Fabulous 4th Grade Froggies

Bloglovin...

2013-06-13T21:14:00.001-05:00

It looks like "Google Friend Connect" is going away in July (you probably already know that but I am always the last to find out). I was kinda freaking out because I didn't know how I was going to keep up with all the blog ~~stalk~~ read.

I found another option called Bloglovin........it only took me seconds to join. It is free, there is even an app for my phone, and the best part about it is that all the blogs I follow through google friend connect just transferred over with one click.

Over 1,000 of you fabulous friends follow me through google connect. If you are one of them I recommend you move over to Bloglovin now. It was easy peasy to sign up and you won't need to worry about missing any great posts from you favorite blogs. Just click the link above this post.

I gotta go back to watching my San Antonio Spurs!

GO SPURS GO

Ch-ch-ch changes, & Great Reads!

2013-06-11T17:17:00.000-05:00

School is out and my summer has begun! YAY!!!!!! My poor classroom is empty! No posters, no nothing! It would be shocking for my students to see since I usually have so much stuff out....mostly frogs. :) My last day was Friday, June 7th and so far I have been a total couch potato! Yup, it's true, I've wasted the last 3 days just chillaxing! I needed to "do nothing". It's just what the doctor ordered....... Well, actually my doctor wants me to exercise but we don't need to tell her about the last 3 days.

I don't know about you but I hate the end of the year. I get all emotional on the last day with my students. And to top it off.......my principal of 9 years is leaving to another school. I will miss her a lot but we always have facebook - HA! The principal coming in is just what we needed. I think sometimes teachers get to stuck in their ways and need a little shake up. :)

Not only are we having a new principal but the fourth grade team is going to give "team teaching" a try. I will be teaching ELA and my partner will teach Math then we will both teach our own homeroom integrated Science/Social Studies. I think our schedule will look kinda like this:

7:45 students arrive to homeroom, unpack backpacks and watch announcements. When announcement are over, lets's say at 7:55. 7:55 - 8:20 will be school wide morning reading (maybe). At 8:20 I will teach ELA to my class and my partner will teach Math to her class. At 10:10 we break for specials rotation). At 11:00 I will teach Sci/SS to my own class and my partner will teach Sci/SS to her own class. 11:55 recess and then lunch at 12:15 for both of us. 12:55 - 2:35 my homeroom will go to my partner for Math and her homeroom will come to me for ELA.

I wish I would have a bigger time block for teaching ELA but I will do what I have to do. We have 6 teachers on 4th grade and we will all partner up with the person across the hall. I will let you know how it works throughout the year. I really need to think this all through......desk tags, student supplies, etc. If you have team taught before PULEASE let me know your secrets....any advice or tips would be so helpful.

A new principal and team teaching are enough changes but there is another big change..... my daughter has graduated High School!!!!!!!! How can that be when I still have my fat from my pregnancy with her???? Actually her graduation ceremony is Thursday. I am not sure I can handle her growing up! How can I be old enough to have a college student? My son is going to be a Sophomore so I have a few years before I have 2 in college. Holy Old Lady Batman! Time flies!!!!!!

Bella's graduation announcement - isn't she beautiful?

Enough about change.......well, kinda. I am reading The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller.

O.M.G. its one of the best teacher resources I have ever read!!!!!! I am hosting a book study on it on my other blog We Read, We Blog, We Teach. The first post will be up by Friday. This book will CHANGE the way you look at your reading instruction. If you read only one "teacher book" this summer this is the one you MUST read. Here are some other great reads I have on my summer reading list.

Looks like I need to get a non-teacher book list started. Hoppy Reading and Hoppy Summer friends!

Currently in June

2013-06-01T20:28:00.002-05:00

So they say cheaters never prosper but they sure get in the top 10 of Farley's Currently. Yes, guilty as charged. I saw that the linky was up and I quickly filled out the Currently template and posted it to my blog without writing anything else. Then once I linked up I am now writing .... I feel a little bad for cheating but super happy I made top 10. :)

School ends for students on Thursday and we have a teacher work day on Friday. Friday we will be saying goodbye to our current principal with some fun surprises. Looks like I will still teach 4th grade next year and while I hate state testing I am not ready to leave 4th grade.... I love it too much!

