Happy New Year!

This will be my last post in 2011! I'm heading to PA for New Years festivities. And by New Years festivities, I mean I have no idea what my plans are. My friends are married, with child, with significant other's crowd, etc. So yeah, I'm seeing a veeery boring New Years Eve in the near future.

Anyway, I'm at 40+ followers. Whaaaa? Wasn't it like last week that I didn't have 25. How exciting! I'm thinking giveaway at 50! Isn't that what all the cool blog kids are doing? Anyway, look forward to it!

Wishing everyone a safe & happy beginning to the new year!

Oh, Hey Work Bag

So let's discuss the HUGE elephant in the room. Break is ending soon. And I JUST took my work bag out of my car today.

ANYWAY! On to happier things......!

Have you heard about the huge giveaway going on right now? I just hopped online, and I'm about to enter! Check it out by visiting ALL of these blogs!

 Here are the participating blogs/ stores: 

 Classroom Confections Teachers Pay Teachers Store

Down Under Teacher Teachers Pay Teachers Store

  

Primary Inspiration Teachers Pay Teachers Store

I Love 1st Grade Teachers Pay Teachers Store

A Teacher's Treasure Teachers Pay Teachers store

Herding Cats in Kindergarten Teachers Pay Teachers store

Third Grade Bookworm Teachers Pay Teachers store

A Special Kind of Class Teachers Pay Teachers store

Mandy's Tips for Teachers Teachers Pay Teachers store

  

Hojos Teachers Pay Teachers store

Teacher Tam's Teachers Pay Teachers store

Tools for Teachers by Laurah J Teachers Pay Teachers store

Good luck to everyone entering. There will be TONS of winners!

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One more amazing giveaway to note! Have you been thinking about a new blog layout? Head over to Ladybug Teacher Files. She's giving away three SUPER cute layouts that are right up my alley! Click the image below!

Better Late Than Never

Holy Moly.

I am fashionably late to the 11 in 11 Linky Party! I've been meaning to do it, but ya know, I've been busy with things such as:

Sleeping.

Watching Shameless.

Snuggin' solo on the couch.

Enjoying the silence that I've missed SO much.

Laundry [siiiike].

Doing school work [double sike].

So, without further ado, I bring you...

11. Favorite Movie You've Watched:

I love movies. I meant to see The Help, but never got around to it. By never got around to it, I mean that the BF refused to go see it with me, and I'm far too socially awkward to go to a movie alone. Here's a few of my faves that I saw in theatres this year! [I have a feeling I'm going to break rules, because I can't pick just ONE of anything.] Rio, Crazy Stupid Love, & Hall Pass!

10. Favorite TV Series

Again, I'm going to cheat. I'm newly obsessed with Homeland. Claire Danes is 100 kids of crazy and brilliant in this show. And this show disturbs me to my core. Good stuff. And c'mon, who doesn't love Parenthood! If you don't watch it, you need to! You all probably knew this, but Maura Tierney was suppose to play Sarah, which is now played by my girl Lauren Graham. I LOVE her, and I can't imagine anyone else playing Sarah! And I couldn't, in good conscience, leave out HIMYM!

9. Favorite Restaurant

I'm not big on fine dining, so I'm going to go with this. Yum. Grottos!

8. Favorite New Thing You've Tried

Pinterest! No explanation necessary. I would have picked blogging, but that would have been a fib. When I was in middle school I had a blog [whuddup Xanga] which was used as an outlet for my teenage angst. 

7. Favorite Gift

All my Christmas gifts this year were practical, which was exactly what I needed. Except for Kenny Chesney tickets for next summer. I've seen Kenny live twice, but had to miss my third time last summer due to the wedding which will be mentioned below!

6. Favorite Thing You Pinned

I've pinned so many useful, educational things, but I love this. Because it is my life.

