Saturday Motivation (Students and Slim Down)

Saturdays... a chance to relax.... YEAH RIGHT!!  My family is in a mad rush to get ready for my son's 4 year old Power Rangers party.  It's still a couple of hours away.  My house will soon be filled with 3 and 4 year olds... that I don't know from his classes at school and church... Wish me luck!  

This week for Student Motivation I wanted to share about my students celebrating the 100th day of school.  I tried something this year that was hilarious, I gave my students the option to dress up like they were 100 years old.  Now, I can't post their pictures - no point without seeing their faces - you wouldn't be able to see the wrinkles, gray hair, and facial hair.  It was so much fun!  I had 3 canes in class, lots of thick glasses, huge beaded jewelry, a full suit, some floppy hats, etc.  I totally forgot how silly they get when they dress up.  Worth it for one extra day of fun.  :)

As for my own Slim Down motivation...  well LOOK! 

Yes, that says I lost 5.6 pounds this week.  5 point 6.  I knew my scale lied last week when it was -0.  It might be lying again this week, but since it's in my favor, at the moment I don't care.  I did check it about 5 times this morning to see if the number would change (I was a little in shock).  

I'm still avoiding sugar like the plague (going to be hard today since I ordered a cake for the party that I actually like).  I got on the bike again during our nightly shows, and I am still Power Walking with the Biggest Loser contestants.  I have been wearing that Activity Tracker every day and have been making sure to get it to 100% of goal.  I forgot to bring my water bottle to school this week - partly because I was hauling so much other stuff to school and didn't have a free hand.  Next week that will change.  I also forgot to pack a snack a couple of days at school, so by the time I got home I was so hungry I wanted to eat everything in sight.  I need to do better with that.  I did finish up the book Made to Crave.  Such a good read, I think it got my head on straight.  I just started the devotional book that corresponds - just a tidbit a day to help me remember the point of this all.   

That's me.  How did you do this week?  

Five for Friday!

Hello Friends!  I wanted to share what's new with me after this last crazy week of school!  

ONE - First up, to celebrate my 1,000+ friends over here on the blog, 2,700+ friends over on FB, 3,500+ friends on Pinterest, 1,000+ friends on Instagram, and 700+ friends over at TPT I decided to hold a special 20% sale for the next 2 days on my Top 4 Wish listed Products.  I do have the writing journals and task card sets in bundles as well, but these were the top wish listed so I'm going for it.  

#1 Whole Class Writing Journals

#2 Fraction Multiple Choice Task Cards (Frog theme)

#3 Rainbow Edit Writing Process

#4 Subtraction with Regrouping Task Cards (Super Hero theme)

TWO - This week my laminator has been humming, but my colored printer decided not to work...

That didn't stop me though - I printed in black and white, laminated, and had my early finishers color in the clip art.  My fast kids (also perfectionists) cut out the lamination for me.  They did a great job!  

THREE - I love our alphabet rug.  It's been up in my youngest son's room, but last weekend in my rearranging I brought it downstairs.  My boys might be weird, but they absolutely love the "game" of jumping on different letters.  My 3 year old has fun jumping for letter recognition (I say a letter and he goes to it), my middle and older son had fun doing their spelling words by bouncing around.  Simple things...  

FOUR -

I LOVE spirit days.  I love how I don't have to figure out what I'm going to wear.  I love the glitter that PTO decided to put on our spirit shirts.  It makes me happy.  It also makes me happy that my double chin is disappearing (yes, I did just say that).  :)  

FIVE -

Over the months you might have gotten sick of hearing me talk about California History.  I love it though.  I love how California is one of those states that has a little bit of everything.  The beautiful mountains, the never-ending ocean, the fertile valley, and the crispy desert.  I live in the valley, tons of crops around us (the stinky cow smell in the mornings), but it isn't that far away from San Francisco (about an hour without traffic), and about an hour from Sacramento.  So much good stuff to see first hand!

California History makes me smile.  I love teaching about the regions at the beginning of the year, then learning about the traditions of the Native Californians, the Explorers, and the Mission system.  We are about to move on to our next unit that involves the Gold Rush, and then we will finally talk about how California became a state.  It's a story that I look forward to telling every year with the new batch of students.

Over the years I have figured out what works with my class in CA History, and those projects I shared last year over in my store.  I realized though that I didn't share with you that I bundled all 8 of my CA products.  Sorry about that... In the craziness of December it slipped my mind.  

So, here's what's included:

Bundled saves the buyer 20% of buying everything separately.

Hope this randomness helps you in some way.  Have a great weekend!

Edible Math!

Edible Math... YUMMY!  

I usually use a lot of food in my lessons, but this year with the kids' severe allergies, I have cut back a lot.  Here are some things that I have used in the winter and spring:

January

In January we are working with data a lot - so many graphs, etc... I found this freebie from Smart Chick last year.  It was easy to grab some candy necklaces over at Winco in their bulk aisle (I think 15 cents each), and this makes for a fun Friday.  

February

Conversation Heart Math

For Valentines, I usually give each student a box of conversation hearts and they find the fractions for the different colors.  The below sheet is located over on this post from last year.  

March

Lucky Charm Math

For St. Patrick's Day I scoop a bunch of cereal into baggies and give them to my students with a tag that "I am so LUCKY to have you in my class".  They then use the cereal for this math project by Fifth in the Middle.   

April

Skittles Math (Easter Party)

Teaching with a Mountain View has this Skittles Math that I used last year for my Easter party.  It works with probability, fractions, etc.    

I love this time of year with so many review options.  :) 

Go check out the rest of the ideas over at Jivey's!