Open House, Free Smilebox, and a giveaway

I'm sorry I've been inconsistent about posting lately. As my year winds down (only 12 1/2 days left), I'm so busy with Open House last week and my plans for the rest of the year, report cards, etc. We have a big field trip to the zoo this Thursday too. I thought I'd post today about Open House and a giveaway I found this morning.
One of the things I did for Open House was play a Smilebox video of pictures from throughout the year. It was so cute! Have you used Smilebox before? If not, it's super easy and looks so professional with music, fading between pictures, and captions you can add. Unfortunately I probably shouldn't post photos of my little kiddos, but here are the opening shots of the slideshows.

 I had looked at Smilebox before but didn't realize until last week that you can get a free subscription as a teacher. Free! FREE! As in no money- and it's normally $39.99 a year. Just scroll down to the bottom of the homepage and click on Teacher's Toolbox. It took a day or two to hear back, but the slideshow I put together was fun! There's one that's zoo themed..... Thursday night I'll put my pictures in and show it to the kids on Friday. That should be fun! Just click here to go to Smilebox.

Here are some of my Open House pics:

I love my pencil vase from Mrs. Cockrell, my Bloggy Christmas Exchange partner.

Kids measured the height of zebras and giraffes with 1 inch squares of paper.

I just adore the Safari Guides in the window.

The books on their desks are a Math Journal (math projects from throughout the year), book of writing projects, and African Animals they made and wrote about.

Thanks to Deanna Jump at Mrs. Jump's Class for her Zoo Animals packet and patterns for the big animals and Mrs. D. Lue Pann from Buzzing About Second Grade for the Safari Kids packet and patterns. They are soooooo cute and a big hit!

Have you been over to check out Learning is Something to Treasure yet? Lisa is just getting going and is already at close to 100 followers! She's giving away TPT gift certificates and aren't those the greatest! Just click on here to pop over to her cute blog.

Hope you have a great beginning to the week! I know some of you are finished with school this week- congratulations to you! I'm off to spend some time on Pinterest and blogstalking.

 Chrissy

I'd love your vote!

Being part of the teacher blogging community is amazing and inspiring.

Voting started today and continues until May 21st. You can come back and vote every day.

The post that got me nominated was "100th Day Ideas Link Up and More" if you'd like to check it out.

Thanks for stopping by!

 Chrissy

I won, I won, I won! and Open House Tour

Reallly, me!, I won? I won Heather's giveaway over at Heather's Heart! I can't believe it because I never win anything. We were at a baseball game once and one of the prizes was a weekend in a nice hotel, meals, etc. The prize I won was a flat of bottled water. This is way better!!I get 3 butterfly bowls that will be fun to use with games and 3 items from her TPT store. I looked at my choices and don't know which great items I'll choose. I let you know what I get! Thank you, Heather!

On a school note, have you had Open House yet? Ours is this Wednesday and I thought I'd share this ideas with you in case you haven't had yours yet. On the morning after Open House, some of our teachers take a "tour" of each others classrooms to see what they're like. We take our classes on the walk and its really fun! I organize it and send our this not so teachers can sign up if they want to. I draw a quick map so that everyone is following the same path. Your welcome to download it if you want. I had a cuter heading on it but it was from Lettering Delights and when I checked their website said I couldn't share the document without a license, so it's not as cute as the letter I sent out, but it will give you the basic idea.

And on another note, to all the mothers out there

My mom was here yesterday and helped me put up all my Open House things and today were meeting my brother so we can all have lunch together.
Have a wonderful day, everyone! I'm off to look at Heather's store again. Take care!


 Chrissy

Maurice Sendak and Online Storytime

Did you hear about the passing of Maurice Sendak? Where the Wild Things are is one of my very favorite children's book so I was so sad to hear that news this morning. He was 83 years old and left us some of the best stories and amazing illustrations ever!

The reason I love Where the Wild Things Are so much is probably because my mom read it to me so much as a kid. I don't remember not knowing this story. I remember one day when my brother was only about 3 years old my mom was sitting on the couch with him and they had this book. She was turning the pages but he was telling the story- word for word! I'm not sure if he was reading it or had it memorized, but that's how much we love this book. To this day it's a favorite for both of us.

If  you'll miss Maurice Sendak too, I'd love to hear about it! Please leave a comment and share your memories or you favorite book.

I wanted to pay tribute this morning but couldn't quickly find my copy of Where the Wild Things Are so I played it from the Barnes & Noble website over my projector. Have you seen this yet?

It's Barnes & Noble's Online Storytime. They have a new story every month. Some, if not all are read by the author which I just love! I almost cried listening to Maurice Sendak's voice reading that story.  We listened to Chris Van Allsburg's The Polar Express and Christmas time too.
Maybe it's something you can use too. Just click on the picture for the link.
Hope you can enjoy it!

