The Noun Game

Let's play the noun game! 

Mrs. Reed over at Flying into First Grade has provided this fun linky.  The rules of the game are to think of a person, place, thing, and animal that you love!

PERSON: It's hard to pick just one!  At the moment I would have to say my teaching buddies.  I just got back from happy hour (that's right.  happy hour on a Monday afternoon.  two words: Parent Conferences teaching rocks!) I love getting together with those girls and laughing, crying, and laughing some more.

PLACE:  The local park in the Spring Time.  It is beautiful.  I love to go running through the trails there, or just picnic on a warm day.  

THING: My new-to-me car!  The Mr. and I bought it last November and I still can't get over the fact that I have a "less than ten year old" car.  This is a first!

ANIMAL: Giraffe   What's not to like? Have you ever spent the afternoon at your local zoo watching these hilarious creatures?  They look so weird.  I would have never thought to create these strange beautiful animals. 

____________________________________________________

Now, you might be wondering what my lie was when I posted my 2 truths and a lie last week.  

1. I have never dyed my hair.
2. My *sweet sixteen* car was a 1993 S-10 Tahoe Blazer, which I drove until its 20th birthday.
3. My husband and I met while playing intramural soccer in college.

Drum roll please.....#2 was the lie.

I did drive a 93 Tahoe Blazer since the time I was sixteen, but it died just 3 months before its 20th birthday.  

Congrats to Terri, Dawn, Hilary, and Lauren for guessing correctly!  

Here is your *promised* celebratory cyber-high-five!  

Great job ladies :)

In other news: After a week back from Spring Break, I have decided to change up my Reading Centers yet again.  To recap this school year's reading centers fiasco, I trained my kids with the Daily Five, gained 10 more students and switched to reading centers (baskets with rotations), lost 10 students and switched back to the daily five with lots of choices realized that didn't work-six year olds get overwhelmed with too many choices, so I switched back to reading centers.  I HATE dislike reading rotations because there is no room for choice.  Yet my students cannot handle choice at this time. So, I decided to move back to the Daily Five, but without the crazy amount of freedom that I would normally give my students at this point in the year.  

I hope to be back by the end of this week with pictures of my attempt to make this work.  Say a prayer for us as we re-learn the expectations for centers!

Do you ever feel guilty for changing things in your classroom when they don't work because you know your kiddos need consistency? Is it worse to be inconsistent or to keep failing? 

Five for Friday: Welcome to the Space Jam....

Click the picture to link up!

This week is REALLY random!

I realized I hadn't taken any pictures all week until it was too late!  It's hard to get back into the swing of things after a week long break :)

One: This week I hated my alarm clock!  

On Thursday, my first thought of the day was: "What day is it? .... Based on how tired I feel right now, it better be Friday!"  I was so disappointed when my sleepy brain finally realized it was only Thursday!  I love breaks, but it is always hard to get back into the routine of waking up early.

Two: We have been studying about Ancient Egypt.  After learning about Mummies, we wrapped a student to see what it was like.  They had a blast and *Freaked Out* when we wrapped his face :)  Don't worry, we made sure to leave a hole for his mouth/nose to breathe.  

Three: We made a Royal Cartouche with our name written in Hieroglyphics for our art this week.

They turned out very cute.  My room turned out....well, let's just say it looked like a minor glitter tornado swept through it right before PE.  Luckily I have some great helpers who love to clean. 

Four: Today was "Wear Your Favorite Team Jersey" Day at school.  I borrowed my husbands Monstars Jersey which looks like this:

I was shocked to find out a good amount of my students knew exactly where the jersey came from!  

Five: I am off this weekend to try to find a copy of Space Jam.  What's not to like?  Michael Jordan? Cartoon Characters? Basketball? What a weird brilliant movie.

Enjoy your weekend!

PS. If you are willing to donate something to my 100 follower giveaway, let me know!  I am going to do my best to learn something new and set it up :)

2 Truths and a Lie

I'm linkin up again this week to tell you two truths and a lie.  I think this will be a fun little bloggin' game.  

This week is 2 truths and a lie!

1. I have never dyed my hair.
2. My *sweet sixteen* car was a 1993 S-10 Tahoo Blazer, which I drove until its 20th birthday.
3. My husband and I met while playing intramural soccer in college.

Guess which one is the lie, and I will give you a HUGE celebratory cyber-high-five. :)

In other news, yesterday I hit 100 followers!  

You guys have encouraged me so much!  I was going to give you a sappy, tear-jerk-er speech, but I will spare you the drama.  Thank you for caring enough to follow me and my frazzled adventures. 

 I am beyond excited!  Thank you.

 Do you think I should host a giveaway?  If so, would you be willing to donate something from your TPT store or hook me up with your copy of "Hosting A Blog Giveaway For Dummies"?  (I seriously have no idea what I'm doing here.)

I'd love to know your thoughts! 

Ooooh, and don't forget to guess my lie!

Five for Friday: Spring Break Edition

I'm happy to be linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for some Five for Friday.  I've gotten out of the swing of posting and am excited to link up again.  Here are five random photos over the course of my spring break week.

I started off my Spring Break with a little shopping!  I found these pants at a new thrift store in town and said "why not?"  Anyone throwing an 80's party soon?  I am in need of an occasion to wear these bad boys!

On Monday, I spent some time in the classroom- cleaning, organizing, and rearranging.