Speaking of love, many of you share my obsession... office supplies!!!!!! I just bought the sharpie highlighters pictured below (too good of a deal to pass up!) and ordered some new pens, also pictured below. Have you tried the new erasable gel pens by Pilot? I hope they are as fabulous as they sound! My favorite pens right now are papermate flair but I can be swayed ;)

When does school end for you? What are your summer plans?

Five for Friday on a Saturday night!

2013-05-18T23:05:00.000-05:00

I had all intentions of participating in Five for Friday yesterday, which was Friday, but O.M.G. when it rains it pours!!!!!!!!!! I won't bore you with details all I can say is I need to start taking care of myself and if I hit the lottery I wouldn't complain. Here's my Five for Friday on a Saturday night....

#1 ~ I received my new Erin Condren teacher planner! It's fabulous!!!!!! I am so excited to start writing in it! (Creepy, I see my reflection in the planner. LOL)

#2 ~ I typed up my end of the year party note..... We will have pizza for lunch and then ice cream sundaes! I attached the spirit week info too.... Movie day, Game day, etc. I will pass these out this coming Friday to give parents plenty of time to get the goodies :)

#3 ~ I bought these awesome posters at Really Good Stuff and the kids just loved using them! They learned a lot having to researching other states other than Texas and telling the class about them.

#4 ~ Speaking of Really Good Stuff..... I placed a huge order for things I need at the beginning of next year. Nothing like ~~spending money that I don't have~~ being prepared for the upcoming year.

#5 ~ My students did a great job drawing sea turtles and giving some facts about them. I have some awesome artist in class. :)

Join Doodle Bugs Teaching's linky party!

Well that is my Five for Friday on a Saturday! Now I am going to watch Saturday night live and pray that I can find a reliable A/C company to replace ours....it's 100 here and not so much fun without A/C!

Happy Mother's Day

2013-05-12T08:30:00.000-05:00

Wordless Wednesday (come join the fun)!

2013-05-08T19:25:00.000-05:00

Currently in May...

2013-05-01T22:13:00.001-05:00

As you may know, I am obsessed with being in the top 10 of bloggers linking up to Currently so here goes nothing.....

You can see in my Currently's summer bucket list that I'm tired!!!!!!!!!!! Physical and Mentally tired! I have a terrific class but this year has worn me out! I can't wait for one of many naps this summer :)

Besides many naps this summer I am planning on hosting a book study on my other blog We Read, We Blog, We Teach. We will have a book study on The Book Whisperer! Right now the book study will tentatively start mid-June! There are some awesome bloggers participating so make sure you pick up your book and stop by.

I've received many email saying that the "dancing video clip" that I posted last week didn't work. Maybe it's a sign from God that it is too bad to post! However, it is fixed and if you would like to see me make a complete fool of myself in front of about 900 kids click here!
Have a great rest of the week!

Help Needed A.S.A.P.!

2013-04-29T20:51:00.003-05:00

One of my sweetest teacher blogging buddies, Abby from Third Grade Bookworm, has a VERY IMPORTANT fundraiser going on right now. Recently she lost a very special student named Ruby to cancer! Yes, cancer sux! Ruby's parents can't afford to buy her a headstone for her grave due to the extravagant medical bills they have on top of every day bills.

If you donate $20 (or more) you will get a plethora of resources from a variety of FABULOUS Teachers. Click here to donate and see all the FAB materials you will get.

Please, I am begging, go donate now. Abby is only $400 away from raising enough money! Skip Starbucks a couple of times this week and use that money for Ruby! Represent the generous Fabulous Froggies I know you are!

I would love for Abby to email me and say, "Thanks to froggy fans Ruby will have a peaceful resting place with a beautiful headstone". I'm going to donate right now, join me!

