MIA & Lots of Linkies

And no, I am not talking about the singer.

I have been totally MIA lately.  I've been stalking (somewhat), but have been super busy with finishing a unit work sample for evals., grad school work (okay, just grad school...I have done no work), teaching, and hanging with the fam.  My posts will probably continue to be sporadic so apologies in advance.

Oh yeah, I've also been officially obsessed with this little thing you may have heard of...

Oh my gosh.  I am obsessed.  The hubby thought I would finish it in a week and it's taken me longer, only because I am so darn tired when I get home and read. 

There are lots of linky parties I'm going to hook up with so please forgive this extra long post!

First up, Jeannie over at Kindergarten Lifestyle is having a "You Know You're a Teacher When..." Linky. 

Disclaimer:  I'm sure some of these are probably repeats so sorry in advance :)

Next linky:  Chrissy at Buzzing with Ms. B is hosting a linky about how you met your honey.

The hubby and I actually met in high school.  We had geometry together in 9th grade.  I was new to the school (relatively...I went to a school for the arts for middle school) so I felt super awkward all the time (who doesn't?!).  Anyways, I always thought he was super cute.  One time in class, a kid was "talking back" to the teacher and the hubby laughed.  Our teacher told him to "wipe that sh**y grin off his face."  I of course thought the whole thing was pretty funny, because our teacher cussed!  Later, I found out it didn't bother the hubby one little bit because it got me to notice him (awww).  Of course, I'd had my eye on him pretty much all year.  One day we actually talked after school while he was waiting on his dad to pick him up.  Normally he was a bus rider, so I jumped on the opportunity to talk to him.  Of course, right as we started talking, his dad pulled up.  I honestly didn't think that much of our convo, I was just trying to be my cheerful self (I was a cheerleader after all...).  We somehow got each other's AIM SN's (that would be AOL instant messenger screen name for all of you non 90s peeps).  I'm pretty sure I probably got his by my stalking ways.  We started talking online a lot and I started hanging with his crew at lunch.  Finally, on the last day of school (after school) he asked me out...online!  He was scared I would say no!  We've been together pretty much ever since!  Here's some pics for your enjoyment :)

Our first picture together!

I hope you head over and link up!  I can't wait to read everyone's!

There was more, but that's enough for tonight.  I think the hubby will kill me if I'm on the computer any longer!

Hope you join the parties :)



Hey Girl, Check It Out

Oh my word.  I C-A-N-N-O-T get enough of this Hey, Girl site.  I actually have not seen all of them, but I have turned my coworkers onto it.  This is the note I got from my tiny hall partner {I say tiny hall because we are literally the only classrooms on our hall...everything else is workroom, nurse, office, principal's office...you get the picture}.

Shut the front door.  I probably definitely startled my kiddos because I busted out laughing.  Ohmyword.  So then, I was telling the associate teacher who works in my room about it and she told me about this:

So funny that he knows about it!  I just love it.  I also found another Hey, Girl site here if you're interested.  Okay, I am wiped so I'm hitting the hay.  Work, class, & PTA make for a LONG day!  I'll leave you with this one, since this is what we discussed at our PTA meeting {insert Debbie Downer sound}

I Am Currently...

Yes, breaking the "rules" and posting twice in a day.

But if I don't do it now, it'll be Thursday night and I'll realize I never posted about it. 

I just love Farley's Currently posts.  I'm actually pretty sure she was talking directly about me and my obsessiveness when she was talking about how Kristin (Teeny Tiny) always gets stalked a lot.  Yeahhh...

So here is what I'm currently up to:

Ohmyword!  Is this not the cutest template ever?!  Seriously, I am in ♥.  Of course, now that I've posted it, I'm thinking of so many things I could've included as well.  Like, I'm also currently obsessing over loving Hey Girl!  Swoon...

Okay, I really need to hit the sack.  What are you currently up to?  Can't wait to see...make sure you link up!

