April Currently

First off, today was a lovely day! The weather was beautiful, the students were very well behaved, and CRCTs are finally over! WOOHOO!!!!! 

I know I'm a little late, but I really wanted to do one of these cute Currently link ups. Thank you to The Bender Bunch for the simple tutorial on linking up with Farley's Currently at Oh'Boy Fourth Grade! 

Listening to the birds chirping up a storm outside and the rush hour traffic driving past my house. We live a good 150 yards off of the "main" road (it's a little 2 lane road) but at this time of day all you hear are cars driving past, horns, honking, and breaks squealing. 

Loving that we only have 23 more days of school! Really, we only have 22.5 days since our last Thursday is our one and only early release day of the year =D. I still can't believe how fast my first year of teaching has gone by. 

Thinking about ways to help motivate my students for the remainder of the school year. With us finishing up our state testing, CRCT, today the I'm afraid that the students will think that the school year is over and not be 100% for the last 22.5 days. 

Wanting a nap! I only got 3 hours of sleep last night, work up at 5 am, left for work at 6am (I drive 40 miles) and then has CRCTS and Admin. meetings all day. A nap would be really useful right about now. 

Needing to mail out my wedding invitations. I'm getting married in 3 months (July 21) and just finished up the invitations and need to go buy stamps to mail them out. We have quest from way out of town who need to get their flights arranged. Opps! I also need to get to work on the new project that I'm going to start implementing in my classroom starting tomorrow. We are going to start a Reading Race where I have the kids racing to see who can read the most books, and pass AR tests, by the end of the school year. 

Advice to you and everyone smile! It really truly can change your whole day. Even if you are having a horrible day just smile and see how fast your mood turns around. And for all you know, your smile might have changed someone else's day too. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Monday! Stay tuned for more updates coming soon. 

State Testing Equals Sleep Deprived Teachers

It sure has been a long week! I'm a member of the Testing Committee at my school. I spent all day Monday finishing up getting the testing materials ready for all of the 3rd-5th grade teachers, stayed after school until 5:00 to help teachers finish up, and then stayed up all night creating review activities for my students.

 My kiddos started their state test, CRCT, on Tuesday and they are just worn out! They came back from Spring Break, had a day to review, then dived right in to their big test. I've been working with a 3rd grade class for a few months now, to try to get them ready for this week, and I can really tell that my work has paid off! Some of our lowest students, some of our wiggle worms, and some of our behavior issues were all able to make it through each section of the test (150 minutes total a day) with no issues!

I worked one-on-one with a 3rd grader who is Autistic. He had many IEP modifications and this was my first time giving a state test as a certified teacher. I can honestly say that I was scared to death! I wasn't sure what to expect from my little boy; I was so worried that he would act out, like he does in class, and that I wouldn't be able to stop it without having to report a testing irregularity. I guess I should have trusted my AP. She told me, weeks ago, that I would be testing him because she knew that I was the best one for that job. She said she knew that I had the personality to make him get through the test with no problems. She said he trusted me and that that's all that mattered. I guess she was right! He did AMAZING! It really got me thinking that I may want to try to get my Masters in Special Education. Knowing that I can have such an important impact on a child's life truly gets you thinking. This student doesn't allow teachers to touch him, he doesn't get along with any of the other students, he has outburst in class and will not stop, but somehow he sat through 4 days of 150 minutes of testing without a single issues while with me. I'm going to talk to him and see why he acts so differently with me than he does with the other teachers. Maybe it's the tone of my voice, the way I get down to his level, etc. but whatever it is, I hope I can figure it out so that I can let the other teachers know so that we can all have him working this hard all year long!

It was such a long week for all of the teachers also. I think I may have gotten 18 hours of sleep this week. I stayed up every night until after midnight creating Jeopardy games, review PowerPoints  worksheets, etc. to try to do some last minute review sessions with the kids. Today was the first day I left school before 4:00 all week. It has been very hard but over all it has been worth it. We have one more day to go; we will finish  up with Social Studies when we return to school on Monday. I can't wait to be finished, and I know the kids can't wait!

I will try to get some of my new review activities posted to the blog this weekend but I'm going to have another super busy few days ahead of me. Wedding showers, house hunting, lesson planning, and spending time with my wonderful fiance. If I don't get around to it this weekend I'll have them posted later on in the week!

I hope you all have a wonderful, safe, and fun weekend! Also, good luck to all of you who have started or will be starting your state testings!

I'm having a giveaway!

My Spring Break is almost over and I spent most of my time creating items to add to my new TPT and Teacher's Notebook stores. 

In honor of the Grand Opening of these stores I'm holding a giveaway over at Teacher's Notebook! All you have to do is head over and simply fill out the form. The giveaway ends Friday, April 19 at 11:59pm. One lucky winner will win a copy of my Polka Dots Teacher Binder set! 


Click the image below to be taken directly to the giveaway. Good Luck!

Be sure to follow my store to stay up to date on other giveaways, promotions, and new items coming soon. 

Fun Freebies In Celebration Of My New TPT Store

Happy Friday Everyone! I'm a little sad that my Spring Break is almost over, but I can't wait to get back and see my wonderful students. I spent much of my Spring Break opening up a new TPT store called Shanon's School Supplies. Please go check it out, follow it, and leave feedback on any items that you download.
Since I'm linking up with Freebie Friday from Teaching Blog Addict I want to share with you two freebies I created for my new store! =D The first freebie is a very cute Positive Note Home form and the second is I Forgot My Homework form. You can get to the freebie by clicking on the images below.

After checking out my two freebies, be sure to head back over to Teaching Blog Addict and see what other amazing freebies you can round up this week