 Chrissy

Fascinating, really? and my Currently

 When I get home from school I usually change my clothes and open my laptop to at least quickly check out what's new in the blogging world and check my email. Today I got quite a surprise checking my email- a nomination for Most Fascinating Blog of 2012. Really? Me? This little blog? Wow! It really amazes me that someone put me in a list of fascinating blogs- whoever you are, Thanks! I'm very surprised! So voting starts May 14th if you feel like tossing a vote this way.

It's been fun reading everyone's "Currently"'s! I love that Farley puts these together. Here's mine:

Have a great evening everybody!
  Chrissy

We're Going to the Zoo! and freebies

We're going to the zoo! I'm taking class on a field trip later this month- Woohoo! Can you tell I'm excited? It's a large part of why I've been absent from blogging for a while. The rest was just me taking a little break in the evenings from school things. But I've missed this little ole' blog and all of my bloggy friends. You are amazing and such an inspiration!
Here's what's been keeping me busy...

My students are making an African Animals book. They're writing about each animal, making the habitat and then the animal. So far they've written about giraffes, zebras, and elephants and have made these two pages for the book. Four students will make a second animal to include in this bulletin board my mom made when we spent last Saturday at school.

 I also found and purchased Deanna Jump's Zoo Animals packet and that kept my busy many, many hours cutting out pieces for animals. It was worth it, though. I just love the way they turned out! We have monkeys and hippos left to make.

 

Next weekend I'll put up most of the projects, for now they're still stacked on the counter. My friend waits until close to Open House to put up here projects so that it's all still new for the kids so I thought I'd try that this year . My wonderful mom will be here again and we'll spend another Saturday at school. 

Here's another project from the last time she was here.

She created it and when my kiddos came in Monday morning they were so excited! This is where the monkeys will go. I also decided that it would be terrible to take down the tree in June, so next year my classroom will have an animal theme. Animal print borders around the calendar, animal-themed focus walls, etc. I'm starting to scope out the catalogs already.
Get your freebies here!
The other day I realized that some of my students couldn't read the names of the zoo animals we're learning about so I made a word search and an animal name matching paper if you'd like to grab them. Just click on the picture below.

In the last couple of weeks my students learned about the /ar/ sound in words and we just HAD to make these little guys.

I could not resist when I saw these- thank you, Abby at The Inspired Apple. I bought the packet which included an adorable story about Pirate Mark. I read it emphasizing the /ar/ sound in the words like a pirate would make the sound. My kiddos were almost crying from laughing so hard. It was so much fun!
On a personal note, we also went furniture shopping and bought a new couch and matching recliner. Our old one had a green, southwestern print... eeewwww! did I actually admit that? I didn't mind it years ago, but feel like entering it in an ugly couch competition now. Here's our new couch- we love it!

The little guy on the kitty condo is Stevie, our little blind kitty. I was concerned about how he would adjust to the new furniture. I shouldn't have been concerned at all. He walked right over and checked it all out. His sister, on the other hand, was so scared. I was holding her when she first saw the recliner and she buried her face in my arms. Poor little baby! She sat on the couch next to me yesterday, though, so I think she's okay with it now.
I just realized that it's after 11p.m. Time to go to bed I suppose. If you haven't seen it yet, Michelle, the 3 A.M. Teacher, wrote a great poem about teachers. She said we could share it so I hope this is okay with her. I'd like to send it out to all of you who inspire me every day.

Thank you!
 Chrissy

Furry Friends Linky Pary!

I couldn't pass up this linky party! Sandy over at Soaring Through Second is having a "Furry Friends" linky party to link up your furry friends and share what you've learned from them.

I got three furry friends. This is Frankie. He's a 12 year old Holland Lop. He turned 12 last Wednesday which is quite a feat considering rabbits normally live 6-8 years. He's just a bundle of love. He's excited to see me no matter what I feel like or look like and he can always bring a smile to my face. I took this picture one day when my mo and I were in the backyard and she asked if Frankie and ever jumped up in the tree. I said "no." And sure as could be he was in that tree a minute later. Some people say animals don't understand what we say, but I'm not so sure....

 We also have 2 kitties we adopted almost 2 years ago. I've posted about them before, so I apologize if I'm repeating myself. They are brother and sister and were found in a field when they were 4 weeks old. He is blind and partially deaf. When they were brought to the shelter, he was going to be euthanized. Did you just gasp? I know. But there was an amazing volunteer who saved his life and said she would keep him if she couldn't find a home for him. I've thought a lot about love and bravery having these two. Stevie can't see anything but is fearless. He will jump and climb even if he doesn't know where it will lead. A great reminder to not be afraid of taking chances. And we figure his sister must have stuck with him in that field because he would have just started wandering. She was very protective of him when we got them. If he cried out, she's come running. Now when we clip his toenails he cries and fusses and she's right there to see what's going on. They are so sweet!

Stevie and Selena

I sure hope you'll link up if you have some furry babies too.

Have a great start to your week!
 Chrissy