My Very First Five 4 Friday: the Last day of January :-)

I am so excited to be participating in my FIRST "Five for Friday"! Yaaayyyyyy! I am new to the bloggosphere, and running across this link party has given me an opportunity to take a sneak peek into the lives of wonderful teacher bloggers worldwide! I appreciate all the cool and innovative activities you all are doing in your classrooms. I know your kiddos adore you! Okay, let's begin......

Fun With Division: Division is a tuffy with my 3rd grade  kiddos. I teach in what's called a Comprehensive Special Education setting (CSEP), working with students who are performing at a K-2 level(and lower). I am proud to say, we are pretty confident with addition and subtraction these days, and okay with multiplication 1-5.... but division?? Eh. BUT, they love to learn and they work well in groups that are hands on, that allow them to get up out of there seats....AND ACTIVITIES THAT LET THEM USE MY FLIPCHART MARKERS!! SO today we did just that! 

Students were placed in groups of 3 or 4 and did a gallery walk style activity. My learners struggle with reading the most, so grouping was mixed readers and low/nonreaders. Students took turns reading the math problems on chart paper......look at those tracking fingers go! They then discussed what steps they needed to do BEFORE they got a marker from me. Next they took turns showing work and completing the CLOZE sentences at the bottom. It is awesome to watch how well they work together, and the support they give to friends who struggle with reading and/or transcribing. If you look closely, one of my kiddos is famous for his backward "6"....I always know what steps in our activities he completes( May I add,I adore his work ethic!) We fixed the "6" during our class wrap up session....

Archimedes and the Power of Math: My 3rd grade and 4th grade group, along with the other 3rd grade classes at my school went on our 1st field trip of the Spring 2014 semester...and I planned it-yikes! We went to a local theatre and viewed a play on Archimedes. I must say....it was completely awesome. The play included one actor and a few gadgets-THAT'S IT. And surprisingly, he kept a room of 100+ (there were other schools) 3rd-5th graders engaged for 1.5 hours! I learned so much from him, as he dazzled us with math puzzles, math magic and interesting facts about Archimedes contributions to math. Like for instance, who new Archimedes held off an entire army for 3 years using math? And he basically made the word "EUREKA!" famous.

As a wrap up, each student in my class and some of the other classes are creating Mathematician biography file folders...created by me! I will post finished projects when they are turned in next week.

Introducing...........Petal Frames: I am definitely jumping into the teacher blogging/creating realm feet first. With snow days giving me so much free time, I have started creating for my TpT store. Yesterday I finished a set of frames-woohoo! My Petal Frames product is available now! The product includes 9 color frames, 1 black & white frame, and 2 matching digital papers. Please check out my store for this item and upcoming products. Matter fact, I have some Valentines Day products in the works that I will have done (hopefully) by Made-It -Monday!

Facebook Newbie & a cool linky:  I am also on Facebook! Do you remember what it was like to be a new bloggerbook teacher? Well, that is me right now.  I "mustache" you to pop on over and like my page, If You Mustache,I Heart Teaching 

I also started a Special Education Teacher #linkup. Check out my Teaching Spedtacular tab to find out more and link your blog.

Soft Kitty Returns: Any Big Bang Theory fans out there? Well....for a while, the song Sheldon loves, "Soft Kitty", was stuck in my head...more like EMBEDDED. Well *sigh* It's Back. I find myself even humming as I type now. I guess I do not mind though - that show is hilarious. Random facts, gaming, and the fact that I am so convinced that Sheldon is on the spectrum (I am randomly fascinated with learning EVERYTHING Autism Spectrum Disorder, btw) makes it my perfect kick back and relax show. Are you singing Soft Kitty now?

Yay! That is FIVE. *does Looking Good classroom cheer* I hope you enjoyed my contribution. I am going to try and make it one of my weekly linky's! 

Okay, your turn. Head on over to Doodle Bugs Teaching to "get up on" this linky party.I cannot wait to read the five-cap on what you guys did, created or learned this week. Please comment and let me know your thoughts on my week. Link your blog so I can visit you. 

But until then.....

The Teacher "Time-Out"

Have you ever had a day where you felt like things were in constant motion? Well, my day was like that and I yearned for a ::pause:: that never showed up. Instead I got field trips follow-ups, project excuses, Mixed Numbers, lost keys, 14 DEGREE WEATHER....oh and last minute PAPERWORK!!! Special Educators out there know what I mean when I say that last one....especially those of us not in the inclusion setting. I was slightly overwhelmed, but not in an "ohmigosh" way because I got A LOT accomplished....but I most definitely was running on air.

At the last bus "all call" I was literally packed and ready to go. I sat and looked around my classroom that I {heart} SOO MUCH like "What Happened To The WHOLE Day?". Then, I did something for myself that I should have done in the first place: I sat down, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath.


I just wanted to share that because I know that I am not the only one who has moments like these. Not to sound like a walking cliche' but, Teaching is intense. And if you let it, it will consume your every moment. But, I have found, if nothing but for your own piece of mind, you need to find a balance. Even if it's what I did- A Teacher Time out. Providing yourself with these moments will keep you refreshed. 

I love what I do....but today I really needed to just 

STOP & BREATHE.

With that said, I am pumped and ready to conquer(and rock out) tomorrow!

I Mustache, How's it going?

Hello! I am excited to say that my blogging journey has begun. For the past few months I have been a COMPLETE teacher blog stalker. To my defense, I could not resist.... thank you all for posting some awesomtastic (totally a word) resources! The teaching world is truly a community, and I am blessed to be a part of such a rewarding career.

Homework for the Teachers

Okay this is where I need your help! Think back (or peek at your archives) at your very first blog post. What was it about? Compare how your blogging style has,or has not changed. For example," How have you changed as a teacher?" That could be teaching styles, grade levels, locations, etc.  My journey is new, so I would love to hear about the things that kept(and are keeping) you motivated.....even when your mind is constantly tweaking ideas, and you are up to your ears in "student learning".

Grows and Glows

Okay, last thing. I want to know what you have learned from your experiences. What is one thing you are most proud of (Glows) and something that you had to really "practice-learn-repeat" to get it down(Grows)? As a fairly newbie to the field I feel like I simultaneously figure something out AND discover something I do not know every.single.day. It's not like that always....or is it?


I really hope you take some time and respond. I would love to get to know every teacher blogger I can, and I cannot wait to welcome you into my world. I plan to use this blog as my own little "transference of information" station. Look out for my experiences, totally awesome do-it-yourself crafts for classroom decor as well as crafty learning activities for the kiddos. 

Thank you for reading and welcome to my new blog!