Sunday! Sunday! Monday?!

Have you ever had one of those weekends where despite no matter how many different ways you outlined your To Do list you didn't come close to accomplishing more than a fraction of it? Well, I definitely had several of those...and it JUST happened. While we were able to get several important things done (or almost done), I still didn't feel like I did nearly enough on Friday/Saturday. Sunday was reserved for the most important game of games...the Superbowl and with no other choice,  the Mister and I chose to support the underdogs, the New York Giants over the Patriots. We instead chose to don our own teams' respective colors, the Mister in blue/gray with his Dallas Cowboys hat and myself in black/purple (Go Ravens!) and the li'l mister in his Ravens' Ray Rice jersey.

All football aside...I did get a little bit of prepwork done in outlining the upcoming unit in math that we're due to start this week. I have to say, I look forward to the day when I can trade in my long-term sub "hat" for a permanent teaching position. I think I spend more time tracking down grade level curriculum objectives and concepts and figuring out what's essential before I can even get my modified lesson plans started. This week we're in our transition from one unit to the next (modifying the curriculum = condensed and sometimes off schedule starts/finishes) in math and science.  And in the midst of that, we've got our 2nd practice session of the state tests this week for our 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. Makes for a bit of an easier morning (lesson-wise), but disrupts the order of things and definitely throws my kiddos off a bit.

Either way, I'm excited to start our new science unit on Astronomy -- espeically after having read Zathura last week with my kiddos, outer space isn't an entirely new...and one that seems to really excite a couple of them. Ironically enough, my li'l brother is studying astronomy now in his 8th grade science class...so it's fun to compare textbooks and infromation - especially that my kids' 5th grade textbook is a much more recent addition including the revelation that Pluto is no longer a planet...which we can now say, "You know...when I was your age...Pluto was still  a planet!"

Now, I leave you with some snapshots of this past weekend and what we've been doing in class so far....

our paper snowflakes and snowflake facts...created after reading Snowflake Bentley!

my completed Find It! shakers

laminated directions for my Find It! shakers

my Superbowl sugar cookies...iced in Ravens purple!! =D

our K-W-L chart for Astronomy...

our 2nd Venn Diagram comparing/contrasting Jumanji and Zathura

School's Out!

So...I went and jinxed myself Wednesday. All my bad thoughts about so many staff being out this week and being frustrated with the lack of good subsitutes...it was my turn to be out - an opportunity to check my emails during my student's library time and I was soon scooting out to pick up a sick li'l mister. All in a panic from him having a few rough tumbles this past week and fearing the worst I was relieved to find out it's only a virus (thank goodness for an amazing pediatrican who REALLY is always on call!) which seemed to work its way out of li'l mister's system through the night. He woke up this morning with smiles, no fever and less gross side effects.

While I enjoyed having the afternoon off...I never like having to be out. It always seems like a step backwards. But - I did get a little bit of work in...specifically, I finished two of my Find It! shakers I've been brainstorming up...a Grammar Find It! and a Jumanji-Zathura Find It! I also managed to dig up some of my old scrapbooking supplies in the process which I think I'll start putting to good use towards school craftiness.
The Mister is off work on Fridays so he's on li'l mister duty and I over-snoozed and slept in until 7:00. Thank you Tresemme and your dry shampoo - I made it to school on time and returned to find that I didn't miss too much but was definitely soon feeling a million miles behind in my plans. :/

As I've probably already said a million times over...this week was a rough one minus my regular para educator during my Language Arts block. I do a lot of my independent/1:1 centers with my 4 kiddos during that time and wasn't able to get very much done in the way of informal assessment, much less touch a formal one. It definitely gave me food for thought in re-evaluating some of my literacy centers and developing strategies to enable my kiddos to be more independent. HELP!!!! This is the first year some of my students are out in their mainstream classroom and for the rest, they remain self-contained for the entire day in a small group. Factor in the fact that my room is 10' x 20' and with no windows...and it's no wonder we go a little crazy and/or break down.

Either way - something has to change...starting with my classroom and how it's set up and how my lessons/activities are structured. My first step - creating more clear-cut and useful classroom visuals/organizational tools: Daily Schedule, Homework folders, a revamped word wall...and soon a new Homework chart (one of my little projects this weekend).

Pictures to come of all the little goodies I've made and/or are working on soon!!!

BuRnt RasPbeRRy Rice...

Today I re-learned the importance of reading directions and following them to a T. I also discovered the dangers of multitasking when given the first mistake. Inspired by Sunny Days in Second Grade's word finder shakers - I had brainstormed several themes and categories that I could use with my students and wanted to make it a weekly activity during their daily literacy centers.

So...I got the necessary materials [see the Unplug Your Kids tutorial here] and made my first batch of colored rice last night.

Batch #1 - using Neon Blue, Green and Purple...

I quickly learned that: A) this was WAY easy and fun... and B) I needed more rice! I decided to whip up a new batch today (with double the amount of rice). Here's where it quickly went downhill - the directions say to put the rice in the oven at 200 degrees to burn off the alcohol and dry the food coloring. Well, we already had our pot roast i the oven and not one to waste any time, I decided to put the rice in anyways (at 350 degrees). For all you science nerds and/or pyromaniacs...I'm sure you can guess what happened next.

The victims of my mistake...burnt raspberry rice...

KABOOM! The higher temperature + increased alcohol content due to more rice = enough force and pressure to blow the oven door wide open, slamming it down and scaring everyone in the kitchen.

Unfortunately, I did not witness this event [further multitasking -- I was holed up in the basement laundry room putting in another load]. However, my husband was able to provide me with an award-winning dramatic reenactment triggering flashbacks to 'Rescue 911' starring William Shatner. Oh, how I miss that show. But - I digress.

Lesson to Self: ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS read the directions carefully and FOLLOW THEM.

Lesson to Teacher Self: Incorporate this into Jumanji-Zathura discussion and the importance of following directions. Compare the cause-effect relationship of the children who did follow the instructions versus that of those who didn't.

Batch #2 - an even sweeter shade of purple...and turquoise

Batch #2 - Raspberry! minus the burn victims...