last week of school plans!

can I get a yahoo!
it's finally our last week
it's usually always bittersweet
I LOVE-ADORE this class! for reals
they are jam packed with personality!
and that's just my type!
never dull!
and as much as they are all driving me absolutely insane, I know I will miss the fool outta them!
the past week started our 10 day countdown. If you follow in Instagram, you've seen the pictures.
I'm not ashamed to say we've watched a lot of Discovery Education, BrainPop Jr., and flat out full feature films!
They are wired! so it helps!
so here's what we will be up to!

I couldn't fit every detail here, so I will try to explain what fills in all the gaps!
Each day we will work on our Hashtag Memory Books and a Father's Day magazine

we continue our morning work routine each morning. It's habit. they go directly to the basket to get their books. It would really throw them off if we didn't!

Monday-third grade day
read this post to learn about how we make moving up into a day of learning with cursive monsters, a brochure for the first graders, and play with shaving cream-oh, and read this post, too!

Tuesday-Sports Day
we will work on memory books all week until Thursday when they take them home
we have a kickball tournament with my teammate's class and they are pumped. I won't be trying to do anything serious before we win!
I'll be using Bubbly's field day unit's centers throughout the afternoon

Wednesday-Un-Birthday Day
My teammate made a fabulous birthday unit we will use! We will read about other birthday traditions around the world and play a few birthday games from Teacher's Clubhouse.
The kids who have summer birthdays bring in treats, too.


Thursday-Awards Day
that morning we will sign autographs and have some popcorn centered fun with Bubbly's This Year has Been Poppin' Unit
We use Sarah's Hollywood theme for the awards ceremony. We supply the popcorn and the kids bring in toppings and other party treats.
But I still use my Candy Awards because they fit my kids so well! I add to the file each year! and they are customizable so you can add your kiddos names, too! And even though candy might not win me a healthy kid award, they love the idea and nothing is over a dollar! I find it all at Dollar Tree, Hobby Lobby, or Target.

Since I love these kids so much, I went a little overboard with my end of year gifts. In fact, I usually just give them an award and shoo them out the door! But I went with the popcorn theme and put little books (dollar tree has great Disney reading comprehension workbooks and National Geo Weird-but-True Fact books), movie star sunglasses (from party city), and a few things from Amanda's End of Year buckets in a popcorn container (also party city).
I found that the movie rental store also gives a free rental for each A and lots of bowling coupons, so I snagged those for the containers too! I will add their awards but I like to hand them out obviously!

Friday-Game Day
many kids do not come on the last day...so we are having game day for the ones who do. They can bring whatever they'd like to play. Many of them will want to help clean up the room, too!
#5moredays
#summerisinsight
#illstillhaveaweekofworkdaysafterwards

hashtag heaven

i'm addicted to instgram
i freely admit it
hubs thinks I'm a lunatic
I'm an oversharer
I'm that girl who takes pictures of her feet and lunch

so I thought I could turn this addiction into something fun for the kids, too! everytime I take a picture they ask where I'm posting it! ha! They know me so well!

I made two new EOY products to appease my hashtagging addiction until I can be a full time IG'er another week!

this may be my favorite product of the year! I love how it turned out. I love a good black and white layout, too! I even prefer it to color most of the time!

and...

and what's a memory book without matching awards?! am I right?!

I even like the black white version of these better too!

I tried to be clever!

I know this is small, but there are 40 different awards. Not Mr this and miss this, so about everyone has something perfect! I tried to really capture my fun in my students this year!

check out Linda's FREE hashtag picture page and amazing post featuring Jen' Hashtag fluency!

#happyday

#7moreschooldaysforme

#maynotmakeit

five for friday {summer vacay edition}

techincally not quite vacay time
I still have a workday Tuesday
and I will be doing portfolios because I am a slacker...
but not next year thanks to some recent pinning!

Here's my random five for friday!

 I finally took the plunge! And got my teammie one too so I'll be forced to use it! that's too much money to waste, right!?

my baby {ok, he will be fourteen Sunday!} was awarded a scholarship for a little over 800$ at his 8th grade graduation! He was in the top 10 in his class! #proudmama

We had a real life BMX stunt show for our PBIS end of year reward. It was awesome! So good in fact I thought I was going to puke a few times! 

Here he is jumping over 4 students and the two other riders!

I kept thinking "fry like bacon!" haha! 

I always think of Dazed and Confused at the end of the school year!

Here's a peek at our last bulletin board. 

We wrote about what we were or were wanting to do this summer

it's from Hope's file!

I loved all of it, but only had time for this writing!

I loe how they posed for these "thinking" pictures!

they are priceless!

and yes, I wrote one too!

and here's a few snapshots from awards day!

We went with the Hollywood theme!

We had a popcorn bar and as you can see-only raisins were left!

I'm pretty sure by the time 11:30 rolled around I had taken down half the M&M's!

My top hat was a hit! I got this at Party City along with a paparazzi scene maker and a red carpet!

now go and link up so I can see all your random moments from the week!

#tiredteacher

7 days left!
These past couple of weeks have just been a whirlwind
what seems like we're having someone check something at the house we are buying daily

the kiddos have actually been pretty good considering it's the last week of school
we are right in the middle of out abc-ya countdown
I'm planning a Hollywood themed awards day so I have to make all new decor
not to mention all the crap beautiful work that goes into student portfolios that next year's teacher won't even look at
completing and double checking RtI folders
filling out data sheets for parents and portfolios
not to mention looking at the mounds of junk piling up on my desk and counters
and the thoughts of packing everything up, shoving it in the closet, and moving all the furniture into the hallway!
phew
but I know you are all doing the same things and it's all part of the j-o-b

here are some of my favorite things from instagram this week for #teachertalktuesday!

working on our farley inspired end of year art

Dino Day {part one}

I am loving these Who Would Win activities my teammie is making! #ontptsoon

I couldn't resist doing a Hollywood themed awards day @firstgraderatlast!