Love Love Love, I Got Your Love

I know Lady Gaga is all kinds of craziness, but her songs are so dang catchy!  I just love them, thus the title of this post.  So,  Kimberly at Funky First Grade Fun is having a linky.  You KNOW I love a good linky party :)

Here's what I'm loving now:

I am avoiding finishing the this weeks LPs like the plague.  The sad thing is the only subject I have to do is Guided Reading.  I would much prefer blog stalking thankyouverymuch.  How has your weekend been?  I have been loving catching up on sleep (10-11 hours each night!).  Yesterday I went to my BFF's son's birthday party.  It was fun, but we were the only couple there without a kid!  I was glad her mom and dad were there to talk to. 

Random fact:  Her mom taught me in calculus in high school!  That's right, don't be jealous of those skills :)  In reality, I was lucky to pass...calculus was hard!  Of course, some of my {male} friends in that class didn't do homework or take notes and passed with flying colors.

Sidenote:  I am super excited the coin toss landed on heads.  Free pizza from Papa Johns..holla!

Have a great week!

P.S.  Head over and link up if you haven't yet!

Hey Girl, How Do You Plan Homework?

Okay, I'm sure most of you have seen this website, but if not, you MUST!  I have a special place in my heart for Ryan Gosling (who doesn't?!).  I thought the site had only Ryan Gosling, but there are some other actors as well if he doesn't float your boat (again, how could he not?!).

Seriously laughed out loud so hard at this one.  Do y'all have to do this?  I only wish writing the learning objective made my kids motivated, lol.  Seriously, check it out.  The site is amazing and there are so many great "quotes" on there!

I noticed The Lesson Plan Diva is having a linky party for HW.  I tell ya, I don't enjoy giving HW. Mainly because I don't enjoy looking over it and whatnot.  When I taught 5th grade, HW was assigned every night and checked the next day.  We were departmentalized so once the kiddos came in my room, they knew to get their HW out and I would walk by and quickly check it to see if they had it.  If not, I wrote their name down for their homeroom teacher and they would lose some recess.

Now, we assign HW on Monday and it's due on Friday.  Here's what last week's HW packet looked like:

HomeworkPacket 01-30

This past week I started Class Dojo with my kiddos because we were really having a hard time earlier on.  So I checked their reading log every day and if they had it done, they would earn a point and if not they would lose a point.  This seemed to help motivate them to do their reading every night.

This is a short post as I'm getting ready to go to my BFF's son's birthday party and it's about a 2 hour drive down there.  I hope you head over and link up with the Lesson Plan Diva! 

Happy Saturday!

Tag!

I am so glad Allyce over at Teaching and Life: At the Beach tagged me.  I finally finished my LPs, although my ADD got the best of me.  I tried...really tried hard not to finish them and instead check out Facebook and Pinterest a bazillion times.  But alas, I finished them.  I certainly haven't finished all the crap I included in them, like shapes to cut out and what not, but I'll get to it!

I was going to work on our new bathroom sign in/out system.  BUT, I left all of my pockets at school!  Ahh, I was so upset!  The hubby told me to just relax and do them tomorrow, but there is no way I'll be doing them tomorrow!  Here's a sneak peak:

Here's what's going on in 3B:

• Some of us like to write our name all fancy in the bathroom (like in all dots). 
• Some of us like to not write our name at all.
• And some of us like to write other students names.

It just annoys me.  So, I took down our sign in/sign out sheet and they will now have sticks to move on the cabinet.  FYI: I added paper and border to the other side in case your OCD is going crazy looking at that picture!

So anyways, this is why I'm glad I saw Allyce tagged me so I could distract myself from being upset at leaving the pocket charts at school.  So, here's how it goes:

1. You must post the rules.
2. Post 12 fun facts about yourself on the blog post.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create 12 new questions for the people you tagged.
4. Tag 12 people and link them on your post.
5. Let them know you've tagged them!

