5, 4, 3, 2, 1....Happy New Year, plus a freebie!!!

Hello Blogging Friends!  It has been forever since I have blogged!  I almost forgot how to do it!  I actually had a few things I wanted to blog about in the last new weeks, but I could never get to my computer to actually blog!  One day, hopefully soon, I will recap my December!!!

Today, I am linking up with A Peach for the Teach for her Resolutions 2014 linking party!

I also created these fun homework passes to give my students when we return to school!  I have made them in both color and black and white! Click on the image below to grab this FREEBIE!!!

If you download this freebie, please leave feedback!  I am also at 199 followers on Bloglovin.  I would love one more so if you are not yet following me...please click the link on my side bar!  I promise a super celebration when I reach 200 followers! 

Have a great New Years!  I will see you all in 2014!

Remembering Sandy Hook

As educators, we remember and honor our fallen colleagues and their students from Sandy Hook School. We honor them each day in our classrooms in which we continue their dream of teaching our children. We honor their memory with our service. Join with teachers everywhere in committing random acts of kindness to show our love for Sandy Hook. #love4SH

Christmas Questionnaire

Hello blogging friends!  Today has been one of those days when I just wanted to throw in the towel.  I actually told my assistant principal I quit around lunch time and she told me I could not!  It has been a crazy week, but I made it to the end.  Yes, there is still one more day, but I made it through three basketball games and a practice that was suppose to be a game, but the snow got in the way!  Plus, teaching, a door decorating contest, Christmas concert rehearsals and snow!  I did not know if I would make it until Thursday, but I did.  Tomorrow is rehearsal all day, which I think I can manage!  I thought to calm myself down before bed, I would blog!  I am linking up with Fabulous in First for her fun Christmas Questionnaire!

Hot Chocolate or Eggnog?

Hot Chocolate!  I am not a fan of eggnog.  I am not sure what it is, but I do not like it!  I am a regular hot chocolate girl!  Disney World makes the best hot chocolate!

Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them underneath the tree?

Wrap the presents!  I love making my presents look pretty and the surprise of not knowing what is under the paper!

Colored or white lights?

I love white lights!  I love lights in general!  I like to use white because then I can add all the color I want in everything else!

When do you decorate?

I like to decorate as soon as possible!  Usually the week after Thanksgiving or the first week-end in December!  I actually go into a minor depression when I have to take it all down!

Real or fake tree?

I prefer a real tree hands down!  My mom has a fake tree because she says she is too old to be cleaning up the needles from a real tree!  When I have my own house, I will probably have more than one tree so there may be some fake mixed in with the real!

What tops your tree?

An angel that my mom made when she was first married.  We have used it every year.  It is so pretty!  

Favorite Christmas Memory or Tradition?

We celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah.  My mom's side of the family is Jewish so growing up we celebrated both.  We would get one present for Hanukkah and all of the rest for Christmas.  This is a tradition my sisters and I plan on doing with our children.

Do you remember your favorite gift as a child?

I think my favorite gift was when my parents bought my flute for me.  I played the flute from fifth grade through 11th grade.  We rented it at first, but when I was in 6th grade my parents wrapped it up and put it under the Christmas tree for me.  I was amazed that it was there and wondered how they got it out of my room without me knowing!  My mom told me she took it after I went to bed Christmas Eve!

Do you prefer giving or receiving?

Both!  One of my love languages is gifts.  I love to give gifts any time of the year, but I cherish whatever I am give by anyone!  I was telling my students about this the other day!  I keep every picture they make for me.  They are too special to get rid of!

What is your favorite Christmas song?

I love all Christmas music!  I like the classics Away in a Manger, Joy to the World, but I also love some of the new songs like Sidewalk Prophets, Hope was Born This Night.

Candy Canes. Yuck or Yum?

I am not really sure...I don't hate them, but they are not my favorite.  The jury is still out on that one!

Favorite Christmas Movie?

Charlie Brown's Christmas and White Christmas

Do you shop online or in stores?

Both...I always look for a good deal!  The better the deal the more presents I can buy for people!

Photo cards, letters or store bought cards?

I think photo cards, but I will take any!  I have also send all three!  It depends on the year and the mood I am in!

I hope you enjoyed reading my responses!  Have a fantastic night...tomorrow is Friday!

Currently December!!!!

Happy December!!!!  I love December and all that this month brings!  I was looking forward to filling out my Currently for the month all day!  I find these Currently posts are a great way to reflect and think about the coming month!  So once again I am linking up with the famous Farley and her December Currently post!

Listening- The Holiday is one of my favorite Christmas movies...I happen to catch the end of the movie tonight!  I will have to go back and watch it sometime this month!

Loving- I decided to decorate for Christmas today.  I live with my mom so we decorate the living room with her Christmas decorations, but I like to put a small Christmas tree in my bedroom with my own ornamets.  My tree makes me happy and I love looking at it!