THANK YOU in advance for your generous donations!

Randomness and Teacher Feature

2013-04-28T21:47:00.000-05:00

It's Sunday night and like usual I left everything that NEEDED to be done for the last minute. However, before I get to the "to do" list I thought I would blog real quick. Just a short time ago I was looking at Teacher Pay Teachers to see if my favorite sellers have anything new that I must have. Well low and behold I put 5 things in my cart before I could blink... OK, I'm exaggerating a bit but it was real quick.

Here is what I have in my shopping cart right now.... I am super duper excited about the Morphology Dictionary: A Student Reference Book of Prefixes, Suffixes, and Roots by Ladybug's Teacher Files. I think that Kristen should have called it "Lorraine's new spelling program" because that is exactly what it is going to be! I will be sure to blog about this in its own blog post once I print, read, and decide exactly how I am going to use it next year.

We are finished with state testing.... Thank goodness! Last Monday (we tested on Tue & Wed) we had a spirit rally. Some how I ~~was forced~~ volunteered to dance while to 2 of our 4th graders mimic some my dance moves (the students are the one in the pink that is taller then me and the one in the white. I don't know why I am sharing this because I look totally REDONKULOUS but here's a video clip of us..... I am the short chunky (but adorable) one in the turquoise shirt. Enjoy!

And now to the Teacher Feature... Meet my friend and fellow blogger Teresa!

Hi! I'm Teresa from Confessions of a Teaching Junkie. I am honored to be a part of this new "Teacher Feature!" Thanks to my buddy Lorraine for featuring me on her blog! We have been cyber buddies for many years!

I have been teaching for 29 years and have taught everything except first and eighth grades. My heart and passion lie in third and fourth grades, where I have spent most of those years. I cannot remember ever not wanting to be a teacher. I grew up loving and playing "School" with my friends and dolls. My grandmother and aunt were teachers, and that is what I wanted to be too. I have always wanted to make a difference with kids. I started out my career teaching in a very low income inner-city school as a bilingual teacher. I have since moved on to two other districts in Arizona, and continue to do what I love. I am currently teaching fourth grade and it looks like i will be starting a third/fourth loop next year (hopefully.)

I love learning and am embracing the new Common Core Standards and I'm learning so much about it. I have been chosen to work on a curriculum writing committee this summer, and I am really looking forward to it.

We are currently working on Time and Data Analysis in my class, so I thought I would share a couple of things I have made for this unit. The first is my High Flying Time activities. Each set includes projectable whole group practice, individual independent practice, and a self checking Memory game. There are three different versions of the file, Time to the Hour and Half Hour (1st Grade,) Time to the Nearest 5 Minutes (2nd Grade,) and Time to the Nearest Minute (3rd-4th Grade.) You can also get the bundle that includes all three!

In keeping with the Springtime Kite Theme,

Here is a Writing FREEBIE for you!

Thanks for getting to know me.

Head on over to my blog to see what fun things my class has been up to lately.

You can also find me on

Facebook

Twitter

and

Teachers Pay Teachers

Thanks again to Lorraine for the feature!

Now to get to my to do list. Good night my frogilicious friends! Have a super great week!

Rocks, Fish, & Earth Day Giveaway

2013-04-22T00:00:00.000-05:00

Have you read the book Only One You? I bought it back in July and never used it in my classroom... until this past week that is. This book caused such great discussion with my 4th graders. There is "only one you" in the entire humongous world!

After reading the book and having an awesome discussion about how we are all unique and special we painted rocks. We painted our own "rockfish" just like the pictures found in the book.

I gave the rocks a coat or two of shellac and after they dried the students placed them around the perimeter of our garden. The students absolutely LOVED doing this activity!

And now for the giveaway.....

If you haven't checked out the Fabulous new website Educents, now is the time!

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As you wait to find out if you’ve won the box, we encourage you to:

Like Conscious Box (Facebook.com/ConsciousBox) and EduCents (Facebook.com/Educents) on Facebook!
Leave a comment and tell us why you want the box!
Share the giveaway with your friends!

