Back to School Jitters - a Linky Party!

Tomorrow is our first official day back, but I'm headed in this morning to work in my room.  I'm linking up with A Turn To Learn, and her Back to School Jitters linky party.

Back to Reality

I am headed back to AK.  I am ready (actually itching) to get into my new room and start getting it organized and set up.  Since I am switching grades (kinder to 2nd) I had to switch rooms (coincidentally I'm  back in the room I was the year before).  All of my stuff was packed up at the end of the year, and moved down the hall.

I get my keys on Friday, so I will have 2 days to unpack, go grocery shopping,  pick up some more things for my classroom and have lunch with my teaching bestie Mrs. V.

I am super excited to use my new zebra print and bright green borders and accents!  I ordered from MPM School Supplies and was super impressed with their selection and how quickly my stuff came.  I had it shipped to my parent's house since shipping to Alaska is spendy.  I managed to fit it all in my suitcase too! (full disclaimer. . . . . . I ended up taking 2 suitcases back, since I bought some new clothes too)

Of course, I've already been sharpening up my mad bulletin board skills in my Mom's room.  She teaches Preschool Special Ed in my hometown and wants to get as much stuff done now, since the week she would normally be in her room is the week before my brother's wedding.

We ran out of fabric and ended up using contact paper on the bottom part of the board. 

Currently. . . . .August

I'm joining up with the fabulous Farley this sunny saturday.  I can't believe it is August already, and that it has been a month since my last post.  I have been enjoying my vacation and have been limiting my computer time.

I need to go get myself all gussied up for the Bridal Shower that we are throwing for my future sister-in-law.  I head back to AK on Tuesday and can get into my classroom on Friday, teachers start back on the 16th, kiddos on the 22nd and my little brother is getting married on the 25th (in Washington, which means my kiddos will be getting a sub on the 2nd day of school - sweet!).

Have a great weekend!

Currently

Hey ya'll! I'm avoiding packing {and practicing for my trip to Texas}.  I'm also linking up {late} to Farley's linky party

I leave super late tonight, and I will be in San Antonio in the morning, I'm heading there for this - yay!   Plus I super stoked to see fireworks on the 4th of July {it's never really dark here in AK on the 4th, so the only time they do a real fireworks show is New Year's Eve. . . . at 8:00 pm. . . . .so you don't freeze to death watching them. . . . .although you really do}.

I LOVE reading Mo's books to my kiddos, and they love them too.  They are so much fun to read out loud.

I think I may be taking Pigeon along with me.  What former kindergartner wouldn't love to get an email from their old teacher with a picture of Pigeon at the Alamo?

say it ain't so

{yes I know, ain't isn't a real word}.

 It's only June and I've already had my first "back-to-school" dream, hopefully getting out of the AK and into some sun will help hold off any other dreams and let me focus on enjoying my summer.

I love the whole *squirrel* thing, and that is totally "me", but I don't want to step on any toes, and realistically it's usually sparkly things that distract me so. . . . . . . . .

~~~sparkle~~~

I had a hair appointment this afternoon and I didn't want to drive all the way home from summer school and then back {I live on the opposite side of town}, So I headed to Target to window shop and pick up a couple of things for my trip.

As I perused the aisles I saw that they already have school supplies out,  that's right . . . . . school supplies. I didn't take a picture {mainly because I was trying to drag myself away  by quietly repeating "you don't have anywhere to put them}.  Let me ask a question - is it too early for school supplies?  It's not even July yet!

~~~sparkle~~~

I also made these super cute notebooks for my summer school kidlets.  I found the notebooks at Michael's for 50 cents, typed up to the cute tag, and then attached pencils.

2 more days of summer school and then I will be FREE!  Can't wait for San Antonio and then Washington to see my family,

spreading the love

I'm teaching Summer School for my school district this year.  I have 14 1st graders and we focus on reading from 9:00 to 12:00.  It's crazy, busy and fast-paced.  We do a language warm-up, sing and read a story, write, use Lexia in the computer lab, and then I meet with small groups while the other kiddos do "Must Do/May Do" {I tried Work Stations, but it did not go well, and I don't have the time to really teach those procedures the way I would in my normal classroom so we switched it up}.

Comparing/Contrasting the Gingerbread Cowboy and the Gingerbread Girl

Ummmm. . . . most of the work I've been giving my kiddos comes from blog stalking/TpT packs that I've purchased.  I was making my differentiated packets today and 3 other teachers asked me where I found my fabulous word work {It was from this fab pack by Babbling Abby}.  So I gave them the lowdown on TpT.  I love sharing ideas and resources with other teachers.


I'm super excited to start reading the Daily 5 {click here to check out the book study}.  I did workstations/centers with my kinder kiddos, but since I'm moving up to 2nd grade I want them to be more independent as readers.  I will be following along {from Texas and Washington too}.

Bad Blogger and . . . . .Currently

I have been an awful blogger lately, hopefully now that things are settling down I will have more time to post.  I am linking up with Farley's Currently

   

confession, I typed the Currently last night, but I fell asleep on the couch (in my workout gear) but it's pretty much the same tonight *sigh*.

Chickadee!

