Mother's Day Album

Our presents for Mother's Day are done!  Wrapped and ready to go.  I can hardly believe it.
I am a week early...pinch me :)

Check out these beautiful women! We started with a front and back cover using card stock.

 I purchased photo albums from Dollar Tree, tissue paper, and tulle.  

The kids wrote about their moms using a variety of prompts.  

They  illustrated each prompt, cut them out, added them to each album, and told me ALL of their mom's secrets.  I know it all by now :)

I updated my product a bit and it will be on sale for 48 hours :) 

What did you make for your kiddos' moms?

I am choosing two friends to get this. All you have to do it is Pin it to Win it :)  Don't forget to leave your e-mail and your pin... along with your comment.  I love reading your comments!

Back From Vacation

Hello friends! We got back from vacation last Wednesday.  This girl is so relaxed, and I still have one more week off.

I have been working on pictures all afternoon.  I took 440 pictures and I got lucky to be in a few of them.   

Are you ready for a billion pictures of our Disney Cruise?  This post has no school content :)

This beauty took us on a 5 day family journey of relaxation.

Miami is a cool city! I wanted to do the Conga...just because :)

Mr. Disney himself and Mickey were everywhere...you could not help but to smile A LOT. 

We were greeted with a fabulous lunch right after boarding.

Our fabulous cabin had everything you could possibly need.  The best part was the verandah...a super nice touch!

Daily shows by the pool with the big cheese....so.much.fun!

The views, the boat, the entertainment, the wind, the heat....just what we needed :)

First port of call...Grand Cayman.  Snorkeling for the boys, movies by the pool for the girls.

Second port of call...Cozumel.  We met this super cool looking friend.

I had a change to take some pictures of the boat when we were in Cozumel.  It was hot...steamy hot.

We did some shopping. Hubby bought a cool hat and a mask. I just took pictures.

OK...let's talk about the food. Oh! the food you guys.  I am pretty sure I gained a ton of weight.  I am staying away from the scale. I am too afraid.  I tried to eat a ton of salads and a daily small dessert. 

I am telling you, the food is to die for. I was the only one who ate Mickey's waffles, and I felt like a kid in a candy store :)

We ate at a different restaurant everyday. Each restaurant had a different theme and some gorgeous menus.

The daily towel animals and the mini chocolates are such a great touch.  One of them borrowed my daughter's bathing suit.

Baby crawling raises, Disney characters, and the gorgeous princesses made it to the central atrium the place to be.

I had to take this picture. It reminded me of my bloggy friend Jaime :) I took it for you girl!

Came home to a ton of laundry...and I cannot wait to do this all over again.  Have you cruised before?

Money Jars

Counting money could be fun...or painful.  I rather say it is fun because it reviews so many math concepts our students have been practicing since kindergarten (counting by ones using a hundreds chart = counting pennies, or counting/skipping by tens= counting dimes). Once they realize it is not such a brand new concept, they begin to believe it is easy.

When we talk about quarters and combining all the coins...well, I always tell my kids that is the brand new thing they must learn as second graders and that step by step, they will certainly be able to do it.

Counting money is not always easy, and this time, we used 'jars' to learn how to count money.

Check it out HERE :)

We began by exploring coins and looking for ways to describe them.  

After finding out that a few kids did not know their coins, we used these jar to find them. 

I made a quick reference half sheet for them to use when needed. 

Then the counting began...

We used our jars to count one type of coin at a time (only pennies, only nickels, only dimes, only quarters), then two coins (pennies and nickels, pennies and dimes, pennies and quarters...), and lastly three coins (pennies, nickels and dimes...). You get the idea.  I was taking  notes of where they got lots, and then met with them in small groups. 

The kids were told to put their coins on the top of the jar and move each coin while they counted nice and slow (one-to-one correspondence). Touch, count, move...

Once we got to having the four different coins together, they were told to put each coin with their 'relatives'. I told them I like to be with my family so if I was a penny I would like to be with all my penny family members. Then we put them in order from highest value to lowest value. I remembered to emphasize it is not about the coins size, but their values.

I showed them two strategies. On day one, we worked on using the counting up strategy or what you may call number patters.  On day two we worked on counting each family of coins, then using an addition algorithm to get the total.  We practiced both, but they are able to use the one that makes the most sense when it comes down to take any assessments.

We got busy using our money jars. I mainly worked with my kiddos who struggle at this point.  72 jars later and they can count much better than they did before.  

Would you like to check it out?

Find it HERE.

I will send this to two friends who help me pin this (leave your link and e-mail).  Any other secrets you use to help your students count money?

More Templates and Character Clouds

The day is gorgeous outside.  The kids are practicing their rock climbing skills with daddy, and the house is nice and silent.  I decided that while I think of what to do with my 'mommy-free' time, I'd like to share two quick things with you.

Last night I worked on adding 10 more desktop templates.  After I posted it, I received a few ideas, and I got around to adding them last night.  I added fruits, watermelon, owls, dogs, baseball and superheroes...keep sending me your ideas.

Find them HERE.

42 Templates as of right now :)

Let's move on to today... school... painful, but quick :)  

Beautiful morning. 73 degrees right now. I really need to get out!

Then came the clouds.... 

My student teacher finished teaching about character traits. First, she read this super cute book.  She created a trait anchor chart as a review.  The kids traced a cloud to make and describe the main character in the book.  

Then came the traits...

They added character traits about Cloudette.  She created a chart of inside traits and outside traits.  I wish I had taken a picture of her chart. The kids are coming up with amazing descriptions.

Check out the lightning! 

Lastly... the one thins I dislike to do right before track out. 

Wish me luck,

A Few Pictures of NCCAT

I'd like to share a few pictures of my trip with you.  I enjoyed being surrounded by so many passionate educators.  Meeting new teachers and learning from each other was certainly the highlight of my 4-day trip.  

I drove for 5 hours in the company of Madonna. I do not remember the last time I just felt like singing and enjoying my loud music.  I am pretty sure drivers got a good laugh if they saw me singing the way I did.  I know I had a huge smile on my face.

I do like driving fast. I mean, I know I drive a mommy van, but this thing can drive fast!  I am pretty sure I encountered a few cop cars.  Lucky me, no speeding tickets. 

I arrived a little early so I went for a quick walk and took some pictures.  This is the front of the building where the seminars took place. 

The front part of the seminar building.  

Our luxury hotel :) located right across the seminar building. I did not get a nice view, maybe next time. 

My room was on the back of the building where a beautiful cardinal came to see me almost every day, but refused to pose for a picture. 

We talked about reading, writing, teaching, testing... you name it.  Nothing like venting with a bunch of educators who get how you feel (no offense to hubby). 

We even went on a field trip to a tiny cute town nearby. Our first stop was a cute little book store where we heard about the latest in children's literature. I resisted and did not buy anything. Boo!

Can't wait to go back...soon!  What was the last professional development you attended?