What in the world???

That is the best way I can describe these past few days.... and it's only TUESDAY!!! There are a couple of things that are making me (and my class) a little crazy this time of year.

1. I don't know about the weather elsewhere but last week in So Cal it was hot and sunny. Kids were swimming and playing in the backyard. This week?? Dark clouds rolled in and it was raining.... HARD!  Today was cold and overcast, too. This weather makes my students and me a little loopy. They were a little restless today and I can't blame them.

2. Can you take a guess as to what this is?  YUP!! It's CRUNCH TIME!!! Open House is in 2 days and we are taking our district writing assessment tomorrow. So in all the hustle and bustle of last minute "Hurry-up-and-just-trace-color-cut-and oh honey, don't forget to be neat" madness, I had to do some last minute prepping for the test. I hope all the other teachers will be nice when grading my student's writing. I think I'm gonna bring them some chocolate. I mean, I could be bought with chocolate. I'm just saying.....

3. I feel like I'm running on a hamster wheel right now and someone needs to pull me off. Tomorrow is my last "real" day of teaching. I job share and work Mon-Wed. Next week I'm at a Thinking Maps training for those 3 days and then the following week is our last week of school. WHAT???!! How did that happen?? I'm trying to get last minute testing done, cums, report cards, clean up the room, organize, plan parties...ahhhhh!!!!  Someone get me off this wheel. My head is definitely spinning.

4. The GOOD thing about today is the Instagram fun I've been having.  To join in on the party, look below:

I seriously have met some amazing teachers already and today was my first day! They welcomed this newbie  with sweet comments and "likes" on my pictures. Awwww.... I feel so special. :) I am really excited to be here in this community and have already seen SO many amazing things that teachers from all over are doing. I am truly inspired.


 My classroom has been working out of my  Open House Activities Pack this week....which is on sale TODAY and TOMORROW only. It comes complete with templates and practically does everything itself! OK, not really... but it's pretty great. It has step by step instructions with pictures and templates for everything. Plus, there are 19 fun activities. Here are just a few:

Ok. Don't judge me and my homemade sign! Desperate situations call for desperate measures. Remember?? CRUNCH TIME here!!

  She may be 100 yrs old but she's dangerous! She'll literally eat you alive! You DO NOT want to meet her in a dark alley.... EVER!!!

LOVE LOVE their Mystery Math Stories! It's great for common core!

Some of my sweet friends making Open House invitations for their parents.

Seriously, hold onto your horses... check out my sweet artist doing the line of symmetry project.

WOW!!!  Isn't she AMAZING!!!

                                         
This goes on the back of their line of symmetry project. We read a couple of books and then talked about things that we love about ourselves. I love #7 - "I'm good at eating."  Me, too, my friend. Me, too. :)

I LOVE how my silhouette project came out. I have a EASY peasy lemon squeezy tutorial for that in the packet. NO tracing, NO tired arms. Just 6 short steps and VOILA!

These are just a couple pictures of my kiddos reading. It seriously makes my heart happy! I love when they are just sprawled out around the room reading. :) Reading IS relaxing and pleasurable and if I want them to grow up loving print, then they have to know this.


Hoping your week isn't as crazy as mine, Friend.

Angela Linzay

Happy Monday!!

Really? I think that THAT is such an oxymoron. Are Mondays REALLY happy? "I'm SO happy that it's Monday today because I get to go to work," said NO ONE EVER!

I went into work today for a half day since my little girl is sick. She has pink eye in both eyes, a double ear infection, and yesterday at urgent care the nurse asked me, "So how long has she had this fever?" My response? "What??!!! I mean... mmmmmkay.. well, (feeling horrible that I didn't even know she had a fever)... Um... it JUST started." Yup! That's what I said and I wasn't lying either. As far as I knew, it really did just start. Yessireee... no Mommy of the Year Award here.

So today I went in my classroom for a couple of hours and was able to squeeeeeeze in one last writing lesson since our district writing assessment is tomorrow.... TWO DAYS before Open House. YIKES! After that, we worked on some last minute Open House projects. We are finishing up the silhouette project, doing our 100 yrs old writing and craftivity, taking pictures of our hands signing the alphabet, and making an adorable Open House invitation for parents. Here are some photos of our work in progress.

I used to hand trace all these silhouettes but then I came across this awesome way to do it on the computer! I wrote an EASY 6 step tutorial on it in my 19 Creative Open House Activities Pack.

I LOVE that you can see the details of their eyelashes!
I just print these at school...

UNLESS you have someone put in BLUE paper in the copier. Oooops!
No worries though. I'll be cutting the image out anyways.

OK... seriously! I COULD NOT get this image to rotate so you'll just have to turn your head sideways. LOL. Isn't this adorable? This reminds me of what they do at Disneyland. Yes, his description of his hair as curly and black was right on! You should see his locks. Enough to make even Fabio jealous. If you have no idea who Fabio is, Google him while I feel old.

Arghhh... STILL can't rotate! These labels come in 6 different colors.

We read Moses Goes to a Concert in class. It is about a young boy who is deaf and goes to school with other deaf children. It's a great story to teach kids about the life of hearing impaired students. I created these alphabet cards and took a picture of each child's hand signing the letter. I just have to cut and mount them on construction paper.  Every year, my kids LOVE having this up at Open House and signing the alphabet to their parents. I also do a FUN hidden message activity with this.

My Open House pack is ON SALE in my TPT store starting TOMORROW (Tues.) and will be on sale for only TWO DAYS!!! There are 19 creative projects all with templates and step by step instructions. Stop by and grab a pack!

19 Creative Open House Activities Pack

I also have an April Fool's Pack that will be going on sale... BUT don't be fooled! This packet is common core aligned and can be used anytime of the year...especially now that things are winding down and you need some independent work for your students so that you can get some one on one testing done. I TOTALLY get it! :) This is a "no guilt involved" pack. You can pull kids to test knowing that the others are reviewing some core standards in a fun way. It's a win-win if you ask me. 

Thanks friends and Happy Shopping!!!

Angela Linzay