Sick and School Don't Mix

It's hard to teach when you have to stop every 10 minutes or less to cough, sneeze or blow your nose. However, I'm not dying, so to work I go.

Today, I did not have the energy, and my kids knew it.  They were just plum A.W.F.U.L. They were actually dubbed the worse k-class in the cafeteria today.  How Embarrassing!  Then I had one at playtime decide to hit two girls because they were hugging his friend.

ARRRRGGGGHHHH!

I am so glad that I have nothing to do tonight.  I'm feeling better, so maybe just one more night of meds and I'll be ok! 

Tomorrow, it's busy busy busy...assigned seating at lunch and inside playtime in assigned centers all for my benefit.

Sorry that today's post is just a vent...but sometimes they are needed..am I right?!

Hello February!  The month of LOVE...let's see how that works in my room =)

Tag You're It!

I know..I know..double post today...my bad but:

I've been tagged not once, but twice!  Lisa and Beth from Made in the Shade in 2nd Grade and Rachel from Ms. Rachel's Room.

This is how it works!

These are the Rules
1. You must post the rules.
2. Post 12 fun facts about yourself on the blog post.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create 12 new questions for the people you tagged.
4. Tag 12 people and link them on your post.
5. Let them know you've tagged them!

1. I've posted the rules above.

2. 12 fun facts about me:

a. I got married on the Saturday before Spring Break, therefore, I always have a week off for my wedding anniversary.
b. I've just recently found out how funny the Big Bang Theory is thanks to TBS. (Hubby got me the 1st four seasons for my bday)
c. My birthday usually falls on MLK day so I usually get a 3 day weekend for my bday.
d. I wasn't that crafty until Pinterest came along.
e. My former principal got upset with me for not auditioning for American Idol when the auditions came to Memphis.
f. The biggest arguments/fights between my husband and I are usually when we play Tetris against each other. 
g. I used to be a karaoke diva...I still would if I could find a place to go on the weekend instead of during the school week.
h. I am a Disney fanatic....we have a room in the house dedicated to Disney..hopefully one of these days it will be a nursery.
i. I also love Build-A-Bear.  I have almost 30.
j. My husbands last name WAS Hubbard, but he changed it to Starnes to take his step-dad's name - good thing or I would have been "Old Mother Hubbard" =)
k. I've mentioned this before, but am running out of "fun" things - I have 9 tattoos and at one time thought to name my blog The Tattooed Teacher.

l. I loved my chorus in high school, but if it were anything like Glee...it would have changed my perspective on many things! =)

3. Lisa and Beth's Questions:

1. What is your favorite movie? The Princess Bride

2. Team Edward or Team Jacob? Team Edward
3. Are you addicted to Pinterest? Who me? Ummm...maybe just a smidgen
4. What is your favorite teaching moment? I had a pretty funny one the other day: We've been reading The Grouchy Ladybug and I asked my students to bring just their White Board markers to the floor... one of my kiddos popped up and said, "if you insist!"  I love it when they catch on to things like that and can put it into context. =)
5. What is your favorite teaching book? Any of Ron Clarks' books.  He's pretty awesome.
6. If you weren't a teacher... What other career would you pursue? Country Singer =)
7. What's your favorite read aloud? Chicka Chicka Boom Boom the kiddos LOVE it and it's so easy to pick up on and they feel they can read it on their own very quickly.
8. Are you a pet owner? Yes.  I have a cat, Libby and a pit bull, Jack
9. Do you have a bad habit? Correcting people's grammar out loud.
10. Are you a Smart Phone user? Absolutely.  iPhone 4s!
11. Where was your best vacation? Anytime I went to Disney World....Cedar Point is pretty amazing too.
12. Tell us.... A purchase you regret. I'm sure I have plenty, but no major regrets come to mind.

