Friday Favorites

I am excited to participate for the first time in Friday Favorites! I am going to do this teacher style...just because!!

ONE

My students freaked out when I came in and my nails matched my data binder. I have a data binder that I keep everything in...it goes with me to meetings, parent conferences, PLC's, home...just everywhere.  I didn't plan to match my data binder but that fact that my kids know that it matches CRACKS ME UP!!!!!!

TWO

These pants from the loft are my new favs for the end of the year.

They are perfect length for sandals or wedges. They are light and comfy.  You need these for the last days of school!!!!

THREE

My team is another favorite this week!! My goodness we are the best. One of us is leaving. She got her dream job as a GT teacher in the same district, which are are so excited for her, but it's gonna stink with out her next year!!!

FOUR

I know this has nothing to do with school but my husband posted his golf course this week and it looks amazing! 

He is a golf course superintendent and he is pretty amazing at his job. He NEVER post on FB so for him to put this up is a big deal :)

One of the things I love about him is that when someone compliments the course he always says.."I'll pass it along to my guys.." never takes credit for it. I love how he lets his guys know they are appreciated and give them the compliments. 

Being a GC superintendent wife stinks some days..but I know he is amazing at what he does and I'll support him!! 

I hope you all have a blessed weekend!

Area and Perimeter

Y'all...what is it about this topic that is so hard. My cuties always struggle with this!  I have had this as my door decor since December (thus the folds and crinkles on some of the paper)! I thought...maybe if they see this everyday it will stick...

 Well...I was wrong..like major wrong. We started this unit and I the proud, creative teacher stood at the front of my classroom and said.. "boys and girls, today we are going to learn about area and perimeter. Have you ever heard of it?' I stood back waiting for my students to say.."Yes oh teacher we see it on our door everyday"... You know what I got!? This....

So yeah...this is going to go well!!!!

Anyway I did what any good teacher would do...got on pinterest and found some hands on activities for us to do! Like this one..Perimeter and Area Art!!! After we spent the week learning formulas and how to measure,  I wrote two perimeters on the board and an area. They had to decide how to get those. It was fun to see their little minds working and light up when they found out how to create them. I love how they are all different.

We also did this activity, Create your dream house. My kids were struggling with, How do you apply this to real life so we created blue prints for our dream house!! Some of the rooms were so funny!!!! It really brought out their personality and made them think! I hope one day they will have the chance to build their dream house in real life!! 

 This kid has my heart...put in a science lab!! LOVE IT!!!!

And that small little neon yellow deal...that is our TEK for this one. I always put the TEK in the hallway so when people are walking by they know why we did that activity. Also, the kids know that the things  we do have a purpose!! 

Have a great day!!!!

Happenings!!!

This year is just ticking away....which I am not going to complain about!!!

We have been busy doing lots of fun things!!!

We had the first round of testing in March...the writing STAAR test. I am not a fan testing. I hate it. However, we have to do it.  To make it a time of "fun" cause we all know sitting around for 4 hours is so much fun for a 4th grader we do Camp Write A Lot!!! It is a BLAST!!!!!

I set up a big giant tent in my room. My whole class can fit in this thing!!! We do our activities inside the tent for the day. Practice parts of speech, how to we make good sentences, intros, closings, ideas, writing around the campfire, the whole deal! We also practice the MOST important part about writing by...MAKING S'MORES!!!!  There are so many of our students who have 1. never been camping and 2. have never made s'mores. Which, as always, blows my MIND!!!! When we do our memories of 4th grade this is always one of the top ones!!! 

This happened too.....

That is me (as Uncle Si) and my amazing team! We have an end of the 6 weeks hoopla called High Five. We give the students reading goals and if they meet this goal they get to go to the gym and give the teachers high fives! It is a GREAT motivation for our students and we kind of love dressing up! My team isn't afraid to dress up...like any chance we get we are dressing up...characters from the Alamo, Rappers, Hippies, you name it we will do it!!! 

That's about all that has been going on! Good times in 4th grade! 

Is it enough??

Dear Students,

As your teacher I am always asking myself this question...
Did I teach you enough?
Did we do enough hands on materials?
Did we practice enough?
Did I show you all the possible ways to learn this one TEK?

I want you to know that I believe the answer to this question is YES!! I did enough because YOU are enough!

You are enough every single day!!!

You come to my class and let me teach you things that your amazing little 10 year old brains can't even comprehend because we are trying to raise the rigor.

You write papers about subjects you have NO idea about because you have not had the  same experiences as other kids in Texas.

You come to school dealing with life...a life no child should have to deal with, however you still come and do your best!

At the end of the day...I know you are doing your best and I hate it with my whole heart that we have to take this test.

So please believe me when I say...I believe in you and NO MATTER how you do on that stupid test tomorrow YOU ARE ENOUGH!!!

Love always,
Your Fourth Grade Teacher

For Reals this time..

I have missed blogging.
I want to do this more often.
I know I said that last year and posted NOTHING..but for reals this time!!!!!


So...what's been going on?? I'm still in 4th. We are getting ready for that dreaded writing test in a few short weeks!

My daughter is in her first year of jr. high.
OY VEY...I really do not understand girls and drama and girls...

