Five for Friday.... on Friday!

You know that school must be out if I am posting Five for Friday ON Friday! Even on Spring Break I got busy and didn't get it posted on Friday. Hop over to Doodlebugs and read about everyone's week! Here are my five random things from the week.

 1. Here are my fur-babies.

These babies keep our lives full, happy and busy! Last school year, I was gone SO MUCH, long hours, and I knew our high-strung little dachshund couldn't take it! So he went to live with a friend. Shortly after we found out that I would be home more this next year and realized that a certain redhead would be around more, we got the call from the friend asking us if we wanted our little Hundley back. Of course, we did. We missed that ornery little dachshund. But just as quickly as we got excited, we were given sad news. He got extremely sick and the vet thought he would not survive. We were crushed! Enter Alice, the little terrier mix we found at the shelter. We met and fell in love with Alice and filled out paperwork to take her home with us. Then Hundley did what dachshunds who eat things they are not supposed to do.... he got well! So we went from being dog-less, a cat dominated home, to having two dogs in 2 days! The cat is not adjusting well. 

 2.

 How many of you define your vacations by what you eat?! lol. We are visiting our friends in the OK panhandle, and I definitely didn't want to miss the chance to go to Hunny's BBQ. I love the "nachos" and all the meats! I didn't take picture and you all can laugh if you need to, but in the small town that I live in, Sonic is NOT the place to go, but out here, Sonic is fast, friendly and they they get my order right, even when I change it multiple times! I was actually excited to go to Sonic out here. And this is a tradition down here....

A volunteer will go during planning period or lunch and get sonic drinks for the whole group! 

So I love my friends, and I love visiting this place. These people are truly the best and I always feel like an equal. If you know me, I doubt myself... a LOT. Seeing these friends gives me a boost of confidence and solidifies the knowledge that there are some super wonderful people in my life. So it's not REALLY all about the food. But seriously.... we plan our days around the food involved.

 3. It's officially summer for me. I actually have about an hour left at the school. I realized the other day that everything would NOT fit in my van and I might as well finish up another day. However, I am going to research and set up a book study with my friends on the First Grade Gab group I belong to. We are considering the following: The Daily Five; or The Next Step in Guided Reading; or perhaps a guided math study.  We are going to start this in June, but it's time for me to narrow down the options!! What are you all reading or doing to PD this summer?

 4. Back to my mini-vacay to the panhandle. I loved seeing my kids! I got to see several of my "babies" from my first year of teaching when I taught them in Kindergarten. They are finishing Second grade! I love them all so much! I got to take part in some of their last day activities. They played BINGO. Check it out. And yes, my colleagues really are this much fun....

5. Something BIG is coming. I can't tell you yet. But thank you all for your good thoughts and prayers and keep them coming. I am extremely excited about the future. I know God has a plan for me and I am looking forward to living up to His call on my life.

Five for Saturday....

I am linking up with Doodlebugs today.

 1. This is more than a week ago. We started making maracas on May 5th, to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.

 2.  We all wore the tie-dye shirts we made last week on the last day of school. Since our school is closing I felt like we needed to go out with a big bang. So we made the shirts (time-consuming, but look at them... oh-so-cool) last week and then on the last day we signed each other's shirts and wore them.

 3. We had four painted lady butterflies to release. We were planning to release them on Monday, but it was cold, windy and rainy, so we added this our last day festivities.

 4. We had a big end of year blowout. Tuesday night after our last morning together, we had a potluck, waterslide inflatable, and a little music program. We laughed, cried, said our goodbyes.... and shivered! The kids were COLD but it did not slow them down! They down that water slide again and again....

5. I received an acrostic poem from a student. LOVE, love, love..... <3
from stoodents
we love you!
Ms. Horn
My teacher
stoodent!
hellpful techer
One fun techer
relly funny
nice!

I am sad but my heart is full. Today I am not in despair wondering if I am really a teacher and what that means. I know I reached these kids. When I lament and think.... "I should have done this" or "Next year I'll do this differently...." I also know that love covers a multitude of mistakes and my students and families know that I love them and their test scores (benchmark, end of year assessments) show that. Love and acceptance are the game-changing factors when it comes to reaching kids and teaching them.

May Currently

It's a new month, so of course it's time for Currently. Hooray!

My daughter started Legally Blonde on Netflix and then left. :)

Loving these pups. Just think, last weekend I lived in a dogless home. Now I live with two "puppies." Here's the whole long story.... last week the new owner of our former furry family member contacted me to say that she had to rehome him and did we want him back? Well, circumstances have changed here and although he'd be home alone some, it was not unreasonably long hours like it would have been in fall. So of course, we wanted our beloved little dachshund to come home! Then I got the message that he was violently ill and not expected to live. Heartbreak! We were so SAD. So we went to the humane society and adopted a little terrier mix. She had to stay there until she got spayed, and then she could come home. So our new little dog, Alice came home on Wednesday. All the while, our little dachshund named Hundley continued to fight and began to get better. On Thursday, Hundley moved home. So our "no dog house" went to a 2-dog house in two days. I have one pup pressed up against my body and the other sprawled across the floor in front of us. I can hear the cat snoring in the background.

Thinking about all the cleaning that needs to be done. And painting that is begging to be completed. What I am not thinking about is all the things I "should" be doing for school.

I want some change in my life. I want to make a difference in kid's lives through some less conventional form of education.