12 Fun Facts About Me!
1.  I collect rocks.  I've been collecting them since I was a kid and I have some pretty awesome ones if I do say so myself!  When I was younger, my sister threw away a lot of my rock collection because it was in a shoebox (my storage system at the time).  I give her a hard time about it to this day.  Oh, and when we went to Atlanta for our 1 year anniversary we went to Stone Mountain.  I picked up lots of pieces of granite even while they were warning us to get off the mountain due to an electrical storm...
2.  I have been with my husband since we were freshmen in high school...about 11 1/2 years! 
3.  I am a directions whiz.  You will not get lost with me.  I even recognize places I went to as a kid.  When my dad's old boss had a kid, they took me to visit the baby.  I must've been like 8 or 9 maybe?  Now I live out in the area they live and I recognized their turn off and everything when I was driving one day.  My mom couldn't believe it.  I had the NYC subway system figured out in like a day...well at least the trains we frequented...I also fell in love with NYC when we were there and I would LOVE to go back one day.
4.  I am an old woman!  In reality, I'm 25, but I have little to no desire to go out and am quite content spending my weekends at home.  I'm also in bed early, but that has a lot to do with when I get up...
5.  I lived in the same house for all of my life.  My parents have lived in the house since the 70s and still live there!
6.  I have a HUGE family!  Seriously.  My dad is one of 9.  I am the youngest grandchild (# 31 I believe)Here's a picture from my grandmother's 95th birthday party.

This is the grandchildren and their spouses.

This is just the grandchildren (no spouses).  We are in order of age with the oldest grandchild being in the top right corner and the youngest (me) in the silver shirt next to my grandmother.  If you counted, yes, there are only 24.  Some have passed away and some couldn't make it.

These are the great grands (and this has grown since then!).  It's funny that some of the great grands are older than me, even though I'm a generation ahead of them.

7.  I am such a nerd/dork.  You may not see it if I'm not totally comfortable with you, but if you're in my family...watch out!

8.  I love T.V.  I always have.  I'm quite content to sit on the couch and watch TV and be on the computer all day.

9.  I was bald as a baby.  Like, until I was 2.  You wouldn't be able to tell now with my thick, curly hair. 

10.  I used to be a dancer.  I went to an arts infused elementary school.  Actually, the middle school I went to was an arts middle school and my major was dance.  Unfortunately, I didn't like the dance teachers I had in later years and a lot of the kids were pretty mean so I ended up switching to a "regular" school for high school.

11.  I'm allergic to pretty much everything.  I knew I was allergic to pollen, but I went to an allergist a few years ago and they did the whole back prick thingy.  Their words when they came back to check on the results:  "Wow, you're lit up like a Christmas Tree."  Yeahhh

12.  I am a dog lover.  Gizmo is 13 years old!  I actually think it might be safe to say I like dogs better than most people.  Is that bad?!

Here's Allyce's Questions:

1) What technology do you wish you could have in your classroom?  I have a SMARTBoard, but I would really like the SMART Response clickers.  Or iPads (which some schools in our district have).

2) What is your favorite grade to teach?  I've only taught 5th and 3rd.  The each have their pro's and con's, but I'd definitely go with 3rd.

3) Do you eat in your staff room?  HA!  I WISH!  We have to eat lunch with our kids.  And we only have 20 minutes for lunch.  So, that means basically by the time I've heated my lunch and shoveled it into my mouth, it's time to go.

4) How many elementary schools are in your district?  Oh boy Allyce...I had to look it up!  We have 53!

5) What is your favorite way to spend a day off?  Either getting things done around the house or doing absolutely nothing!

6) Where do you go when you need to think? Or just completely relax.  I don't really go anywhere...I just do what I normally do (get on the computer and watch TV) and usually go to bed early.

7) Do you use standards based grading at your school?  Yes...we aren't supposed to assess anything that is not standards based.

8) What is your FAVORITE dessert?  I cannot possibly pick just one!  Lately though, I've been loving ice cream sundaes with all the fixins (I use frozen yogurt instead of ice cream)

9) What is your guilty pleasure tv show?  I love reality TV:  Anything Kardashian, Real Housewives of NJ, Real Housewives of OC, Millionaire Matchmaker, Storage Wars, Pawn Stars, etc.

10) Do you play a sport?  No.  I used to be a cheerleader (ever since I was like 2 and a mascot!).  Yeah yeah, some of you don't consider that a sport, but it definitely kept me in shape!  I also used to be a runner.

11) Pets?  Gizmo!  He is seriously the best dog ever!  He is 13 but you'd never guess it!

12) What is your very favorite childrens book?  I really like The Lorax because of the message behind it (and I'm super stoked it's going to be a movie!)