Rachel's Questions:

1. What was the name of your first pet? She was a Spitz and her name was Peka
2. What was your best moment as a teacher? See above answer.
3. Where is your favorite place to buy clipart? DJI, however Scrappin' Doodles runs a pretty close 2nd.
4. What is your biggest pet peeve? GRAMMAR! (especially the placement of apostrophes!)
5. What kind of car do you drive? 2010 Hyundai Elantra Touring Bright Blue!
6. What is your favorite food? Pizza...ham/pineapple or beef/bacon
7. What food do you HATE? Brussel Sprouts, Turnip Greens
8. What is your favorite winter activity? Staying warm inside, drinking cocoa and reading a book
9. Have you ever completed a 1,000 piece puzzle? yes I have
10. Where is your favorite place to buy clothes? Old Navy
11. E-reader or real books? Real Books...I like e-readers, but can't afford one so real books it is
12. Mac or PC? Mac all the way!

My 12 questions:

1. How many grades have you taught?

2. How many years have you taught?

3. What's your favorite hobby?

4. What's your favorite restaurant?

5. What's your favorite television show?

6. What is your favorite movie?

7. What is your favorite app?

8. What is your favorite subject to teach?

9. Do you like roller coasters?

10. Do you have any tattoos or piercings?

11. What's your favorite season?

12. How many siblings do you have?

4. Tag 12 others.
1. Tammy at Live, Love Laugh Everyday in Kindergarten

2. Crystal at Kreative in Kinder

3. Pam at Can Do Kinders

4. Kerri at Ms. Kerri's Kindergarten

5. Jennifer at First Grade Blue Skies

6. Vickie at Plant's Press

7. Jennifer at Herding Kats in Kindergarten

8. Ms. Patterson at Pocket Full of Kinders

9. Miss J at Smiles, Crayons and Endless Stories

10. Mechele at Barrow's Hodgepodge

11. Mrs. Brown at Busy in K

12. Mrs. Davis at Carried Away in Kindergarten

Enjoy ladies!

Someone New Sunday

Many of you have already heard of the TWO lovely ladies in my feature today.

If you haven't...wow! You are missing out!

Meet Lisa Lizak and Beth Wright

they have created the awesome blog

And they are Rockin' the Teacher Blog World.  

Lisa contacted me about a week after their blog started.  They've only been around a month and already have over 200 followers!

That is just AMAZING!

Here's a little bit more about this Dynamic Duo.

Town/State:

Westland, Michigan

What is Your Teaching Style:

We work hard to take difficult concepts and make them easier to understand, engaging and interesting.  We work to keep students motivated and hold high expectations. Our rooms are always filled with discussion and fun! In fact, Lisa is probably wearing a costume right NOW!

What is Your Most Memorable Teaching Moment:

To celebrate a month long of fabulous reading, our school hosted a Teacher Talent Show.  We immediately found our calling via Glee: The Justin Beiber Experience (JBE). We dedicated our before and after school time to learning the choreography of "Baby" and making posters, declaring our weird undying love of Justin Beiber.  The following week we gave the performance of America's Got Talent caliber - I'm talking confetti shooters! I mean we were a step away from Vegas! To this day, students greet us with Beiber's hits and declare their love for the JBE. In fact, we both received a Justin Beiber singing toothbrush from a fan this Christmas!

Why Do You Blog?

Blogging has created an atmosphere to share and grow as teachers.  We wanted to be a part of this community that supports positive instruction in the classroom. PLUS, we have really great ideas and FREEBIES for our followers to pick up!

Where Else Can We Find You?

Lisa's Pinterest Boards

Beth's Pinterest Boards

And here is a Valentine Freebie from the girls.

Keeping doing what you're doing ladies and you'll soon surpass me in followers =)

Want to be featured? Email me at laurastarnes(at)gmail(dot)com

3in30 - Last Week of January

January has flown by once again!  We are well on our way into 2012.  I've got to think toward next month.  I know I'm doing the B90 Challenge, but I'm stuck on my other 2 challenges.  I'm sure I'll have it figured out by the time the 1st gets here.

