What's Happening in October

Look who's blogging! Crazy, right? October always seems like a super longggg month with no school holidays to get excited about. Sometimes it feels like five day weeks ends up being 50. I've been trying my best to use the weekends to shake the exhausted feeling I have running through my mind, body, and soul.

I thought I'd stop in today and give some quick updates with what's happening at home and in the classroom this month.

What's happening at home: I'm having a great time decorating the house for Halloween and enjoying the fall season for all it has to offer- cooler days, yummy recipes, and pumpkin everything!

What's happening at school: We're working on punctuation and its role in fluent reading and writing. I found a great resource provided by Erin at Once Upon a Classroom- she has Meet the Puncs anchor charts in her TPT store for free! The Puncs are characters that each represent a different type of punctuation- including Emily Exclamation Point, Peggy Period, and more! My students are eating it up, you must check it out.

We're also using these Glow-in-the-dark witch fingers from Target for our latest pointers when reading in small groups. The kids are loving them! 

If you have other fun ideas relating to punctuation or fluency, please share in the comments below! 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

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Warmed Heart

I am super thankful for an amazing crew of parents this year. I decided to put a sign up sheet outside my door last week with some food items for a Thanksgiving feast for our class to enjoy. I wasn't sure if I would get any takers, you really never know from year to year how things are going to go. I've never done a Thanksgiving party in my class before (I know, crazy, right?). Within the day I had almost every item covered: pumpkin pie, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, butter, etc. The one item we were missing was turkey. I mean really, who is going to go to all the trouble of cooking a turkey for 30 little ones, who will most likely pick at it anyway? 

Well...a mom showed up yesterday, turkey in hand, ready to carve it and serve it to the little monkeys. She said she doesn't spend enough time in her son's class and she was hoping this would help out with that. Wow. I am still in awe that the parents came together and provided a full on feast for my class to enjoy. And enjoy it they did! The parents were also having so much fun that they stayed the rest of the afternoon to watch us present our disguised turkeys (more on that in a later post). One parent even left and came back with some coffee for me. A fantastic way to end the day and begin Thanksgiving break. I'm really not sure why I never attempted the feast idea before, but it will definitely be on my November list from now on. My heart is warmed by the kindness they showed. 

This month our class spent some time reflecting on the things they were thankful for too. We each wrote down one thing we were thankful for on a turkey feather and added it to a turkey on the wall. It quickly became an eye-catcher for those coming in to the classroom. It's fun to read the adorable things the students are thankful for. 

When I was student teaching eight years ago or so, my cooperating teacher drew the big turkey for me and laminated is so that I could do this project in the future. I have decked out this turkey with thankful feathers every year since. If you're interested in a pattern for the feathers, which I simply ran off on the copy machine on colored paper, leave me a comment with your email address and I'll send it your way. 

Give thanks everyone!

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Thankful Thursday #2

Today I'm thankful for having a warm, cozy house complete with fuzzy blankets and a heater. It is cold outside y'all! I'm super thankful to have these luxuries and try my best not to take them for granted. 

And for my silly thankful Thursday items...

I'm thankful for these fun red slipper boots from Old Navy that are keeping my toesies nice and warm. I kind of love the white ones too...hmmm...

And yumtastic hot chocolate!

Image courtesy of Starbucks

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November Currently

TGIF! Halloween week is a doozy! Mix in a Day of the Dead celebration and parade to the week and I am one.tired.girl. I'm linking up today with Oh Boy 4th Grade for a November Currently. 

My mind is in a bunch of different places tonight. I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving break and the upcoming holidays. I'm trying to stay positive and think good thoughts about some family news that has me down, all the while being overcome with a rumbling tummy and the cuteness of this adorbs little boy on the Ellen show singing his heart out. Have you seen the Youtube video of this little dude? All this three year old wants to do is sing this Nicki Minaj song but his mom won't let him. And he is up.set.

Well, he's back on Ellen for a second time, and he's singing Call Me Maybe. Gah. His cuteness turns me to mush. 

As far as music in the classroom goes, I cannot think straight right now in order to come up with my favorite. I play a lot of classical music. Usually I hit up the Target card section, where they have that machine you can push all the buttons on and listen to samples of cd's. You know, the songs with the waterfalls and birds squawking. I've picked up a couple of piano cd's there. For now, all I have in my head is Bruno Mars- Locked Out of Heaven.

Anyway...head on over to tell me about your November Currently!

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