Here are my questions:

1. What state do you live in?
2. Do you collect anything?
3. What is your favorite color?
4. Do you do anything work related on the weekend?
5. What is your favorite food?
6. How long is your commute to work?
7. If you won the lottery, what would you do with the money?
8. How do you spend your time when you're relaxing?
9. How many weddings have you been in?
10. What is your favorite place you've visited?
11. If you weren't a teacher, what would you be?
12. Kids...do you have any?  How many do you have/want?

I'm tagging these people (apologies if you've already been tagged!):

Ginger at Ginger Snaps

Amber at Adventures of a Third Grade Teacher

Debbie at Second Grade Swamp Stories

Haley at Following Optimism

Barbara from The Corner on Character

Sarah at Waiting on the Butterflies

Staci at Let's Teach Something in Kindergarten 

Heather at Loose Shoelaces

Delighted at First Grade Delight

Meg at Third Grade in the First State

Staci aka Ms. Squirrels at Going Nutty

Dee at First Impressions

Extensions and Gains

So, how would you like to have 2 hours added to your school day?

What?  You wouldn't?  You mean, you wouldn't want school from 7:30-4:30?  Well why not?

Okay, how about let's add 20 days to your school year.

Not that either?  You don't want to work an extra month?

Well folks, believe it or not, that's what's {possibly} on the table for me.  No decisions have been made, but they're considering that for a group of schools in my district.  Not the whole district, but some of the under performing schools.

Initially, they wanted to add two hours to the school day AND add 20 days to the school year.  Kill me now...

Luckily, it looks like they won't be adding 2 hours to our day.  I mean, when would we have faculty meetings, go to grad classes, and other PD meetings (like one I have once a month from 3:30-5:30).

We had a meeting today after school and it looks like they'll be adding 20 days to our school year next year.  It's definitely better than 2 hours to each day, but I don't feel like my summer break will be long enough.  Usually, by the time school starts back, I'm ready to go back.  I'm not sure I'll be ready after a month off.

I'll be sure to keep you posted.

On a positive note, we had our Math MAP test today.  Do y'all take the MAP test?  My kids did really good!  I'm so proud of them.  Some of my kiddos went up in the double digits (17 & 25 points!).  They all had a goal of going up at least 6 or 7 points and I was super proud of them.  I am nervous/excited/anxious for tomorrow's Reading MAP test.  There's so much pressure (on us) for the kids to do well.  We're kinda judged on it (not formally), but there is definite pressure.  Do y'all take any tests that have pressure, aside from state tests? 

In other news, I was shocked when I came out to my car this afternoon.  Can you figure out why?

What on earth?!  Why do I have pollen on my car in January?!  Granted, it's been unusually warm (70s), but still!  I couldn't believe it.  I even made the hubby come out and see my car as soon as I got home. 

Also, I was super excited this morning when I got a comment from Haley over at Following Optimism. 

She gave me an award, and not just any award, but a favorite follower award! 

Looking at Haley's blog, I'm super honored she chose me because I don't feel like I've read/commented any of her recent posts!  I've been slightly slacking in the blog stalking department lately.  Anywhos...I totally feel like we could be BFFs IRL.  Her blog makes me laugh and she posts lots of freebies (my favorite!). 

I am supposed to pick 2 followers to award this to, which is tough!  I love all of my followers! 

Holly is SO sweet!  Plus, she has so many freebies!  I just love her blog.    Also, you must check out her A Day in my Shoes post.  I am totally with her on the hair determining my morning (although I don't wash  mine in the kitchen sink ;)  Is it considered cheating if she's already received it?  I hope not...

Chrissy is SO nice!  She always leaves the nicest comments and I love checking out her blog!  I keep meaning to participate in her A Photo a Day, but I always seem to forget!  I think we could totally be BFFs IRL since we both do not like vegetables.  Hers is a texture thing, mine is just me being picky :)  Head over and check out her blog!

Okay, I am going to try to stay up for Modern Family.  It's not lookin' good.  I am tired and have a full day tomorrow:  work, meeting (3:30-5:30) & HOA meeting at 6. 
Happy Thursday!