Currently...

It's April already! What happened to January, February, and March. I may have missed them. Seems like I should be able to say I did more than what I remember.  But it is April and I'm on Spring Break and am extremely happy about that! We had Friday off so my hubby and I headed out of town to a nice hotel and some warm weather. It was supposed to rain at home this weekend. We spent today with good friends and tonight I'm sitting on the hotel balcony spending some fun time blogging. Exactly what I wanted some time for on this trip- really. I intended to do it sitting by the pool but we were visiting with good friends by the pool today and getting out my laptop probably would have been rude. So it had to wait. We had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (oh, yummy!!) and it smells like honeysuckle out here. It's just wonderful!

I decided to link up with Farley's Currently real quick before we head down to the restaurant for some dessert. Boy am I going to need to exercise when I get home! That's probably more info than anyone wanted, so without further ado, here's my Currently. Can't wait to read yours! 


Happy Spring Break or first day back, whichever tomorrow is for you!
And thanks to Farley for hosting this and creating such cute templates every month!



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These are a Few of My Favorite Things

Happy Sunday! This sure has been a nice day. My husband and I went out to one of our favorite sandwich places for lunch then to our favorite winery to order some wine for a friend. It was so relaxing! I'm back home printing out a few things for school this week and blogging to avoid laundry. Surely I'm not the only one procrastinating about that today. It's just that this is fun and the weather is beautiful... and let's face it, laundry just isn't either of those.

Anywho... I saw that Latoya got her new "Let's Get Acqainted" linky party ready and I couldn't wait to join up. Last week was so much fun trying guess everyone's lies. Since this week is about nouns, I thought I'd share about some gestures I teach my kiddos to help them learn about nouns. It's at the end of this post.


This week is the Noun Game. So here is my favorite person, place, thing, and animal:

Favorite Noun
Mine would be my husband. He's my favorite person to spend time with. And he enjoys spending time with our families and friends as much as I do.

Favorite Place
Probably home. Here with my hubby and the kitties. It's almost always a happy, stress-free place and I like that.

Favorite Thing
Let's be honest, Chrissy. Just say it's your ipad and laptop. Why try to hide it?

Favorite Animal
Cats. But I have to say that I really love all animals (spiders and ants not included). I can't imagine life without pets and have had cats, dogs, and rabbits. When I was in high school I wanted to be zookeeper because I enjoyed being around animals so much.

To teach my kiddos about nouns, I use some gestures. They're quick, easy, and fun and seems to help my little kiddos remember about nouns. Hope they help yours too. Welcome to my living room too!


Guess I can't put off laundry much longer. Bye for now!


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Five for Friday (March 22) and The Truth Revealed!

I'm finally linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for the Five for Friday to post 5 random things from my week. I've really reading these glimpses into everyone's lives and thought it was about time to join in. Plus, it finally felt like there was something worth sharing this week. So here it goes!

1. I came home one day this week to our 2 furry babies cuddled together. They're brother and sister, Stevie and Selena, and we couldn't be happier that we adopted both of them.


2. It was a great week in first grade! I used Abby's Pop Rock unit to introduce descriptive words during writing this week. The class loved it and so did I!

 I strongly recommend buying this activity. It was fabulous!

3. At our school we have a sizeable population of second language learners, mainly Spanish. So our district came up with the idea that we should have our firsties switch class for the required 30 minutes. This time I have the high English only kids coming to me. They're great since they're so capable, but we have less than 1/2 hour once everyone gets to the classroom which isn't much time to do projects or activities. So I decided in this new round of EL time that I would read The BFG. If you do any switching like this, I'd love to here what you do!
 I haven't been able to read it to a first grade class in quite a few years, as my kiddos haven't had the vocabulary to understand it without way too much explanation. I adore this story and have such fond memories of reading it to my very first class in 1997! Uh-oh, I just dated myself a bit, didn't I?
Thought I'd share some websites I found with activities to go the BFG:
Teaching Ideas has a list of literacy activities and videos to go with the book
http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/library/books/thebfg.htm#.UUUmOBmd55s 
I'm planning to use seven short activities I purchased on TPT
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-BFG-Read-Aloud-Activities

4. This is my third week using
 
 I have a very difficult class this year and I needed something new and interesting to get the kids focused again. This is terrific! I use the computer by my desk and my ipad to give and (a little bit) take dojo points away. Kids who earn at least 10 point by the end of the day get a sticker. An excuse for some Oriental Trading shopping! Those who get more than 50 by the end of the week get to change their avatar. They love it! And I love that Class Dojo will automatically email a report to my parents every Friday so they can see exactly what's been happening at school.

5. In the computer lab this week I let my kids have some fun with music. Unfortunately, we have no music program or teacher so the only music my kiddos get is from my CD's or me singing with them. Poor kids! I'm a terrible singer. Luckily I teach first grade! So I let them explore the San Francisco Symphony's website for kids.

It's uh-mazing!!! They can listen to instruments and read about them, listen to classical music, create their own songs, or play along to some favorites. If you're looking for something new, check it out!

I'm thrilled to be linked up and am off to check out what others have been up to this week! Happy blogstalking!


**Earlier this week I joined up with Latoya for Let's Get Acquainted. The rules were to post two truths and a  lie about myself. Then reveal the lie at the end of the week, so here goes!
I actually never learned to ride a bike. Don't really know why.

I haven't ever tried coffee. Hard to believe, but true. Thanks for the support from many non-coffee drinkers. I didn't think there was anyone else who hadn't tried it before!

The lie is the Dr. Pepper addiction. I used to be pretty hooked but I'm not even drinking it every day now. I take it for lunch some but take a bottle of water too with lemon or orange slices in it or take some decaf iced tea. I'm happy to say that I'm a "recovering" Dr. Pepper addict.



Happy Saturday! Spring Break starts next Friday. Only 4 more days!


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Let's Get Acquainted- 2 Truths and a Lie

Gosh it's been a long time since I've posted again. But I ran across this linky party hosted by Mrs. Reed and thought this would be a fun way to get posting again. 

2 Truths and a Lie
You're supposed to post 3 things about yourself- 2 that are true, 1 that is a lie. And you can leave a comment trying to guess which is the lie. At the end of the week I'll be back for the reveal!

Here are my 3:
1. I love Dr. Pepper (almost an addiction).
2. I never learned to ride a bike.
3. I haven't ever drank coffee.

So... which one do you think is not true?

Hope you'll link up too! Have a wonderful week!



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