Currently November and MONSTERS!

To start off with.....linking up with Farley for the November Currently!

 

Most of it is self-explanatory :)  I'm also sure you can relate to needing that maid (my house is so embarrassing, especially since not only have I been busy, but I've been a "drummer's widow" with my husband doing a show lately!).  As for the miracle, well....unfortunately we have several co-workers at my school who are not doing well, and they are SUCH good people!  One was diagnosed with Leukemia last year and isn't expected to make it much longer. :( Another is having seizures and is on medical leave.  I also found out a family member has cancer, and sometimes, ya know, it's just too much!!!!!!

Anyway, enough of that!  Thank goodness for the days so full of teaching and being a mom, I don't stop to think about it (because there IS no time!).

Now, on to happier, if not droolier times....here is my "yummy pin".....

Crockpot Chicken Enchilada Soup!  This is the time of year we always bring out the crockpot, and this looks soooo good!  This is on my "Recipes I'd Like to Attempt" page - since I created that a year ago, I've attempted ONE (sad, I know).  There were lots of gooey, yummy ones (many featuring s'mores, not surprisingly, or some sort of chocolate)...but since we start planning our grocery list/dinners for the week on Saturday and Sunday, this one caught my eye.  PLUS - it's supposed to be healthy.  So, I'm going to try to attempt it this week and I'll let you know how it turns out!

  I also FINALLY was able to cross off my "to do" list my "MonsterMash" sight words game.  I created this for a student who, mom warned me, got extremely nervous and shut down with anything he considered an assessment.  What child doesn't like cute monsters?  Hence, "Monster Mash" was born!  My first version was handwritten, but after messing up several cards, I decided it would be better if I typed it up!  It also comes with a "scoresheet" that is actually my record of the sight words they knew and didn't know.

Well, it's become a bit of a monster itself, with my kids begging to play (don't you love when you can do things like that???) to try to beat their score!

I started it with my PrePrimer group, and it's expanded to my Primer group.  So, I created the 'Mash up to third grade sight words (high hopes here, people!).  Several of my Primers are already ready for their first grade words!  Woo hoo! :) 

To start, everyone gets 3 cards, face down.  They flip and read the cards to themselves, then I go around the group and if they say all 3 words correctly, I collect them and give 3 more cards (if they get any wrong, they keep that, and I hand out new cards to replace the ones they get right).  This continues until the cards are gone.

I then pick a student who is doing a good job to do the "speed round."  They are then flashed the whole deck!  What they read immediately, they keep.  If they misread or don't know, it goes in the "monster pile."  

After the game, while they are counting up the cards they got right, I mark on the scoresheet which ones they missed (I usually circle them), then make a big deal of all the checks by the ones they got right and count a total score.  The goal is to beat the score each time and if they get them all right, I move up to the "next round."  

I color coded my first hand-written sets, so I kept that theme when I typed them, so it's the "brown cards" or "blue cards."  I don't like to assign levels to students like "these are the first grade cards" since some are sensitive about their reading.  I figure, if we can keep their confidence up about reading and keep things positive, it works wonders! :)

To check out more about Monster Mash, click on the picture below. Until Monday morning, it's on sale for $1 in my store, plus the preview includes the PrePrimer version!!