Goal 1 - 31 Days to Pray for Your Spouse Challenge

I have really enjoyed this challenge.  I would miss a night every now and then, but it's easy to catch up.  Ashle has written a great e-book and I would recommend it for EVERY wife!  She thinks of things to pray for that I know I should, but don't ever think about myself. So, Thanks Ashley for starting this challenge.  I think we should revisit it again in a few months!

Goal 2 - Get my new blog off the ground!

We met our first goal and I'm headed out to meet some of the authors for a manicure in a minute.  We've really done well with the up-keep of our new blog and I'm loving every minute of it.  It's been a great motivator and a way to stay focused and be held accountable.  If you haven't checked it out yet, you should! =) But that's just my humble opinion.

Goal 3: A Picture on My iPhone everyday.

Yay! I took a picture every day this week AND I put them on a little layout for you to see!  This has been so much fun and I want to keep it going in the next month..however, I won't make it my goal.

Saturday - Grandmother's 80th birthday. Sunday - big storm, no power. Monday - Graphing at school. Tuesday - putting an 100 piece puzzle together for 100's day. Wednesday - after 100's day, cuddled up with a good book. Thursday - Hubby rockin' Call of Duty. Friday - Me at work (I usually don't take pics of myself)

Off to get my manicure now.  Have a great weekend everyone!

Thursday: Grouchy Ladybug Freebie

The day after 100's day is about as crazy as the actual 100's day.  My kiddo's could not get back on track as hard as we tried.  So glad that the day is over and I am home and have NO WHERE to go to night!

So, now on to the fun part.  We've been working on telling time to the hour. I always love using Eric Carle's The Grouchy Ladybug for my book on time. I made a little reader and pocket chart matching game to go along with the book.

I'm adding the pic so I can Pin this...a bit addictive?  Why No!

And here's one for you:
Grouchy Ladybug Mini
*Graphics by DJ Inkers and www.djinkers.com

Tomorrow, I'm breaking out the hula hoop to do this great activity that I found on Pinterest.  Seriously, what would my class be like without Pinterest!

Source: amstik1.blogspot.com via Laura on Pinterest

One more thing before I go.  Please keep one of my students in your prayers.  I found out today that she lost her father in a car wreck a couple nights ago.  She did not live with him or see him often, but it hurts just the same in the heart of a 6 year old.

What I'm Pinning Wednesday (Link Up)

I have not had much time for pinning, but did get a few things in earlier this week. I'm sorry for getting this post up late again!  I just can't get with it to get this one done ahead of time so that y'all can link up! 

Anyway...you can link in at the bottom if you would like too.

Before bringing on the pins, I just want to say a quick HELLO! and WELCOME! to my 24 new followers since Saturday..woohoo!

Moving on...this is what I've pinned this week.

1.  I could not have survived my 100th day today without some of these cute activities from KidsReadingActivities.  Such a great little blog. 

Source: classroomfreebies.com via Laura on Pinterest

2. Next are these Sneaky E Puppets. Only I'd have to change it to Sneaky Y, because he's the thief in our classroom.  I could not track down the origin of the picture, but it was originally pinned by Jaimie Gable.

Source: Uploaded by user via Laura on Pinterest

3. I just stumbled up on this Telling Time freebie from Mrs. Johnson's First Grade.  I wish I would have seen this earlier, since we are working on time this week!

Source: mrsjohnsonsfirstgrade.blogspot.com via Laura on Pinterest

4. My last one today is a grammar one.  My friends who know me well, know that I am constantly correcting grammatical errors.  My poor husband can't STAND it.  These are things that happen ALL the time!

Source: 9gag.com via Laura on Pinterest

Yes/No & Octopus Stew

So, I'm trying a new format tonight. Here are some pics of the class!

Yes, you heard me...I actually took pictures OFF of my camera and here they are.

I still need to work on this format a little bit, because if you look closely at some you can see the stretch out markers still on them.  Oh well.  I was in a hurry, since it's already 9:30p.m. and I'm just now getting around to this.

Enjoy the graphing and Oscar's Birthday!

