3rd grade letters to next year's class

I'M SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS POST I CANNOT CONTAIN MYSELF AND HAVE TO USE ALL CAPS!

Okay, so I really don't know where to start. It's the end of the school year. Happy. Sad. All sorts of feelings mixed into one. Let me just start by saying if I could build perfect little human beings to put in my class, they STILL wouldn't be as great as my class this year. It's been such an amazing year, which was exactly what I needed to keep me goin'. With the end of the year dwindling down, I found a cute "balloon pop" idea on teacherspayteachers.com (my classic go-to website). You count down the last however many days of school you want (I did 9) by putting little notes w/ activities inside a balloon and blowing it up. Each day someone gets to pop a balloon and the class gets to do the fun activity in the balloon. It's been so much fun! Here's a rundown of what we have done so far:
Day 9- Move your desk anywhere in the room you'd like!
Day 8- Come eat lunch with the teacher.
Day 7- Let's have a paper airplane contest.
Day 6- Bubble gum blowing competition!
Day 5- Since the weather is so nice, let's have a lesson outside.
Day 4- Write a letter of advice to next year's class.

So that's where we are at today. I was literally laughing so hard at their letters I was crying. I encouraged them to give them advice of "do's and don'ts" in Ms. Shipman's class. I cannot believe how well these kids know me. First off, they made me sound like a Nazi  but it was so great I have to share some of these things:

• One kid started theirs off by saying: " Ms. Shipman is a really awesome, kind teacher but she can be very stern so DON'T get on her bad side." -- Luckily, no one this year got on my "bad side."
• Another student said: "You might have to help her remember things. She's forgetful." Hahahaha.  
• Here are some of their "do's":
• Have fun
• Listen and be respectful.
• Do your best.
• Study for spelling tests.
• Wait until Ms. Shipman is done talking before raising her hand.
• Make sure your pencil is really broken before getting a new one.
• Always put her workshop games away nicely.
• Keep your desk area organized.
• And here are some of their "don'ts" :
• Do NOT pick your nose or else she will make you sanitize your hands.
• Use too many tissues. (you should be safe with 1 at a time)
• Put sharp pencils facing up in the pencil cup.
• Lose her math workshop game cards.
• Interrupt her.
• Get a drink while she is teaching. 
• Try to use your bathroom pass right after recess or lunch.
• Be lazy when working in a group.

 I will end this letter by saying I am not a crazy lunatic (mostly). I just like things to be organized and I have a routine for every thing. Every. single. thing. But, it makes things run fairly smoothly most of the time and I still like to think of myself as a "nice" teacher. Haha. :)

Weekend Recap + WILW

Weekend Recap. Ready. Set. GO!

Friday: We had early release at 11:15 so I definitely took some fractional leave and PEACED the heck out. Came home. Got my little stinky monkey ready for our first road trip together. And we were off! I was so nervous about traveling 3 1/2 hours by myself with Ri. (I'm a worrier) We weren't even out of Boise and that little turd nugget passed out. But don't worry, about an hour later she was wide awake, with her party pants on. And when I say party pants I mean snack pants. All that was keeping that baby happy was snacks. And snacks. And more snacks. We stopped at "The Pit Stop" about 35 miles outside of AF and got her some French fries and that held her over until we got to Ben's house. She was soooooo excited about all the new stuff she could get in to. Not to mention, Ben has a giant yellow lab that she was instantly obsessed with. She went to bed at about 8:30 and slept for almost 12 hours!!!!

What a great co-pilot huh?

Saturday: Ri slept in until about 8:15, then was ready for a nap by 9:30 so we had a pretty relaxing morning. Got ourselves ready, went to the store to get stuff to make Ben dinner, then went to see him at his "work." (a field) Rilyn got to ride in the tractor for the first time and even got to "drive" which she thought was the coolest thing ever. She also helped Ben check the planter to make sure it was planting the spuds. She had a VERY important job. After about an hour and a half it was nap time so we headed back to the house for a relaxing evening.

My little ice cream cone.

 

"Mom, I don't know about this hair style."

 

See, she wasn't scowling the ENTIRE day.

 

Eating on the job.

 

Ri, taking her job very seriously.

Boy, she  had a hard day at work.