                                                                         Source: nerdquirks.tumblr.com via Meg on Pinterest

5. Favorite Blog Post

This one is hard. I haven't been blogging long enough to have a favorite of my own. So, I'm choosing every post from this girl. I feel that we have a similar outlook on things.--> People I Want to Punch in the Face

4. Best Accomplishment

Completing my first year as a third grade teacher. [Before that, I taught a "special", so I didn't have classes of my own.] Every day as a teacher is filled with stress, new programs, crazy kids, etc. But when my little ducklings left my room for the last time on June 17, 2011, I breathed a sigh of relief, and knew that I survived and excelled in something that many people couldn't.

3. Favorite Picture

From my best friends wedding, which was in August. I was MOH, & it made for a fun summer, which included the Bridal Shower [beatles themed], bachelorette party [which kicked off in the afternoon when we went to see the final HP!], and the wedding in August! This is a proof because I still haven't gotten around to ordering pictures from the website yet!

2. Favorite Memory

Spring Break. It was the BF & I's first vaca together. Nothing special, just went to OCMD for a few days. But it was a first. Not our last though, we're going to Jamaica for Spring Break '12!

1. Goal for 2012

To be happy. Lately, especially in December, I've let a ton of school related things get to me. I just want to enjoy the rest of the school year with my little monsters!

If I'm not the last one to link up, visit Kristen or Hader & do it!

Top Three for 2011

Honestly, I was kind of hesitant to do this linky party. My blog is ultra small. All of the other people who have done this have like thousands of hits on their posts. Oh well! Here's my top three posts in 2011!

1. Bear With Me (November 2nd, 71 views): This was when I posted my first [and only] freebie, but no one ever commented and said that they used it. Oh well, at least there's proof people looked!

2. Things That Shouldn't Happen (December 19th, 67 views): My kids sharpen carrots. The End. I also linked up with Farley and advertised three giveaways.

3. November's Currently (November 6th, 63 views): My first linky party when I linked up with Farley!


So, what did I learn from this? Post more of the things I make [God knows I make enough!], Link up more often [check], and use my charm & wit in my posts [double check].

Look forward to my Christmas craftivity post, as well as my Holly Bloggy Christmas post, spotlighting my gift from Anna at Crazy for First Grade, as well as my gift to Bonnie at Living a Wonderful Life!

A Pinterest Inspired Gift

Once I get my fill of cookies & rest, I fully intend on posting everything I did to keep my kids from eating me alive engaged this week! I used so many ideas from blogging and pinterest, and those peeps deserve a shout out!

Just wanted to post quickly about the gift I gave my mom for her birthday.

[Not only did I need to get Christmas gifts in order for my family, my boyfriend & mom also have December birthdays. Meg's wallet = empty]

Anyway, I made her this pinterest inspired gift!

I think it turned out really nice. I gave it to her today, and she loved it! And I'm so proud that I accomplished a craft from pinterest, besides all of the teaching activities.

I'll be back later this week to summarize last week's craziness! & I'm also coming very close to 25 followers. How exciting! =)


**UPDATE: I'm at 25 followers! How exciting!**

Things that shouldn't happen.

Today was insane. It can be summed up with this story:

We are very fortunate to receive fresh fruits/veggies from a grant a few times a week.

Today was mini carrots.

We took a few moments to enjoy this snack [with ranch, taking the health out of it].

Not one, but TWO of my kids begin to SHARPEN their  mini carrots with their [banned from my room] handheld pencil sharpeners.

Obviously they got ratted out.

Most of my kids have my back.

Not sure what the next three days will bring me. I'm unexplainably jealous of those of you who finished up on Friday.

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In other news, gotta link up with Farley! I'll have you know that I skimmed looked through all the other entries to try to make sure I picked a blog that no one else is stalking. So I TRIED to follow the rules. My B if I did not! =)

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Last but not least, there are some fun giveaways going on right now! Go check them out!

1. Lisa at Live, Laugh, Love to Learn in Second Grade is having a mystery giveaway!
2. Tara at 4th Grade Frolics is giving away three items from her TpT store!
3. Hope at 2nd Grade Shenanigans is giving away WHAT?! Her WHOLE store?! Why am I blogging about this, lessening my chances!

These ladies always have great ideas and thoughts that they share. Go follow them!

Are U There State Test? It's Me, Stressed Third Grade Teacher.