This is year number four of searching for a job. I think my reasons are "good" but it doesn't look so good on the resume. Just graduating from college, I couldn't change that one..... and "moved back from Oklahoma" I might have been able to change that, but my girls come first. Students are super important, but my own family is more important.... the list goes on. This year... school closing, that is outside of my control. Could I have possibly controlled something earlier, as in, not take a job I knew could get the axe, I suppose I could have. But I believed in the job. I still do.

Summer yes! Going to see my friends and colleagues in the OK panhandle! I am going the first week that I am out of school, they will still be wrapping it up! The up side.... seeing some of the kids that were my Kinders! They will be finishing up Second Grade! Yikes!  Summer hopeful... hopefully I will know what next year will bring and be able to map out plans and standards and have a good idea of what I want to teach and when and get started on the planning! :)  There are a few conferences I dream of attending one day. I would love to attend to Whole Brain Teaching conference in Louisiana! But I also dream of attending I Teach K or I Teach 1st in Las Vegas! One day I will be teaching one of these grades again (I DID teach them this year, but I mean one or two grade levels exclusively, not teaching five grade levels), and I hope to attend then!

That is what is happening currently! These pups look so serene all zonked out here by me. It is precious.

Sunday Letters.... they're back!

I love Sunday letters. I usually have some snarky ones just welling up inside of me, waiting for an appropriate outlet.

Dear Edupreneur,
Yeah, you. You know who you are. I try to let ignorant remarks roll off, but this one really got to me. "A mistake repeated more than once is a decision." I was so upset, I dedicated an entire blog post to it. I think that as an educator of educators, you would have a better grasp on reality than this. This quote that you posted (I realize you didn't write it, but you posted it on social media and supported it) goes against everything I believe about education. I believe that all students can learn but that some take longer to master the same materials and concepts as others. I believe that if your quote were true and we truly had a level playing field, your job would be eliminated. And it sounds to me like you are endorsing the whole "one size fits all" theory that we as teachers balk against so hard in regard to standardized testing. And the truth is, its personal. This is statement that rubs this gal wrong because I often have to repeat the same humiliating mistakes over and over again before I am ready to change and I know I will never be able to change if I continue to berate myself for what a loser I am. I would caution you, and social media users everywhere, think before you post.
Sincerely,
Feathers Ruffled and still making mistakes

Dear Michelle,
I love the new button. I like linking up and reading your posts! I enjoyed your slices too. Depending on what grade or grades I teach next year, I really hope to do the classroom slice. Thanks for your inspiration and thanks again for hosting this linky.
Your Fan,
Carrie

Dear Sammy,
I love that you love me. But I realize that you are getting older and some of your desire to snuggle is really just a need to keep warm. You are getting pushy in your old age. But I am sad that you have to yell at me so I'll pick up because you don't know if your back legs are going to get you up in the chair. I am worried about you and even though I jokingly call you "old man," your age concerns me and I don't want to learn to live without you. I would rather fight you forever for enough space to type and have to constantly push you off my lap because you really will just walk on top the computer and lay down. You are such a good companion. I love you old man.
love,
"mom"

It is hard to type when you crowd the computer, but I love how you snuggle.... 

Dear students,
I hope you are ready for the end of the year! It is approaching quickly! I know that some of you are going to be in for a surprise next year as you enter or re-enter a world of the traditional classroom with traditional deadlines and group expectations. I can't express to you the panic I feel trying to make sure you are prepared for what is next and the concern I have in regard to making sure you're on target. You are all beautiful souls with bright futures. Never let anyone tell you different.
Love,
Ms. Horn

Dear Future Educators of my students,
Please don't judge them too harshly and please keep in mind that many, if not most, of these students had low test scores when I became their teacher. In spite of standardized testing, it should still be about the progress these students made this year, not the gaps that are still there. Please look at the whole picture and instead of judging our program as a failure, look at how far these little learners have come and continue to encourage them to succeed. They will catch up if they are in the right environment and they will close the gap if they feel your love and acceptance.
Respectfully,
A concerned mother hen of a teacher

Five for Friday.... Saturday style

It was an exciting first week back after Spring Break. We did not have school on Friday so I have no excuse for not posting my Five for Friday. But here I am, finally posting!

 1. Should there be zoos? We researched this in regard to the animals we were researching.  Would our animals be better off in a zoo? or in the wild? We read about arguments for zoos and arguments against zoos. We researched it in regard to the habitat needed. We read the book: Should There Be Zoos? written by a Fourth Grade class.

 2. Five minute nap. You ever just decide... why fight it? These kiddos were SOOOOOOO tired on Monday. After read aloud we took a 5 minute nap. It was supposed to be a three minute nap, but I stepped in the hall to talk to my principal and it stretched into about six minutes actually. I try to wake their brains with "wiggle songs," "brain breaks," extra movement opportunities, sometimes exercises, but sometimes I am just like, "okay, 2 minute nap."

 3. We had book buddies this week. Everyone was glad to read together with their buddies.

 4. Easter celebrations.... started with jelly bean math and graphing! Yum! Okay, some of the jelly beans were not so tasty! But it was fun anyway!

sorting before graphing, using this fun freebie that I got HERE. 

These fourth graders had to roll a dice and multiply and make the groups of jelly beans. 

5. Easter fun! We made this uber cute jello pudding snack treat!

bunny peeps, starburst minis, jellybeans.... 

Here is the sample... 

crushing the oreos for our dirt

What do other teachers do for allergies? We substitute! In this case we substituted jello for pudding! 

The little carrots were made from Starburst minis! Who knew? You just roll them in your warm hand and they form into what you want!