Currently Procrastinating

Hey yall!

 

Can you believe its May???

 

That means its time for a Currently with Farley!

 



 

Who doesn't love Modern Family, am I right???

{BTdubs, I know it says A Modern Family up there, instead of just Modern Family, but I'm too lazy to go back and fix it now.}

 





16 days people....16 days! That's only 3 more Mondays...whoohoo!!!

That also means its time to get ready for my 10 day countdown...better get busy!

 

Even though my class is technically over for the semester, I still have one more paper to write before Saturday. Its the methodology portion of my thesis, and I am sooo not looking forward to it. Have I started yet? HA!!! Nada. Maybe I'll get started tonight...or maybe I'll watch Psych, Dance Moms, and Nashville instead...

 

We're trying to save some money this month, so that means no pedicure for me :(

Although I'm super stoked that TPT is going to monthly payouts, so that means I only need to wait a few weeks and then my tootsies can have the royal treatment!

 

Writing folders....ugh. We got an email at like 3:00 today that said our student's published writing folders need to be ready by tomorrow, with rubrics and commentary. Ummmm....is it terrible that I have a whole stack of papers to go through??? Yikes!

 

Summer bucket list: First up, my bestie's wedding in Tennessee! Little less than a month a way now...cannot wait to see you as a beautiful bride, Laura!!!

 

Dad keeps asking where we want to go for a family vacay this year. There's 18 of us {and 1 on the way!}, so it can be hard to get everyone coordinated. I'm leaning towards beach, myself :)

FYI, its not me that's preggo, its my sis-in-law Megan!

The hubs and I are celebrating our 5th anniversary this June, and we have been dying to go on a cruise. Hoping we can make it happen! Better get busy on some new products to fund the trip :)

Don't forget to enter in our Fruitastic Giveaway!




Go link up with Farley!



A Fruitastic Giveaway!

Hey yall!

 

Want to know the best part about the end of the year?

 

All the fun summer craftivities, of course!

 

And nothing says summer like fruit! That's why my blogging buddies and I have teamed up to bring you a Fruitastic Giveaway!

 

 

You have the chance to win some seriously adorable crafts here people!

 

Up for grabs?

 

The Berry Best Year by Teachery Tidbits

 

 

Take a Bite Out of Summer! by A Cupcake for the Teacher

 

 

and

 

Tutti Frutti Summer Cuties! by the tattooed teacher

 

 

The giveaway will begin today and will run through midnight Saturday, May 4.

Good luck, friends!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

 

Instagram Love!

Hey yall!

 

So, I spent all day yesterday working on my research proposal for the thesis. When I finally emerged from under my mountain of schoolwork, my Google reader was overwhelmed with love for Instagram!

 

Well, I'm no stranger to Instagram, but had never thought of using it strictly for my blog. Although, most of the pictures that I take have been for my blog anyways, so its not too much of a stretch :)

Just be prepared to see some personal pics as well!

 

Follow me @teacherytidbits.

 

 

 

Then head over to see the weekly linky party!

 



Five for Friday

Hey yall!

 

Thank goodness its Friday. I didn't quite think I was going to make it this week! But Friday's here and all is well in the world :)

 

I'm linking up again with Casey.

 

 

Here's my random 5 for the week:

 

 

1. This little one came up to me during reading one day and said "Mrs. Lemacks, I made a text-to-text connection!" He was so super excited and I couldn't have been more proud.

 

 

2. We played this fun math game this week to celebrate Earth Day. This is from the fabulous Kelly Dolling over at Teacher Idea Factory.

 

 

3. We worked a lot with our hundreds {and 120s chart} this week. These kiddos were playing tic-tac-toe.

 

 

 

 

4. The hubs and I spent some time working in our yard this week. We have all these huge bushes in front of our house that we just weren't crazy about. So we decided to redneck it and just yank them out with some chains and the truck :) The hubs was absolutely giddy!

 

 

5. The end of the semester is drawing near and I am sooo ready to be done with this thesis class! Unfortunately, I won't be done with my actual thesis until December, just getting through the beginning phases. I'm actually here at my university's computer lab trying to get my research proposal done....see how focused I am????

 

 

Vibration Stations {freebie}

Hey yall! TGIalmostF!

 

I'm not sure about yall, but this has been the longest week ever! I'm sure it has nothing to do with the state testing that's going on this week. Even though first is not a testing grade, our schedule was still wonky this week, so of course my kiddos were 12 kinds of crazy!

 

But that's okay....because 21 days people!!!

 

As the end of the year draws near, we are doing a mad dash to make sure we've covered everything we need to cover. And in science, that means we are way behind! Science and social studies always seem to get pushed to the side, even though I absolutely adore teaching science! The 25 minutes alloted in our schedule everyday to cover both is just not enough.

