I am linking up with Michelle over at Fabulous in First for her fun linky - Sunday Smorgasbord!


So, there's been a lot of just "stuff" that's been going on in the past few weeks so I thought this would be the perfect way to do it!  Thanks Michelle!



This is what my classroom looked like after I cleaned everything up during our last teacher work day.  Can I say how excited I was that my principal said that we could leave things up that we were going to use next year?  It was so nice to not take everything down!  I might change up my theme this next year, but at least I have a base to change things up instead of starting completely over.


We went to Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure a few weeks ago, and I have to say this is one of my fav pics from this trip.  I just love when my husband catches my son signing.  Plus, this shows how big my son is getting.  Can't believe I'm going to have a third grader!


Last Monday, I weighed myself and it was not pretty.  I thought "Hmm, I wonder if all the candy I've been eating has anything to do with it."  Now, if you've read my blog for long you might remember that I love candy.  No, I don't like candy - I love it.  I decided that I should probably hold off on it for a little while and see what happens.  I haven't had any candy since last Sunday, and I've lost 5 pounds!  I thought I would loose a little bit, but never thought it would be that much!  I can't say that I won't ever eat candy again, but for right now I'm happy to stay away from the yummy stuff.




Last night, we had a little camp out in the backyard.  My son and husband roasted marshmallows and made s'mores.  {No, I didn't eat any smores - remember the no candy thing. ;) }  My son didn't actually eat his s'mores.  He doesn't eat candy or graham crackers {he has some food aversions due to Autism}, but he had a blast making it! After s'mores, he got his jammies on and jumped into the tent.  We all got in and read some stories before bed.  I then left my husband and son to sleep, and I went inside.  Now, we didn't think Colton would actually sleep in there all night, but he did!  We were so proud of him!  Now he wants to go camping for real. That probably means I'll have to sleep in the tent too.  ;)

I have two camping/s'mores freebies over on my Freebies page if you're interested in jumping over to grab them.



Thanks Michelle for this fun linky!

Today marks two weeks since my last day of school.  This year had its ups and downs, but it definitely ended on a high note!

We had a fun filled last 3 days of school.  On Monday, we had our annual Kindergarten Promotion program.  I don't know why I stress about it every year, but I do.  My Kinders did such a great job singing and signing our 5 songs.  Our school got an awesome new principal in February.  At the program, he said such nice things about me and my bestie.  It really meant a lot to us.

On Tuesday, my class and my bestie's class went out to watch the Teachers vs. Fifth Grade kickball game.  It was fun to see how grown-up some of my former students were.  The teachers were fun to watch too!  The best part was our principal playing in his suit.  Yep, he came out to watch and ended up in the game.  The teachers won and remain undefeated!

Our last day was so much fun.  We watched our slide show, had donuts, did the hula, drew with chalk, blew some bubbles, and had some ice cream.  Basically, my Kinders got to be kids.  The playground looked great with all the chalk drawings! {In my defense of the sugar high, I wasn't planning on donuts and ice cream. A student brought the donuts for her birthday.  :)}

I leave you with this picture.  This was a page from one of my student's portfolio.  It reminded me that no matter the ups and downs, the students are the most important part of teaching.  All of the other stuff is a distant second.

I am so excited!  I have had this blog design for a little over a year.  When I had it made, I had the designer put a Freebies page up at the top thinking that I would get it done right away.  Yeah, that didn't happen.  Today it finally happened!  My Freebies page is up and going.  You will see freebies that have previously been posted here and also those that I have posted on Teachers Pay Teachers.  As I make more Freebies they will be added to page.  Jump over to my Freebies page to check it out!


Well, I am off to do my lesson plans.  Have a great Monday!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Saturday!  This morning we went to the opening of a new Lego Store here in Las Vegas.  They were having a Master Build and people could come and make "bricks" for the large R2D2 that was being built.  My son had so much fun!  When we were done we drove down the Strip {which I haven't done in who knows how long} and Colton got to see all the hotels.  As we passed the airport, four Air Force jets flew over us!  That was pretty cool!  We don't see them on our side of the valley often.

I love how the Master Builder photo bombed Colton!

Enough about my day.  I'm sure you are more interested in who won that fabulous Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Certificate.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congratulations Michelle!  I will be emailing you shortly!

Thanks again everyone for sticking with my little blog!

I hope you are having a wonderful Friday!  Once again, I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for a little Five for Friday Fun!



My bestie and I needed a quick craft on Tuesday and I remembered this super cute Earth Day handprint craft that I saw on Pinterest.  I quickly made a circle template, sent my assistant down to the art teacher to wrangle up some green paint, and got to work doing handprints.  That afternoon I called a small group over to finish painting their Earths.


We also wrote about how what we could do to to help take care of the Earth.  Can I just say I love invented spelling?  Love it!!!



Today during prep I was able to put all the sentences and Earths on my bulletin board outside my room.



We worked on ways to make 10 this week.  I used a cookie sheet and some magnetic counters to show different ways to make 10 and had the students give me the addition sentence to go with my display.  They then had to give me the "partner" problem.  I made this super simple chart while we completed this activity.


Today we made this Combinations of 10 book that I made a couple of years back.  The students had to color the flowers and write the addition problem that went with the pictures.  You can get this freebie {here}.




So ever have those days when you just need a cupcake?  Well, I do and that day this week was Wednesday.  I let my husband know after dinner that I was running down to the little cupcake shop down the street for a cupcake.  The top right cupcake was for my son.  I had a bite of it and it was ok.  Wednesday night I ate the strawberry cupcake and it was so delicious!  I don't know if you can tell, but it even had edible glitter!  Last night I ate the red velvet and it was good too.  My fav was definitely the strawberry.  I thought about stopping by there on my way home tonight for another, but I held out.  Maybe tomorrow.  ;)



My son came to school with me yesterday for Take Your Child to Work Day!  He was so excited! For many years he has wanted to come to "Mommy's school" and he finally got the chance.  He helped with a variety of classroom activities and even taught my students a song in sign language.  One of my parents came up to me today to tell me her son said it was so much fun to have Colton in the classroom and he wished he could come every day.  Melted my heart!




Thanks for joining me for another round of Five For Friday!

You may remember my Photo Dump - Part 1 from a few weeks ago.  Well, I am back with Photo Dump - Part 2!

We spent part of February learning about how to keep our teeth healthy.  One project that we did was to make a healthy teeth "toothbrush" book.


Students drew tools that help keep their teeth clean on the first page.