Five for Friday: Enjoying Summer!

Just another week of summer! It's kind of fun to do Five for Friday during the summer to see all the fun random things we are up too. :)

{one}

Yep, I live with a bunch of super heroes! Will is definitely a super hero dad! Liam at 2 can pretty much name all of the super heroes and Alex will forever be batman. Love these boys and the great summer we have been having!

{two}

Speaking of superheroes...

My brother-in-law shared these family photos we took on our family vacation in Ohio. Please look at my child, front and center in the striped shirt...

What possesses him to do things like this!?! He is such a character! 

{three}

This is NOT a number you want to see in the middle of summer in SC! Our AC broke JUST before I was going to have my teammates over for sushi! Great timing...

But, Oh. My. Goodness.
Seeing these ladies again did my heart good. Its been a busy summer for all of us, but we have a blast making sushi and talking about life. It was good. :)

{four}

My brother-in-law is getting married so I was making the boys try on their outfits... because I just finished making them some bow ties....

Poor Liam. I didn't give him enough time after his nap. He was NOT a happy camper, but hopefully we will stay this clean for the wedding... I have some serious bribing that is going to go on to make sure they keep those bow ties on! ;)

{five}

Its definitely a challenge to plan for something you have never taught! My mind has been racing with all that I need to teach and getting it down on paper... its definitely been a process. You can go here to read about what my big plans for the year are! 

It's hard to believe we are almost in the middle of July! I am excited about the wedding we have this weekend. It will be fun to see lots of family and share in their special day! Hope you are all enjoying your summer! :)

Be sure to check out what other teacher's are up to over at Kacey's Five for Friday!

4th of July Sale!

My TPT store is on sale this weekend to add to your July 4th celebrations!

Check out some of these products to help get your year started off on the right foot!

Click on the pictures for more details!

Classroom job signs

Agenda circles! These coordinate perfectly with the classroom jobs! :)

teacher planners

Around the World Factbooks

Decoding Strategy pack!

Reading Comprehension posters

Writing Resources

Go HERE to see all my Back to School Products!

And be sure to download some of the freebies as well! ;)

Five for Friday: Road Trip Edition

We just got back Wednesday from an almost 3000 mile road trip! Over the last two weeks I have been totally absent from the blogging world and my computer in general, but it was a great way to recharge and reconnect with lots of family and friends! 

In the 2800 miles we went to 5 states so this Five for Friday will be a quick recap of how we started our summer!

Let me just say these boys are amazing travelers! Alex stayed so busy with a variety of activity books and Liam did a great job spreading it all over the car.  By the end of the two weeks Liam did much better too! :)

It was supposed to be a 15 hour trip but it took a LOT longer with all the stops. We went to meet the boys newest cousin! My brother and his wife moved up there towards the beginning of the year. The boys loved baby Donald! 

We loved being with family, and pretty much froze in Wisconsin weather. It rained a lot so my brother took us to the Kohler's Design Center. The boys thought it was the most amazing place ever! 

I mean really. Who knew cool shower heads and tubs could be so interesting. ;)

Next up was Chicago for a dear college friend's wedding. 

We stayed with some friends in Chicago who have a boy a couple years older than Alex. 

Alex LOVED playing with him!

We spent Saturday afternoon downtown with Will's brother who also lives in the city. The boys had a blast at the new Maggie Daley Park! 

Of course Paul would know a great Italian cafe so the boys had gelato for lunch! 

 Then we dressed up for the wedding and had a great time seeing friends and catching up!

We drove up to Grand Rapids to meet up with a friend I have known since middle school in Japan! We have stayed in touch throughout the years, even though it has usually meant traveling long distances to do so! I loved seeing our boys play so well together! Alex had such a hard time leaving! 

He hates goodbyes as much as I do! After a busy couple of days, we had such a fun time hanging out with them.

 We finally parked in Ohio for almost a week. My family met up at Lake Hope for our vacation. 

We are very spread out so its difficult to get us all in one place, but this was a great week to spend time together and watch the kiddos run around! When you have littles it definitely becomes more about making life easier for them and the lake was perfect for that! 