My little one was sent home Thursday with the flu..yes the flu. It's flipping March. When I took him in his doctor said and I quote "shit..we haven't seen this type I thought we missed it this year" GREAT!!! Congrats son on being the first to have it..NOT

I am trying this... this will be new for me. I am a junk food lover...coke drinker...fast food fanatic..so this is a huge change for me...I mean LOOK freaking spinach in this smoothie mmmkkkk I don't even eat veggies but I'm trying!!

Life...it really is short. God has just placed on my heart you have to LOVE others..just like he loves us. That is what I am trying to focus on.

Thanks for reading!! I'm going to really try to make this happen more often!

Yearly blog post

Well..here it is the yearly blog post!
I'm going to try REALLY hard this year to do more!

Last year was the hardest year for me. My mom passed away in November. We had new curriculum. I was ON EDGE and if I'm being honest I was checked out most of the year. I miss my mom more and more each day BUT I am so grateful for that season because God showed me so much grace and opened my eyes to so much! SO MUCH people!! LIVE LIVE LIVE!!! You never know when your last day will be. Tell people you love them. Be nice to others...and above all else LOVE!!!

One of the fun things with teaching is you get a do over...praise Jesus!!

This year I am in such a better place. I am happy to teach again and just happy to have a new beginning. I am excited about this year! I have my happy back!

I had a goal with this blog..to have fun and share 4th grade fun! I'm going to do this (I am repeating this in my head several times)

Thanks for reading and I hope and Pray you ROCK it this year!!!

Raw and Real

Wowza....I am so glad to be writing again and just can't believe this little blog has suffered. It's a new beginning. I am one of those crazy people and my year starts when school does. I get Jan. 1 is the new year but not in my world. :)
This post will be raw and real...so if you don't wanna read it that's fine...but you have been warned.


Last year was ROUGH!! I decided to take on a second job (what!?) and my goal was to work this job this year and open a craft store. I wonder if God was laughing at me saying oh you silly little girl...that is not why I provided you this other gig...just wait and see.
I officially took over that job in December and it had nothing to do with teaching and I love it. Now, don't get me wrong there are very stressful times...like the next couple of months but overall I love it.
School was plugging away and I was getting use to my new grade. I like how the kids are bigger and can do more things. I LOVE my team. I even survived the three test we give...then my world came crashing down. I mean CRASHING.
See, my sweet mom got news we NEVER wanted to hear. Her back was hurting her extremely bad. She had taken a fall down the church stairs in December. She never went to the dr. so we all thought it was from the fall. She went in for an MRI and they said she had a broken back. DO WHAT!? It two her two weeks to even get into a back dr. TWO WEEKS PEOPLE. Then it took another week for her to get to the results. She is the strongest person I know. I'm pretty sure if I had a broken back I would have made my husband take me to the hospital and demand a bed!!!
She started loosing her walking ability and praise God her back dr. made her come in and have another MRI. The original plan was to get her a brace (which she hates) and it should heal. This was on Monday April 28th. On Tuesday they admitted her to the hospital for back surgery and we found out the news NOBODY ever wants to hear..she had cancer. The original spot started in the lungs and was 4 inches across.  At that time we knew it was stage 4 but didn't know the severity of it. She had her back surgery and was in the hospital for 15 days. Ok some of y'all might be like..big deal...this is a lady, who in my 31 year has gone to the dr. one time! This was devastating.  You know you have so many questions going through your mind, if she would have had a check up would she be ok, or was that cough really bronchitis? Just so many what ifs....
This time was a whirlwind. The thing that killed me the most was the way she found out she had cancer. I was there with her for a LONG time and we left her room at 9:30 that night. The oncologist came in about 25 min later and told her. She was ALL ALONE. This will be a memory I will never forget..I needed to be there, I needed to cry with her, I needed to process with her, but I wasn't.
When she was strong enough we finally went and had all the scans. The technical diagnosis is Stage 4 lung cancer with matastic bone and brain cancer. Yes, it's in her bone (the reason for her broken back) and in the brain. The funny thing in the cancer world is that you don't have time to think...you don't get to sit back and feel sorry for yourself. You just don't. The day we found this out we were whisked away to radiation because the brain was now top priority.
I had to take a leave of absence...it was so so hard. My team was wonderful. My campus showered us with love. My admin at my school showed me grace. I am still blown away.
She is still fighting for her life. She had radiation for the month of June and we have started chemo. She is scheduled for a scan next week because it has been 60 days since the last scan. We are praying for results, however we are realistic that things might not be better.
Through this whole deal I have never been mad at God. I have question timing but never mad.
I know this year will be tough. I am no longer able to take her to treatments.
As I look at my new year there are things I know I need to do differently. I know I am stronger than I thought. Now I do have days where I just want to run away to Mexico and read a book on a beach, but that will never happen. I can do a great job at being a wife, mom, caretaker, and a really good 4th grade teacher.
The thing I need to do most is show love and grace. I know roll your eyes but really this is what I need to do all that time even when I don't want to.
We have been studying 1 John for the past two months. This chapter has been so good for me.
Y'all we have to love each other. We need to show kindness and grace...I thought I was ok at this until I read this book. Boy was I wrong.
I looked at this chapter last night I was reading my thoughts I had written down ...here are a few that stand out
Darkness & Light can't hang out
When you love the world you are selfish
We need to love a joyful life
People who are loved, love
We have to love others
Guard your heart

So this new school year show love and grace to all...even when you don't wanna!!!

until next time....