Summer Bucket List!!

I’m linking up with Deanna Jump for her summer bucket list Linky Party!  Here they are, in no particular order!

10.  MOVE

We’ve been talking about moving for a while now, and are finally getting a “move” on this summer!  For a bunch of reasons, it makes sense for us to relocate closer to where we work – which means less time in the car for my little cutie and also a MUCH shorter commute for his momma and daddy.  All that makes for more fun family time together! 

9. Spend time NOT thinking about school

This winter I started up my TpT store and this little blog.  And I’ve found myself quite obsessed with it!  The things I’m doing in my classroom, which have always worked just fine, are now potential projects – things I can make better for both my little ones and for others too!  But this summer, I’d really like to take time to just relax… while still blogging and creating a little, I’d like to have just “sit and do nothing with my 1 year old” time. 

8. Blog

I would like to keep up with my blogging, mixing in some school stuff (when I allow myself to think about school!) and some personal stuff.  My favorite bloggers are ones that mix the two – I love getting to know the person behind the teacher!  (Side note: I’m working with Courtney at Blogs Fit for a Queen on a new blog design – and it’s going to be AMAZING!  She’s so great to work with, so reasonably priced, and really fast… I HIGHLY recommend her.  I’ll keep you all posted when it’s “live”!)

7. Have some date nights

I love my little boy and all the time we get to have together – but I miss date nights with my husband!  We’re both so busy all year, and we want to spend as much time with the baby as possible – so this summer, we’re going to make time for just the two of us.  Starting with our FIRST EVER over night away in June.  I’m both THRILLED and sad at the same time.

6. Travel

We do a lot of traveling in the summer, so this feels a little like cheating.  But I’m putting it here because it really is a plan that’s important to me – travel as much as we can. 

5. Walk EVERYDAY

I bought a FitBit this winter, and have been wearing it every day to count my steps.  I do a LOT of walking during my day at school, so as it turns out, I was already logging 10,000 steps without even trying.  So my goal for the summer is to keep it up – and maybe even increase my daily total to 15,000.  I like to lounge by the pool or at the beach all summer, so if I don’t make walking a goal, I’ll quickly find my daily totals slipping to a big fat zero!

4. MOVE

Yes I’m repeating this.  I know I am.  But it’s such a HUGE one for me… and will be interesting and tricky with my little guy running underfoot!

3. Read

I love to read.  Name me one teacher who doesn’t?  But I never ever have time to read for fun during the school year.  This summer, while hanging out at the beach or pool, I want to read NON school related books.  On my Nook, or Kindle, or paper/hardbacks – I don’t care, as long as I’m reading!

2. Keep my boy busy…

so he’ll sleep at night!  He’s a great sleeper usually, but since he won’t be at day care (where he’s constantly engaged and active) it would be easy to slip into a boring day to day routine.  So I want to make sure he’s got something going on every day (even if it’s just going to the beach or the pool) so he’s engaged and still learning!

1. Spend quality time with my family…

without our iphones, ipads, laptops, televisions, etc.  We do spend a lot of time together, but I want to make it a priority that we’re “unplugged” as often as possible so we’re really spending time together.  Except when I’m blogging… J

I’ll be posting pictures of my bucket list on Instagram – so hop over there and follow me! 

What will you be doing this summer?

Ramona Quimby

We’re wrapping up our Ramona unit today.  My kiddos have so loved getting to know her, and especially loved the chapter when Ramona smashed an egg on her forehead – especially because they’ve JUST done a fun egg experiment in science where they balanced text books on top of eggs to see how much weight they could hold before smashing (their record – 31 books!)  Anyway, they’ve been loving Ramona so much, I hate to see her end.  We’ll spend the next few ELA periods working on our R is for Ramona book.  I love to see their little brains hard at work coming up with the words for each page – I love seeing how some of the more obvious letters (H is for Howie) get used for things I’d never thought of instead!

I’m posting this little book in my TpT store as a more general layout.  If you download it (thanks in advance!) it’s easy to copy front to back and cut in half before putting together.  You can also copy it front to back and staple it as a packet – or copy it single sided, cut in half and then put together with a hole punch – 26 pages is too much for at least my little stapler!

On the cover I have them draw their own cover of the book they’ve read.  That way we don’t infringe on any clipart or copyright laws!  I left each page blank for the kiddos to fill out both the letter and the sentence, and I’m including both R is for Ramona and a blank title page – so you can use it for ANY book your kids have read! 

Told you they were obsessed with the egg part!

I just posted the book this evening.  Check it out in my store if you're interested!  It's a nice way to keep the kiddos focused on learning while also waiting out the last few days of school... :)  We have NINE more!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/A-Z-Alphabet-Book-1251957

"Can I Have a Band Aid?"

Does anyone else hear this question 23094820395823904 times a day?  My students, no matter what their injury is, always ask for a band aid.  Now I totally understand the need for a comfort item, and also understand that for some kids it’s just an emotional attachment – but by 2^nd grade, I’m trying to teach them that Band Aids don’t “fix” everything.  We try to address the actual problem and “solve it” with actual helpful solutions – ice packs, refreshing drinks of water, cold wet compresses, etc.  So today, after the 5^th Band aid request, I took it as an opportunity for a mini lesson… I whipped up this small little sign and we brainstormed reasons you might actually need a Band Aid (my favorite – “it’s a BLOOD catcher!”) and reasons you might not.  Then we talked about the PURPOSE of a Band Aid…

Now this handy little sign is posted on my desk with my bucket of Band Aids… here’s to hoping it helps!  How do you all manage injuries and Band Aids?  I'm always looking for new ideas!