Five on Friday

I'm baaaaaaccckkkkk  Of the three people I know who read my little ole' blog-you already understand I had an awful cold, set up a school-wide book exchange, and grad school was kicking my rear!

I haven't given up yet :)

 

I am here to try my very first linky party!  

I am linking up with Darci over at The Good Life blog.  One of many amazing blogs I've recently discovered.  

So here goes nothing...please excuse the CRAZY randomness of this post.  

1.  SNOW DAY!

That is right...school was cancelled today!  To be honest, it was the first time in my life that I was kind of bummed out school was called off.  Now the chances of having to make days up are very high.  Not to mention Game Day.  My class has been working so hard to earn a Game Day with 3R (respect, responsibility, readiness) behaviors, and they finally did!  I had all types of games lined up to play this afternoon--Twister, CandyLand, Go Fish, Jenga, and of course all the cool, new games my kiddos were bringing in.  I guess we will just have to add in some game time come Monday, our school's Winter Fun Day!  That will kick off the week with a BANG.

2.  MY NEW BOOK

As mentioned above, I have been MIA partially because of a book exchange I was in charge of executing at my elementary school.  Students and their families brought in books they had outgrown or were tired of and were able to exchange or just pick up "new" ones after school one day last week.  It was such a great success!  I was sooooo worried about it, but there was literally a gym full of tables of books and so many families came.  We also served banana splits (because we were "bananas" for books :)  ) and had a drawing for several bookstore gift certificates and a Kindle Fire.  ANYHOO--while setting up I came across this beauty.

Does this bring back memories of the early 90's or what?

I almost screamed when I saw it!  I just had to score it for myself.  I gave it to my dog/son, MOWGLI for Valentine's Day.  I know, I know...I am THAT dog mom.  But I can't help it!  He is too cute!

He just looks like a Mowgli, doesn't he??

3.  ZENERGY

I have some major cases of 'ants in pants' in my second grade classroom.  I am soooooo thankful to have an amazing administrator that seriously cares about the students AND staff.  One day a couple weeks ago she called me into her office to tell me she purchased some new chairs for a couple of the students in my class who are well-known wiggle worms.  THEY. ARE. MARVELOUS.  I don't know if it is just the excitement of a new spot to sit or if I am just way too excited about this, but one of my kiddos in particular can not last an entire afternoon in my classroom, AND HE DID!!!  Two days in a row.  This may not sound like a big deal but ohhhh my goodness it is!  

Zenergy Ball Chair=Heaven in a second grade classroom

There is an actual exercise ball inside this UFO-looking contraption.  I am crossing my fingers that my boys who are using these keep up the excellent work the rest of the year!!

4.  NEW SHOE MUST-HAVE

 

Tom's Desert Wedges in Taupe  (the middle pair)

These wedges have been popping up EVERYWHERE!!  I see them on blogs, Pinterest, blogs, magazines, blogs, store fronts, blogs....are you catching my drift?  A couple weeks ago I traveled to the warm city of Fargo, North Dakota (please sense my sarcasm) to see theeeeee Justin Timberlake in concert, which was absolutely fantastic--he puts on a GREAT show.  Anyways, as a teacher living in the far north I was worried about my outfit selection.  I ordered up a pair of these bad boys on Amazon and they were humongous on me... whomp whomp.  The DAY OF THE CONCERT, I called just about every store in Fargo to see if they had the Tom's Desert Wedge in Taupe, size 8 and.... lo and behold about 30 minutes into my frantic search, I found them!  My mom and I stopped there on our way and it was a perfect fit!  Isn't the inside adorable also?  They are SO comfortable and you can dress them up or down.  The perfect wedge for me if I am feeling fancy pants :)

5.  HOUSE HUNTING

I don't have any pictures for this favorite......yet.....

When I moved home, I moved in with my boyfriend.  A couple years prior, he and his family purchased a house, TOTALLY flipped it, and made it a gorgeous house worth living in.  

This picture is real life people-literally just snapped it from the couch.  But please notice the open space and gorg floors!  All done by Trav and his talented dad!

                                                                                                                     

I like this house, I really do!  But it doesn't feel like my HOME.  Do you know what I mean?  Right when I moved in it was all set up to be an extremely nice bachelor pad.  I made changes, we painted, rearranged, and I added alllllllll my stuff.  Travis is often heard saying something along the lines of how much "junk" I have and that there is basically no room for it.  A couple months ago, when I was a runner (ppfffftttttt), I ran by this one house in particular that always caught my eye.  I mentioned it a couple times throughout the last months and recently, TRAV GOT INTERESTED.  We went and looked at it and fell. in. love.  I am going with both of our parents today to check it out again and I can't wait!  I only hope they love it as much as we I do.  In the meantime...I better stop my rambling and go get this house cleaned up and ready for staging.   

