Today was a sad day...

It's the little things in life, right?  So imagine my dismay this morning when one of my girls asked me to sharpen her pencil.  No big deal you're probably thinking...my reply to her was "Sure, bring it to me and I'll sharpen it for you."  She went across the room to my desk where my world's best sharpener from Classroomfriendlysupplies.com is ALWAYS located in the SAME spot on my desk.  "It's not here..."  To which I replied "What do you mean it's not there?   It should be right there on the left side of the desk."  Needless to say, this led to a whole class search where all my students were looking in every nook and cranny trying to hunt down our favorite sharpener.  I was out sick all week last week and during that time my tape dispenser AND my stapler disappeared.  I assumed that one of the subs must have accidentally packed them away with their belongings unknowingly...either that or there's a hot monopoly for stolen staplers and tape dispensers.  It's very frustrating to be having things disappear from off of my desk.  I know that in the grand scheme of things these aren't the most expensive items, but these things add up.  I hate to think that there may be a student in class stealing things.  I sent home a newsletter and mentioned that some things have gone missing, perhaps brought home by accident, and if seen please send them back to school.  The only other alternative that I can think of is that one of the night cleaning staff may have taken them.  I can't for the life of me figure out why they'd want them...maybe they want to play school at home?  Anyway, at least I'm not alone in my sadness over the loss of my sharpener.  One of my boys came up to me towards the end of the day and said "I miss your sharpener already, that's the only one that ever really works."  Who knows, maybe tomorrow we will be pleasantly surprised and they will be returned...one can hope anyway.  On a different note, I also think that I deserve a medal for my restraint this afternoon.  Another one of my girls came up to me at the end of the day and asked if I would like to hear a joke.  Seeing as they are eight and nine years old their jokes are usually safe.  She proceeded to ask the following:  "How do you tell a boy snowman and a girl snowman apart?"  At this point in my mind I was thinking "Oh boy, here we go...how do I get out of this one?"  My reply was "I have absolutely no idea."  "If it's a boy snowman it has snow-balls!"  And yes, she was most definitely referring to a certain part of human anatomy.  I maintained a straight face and said "That is not the type of joke that is appropriate for telling in school.  Please don't repeat that to anyone else."  Her response?  "But my mom told me that one."  Oy...These are the moments that led me to select the name for my blog! Have a great night! =)
~Heather~

Brrr!!!! New product, and a giveaway!

Baby it's cold outside!  Here comes another round of bitter cold in New England, and with it some more snow.  I will definitely not be sad if we end up with a snow day, as I am recuperating from a nasty cold and strep.  After getting a second antibiotic I am finally starting to feel more like my old self.  (Finally!)  I have thoroughly enjoyed my day off in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  My favorite quote by Dr. King is "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."  How true this is for so many situations in life.  Along with cuddling on the couch with my pup and watching an NCIS marathon (love NCIS!), I put together a valentine themed multiplication facts practice game: Purrr-fect Products-Multiplication Facts Practice for my third graders.  I included all facts from the 1's to the 12's.  I think it's important for our third graders to work on the 11's and 12's even though they do not have to master them by the end of third grade.  Each year though I have some students who really seem to absorb their facts quickly, so the 11's and 12's are a great extension for them.  We will be using these flash cards in our math workshop rotations.  I will be able to easily differentiate which facts my students are working on.  I will simply put selected sets of facts in certain groups, that way my students will be working on the facts that are at their current levels.  They'll be using these cards in a couple different ways.  One way will be to match the fact card to its correct product card.  They will also be playing multiplication memory with the cards as well.  Towards the end of the week when they've had a chance to become very familiar with their current level of facts they can even take turns quizzing each other with the flash cards.  

  

I showed my fourth grade son the set when I was looking at it, and he thought it was adorable...I have to agree! =)  I love the graphics from mycutegraphics.com  She's great!

Seeing as I haven't been very regular lately with blogging, I'd love to give away a few sets of my Purrr-fect Products-Multiplication Facts Practice!  I will send a free set to the first 4 followers who comment and leave their email address! =) 

Still here...

Man, I feel like I haven't posted in forever...because I pretty much haven't!  I'm sure I'm not the only one who by the time the day is done and reorganized, I'm finally heading home exhausted.  This year I am really trying to focus on making sure that I spend more time with my family, they are my number one priority first and foremost.  I went back to school after Christmas break feeling pretty refreshed and rejuvenated...and it lasted for a little while seeing as it was a three day school week last week.  This week is our first full week back since vacation and it has been BRUTAL.  On top of being so tired I am now coming down with some kind of bug...fingers crossed it won't end up being the nasty flu that seems to be everywhere right now. (I'm thinking it's just a nasty cold thankfully.)  Even being so tired and worn down I have to say I love my group of kids this year.  Each day there is something new that they come out with that makes me laugh and appreciate their unique and precious personalities.  Just today one of my ESL girls randomly came up to me, gave me a hug, and said "I love to be near Mrs. Michaud, she makes me feel like home." <3  And that right there folks is why I do what I do.  I think that it's so easy for us to get caught up in all of the day to day stresses that we all face, and we often forget where our students come from, and what they go home to each night.  I am very thankful that I get to be a bright part of their day each week, because they definitely make mine brighter. <3

~Heather~

Connecticut...

