Currently and what are you wearing

Since it's been so long since I've blogged, I'm catching up on some fun linky parties. I love Farley's monthly currently party. I look forward to it all month. But I'm a few days behind on the party.

My hubby and I teach a Sunday school class for young adults. I always joke that it should be called Nerds 101 because there is a lot of comic book talk. But we've been studying the book of Romans and he's been tying in the Lord of the Rings. It is pretty cool the way you can draw some biblical truths and lessons from these movies. We'll watch a clip or two each week. This has inspired us to rewatch the movies. I'm thinking about rereading the books this summer.
Last week was testing and I'm so glad it's over. It is a lot to ask little ones to do. This year is the first year the state has mandated that K-2 participate in the testing. Our county has elected for 1st and 2nd for a while, so we knew what to expect in first. I hated it for the Kinders though. It was way too much on them. I was so happy on Friday to have my room back to usual and be able to do some normal lessons.
We have 16 days of school left and there is a lot to do. I still have things I want to teach and do with the kids. Plus awards day, field day, social studies fair, and report cards one last time. I also need to pack and organize my room. I don't know why I'm listing all these things. You know what's up. You have all these things to do too.
My wanting and summer bucket list are kind of all related. I want to learn how to use a DSLR camera before Chris and I have kids. I want to be able to take good pictures. I would settle for a decent used camera. I want to get my house all organized and start sewing again. These things are related to the fact that I want Chris and I to be thinking about starting a family. I need to get our extra bedroom all cleaned up and organized first.
The second linky party I want to join is the Share Watcha Wear party at Closing the Gap in a Cute Outfit. I've been wanting to post about outfits for a while but I just wasn't sure. I wasn't sure anyone would want to see my outfits. But our guidance counselor a few weeks ago suggested I blog about my clothes and then I saw this linky party. So I figured I should join up. I got the hubby to take a couple of pictures of my outfits last week. So here they are:

Since we were testing, I went with my most comfortable and slightly stylish shoes. My chacos. I have had these shoes since I did my student teaching. So that means I've been wearing them for about 10 years now. They are black and they go with everything. I need to get them resoled but I have a hard time giving them up. Be sure to head over to Farley's for the Currently Party and Closing the Gap for the whatcha wearing.

The Best Pencil Sharpener

So for as long as I've been blogging I've been wanting one of the Classroom Friendly Pencil Sharpeners. I entered so many giveaways for them and not once did I win. So in January I got the opportunity to receive a sharpener to review them on the blog. They got it to me quickly but I've not been good about getting the review up. I wanted to have the opportunity to really use it my classroom before I shared an opinion. I'll be honest. I wasn't crazy about it at first and neither was my assistant but it was because I hadn't watched the video to find out how to use it. That was not a smart move on my part. Once I watched the video, I was clear on how to use it. That made all the difference. I'm just as in love with it as I thought I would be. It sharpens all pencils even those pesky decorative ones that no other sharpener can get sharp. I got a pretty red one and I love it because it matches the decor in my classroom.

Isn't it beautiful? It was great to have this past week in getting ready for our standardized testing. My assistant ended up taking it home to sharpen pencils for several classes. It worked better than her electric one that would have overheated and needed to rest with that many pencils. Our pencils stay sharpened and we can use all kinds of pencils with no problem.

 Be sure to head over to the website and order your own pencil sharpener. http://www.classroomfriendlysupplies.com/
The opinions expressed in this review are my own. I did receive a pencil sharpener for this review.

