Five for Friday: Spring Break Edition

I have been on Spring Break this week.  I wish I could say that I spent lots of time in PJ's and lounging on the couch, but it was a busy week.  That's ok though because it was still a great week.

I am linking up Doodle Bugs Teaching this week for Five for Friday.

#1 - Indiana Blogger/Teacher Meet-Up
I know I already posted about this, but this past weekend was just amazing.  If you ever have a chance to go to a meet-up, you need to GO!

#2 - SPRING BREAK
I love my job.....I really do love my job, but it doesn't mean I wasn't completely ready for Spring Break.  It was very much needed.  I feel energized now and ready to go back and finish the year with my amazing little kinder babies!

#3 - Jamberry Nails
I had a Jamberry party and decided to become a consultant because what else do you when your life is already crazy busy?  Well in my life I just keep doing more...haha!  I am loving my Jamberry fingers and toes.  Are you interested in Jamberry?  Go to my Facebook page and click on the FREE tab to request a sample.  :)

#4 - Saying Goodbye
If you follow me on IG, you already saw this picture.  I said goodbye to my grandparent's house this week.  They are moving on Monday and I went for my last visit and to help pack this week.  They have lived in this house for 50 years.  It was my second home growing up and I will forever cherish the memories that were made there.  I hate goodbyes and I know it is only a house but I still cried when I left.  I am though looking forward to making many memories in their new house.

#5 - Spending time with my family
I was able to see my sweet little niece and nephew as well as spend lots of time with my own kiddos during this break.  Nothing beats spending time with these cuties.

 Jazz Hands!

He was not amused with me...lol

Have you already had Spring Break?  If not, when do you have break?  

I would love to hear about your week.  Why don't you head on over to Doodle Bugs Teaching so you can link up!

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Volunteer Thank You's

I have been on Spring Break this week and even though it has been an extremely busy break I have been enjoying every minute of it!

Last week though, we had to say goodbye to our Junior Achievement volunteer.  Do you have Junior Achievement in your area?  Junior Achievement is a non profit organization that brings the real world to students through hands-on curriculum delivered by a trained classroom volunteer.  I have been lucky that most years I have had wonderful volunteers and this year was no different.  In kindergarten, the volunteer makes five visits to the classroom.

This year our volunteer was Mr. Gary.  My students fell in love once he told them he had a farm.  Each week after his lesson and activity the students could ask him questions about the farm.  It was their favorite part of our sessions.  I think secretly it was Mr. Gary's favorite part too.  :)

During our last session, he had told the students that he found a snake skin on his farm and brought it in for the brave students to touch if they wanted.  (Mrs. Pauley did NOT touch the snake skin....yuck!)  I was surprised by how many students wanted to touch it.  They are definitely braver than I am.

I wanted to do something special to thank Mr. Gary for all he had done for the class.  He loved the pictures that the kids would make him so I thought making a special thank you card would be a great idea.

I was so lucky because at the same time I was thinking about creating a card for him I found out about this company called Treat. I had received an email and explored their photo greeting cards.  Luckily for me, going through their site was a much easier process than it would have been for me to make a card myself.

Here is what it looked like:

Isn't it just precious?  Mr. Gary LOVED the card and was almost speechless at the thought behind it as well as the fact that all the students signed their names.  He told them he was going to keep it on his desk.  I thought it was the perfect card for such a wonderful volunteer.  If you are interested in checking out Treat, just click {here}.  They have all kinds of amazing cards.

What do you do for the volunteers in your classroom?  I would love for you to tell me in the comments below!

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Spring Blogger/Teacher Meet Up

Oh my goodness....I just got back from an amazing weekend in French Lick, Indiana.  Over 50 fabulous teachers and bloggers gathered together on our own time and dime to share and celebrate about teaching.  It was a great experience and has given me the renewed rejuvenation for the rest of the school year!

We have a little something in the works soon from our meet up, but for now I just wanted to share some of my pictures I was able to get.  I will have more info about the meet up in a later post.

I don't think he needs a caption, but this is Mr. Greg and I.  He is wonderful and I so glad I was able to finally meet him in person.

This weekend would not have been possible without this fabulous woman.  She went above and beyond for this.  Thanks for everything Holly!

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St. Patrick's Day Fun

Head on over to Teaching Blog Roundup tonight to hear all about how we celebrated St. Patrick's Day!

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Behavior Rewards

I posted a couple pictures yesterday on my Facebook page from our reward assembly.  Some people asked about our assembly and what it entailed so I thought I would share with everyone here.

Our school has a quarterly behavior reward activity.  At the beginning of each quarter, the teachers decide together what the requirements are for participation in the activity.  For example, this quarter any student who had not received a detention was able to go to our rewards assembly.  Students know these expectations from the beginning of the quarter.  We do not always do something as big as an assembly.  We have done smaller "game days" in the classroom for those who met the requirements as well.

Here are some of the activities we have done for school-wide behavior rewards:
~game day
~gum day
~zoo presentation
~special treat
~special assembly

Yesterday our assembly was just ah-mazing.  I mean, I can't say enough about Zany Janie!  She had a wonderful message in her show and the students just loved it.  She spoke about how important it is to be yourself and try your best in school!  It combined comedy, stories, magic tricks, and best of all balloons!  Zany Janie and Mr. B Loon make the most fabulous creatures out of balloons.  The students were just in awe watching them make things from as simple as a balloon animal dog to an extravagant monkey and banana tree.

Here are some fun pictures for the assembly:

There was another fun part when they pulled a student and a teacher on stage and taught them how to make a dog out of a balloon.  Then the student had to help Zany make as many dogs as she could before a song was over.

