Keeping Up With Kirbys

We decided to make Gingerbread men but our cookies will be have decided to leave our school.  Our Gingerbread men will be traveling all the way to Rockwall, Texas to Mrs. Beasley's class. In order for her students to determine whose cookie belongs to whom we must pay attention to the details as we write to her class describing our Gingerbread.  We reviewed adjectives to make sure that we write using words that will create a clear, picture in our reader's mind. Look at these little cuties!!  There's not a doubt in my mind that their writing will be just a creative and detailed.  We will be writing tomorrow.  EEEKK! Before math today we read The Gingerbread Baby  and discussed the kind of Gingerbread house we would create for him.  The only problem was they had to use base 10 blocks AND they had to be able to tell the NUMBER that they used.  Look at some of these super cute homes for the baby. A little math fun for everyone has kept us busy this week

Hi FRIENDS!  I've decided not to start my blog post with it's been awhile because that seems to be the way it is.   It's the busiest, craziest time of year and all I want is to cherish every minute and slow time down <->mainly, just on the weekends.  Those are the only days that are fast.  Are you wondering why Santa is looking for me??? I have been busy crafting, building, sanding, sawing, painting, and glueing things.  There is a chance I may me mistaken for an elf.   Seriously though, it's a happy time out there in the garage.   All of this started with a little run around the neighborhood on trash day a few weeks ago. his summer my best friend made the hubs and I go to someone's trash once because they were throwing cabinets away.  She has this gift for seeing beauty when others see trash. She turned the cabinets into beautiful pictures and quotes for other people.  Sooo...back to my run in the neighborhood.  I noticed someone throwing out cabinet door

I am LOVING this fall weather and October is just right around the corner.  Like 1 day away! Can you believe it?? It's my favorite time of year. {{hehehe}}   We are rockin' and rollin' in 2nd grade or at least acting like we are.  Math stations and small math groups are in full affect and I'm adding new review games each week to our stations.  Next week I thought I'd add a little October themed fun with my Fact Family Trick or Treat . They will need to understand related facts and not get tricked in order to win this game.    It's {{ FREE }} so stop by and give it a try. Happy Fall Ya'll!!  

I LOVE it when we can make a lesson hands on and we get to eat.  Yea, I realize eating doesn't happen with too many lessons in the classroom but it does happen when we start exploring the changes of matter when you apply heat. I'm pretty sure the kids LOVE it as much as I do.  So I try to get as many different ways to EAT, I mean explore changes in matter as I can.   A few years ago I had some wonderful parents buy me an air popcorn popper.  It is the best thing to watch the kids faces as they wait patiently to see  what is going to happen to the popcorn kernels.  There is always a lot of giggling and squealing. During this unit we will use chocolate, apples, and popcorn- just not at the same time.   As little scientists they spend time exploring properties of the kernel before and after.  They will explore and record the properties of an apple then I always let them cut up their apples with a buddy and place them in a crockpot.   On this day, I mentally prepare an

Some of the very sweetest seconds of my days are cooking with the people I LOVE. They make my heart pitter-patter!  We LOVE to cook together.  Now, let's be honest...I'm not a great cook BUT my people tell me it tastes wOnDeRfUl so I'm feeling confident enough to share it with you!   In order to fully bring in the fall season (oh, and I had a couple of very ripe bananas ;-) we thought we would make some yummy Chocolate Chip Banana Bread . Pinterest is my go-to for recipes and today a found a keeper from Sweet & Delish . The only things that I did different was I used 2 bananas instead of 3 and I covered the bread with foil for the last 30 minutes. It's yummy!! For dinner tonight (and tomorrow) I decided to make my Taco Soup.  I usually just throw some things from the pantry into the crockpot because the crockpot and I are basically best friends. ;-) I like to add Quinoa to my taco meat because it makes it a little more filling. Taco Soup 1 lb. of

Well, today I'm moving in all my crafts that I have spent making this summer. I'm excited to share my latest Monday Made-its with you and I'm excited to get them in the classroom.   This might be my FAVORITE! I was telling my friend how I would LOVE to find an old desk to use as a child's teacher helper desk OR star student desk. She said "I have one that you can have." WHA?! I couldn't wait to get it home and bust out the spray paint.   Because of the different areas and different colors, I had to use a lot of tape and it had to be done in phases. After I Josh sprayed painted the desk I needed to find the right font for the chalkboard top.   I decided to use SK Cinderella and printed it off as large as I could one sheet of paper.  I colored the back with chalk, taped it to the front of the desk, and traced the letters with a pencil. When the paper was pulled off it left a chalk outline that I then painted in with a permanent chalk pen.

W hile I wait patiently for the wax to do its school floor magic I continue to plan procrastinate. <-truth Each week at my school we spend about 20 minutes completing what we call R time activities. This time is used to build classroom/school community, respect for others, respect for property, and learn to work cooperatively with a partner or group. We sing a song, find a partner, shake their hand, look at them while speaking in complete sentences, and work together on an assignment or a mission.  I've created partner match-up cards for the first nine weeks of school to help students find a partner while reviewing a previously taught skill. These cards are quickly passed out and the students find their match to determine who they will be working with. Our very first back to school R-time activity will be to Find a Friend... First, they will look for a friend that fits their card AND th ey must also match that friend's card.  It will create discussion amo

Well, tomorrow is the day that I present to teachers...as opposed to the little people that I LOVE spending my days with.   I LOVE teaching but something about standing in a room of people my size makes me get all nervous. My prayer for tomorrow is that every teacher leaves the conference with excitement that is contagious and a new passion to foster creativity within their classroom. Several years ago I had the privilege of attending a Digital Fluency workshop presented by Kasey Bell . She was amazing and I think I may have learned more from the 30 hours with her than I did in 15 years of training workshops. Seriously. One of the assignments we were given was to implement a new idea in our classroom.  I went with what I thought was the "easiest" for me. I mean, really, I didn't have time to do this and while teaching what I was expected to teach.  I just thought I'd get this assignment done so that I could check it off my list. Who knew that it was going to