We've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of our chicks. Last week my kiddos checked the countdown on our incubator immediately after they came to class. Yesterday was the big day. . . .



And when we arrived this morning this is what we found. . .


1 little chickadee (who my kiddos named Chickadee) had hatched.




Before I left for the day I moved Chickadee to his new home, complete with a nametag.




Isn't he cute?

We're Going Buggy

We have finished up our Houghton Mifflin Reading program and are moving on to insects! We will be studying and exploring bugs for the next couple of weeks. I checked out a bunch of books from our school library and placed them on my bookshelf.


This is what my kiddos will find when they come in to class tomorrow.

I can't wait to dig in to these books with my kiddos!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

random

My kinder kiddos are growing up!

We went outside for an extra recess at the end of the day today (we were on a field trip during our lunch/recess time).  My kiddos who couldn't do the swinging monkey bars at the beginning of the year are swinging their way across, legs are pumping away on the swings and when the timer went off and they all ran to line up (no chasing after stragglers).  Now to be fair, I'm sure they have been doing these things for awhile, I'm just never outside with them (we don't do extra recesses during the winter - it takes too long to get gear on and off).

6 of my smarties wrote all the way to 100 without a 100's chart, and 14 have joined the "100's Club" (being able to count to 100 by 1's, 5's and 10's).    They are blossoming into readers too . . . .see?

Working on vocabulary 

Finding our vocabulary words in our books

This group of boys were all considered non-proficient (Tier 2 or 3) at the beginning of the school year, now they are all able to read the decodable books that come with our reading curriculum (some of them are not very fluent, but oh well!)

We only have 18 days of school left, hopefully I can make it!  I have a LOT of assessing to do in the next 2 weeks!

I'm movin' on up

to 2nd grade!  My Principal told me today that I'm moving to 2nd grade.  I'm excited for the change, I'm moving back to my old classroom and I may even have some of my kiddos from last year.

Now I'm off to find some 2nd grade blogs. . . . .any favorites you want to share?

Currently. . . . .and I'm going to Texas!

I'm linking up with Farley from 

Here's my currently. . . . . . . .

And, I'm heading to San Antonio the first week of July (the 5th thru the 8th).  Since I live in the frozen tundra of Alaska and I keep missing out on all the fun meet-ups (sad!).  I would love to meet up with any Texas bloggers while I'm down there. Any suggestions for my hair?  I have to straighten and sweet talk it on the best of days, I'm not quite sure how it will react to the humidity.

Look In My Lunch Bag Linky

I'm joining up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics to give ya'll a peek at my lunch

 Here's my lunch box.  I love it, it's cute and big enough to pack all my food in.

I'm trying to "eat clean" and I've started making meals ahead of time and freezing them.  It's so nice to be able to grab something out of the freezer the night before. For lunch this day I had sprouted rice, quinoa, chicken, peas, spinach and broccoli - yummy!

\

All the extras - an apple, grapes, carrots, rice crackers, nuts and berries and a flax seed/date bar thingy.

Please note - I do not eat all of this at lunch, but I snack throughout the day.  

My "bubble water", I haven't had a Diet Pepsi since the first week of January.

My kiddos go to lunch at 11:20.  My TA takes them down to lunch and then out to recess, so I have a duty free break from 11:20-12:00.  I usually eat lunch in my teammates room.  She has a fridge and microwave (there's no room in my teeny, tiny classroom).  But the day I took pictures, all my teammates were gone (one is on maternity leave, and two were sick) so I was eating in my classroom.

I feel so bad for all of you who have to eat with your kiddos, or do recess duty.  I love my duty free lunch, I need my break in the middle of the day.

Meryl Streep, Miss W and Morbid Kindergartners

Scene: My classroom, 3:20 pm.  Kiddos are busily getting on their snow gear *sigh* and packing up.  Sweet little girl comes up and says "Miss W, you look like Sophie's Mom on Mamma Mia when your face is like that." 


Ummmm, did a 5 year-old just tell me I look like Meryl Streep?

Here's Meryl in Mamma Mia (<3 that movie, I think I know what I'm listening to during pull-outs tomorrow)

. . . . .and me.  I don't see a resemblance, but 5 year-old logic escapes me sometimes.

Last Friday since we weren't in school the week before (Spring Break!)  we did this super-cute writing craftivity from the Teacher Wife.  Most of my kiddos wrote about their family or friends and how they take care of them, or play with them.  Some of them on the other hand were more interesting.

My dog because he is about to die

A bit sad, but a sweet picture and this little guy is very tender-hearted and sweet.

Then there was this one

Aunt Bonnie because she died when she was a kid

And the picture, complete with blood and grass.  (We had a little chat about how we don't talk about these types of things at school, and I had a chat with Mom as well.)

AND, because I don't want to leave you all sad and depressed, a cute one -

My family because my mommy is going to have a baby.

Just when I think life is getting back to normal. . .

it throws you a curveball.  I was all excited to blog last week about the fun things we were doing at school  but I was thrown for a loop with a situation with one of my kiddos.  I can't go into details but we are trying to figure out what exactly is going on, and we can't seem to get a straight answer from anyone.  It's very frustrating.

