Well...

I had lots of great things I wanted to share with you but I am just so dang tired!  I have an intern.  She is currently in her full-time teaching and it is wonderful.  She is doing EVERYTHING and I am getting to get stuff done and actually DO small groups. It's fantastic.  

But I'm still just.so.tired.

On a quick side note...those of you wonderful followers friends who gave me such wonderful and sweet words of encouragement about starting the dreaded Insanity.  I did it.  I actually completed the 20 minute Fast and Furious workout.  It took me 40 minutes though AND I hurt my back. HA.  

I am a pretty athletic person.  I actually am pretty surprisingly strong and am "fit" compared to your average 'couch-potato' but HOLY MOLY!  

That workout was literally INSANE. Duh! The name of the workout told me it was going to be intense.  I literally would start the workout then immediately have to pause it to BREATHE.

I think I'm going to join the Insanity team though, bite the bullet, and do the 60-day challenge.  It might take me 90 days but I think I'm gonna do it.

First...sleep.

Five for Friday!

It's crazy that it's even that time again!

I'm going to start with something slightly depressing:

Seriously.  This is what I'm going to be working with for the next four days. BLAH! Looks like a Lifetime and computer working kind've weekend for me!

This week was American President's week.  We made these "Cupcake inspired" Abraham Lincoln's.  They turned out pretty cute!  I love that the kiddos all gave him rosy cheeks! :)

After learning all about Abe and Washington we created a Venn Diagram together.  We did a little differently though.  We made it into a game!  I split the kiddos up into two teams. I then told them a fact and they had to super quickly raise their hand to answer.  We looked for the fastest hand each time! ;)  They would then tell us which President the fact belonged to. If they got it right, they got a point.  If not, the other team got the point. No worries, I asked in a certain way to insure that there would be a tie! We were ALL winners!!!

Here we are enjoying the game.  Side note: I promise the boys in the yellow and gray are not about to fight. Ha!

This came for me in the mail yesterday.  I'm still a little scared to give it a try.  The other day I posted about my habits and being in a bit of a rut {you can read about it HERE}.  I decided to switch it up a little bit.  I just bought the 20 minute Fast and Furious workout and the 20 minute abs workout.  Want to start small and see if I like it.  Wish me luck! :)

Hall Pass...I'll take it!

Love Reagan {Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits} and I love this linky party!!

Let's just get started:

I love my *best seller* Flat Stanley!

This packet is PERFECT to use when reading the stories and integrate reading, writing, map skills, and a little bit of math too!  The better news is that I am totally revamping it and adding a lot more goodies to the pack.  The bad news is my zip drive which contained all of the original packet goodies died so I will be just adding an additional unit...double the goods for you!

This is the original packet:

Here's the new cover {kinda still in the works too}:

What do you think? Should I change the cover?  Add anything?  I just don't know what to do with all that blank space! 

This was a little tough.  I like so many different areas in my room for different reasons.  

I love our "rug" area.  It's where all the learning takes place {well the majority of it}.  There's so much we do and interact with in this area.  Don't mind the chaos.  It was the end of the day!  I promise it usually looks a lot prettier. It's really not a good picture at all. Oh well...you get the point. :)

My signal depends on what we are doing.  During our Daily Five rotations I use a chime.  I do not have to say a thing.  They know to immediately stop what they're doing, clean up their area, and meet me on the rug.

I also use a lot of Whole Brain Teaching strategies.  Instead of saying "class" and they respond with "yes,"  I say "friends" and they respond "yes."  The clincher to keeping it working is to change up your voice.  I use funny accents and fluctuate my voice.  They love to repeat it in a silly voice!

To get my kiddos to go to their desks from the rug, vice versa, or to line up I like to use different things like:  walk like a penguin, tip toe quiet as a mouse, walk zig zag, hop like a bunny, etc... 

I love my kiddos and even though some days I'm just exhuasted and slightly over their ridiculousness I look forward to the silly things they say and do.  I look forward to the hugs and the love we all share for one another!

Keeping sane is easy.  I literally share an office and work side-by-side my teaching bestie who happens to be a real bestie outside of school too. I can vent to her, cry with her, laugh with her, and just sit and relax.  It's so wonderful having such an awesome support system 5 steps away.

My mom is also on my "speed dial" on my phone when there's a big crisis.  What would I do without my mama?! :)

Head over to Reagan's linky to find some more wonderful tips and tricks of the trade! I'm on my way!