Five for Friday...I'm havin' FUN!

I seriously cannot tell you the last time I linked up for 

Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching, but I'm on a roll

with all the linky parties, so I figured I shouldn't stop now!

Today's post will be random.

I like random.

It's baaaaaaaaack!

Saturday Snapshots with my bestie Miss Nelson from 

Run! Miss Nelson's Got the Camera is my absolute FAVORITE link-up 

and not just because she's my bestie.

I enjoy snappin' photos and bein' random...like I said above.

I hope you link-up too because I'm a Nosy Rosie

and I want to spy see what you are up to.

It doesn't have to be teacher-y.

It can be snapshots of whatever you want.

You're in charge.

Tomorrow I'm leavin' for Oakland for the weekend.

I'm goin' to watch the Boston Red Sox play

on Saturday and Sunday.

Source

Go Sox!

You can look for me on T.V....if you're bored.

If you see me, you can pretend you know someone famous.

I'm kiddin'...sorta!

Tonight I'm goin' to see "Jersey Boys".

Source

I'm super duper excited!

You realize there will be movie theater popcorn there...yes?

Do I need to say more?

If you don't know how much I love popcorn,

read here.

Who is lovin' summer?

I AM!

I also love YOU...so,

I'll keep this as a freebie until 

Sunday night when I get back from my trip.

I won't be upset with you if you leave me some love

if you decide to scoop this up from my TpT.

Coach Factory Online's Summer Clearance Event

starts today...June 20th through June 24th.

If you buy Coach purses, but don't like payin'

full-price,  you should hop on this site.

(I'm sayin' this because I like Coach...they don't know me)

Purses are cute, cheaper and are delivered fast.

They sell quickly though, so hurry up!

I have ordered from them a bunch!

Shh...don't tell Jerm.

If I always order black he doesn't know the difference...right?

Also, eBay is havin' a Vera Bradley sale up to 70% off.

I may or may not have ordered three new bags for the price of one.

(Vera doesn't know me either...but I wouldn't be upset if she did and

wanted to adopt me)

I will not be held responsible if you spend too much money, so 

don't even think about blamin' me. 

Got it?

Happy Friday, friends!

Start your engines...Tried it Tuesday

Woohoo...Tuesday!

Time to link up with my sweet friend Holly

from Fourth Grade Flipper for 

Tried it Tuesday.

Tried it Awesomeness #1: My first NASCAR race

Four years ago when Jerm and I got together, he MADE me

pick a Nascar driver. 

I looked at him sideways as he pulled up all the drivers for

me to check out.  

I knew NOTHIN' about Nascar...so....

I did what any smart girl would do,

I picked my favorite number.

#11-Denny Hamlin.

Denny tore it up (that's a good thing) the year 

I started watchin'...on the T.V.

I'm a great cheerleader from the couch.

I couldn't avoid the great outdoors forever though.

This past weekend, nine of us headed off to 

Talladega Superspeedway to 

watch the race.

Let me just scream...

SO MUCH FUN!

Tailgatin' at 8:30 a.m. makes for a VERY long day!

You can get a really nice suntan though.

Goin' with buddies is a fabulous idea.  Sissy-in-law selfies.

The best part of all.  

MY DRIVER WON!!!!!!!!!!

I was FLIPPIN' OUT...one of the coolest

things I've gotten to witness.

Even though I had the time of my life,

I said I can't ever go back.

How do you top your driver winnin' 

the first race you go to?

You can't.

Tried it Awesomeness #2: B.B.F. Award

Do you know my sweet friend Brooke from Smarter Balanced Teacher?

She gave me an award.  

Not just any award, but the coolest award of all time...

"The Best Blogging Friend Award" and I was blown away!

She made this for ME...M-E!

(Read why here)

Is that seriously not the sweetest thing?

Brooke...you ROCK and I HEART you!

Since Brooke tagged me...I get to tag someone else.

This was a really tough decision for me

because I love all my bloggy buddies and want them

by my side in real life at all times.

EVERY.SINGLE.ONE.

That's not how this works though.

I have to choose one.

So, here goes...

my B.B.F. this time goes to...

Erin aka Miss Lifesaver

Erin and I have talked about EVERYTHING

under the sun!

She just gets me and I love her dearly.

We have some of the funniest and some of the 

most serious conversations.

We email, we text, we Facebook, etc.

It honestly feels like we have been friends forever.

So...Erin...TAG...you're it. 

Your turn to choose someone else.

Before I go...did you have a chance to check out 

my May Currently?

I chose Cassie from Funky in Fourth 

for my "Surprise" section.

Cassie is havin' her very first ever Rafflecopter giveaway.

Be sure to go give Cassie some love.

I'm sure you've heard there is a TpT sale goin' on.

Thank you to Hello Literacy Designs for the cute graphic.

I'm havin' a sale in my store and so is Double Trouble.

Teachers do ROCK!

Happy Tuesday, friends!

Tried it Tuesday...gettin' organized, givin' thanks, & cashin' checks...

It's Tuesday...my favorite day of the week because I get to link up with my buddy, Holly, from Fourth Grade Flipper for Tried It Tuesday. 

So...what do I get for pickin' on Holly for the Saints beatin' the Bills last week??? I get...a loss from the Saints AND a loss from the Miami Hurricanes against Florida State Seminoles...while I was AT the game.  I also got a ginormous blister. I'm not pickin' on anybody else anymore.

Miami (me) & Florida State (Jerm)...we don't agree on ANY teams!