PLUS, if you aren’t the grand prize winner, you can still get a 3-month subscription to Conscious Box for less than $12/month by heading over to Educents.com. For one week only, Educents will be offering the Conscious Box for 40% off! In addition, ALL profits from the sale of this box will be donated to The One Fund, which will provide funds to help those families most affected by the tragic events that unfolded during Monday’s Boston Marathon. So enter to win, and then head on over to buy the Conscious Box for yourself or a friend to celebrate earth day and support our fellow Americans in Boston!

This giveaway is sponsored by Educents.com. Conscious Box only ships within the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. They can also ship overseas to APO addresses, as well as US territories.

Educents, a flash-deal website, is an easy way to get huge discounts on the educational products you know and love (and maybe even some you’ve never heard of!)

In a world where education is becoming increasingly expensive, Educents is a company with a mission: to provide every family access to affordable educational materials. They focus exclusively on handpicked, unique educational materials including online curriculum, learning tools, educational toys, software, e-books, and more. With new deals added every day, Educents is quickly gaining popularity amongst parents, teachers, homeschoolers and learners of all ages.

Come check out Educents.com to find your favorite brands at up to 90% off retail prices!

Just click on the Rafflecopter link below to enter! Good Luck my froggy friends!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wordless Wednesday

2013-04-17T13:55:00.000-05:00

Five for Friday on a Saturday!

2013-04-13T16:35:00.000-05:00

It is Saturday afternoon and I am just now able to sit and link up Five for Friday...... this explains a lot about my week, heck it explains a lot about my life!!!! LOL!

Our tomatoes are growing! The fourth grade garden is doing great. Our students take such pride in watering and weeding the garden. However, we have a little critter munching on our strawberries. :)

This week we started our 4th Grade STAAR Olympics. The fourth grade team came up with this fun STAAR review last year and made it even better this year! We still have some things to tweak out for next year but the students love it! Above you see a picture of part of our huge display. We have 20 events to complete in 10 days. Each day we have one Reading event and one Math event. The teachers created a review for each topic and a ten question quiz. The reviews we made were mostly flipcharts (ActivInspire) or Powerpoints and the quizzes were mostly paper and pencil quizzes. The topics we covered were our some of the standards the students will be tested on like main idea, inferring, fractions & decimals, etc. Students can earn gold, silver or bronze medals (made from paper and put on the display) and then the classes with the highest percents correct can win 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.

How cute am I in cartoon form? The fabulous Crystal Fox from the blog, The Library Fox made a mini me!

This week I discovered Lola, our class dwarf hamster, LOVES pretzels! I am not sure pretzels are good for her to eat but she ate it in seconds!!!!!!!!!

I ended the week by paying off a bet! Yup, I lost and had to go to school dressed like a clown. The bet was that if this particular student made all A's on his most recent report card I would dress up like a clown for the day. He WAS a B but I knew he had the potential to make A's so for motivation we made that deal and he followed through on his part so I had to do the same. Anything for my student's success!

Watch for a new post (about mid week) about a fun activity we recently did!

Have a great weekend my froggy friends.

Currently in April

2013-03-31T21:14:00.004-05:00

OMG! I have a chance of being first in the Fabulous Farley's Currently so I am going to link up and then come back and write more. BRB!

OK, so I wasn't first but I am second!!!! That's a new record! WOOHOO (It's the little things in life, folks). The terrific Miss T from Journey of a Substitute Teacher beat me to it and is first....she's a sweety so I guess I can live without being first.

Listening: I am listening to the Apprentice but I wish I was listening to the rain. We need rain here in San Antonio! I could also go for some cooler weather but it hasn't been too bad.

Loving: All staff members at my school can wear jeans the whole week because we have STAAR testing on Tuesday and Wednesday! That is the absolute ONLY thing I like about state testing.

Thinking: Report cards are due tomorrow and I still need to finish up a few more comments.... why am I blogging instead of doing what I should....story of my life peeps!