 

With that said, I try to cram as much information as I can in when we actually do get a chance to get some science in. This week, it's all about sound! And that means.....Vibration Stations!

 

I blogged about our Vibration Stations last year, but I've changed things up a bit this year. I also gave my oh-so-bland task cards a makeover! I split my kiddos up into four groups and they rotated around the four stations. I gave them only 6 minutes at each station, so they had to stay focused and work quickly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The littles carried their science journals around to each station and recorded their observations/findings. They also answered the question at the bottom of each task card in their journals. They really enjoyed these stations and were super motivated to get them done in time.

 

Grab a copy of the task cards below. Of course, you're on your own to supply the rest of the materials, but thankfully they are pretty simple! I actually had *almost* all of the materials already in my class :)

 

 

 I'm also dying to share everything we've been doing to celebrate Earth Day this week, but I'm saving that for one big post after tomorrow :) 

 



Five for Friday {with a little freebie}

Hey yall! TGIF!!!

 

This girl is completely and utterly exhausted! Thank goodness Casey lets us link up with a fun and quick post on Fridays :)

 

1. Two of my sweet little girls brought me portraits of myself this week. Both are very different, which is why I love them so much! Its funny to see how you look to a first grader :)

 

This one seems to be more accurate....except for the one leg thing...

 

Not sure I could pull a dress like this off...but I'm digging the curves she gave me!

 

2. Our county started the BIG state tests this week, so I made these quick little treats for the teachers administering the tests. Click on the picture to grab the bag topper!

 



 

3. We went on a field trip to a local dairy farm today and it was so much fun! My littles' excitement was palpable and I couldn't have been more proud of how they behaved. The shrieks of pure joy made me smile all day long.

 

Petting the 2 month old calfs {calves???}

 

Ponies! Notice the stench :)

 

Cow milking demonstration....this man said the farm had 99 cows and one very happy bull...HA!

 

Hay ride...they were SO excited to see real life cows out in the pastures!

 

4. On the ride home, the bus was eerily silent. Then I saw why...

 

 

 

5. Then I came home to this sweet sleeping thing!

 

 

Happy Friday, friends!!!

 



Do You Dojo?

Hey yall! Happy hump day!

 

Well, the countdown for summer has been officially on this week...only 27 days left!

 

However, that also means that student behavior tends to get a little cray-cray! So its that time of the year where you pull out the big guns.

 

Enter Class Dojo!

 

 

I heard about this site last fall when I was in between jobs. I thought the premise was really awesome, but in the hectic-ness of finally getting a job and getting everything together for my classroom, I completely forgot about it! But after my kiddos' awful behavior the week before Spring Break, I just knew I needed to change things up a bit and remembered this little gem!

 

So I signed up my kiddos and we have been rockin' it out this week! I saw immediate results in my littles' behavior. Seriously!

 

So, in case you've never heard of Class Dojo before, let me break it down for you.

 

You start out by adding your kiddos to your class. Dojo gives them some adorable little avatars!

 

Pardon the blue boxes...gotta protect my babies!

Throughout the day, students can either earn positive points or negative points. Here are some of the things my kiddos get points for:

 

 

And yes, I take points away for whining. Harsh? Maybe.... Effective? YES!!!

Whining is seriously a huge pet peeve of mine and I have no patience for it.

 

I keep my Dojo page up on our ActivBoard all day, so students can see how they are doing. I will usually add or take away points myself, although I may make a big deal of having a student give themselves a point {especially if its one who struggles in earning points!}.

 

In my class, we have been using a clipchart all year. Students start on green and can move up to blue or purple, or down to pink or orange. I wanted to coordinate the Dojo points with our colors, so they would be familiar with the meaning.

 

Now, we have been starting out at zero points. If a student ends the day still at zero points, that would give them an orange day, which is the worst. That's right....they have to earn a green, blue, or purple day! No more gimmes! 3 points gives them a green day, 5 points a blue day, and 7 points a purple day. Only 1-2 points gets them a pink day and 0 points or less gets them an orange day.

 

But its actually not that hard to have a good day, because I give points out left and right. In fact, I've had many students on blue and purple this week, and only 1 has gone home on pink! What, what?!?!

 

Want to see my favorite part???

 

At the end of the day/week/month, you can see your students' track records!

 

This is my whole class report. Check that out! So awesome. They have earned 295 positive points so far this week, and its only Wednesday!

 

 This is a student that is always on her best behavior :)

 

 And this is a student that usually struggles every single day! Whoo-hoo!

Check out what he earned points for today....

 

 

You can also print out reports and send them home, although our school has our printers on lock down right now, so I won't be doing that. Or you can enter parents' email addresses and then Class Dojo will automatically send them their child's report at the end of the day!

 

Awesome, right???

 

So, let me ask again.......do you Dojo???