a jet plane...

 It's that time again for Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching.  Last week I was leavin' on a plane to come to CA to see my family and tonight I'll be leavin' on the red eye to go home.  I'm super sad, but I'll be back in 21 days, so I think I'll be able to handle it.

My suitcase weighed 43 pounds.  

That never happens.

I'm always pushin' 50!

Not this time.

I win Delta, I win!

I have had so much fun this week laughin' at all of my pin fails that I attempted.

Want to laugh?  Read here and here.

I had to add one more fail and then for serious I'm done until Christmas.

This wasn't really a pin fail, but it was a definite fail.

This is what happens when you put too many marshmallows 

on the sweet potatoes.

Since I don't cook, I cannot be blamed for this fail.

HAHAHAHAHA!

It didn't stop me from stuffin' my face with this.

 I drive my family nuts wantin' to take pictures.  I think my request is valid since I only get to see them twice a year.  It ends up gettin' silly.

My mommy is such a good sport.

 Shoparoo...have you seen this?  I read about it on a Technology Tailgate link-up from Teaching isn't scripted. I quickly sent this out to my school staff, PTO, parents and added the link on FB.

In less than two weeks, my school has earned over 12,500 points from about twenty people scannin' receipts.  For every person that joins, you can earn an additional 100 points for your school.  I can't even imagine the point possibilities if everyone participated.  Whoa!

 If you have a smartphone, this is a must because everyone goes to the grocery store...even me.

I finished Christmas Decimals-Multiplication Task Cards last night.  It's a FREEBIE right now.  

Please be sure to leave some love if you think they'll work well in your room. 

Jerm and I have never tried the whole Black Friday thing before.  We have been browsin' the interwebs lookin' for deals(we don't actually need anything and couldn't even find anything to buy online just to be buyin' somethin'...shockin'...I know).  Somewhere...he saw that Target opened at 6 p.m., so we ventured out to attempt it.  They didn't actually open until 8 p.m.  We grabbed a Starbucks and then talked ourselves out of waitin' an hour and a half for the doors to open because even if we did find somethin', it would be too much of a pain to carry home on the plane.

We can cross that one off of our bucket lists.

Have a fabulous weekend everyone! 

I'm on a roll...with pin fails and a sale...

I'm on a roll...with pin fails.

Read about the first one here.

I'm sure everyone needs a little more humor.

I tried to redeem myself with this to get the Thanksgivin' decor ready
and for dinner guests this evenin'.

I used leaves from my mother's tree in the backyard.  

Poor tree. 

It still doesn't look like the original pin, but it's better than the fake leaves.

The leaves didn't hang out in there too long before fallin' off...another fail.

I know you have seen these...cloves in oranges.

I'm not sure this project was meant for Cuties. 

It wasn't as fun as the pins look all over Pinterest.

I didn't bother searchin' for the original source...there are billions.

I know you've seen these.
If not, here is my Thanksgivin' board I created.

Juice squirted all over me.

Fail.

Looks so nice and festive...yes?

It really gave some pops of color on the counter for our guests to admire.

I guess the sayin' "All good things eventually come to an end" is true in this case.

Yep...another fail.

Can you guess what this one is?

My Dad:  "Is that a hermit crab?"  

My Nitty: "What is that?  Is that a rainbow or a dead turkey?"

While it tasted yum, nobody knew what it was except mom, Jerm and I since we

were the pin planners.

Another fail...this is gettin' embarrassin'.

These little Cuties made a cute lil' decoration.  After two hours of hangin' out naked on a plate, they were hard as a rock.  I had to take them out to the backyard for some birds to snack on.

Fail, fail, fail!

I've decided to give up recreatin' pins until Christmas.  

I'm goin' to focus the rest of my trip on these real life cuties.

My 92 year old Nitty.  I scooped her up in the Atlanta airport.
Definitely not a fail.

It's super strange to watch football in the mornin' here while eatin' breakfast with my 'rents.

We've found a fun lil' place that shows all of the games, has a yummy breakfast buffet and Build Your Own Bloody Mary table. Score! 

Helped my mommy decorate the monster tree.  

I only got through two big containers of ornaments and gave up.

I'll add more when I come back in a few weeks.

It felt too early to be thinkin' about Christmas for me...that's my story...

  Jerm and I have gone off on some adventures to Moss Landing and Santa Cruz.

We prefer to stick locally in Carmel, Monterey, Salinas, and the couch.

The couch is where it's at.

I wrote one of my college exam papers all about my livin' room & couch at my 'rents house. 

 No lie.

Family time + couch=not fail.

This is the poor tree I robbed leaves from.  

At least I got in a few pretty pictures before I ran off with its' clothin'.

Yay for me.  Fail for the tree!

If you haven't heard...there is a SALE comin' to TpT.  

My Wish List is already F-U-L-L!

My bank account is just now recoverin' from the Back 2 School sale.

My Alison Rose TpT store is on sale on 12/2 & 12/3 for 20% off.

Miss Nelson and I have also put our Double Trouble TpT store on sale durin' that time.

Be sure to use the code "CYBER" for a total of 28% off on your purchases.

Remember to always leave thoughtful feedback to earn credits back for yourself 

to go towards other purchases. 

Thank you to Hello Literacy Designs for the cute graphic.

Happy Thanksgiving y'all.

Tried it Tuesday...wish list and a pin fail...

It's Tuesday and it's time again to link up with my buddy, Holly, at Fourth Grade Flipper for
Tried it Tuesday.
I am postin' my Tried Its from California!

Tried it Not-So-Awesomeness #1: Leaf centerpiece
I do not cook.
I do not enjoy it.
Thanksgivin' is the perfect holiday for me to be with my family because they like the kitchen(minus my dad...he likes his spot on the couch).
I found a Dollar Tree in California (Joanne will be proud).
I bought some fake leaves.
I made a decoration for the table.
It was a Pinterest fail.

