Wonderful Throwback Thursday

We have one more day without Steven, and can I just say how tired I am? Hats off to all you single moms or military moms who do this all the time! I have two friends with 3 kids each who are by themselves for one month or 15 days right now (one has a 4yr old and two under 2), so I'm trying nit to complain. My one week alone with Keagan is nothing. Still, naps are SO welcoming!

So today I'm doing a double line-up with Cara and Andrea about one of my FAVORITE books that you absolutely MUST read if you teach upper grades (or if not, read it for yourself because it's amazing and well worth your time). That way I don't even have to think and can take some time to paint my nails instead!

~~~~This post is originally from early February of this year because I wanted a good book review. I didn't end up doing any for the beginning of last year.~~~~

Okay I told you I would give you my review on this book once I read it. You HAVE to read this book, especially if you work in the upper grades. I picked up the book from the library last Friday and had it finished yesterday afternoon. With a little boy who hasn't been feeling very well and doesn't want me to put him down, that's REALLY quick! Now I need to buy my own copy because this is a book I've got to have.

This link is to Amazon where the book is $8.89, which is the best price I found considering it's hardcover only right now.

Anyway, the book is about a boy, Auggie, who is terribly "deformed". He's been in and out of surgeries his entire life, but he just looks weird. His outer ears aren't existent, his eyes are out of place, and so on. Auggie has always been home-schooled, but his parents decide it's time for him to enter the "real world" as a 5th grader. The principal has three "good students" chosen to welcome Auggie into the school and take care of him, but kids are kids! There are many parts in the book where I wanted to yell at a child, but there are plenty of others where I was so proud that I wished they were my own students.

My favorite line in the book is at the very end. Auggie makes a precept that is so perfect, I may have to make a sign to post in my room. "Everyone in the world should get a standing ovation at least once in their life because we all overcometh the world." So sweet!

Alright my other item of business today (hehe, I just wanted to say that) is that my real-life best friend has started her own blog yesterday, and I'm SOO excited! Her name is Amanda, and she teaches 1st grade, although she spent 5 years in kindergarten. We both are kind of equally obsessed with Mo Willems and the pigeon, so she cracked me up when she texted me to see if I was okay with her blog title being Teacher at the Wheel. Of course! Go show her some blogging love. She's awesome, and I know she'll have some great ideas to share!

What are you waiting for? Go read this book!!! And if you teach upper grades, please read it to your kids! Oh, and of course, go follow Teacher at the Wheel!

~~~~By the way, you should still follow Amanda. Her little blog has grown a lot, and I think you'll find her hilarious! Off to do my nails or read or take a nap!~~~~

Tunes Tuesday

I saw this linky idea on Nick's blog last week and thought it would be so fun! Music is a great way to teach some of our less interesting skills, and grammar definitely fits into that category!

Unfortunately when I signed up, I didn't have the foresight to schedule my post while I had a real computer. So I can't easily post all the lyrics and everything for my song. I can at least give you some ideas though!

I'm a Beatles fan, so I went straight to their music for inspiration. My song that I chose was Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Blame the movie I Am Sam for for that becoming a favorite. By the way, you should see it, especially if you like the Beatles. The entire movie is Beatles music (and the storyline is amazing)!

Back to the point of the post: there are many different types of sentences in the song. The only one I believe is missing is exclamatory. I would print the lyrics for each child and have them highlight each type of sentence in a different color. Simple, but fun!

Then to expand the lesson, you could have each student bring in lyrics for their favorite song where they do the same activity either as homework or at school!

That's it for today. I have a toddler climbing all over me, so we need to get busy. Today we're going to the park and then Barnes and Noble for story time!

Must Have Monday: crayons

Nope, still haven't made anything to link up with Tara, but I have started spotting things I want for my classroom. So I decided to link up with with with Santa instead for Must Have Monday. Isn't her button precious?

By the way, I'm posting and doing everything from my Kindle this week while Steven's out of town for a class. So formatting and adding pictures are a little harder. That also means I have less time this week because I have Keagan by myself. So far, we're staying busy and entertained, but it's only day one.

Anyway, I took Keagan to Wal-Mart today so I could buy a pair of hand weights for the 30 day shred I'm supposed to start today if I ever stop blog surfing before Keagan wakes up. We had to go through the school supplies section, and then I spotted this set of crayons.

I love it! My skin tone crayons are always running out, and these would be great! I almost went ahead and bought a bunch, but they weren't on sale yet (only 78¢ though), so I figured I could wait and see. Now if it also includes the perfect shade for red hair, I'll be thrilled!

Favorite Pins Friday #2

It's time for Favorite Pins Friday with Cara from The First Grade Parade!