Wanting: My students are taking the writing STAAR tests on Tuesday and Wednesday. I want them all to pass. Not necessarily for me but for their own self-esteem and to show them that hard work pays off.

Needing: I said coffee but I am really needing to get back to report cards!!!!!!!!

Advice: Society as a whole is getting so serious! I think we all should stop being so serious and take the time to smell the roses (or the chocolate, it smells better) and laugh your boo-tay off! I love to laugh! I love to make others laugh! And I especially love to see others laugh!

Happy Easter!

2013-03-31T17:17:00.000-05:00

5 for Friday...

2013-03-29T18:28:00.000-05:00

I am joining the masses who participate in Doodle Bugs Teaching Five for Friday's linky party!

Here are 5 random things from my past week:

It is now testing season here in San Antonio which means I stress out for my little froggies. They are so young to be tested so rigorously!!!! Anywho, here is one way I deal with the stress......... a 5 lb bag of Haribo Gummi bears!

This is my team (minus our team leader). We are dressed in our camo during our annual week long "Camp Write Along"! The kids love it and so do we! (I'm the one in the middle holding the sign)

This is Ainsley and Cadence. Aren't they ADORABLE! They are the daughters of my favorite Thirty -One Gifts consultant and one of my dear friends, Blair. I went to see Cadence play in softball this week. Ainsley was there to watch too. Love these girls! (Blair is to the left of me in the picture above).

The fourth grade team won a grant to plant a garden! I will blog about this soon but the kids are loving having their very own garden. Here is one one our strawberry plants that produced a baby strawberry!

This last picture is of my little froggies telling ghost stories around the "camp fire". I used real logs, tissue paper, and a lantern to create our fire. We all loved how it glowed when he shut off the lights.

That wraps up my week! Have a wonderful weekend friends!

Hoppy Easter to my peeps! (Freebies)

2013-03-23T22:49:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post to share a few Easter freebies I made last year. Hope you can use them!

Download Making Words here Download Word Search here

To get even more freebies click on the linky pics below:

Hoppy Easter my friends!

"Fat Amy" and Adios Spring Break :(

2013-03-16T22:10:00.000-05:00

Yup, it's true... the end of Spring Break is here and now the preparation (besides everything we have been doing all year) for the state tests starts. Don't worry, I am not going to get on my soapbox about testing such young kids so rigorously (you're welcome!) however the fact is that my little froggies are going to take some very stressful state tests soon whether I like it or not. I am not a worksheet person and have found some fun resources to use but first....

....today's adventure. As you may know, I have a class pet named Lola. She is the cutest, chubbiest, dwarf hamster eva! Well, my son (who is pretty darn cute himself) decided he wanted his own hamster. He's 15 and has his own money so I thought why not? Well last night he went to a local pet shop that breeds hamsters and fell in love with one (between you and me, Lola is way cuter). When he brought home the hamster we laughed at how fat it was and he decided to name it "Fat Amy" from one of our favorite movies Pitch Perfect. Making a long story short... Jake went to put "Fat Amy" in her hamster ball this morning and saw she had babies!!!!!!!!!! HOLY HAMSTER, the darn thing wasn't fat because she ate too much. she was fat because she was preggers!!!!!! Jake and I freaked a little bit and off to the pet store we went. Everything is good now. The baby ~~aliens~~ hamsters are with another mother hamster and "Fat Amy"(who isn't as fat anymore) is home with us now. We decided not to keep any of the babies. The pet store owner apologized over and over saying "Fat Amy" is so young that he was surprised to see she was pregnant. Anywho, we went back in the afternoon to make sure the babies were still doing well (and we will probably go back tomorrow to make sure they are still doing good). What an adventure!!!!