The kids will be dressed to impress as they get their candy awards!

so happy rest of the week!

and the winner is…

As I was trying to figure out my last bulletin board for the year, I came up with the “Lambys” rather than the Grammy’s. I thought highlighting different events throughout the year would be a great display.
Then I remembered the Grammy’s are music only {I don’t keep up with Award shows other than what Joan Rivers makes fun of or what I read in US Weekly. So I went through the list of various awards and came up with some good ones!

The Classroom Academy Awards!

And here’s a picture of the final product. Sadly, I did not get the board up until the next to the last day of school! But all the parents and kids really enjoyed it at Awards Day. I liked that it showed off ALL of us.
I chose to do this as a whole class activity. I wasn’t sure my kids would be able to remember past a month before! {however, I included a ballot for older kids} We discussed what each award meant then shouted out events. The best part was reenacting the moments we chose as winners.
And just fyi: The Mylar filmstrip above the board is from party city as well as the lights, camera, action signs. All my fabric is from Walmart.

me with my moustache glasses as Best Director

this was voted Most Comedic Moment-one of my students had my Interwrite Pad and was moving the mouse as I was projecting something on the TV. I could not for the life of me figure out what was going on! When we figured out he was controlling it, we could not stop laughing!

Best Gut Wrenching Moment-when 4 different kids threw up within an hour one day. ewww

Best Cast-Room 205!

Here are some other reenactments-

pouring water on me at field day as Biggest Surprise-they’re still laughing…I am not…

Most Dramatic Scene-when the quail chicks left. Wow was this dramatic…

I know it’s too late for most everyone, but it’s great for next year! My eyes hurt from going through cumulative folders all day and my butt’s still numb from sitting on the floor the whole time seeing as how we had to have ALL furniture out today even though we work til Thursday…I no longer try to understand. Hopefully I can find time for paperwork while I blog hop and blog these next few days. Is it just me or are the workdays just as exhausting as the rest of the end of the year?

A Junior Mint

Awards Day has come and gone
no tears were shed on my part for the first year ever in my 9 years teaching
I am nothing short of exhausted. I feel like Rhianna must feel since I’m a rockstar in the classroom and all

I really procrastinated this year
normally I have a Smilebox video all cued up, snack spread laid out
this year I had iCloud all cued up!

My son’s Awards were directly before mine, so I had a sweetie TA cover do some cursive with my kiddos so I could attend
but that left no time to open up the goodies for brunch with parents
I was actually still setting up the slideshow as they came in
I didn’t even look up!
I’m terrible

But the candy awards were a HIT! I was setting this out upside down in the morning with the candy. They were all ohh and ahh. I also bought balloons at Dollar Tree and gave out my first ever Student of the Year award. It was a last minute decision, but with the tattling and immaturity we’ve had this year, it was well-deserved!

My favorite award is the Junior Mint (little teacher in training I would call it)
Little Miss JJ was ecstatic! I would happily let her teach my own children one day! She has teaching in her blood and know she will be a remarkable and loving teacher one day

see the resemblance! I love posing for their pictures. I am pretty sure my little photogs took at least 100 pictures with my phone!

and other highlights of the day. My middle Lamb was awarded Most Smartest by his class and he also earned his yellow belt in Teashikido!

see the brotherly love…

sour to sweet

face it, no matter how ill you get with the kiddos this time of year
{it’s not just ME is it??}
they are so sweet when they leave! I always want em back next year!
all our grade level have a set awards day
it’s that time parents come out and await the amazing award their baby deserves is awarded
year after year I try to find the best way to go about this hour long performance
last  year I was completely head over heels for my class
this year took some getting used to, but I’m there for the most part!
I have decided to pull out the old favorite candy awards!
I have ogled at these for a few years, but finally got around to making them fit me and my standards for excellency!
here are some examples of the awards. they are full color and feature a picture of the candy represented. I kept it all lighthearted and fun! they also come in black and white! just copy on fun paper! Don't forget the shopping list!

   

     

I am truly not for giving everyone a trophy for showing up kind of stuff, but this is the time for goodbyes and hugs and lots of lovin! all those bad days and stress are out the window for me! all sarcasm out the door because I do love them…

here’s what it all about! above is my “Junior Mrs. Lamb” 2011 winner! I cry every.single.year. my handprints are painted on the back of her shirt and I still see almost all of these guys every day…aren't they precious

happy teacher appreciation y’all! I know I am lovin’ today’s baked goods for the teacher day!
don’t forget about all these wonderful sales on TpT {I’m doing 20% all week plus the 10% TAD12 code=30% thru wednesday} and 30% off at TN too!

Fabulous Followers Need Love Too! A New Award to Share!

We dish out lots of awards for bloggers we follow-but what about the bloggers who do the following??

I don’t mean the weird, stalky ones {come on, you know what I mean... }But the gals who comment just the perfect amount. Or always have something positive and uplifting to say?

I wanted to recognize two of my followers who are just that: FANTASTIC!

I wanted to make an award for these gals cause they make me feel as if I am really contributing to the other teachers of the world rather than just fulfilling my need to babble, spend time on the computer, and make stuff! {all of which I LOVE}

SO Congrats to you:

Mrs. Cupcake

and

to you:

Ericka

Your kindness doesn’t go unappreciated!

Want to share this award?? PLEASE DO! Just save the png, blog about your favorite follower, and pass on the love! If you share and post anything today-please do this!