Long Time, No Blog

It has been a while since I've blogged. I don't really have a good excuse I just haven't been feeling it. Then last week was testing week and it was crazy. I keep thinking of things to blog about but when I sit down at the end of the day, playing tetris on my phone seems like a better idea. (Don't buy tetris. It is highly addictive.) But I'm hoping to get back in the groove because I have been missing blogging. I've missed reading blogs as well. I have no idea what is going on in the blogging world. I did take the time to convert my instagram account over to a blog instagram as well. I don't think I could keep up with 2 so there will be personal picture as well as teaching and blogging pictures. If you want to follow me my name on instagram is mskerriskrazyklass. If you leave your name, I'd love to follow you as well. It is so fun seeing all the picture of my blogging friends. Speaking of pictures, I have taken pictures the past few weeks even though I haven't been blogging. I had all kind of ideas for posts but instead I'm going to dump all the pictures into this post and then start fresh.
This first picture is the last activity we did for Oviparous animals. I had some other pictures but I can't remember what I shared and didn't share. But I know I didn't share this activity. It was a scavenger hunt from Shuna Patterson's Let's Get Cracking unit.  I put the clues in plastic Easter eggs and hid them around the room. The kids worked with a partner to find a clue. Once they found it, they read the clue to figure out the animal. They had to draw a picture of the animal and write 2 facts about it. It was a great way to finish up our unit on Oviparous animals. The next week or two was suppose to be about plants but we really didn't do all the activities I wanted to do. We got busy reviewing for our standardized test.

But this past week we did take a little time to read one of my favorite books about plants, Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens. I had bought a unit on TPT from Julie Lee to go with the book. (Click here to check it out.) We had fun creating our own hare or bear and comparing the characters. It was so nice to have fun reading a book and having the time. We did this Friday after our tests were complete.

This picture is of our math workstations we've been working on for the past few weeks. They are from my Spring has Sprung Math Workstations. My kids really enjoyed the games. They also are using the ipod for math games, doing some exploration with base 10 blocks and on the computer. I loved having these in place for the week of testing. They were a fun but still educational activity for them to do in the afternoon.

This last picture is of one of the art projects we did after we finished testing for the day. They used magazines to cut out shapes and make a picture. I thought they turned out pretty good. 

So that in a nutshell is what has been going on with my class the past few weeks. We have 18 days of school left and a lot going on. This coming week we'll be learning about insects. Hopefully I'll be back later this week to show you what we've been up to. I also have several products to share with you.

Visual Plans for this week

I'm linking up with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten for her Peek at Week Linky. This week is all about plants. I have some great units from my friends to draw from and I'm so excited to be teaching about plants. This week I'm only sharing my reading and science plans. My writing plans are exactly like last weeks. (We'll be doing the Pop Rocks Descriptive writing activity from Abby at the Inspired Apple.) We didn't get to it last week.

Be sure to click here to access the links and the freebie that I included.
I made an anticipation guide for this unit like I did with Oviparous animals. It gave me a good idea of what the kids already knew about plants.

You can get this freebie by downloading my visual plans.
Here are some units I'll be drawing from this week. The are from some of my fantastic bloggy friends.

This one is from Jennifer Knopf from Herding Kats in Kindergarten. Check it out here. 

 This one is from Erica Crowder from Sprinkles to Kindergarten. Check it out here.

This last one is from Shuna from Pocket Full of Kinders. I'm in love with the graphics and activities. Check it out here. 
What are you doing this week? Be sure to check out all the other plans this week over at Mrs. Wills Kindergarten.

Random Ramblings

So I haven't blogged since Tuesday. It was hard getting back into the swing of school after a week and a few days off. But I'm back today for my non teaching related post. I'm back to share some ramblings of my past week. I had started this post last night before Chris and I went out for date night. By the time we got home, I just wanted to get in bed and read. So I'm going to finish this post today and share my visual plans tomorrow. Anyway, I'll start off with what I'm reading. I finally started the book Gone Girl.

Oh my goodness, I'm hooked. It's so suspenseful. I've almost stayed up way too late the past two nights reading it. I really wanted to finish it the other night but I was only like 45% through.(I read a lot on my kindle and that's how I  can tell how far I'm in the book.) I'd say I'll finish it tonight. I'll read just about anything but I love mysteries. They are my favorites. I just recently finished this series of books by a local author. Tuesday at our local library he's doing a book signing and I wanted to have his books read by then. I'm on the board of our library and plant to be in attendance. They were pretty good. I found them amazon and if you like mysteries these are good.

