It's Tail Wagging Tuesday!

I'm excited to link up with CMae again!  This week's topic is Your Pet's Favorite Toy.

It's hard to pick just one favorite toy since Chip and Dixie have an overflowing toy box and they usually have 50%  or more OUT of the box!  Chip loves playing fetch with his Kongs, but he also loves his "nubbins".  This is his 2nd and 3rd one because he chews off the little nubs and it basically falls apart.  He carries it everywhere and sometimes tries to carry two at a time!  Dixie loves stuffed toys but destroys them in .5 seconds so she doesn't get them very often.  This football is her favorite toy to bring me when she wants to play fetch!

Another favorite toy at our house is the "food ball".  I found this at Petsmart and my doggies love it so much I have to hide it!  You put food in it and they kick it around to make the kibbles fall out of the hole.  I originally bought this for Dixie when our vet mentioned she was getting some extra "chub" (shhh, don't tell her)!  This food ball is bigger than Chip & Dixie's heads but Chip somehow manages to carry it around.  Cracks me up!

Adjectives, Contractions, and Dollar Deals, Oh My!

Nerd alert on the title of my post!

I just wanted to give everyone a quick school update for Market Yourself Monday!


I want to thank Ms. Durning of Second Grade is Splendid for this next idea!  I saw it on her blog and thought it was too cute.  I love that she borrowed this idea from another teacher and now it's being borrowed again!  Isn't that what teaching is all about?!  Anyway, my kids loved this activity and it was a great way to reinforce our knowledge of contractions.  "Apostrophe showers bring contraction flowers!" 

Earlier this week we read Mouse Island during our Eve Bunting "author study" for Read and Vote.  (Note: The illustrator of this book, Dominic Catalano, lives in Bexley, OH...a suburb of Columbus!  My kids thought this was so cool.  However, after checking his website it looks like he'll be moving to China soon...)
Anyway, we have been learning about adjectives lately and how they can make your writing sound more interesting and exciting and how they can help the reader to create mental images.  We read Mouse Island and then searched for adjectives on specific pages.  (I know it's probably not "legal" to copy the pages of a book but it was the easiest solution since I only have one copy of the book.)  The kids highlighted the adjective(s) and then found a sentence where they could add an adjective to "fluff up" the sentence.  We also made a large web of adjectives that describe our classroom.  Tonight I am going to fill some plastic easter eggs with various adjectives.  The kids will have to choose an egg and three adjectives and think of a noun to match those adjectives.  Does that make sense?  Ex: I choose 3 adjectives from my egg: furry, soft, cuddly.  I could match those adjectives with teddy bear.  After they think of a noun, they will write 3 sentences about their match!
Does anyone have any fun adjective activities to share?

Does anyone else love buying books for your classroom?!  I get so excited when the package arrives!  The other day when I got to school, I had a package waiting for me from Scholastic!  I bought a bunch of books during their "Dollar Days" special (is it dollar days or dollar deals?).   I'm still trying to build my classroom library so I bought some holiday books, season books, vocabulary readers (my kids love these for NF text conventions!) and a few randoms....

 I got 4 science vocabulary readers....

• Tree Homes
• Cave Homes
• Powerful Polar Bears
• Remarkable Reindeer

 I also bought a bunch of holiday books...

• The Day it Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond
• The Best Thing About Valentines by Eleanor Hudson
• If You'll Be My Valentine by Cynthia Rylant
• Martin's Dream by Jane Kurtz
• Young Martin Luther King, Jr. (First-Start Biography)
• My First Kwanzaa by Karen Katz
• On the First Night of Chanukah by Cecily Kaiser
• Jingle Bells by Iza Trapani
• Corduroy's Christmas Surprise 
• The Best Halloween Hunt Ever by John Speirs
• The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin by Joe Troiano
• The Littlest Pumpkin by R.A. Herman
• Halloween Mice by Bethany Roberts

 A few seasonal books....

• Picking Apples and Pumpkins (Clifford)
• Autumn is for Apples by Michelle Knudsen
• The Little Snowflake by Steve Metzger
• Flip and Flop by Dawn Apperley (penguins)

I also got a few randoms just for fun....

