New Years and January Currently

It's hard to believe it's already 2013...and we return back to school in a few days!  Yikes!  My "to do" list didn't quite work out as well as I thought....

This year for New Year's, my friend gave me a really cool idea to do with my kids (think she found it on Pinterest).  Normally, our New Years consists of myself and my two kids and we sing, dance, party, and have snack food and sparkling cider (it's my son's favorite holiday, he tells me!).  My husband, who is a drummer in a swing band, is normally at a gig.  This year was the first he was able to join us - so I have to admit, I toned down my craziness.  What is it about having other adults around that just makes us less silly?

Anyway, back to the idea.  My two kiddos and I sat down and filled in activities on slips of paper and placed them in balloons, blew them up, then labelled them with each hour.  So, on that hour, we had to pop that balloon and do the activity!  It was fun with what they came up with!  My son is heavily into "Minecraft" so we had a "class" on everything Minecraft!  My daughter had us drinking hot chocolate, playing with "Jingle" (which she used her money to buy after Christmas half price), and playing "Just Dance."  I put in a few things for playing games as well as doing some new year's exercise - 2012 (2 pushups, 0 running, 1 sit up, 2 jumping jacks, etc.) and 2013!  We also were told to bake cookies, get snacks ready, and put on our pjs!

 I thought it would be fun to do something similar on the 100th day of school!  However, I probably would come up with the strips but still place them randomly in the balloons.  What a fun way to celebrate that special day!  My kids, who are 6 and 12, thought it was the best idea EVER, so I figure my 2nd graders will eat it up!

So, on to January Currently, where I'm linking up with Farley at Oh Boy Fourth Grade!

 

Most of it is self-explanatory.  However, my OLW for the year is "organized!" (with exclamation mark!).  It goes along with my "need" about putting my life in order.  Now, normally, I AM an organized person (or at least try to be). However, there are areas that need tweaking!

My husband and I have decided to get rid of our debt that was having us live paycheck to paycheck (and then we'd get ahead and boom! something would happen that would wipe us out again!).  So, we're now doing the "Dave Ramsey" program.  If you haven't heard of him, you should definitely check him out!  A lot of what he says is common sense and I honestly did years ago - pre kids, pre husband.  

However, we should be debt free (minus the mortgage and car payment) in two years!  We started this in December and have already paid off two credit cards (you start with the lowest balance)!  I'm too embarrassed to mention how much we are in CC debt, but it's a lot!  There's been a lot of things that have happened this past 5 years to "justify", but it's time for it to go.  Leave.  Adios.  The other great thing about it is there is a kids program that now my two are learning about saving, spending, and making good economic choices.  Bonus!

Another reason for "organized" is both the appearance of my house and classroom.  I'm starting out the year with my desk looking like this:

If you saw my earlier post, my desk did NOT look like that!  Granted, there will *always* be something in my wire basket there (what teacher doesn't have a "to do" basket???), but right now, it's mostly holding pattern strips and activities for my next math unit!  (Check out the trash can!  I need to go thru and recycle my paper - but it was much easier and more satisfying to just "toss" at the moment!).  

My biggest problem is that I just don't have time to clear it off each day and things pile up, get lost, etc.  If I can get my classroom in order, I'm hoping to spread it over to my house (too embarrassed to post pics of that!).  We're working on it, though, especially with the new chores the kids have to help out!

I won't even mention how I need to get my body organized!  Hah - nice way of saying I need to lose weight!  Time organization - as in time to get back on Zumba! :)

So, what is your OLW for the year?  

100th Day of School!

Thanks to that lovely rattle and shake that we had back in August, our 100th day (normally in January) was celebrated today, February 6th! (Whew! Barely recovered from Groundhog's Day!). The kids started their day by entering our room in a very special way!
My daughter is "modeling" a special t-shirt made by my best friend, Valerie (Enriching Kinders), which turned out super cute! Take a closer look! (I know mine would not have turned out this great!).


Last week's homework (since it was a 3-day week due to teacher workday/staff development) was to gather 100 of something to bring to school. We still have a few more to collect:After resource, which my students have first thing, we began our day with special Math centers that focused around 100 and patterns (our current unit of study).

Center 1: Students created strips of 10 with stickers. Groups tried to work together to make 10 strips of 10 to equal 100. I was impressed so many wanted to make patterns on their strips!

Center 2: Estimation Station (students had to guess whether it was more or less than 100)

Center 3: How Many Ways Can We Make 100? (I split the paper into four sections, one for each group) Students worked together to draw pictures, skip count, tally marks, etc. to equal 100.
Center 4: Pattern Bracelets (we discussed if we could fit 100 on our pipe cleaner...they had fun estimating, but of course, we found only about 80-some beads would fit on our pipe cleaner so we could twist it together). The students loved showing off their bracelets and patterns to each other!
Then our day continued with think/group/share on 100 things we've learned so far this year (each group used sticky notes for their ideas).

Then we created creatures and pictures from the numbers "100". The kids had a blast with this!

Some of my favorites....a key......
a creature (I thought it was a giraffe, but my student looked at me funny when I said that!).....
and doughnuts (with a bite on the fork) and a "straw" in the grape drink. I had a LOT of monster trucks as well!
The kids had a great day! I was bummed we didn't get to our "100 years old" pictures (although we might do what it's like when we're 101 or 102!) and a few other minor activities I saw on Pinterest, but we'll live. :) All in all, it was a fantastic celebration, and my students were still buzzing about it as they boarded the buses this afternoon! Thanks to my many inspirations through Pinterest! I have a board labeled "100th Day Celebration," so feel free to check it out! There were so many fantastic ideas, I'd have to spend a week to get them all in! :)