June Currently

Good evening!  It's June... Just in case you hadn't noticed.  And June means the end is in sight!  Summer vacation is on the horizon!  Therefore, on to this month's Currently.

I {heart} jazz music.  Enough said.

I love that I can eat ice cream without freezing once more.  I hate the hot weather that summer brings, but I do enjoy me a good bowl of almond milk ice cream after a long, hot day!

8 day. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.  

Maybe the report card fairy lives with the laminator-cutter-outer fairy?  I really need to find them.  Do you suppose the parents will notice if I just use the same comments/names on every report card?!

Needing to place future plans and dreams into God's hands.  I'm trying to make some rather big changes in my life for next school year and it's hard to remain patient and wait for God's perfect timing.  I know that the most I can do is continue to pray and seek guidance, but the planner in me wants to know NOW! 

Summer is my travelling season, and though I am not travelling on a big international trip, I am planning on visiting a bunch of friends and family.  A trip home to the mountains for a few weeks is always in order!

My mom gave me a whole canning system this last Christmas and I am so ready to hit the farmers markets and get canning!  I've got a great "how-to" book to work my way through and visions of yummy canned goods filling my shelves in the near future!

I have only about 64.5 books on my "to be read" shelf.  I am most definitely looking forward to working my way through a whole bunch of these!  I cherish time to sit in a comfy setting and curl up and get lost in a good book for a few hours. :)

Now to pick out which one to read first!

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Currently

Pigs may be flying. I'm posting for the first time in For.Ev.Er. here on the blog. It's been one of those years, all.  One of those years where you hold on for dear life every minute of the school day.  And then you collapse and take a nap when you get home.  There is no functioning after dark.

But there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  And this has been a true test of my character and I have to come to see just how much my staff has my back in tough situations.  I've had to learn to accept that along with teaching my kiddos, my purpose this year may be simply to help out a few special friends and get them where they need to go and/or receive the additional support that they desperately need that I cannot provide by myself.

But, onto this month's Currently.... a few days late.

Oh how I heart this album.  It was constantly playing on my CD player in late HS and early college and remains a favorite to this day.

Fractions. Who knew fractions could be so much fun?!  Pizza, pompoms, names, numbers... I can't wait to dive head first into teaching fractions! I loved teaching them to my second graders years ago, and Common Core is bringing them down to my firsties starting this year.  I am dreaming of all the amazing, fun, creative projects we can do to help us conquer beginning fractions!

27 days. Enough said.  I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

Possible life changes in the works here. Keep me in  your prayers!

You know how spring is. Raining one day.  Scorching hot the next.  All I'm asking is to go back to the rain.  And the cool air.  People, it's been 95F+ here for the last week.  I'M NOT READY FOR THIS! Although,  I have enjoyed wearing dresses to work again. :)

Two blogs have become a staple for me over the last few years. Seriously, these ladies are AMAZING!  Their products are high quality, and they have made my kiddos so excited about learning!  Thank you!

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Currently

Happy New Year!I can hardly believe it is already 2014, and since it's January, that means it's also time for another currently. Oh how I've missed these!

Listening... I only live a couple blocks away from the Rose Bowl and Rose Parade, and yet I've never seen either live.  And I'm OK with that. I like watching the Rose Parade from the comfort of my own couch, in my jammies. :)  Though, our whole neighborhood always goes outside in time to see the jets fly over. 

Loving... Winter Break!  Oh, the heavenly joy of sleeping in each morning, not putting makeup on, using the restroom whenever I want!  I may or may not be on my fifth book since school let out, as well...

Thinking... With school starting back up on Monday, I've been thinking about all of the units to be taught this month. Weather, MLK, informative writing, skip counting... TPT and pinterest are my friends. 

Wanting... I LOVE to cook and am looking forward to using a day or two of my time off to restock the freezer with lots of meals for the next month or two. Quick lunch ideas to take to work, ready to cook dinners... Gotta do it while I have time.

Needing... Speaking of prepping units. Is there a fairy out there that cuts out lamination?

Christmas Tradition... Our tradition is simple. Be with family.  Eat good food. We always make a big Christmas Eve dinner with ham,veggies, yams, dutch apple pie, the works.  Christmas morning means Belgian waffle brunch. Yum, yum!

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Currently

Holy moly. It's August.

Don't know how that happened.  Wasn't the last day of school last week?