Thinking- There are three full weeks between now and Christmas vacation.  The month always goes by so fast and there is so much I want to get accomplished.  I hope I can get it all in!

Wanting- My sister and her family live in the Netherlands.  I would love for them to come and visit for Christmas, but they cannot.  I wish they could!  I will have to settle on Skyping with them and watching my nephews open their Christmas presents!  I have to thank God for Skype!

Needing- Grading papers...didn't do any this week-end, so they will be waiting for me tomorrow when I get to school!  I wish I could invent something to grade papers!

Favorite Traditions- Growing up my mom's side of the family was Jewish.  We celebrated both Christmas and Hanukkah.  We would only get one present for Hanukkah and all of the rest for Christmas.  It was a neat tradition that my sisters and I have kept going.  I love teaching my students about Hanukkah!

Well, there is my Currently for December!  I am hoping to reach 200 followers soon because I want to have a give away!  I only need TWO more followers!  Tell your friends!

It has been a while and a sale!

Hello Blogging Friends!  I cannot believe how long it has been since I last blogged...I feel awful about it!  I feel like I have the same excuse over and over again because life is just taking over right now.  One day when I do not have a long commute to work and I am not coaching basketball and trying to be a good teacher, I will be a regular blogger again!

I have been enjoying my long week-end!  It has been my brother and I, along with my mom with week-end.  My one sister is in Holland and does not get to come home with her family and my other sister spent Thanksgiving with her in-laws and will spend Christmas with us!  Oh the joys of growing up and getting married!

The extra few days have been wonderful.  I have not touched my school bag and it is debatable on whether or not I will even touch it this week.  My mom and I did our annual Black Friday shopping and were amazing at how stress free it was.  We were not looking for an big ticket items, but did score a few deals here or there.  I have to say I am pretty much done!  I just have to make a few things for some people and then I will be really done!  

Did you know that Teachers Pay Teachers is having another awesome sale on Monday and Tuesday????  I am sure you have heard and guess what...I am taking part of it!  My store is actually on sale right now and will be through Tuesday!  

Here are my few of my top sellers!!!

1. Multiplication Properties Scavenger Hunt

2. Additions Property Scavenger Hunt

3. Scrambled States of America Activity Packet

Check these products out along with my other products! Well, I am off to bed! Tomorrow is going to be a busy one!

Five for Friday...Student Motivation update!

Wow!  I cannot believe how long it has been since I last blogged.  I am trying to keep my head above water with school work so everything else in my life seems to go out the window.  Today, I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for their Five for Friday.

1. Last week-end, I had the opportunity to go to Florida to watch one of my college roommates marry the man of her dreams.  It was so much fun and I am so glad I went.  I got to talk to many old friends, which was so nice.  Some of us were sitting around the table and we realized we are grown-ups.  When did that happen?

Her reception was at the Kennedy Space Center...so cool!

Old friends are the best!

The bride and I.

College friends...how did we get to be grown ups??

Me in front of a rocket!  I look so tiny!

2. We went on our first field trip of the year this week to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City.  It was a cold day, but  beautiful day!  The students had a blast and saw some amazing things.  They learned how the ship was used in World War II and what life was like on the Intrepid.  We also had the opportunity to see the Space Shuttle Enterprise, which for me was the major highlight!

The boys and Space Shuttle Enterprise

We found the machine guns!

Listening to our tour guide!

3. I am a little late to the party, but here is my November Currently!

Listening:  I was cleaning my room and I just had the TV on in the background.  It happens to be Saturday Night Live.  I am really not paying attention to it!

Loving:  I have been blessed with many friends who are absolutely wonderful.  My friends are there to support me, pray for me and have fun with me!  I thank God for the amazing friends I have.

Amazing friends!

Thinking: The marking period has ended and grades are due on Monday.  I have a small paper to finish grading and then upload my grades!  I need to finish up tomorrow or else!  Why does everything happen when the marking period ends?

Wanting: I love Christmas and I want to decorate right now!  I know it is early, but I just want to!  My mom doesn't like that idea so we will not be decorating until Thanksgiving!  I should begin a count down!

Needing: Sleep...do I need to say any more?

A Yummy Pin: Zucchini Carrot Oatmeal Muffins...I like to make muffins to take for breakfast...these are some yummy ones that I have made!

4.  Thursday and Friday, I spent in Lancaster, PA at the MACSA teachers conference.  I gained some great information to use in the classroom and on the basketball court.  One of the most interesting things that came up was a statistic from The United States Department of Labor.  It said that 65% of students in school will work at a job that has not been created yet.  This is because of the technology change that is happening.  I found that very interesting!