Say a couple prayers to the state testing gods tonight.

My crazies are taking their midyear math DCAS test tomorrow.

Yes, I called them crazies. My room is a three ring circus to begin with. Now times that by Christmas break [not 'til next Thursday though, WHAAA?!]. I'm about to lose my mind. I wouldn't be so stressed out about it if we weren't knee deep in mid year testing. SO getting through tomorrow means still doing curriculum [obvi], but not being SO darn uptight about everything.

So anyway, life is a whirlwind.

And no, I didn't quit teaching yet.

One of those days.

Have you ever been scared that you were going to become a statistic?

Not the 1 in however many young girls become teen moms.

Not part of the half of marriages that end in divorce.

No, the statistic that says about 50% of teachers leave the profession before they've reached five years.

I've lost my spirit. Mid year state tests. Competition between colleagues on said tests. Crazy kids. Lack of teamwork for planning. Work BFF on maternity leave. Barely any sunlight in the month of December. If progress reports weren't due tomorrow, I'd take a mental health day. Sorry to my 15 or so followers, I just needed to get that out.

[please note that these statistics are approximate. i'm too immersed in my pity party to perform research.]

No fun for two weeks. BAH HUMBUG!

UGH. That's all I have to say about the next two weeks. Instead of using all of the fun activities I've been seeing in Blogland, I'm cramming knowledge into the heads of my class preparing my class for our midyear state test. We take Reading this Tuesday and Math the following Wednesday. It is computer based, so we get the results right away.

Blessing and a curse.

Because our administrators watch the scores roll in. Seriously. Enough to give me a panic attack. So I will be Ms. Grinch until next Tuesday. I know it is only the middle of the year, but my kids came in VERY low this year. They have a ways to go before they get their 3s and 4s. Some have over 200 points to go, which is equivalent to over 3 years growth. I'm fighting an uphill battle.

Anyway, after all of this, I can't wait to have some fun with my kids. They deserve it!

Multiplying by Multiples of 10 Activity

During our Rti block, I currently have a middle-high group for this two week cycle. My topic is multiplication, and I taught them this standard today:

3.NBT.3. Multiply one-digit whole numbers by multiples of 10 in the range 10–90 (e.g., 9 × 80, 5 × 60) using strategies based on place value and properties of operations.

I taught the students both the way I learned [the step by step, multiply the bottom number by the ones digit in the top, then the bottom number by the tens digit in the top. hey, it works for me], as well as the explanation through place value. For example, in the problem 30 x 4, four groups of 3 tens 120. Because this was a higher group, I extended past the standard and included multiples of 10 higher than 90 [up to 120, as I teach up to the 12 times tables].

[So as I'm typing this, I'm kind of thinking it doesn't make sense in writing! But I swear, it worked well in class!]

[I use brackets a lot without realizing it.]

So tomorrow, we are going to play bingo. I try to play a game with each skill, because as my administrators say "WORKSHEETS DON'T GROW DENDRITES." However, worksheets do help practice math skills for the DCAS next week, so this is part worksheet part game. I aim to please!

Each student gets a game board [there are six different boards, so 2-3 monsters will inevitably get bingo at the same time if they get all the products correct, but honestly I ran out of steam to make more boards tonight]. They must answer all of the problems. Once they are finished, we play bingo with the answers. I call out a number, they cover it if they have it. You know the drill. The last page contains all of the products included on all of the boards for the caller. You can cut them out and pick them out of a hat. OR you can be like me, a cheater. Walk around and choose which products you call, trying to avoid certain kids getting BINGO or helping that kiddo who doesn't have a lot of confidence get a win. =)

So here it is. Fo' free. My second freebie! Woooop! Let me know if you like it or use it or whatevs! The fonts are Bows and Boots and Howser. 

Multiples of 10 Bingo

Another quick and exciting note, a whole slew of bloggers are having a giftaway extravaganza! Yes, I said extravaganza! And yes, I typed extravaganza veeery slowly. It's a hard word to type. Click on the pic to go check out day one from one of my faves [&fellowmeghans] Farley!

TGI[almost]F!