Winter Break: Tales of an Addict

Yes, that's me.  School was open 2 days this week and guess who was there!  However, my room desperately needed a good organization/cleaning!  I wish I would've taken a picture of my desk - it hasn't looked this organized since I unpacked in the summer! (actually, even then, it didn't - it was piled with stuff for other places!).  So, I managed to get my little area clean as well as straighten up around my room.  Teacher workdays are next Thursday and Friday, but school will be open Wednesday.  (Hiding head). I'll be there, then, too!

Hah hah - as I type this, I'm actually with a friend at HER school since my husband and kiddos are off to Amazement Square to meet up with cousins who are visiting from New Jersey.  (If you don't know about Amazement Square in Lynchburg, VA, it is AMAZING!  If you ever visit anywhere near there and have kids, it's a must-go!). 

However, with 60 lb bag (okay, that might be an exaggeration) I have 4 math units, history unit, and basic lessons to plan (including a focus on nonfiction this semester!).  So, I am cherishing this day without interruption.  Oh, that and high speed internet and access to my school network folder. :)

Of course, today we FINALLY get some winter weather!  I know - some places have been hit hard.  However, it's missed our part of central VA until today.  I mean, my 6 year old told me on Thursday that we might as well go back to school on Monday because there is NO SNOW and it's WINTER BREAK!  (yes, she's that dramatic - the same girl who said yesterday to a friend that she didn't know why "Tuesday Morning" was open since it was Friday!).

Anyway, back to my addiction.  My husband calls it "dedicated," but I sense an eye-roll when he says it.  Either way, I AM getting some things done and thought I'd share!  I'm also hoping to clean up my seasonal items and throw a sale for the New Year - just on holiday things, so you can stock up on different times of the year!  That, and I'm approaching my anniversary of both blogs and teacher stores, so I'm starting to come full circle on some of my items.

So, what have I accomplished so far?  Glad you asked!  My kids are a little less than skilled on calendar.  I don't know why.  We do it every day.  Seriously.  So, I made a packet of monthly skill sheets that frankly, I probably will use no matter what month (heck - I don't mind doing July in January!).  Each month is slightly different with the skill levels.  Be sure to check it out at my stores!  Click on the picture for TpT and {here} for Teacher's Notebook.

Next up is a winter mix of writing and math activities.  We haven't touched on fractions yet this year, but I put a fraction game in there anyway and thought it might not hurt for my students to revisit this part of their brain!  Kind of a "sneak preview" of the next unit or so.  Other math concepts include patterns, money, and addition.  Writing activities include comparative adjectives, mitten writing prompts, seasonal paper, and a cinquain pattern.  It's all snowmen, penguins, and polar bears - perfect for the winter months!  For TpT click on the picture, for Teacher's Notebook {here}.

Well, back to work!  I'm trying to polish up some of my units as well, including Economics (including my "Elf Economics"), Famous Americans, and Graphing Unit/Investigations Unit 4.

Manic Monday! Check Out Some Great Freebies!

So who doesn't love freebies???  Whenever someone has a linkup or a linky party, I always try to make time to check it out.  There is an awesome community of teachers out there that produce really great stuff!  It helps inspire me to be better (my husband would probably term it as "crazier") with my products and the overall presentation to my students!!!


So, 'nuff said about that.  This is about a freebie, right?  I'm joining "Classroom Freebies in their linkup of FREE products for Manic Monday!  If you are a regular reader of my blog, you may have already seen this, but I thought, with the season, it might be worth posting again.

My freebie is my adjective based "goon" from Goodnight Goon.  I encouraged my students to use adjectives, but you could also use it in older classes for figurative language practice.  It's a great time of year for "goons."  I hope you enjoy!  Click on the link {here} to access it from Google Drive. 

Wild and Windy!

Can you tell we're studying adjectives?  Well, that and it reflects the weather outside.  We haven't gotten the full effects of Hurricane Sandy (rain is supposed to start tomorrow) but the temps have definitely dropped and we're on a wind advisory until Tuesday!  Whew!

This week has been absolutely crazy!!!  Between being out one day for a meeting, leaving 2 days early, my daughter getting chicken pox (YES!  CHICKEN POX!  and YES she had the vaccine!  Two days out of school on Thursday and Friday for her!), and the general craziness of this time of year....it's enough to drive you to drink chocolate!  I swear, I will never keep to my diet! :P

On Thursday, we celebrated the 50th Day of School.  Of course I was in a meeting that day (but at least it was a planning one...although I had to leave early to take care of my daughter), but I planned some fun things for the kiddos!  During Math, I kept to my groups, but planned a rotation to help review our Geometry unit:  50 pattern blocks to make symmetrical designs, 50 shapes to create on the geoboard, and find 50 objects and determine their shape.  The kids had a lot of fun - oh, and it was "pajama day" for Red Ribbon Week....why can't every day be pajama day - or at least once a week?  I wore mine, even tho I was in a meeting.  (I rarely pass up pajama day!).  

For Writing, they continued by listing 50 adjectives inspired by the book "Hairy Scary Ordinary Adjectives" (I think that's the title) which the sub read to them.  They also did a review on proper nouns and had to list what ended up being a total number of 50 for things such as names of stores, restaurants, books, etc.  They were also supposed to do 25 verbs and 25 nouns, but apparently did not get to that.  It was great for review!

We are studying adjectives, so we did Mrs. Lemon's "All About Me" adjective idea.  The kids turned out better than I thought! (I always hesitate doing these with subs, since I have a general idea of what I want...but fortunately a teammate had done the same activity, so I had one of hers as a sample!).  We also read "Goodnight Goon" (a parody of Goodnight Moon) and created our own goons, adding adjectives to describe it.

We're also studying Community Changes:  Past and Present (SOL 2.3 for you VA people!) so here are our trioramas on the 3 different types of communities.  We did this after watching "The Little House."  I have the book, but LOVE watching the video.  It's on my wiki page....I feel like it gives the kids a little more experience since we are definitely a rural community - they need to hear the hustle and bustle of the urban community!  We also did a follow-up worksheet on The Little House.  I will try to put up my Community Changes unit things soon as a little bundle - I have to take a pic of my triorama pattern since I drew it.  I'll throw it up on TpT and TN for ya! :)

As for the goon, that was actually my little drawing on Word using the shape tools (freehand!).  This is a freebie you can download {here} in PDF.  Please let me know if it doesn't work...I'm still kinda new to Google Docs/Drive!
  I'm sure I'm forgetting something else!  My brain has been a bit scattered...and on top of that, I've started this Math Investigations course we were told to take that was recommended.  I think I need one of those time thingies that Hermoine had in Harry Potter where I can turn back time and use it to fit everything in! :(