Five for Friday, Pin to Win, and the BIG RACE!

Happy Friday! I am excited to be back in the blogging world and linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching!  

One of my favorite bloggers posted this totally true quote today and when I logged on Facebook, while pressing snooze three times on the alarm, it made me smile. We have 41 days left! A little early for starting the countdown, but I can't help it, I am beyond ready for this summer. Do you ever teach summer school? With a two and four year old at home there really isn't "down time" during summer. Last summer, I had fun taking the kids to museums, beaches, lakes, parks, and a pool. This year, since my 4 year old will enter Kindergarten in the fall, I am going back to teaching summer school. My husband, a middle school PE teacher, teaches Wilderness Survival & a High Ropes training course to 4-8th grade students during the month of July. This summer I am excited hold a Crafting Club and a "Get Fit" class everyday in July for 1.5hrs per class. I am doing it with another teacher, so it should be fun for everyone. I am bringing the two year old with me and the four year old will be in Kindergarten prep classes. August means Disney, so once summer hits, a new countdown will begin!

We've been working on legends in class during our unit discussing "How the Earth and Sky are portrayed in Fiction and Nonfiction." The students are taking a turn writing their own legends. I created a great "plan" for them to fill in based on the set up of many legends we've read. It has been super useful to the students. I will post more examples and pictures of the legends when they are finished, but here is a sneak peek.  

We have the opportunity to use technology in the classroom, usually as often as we'd like. We are lucky enough to have a program called "Text to Speak." It allows the students to actually listen to their story when they type it. It helps them hear mistakes and often helps them remember where to go back to add more information. There is also a program that gives word suggestions to help the students type. If a student types "Ta" it will bring up a list of "Ta" words where the student can simply click on the work they'd like to use. This makes typing not so boring and allows my students to get their thoughts out without too much pain. 

For our current unit, I've been constantly referring to my unit for sale in the TPT store. It has a bunch of lessons that are interactive and fun for the students to gain background knowledge (fiction & nonfiction) for legend writing.

 

Our school is also a "Kind School" this year and participates in the Ben's Bells project. Our kindness ambassadors put together a fund raiser for the school.  They sold "Kindness Grams" for a week for $0.50 each. They were delivered today and certainly brightened up my morning. They are a great reminder to always "BE KIND" and it's always fun to get notes from fellow staff members and students.

Before I end this post, I want to remind you I have a PIN IT, TO WIN IT going on for my newest product. I am picking a winner Friday night (tonight), so you still have time to play! :) If you'd like a chance to win my new ABC Memory Book, come over to this post.... and check out the game! If you don't want to wait, you can purchase it now in TPT on sale by clicking on the image below. 

Please send me all the positive vibes you can. I am running in a Color Me Rad 5K bright and early Saturday morning. Two words...I'm Doomed! I've seriously been dreading excited for this race since I got suckered into signing up six months ago! hahaha Don't worry, I will be sure to post pictures!