My favorite part of the conference was the time I spent with my co-workers in the car and at night having fun!  We played an awesome game called Quelf...we laughed and laughed!  It did not help it was late at night and we had been up since 4 am!  I love bonding time!

There was a children's play area...yes we played!!!

5. I want to give an update to a post from a few weeks ago.  I linked up with Joanne's Sparking Student Motivation and talked about decorating students' desks and cubbies (You can read about it HERE).  One of my students put Christmas lights in his desk...well he has added more and now has a dangling snowman that changes color!  His own disco ball!

WOW! That was a long post!  Thanks for making it to the end!  I hope you have a great rest of your week-end!

Sparking Student Motivation- Scavenger Hunts, plus a giveaway at the end!

Happy Saturday blogging friends!  I hope you are having a fantastic week-end.  I took a two hour nap, which was wonderful because on Saturdays my body still feels it needs to get up super early!  Today, I am linking up with Joanne from Head Over Heals for Teaching.  She has a fantastic linky on Saturdays...Sparking Student Motivation.

(I have to apologize for not many pictures this week.  I updated my phone yesterday and had some major issues.  I lost all of my current photos including the pictures for this post!!  It made me very sad!)  

I have found my students love to move around the room while working.  I often times will use scavenger hunts during my lessons.  This is where students look for cards that have questions on them to answer, they find them, answer them and then move on to find the next one.  You can do this for any subject or topic and the kids love it.  I hide the cards in fairly easy to find places, never under anything.  The students are given simple instructions on what to do and how we behave while wandering around the classroom.  Then, I set them off!  It is fun to see them helping other students find certain cards.  This gives them practice, while not keeping them tied to a chair.  My students get excited when they come in and find a few cards.  They are then looking frantically to find the rest of them while I am giving instructions.

I have two scavenger hunts in my store right now...one for addition properties and the other for multiplication properties.  Check them out or even create your own on the topic you are studying.

I am in a giving mood...Let's play Pin It To Win!  Pin either product and leave the link in the comments and I will pick two winners tomorrow night to receive one of these products.  You have two chances to win, so pin each one!

I am off to do some grading so I will not have any tomorrow!

Mentor Text- True & False Books

Hello friends!  I hope you all are doing well...I have had a very productive week-end doing "adult" things.  Oil change...car wash...cleaning...laundry...etc.  I am very proud!  I am excited to link up to one of my favorite linky parties....Collaboration Cuties Mentor Text Linky Party!  I always find amazing books through this!

This week, I want to share a series of science books by Scholastic.  They are Scholastic True or False books by Melvin and Gilder Berger.  They have about ten books out on different science topics...animals, reptiles, storms, planets, rocks and minerals.  I love these books and so do my students.  I recently used the rock and mineral book when we were studying that topic in science.  I would start each lessons with a true or false question.  Students would have to guess and we would check and see if we were correct.  They loved it!  I would also find my students quizzing each other during silent reading time or when they were done with their work.  They are written at a lower level then my 5th graders, but they love them just as much!  As I was looking them up on Amazon, I noticed a few I will have to add to my collection!  If you haven't seen these...check them out!

Amazon Description: Scholastic True or False is a science series aimed at second and third graders in a fun question-and-answer format. Each book contains 22 true or false questions with a full-color photograph of dangerous animals on every page. Kids will read the question on the right and turn the page to see the answer on the left. Every answer also includes a bonus fact related to the question.

I hope you check them out and all of the other fun science books that are linked up!

Tried It Tuesday: Projects By Jen

Hello Blogging Buddies!  I hope you are all doing well!  Today, was a my first day back after a nice three day week-end.  I was very tired today, but it was a good day!  My students and I had fun learning and doing various fun activities!  I am linking up with Holly from Fourth Grade Flipper for her Tried It Tuesday!

Today, I want to talk about a site I fell upon sometime last spring...Projects By Jen.  This site has great projects that classrooms around the country can take part in.  The projects are very simple, but very fun and exciting for students.  I signed my students up for her O.R.E.O. Project (Our Really Exciting Online Project)!  It was  really an exciting project for my students to be involved in.  

The project consisted of stacking oreo cookies and finding the average of the classes stack.  Each child got two chances to stack cookies and they were took each students highest stack.  I told the students we would be inputting our information and comparing it to students in our grade level all over the world.  They were excited!  I did inform them it is not a stacking competition, but some of my boys were very competitive!

It was really neat to watch my students because they were finding out the sounds and movement could knock over their stacks, which is something we will talk about later in the year.  We also talked about finding the mean of a group of numbers.  I have two math and science classes so we found the average of each class and then took the average of both classes.  Our average matched the average for 5th grade around the world, which was neat for the students to see!

Building our towers...don't move...don't say anything!

Don't fall!!!

We had two baskets of Oreos.

Our attempt charts!

Best part...eating Oreos!

Check out Projects by Jen for some fun easy projects to use in your class!