WE ARE FINDING OUR STRIDE . . . WHAT A WEEK!

My throat is sore as all get out, but I survived Parent Conference Week!!!! Albeit a small victory for most, in teacher-speak you all know that this is truly a huge "win" in an educator's scorebook!

These signs worked out very well for me.
I was able to drop in the new conference line up each morning, print, trim, and GO.
CLICK HERE if you would like these FREEBIES for your Parent Conference Week.

This week was a mad dash with all of the short days, but we managed to squeeze in quite a bit.  The babes and I are really finding our stride and it's a glorious thing for sure.  Here's a quick little look-see at my/our adventures in ROUND 5 . . . 

FIRST

I had dinner with the most amazing crew on Monday.  Seriously folks . . . my teaching idols.  I shared a table with Kim Sutton of Creative Mathematics and Ron Brown of Intelli-Tunes.  They are working on some amazing new stuff together and I got to be a part of it (thanks pop).  We chatted about Common Core strategies, talked up the importance of number sense, and swapped funny classroom tales.  It was a magical evening.  

SECOND

We wrapped up our football theme.  We had a dynamite time with Susan Moran's . . . oh excuse me, SUSAN JONES' . . . football pack.  We completed two writes that Ms. TGIF so skillfully drafted - How I Show Good Sportsmanship and How To Do A Touchdown Dance.  The kids had a ball with both of these activities . . . but, they were especially jazzed about the latter of the two.  Well, we could not miss out on the opportunity to show off our dances.  SO, here we be in all our "celebration glory."  Some kids chose to just read their page and have me do their touchdown boogie.  However, quite a few BRAVE students chose to do their dance for everyone.  

Classic.  "Victory" Face + Dance = AMAZING!
Snag Susan Jones' amazing football packet HERE.

Going in for the chest bump!

Love this "victory stance!"  He went bonkers right after this pose!
Everyone started hootin' and hollerin' . . . classic moment. 

I absolutely adore this photo.  It actually makes me tear up a bit.
This little cutie is SO proud of her work and everyone is supporting her!
Our TEAM rocks!

THIRD

Quality work has reached a whole new level in our room.  My babes have really bought in and their work is absolutely mind-blowing.  As soon as that relationship is formed between teacher and student, the work quality and ethic goes through the roof.  Do you notice this too??

She not only finished her Good Morning Work,
but she colored it too . . . just cuz.

Taking his time!  I love it :)

Uh . . . these are all from BOYS!!!!
Right on guys - my buttons are poppin' for sure.
CLICK HERE to score these generic BME Templates.

FOURTH

We are spending oodles of time in addition land right now.  They have learned lots of different strategies on how to solve problems and we are doing lots of talking about numbers and the whole "why do we need this" and "how did YOU solve it."  Here we are playing Journey From a Substitute Teacher's Rollin' Addition Facts Game - it's from a great pack called Mad for Math (we played tons of her games this week - all dice and domino print and go gems)!  They loved it.  Especially when they saw the double dice sitting at the station . . .   

FIFTH

If you live in Cali and teach TK, K, or 1st, mark your calendars for the 2014 PK1 Conference in Santa Clara (MLK Weekend) and 2014 So Cal Kinder Conference in Pasadena (February 28th - March 1st).  I just found out that I will be presenting at both!!!  Lots and lots of easy to implement ideas and activities that connect to the Common Core will be offered . . . PROMISE!  

You should see some of the big blogger names coming to the So Cal Conference this year.  Um, we're talking Mrs. Jump herself, Teacher Bits & Bobs, Kindergarten Crayons, Apples & ABCs, Teacher to the Core, Miss Kindergarten, Fluttering Through First Grade, Dragonflies in First, The Moffatt Girls, and Teeny Tiny!!!  I can't wait :)

Alright, I gotta jet.  Wanna finish at least one of my 2nd Grade GMW October packs before it's off to work at 3rd Annual Beef and Brew.  It's a great event for our little bitty town . . . and it's actually gonna get me out of the house on a weekend.  #thehermitmustcombherhair

Thanks Doodle . . . love the party :)