May Currently....oooohhh "Surprise"!

It's been a lil' while since I've gotten to link up 

with the super sweet Farley from Oh Boy' Fourth Grade.

It's the first of the month which means May Currently.

listening: I'm listenin' to the T.V.  Nashville was finally back on last

night and I just had to find out what was goin' on.

loving: I splurged on myself today.  I went into town to a cute

lil' shop, Plum Delightful, to scoop up a Mariana necklace

and pair of earrings that I have been eyeballin'. 

They've also got a really neat Facebook page called

Plum Last Call. 

I want EVERYTHING on there!

 It's goin' to match

perfectly with my crystal dot bracelet from Mindy Mae's Market.

thinking: What in the world am I goin' to wear to the Talladega

Nascar race this weekend?  I've never been to race...so this should

be interestin' for sure. 

Go #11 Denny Hamlin!

wanting: Many of my besties like to go to a place in Troy, Alabama

called Sikes and Kohn's Country Mall.  They always scoop up 

cute stuff there, so I want to go too. (Insert whiny voice!)

Now....how am I gonna convince the three dudes in the car

that the two chicks just HAVE to go shoppin' on the way?

needing: If you follow me on Instagram, you know I sent 

some flowers to my Nitty (my 92 year old grandma), 

my Mommy & Daddy this week.

My Nitty is under the weather...super sad face.  

I normally spend several weeks 

in the summer with her in Georgia, but this year 

I will be goin' out to California to see her instead.

I need to figure out which day I'm goin' since we get out of 

school on June 6th. 

I'm so ready to see my family.  

I haven't seen them since January...so I miss them terribly.

I NEED to be with them!

My Nitty doesn't like gettin' her picture taken, but I just

had to share...isn't she cute?

surprise: I'm braggin' about my new bloggy friend, Cassie from 

Funky in Fourth.  I happened upon her blog and left her a comment 

not too long ago.  When she replied, I couldn't help but notice

her middle name in her email address.

It's the SAME as mine.....LEA!

How fantabulous is that? 

Fun fact....did you know "lea" means "meadow"?

Go meet my new friend Cassie Lea and give her some love!

I know I already posted once today for my Positive Thinking Thursday

about BACON, but I couldn't miss May's Currently.

Be sure to head on over to Farley's blog and check

out the other Currentlys.

She has switched things up a lil' this month...so read carefully.

Happy Thursday again, friends! 

Buddyin' Up & a Currently....

It's Saturday, which means it's time to link up with 

my super sweet friend, Joanne,

from Head Over Heels for Teaching

 for Spark Student Motivation Saturdays.

I live in a pod settin'.

My very best friend in the whole wide world

teaches next door to me.

 She teaches 3rd and I teach 5th.

We have an accordion wall that separates our class.

It is never fully closed all the way.

We suffer from separation anxiety.

We buddy up almost every day for a quick activity.

This week we buddied up for a speakin' & listenin' activity

which then turned into a buddy writin' activity.

 3rd Grade buddies read their question card

to their 5th Grade buddy.

After readin', they discussed their answers

with one another.

Then they began writin' their responses together.

The 3rd Graders look up to the 5th Graders...

BIG time!

We have many discussions about bein' wonderful

role-models for their buddies.

I believe buddyin' up is SO beneficial

for both groups of students.

I definitely know they each take away

somethin' positive from their experiences

with one another. 

When one or the other does somethin' 

spectacular, you might hear one of us say,
"Go show your buddy!"
When they are gone to special area,
we use their computers or spread out in their classroom.
Vice versa.
There really are no boundaries.
It's amazin' even what the "little" kids
often teach my "big" kids.

Overall, partnerin' between students

creates an essential motivation component

of our learnin' environment.

Some examples of our buddy partnerin' up:

  

 If the leprechaun was your teacher, what would 

he/she teach you?

If you found a pot of gold, what would you spend the gold on?

Spring Question Cards by Double Trouble

These are still on sale until 3/2.

 Happy St. Patrick's Day Questions

 Happy Spring Questions

Happy Easter Questions

I've also decided to link up with Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade

for March's Currently:

Listenin': To my stomach grumble.  I'm pretty sure it's

past my feedin' time.

Lovin': That I got to sleep in this mornin'.  This will keep me from 

havin' to nap today!

Thinkin': I am attendin' a weddin' at the end of March in Georgia.

I seriously need to get on bookin' the room. 

Maybe the area won't be as busy as ours with Spring Break. 

Wantin': I NEED an unlimited life-time gift card to Jane.com.

I'm assumin' it's not always a good thing when you get a package

in the mail...every.single.day.

I can't stop.

Needin': I need an extra weekend day...every week.

Do you know how productive I could be with a three day weekend?

I would be Super Ali.

???:  Diet Coke, lightning, butterflies

I have given you three possible answers...now you have

to guess the correct question.

Be sure to leave bloggy love for others.

Happy Saturday friends!

Tune into Technology: QR Codes & August Currently

Today I am linkin' up again for "Tune into Technology Linky: QR Codes" with Kristin at iTeach 1:1 as well as Alyin and Amanda at Learning to the Core.  I'm super duper sad this is the last one of the summer.  I have LOVED readin' how everyone else uses technology in their real lives and in the classroom.
                                      

Let me start off by sayin' I came to school today because the cleaner dude is at my house (don't judge...I'm highly allergic to dust...plus, it's so worth the money!)  When I walked in, I saw the dreaded "spot".  The place that appears about twice a year on the carpet between mine and my bestie's room.  "THE AIR CONDITION' LEAK"!  UGH...I thought I would be super smart and leave up my bookshelves with books on them.  You know, less work for the Fall return...I'm dumb.  

Enough about that.  Let's get to the good stuff: QR codes.  I've dabbled a little in makin' my own, but sometimes I prefer buyin' other people's QR task card packets on TpT.  I figure it saves me time and I'm supportin' someone else. The kids really do enjoy them or maybe it's just that they like to get ahold of my cell phone to use the app.  I also love findin' QR codes when I'm out and about.  It's like a little scavenger hunt.

Two years ago, my district outfitted all of the classrooms with new technology with the help of the community, votin' for a half cent sales tax increase.  YAHOO!  I love me some technology!  The district decided that they would like to video tape some of the teachers & students usin' the new technology.  The first two videos have NOTHING to do with QR codes, BUT the district made QR codes for these videos and put them on posters all around the community for people to see.  Pretty neat to just walk up to a poster, scan it, and BOOM you're watchin' a video of a classroom sayin' "Thank You".  The last video DOES have to do with QR codes and shows how the students are usin' them in a third grade classroom.

Video one: Me and my sweet little rockstars that I taught for THREE years. I sure do miss them. They were sponges when it came to introducin' somethin' new with tech.

Video two: My bestie with her group of kids that she will be startin' her third year
with these babies. It's been fun watchin' them grow and learn as digital citizens.

Video three: My other podmate and bestie usin' technology and QR Codes. It was Pajama Day that day...please excuse some of the outfits.
                                          This is the product from the above video.                                            
                                      
Last year, my Video three bestie also started out the year with the students writin' their "All About Me", drawin' a self-portrait, and addin' a QR code.  I think I will also start out my first week with this activity.

Overall, I WILL be makin' more of an effort for my students to be makin' QR codes this year. I have a techie GENIUS in my class that writes code for a hobby. I can pretty much guarantee that he will help me teach everyone else how to make QR codes or I can ask my pod besties. If I was really smart, I would've made the videos into QR codes! Haha

I am also linkin' up with Farley from Oh' Boy, Fourth Grade... for August's Currently.