My sister celebrated her big Three-Oh Birthday on Tuesday.  We started the celebration by booking a relaxing massage, but as it turns out, we missed our appointment because we were thirty minutes late.  We went to the mall instead and happened upon these chair massages.  Lucky us!  

The husband and I decided to go on a camping trip at the end of our week.  We got to the campsite and realized we were suppose to camp 40 yards from a major highway!  No thank you!

We booked it back to our apartment and ended up grilling there instead! 

I spent today rearranging and Spring Cleaning our apartment.  This is my new happy place.

If you are just happening upon your Spring Break I hope you enjoy it.  If you are just finishing up, I wish you rest and comfort knowing Summer is right around the corner. :)

Getting to Know You....

Is that song stuck in your head now, too?

Latoya from Flying into First Grade is hosting a new linky in order to get to know other teacher bloggers.  This one is just for fun and being Latoya's first link-up, I think we should all join in!

This is an ongoing linky that will have a new topic each Sunday, so if you miss this one, you can always join in the next one.

This Sunday's Topic: 3 things about yourself that you like/like to do that start with your initials.

I love all things neat and organized.  Not every space I occupy reflects this feeling, but it is there, I promise.  

M is for Music.

When I don't have music in my life, I don't have a life.  

There have been so many times where I have felt like this girl in this picture.  My brain is exploding with music.  I also laugh as this reminds me of so many of my students.  They love to sing, and I often catch them humming a tune or singing to themselves without even realizing it!  

Music is a part of our soul and it can show our true reflections.

I wish I knew more about reading music.  My three years playing the trumpet for the middle school band just doesn't cut it.  I recently joined my church's choir and need a refresher on reading music! It has been too long :)

T is for teaching.

I love teaching and all of its beauty and pitfalls.

If I had a quarter for all  the times I wished someone would have offered to watch my class for a restroom break....

I cannot count how many times I have rearranged my classroom on the weekend.  I'm planning on going up there tomorrow (the Monday of my Spring Break) in order to rearrange and Spring Clean.  I am excited and not the least bit sad about this decision. See my first initial for more details....)

100% funny

100% true

Well, that's it for me.  What about you? What are 3 things you like? I'd love for you to join in the fun!

I'm excited about the upcoming weeks topics:  2 truths and a lie, would you rather, and top ten!    

Great idea Latoya :)

Link up here.

Happy Trails to you, until we meet again.

My Lucky Seven

Howdy Hey!  I'm linking up with Melissa from

for her adorable St. Patrick's Themed Linky:

I love thinking positively (and don't do it as often as I should!) so when I saw this linky, I knew it would be great for me to join.  Here's My Lucky Seven:

I'm lucky to be married to my spunky, quirky husband.

 He keeps life exciting.

I'm lucky to have my two sisters live in the same town.  And, I'm lucky that in a few months, we will all be certified teachers :) (I love that my two older sisters followed in my footsteps to become teachers.  I'm such a trend setter.)

I'm lucky to get to collaborate with WONDERFUL and EXPERIENCED teachers.

Check out Melissa's blog for all things inspiration.

I'm lucky to be able to go to Professional Development that gives me a push in the right direction when I'm pulling my hair out. I wouldn't have made it through these past 3 years of teaching without my Region Center.

I truly am lucky in my classroom this year.  My students are amazing (have I mentioned I only have TEN?!?!)

I'm lucky to have traveled this past year. 

London and Chicago.

I'm a lucky bear...not by blood but by marriage. 

Sic Em.

Currently March

It's that time of the month again....(no, not that time of the month...the other, more fun and enjoyable time of the month!)

Farley's Currently is here!

(Click the picture to link up!)

Listening to Parenthood.   I just recently jumped on the bandwagon and I cannot help myself. I also cannot stop crying.  This is TV at its finest, ya'll!

Loving all things St. Patrick's Day.  I think St. Patrick's Day is my unofficial favorite holiday.  My favorite color is green.  It always falls on Spring Break.  And there's little leprechauns running around "tricking" people.  What's not to love?  This year will the the 2nd annual Leprechaun visit to our classroom.  Last year I a Leprechaun left us tiny little notes around the classroom along with "gold nugget stars"  My kids LOVED it and were always trying to catch the lucky little guy.  This year he is returning and I cannot wait to see what creative traps my students come up with this time :)

Thinking about next school year.  Things will change, and I hate change.  I'm meeting with my Superintendents this week. YIKES!  Let's just say I'm always a little anxious these days.

Wanting a smoothie.  Yummmmmmm. 'Nough said.

Needing Spring Break.  At this point, what teacher doesn't need a well deserved break?

Like: Noodles

Love: Naps

Hate: Nervousness

I like noodles.  Anything with noodles is usually tasty.  I love to cook oodles of noodles.

I love naps.  Today I said I was going to take a nap, but then I turned on Parenthood and started to bawl my little eyes out.

I hate nervousness.  I recently joined the church choir and get SUPER nervous when I have to stand up in front and sing.  Don't get me wrong, it's fun and I love it.  But I haven't mastered my nerves yet.  I am also nervous about the next school year...but I think I already mentioned that to you.

I'd better go get some lesson planning done so that I can go to my friends CD Release party. She also got engaged last night, and I am so happy for her.  She sings in the choir with me.  Today we sang a rather sad and somber song for lent, but she was just SMILING away as she sang.  I thought it was funny; she's just so happy she's engaged!  Gotta love young love :)

I hope you have a well-structured week. (Who am I kidding?  I hope your week flies by so that you can get to your Spring Break already!)