Now back to "Testing Season"... YUCK! I'm not afraid of the tests or the scores but I HATE HATE HATE that these tests are so stressful for our kiddos. In Texas, our first two state tests, called S.T.A.A.R, will be administered on April 2nd & 3rd and will cover writing. Both days the students will need to use their revising and editing skills and write compositions. I don't want to stress them even more or overwhelm them with too many practice passages/compositions so I am planning on using these great resources created by a fellow Texan blogger, the fabulous Lindsay Noren, from My Life as a Third Grade Teacher.

The first one I am going to use is call The Big Game - Introducing Standardized Tests to Elementary Aged Students. This is a FAB-U-LOUS way to start talking about the test. By the way, it is good for any state test not just the STAAR.

The next awesome resource I am going to use is Root, Root, Root For the Home Team! (Baseball Themed Literacy Activities). My students will have a blast practicing the ELA Skills using this home-run of a resource.....HAHAHAHA! Sorry, I just had to go there!

Lindsay has a ton of other terrific resources that you need to check out in her TPT store. Visit her blog or her TPT store and let her know I sent you. She doesn't know I am blogging about her (or that I ~~stole~~ borrowed her preview pictures to use here).

Don't forget I am having a THIRTY ONE GIFTS online party, if you need any graduation gifts, teacher appreciation gifts, or just a treat for yourself come shopping with me by clicking here. For every item you purchase you get your name entered to win one of three prizes!!!!!!

Hoppy Testing my friends!

Spring Break SHOP TIL YOU DROP & WIN!

2013-03-11T15:14:00.000-05:00

Take some time during Spring Break to SHOP TIL YOU DROP!!! And...you can do it all from your computer! This month, every $31 you spend, choose any tote for 50% off! (Choose from: Retro Metro Tote, Cinch Sac, Retro Metro Weekender, Lil' Expressions Tote, Easy Breezy Tote, Cindy Tote, or Inside-Out Bag). Shop for a graduation gift, Easter basket, Teacher appreciation gift or something for yourself just because you deserve it!!!!

CLICK HERE TO START SHOPPING

And as always, my fabulous friend (and Thirty-One Gifts consultant), Blair, has donated some fantastic prizes! For every item you purchase you will automatically get your named entered to win one of these fabulous products:

HOPPY SHOPPING!

Open House Display ~ Historical Figures

2013-03-09T23:01:00.000-06:00

YAY me! It's Spring Break and it couldn't have come at a better time. I was getting stressed and tired and needed a break before I start thinking about the state testing that is coming up at the beginning of April. Today I spent the day just relaxing. I wouldn't have even gotten dressed but I had my Weight Watchers meeting this morning.... by the way 1.4 pounds down for a total of 9.6 since January. However they do say "slow and steady wins the race" so we shall see. When I got home from WW I changed right back to PJs and watched hysterical movies with my kids.....Pitch Perfect was one of them and it cracks me up every time!

I shared this idea on my blog last year but I just had to share again because we had such a great turnout and parents loved the 4th grade hall display! This year our theme for our school's open house was "Ott Night at the Museum" (My school is named Paul W. Ott Elementary). Each grade level had different "displays" for the parents and students to took browse and view. In 4th grade we did historical figures. Here are some examples of our student's work.

We gave each student the directions (download here), a "head" of the person they chose to research, and the specific paper we wanted them to use. We tied this learning opportunity to our Expository Writing standards and had the students hand write their papers instead of typing them up. This really helped with preventing the "copy & pasted from the internet type papers". The students completed the projects at home and boy were they creative! Of course we had the exceptions of the students who didn't follow any directions but for the most part everyone earned an "A" and did fantastic!!!!

I'd love to hear some ideas of what you display for Open House!

Fire Drill, Speaker, and Product Review

2013-03-02T21:31:00.000-06:00

We had two fire drills (not on purpose) this past week and it made me wonder how other schools practice emergency drills. For fire drills the alarm goes off (duh) and the kids know to drop what they are doing get up from their seats and in an orderly fashion go down the hall, down the stairs, down the ramp and outside. I am always the last person out. The first student (or the first to remember) takes our "crisis bag" with them and holds it until the entire class is outside safe. Once outside I take the bag and hand a sign (laminated paper) to the first person to hold up. Green means everyone is accounted for, Red means someone is missing (they may have been in the library or with a specialist, etc.), and Yellow means we have an extra child with us (like if someone was in the restroom and comes out with us. We have almost 900 students (sounds like a lot??? Naaah, we use to have 1400!!!) at our PreK- 5th grade and our school is two stories.

