Benchmarks, Carnivals, and Painting with a Twist ;)

Goodness! What a week! I am not even sure where in the world to begin, so I thought I would (late of course) join the Five for Friday linky party with Doodle Bugs! I have wanted join in forever, but I just can never seem to make it by Friday...LOL. However, since this Friday was part of the fun, I thought I would join late anyway!

Be sure to check out Doodle Bugs by clicking on her link. :) Whew...wee...lots of great blogging out there!

This is going to be another long one....so hold on to your hats....here we go!

All our bright anchor charts are gone for testing :(

1. Let's start with the Super-Big-Get-Lots of rest-and a great breakfast-Deal....This week our third and fourth graders survived their Arkansas Benchmark exams! I sure had a hard working, sweet group of kiddos! I am nervous and excited to see the results of all our hard work!

We had to cover anything that might give our kiddos a clue...sure makes my room look sad...

  

2. Okay....confession time! I am failing miserably this year at our Biggest Loser Competition...I did so well last year, but I just cannot seem to wrap my mind and soul around the changes I need to make to maintain the weight loss I had last year. Now I am not saying that I am giving up! I am going to continue chugging along making small life changes as best as I can , so that I can lose what I gained back....now having said all that....our lovely office staff and PTO do not make it easy to lose...hahaha

Snacks everywhere you turn...
to help sooth the fretful testing teacher

So one day after testing, I walked out of my class for a moment only to run into Ms. Shewmaker trying to burn off a couple of those snacks (with a smile even!).....ah...the things we do! LOL

We actually made it OUT for lunch one day this week...
talk about tempting....
walking away from these was harder than the Benchmark!
I sure do LOVE my girls!!!! So FUNNY!!!!

The hubby and I managed
a few walks through the week...
this was my favorite!
Slow & Steady...

3. Each day after testing...we tried to make it relaxing and fun for the kiddos.

 

 

4. Our kiddos worked hard all week to earn points/tickets to spend at a Benchmark Carnival...I was pleasantly surprised by how fun and successful it was! Not to mention ~ EASY! 

 

Mrs. Hanna joined in on all the fun!

5. The kiddos got to celebrate with a fun and sugar-filled carnival, but all the adults decided to get together Friday afternoon for fun at Painting with a Twist! It was so much fun! 

Now here is the funny part...when we walked in, who do we see...most of my class...LOL...we always seem to find each other :)

Crazy, crazy, sassy girl! Love her!

 

Sweet Ella was celebrating her birthday :)

After checking out their work...we headed in to do our own painting and venting and giggling and just good ol' de~stressing!

Look what Mrs. Hanna found....

 

 

I love how all of our paintings had our own personality!

We even made it to dinner at my fave...KanPai!

OK...I have a 5 1/2 LOL....When I pulled into work Saturday to get my room ready for the week...this is what greeted me! haha...

Yes! Ladies and Gentlemen...that is a CIRCUS! The circus has come to Cabot and parked right on our playground! I spent the day working to the sounds of the Big Top...elephants and all! (Even made me think of The One and Only Ivan)

Holy Cow....what a week. I have slept since then, and I am tired just from reading this LOL...

Now for some picture books!

I want to start with another sweet, lyrical picture book. The illustrations by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher are what first caught my eye in The Dancing Tiger by Malachy Doyle. However, the graceful poetry of the story is what keeps me coming back as a the little girl moves through the seasons with her secret friend, the dancing tiger. The reader in me loves the precious rhyming story, but the teacher in my loves pointing out all of the prepositional phrases...haha.

Okay, Okay...since I am into confessions today, I must tell you that this next hysterical picture book...I ALMOST missed out on! I judged it by its cover...GASP...yes, I took one look at it and thought oh another alphabet book...I will skip it for now...then my good friend, Sarah, told me how her and her class could not stop laughing as they read it. Well, I always love a good recommendation, so I picked it up. I am sooooo glad I did. She was so right! This book is too funny to miss out on. I love the the conflict between poor Zebra and Moose as Zebra desperately tries to "produce" this story. You just have to love the ending of Z is for Moose by Kelly Bingham.

Katie Byrd came to help me in my room this weekend, so I asked her to pick out a couple of her favorite picture books. I was not surprised to see how much we are alike in our picks! ;)

I Love You the Purplest by Barbara M. Joosse was her first pick. She chose this one because she remembered me reading it when she and her brothers were little...ahh...sigh. So sweet! I remember it, too! It was always one of my favorites as a mother, and I love it just as much as a teacher! This has a treasure of mini-lessons within these beautiful pages. Organization and word choice jumps out the most, but I always love to see if kiddos pick up on why the title is "the purplest."

These next two she chose because fairy tales are her favorite. She could not have picked two more beautiful books!

 

Little Red Riding Hood retold and illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman and Beauty and the Beast retold by Mary Pope Osborn and illustrated by Winslow Pinney Pels are both breathtaking reads. SO beautiful! I love both of these books, and you will never go wrong with a classic fairy tale!

Welp...don't know about you, but I am worn out!....Happy reading!

Lists and poems

Whew wee...Goodness! I think that the first few weeks of school is a lot like child birth in that we forget exactly how crazy it is or we would never do it again. OK...so I am being dramatic, but a whirlwind of DSA,  DRA, DIBELs and seemingly impossible deadlines is about to wear me out. I would much rather sit down and read to, read with, or write with my sweet kiddos. Funny thing is that I will do it all over again next year just to spend each and every day reading and writing with a new group of sweeties. So, deep breath...sigh...on with our crazy busy but wonderful day together!

So sad to see some of our wonderful books play hide and seek behind our growing anchors. We have discussed, reviewed, and learned much in a small amount of time. We are definitely on our way to a successful year in reading and writing. 

Students are still enjoying storytelling, and I am so glad to have added such a fun piece to writing workshop. Notebook Now How by Aimee Buckner has been an excellent addition to my professional library, and it has really given me some fun ideas regarding establishing a community of writers that feel as if they truly have a story to share, big or small. 

Another gem I found on my own bookshelf was given to me by someone in my family years ago.  Telling Your Own Stories by Donald Davis has opened so many new ideas for the kiddos in sharing stories. They have enjoyed sharing with their teammates. The fun part of all the storytelling and sharing of ideas is that the first time these kiddos tell me they don't have anything to write...maybe I will have some things to remind them of. And I am sure if I don't, their teammates will. :)

I want to share a fun little read aloud that was a perfect addition to our writing workshop launch as we continue to add a variety of entries in our writer's notebook. Lists are a perfect addition to any notebook. 17 Things I'm Not Allowed to do Anymore by Jenny Offill is a cute list book that starts out, "I had an idea to staple my brother's hair his pillow... I am not allowed to use the stapler anymore." Giggles EVERY time :)

Today's list was our Happy/Sad list. We brainstormed ideas that make us happy or sad. We then discussed how many stories were hiding in this list! This sweet group of kiddos are so open and honest in their thinking. I cannot wait to see what stories they write for me this year.

Rimshots by Charles R. Smith Jr. is way up there on my list of favorites for poetry and launching writing workshop. "Reading books filled with stories and poems inspired me to write my own. The more I read, the more I wrote. And if I wasn't reading a book, I was playing a sport; I played everything, particularly basketball, and spent many afternoons on the court, perfecting my jump shot." ~ Charles R. Smith Jr. What could be more perfect to show where writers get ideas, how they write from what they know and love, and the variety of writing styles they can bring to their notebooks! Not only that, his poems are amazing! 

Off to finish last minute plans for tomorrow ~ 

Happy Reading!