I'm not sure what I'm going to be reading next. I have some new stuff on my kindle so next week I'll update you on what I'm reading. I'd love to hear what you're reading so leave me a title or two in the comments.
I'm still working on my healthy eating habits. I have been 6 days without diet coke and it's hard. I miss my diet coke and I'm getting the worse caffeine headaches. I was only having one at lunch so I was a little surprised that my head would hurt so bad. But it's getting better. I think if I can make it 10 days I'll be on my way to giving them up. I weighed this week and I've lost almost 6 and half pounds. I know it isn't that much and it has taken me a while but I feel good about it. I'm not doing anything crazy (well the no diet coke is a little crazy) but just trying to get some better habits in general. We had a couple of good dinner this week. The first was Greek night.

I had found a Greek chicken crockpot recipe and the chicken had great flavor. I put lemon juice, red wine vinegar, water, garlic, onion and oregano in with the chicken and cooked it on low for 6 hours. I put it on a bed of spinach with grape tomatoes, cucumbers and sprinkled with feta. I also made a home made tzatziki sauce. It was delish. I thought it looked really pretty on the plate.

This meal is one of my old single standbys with chicken added. I got the recipe originally from Giada on the food network. It's a roasted vegetable pasta primavera. You chop up bell peppers, zucchini, squash and carrots. Coat with olive oil and then add spices. I use Italian seasonings, paprika and garlic powder. Cook on 450 for about 20 minutes. I cooked whole wheat penne. Tossed the vegetables and penne with Parmesan cheese. This was always satisfying for me but my hubby likes meat. So I sauteed 2 chicken breasts with the land o lakes saute express butter. It was a good dinner and pretty healthy. So those are my food suggestions for the week. This week on the menu is Skinnytaste's chicken and white bean enchiladas, fish tacos, salad with chicken and pinto beans and cornbread. What's on your menu for the week?
I have a couple more pictures to share of my adventures the past week.

 Chris and I are still working on our spare bedroom. It has been my junk room and then our junk room. We found a cute desk at a local store in our arts and crafts community a month ago so we've been working on itslowly. Part of the problem is all my craft materials. So last weekend Chris bought me a shelf to try to get the yarn under control. I think it looks like I'm opening up a yarn store. But it looks a lot better.

 Monday since I had a doctor's appointment and had to leave at a half day. Chris and I met for lunch at this great cafe. We got to eat outside since the weather was so nice. They have a really pretty patio area. If you find yourself in Pigeon Forge, TN you should check the Pottery House Cafe out. There food is so good.

Last picture is from our field trip on Thursday. I'm blessed to live next to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We have a very special relationship with the park and every year each grade level goes on 3 field trips to the park. It's called Parks as a Classroom. They have it in other national parks but our program was one of the first ones around. This was the end of the our habitat hike on Thursday. We got to see some really neat things. The rangers led it and it was great trip. I'm a weirdo and love field trips. They make me happy rather than stress me out.
So those are my random ramblings for the week. I need to get lesson plans written, visual plans up, and a couple of things made for plants next week. So be sure to come back tomorrow to see my visual plans and snag a few freebies. I love comments so I'd love to hear about what you are reading or eating.