The countdown is officially on. I still have about 2 1/2 weeks before school starts, so the panic isn't completely setting in yet. But I sure am aware of exactly how many days are left before the kids arrive.

I'm so excited to be playing along with Farley again this month for August's Currently! I figured a few days late was better than not playing along at all. :)

Wanting... Mr. Mailman and Mrs. Condren to work together and get my new Bentley of a lesson plan book delivered! I'm SO excited about my splurge purchase for this school year.  I usually just use Lakeshore's free plan book, which has been wonderful. I think it's been my go-to for the last 10 years.  And then they CHANGED them this year! 

What is with THAT?  As a teacher supply store, aren't they aware of how much teachers hate, dread, abhor change?!  Their gorgeous horizontal layout with tons of room to write is now vertical with little tiny boxes. And no room for notes. I was so inconsolably upset after my annual Lakeshore visit. I didn't know what to do with myself! How was I going to lesson plan?!  Erin Condren to the rescue! 

Isn't it purdy?! Of course, it will have my name and not the random sample name. It should be here in about 8 more days!

Needing... To get into my classroom!  I'm moving rooms this year, which is always a pain, but I keep telling myself that this is for the best. I'm moving to a much bigger classroom that actually has storage! My old room didn't have any counters, no cabinets... It made storing things away a huge pain in the rear.  Just envision tubs upon tubs stacked in the corners storing art supplies, science, manipulatives... Yeah, it wasn't pretty.  But I made due for three years.

Now I'm moving! Yay!  But my school takes our keys from us in June.  Meaning, there is no work allowed to be done on campus until the office opens back up in mid-August.  MID-AUGUST! AH!  Back in June, my principal was guessing I might be able to get in there around the 9th.  Not too bad.  But of course, that is if the currently occupying teacher has finished moving out.  

Maybe this is where the stress and panic begins...

BTS Must Haves...
1. Mr. Sketch Markers. I finally grabbed my first box last year.  I can't believe it took me 8 years of teach to discover the brilliance of these amazing markers! Smelly. Bold. Colorful.  My anchor charts were my best anchor charts EVER!  I'm definitely restocking this item yearly!

2.  The first day of school just brings out the kid in me. Having a great, brand-new, first day of school outfit is a must!  First impressions are everything! ;)

3. I used Abby's Fun with Firsties pack for the first time last year, as well, and absolutely had a blast!  From Jitter Juice, to the surveys, to the stories... So much fun!  AND she recently updated it!

Now I need to wrap my mind around the fact that the next Currently will take place two weeks into the school year. Ugh...

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Currently

Holy smokes, it's April!  I swear it was just January.  Every year I claim the year is flying by, but this year, it really is!

On to this month's Currently!

Thank you Broadway station on Pandora for granting me hours of singing out loud entertainment. :)

IT'S SPRING BREAK!!!  Sleeping in on a Monday morning may have been a slight taste of Heaven.  Though, my body still woke itself up at 6:30, I yelled at it and forced it to obey and slept for another couple hours.

I'm heading to Seattle tomorrow to visit an amazing friend of mine. She's an army nurse and is currently station in Olympia.  We're going to hang out for a few days and then drive back down to So Cal together over the weekend.  My boarding pass is officially printed. Now to go pack... Good times!

We actually had a gloomy, rainy Easter Sunday and the clouds decided to stick around for an extra day. This girl is in HEAVEN!  Spring allergy relief!  Slippers!  Electric blanket!  I wish the weather was like this all spring and summer long. I live in the wrong part of the state.

June. Not only summer break, but I'm going to England for 15 days! YAY!  My mom and I are heading across the pond to explore Bath, Cornwall, Stratford-Upon-Avon, York, London, and riding the tube through the English Channel for a day-trip to Paris. So excited! 77 days to go!

I got a call from the dealer this morning with an update on my new car (2013 Ford Fusion Hybrid).  He couldn't give me an exact delivery date, but said it would be soon!  Definitely this month. But I could have told him that, lol.  It's been 6 weeks since it was ordered!

As for blogging, I've been doing that for a while (though the last month earns me the worst blogger in the world award), my best advice is to just jump in.  It's definitely a learn-as-you-go job.  But it's easy to do. And fun! And the friends made are incredible.

All right. Off to go attempt to pack.  Yeah, right. It's vacation. I'll pack tonight, lol!

Thanks for stopping by!

March Currently

It's a new month, and that means it's time for another Currently!