I got my "crisis bag" from Vistaprint. I was lucky enough to get it for free with the special they had going at the time (3 years ago). My crisis bags contains a whistle, activities for the students (I have a set of Scholastic News magazines, a pack of pencils, and a pack of loose leaf paper), a folder with our class list (attendance roster) and Emergency contact info for all the students, and the three laminated signs (red, green, & yellow). Our school has been open for 9 years and we have never needed to use our crisis bags.... hopefully it will stay that way! :)

How do you guys handle emergency drills in your school?

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In fourth grade we study Native Americans from Texas. We were super lucky to have one of our Special Education teachers share her culture with us. She did a great presentation and the kids loved making connections to what they learned to what she shared with us. Here are some pics from Friday's event.

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A super sweet gal from Shoplet.com asked me if I would be interested in trying a product and reviewing it... Suprise, I said yes and I am glad I did.

I received some awesome gojo products... a Purell Pal Instant Hand Sanitizer Desktop Dispenser, a Purell Portable Size Hand Sanitizer Jelly Wrap, a Purell ADX7 Dispenser, and the Purell Advanced Non-Aerosol Foam Hand Sanitizer that goes in it. All were super cool and super useful but my absolute fave is the desktop dispenser!

As you see in the picture it's absolutely adorable! My kids LOVE LOVE LOVE it! At first I selfishly had it on my desk and kept it for myself to use but then I decided to share. The desktop dispenser now sits in between a couple of student computers. The kids know to get a squirt before using the computers so hopefully no germs are spreading on our keyboards. I am thinking of purchasing a couple of more to use as my bathroom passes that I blogged about sometime this summer, I am sure the kids would love me for it!

Hoppy Weekend my friends!

Currently in March...

2013-03-01T22:14:00.000-06:00

I'm not going to say much (friends will be surprised to hear that!) because I'm trying to be one of Farley's first 10 to link up to her Currently....

Yup, its true! I am obsessed with Duck Dynasty! It makes me HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!

I like leftovers.... especially lasagna or baked ziti !

I LOVE laughter..........I love to hear laughter, I love to laugh, and I love to make other people laugh!

I hate legumes...... I pretty much hate anything healthy... even the word legume is ugly!

Go to my friend Farley's Oh Boy 4th Grade to join in on the fun!!!!

WOW, WOW, WOW!

2013-02-20T19:02:00.000-06:00

Yup, that's right, all I can say is WOW!

I am thrilled and honored to share with you The Organized Classroom Magazine!

In each issue you will get handy tips and solutions for organizing your classroom. You will get stories and suggestions from fellow teachers (maybe even you!). Each issue will even have simple organization challenges. Not only is this inspirational magazine perfect for all K-8 teachers, but all issues are enabled for printing, downloading, and you can view them from your mobile devices.

I've already learned how to "Tame the Paper Monster" by reading the FREE PREMIERE ISSUE ! Make sure you go and get your free issue today!

New Blog Design!!!!!!!!

2013-02-13T20:44:00.000-06:00

OMG! Look at my new FABULOUS blog design! I am so in love! Who is the incredible, terrific, fantastic artist who redesigned my blog? Well, that would be the AMAZING Christi Fultz! You must go check out her blogs. She is priced incredibly reasonable and listens to her clients. I am not getting paid to say this or get a kick back if you have her design your blog. I am just in LOVE with her fabulous work.

Here is her blog design blog:

and her teacher blog:

Happy Valentine's Day my friends!

Currently, Lola, and Miscellaneous...