Money, Money, Money, Money! MONEY!

You know you're singing that song =)

After a few special requests, I have made the dime stations and will have the quarter ones up next week! Or maybe later this week..who knows. 

I had a stress melt down this afternoon.  Not over school stuff, just everything else in my life.  I've got too much on my plate and as much as I hate to drop out of a few things I have to.  Not because I want to, but because I need to.  That's hard for me considering that I've always been one to keep others happy before myself.  In the long run, I'm the one whose hurting, not them. 

Anyway..that was off topic..well, it just leads me to the statement that who knows what my blog will look like this week because I'm rescheduling my life a little bit.  Hopefully for the much better! <--total grammatical error..I don't care!

So where were we...Oh Yes! Money! Because of the little DJI debacle at the end of December, I had some many of my docs removed.  I have since redone a few to DJI specifications and am slowly putting a few back up.

I am re-posting the Penny & Nickel stations and introducing the Dime.  Quarter is coming soon I promise!  I have a few other activities up first that are further at the top of my list!

I hope you enjoy these!  And also to follow specifications:  Some graphics are by DJ Inkers (www.djinkers.com) Coin graphics were found in a search on Swagbucks and were not tagged to a website or linked to a blog.  If you know the distributor, please let me know!
Pennies

Nickels
Dimes

Someone New Sunday

Meet Mrs. Vickie Plant 

from

She hails from the sunny state of Florida and is a kindergarten teacher.

She has been an absolute joy to talk to and she loves to give back with comments on your blog =)

And you will absolutely love her most memorable moment...gotta love those kiddos!

Here is a little more about Vickie.

What is your teaching "style"?  

I love for the kids in my class to be constantly engaged and I especially love hands on activities. I try to make everything fun so that my kids leave kindergarten with a love of learning. I also love creating my own games and materials for my kids to use as well as collaborating with other teachers (at my school and on blogs) to find the best ideas!

 

What is your most memorable teaching moment? 

 My first year of teaching we were in a very old, small cafeteria while our new one was being built. I had a student who was misbehaving, so I went through the very narrow, crowded space between the tables to move him to a new seat and slipped, falling completely on my back (all while wearing a skirt)! I was mortified!! The best part was one of my sweeties said, "Don't worry...I was looking and you couldn't see your underwear when you fell!"

 

Why do you blog?   

I started blogging a few weeks ago after wanting to for almost a year. I LOVE reading other blogs and getting ideas and after having a pretty rough last 6 months, I decided that starting a blog would be my stress relief :)

 

Where else can we find you? 

Here is a freebie from Vickie:

Please take a moment to visit Plant's Press today, you can click her button at the top and it will take you right to it.  I would love to see her at 100 by the end of the day!

Are you up for the challenge?  Spread the word!

What's Not Wrong

So I was over Buzzing with Ms. B earlier today and she had this pretty cool positive post about the good things going on in her life.  And then found that she was linking up with Mrs. Davis at Carried away in Kindergarten.  I had not seen Mrs. Davis's blog yet and am glad that I found my way there. So now I'm joining her link up for this week.

So here we go:

1. Losing a total of 4.2 lbs in the past 2 weeks, and almost 15 lbs total since the end of October is not wrong.

2. Celebrating my birthday is not wrong.

3. Playing video games with my husband is so much fun!  I don't like to play his shoot 'em up games, but do get a teensy bit competitive when playing games like Tetris Party.

4. Getting a nomination for Teacher of the Year at my school is definitely not wrong!  Whoever it was that nominated me, they totally made my day, my weekend, my week, my year!

5. Celebrating and surprising my grandmother with a birthday party for her 80th birthday is not wrong.  We had such a good day today and I think she was completely surprised and overcome with joy.  I'm so thankful to have such great grandparents.

So what's not wrong with your week?  Come link up with us.

Dote on the positive sides of life, not the negative.