• I Lost My Tooth by Hans Wilhelm (Noodles)
• First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg

Now I'm in the mood to search for some "book lots" on eBay .....this could be trouble! :)

7 Favorite (non-teaching) things.....

I'm linking up with Katie of Persnickety Pickles to share 7 of my favorite things.....non-teaching!

1. My wonderful hubby!  He's my best friend and he makes me so happy every day.  Still not sure what I did to deserve him but I feel so lucky! <3

2. My family.  Of course, I love ALL of my family, but I'm lucky to be super-extra close to my mom and my sis.  I love having that close family relationship where I can talk to them about anything and call them at any hour of the night if I need to.  <3 you guys!!

We're twins, I know!

3. My pups.  These babydolls ARE my kids right now!  They are beyond spoiled and I love them like crazy.  They always make me happy!

4. Coffee and/or caffeine.  I seriously don't know what I'll do when I am prego.  I have an addiction and I need my coffee in the morning!  Any caffeine will probably do, but I prefer some coffee with flavored creamer.  If I'm not in the mood to be so frugal, I love my Starbucks, too!

5. Target.  Seriously, I have two locations within about 7 minutes from my house.  Do I even have to explain why Target is so great to me?!  The dollar spot, the clothes, the shoes, the home decor, the food, the prices.  And have I mentioned that both stores close to me have a Starbucks inside?!  Love Target.  I'm going today with my sis and I can't wait!

 6. My girlfriends.  I love these girls and I can't imagine life without some of them!  Every time we hang out, we have so much fun and I love them for that!  We're the type of friends where if we don't see each other for a while, we pick up right where we left off.  Love that!  (obviously I prefer to see them always though!)

Super old picture, but it's hard to find one of everyone!

7. I would have to say my phone.  It sounds dumb but I love that I can do pretty much anything with it anywhere I am.  I can check my email, check my blog, get online, play games (Angry Birds, anyone?), listen to my music, get GPS directions when I get lost, snap a few pictures, text my friends, call my family........seriously!  I can't live without this anymore!

Photo courtesy of Google but it looks JUST like my phone!

Don't forget to link up with Katie here!

Fashion Friday!

I hadn't been shopping in a while.  I had a bunch of gift cards (I tent to hoard them...) so I finally convinced myself (pathetic) to go to the mall.  Talk about deals, people!

I was searching for a fun dress to wear for my friend Kelli's bachelorette party that is coming up.  (Kel - I know you'll read this.  MAKE A BLOG already!)  I tried on a bunch and these were my favs:

Dress #1 (Macy's)

Dress #2 (Macy's)

Dress #3 (Macy's)

Dress #4 (Express)

As of yesterday, I only had options 1-3.  Today I stopped by Express for their big semi-annual sale and found option #4 on the clearance rack.  I L-O-V-E dress #3 but it is a bit way more expensive than my clearance find from Express.  I want some honest opinions on these!  I've pretty much crossed options 1 and 2 off but if you like them, let me know!

While at Express, I found some great deals!  I was there yesterday and picked up a cute cardi for $13 (normally $60) and a polo for my hubby (also $13)!  When I got home, I realized the cardi didn't fit in the sleeves so I had to go back today to exchange.  I ended up getting the dress above, a different cardi and a dressy tank....all for $40!  Thanks Express!  :)

I also stopped by Payless.....I found these cuties for only $17!

<3

This is not fashion related but can I just tell you guys how addicting these damn things are?!  I picked them up at Target one day and I can't put them down!  Advice: never shop hungry....even at Target! 

Wordless Wednesday....

....just joking!  It would be really hard for me to post something without any words.  I just was too lazy wasn't feeling creative enough to make a fun post title today.

I'm super excited to announce that I won an awesome giveaway that was hosted by Diane and Kelly over at Made for 1st Grade!  I was the first winner of this giveaway so I was able to choose from 3 great Primary Concepts products.  I chose the Word Ladders and I can't wait to use it with my kiddos!  Thank you, ladies!

Most of my third grade students are reading fairly fluently as far as WCPM so we have been working mostly on expression, intonation, etc.  Basically we are "making our reading sound interesting"!  However, I do have a few kiddos who have painfully very slow reading rates so we have been doing weekly fluency checks so that the students can self-monitor their rate.  I have found this to be informational to me, but also motivational for the students!  I got all of my [1-minute] fluency checks from EasyCBM.  I put them in a binder with the student copy on top and assessor copies underneath (in plastic sleeves).  This makes for easy access if we ever have an extra minute or two to do the check!  Eventually I'll probably add other grade levels to this binder, but for now, I only needed the third grade forms.  If you haven't checked out this site, I highly recommend it!  It has a lot of quick checks for literacy as well as math and best of all: it's totally FREE!  :)  What do you all do to help improve your students' reading rates?