It seems that Mr. Groundhog was correct in his prediction that spring would be coming early.  At least to California!  While the Midwest and east coast have been hit with record-breaking snowstorms, we're basking in the 85F weather. Really.  Quite frankly, I'm disgusted. I want winter back!  Summer always comes before I'm ready.

We're reading "If You Give a Pig a Pancake" this week in our core reading materials. I think this may be my favorite week EVER!  We make pancakes in class, write our own circle stories, read lots of Laura Numeroff books... So fun!

My passport is off for renewal, I have read, reread, dogeared, and flagged my Rick Steves books on England and Scotland. Time to get this vacation booked!

Ah, my new car. So stinkin' excited!!!  Of course, once I could only find the car I wanted in the super tripped out, fancy bells-and-whistles, very expensive version, or the stripped-down, nothing in it at all version. Darn it!  Well, at least by ordering my car, I'll get exactly what I want.  Four more weeks to go! :)

I. Loathe. Spring. Passionately.  For one with crazy-ridiculous allergies, spring is the most dreaded time of the year. Antihistamines don't do squat for me this time of year. It's time to bring out the big guns... Which can only be attained by my allergist.  I just LOVE feeling like I have the flu for months on end.

3 words that start with K? REALLY?!  This was a hard one. And I wasn't prepared to think too hard today. It is Sunday, after all.

So, kale.  I am in a bit of  love affair with kale at the moment. Kale and potatoes. Kale, zucchini, tomato, and white bean ragout, kale in my salad. Who knew kale was so yummy?!

My kitchen, though nothing to brag about, was a round-about way of saying how much I love to cook and bake.  There is something so rewarding about putting something on the table made from scratch.  And so much yummier, too!

Kaput.  Yeah, my printer at work did that this week.  Went kaput.  And I wasn't planning on buying a new printer for my classroom this year. Ah, technology. Can't live with it, but can't live without it.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Currently

If all has gone well, I'll be on the road or home in the mountains when you are reading this!  Hooray for escaping the summer heat and chilling in JL for a week. Or two.  I plan on reading, soaking up some sun, attending some fireworks, hitting the Jazz Jubilee, visiting some good friends, and cooking lots of food for the family.  It's always more fun to cook for more people than just myself. :)

I am joining up, for the first time, with Farley's Currently linky for July!  This is something I discovered through teaching blogs and it looked like so much fun, I couldn't resist this time around.

So, without further ado:

Yay! Sucess! It took me a few tries to get this to save as an image instead of a document. Ah, technology.

Listening- I am a Pandora addict. Broadway, Big Band, Film Scores.... Enough said. Oh, and I had my kids addicted to the "How to Train Your Dragon" soundtrack last year. :)

Planting my summer veggie garden is one of my most favorite things to do each spring. I usually plant during Spring Break, but life was a little crazy this year and I didn't end up planting until Memorial Weekend. I ended up purchasing slightly more mature plants that I normally would to help compensate for the late planting.

I am just now reaping the fruits of my labor!  Cucumbers, bell peppers, jalapeno, cilantro, tomatoes coming out of my ears!  Yum!  Add in some fruit from the farmer's market, and you have my daily summer lunch.

In addition to Pandora, I'm a bookaholic. I admit it.  I've been on summer break for a whole two and one half weeks and I have already finished eight books. Yup. Eight.  This girl is in heaven!


I am procrastinating the washing of the dishes. I don't want to do them. Nope.  Maybe if I ignore them long enough, they'll clean themselves?!

As for reads:
1- I absolutely love to read Junie B. Jones to my kiddos!  I usually bust them out around January (it takes everything within me not to do it earlier!).

 I selfishly read around three chapters every day (am I the only one who thinks read aloud is the BEST part of the day?!  This is the first thing I keep pushing the kids stamina for at the beginning of the year.  By January, I read alound for 20-30 minutes daily, and the kids usually beg for more!), do voices and the whole deal.  I love Junie B. Jones!

When we finish the series, the kids are always so sad and wonder if Barbara Park will write a second grade series. :)


2-  This is an oldie but a goodie. I read this during grad school and continue to read it every August before school starts.  It's just such solid, common sense advice that I need to be reminded of every fall. Those first few weeks are SO critical in setting up rules and procedures.  I'm going on year eight as a teacher and I plan on reading this again starting in a few weeks.  It's definitely my "beginning of the school year" go-to book!

Well, there you have it. My first Currently!

Thanks for stopping by!