Tried It Awesomeness #1: Finally organized my Math games/task cards

I bought this shelf several years ago from a Chinese restaurant for $20.  They used to store trinkets on them. If I would've known how handy it would come in for me, I would've bought every one they had for sale.  It's the new home to all of my Math games that I finally got around to organizin' completely.  I had the kids help me start the organization process back in September, but just got around to buyin' buckets(Dollar Tree) and printin' labels.  It feels really awesome to have all of the games stored in the appropriate place.

*Edit-I just realized I spelled "operations" wrong on this label.  I will be fixing this tomorrow first thing.  How embarrassing!

I wanted to keep the labels simple because there is so much goodness goin' on with the games themselves.  I used a Sharpie to label each envelope at the top with the grade level & domain/strand. (Ex: 5.NF)
I purchased a wonderful 5th grade math pack from MissKinBK at the B2S sale on TpT this year and it covers so many areas that my students still need extra practice with.  Love!


Tried it Awesomeness #2: Thanksgiving Question Cards

Miss Nelson and I have paired up again to create some new items for Double Trouble...be sure to like us and check out some of our fun stuff.  We have lots of laughter when creatin' together.  

Thanksgiving Question Cards
Question cards to spark student discussion or prompted writin' has been a HUGE hit in my classroom this year.  We started out the year usin' Mustache Question Cards & then Halloween Question Cards.  My kids really enjoy them.

Question: Do you like to go out of town for Thanksgiving, or stay home?

Question: Describe the perfect Thanksgiving holiday.

Question: What does your family do after your Thanksgiving feast? 

Tried it Awesomeness #3: Writin' checks for the teacher
Last week we learned how to write checks, balance checkbooks, and how to budget our money while learnin' about addition and subtraction of decimals.
We used a wonderful interactive website to practice these things.  I believe these are real life lessons that every child should be required to learn.

Fun for Kids:
1. Writing a Check
2. Balancing Your Checking Account
3. Living on a Budget

For further practice, I had the students write three checks: one to the teacher, one to a friend in our class, and one to their favorite charity.  They had a budget of $111.11.   Check out the Memo lines...my kids know me very well!
I found these checks online here.

The grand total from my students was $1,012.05.  They are so very generous!
Now...who knows of a bank where I can cash these things?

Be sure to check out the rest of the awesome Tried Its on Holly's blog!

Monday Made It...Oh, how I've missed you...

Yep, it's true.  I have definitely missed linkin' up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for her very popular Monday Made It linky.  It's hard to believe a month has passed since the last MMI.

I was cruisin' through some posts on Bloglovin' this afternoon while I was cruisin' down the interstate(no, I wasn't readin' and drivin'...) and got so excited to see Tara's post.  The only bad thing was, I was stuck in the car and couldn't start my post.  I was too hyped up because I made a quick trip to New Orleans this weekend for the New Orleans Saints football game.

Yep...we(I act like I was on the field or somethin'...)WON!  That's right...we beat dem Dirty Birds aka the Atlanta Falcons(sorry if you're a Falcons fan and lost...I will cheer for you sometimes...as long as you aren't playin' the Saints).  Jerm and I disagree on ALL teams, so today was no different. It was a short trip, but lots of fun packed into two days with some great hosts this weekend.  Lunch at the Cochon Butcher Sandwich Shop.  Ham sandwich + White BBQ sauce=YUM!  Drinks at Mojito's, a little gamblin' at Harrah's Casino, dinner at Dickie Brennan's Steak House and some music at Irvin Mayfield's Jazz Playhouse in the French Quarter was just what I needed after the first three weeks of school startin'.   I'm tellin' you...New Orleans is probably the HAPPIEST city I've ever visited.  I ALWAYS leave there so rejuvenated!

Bourbon Street was hoppin'.  

Loved the start of the game.  

Love the Superdome and the air conditionin'! 

Now onto school stuff...I finally made a decision that I needed to organize all of the Math and ELA games that I have been printin', cuttin', and laminatin' the past couple of years.  I was gettin' tired of havin' to sort through a large plastic tub to find the ones I wanted to use.  It was pure madness.  So, last week I asked for volunteers to help sort the games.  I love when 22 hands shoot up in the air to help me.

Here is the beginnin' of the sort.  I gave some of my boys my binder with the Math and ELA Common Core Standards for 5th grade and asked them to sort them.  They decided to use the Post-It notes to get themselves organized.  Be still my beatin' heart...I was swoonin'.  

Look at this!  Are they good or what?  They did this pretty much without any direction from me other than me handin' them the binder with all of the standards.  They made a pretty big dent, but we still have some work to do.

Now...this is where I need your help? Do I make a basket for each group of games or do I keep them in this large plastic tub with some kind of divider?  What do you use in your class to house these games?  All of the manila envelopes are laminated, so they are pretty sturdy.  Keep in mind...I switch grade levels every year, so I need a system that will help me be able to transition into the next grade easily without changin' everything, every year.  Ideas?   

I've also made a new discovery. 

Have you signed up for CoreStand's Core Weekly newsletter via email?  

Each week they have been sendin' an email with a download to a FREE literacy template tied to a current event.  The template also includes a link to a current event article on Time for Kids.   

Here is an example of an article: Time for Kids: History of Labor Day  

The graphic organizer has a question to answer in the areas of Reading, Writing, Language, and Speaking & Listening. Each newsletter includes a template for Elementary and Grades 6-12.  

We have already completed three articles in my class and the kids really seem to be enjoyin' them.  Some literacy, technology, and writin' all tied together.  What's not to love?

Be sure to check out everyone else's ideas on Monday Made It.  I can't wait to come home after school and catch up on the past 3 days on Bloglovin' and answer some emails from this weekend...preferably not on my phone!