Here are some pictures of what we did last week,

 Putting sentences in order, then writing them using our very best Kindergarten handwriting.

I wish I could show you this kiddo's face!  His expression is hilarious, he was telling me all about Halo.

 Playing Time Match (matching digital and analog clocks)

 Our Math/Science night was Tuesday.  I ran our Kinder table so I organized my small group area in between the end of school and when I needed to set up.

It's supposed to be spring, but Alaska hasn't gotten the memo.  This was the temperature when I left for work Wednesday morning.

I don't wanna. . .you can't make me!

Well, I guess you can make me. This past week was my Spring Break and I thoroughly enjoyed not having to think about school (although I did end up working at my tutoring gig every day).

I went in for a few hours today. I have a brand new student starting tomorrow so I want to have everything ready for him (name tag, cubby label, journal etc. .) but the name I got in my email is different than the name listed on the attendance list in Zangle (our student records system). So. . . .needless to say I didn't get everything labeled.

This next week is super busy, we have Math night on Tuesday (I'm prepping and manning the Kinder table). My teammate had her baby on Thursday and her long-term sub can't start till the 26th which means a week with a random sub.

I stopped by Target tonight


Metallic sharpies, glittery ballet flats (on clearance!), pencils for my small group table, piña colada gum (for me) and gum for my special friend (it helps keep the thumb out of her mouth, and provides her sensory input).

Ugh. . .I suppose I should go to bed, my alarm will be going off way too soon!

Currently

Yesterday was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.  My kiddos are getting stir-crazy and sooooo ready for Spring Break (me too!), my TA is out this week (lucky duck is in Hawaii),  and there is drama going on with coworkers.  I came home after my tutoring gig, ate some dinner and went to bed.  The down side is that I woke up at 3:30 and can not get back to sleep!

So. . . . . . . . . . here's my Currently, I'm linking up with Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade

Life B.B. (before Blogger)

I was looking for something the other day and I came across some of my status updates from before I was blogging.  

Kiddo: "Ms. Wold, they're staring at me, they're being bullies, it's rude!" Ms. Wold: "Well, if you weren't laying on the carpet in the middle of everyone who is trying to learn. . . . . . "

is amazed at how often the topic of moose comes up in my conversations. We had a 5 minute converstion about whether one could walk into our classroom yesterday!

Ms. Wold ''who can segment a word like me /c//a//t/?'' Student ''/Birth//day//Ca//ke/.'' Nice try kiddo, but that's not really what we're going for.

Favorite kiddo comment of the day "Ms. Wold, that kid (referring to another student) is going to drive you crazy!"

"Ms. Wold got lot's of points today cause we were talking and moving." You gotta love "small moments" writing!

Me to kiddos headed outside for PE "Be on you best behavior for Mr. Wiser" Kiddo answers back "Ms. Wold, you be on your best behavior while were gone." I wonder what they think I do while they're at specialists?

Student - "Ms. Wold, what do you look like without your glasses?" Ms. Wold takes off said glasses. "Wow. you're really pretty!" Ms. Wold - "Umm, thanks?"

Our Visitor

Happy weekend! I'm off to my tutoring gig, but I just had to share this pic!


We had a visitor at school the other day. This moose decided he really liked the salt they put out to melt the ice in front of my school.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Mystery Machine

This morning our message told my kiddos that we were going to use a special machine in math. They predicted that this machine would be a calculator or the computer.
Here's what they were greeted with when they came in from recess





Underneath the "Top Secret" paper was this





A Function Machine/In and Out Box (whatever you want to call it).
side note, my school uses Everyday Math and provided us with a master to use, but I felt the need to cutesy-fy it with a fun font, star stickers and glitter.



We started off pretty basic with plus 1's, but then I let them come up with the rules. Look what one of my smartie-pants came up with

Please excuse my dirty easel, it's usually covered up with my chart paper.

And because it's too cute not to post, a sweet note from one of my kiddos!

Translation - Dear Ms. Wold, I have a cool valentine

I'm sure you've seen this

picture floating around pinterest . . . . .

I thought I share this one about Alaska. . . . . .

Have a great Tuesday!

My Nice Clean Closet

I could have stayed a little bit late on Friday and not have had to go in to school today, but my friend, Mrs. L is 35 weeks pregnant and is starting to "nest" and she wanted to go in today.  I didn't think she should be there alone (especially being 35 weeks) so I went in too.

I got my station tubs set up for next week and then tackled my closet.

artwork on the doors from my kiddos

The before . . . . . . . . .

eeekkk!

and the after. . . . . . . . . . . .

Notebooks with resources and my "teacher" books

HM/EDM materials and my "bubble water" as my Special Friend calls it

Not the closet, but right next to it - our class Post Office

It feels so nice to have that closet organized.  I get to stay in the same room next year (this is my fourth year teaching and my fourth classroom) so I'm starting to really get things organized.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow, I get to sleep in, have a leisurely breakfast and read my Bible, get mani/pedis with my friend and her daughter, then catch up on all the DVR'd shows at my friends house while I work on my lesson plans (my goal is to get planned till Spring Break (3 weeks away!)