                                                                                              

This guy is also wanting some attention...obviously :)

Now to see if I can actually figure out HOW to link up....

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Marshmallow Behaviors

It is that time of year again...the winter blues.  Usually living in Northern Minnesota this time of year means plenty of time outside--skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, ice fishing, etc. etc.  BUT IT IS TOO COLD!

This affects everyone, children included!  I can't even begin to tell you the behaviors that are popping up in my second grade classroom.  It is insane and makes my gray hair garden grow.  Therefore I had to come up with something....hence Marshmallow Behaviors.

The pictures really don't do the cuteness of this project justice!  

The elementary school I work at is a PBIS school, which basically means we are always looking for the positive in student behaviors.  Instead of focusing on what students are doing wrong, we try to focus on what they are doing right.  I am on the PBIS team so we plan all these fun events throughout the year.  (if you are familiar with PBIS and have any ideas or challenges, let me know!)  Anyhoo-our winter challenge is taking place NOW and it is really a whole class goal setting/earning process.  I have a lot of challenging behaviors this year which take up a lot of my time and attention.  Therefore, I am always trying to find ways for my kiddos who are ALWAYS following expectations to be rewarded and get some credit for all their hard work.  

During our Winter Fun Day (pending we earn it :) )we are getting hot chocolate.  I had my class design their own hot chocolate mug.  Along with their mug is a Ziploc bag to hold marshmallows.  Each day, anyone who's behavior pin is at "Ready to Learn" or higher earns a marshmallow.  However many marshmallows are in the bag by Winter Fun Day is how many marshmallows they get in their hot chocolate from our "marshmallow bar".  I also had them write out HOW they plan to earn marshmallows each day.  I was beyond impressed with their goal setting and ideas!

How cute is that?!  I mean....seriously....

So far I have seen a difference!  I am so proud of my little chiddlers :)  Hopefully we can make it through this crazy, busy, fun week following our expectations and keeping the gray out of Ms. Burich's hair.  Ha!!

P.S.  Don't you just LOVE all the multi-colored paper?!  My school doesn't purchase this for us, but definitely worth the $12.99 to spice up our writing, projects, and walls!

The Square Scarf

This weekend I headed to Duluth...AKA the nearest town with decent shopping options that is 1.5 hours away...to pick up supplies for upcoming events at the school I work at.  What I thought to be a "quick trip" turned into a near 12 hour excursion.  Therefore, a major shopping spree occurred.  whoops.

BUT the good news is, I scored some amazing deals!  I swung through good ole' Old Navy and picked up a majority of this outfit.

I scored some Old Navy tanks for $5!  Naturally I just had to get four different colors-white (seen here), black, blue, and coral.  I have had my eye on a sweater like this for weeks!  It is perfect--3/4 sleeves, comfy cozy for winter, and can totally be worn in the spring.  Unfortunately, the sweater was not on sale, but it was only around $30.  And then...THE SCARF!!  As I was going to check out I peered into some 97 cent bins that were filled with fleece gloves, hats for babies, and other things that do not benefit me.  Then I saw some plaid wonderfulness peeking out at me.  I grabbed it and ran!  I totally didn't think it was only going to be 97 cents, BUT IT WAS.  I was so excited to show it to the boyfriend because although I have 4,548 scarves (I am a scarf queen!), I bought something that was so cheap, what a bargain hunter :)  This morning I couldn't wait to put it on and then I realized-it was a square?!?!  Now maybe I am not as scarf savvy as I thought, but I had no idea where to begin to create a wonderful look for the new scarf I was so excited about.  As I was running late, per usual, I hopped on Pinterest to see what I could possibly do to fashion this scarf and I found these marvelous directions.  

Now instead of having the two dog ear things hanging on either side, I tucked them under and tied them loosely.  

And WA LA!

I don't know about you, but I was pretty proud of myself to figure that out so early on a Monday morning.  I think I might just love square scarves now!  It laid perfectly and had a wonderful fluff all day long.  Even when my car was completely dead, I panicked, and had to call a dear coworker friend to come pick me up so I could make it to school before my second grade friends came through the door :)