Words cannot express how overwhelmed with sadness I am for the children and families of Sandy Hook Elementary School.  Thoughts and prayers for their entire community...

Christmas is coming...

I absolutely love this time of year!  Excitement is always in the air, and my children get so excited to put up our tree!  We went this evening to pick out our tree for this Christmas and their faces just lit up, even our twelve year old.  I love that he's still into the magic of the holidays.  I'm thinking we're going to have to leave the tree without decorations on it for a couple of days, because the pup is very interested in it.  Last year was our first Christmas with him, so this year he's much more curious about it.  I'm thinking that after a day or two it will be old news and he'll leave it alone so I can decorate it hopefully! =)  This time of year tends to get crazy in the classroom, so I'm preparing in advance.  I'm hoping to harness some of my students' energy into some practice with essential math skills that some are still struggling with.  In our third grade common core standards we cover rounding to the nearest ten and hundred, which some of us are still struggling to grasp.  I created two more workstation center games for them to have some extra practice with, and I'm hoping this will help drive rounding home for these kiddos.

 Don't you just love these adorable graphics from the 3AM Teacher?  As soon as I saw them I knew I had to purchase them...I love her graphics! =)  If you are interested in these common core math workstation games you can check them out in my TpT store by clicking the picture above.

Finally finished my homophones pack!

Wow, I feel like that took forever with everything that has been going on!  I finally was able to finish up my Merry Multiple Meanings Common Core Homophone Practice pack.  This pack includes 90 homophones as well as cloze reading activity, and creating sentences to illustrate the meanings of the homophones.  Now to just get it all cut out and laminated so that my kiddos can dive into practicing them!  (I think I should purchase stock in a laminating company...) lol

I hope that everyone had a happy and restful Thanksgiving break with family.  It's nuts how fast time is passing this year!  Now off to go shop the amazing Cyber Monday sales at TpT!!! Happy shopping!
~Heather~

Sorry it's been so long...

Like so many of you wonderful teachers out there I am doing my best to keep up.  I am beyond delighted that Thanksgiving break is upon us, and am really looking forward to some time to relax with my family...that is of course after I have cooked and hosted Thanksgiving dinner, and after my husband gets the crazy Black Friday shopping out of his system.  Does that seem backwards or what?!?! Usually it's the wife that is all "woo hoo shopping!" I myself do not possess the patience to get up hours before it should even be legal to be out and about, and to head out and brave the crowds of people who will do just about anything for a "deal".  I honestly don't know how he (or anyone else for that matter) does it! I much rather prefer to sleep in and enjoy one holiday before going nuts for the next.
     We have been VERY busy in our class.  We've spent quite a bit of time working on creating vivid visualizations.  This first activity we did was from the wonderful Ms. Jump, and used the poem "My Neighbor's Dog is Purple."  They absolutely LOVED this activity. 

     After doing this we continued our visualization work using a poem from an anthology of poems that I have in class.  This particular poem is by Aileen Fisher, and is called "The Spinning Earth".  I love how some of them even included symbols to specifically show movement.  They really enjoyed creating their mental images.  Some of them couldn't even part with them to display them in class, they wanted to take them right home! 

    For our November family project I always have my class work on the Turkeys in Disguise project.  Here are some of their completed disguises!

     And some of the "all-stars" so to speak...

     Can I just tell you that when my little buddy presented his disguised turkey as "Mario" complete with his best impersonation of the accent, I literally laughed so hard I cried...it was great! "It-a took-a me-a years-a to a grow-a my moustachio!"  Oh my! lol
     At home our boys have been keeping up busy that's for sure!  Our youngest who's nine was recently envious of his older brother climbing a tree in the yard, yet was terrified to even try climbing the tree.  To me it is simply not right for a child to grow up without climbing a tree, so I insisted  lol.  He eventually had a blast, and said "I'm so happy you made me try it Mom!"  Yay!

     It's sad how fast this year is already flying by.  My favorite holiday, Halloween, came and went way too fast.  Our reaper, and skeleton ninja had a blast, but I think the most excited of all was our Great White Shark! ;)  His costume was the cutest too by far! lol

    I hope that everyone has a safe, restful, and wonderful Thanksgiving!  <3

~Heather~