 

Getting ready for bed. (Don't worry, this isn't where she actually slept.)

Sunday: For Mother's Day, we all slept in and were lazy all morning. We finally decided to be productive and go to breakfast down at the Marina. It was yummy and Ri had a great time making a mess of her chocolate chip pancake (amateur move on my part). After breakfast and a quick (we are talking 20 minute) nap for Ri, we headed out to Ben's mom's house to visit. Rilyn was having a rough afternoon since she didn't get her nap out. Poor thing kept falling all over and bumping and bonking everything possible. She was feeling pretty sorry for herself the whole time BUT we had a pretty good time. :) It was soon time to head home, so we packed up and left. And guess what? Rilyn cried the ENTIRE trip. No joke. And did not even sleep for one minute. It was so much fun.

Only picture I managed to get on Mother's Day. I suck.

OKAY! What I'm Loving Wednesday! (I'll make it short. Or just stop reading. Either way. )

 

I'm SO excited for summer I decided to make my 2014 Summer playlist on my phone. Here's the lineup I am starting with:

 

We Are Tonight - Billy Currington

My Baby's Guns n' Roses- Brantley Gilbert

Where It's At- Dustin Lynch

Dirt Road- Kip Moore

Up All Night- Kip Moore

Drive Me Crazy- Kip Moore

Crazy One More Time- Kip Moore (I LOVE KIP MOORE)

Your Love - The Outfield

Ready Set Roll- Chase Rice

Dust- Eli Young Band

Song About a Girl- Eric Paslay

Meanwhile Back at Mamas- Tim McGraw

Famous- Kalleigh Brannen

Close Your Eyes- Parmalee

 

 

P.S. You're welcome.

 

Thankful Thursday....?

When I was typing the title of this post I was saying it as Ron Burgundy would. (I'm Ron Burgundyyy......?) Is Thankful Thursday a thing? Or can it only be Throwback Thursday? Well it's now a "thing." I'm trying to make it happen.


1. I am SO obsessively thankful for Ri's adorable little personality. She sings constantly and loves to listen to music and dance. We had dinner at Texas Roadhouse tonight for an early Mother's Day get together. As we were leaving, the employees started doing their line dance so I bounced Rilyn around and she busted out some serious moves for everyone watching. It was so cute I peed a little. Okay maybe not but it was pretty darn adorable.

This monkey loves Texas Roadhouse!

2. I am thankful for all of the wonderful love and appreciation I received this week for Teacher Appreciation Week. My students and their parents always do such a great job of making me feel valued and appreciated, but this week was extra special! Monday I walked in to a huge poster hanging up in my classroom that was put together by my students and our room mom. Not only that, but at the end of the day I received a beautiful bouquet of gift card flowers. AND one of my workshop students brought me adorable little gifts each day with a cute saying on them. Her mom has spent some quality time on Pinterest. Love it. :) AAAAANNNDDD PTO hooked us up with a nice card and some sweet gift cards. AAAAANNNNDDD they provided us with doughnuts, Del Taco, and all sorts of other healthy treats throughout the week.

 

 

 

3. I'm super duper thankful for my sweet boyfran. That's right, I said boyfran. I am usually super cautious of posting personal (to me that's very personal) stuff on Facebook or on the blog because I just don't like people knowing my s***. BUT I feel like he deserves some praise and Rilyn and I definitely deserve someone like him in our lives. He lives in American Falls, which is about 3-3/12 hours from here and we were not able to visit each other last weekend. We were both kinda bummed but still trying to be optimistic. Well last Friday, he sent me some flowers "just because" with a really sweet note intended for me and Rilyn. She thinks he's like the funniest (looking) person ever. :) It's great. We are taking our first road trip to see him this weekend so it should be interesting!

4. AH! I almost forgot. I entered (for the first time ever) to win a giveaway on Thisisboise.com and guess whaaaaaat? I won! I think I am still in shock because I NEVER win anything. Ever. I won the "Mother's Day Giveaway" which includes a bunch of spa stuffs at this sweet salon, a $100 gift card to Muse Bistro and Wine Bar, and a necklace from a jeweler! I'm friggin stoked. 

P.S. I'm thankful for my sister in law who has taken tons of adorable pictures of Rilyn recently! Here are just a few. I'll post more later. :)