Crazy Day

When the weather looks like this...

And has for many days in a row it starts to take its toll. I knew by the middle of last week that we needed a break from "normal" life. 

We decided to have a CRAZY DAY! When I scheduled the day I wasn't sure what it would entailed but I knew we would wear our pajamas while doing it! 

When the day is cold and foggy pajamas and a sweatshirt make everything a bit easier to bare. My students loved them too. I had more than one that told me how "cozy" they felt. 

Other than wearing pajamas I wanted our day to be a bit unusual. I need things to be exciting even while doing the normal everyday core lessons. After a bit of research I found exactly the app I was looking for.

This app is called Spinny Wheel and only cost $0.99. This was it! My golden ticket! My source for crazy day.

On Spinny Wheel you are able to program the activities you want and how many "lives" each section will have. (A life is how many times you can land on that section of the pie.) If you want you can even change the likelihood you will land on a specific slice. I didn't worry about that. I simply put in our normal core lessons and added a few fun games. 

I introduced the wheel to my students. We used tickets to randomly draw out a name. The selected student came up and spun the wheel. They cheered when it would stop on a subject. The timer was set and we were off. 

My students loved doing our normal things out of order! To be honest, so did I. We laughed a lot while each time the wheel was spun. Then we got to work and finished our work.

CRAZY DAY was such a success it is now on the books for once a month. I can't promise we will wear pajamas but we will use the wheel and mess up as much of our schedule as we can. 

Give it a try! CRAZY DAY can make any ordinary day feel special. 

Valentine's Calendar Project

It's February! The snow has been coming down in full force. We have spent many recesses indoors and needed a fun project. Maybe you need something to take up time or need something fun for your hallway display. If you fit any of these categories I would like to introduce...

CALENDAR ART

Grab a bunch of old calendars and tear them apart. Our school was given a bunch of old calendars. They simply sat in our workroom doing nothing but gathering dust. Maybe you have a stack of old calendars or can grab some from your local dollar store. It doesn't matter the pattern or picture. We used calendars with flowers, tigers, penguin, drawings, dogs, landscapes and even people. Really, anything can work. 

Next cut your calendar in thin strips. It doesn't matter the direction you cut it or if the strips get all mixed up. (In fact it looks better when it does get all mixed up.)

Give each student a photocopied heart on white construction paper. I told my class to bubble cut out their heart and then flip it over. 

Instruct students to glue a section of their heart and then lay their strips onto their heart. I told my students I didn't want to see any white showing through. If a strip was crooked they should overlap the strips.

See...

Finally cut around your heart. I suggest doing this over the garbage can since all the scraps will flutter all over if you don't. Glue your finished heart to a piece of construction paper and hang up.

They are very simple and yet we have received lots of compliments.

Happy Valentine's Day! 

Teacher's Pay Teachers Sale Tomorrow

Chicken Fajita Soup

I don't know if you are a mom, a wife, and aunt, a friend... basically if you are a human being you are busy. We all are. There is nothing better than coming home after a long day at work and knowing that dinner is already done. It's lovely to unlock the door and the heavenly smell of the work being done greets you. :)

Personally, I am the full time mom of three and wife of one, and that doesn't leave me lots of time to rest my weary feet after a full day at school. I have been on the search for fabulous recipes that can be prepped ahead of time or that can spend the day in the crockpot. 

Welcome to Make Ahead Meal Mondays. On the 3rd Monday of each month I will be hosting a Linky Party with all of you. I hope you will visit often. Link up some of your favorite recipes and see what recipes others share too.

My recipe to share is a delicious Chicken Fajita Soup. I found this delicious soup recipe on

Ingredients

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1 cup salsa
• 2 cups frozen corn
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1½ cups water
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon dried cilantro
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• Optional Toppings:
• sour cream
• diced tomatoes
• green onions
• cilantro
• lettuce
• diced avocado
• tortilla strips

Instructions

1. Spray your slow cooker with cooking spray. Add chicken to the bottom of the slow cooker.
2. In a medium sized mixing bowl, mix cream of chicken soup, salsa, corn, black beans, water, cumin, and cilantro. Pour over the top of chicken.
3. Cook on low for 4-6 hours. Remove the chicken and shred with two forks. Place back into the slow cooker and add shredded cheese. Continue cooking until cheese has melted about 15 minutes. Serve with your favorite toppings.