3in30 - January Week

Goal 1 - 31 Days to Pray for Your Spouse Challenge

Have I said before, how much I am so glad to be doing this challenge?  It is so encouraging.  So many things that I don't think about praying for.  Last night I prayed for my husband to have courage, to not "be thrown by life's waves...but face life head on trusting that God is in control"  That really hits home for us, when he has been out of work for awhile and it has been such a struggle, but I know that God has a plan for us.  Clint needs to know that too...I know he feels horrible about not being the "bread winner" and he has depressed days, but we make do just fine and yes, God has a plan. 

Goal 2 - Get my new blog off the ground!

We added 2 more followers this week.  I did a WHOLE lot better with my weigh in last week than I thought I would.  Now I'm hoping I didn't mess it up this week because it was my birthday and I may have "over-celebrated" a little bit.  I'll know tomorrow morning =) I am also very proud of my team of lovely ladies who have also been sharing their stories.  We should meet our first group goal tomorrow and I'm excited about that!

Goal 3: A Picture on My iPhone everyday.

Ok....so YES I have been taking one every day and I didn't miss a day this week, so that's good, but they are still on my phone.  I have the hardest hooking up my phone to my laptop or computer.  No it's not hard..I know how to do it...I just don't think about it before posting and then I don't want to stop writing to take the time to post.  So, sorry, no pictures to show this week either.  But, I am having fun with it still.  Lots of randomness on my phone =)

Thursday: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly!

Good New First! 
I got an email after school that I have been nominated by someone for Teacher of the Year at my school!!!!  I am SOOOOO excited and yet SOOOOO shocked!  It's my first year here, I've barely had 100 days in the building and still don't know everyone in the building.  I'm am still just WOW!

Other Good News!
I remembered to take a few more pictures!!!

Here is our box of crayons
from the book The Crayon Box
That Talked.
I kind of under compensated the
box and OVER compensated the
crayons. 
Oh well!  At least I got my point
across to the kiddos.
They really enjoyed this assignment
and now, when they come to tattle
or argue..I say, "What would Dr,
King Do?!"  And some actually try
to fix the problem!

 We also made those cute little MLK books with the hands on the front. 

Inside, they drew a picture of their dream as a Peace Maker. 

Then, they colored their box of crayons with a poem about how being different is good.

And another poem about MLK.

I found this mini unit with the poem on Pinterest. It is from Ms. Eberhart's TpT store.  She also has a really cute blog where she's posted her MLK stuff. You can check out Eberhart's Explorer's HERE.



Bad News: I always forget to take a picture of our completed activities.

Good News: Here are some of our winter unit activities from 2 weeks ago...yeah I know..it takes me that long to get them off of my phone/camera.

Latest addition to calendar...estimation jar.  Yes, I have this as a freebie, but it's not complete!  Sorry!

Winter patterns...included with the winter estimation...sorry it's not ready yet!!

Found this on pinterest too...which will melt fastest..ice in water/salt/sugar/nothing

Cute snowmen..also found on pinterest...We wrote sentences about them. Yeah, I forgot to take the completed picture again.

Ok...I had a few more pictures..Yeah, I actually got on the ball and put them all on my computer.  But I didn't want to bombard you with them.  The kids did some graphing today.  The girls got to give the boys a yes/no survey of their choice.  It was so fun to watch them interview the boys, ask them the question and record their answer.  The boys get to do it tomorrow.  LOVE it!

So now onto the UGLY:
I totally scored Pink-Eye from one of my lovely kiddos.  I have not had this horrible virus since I was maybe 10.  It's quite disgusting and I feel so dirty for having it.  Like I don't wash my hands and put sanitizer on them enough...I am now quadrupling that amount.
Worst part...besides having to come home and really souse my house in Lysol...I have to throw away ALL of my eye make up that has touched any part of my eye in the last 24 hours.  UGH!  So beware ladies...it is SOOO not fun.

I hope you've enjoyed the Good, Bad and Ugly of my day =) and I hope you had a good one!

Don't forget if you do a Pinterest post..come link up!  Every Wednesday..What I'm pinning Wednesday! Click HERE to link up!