Also. Family pictures with 8 littles. 

It's not for the fainthearted!

The last stop was Pennsylvania for my Dad's family reunion. My grandpa passed away in October, and it was the first time we had all gathered together since then. Lots of cousins couldn't make it, but it was good to catch up and hear about all the interesting things everyone is doing!

The kids called it the castle! It was a beautiful building and the grounds were amazing!

One day Will, the boys and I got away to visit another dear friend from high school. Actually, all the way from elementary! She has kids who are both about 3 months older than our boys. They had a great evening together. 

We had such a wonderful time, but it was just as great to finally be home too! I'm ready to get started on some new TPT ideas that have been going on in my head, so we will see how far I get on those! ;) I have some planning for next year to do too!

Well sorry for the really long post! Be sure to check out everyone else's Five for Friday post too! :)

Beat the Summer Slide!

It's that time of year again. Finishing up end of year testing, celebrating the 10 months of learning that has taken place. 

And then you remember. Those 10 months of hard work, the huge growth you see as you test, will all start to slide away over the summer. Its so frustrating sometimes. And then it's hard to know what to do.

I've tried it all. 

The packets of work/activities that I am pretty sure the majority of them never get opened or touched. 

Reading challenges with all kinds of prizes. Only three kids return those.

Doing nothing at all. But some how that doesn't seem like the right thing either.

The last couple of years my team has gathered our first grade parents to give them some tips and ideas to help make summer practice fun. 

This year we did a mid year parent night as well. We focused on GAMES parents couple play to help reinforce skills while the kids just stay focused on the fun! We always gives tips about some great stuff to buy at the dollar tree to help support the learning. We pull the laminator into the library and then make some file folder games with the parents to take home.
We always talk about doing more parent nights, but the year always runs away form us. It is such a good way to connect with parents.

This year I am not sending home a huge packet. I'm going to send home a couple of things. Less copies, but ideas that will benefit my kids more.

Copies of Game Instructions:

Lots of fun activities using games they already have or cheap materials from the dollar tree. These first couple games were ones that we downloaded from Kelly's Kindergarten.

Jodi Southard's Summer Activities Calendar

What a great freebie!! Check it out here. I think it is great for those parents who want a little more focused practice!

Reading Information

I just hope my kids read lots over the summer. I am going to send home the kids current reading level with a list of books/series that might be of interest (our school is working on some lists, but you can find some online too! I am definitely sending home some decoding bookmarks and info for the parents too!  Grab that here!

Technology Tips

We always remind our parents to use RAZ kids over the summer. I will make a list of some of my favorite apps...

(find a full list here!) and send home this great website list from A Year of Many Firsts!

Journals

I plan on sending home either a writing journal we have already started or a new one to encourage writing over the summer. Even writing a couple sentences about what they did that day is better than no writing at all. Or they could use it to write letters back and forth with their parents.

Well, that is what I am trying this year! Hopefully with giving parents the right tools, we can work on beating the summer slide! What are you going to do this summer to beat the slide?

Summer Life

A teacher friend once told me that if we go to school during the summer then they would make us start working more. I laughed, but I understand what she is saying.
This summer I have gone to school a couple of times to drop stuff off, I've made some cute stools for my classroom (see that post here), bought a lot of fun new pens (isn't paperwork and note taking so much more fun when you have some good pens), and started this blog.
I went to one training and during those 3 days was very focused on what needs to change for next year, but then I came home. As much as I want to think about school, I can't, I don't really want too. Last year was a rough year. I had one of those memorable groups. They really wore me out. So I decided that this summer really needs to be a break. One of the IB Learner Profiles is being Balanced. I struggle so much with that, as does every teacher I am sure. So no school thoughts until August. Except for the occasional free download that pops up on my facebook or bloglovin' feeds.
So hopefully come August I will be ready to jump back in, freshen up my classroom and get those plans ready for a new group of first grade friends, but until then I plan to enjoy my pajamas until as late as I can, stay up reading that book, or go to the zoo with my kids on a Monday afternoon.

Because I am a teacher, and I earned my summer vacation!