Five for Friday (on a Saturday)

Good golly it's been a busy few weeks!  We all know just how crazy the end of the school year to be, and the mile-long to-do list that has to be conquered in record time.

Add Open House to that, and you have my week.

So, without further ado (and a day late!) my Five for Friday!

1.  Open House. Check!  We had our Open House on Wednesday and it was a success! It's always so much work to pull everything together, but when I see the proud faces of my firsties as they run around my room, dragging their parents by the hand, it's all worth it.  I had a great turnout, and a HUGE wave of kindergarten shoppers.  Those little tiny guys always make me smile (and freak out slightly at how tiny they are!).

2.  We lost the lottery and had to have our Open House on a Wednesday, which made for a very, VERY long Thursday and Friday. Needless to say, we most definitely planned a movie day for Friday. Which ended up being perfect because my teammate's sub (and my shared doorway buddy) didn't show up! I had 40 kids in my room for most of the day! Movies = instant crowd control.  And it let me get tons of work done so I could leave pretty quickly after school ended. Winning!

3.  We have 12 days of school left. 12! So close and yet so far!  In those 12 days, my to do list looks something like this:

• report cards
• pink and blues
• class assignments for 2nd grade
• cumulative files
• benchmark testing
• tear down classroom
• pack up classroom for move
• pack for England (yay!)
• field trip
• plan end-of-the-year party

And I'm absolutely sure that I have left something off of that list.  I may be freaking out slightly.

4. I'm moving rooms. We're increasing class size a bit and my current room is tiny and literally has no storage. I have tubs and boxes stacked in the back corner to hold all our my supplies. We barely fit with 19 kids.  The room I'm moving to is much bigger, but really far away from the office. I guess it's better than nothing.  But it's so much work to move rooms!  I am definitely looking forward to the extra space, but not the process of gaining that extra space.

5. It's a 3-day weekend!!! Enough said.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Five for Friday

TGIF!

So glad it's Friday, but kind of stressing already about all of the work I have to do this weekend. Only 12 more days to Open House!

1. Classroom creatures update!  Our ladybug larvae have officially entered their third stage of life and are happily all curled in their pupae.  I'm expecting to come back and find them all as ladybugs on Monday... Wonder if they'll survive until Open House on the 22nd?  Our two tadpoles are doing wonderfully.  My little three-legged friend sprouted his fourth leg and is quickly looking a whole lot more like a frog than a tadpole.  Tadpole #2, well, he's taking his sweet, precious time.  Mr. Froglet even climbed out of the water for the first time today... AFTER the kids had gone home, of course.  All caterpillars are in their chrysalises. And not a praying mantis nymph to be seen yet...  One of these days it's going to burst open with hundreds of them, I just know it...

2. We finished up our Mother's Day gifts! We made MissKindergarten's adorable purses and they turned out great! My favorite page is always when they have to compare their mom's height to an object, and then guess her weight! "My mom weighs 49 pounds."  What mom wouldn't love that?!

3.  Open House is in 12 days and this is what my walls currently look like! Stress and panic!!!  I spent some serious time working on walls and assembling books after school ended today.

4. My license plates came for my new car in the mail this week. Sad day. The new car doesn't feel so new anymore.  At least it still SMELLS new!

5. We studied antonyms this week in class and had a blast!  We took off our shoes to trace some "an-toe-nyms," read a few stories, and I even whipped up a quick bingo game.  I called a word and the students had to mark the antonym. Hope you can use it, too!

Thanks for stopping by!

Five for Friday

Praise the Lord for Fridays!  I think my kids were determined to give me gray hair this week.  Hello, spring fever.

We've only got to hang on for 27 more days, guys!  27!!!

1. My classroom is absolutely crawling with critters right now.  In addition to our tadpoles (see post #2), our caterpillars, ladybug larvae, and praying mantis egg all arrived over the weekend.  The caterpillars are growing like weeds, as usual. I have an awful feeling that they are going to be butterflies WAY before Open House. I'm hoping I can steal one of my teammate's butterflies since we'll likely have to let ours go before the 22nd. 

2.  Tadpoles! These guys have been in our room for a few weeks now, but this little guy decided to sprout his first front leg yesterday afternoon! Of course, as luck would have it, he waited until AFTER the kids had gone home to do so.  I happened to be around still and snapped a picture of our three-legged frog to show the kids.  And then, sure enough, his other one had sprouted sometime over night.  He is officially a froglet!

Right side.

New leg on the left side!

3. It's hot. I'm grumpy. I want winter/spring cool weather back. Teaching PE in this ridiculous heat is the pits.  "They" say it's only supposed to be like this for one more day, though.  We'll see if "they" are right...

4.  This is my best friend's new little girl.  I am absolutely DYING to meet her and am working on booking some plane tickets to fly up to see her later this month. Yay!

5. My mom is here for the weekend, and we're off to get thoroughly pampered tomorrow. Hair cuts, a little shopping, dining out... And then my cousin's baby shower on Sunday! So excited to spend some time with my mom!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Currently

May.

Yeah, that happened.

I'm so excited that it's May! I love our science unit this month, I'm one of those crazy people that love gearing up for Open House, and I love that all of my summer plans are just around the corner!

And I love that it's time for another Currently!

Ah, Mr. Buble.  What you do to me with that perfect-pitch voice of yours.  And the new album is no exception. It's currently on constant repeat in my car.

I am such a girly-girl. I have always loved dresses and skirts, and am completely in LOVE with the fact that dresses are coming back around.  And they're cuter than ever!  I love the "no-brainer" quality of a good dress. What to wear? Dress!  No need to match shirt and skirts. They're an all-in-one deal.  They make me happy. :)

Singing. In front of the whole school. Kiddos. Parents. Staff. District personnel.  Yup, it's going down in about one hour.  From now. Today.  It's "Pajama Story Hour" at school tonight, and somehow I nominated myself to sing as one of the acts.  Rethinking that decision now...  It'll be fun.  And my kids are just a teeny bit excited.

It's in the 90s outside right now. And I think we're supposed to hit 100 tomorrow.  I'm going to start a protest.  This is wrong.  I'm not ready for summer weather yet. Though, I do love wearing dresses... 

My cousin's baby shower is this Sunday, and being the queen of last-minute shopping, I have no gift. Yet.  I'll get one. Maybe on Saturday. Or on Sunday on my way to the shower.

As to my summer bucket list, have I mentioned yet that I'M GOING TO ENGLAND? Ok.  Now that I have that out of my system (46 days!) some of my other plans are to take in the Mammoth Jazz Jubilee 'cause I love me some good 'ole jazz and all the great friends that congregate there each summer.  I'm also in the works to plan a tour of the Pacific Northwest this summer. I have a sister in Portland, a best friend in Bend, an amazing friend in Seattle, and a stamping buddy in BC.  I've gotta make this happen. Just figuring out the logistics and timing is going to keep things interesting.

Phew!  Now to eat some dinner before running back to school.

To sing.

In front of everyone.

Thanks for stopping by!