2013-02-02T22:57:00.001-06:00

It's February 2nd and you know what that means right? No, it doesn't mean it's Ground Hogs Day.... even though it is. What February 2 means is that I am LATE for Farley's Currently. Darn! I swore to myself that I would be in her TOP 10! Heck by the time I finish this post and link up I will probably be number 3,000! Grrrrrr! Oh well, I guess I will try for the top 10 next month! Here it is folks no matter what number I am....

So a couple of my pet peeves are ignorance and excuses. I don't mean uneducated when I say ignorance, I mean plain ol' stupid! I really can't stand when grown adults are ignorant and hateful. For example not liking someone because of culture or the color of their skin. Just typing that sentence chaps my hide! How about excuses? Well, I hate when people including students have excuse after excuse. Anything from, "I abuse my child because I was abused" to "I didn't do my homework because it was my sister's birthday". Pulease!

Last Sunday I blogged about our new class pet named Hines.... Well, there has been a bit of a change. When I took my new hamster to class on Monday morning, my kids were absolutely ecstatic about the cute little ball of fur.

My little froggies loved everything about her except her name. "Hines? She doesn't even look like a Hines! She looks like a Lola", I heard. Guess what? I agree! She looks just like a Lola so Lola it is!!!!

Are you looking for an inexpensive Valentine gift to give to your students? You need to check this one out from Charity at The Organized Classroom Blog.

Speaking of Charity, are you a member of Teaching Blog Traffic School? I am, and have been since almost the beginning. If you want to start a blog (doesn't have to be a teacher blog) or want to improve the blog you already have then you have to check out TBTS!

Have you ever shopped at MPM school supplies? I received an email saying that "I can shop on their dime". They gave me a $25 credit to purchase whatever I wanted in exchange for a review of my experience. $25 for free to shop on school supplies......."no, thanks" said NO teacher ever. Of course I accepted! I assumed it would be like any other teacher online store but it I was wrong (in a good way).

I bought the two products pictured above, reading comprehension cubes to use during guided reading and teacher stamps to use for stamping. I am super thrilled with my goodies. The MPM School Supplies website was easy to navigate, the prices are wonderful, and the shipping was F.A.S.T.!!!!! I definitely recommend them and MPM School Supplies.com will be where I go first when shopping for my teacher/classroom resources.
Go check them out! They are offering my readers a discount! To take advantage of this deal click on the link below.

10% off your readers' first 10 orders:

http://www.mpmschoolsupplies.com/redeem/S13019FHFDB6M

Make sure you let me know what goodies you buy.... I may just need to buy them too! LOL!

A New Love and an "Old" Valentine.... freebie

2013-01-27T22:52:00.000-06:00

Let me introduce you to my new love! My new classroom pet, a dwarf hamster, named Hines. She is sooooooo soft and little and FAT! She's like a little pompom or cotton ball. I named her Hines after Hines Ward (A Pittsburgh Steeler that I just love) and Heinz ketchup. Yup, I said ketchup. Ever since I was a little girl I would only eat Heinz ketchup. Yes, there is a BIG difference between Heinz Ketchup and other catsup! Anywho, I thought that would be a cute name. When I take Hines to class tomorrow I am sure my students will name it something else.

If you haven't been to the website Very Jane you absolutely must! It has daily deals and adorable goodies! They have everything from children's headbands to bags to personalized notepads. You just have to visit daily (or sign up for their emails) to see the daily deal.
Last year time around this year, I blogged about a Math Valentine project I assign to my students and I included some Valentine cards you can print out and give to your students. (That's where the "old" Valentine comes from in the title.) Just click here {TOADally Awesome Valentines} to get the instructions for the Valentine Math Box along with the Valentines. Before I go, I want to introduce you to my new friend and fellow teacher blogger, Amy. She is new to blogging and doesn't have a lot of followers yet but does have a lot of fabulous information! Please stop by her blog and say Howdy! Become a follower and tell her Lorraine from Fabulous 4th Grade Froggies sent ya! Click on the pic below to go see Amy's blog.

Have a great week my friends!