Differentiation difficulties

Yesterday was the first day back from spring break. I really didn't want to go back to school. Not because I don't love my kids and my job but I just enjoyed my time off. But I couldn't complain too much. I only went to school a half day yesterday and then I was out today. I had doctor appointments. You'd think I could have made them the week of spring break. But the one I had today I made the appointment in February and today was the first day that they could get me in. My appointment yesterday was about my knee and I was a little disappointed in the results. I had surgery on my ACL in November. I actually tore the ACL and meniscus when I was a freshman in high school and didn't do anything about it then. So there's a lot of damage. I was hoping that this ACL surgery would fix my issues but it doesn't seem like it has. I'm still having some pain in one side of my knee. I have done really well with physical therapy and have full motion and flexibility with my knee. I've been trying to get back into exercising by walking and swimming. I love walking when the weather is nice. Well the doctor told me that I need to start wearing a brace whenever I'm going to be on my feet for a while and definitely when walking or hiking. He also said that I need to focus more on swimming, biking, and the elliptical instead of walking for exercising. I know it's not the end of the world and  it isn't that big of a deal. But I feel really discouraged. I'm worried that I'm going have to have more surgery and I have better things to do than that. I also have to continue with my physical therapy. I don't mind it because I love where I go to physical therapy at and I love the people there. But I think I'm the only one that has been there this long except the older people. So enough about my complaining. I have tried to keep an upbeat attitude about it all so I need to continue with that.
So onto something a little more educational and school related. Differentiation. I try to differentiate and I try to meet all my kids needs but it's hard. One of my weaknesses as a teacher and really is a person, is I get great ideas but it takes me a while to follow through on them. I started the school year out really wanting to differentiate my spelling program and now that there are 8 weeks left of school, I'm finally following through on this. The week before spring break, most of my kids did very poorly on their spelling test. I had 4 students who got 104. So this week, we're working on those words again and then my 4 that got a 100 are doing a different list. My problem is that it is hard to find words for these students that need more of a challenge. But it went well yesterday for those students to work on a different list of words. So hopefully, I can follow through with this these last few weeks.
One area that I do a good job with differentiation is homework. I send home 4 different levels of reading fluency homework and some weeks it's 5 different levels. I started out the year just doing one. But I have 2 students who are far and above ahead of everyone else in reading. So it has kind of just evolved and it works. This week my high average group are working on a readers' theater script. I'm excited to see how they do with it. These students are very dramatic and enjoy working with each other.
So my ongoing professional goal is to differentiate my instruction more. I also need to work on using my assistant better. So I watched a few videos on PD360 (that's this online professional development that our district subscribes too.) about differentiation and I got a couple of ideas. One of the major themes was giving students choice in how they completed an assignment and in what kind of group they worked in.
So I tried it out yesterday with our frog life cycle assignment. I made a few copies of the life cycle page from Kaci's All About Frogs unit and then gave the choice of doing this worksheet or making their own flip book. I was surprised how many of them wanted to create their own life cycle.

Overall I was satisfied with how this assignment turned out. I am definitely going to try to be more creative in how students present information. My next task to really tackle with differentiation is math. I would love to hear how you meet different students' needs and what ways you differentiate in your class.
It's back to school tomorrow and I'm looking forward to continuing our Oviparous animals unit. Tomorrow it's all about sea creatures.

Visual Plans for Next Week

So the week before spring break, I linked up for the first time with Mrs. Wills Peek at my week linky party. I just shared my reading plans and that took me forever to do. This week I'm sharing reading, writing/language, and math. It didn't take me quite as long to do these now that I've had a little practice and have a template to work with. I did forget to link up my freebie so you'll have to grab that at the end of the post. I can't do it all apparently. Remember to click on this link to get a pdf of my plans where the clickable links work. 

This week we're finishing up our oviparous animals unit. You might remember some of the reading activities from my last set of visual plans. We ended up having a snow day in the middle of the week and didn't get to everything. So we're working on the same skills again this week. I'm excited to be trying out my dear friend Debbie Clement from Rainbows within Reach's Polliwog song and activities.  If you haven't checked her blog and great songs out, you should. I'm so excited to share this song and her beautiful illustrations with them. They will love it. My kids love to sing this year. You can check out her TPT store here.
I don't think anything else needs explanation. I had a follower ask me last time if I did these plans just for me or if I did them for my administration. I had already done my formal lesson plans the last time I did these. But this week I'm going to add in my common core standards and use these for my administration. I am thinking I should have done that while working on them. Oh well.
So I have a freebie for you. It's 3 different math journal prompts. I usually print them out and cut them. Then let the kids paste them into their math journals. These have a spring theme and focus on subtraction. I added a little tiny clipart picture from Teacher Laura. She just started making clipart and she has some cute stuff. Check her out.

Click here for the freebie.  If you download this freebie, I would love it if you would follow me and/or leave me a comment. I love hearing from you. Be sure to head over to Mrs. Will's Kindergarten and check out the party.