If you are in the area, you should head over to Zany Janie's Facebook page and enter her giveaway for teachers.  It ends tomorrow.  You know I am entering!  They will come into the winning teacher's classroom and teach the whole class how to make balloon animals!

Does your school do anything school-wide for behavior?  I would love to hear about it.  Please tell me in the comments below!

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Bright Idea for Anchor Charts

Are you loving this fabulous blog hop?  I know I am!  There are so many great ideas I want to try out.

I have always read about how important it is to have a "special" spot for anchor charts and keep the same type of anchor charts in the same spot in your room.  It helps the brain retrieve information when that information is organized.  For example, always hang the math anchor charts in the same spot.

My classroom has a lot of bulletin boards, but the ones large enough for anchor charts were either already in use for other things or not easily seen from everywhere in the classroom.  What was I to do?  I don't like my room to be too "busy" either.

This is what I came up with:

I hang my anchor charts on my blinds.  I just use clothespins that I covered in some cute wash tape.  It is so easy to change out the charts as needed this way.

On the two windows on the left I keep my math anchor charts.  On the two windows on the right I keep my ELA anchor charts.

You might be wondering about opening those blinds right?  I never open them because the morning sun blinds my students, we can't see the smart board with the open, and it helps keep the cold out during the winter.  (My windows are very drafty)

I hung the charts high enough that when it finally warms up I can pull the blinds up to open my windows enough to get some fresh air.  (We have screens that we have to put in if we open the windows so they are not able to open much.)

Do you like this idea?  Feel free to pin any picture to pinterest to share this Bright Idea.  :)

And now you will want to go check out Lidia over at Kinder Alphabet because she has a bright idea about dry erase boards.    Just click on the image to check it out.

Alternatively, you can search by topic using the link-up below and move along to any blog on the blog hop!

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

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Aliens Love Underpants

Do you read the story "Aliens Love Underpants" by Claire Freedman to your class?  I do every year because the kids just kick out of it.  (I also read the other books in the "underpants" series.)

After reading this story, we did a little making words activity.  We tried to make words from the word "underpants".  I was a little surprised by how well my students did with this.  They just crack up that they were able to use the word underpants.  Hahaha!

I created this freebie for you if you would like to try it out with your class.  Just click on the image to grab a copy for yourself.

Tomorrow is Friday!!!

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Leprechauns

Do you something special to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in your classroom?  We usually have a leprechaun that comes to visit while my students are at recess or in a special.  This year I thought why not make ourselves leprechauns rather than just having one visit.  (Don't worry our naughty leprechaun will still visit, make a mess, and leave us some "gold")

Here is what I came up with.....a little leprechaun yourself activity.

I love creating these crafts using the students' pictures.  It is so much and makes a fun keepsake for the parents.  We will also do a little writing activity with our craft.  My class will be making these next week so we can hang them all week long to enjoy.  :)

Are you interested in grabbing this for yourself?  Just click on the image below to check it out.

I also have an Elf Yourself and a Frankenstein Yourself craft.  I have some ideas in the works for more "yourself" crafts because I just love them so!

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Peek at my Week

First, I want to thank everyone who participated in my giveaway!  You know how to make a girl feel good!  When I went to choose winners, I choose four instead of three.  :)

Here are the winners of two products of choice from my store:

******Breanne Simons - I don't have your email address so please email me at mrspauleyskindergarten@gmail.com.******

And the grand prize winner of a $25 Target giftcard:

Congrats ladies!  I will be emailing you all this evening.  (I am on my way out the door so I will email as soon as I get back.)

Now I am linking up with Deedee for Peek at My Week.

This week I plan on focusing on some rhyming books that may have to do with a certain cat in the beginning of the week.  Then I plan on doing some fun alien books.  Math is all about addition this week.

Here are my plans for the week:

I will using some products that are no longer available early in the week.  For math, I will be using the following two products.  You can click on the images below to check them out.  

Check back later in the week for a few freebies to use with the Alien Love Underpants books.  :)

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Currently March

IT is MARCH!  I am excited because I am hoping that the fact that a new month is on the calendar could possibly mean that this winter weather might finally go away!  Don't get me wrong, I like snow and I love watching my kids play in it, but enough's enough this year..haha.

I am linking up with Farley with her currently this month.  By the way, have you seen her new blog design?  It is super fun.  You should go check it out after you are done here.

Listening:  This is our first Saturday in a long time that we haven't had an early morning soccer game.  Everyone in the house is asleep except me.  This is my favorite time.  I love the quiet and being able to just sit and enjoy my coffee.

Loving:  This new blog design of mine is just making me swoon every day I look at it.  If you are in the market for a new design, you should check out Megan over at A Bird in Hand Designs.  She was great to work with and gave me exactly what I was wanting.  I was so excited I decided to throw a giveaway in honor of my design.  Today is the last day to enter to win a Target gift card and/or a choice product from my store.  Click {here} to enter.

Thinking:  My to-do list for this weekend is a mile long.  I am in charge of the yearbook at my school and it is due soon so I have a lot to do for that, plus grad class homework, plus housework.  I had to leave school yesterday in a bit of a rush because I had an appointment so I also need to get up there at some point and get some things ready for next week.

Wanting:  As I said earlier, I am done with this winter now.  Could spring please come and get here?

Needing:  More sleep would be really nice.  Lately, I have been having trouble falling asleep even though I am super tired.  I think it may have to do with my aforementioned to-do list.

??????:  My answer is assessment & early childhood.  Can you guess the question?

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