I have had a bad cold that first graced me with his presence last Thursday.  Luckily the worst of it seemed to hit me over the weekend.  (Is it sad that I felt lucky to get sick on the weekend so I wouldn't have to miss school?!)  Either way, I'm finally starting to feel better, but my neck has been crazy sore.  So much so that I can barely turn my head or look up and down.  I feel like a zombie or something (not sure why).  I already had a doctor appointment scheduled for tomorrow to check up on my hypertension so I'm holding out for a solution until then.  In the mean time, I'm sporting a new accessory to help my neck until I get to the doctor.  Don't be too jealous.....

Bad qualtiy pic but it's hard to take it backwards!

Speaking of health, a quick update on my high blood pressure sitch: I got an ultrasound last week on my kidneys.  Results: healthy kidneys, yay!  So now my doctor is puzzled (never a good thing) and I'm headed to see her tomorrow to see if she has any other ideas or solutions.  Wish me luck!

My [fur] Babies!

Today is the first EVER Tail Wagging Tuesday link-up!  Thanks for setting this up, CMae!  I've been looking forward to this so I could show off my cutie pies!

I'm not gonna lie, I will probably break the rules.  As in I'll be posting more than one picture most weeks. BUT that's only because I have two pup-a-roos!

This week's topic is your most favorite picture of your pet.

It was impossible really hard to pick just one picture.  (It's hard enough to get both pups to sit still together for a pic!)  I decided to do a "before and after".  The first picture is during Chip & Dixie's first year with us [2005]!  The second picture is Chip & Dixie in 2010 at 5 years old!  I'm still working on getting a "group" 2011 picture :)  Don't worry though, I have plenty of solo shots of the both of them! <3

Dixie is on the left in both pics and Chip is on the right.  Stinkers :)

TGIF

Is anyone else glad it's Friday?  This first week back after Spring Break has been a little crazy for us.  The kids were all extremely energized and we got an unexpected dusting of snow (along with temps that are way too cold for Spring)!  On top of it all, I feel like I may be coming down with a cold - boo!!


Anyway, I wanted to share what I decided to do with my Star Student bulletin board.  I wanted to keep the Star Student theme because I like having a place to highlight the students (especially in such a small room).  If you don't remember the board from before, you can find a picture in this post.  My main goal was to make this bulletin board more meaningful.  In the beginning of the year, I had students fill out "All About Me" sheets with their favorite book and a photo so that different reading groups could see who else came to see me throughout the day.  I had difficulty figuring out how to use this bulletin board mid-year.  I decided to focus on students' reading strengths.  Today I had each student fill out a star paper with their name and an "I can" statement about their reading.  I like how it turned out!  (I changed the background to black for more contrast...the bottom half of the board is still yellow and dedicated to "teacher reminders".  I still have a few more stars to add, hence the space at the bottom!  What do you think?

I also wanted to share some pictures of our newly painted family room!  I'm excited about this because I've been wanting it done forEVER!  We've lived in our house 6 years now (!) so I think it's time to paint some of our "main" rooms.  I'm trying to figure out decorations still.....I'm very indecisive!  FYI: The fireplace wall is our only accent wall.  The other walls are all the color on the right, it was just bad lighting!  Here is a before and after:

In case anyone just loves my style, here are my paint colors.  I like neutral walls and pops of color on pillows, blankets, curtains, accessories, etc.  Don't hate!

Roasted Sepia (accent wall)

Stone Manor (all other walls in Great Room)

Smoked Oyster (common areas of house - downstairs hallway/foyer, stairway, upstairs hallway)

Autumn Fog (I haven't painted yet, but this is the color I chose for our kitchen).  I think I'll do this in our master bath too!  In real life, it seems much more blue than gray!

 Last, but not least, the ladies over at Made for First Grade are hosting an April Fools Giveaway!  Head on over to their blog to enter for a chance to win 1 of 3 awesome literacy resources!