I am telling you this is tried, tested and OH delicious!

An InLinkz Link-up

The best part of my day...

There is nothing like a phone call, moments before school begins, from the daycare telling you that your little girl threw up all over another child! I admit I laughed. 

I had a momentary chuckle and then got busy getting a sub and getting things ready for someone to take things over so I could go and rescue my sweet girl. I feel very blessed to have a team of teachers and friends that were there and willing to let me simply walk out the door. I didn't do it - not completely at least. I jotted down a few sub notes with the promise that they would translate if needed. 

I found my baby curled up in lap of one of her supervisors. They had cleaned her up but I could tell she was exhausted. Even then she had a giggle and a bright smile for me when she saw me. Makes a mama's heart melt. 

We haven't done much today...it is the best kind of days.  I have held and simply snuggled this sweet girl. It isn't very often that I get to take advantage of these sweet moments. 

When she got tired of sleeping on me she wanted to sleep in her crib and I have gotten a few things done. I had to take a moment and thank heaven for moments like this one. Nothing else in the world mattered right then but her.

Estimate to Find the Product

With Halloween Approaching it happens to be a great time to teach or review the skill of Estimating to find a Product. My students are a little bit restless now that the weather is starting to change and with Halloween getting closer...We needed a chance to get moving.  To introduce the concept I created a PowerPoint. It helped introduce students to the steps needed to solve these type of problems. It also gave us a few chances to practice the skill on our whiteboard before I turned them loose.  Click to grab a FREE copy of the PowerPoint

I also created a  poster to print and post for my students to see and reference throughout the lesson. I had my students copy the posters into their math journals. If you wanted you could print 4-6 on a page and have your students glue the steps into their journal. 

We ended our lesson and practice with a Estimate the Product SCOOT. Click HERE for your own copy of the poster, SCOOT cards and worksheet. 

Teacher Week 2015

I am thrilled to link up with Blog Hoppin' today and be a part of Teacher Week 2015. Each and every day there will be a different theme and topic so make sure to check back every day this week. If you would like to join in the fun click HERE.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Heather. I am a 4th grade teacher at Maple Ridge Elementary. This is my 9th year teaching - it would have been my 12th but I took 3 years off while my husband was attending law school. (Let's be honest, one of us in school was plenty.) I love being a teacher - in fact I can't often get my brain to be quiet. The following isn't everything about me. It's just 5 fun facts. ENJOY!

Most kids go through phases where they want to be different things: astronaut, policeman, bobsledders, pilots, or princess to name a few. Those future plans often change with their different moods. I was the unusual one. I started talking about becoming a teacher at the age of 4. That is all I have ever wanted to do.

On March 11th my Dad received the best birthday present ever...ME! I love sharing my birthday with my dad. Most years one of us would pick what we would eat for birthday dinner and the other would pick the type of cake. My favorite was the year we had two cakes and 75 candles between the two of us. Mom was more than a little worried we were going to set the kitchen on fire. We didn't! I know I gave my dad plenty of gray hairs as a teenager but I always knew he loved me.

In 2012 I was the reigning Ohio's Outstanding Mom. I didn't grow up competing - in fact this was the very first time. I feel blessed with the opportunities and experiences I had while wearing my crown. One of my most favorites was the St. Patrick's Day parade with my darling boy.

 While living in Ohio I took a few years off from teaching while my husband went to school. I started going crazy. I needed a creative outlet. While watching tv on day I saw someone decorate sugar cookies. I thought, "I could do that!" I started making cookies and before I knew it - Jellybean's Bakery was born.

My final fact is about these three...

My favorite job in all the world is being the mother to three of the greatest kids in the world. They make me smile and want to be a better person. They are quick to love, laugh and hold me tight if I ever get sad. Though time flies by, this picture was a year ago, and I wish I could make time slow - I love watching them grow and learn and see the world as a magical place to discover!