Pin:

My fail:

The price was right...20 leaves for $2.

They are way too thick and you can't see the light. 

They had other leaves in the Dollar Tree back home that would've worked better.  

This store was already saturated with Christmas decorations and Fall was out the door.

The pin wins on this one. 

Tried It Awesomeness #2:  Amazon Wish List

 

I love gettin' presents, but I do not love surprises.  They make me extremely nervous.  My family decided long ago that it was just better for me to choose my own gifts instead of tryin' to surprise me.  I'm very particular about things...I realize this is not a classy characteristic to have and I'm workin' on this.  Last year I stumbled upon somethin' that made EVERYONES' lives easier...enter Amazon Wish List.  Actually my best friend, M.H., introduced this to me when he sent me his Wish List).  How did I go forever without knowin' that I could make a Christmas and Birthday Wish List? I sent out emails and let everyone, includin' Santa, know what I wanted...I guarantee the people that shopped for me were relieved.  No more surprises!  

*Disclaimer:  I do not require gifts.
 This is purely for people that have suggested that they MUST buy me a gift.
I wish I got somethin' special from Amazon for writin' about this...like a million dollar shoppin' spree, but sadly...this is not the case.
Can't find somethin' on Amazon that you want?  No problem.
Just add the Wish List Chrome Add-On.  It's universal and allows for you to add items anywhere on the interwebs to your Wish List.

Be sure to check out Holly's blog for the other Tried it Tuesdays.
Also, don't forget about Learning to the Core's Giveaway.

Celebrate Learning to the Core's Blogiversary & Giveaway...

Amanda and Aylin @ Learning to the Core are celebratin' their on year Blogiversary with a GIVEAWAY!  

Lots of goodies over there and I'm thankful to be a part of this excitin' event.  Don't miss your chance to win by enterin' their Rafflecopter and showin' them some bloggy love!

Happy Blogiversary Amanda & Aylin!!!

Love these ladies!

Spark Student Motivation...I wanna ROCK!...

Today I'm linkin' up with my buddy, Joanne, from Head Over Heels for Teaching for Spark Student Motivation Saturdays.  The idea of Joanne's linky is to share somethin' you do in your classroom to spark motivation in your students.  

My class theme is Rose's Rockstars.  Last year my students and parents got together to buy me a karaoke machine as an end-of-year gift.  I have nine students in Chorus, so this was super excitin' for them because they love to sing.  Many of my other ones do also.  The only problem...I live in a pod settin'.  It's not exactly the ideal situation to have my kiddos singin' their hearts out while the three other classes are tryin' to work on important stuff.  I had to move the karaoke machine out into the hallway with strict instructions that if another teacher complained about the noise, it would have to go back in the box...no complaints thus far!  It does have to be put away neatly when we use it and must be stored in the appropriate spot in my closet.

A karaoke machine used for anything is sure to spark student motivation.  
Everyone should have a karaoke machine to party and learn like a ROCKstar!
Below you will see pictures of how we incorporated the karaoke machine in with Science.
The possibilities are endless.  

 Well...here she is...The Voice Karaoke Machine.

 Singin' answers to questions on our Nature of Matter study guide.  

Students found answers in our text, from teacher read alouds, 

and links from different "States of Matter" websites.  Who wouldn't enjoy makin' up their own little jingle to help learn about solids, liquids, and gases?

 Readin' to one another from our Science Fusion text.  When you have to use borin' ol' textbooks, why not add a little flair with the karaoke machine?

 Givin' directions on how to play the States of Matter game.  Everyone can feel like a boss usin' the karaoke machine.  All eyes and ears are on the one in charge.

Callin' out Science vocabulary words and participants get to tell the definition.

What do you do to spark student motivation?  Be sure to check out Joanne's blog for more ideas.

Five for Friday...'Twas the week before Thanksgivin'...

Today I am linkin' up again with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday.  I had so much fun with this last week that I thought I'd try it again!  

Let's do this!

This afternoon I'll be flyin' on an airplane to CA to see my Mommy & Daddy...for one whole week!

Jerm and I will meet my Nitty in Atlanta and fly her out there with us.

I haven't seen my parents since January.  

The anticipation of seein' them is killin' me.

Today we will be watchin' Despicable Me in class.  This will be my first time watchin'.  I'm sure your reaction must be much like the kids' when I told them I had never seen it.  

We will also be doin' a fun activity called the Minion Maker that I scooped up from my buddy Matt at Digital Divide and Conquer.  Be sure to stop by Matt's store to get your very own copy and be sure to show him some love.

I've had a great response from my Christmas Behavior Beads (Special Edition) this week.  I am so thankful for TpT and the little bit of extra spendin' money I will have on my trips out to California durin' the holidays.  I enjoy makin' items for others as much as I enjoy purchasin' items from other people.  I love all of the creativity everyone has and it definitely makes plannin' easier on me!

Read about them here and scoop up a Thanksgivin' Behavior Beads FREEBIE.

I am in LOVE with Kate Peila's website/blog.  I am learnin' so many new techy things from her.  If you have not checked out her blog, Purely Paperless...click here...now!  This week I learned how to use "Split Screen" from the Google Chrome extensions and it's pretty much uh-mazin'!  How I have lived without this, I'm unsure.

Stephanie from Forever in Fifth Grade wrote an awesome blog post titled: 

"It's Beginning to Sound a lot like Christmas(and it's giving me a headache!)"

She has some great ideas to keep the holiday craziness to the minimum in the classroom and I will also be doin' this in my room.  I don't want to reveal too much because I have little eyes that read my blog sometimes.  More to come later; be sure to check back.

It's not too late for you to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday, 

if you haven't already.