I'm starting to realize that my summer is rolling along TOO quickly! There's still more left than I've had (just finished week 4), but looking at the calendar is starting to scare me. So even though I haven't done anything school-wise yet except buy one Reading Comprehension booklet from Target's Dollar Spot, I have begun to repin school ideas.

I got this from Head Over Heels for Teaching when she blogged about her reading workshops. I've seen a few inventories over the years and tried some out, but I really like this one. It's SO important to figure out about your students as readers, especially with the struggling readers. They will need so much guidance when choosing books, and you've got to be prepared to help!

Mind. Blown. Unfortunately this picture didn't link back to any website, so I can't give credit. What a great way to store their water bottles without having them all over the desks, though!

Forensic Science for Kids had a great inferencing idea. Set up a crime scene! Now, you could create your own (I have a fantastic hubby with some experience that can help me in that area), OR they provide a link to two great ones for kids that are already created. Obviously a lot of prep time goes into this, but it would be SO much fun!

Collaboration Cuties posted about this last week in their Favorite Pins post, and I love it! I feel like we waste so many paper towels cleaning our white boards. Instead, buy a bunch of Dollar Tree facial cleansers. Now I'm going to try and see if I can attach them to the board somehow for even more ease. Any ideas?

Onto a more personal pin, I'm thinking about actually letting my hair grow out (no source again). Usually I keep it shoulder-length because it's so thick and just gets to be too unmanageable. I saw this hairstyle with long layers, though, and I think we'll try it out! Plus I've starting pinning all these cute updos that my current hair isn't quite long enough for. We'll see if I stick with it, but I could always donate it to Locks of Love if I quit!

And on a similar note....

So true!

What are you pinning this week?

Book Talk Thursday - Board books

Sorry I haven't posted any this week. You would think that it would have been easier to post this week now that I'm home and don't have any company. I didn't have anything to say though, really. But I thought of the perfect book to share about this week as I link up with Andrea!

I haven't done much personal reading recently (although I finished Gone Girl, and it was fantastic!), but I wanted to share about my FAVORITE board book with Keagan. Before having a little boy, I would always buy Mo Willems books as baby gifts. He's still my favorite author, but this is a MUST READ for mommies of little boys.

Basically, it's about a mommy tucking her little boy in for bed. She tells him that she loves him, and then he proceeds to ask her if she would still love him if he were all these crazy things - like a dinosaur, one-eyed monster, or a smelly skunk. She tells him all the things she would do if he were each. Similar to Robert Munsch's "Love You Forever", but much less sappy.

Apparently we read it a lot because Keagan has started to "read" it himself. He'll turn to each page and say "Mama, mama", which is how the boy starts each concern.

What are some of your favorite read-alouds for toddlers?

Favorite Pins Friday!

If you've been following this linky, you've already heard from EVERYONE how sad we are that Five for Friday is on hiatus, but the amazing Cara has filled our void with a super-fun linky!

I mean, what teacher (or girl, for that matter) doesn't like Pinterest, right? I'll be honest, since I've only been out of school for 3 weeks and don't go back until the end of August, I haven't gotten into the mood for pinning a lot of teacher-related items recently. However, I did find this amazing gem! Even though I'm not a regular classroom teacher anymore, I always had plenty of kids who needed redirection. I used to print out a simple morning/afternoon schedule to tape on their desk so they could check it off. This is SOO much better and will last a lot longer!

Around the end of the school year, I created a board for hair and nails. My hair is SO thick, and I have a lot of trouble maintaining it over the summer. I love this style, but I haven't tried it yet. Not sure if my hair is quite long enough, though.

A cleaning tip - did you know that you can (and should) wash pillows twice a year? I didn't know they could be washed. We always just bought new ones when they started smelling/yellowing. This link also walks you through how to get them white again.

No, I'm not pregnant again (yet), but I thought this was a cute gender reveal. You get someone to put colored confetti into a solid color balloon, and then the mom pops it!

And one that's Fourth of July related, of course! How fun would it be to eat an edible firecracker? I'm in!

Click on the pictures to follow the original source, and if you want to follow me (I have about 10 teaching-related boards alone), click here!

Happy Fourth of July!

I hope everyone is taking plenty of time to spend this beautiful day outside and/or with family! This is my VERY short post during Keagan's nap to say Happy Fourth of July!

If you are like me and spending some time shopping today, don't forget that a lot of bloggers are having sales on their TPT stores through midnight tonight. Mine is included in that!

Also, my sweet bloggy friend, Holly, is having an AMAZING giveaway on her blog. I don't know about you, but I love Amazon (that's where I buy most of my books), and that $50 gift card would be very nice!

Okay, have fun, stay safe, and WEAR SUNSCREEN!!