Teacher Appreciation Surprise & A Recap

DAYS LEFT!!!!

Today was our last staff development day for the year and "Bubba Gump Seafood" dropped in with a big surprise!!!

They brought in a spread of the most delicious appetizers to show their appreciation for us teachers!!! How sweet!

They even brought along their mascot!!! We had no idea they were coming....but my principal did! Nice surprise and great food! 

Thanks Bubba Gump Shrimp......you rock!!!

I haven't blogged in over a week, so here is a little recap of our last week or so!

I know Mother's Day is old news now, but here are some ideas you may want to tuck away for next year!

For our mommas, we made Mother's Day cookbooks! Just love this idea and how they turned out. This super easy and loveable class project is from "Fourth & Ten" and you can get it {here}. I too, got this idea last year AFTER Mother's Day and was so excited to finally use it this year!!!

What better to go along with a cookbook than a potholder!

These are made from bathroom/kitchen tiles purchased at Home Depot for only 20 cents a piece.....very cheap craft! The flowers are all hand painted by each student using nothing but their thumb!! I used a green sharpie for the writing.

We put felt super sliders on them first.

 After they were done, we sprayed them with a thick coat of polyurethane to seal and protect them! 

After our mother's day projects were finally done.....just in the nick of time....WHEW...we relieved our stress with a little science!!! My students LOVE Science time!

We made a paperclip actually float by creating surface tension!!!

Lots of oooo's and ahhhh's from the kiddos! 

Just love their excitement during science!!!

And Friday was............

And boy was it H-O-T!!!!!!

I never figured out why a school in the desert would hold field day in May when it's 100+ outside!

But our principal thanked us today for being "Hot Tamales" by placing a little thank you and a box of "Hot Tamales" in our mailboxes!!! 

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week & Summer Countdown Freebie

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week to all of ya'll!!! 

Does your school or PTO do anything special for you during this week?? I must say....my school never lets us down....they are spoiling us once again!!

Here's what they have planned for our week!!!

Yes, a massage!!! How sweet is that?! 

I'm signed up for tomorrow at 2:40!!

THANK YOU PTO!!!!

There's so many fabulous giveaways and discounts going on everywhere this week for teachers!!! Just love all the deals! And don't forget about the big TpT sale tomorrow and Wednesday!!

Use the code below to get 28% off of participating stores, including mine!!!

How many days do you have 'til summer break?? I have 19, so we will be beginning our 10 day countdown in just 9 days!!!

Woohoo!

If you'd like to use this countdown for your class....it's FREE!!!

Tomorrow we will begin working on our Mother's Day gifts!!! Can you guess what we will be doing with these???

We will also be making these for our moms from "Fourth & Ten."

Such a cute idea!!!
Mother's Day cookbooks made by the students! I purchased this last year after Mother's Day, so I'm really excited to finally get to use it!!

PECS Wallets & Monday Made It

Last year I was able to get a personal iPad with the Proloquo 2Go app for two of my nonverbal students to use for communication. The students carried the iPads back and forth between school and home. 

While one of the students used hers daily to communicate, she continuously kept getting into the settings and wiping things out and messing up programs. Once, she even permanently disabled it, and it had to be sent in to be unlocked! Unfortunately, even though there are ways to restrict students from deleting apps and from performing other functions....there is no way to lock them out of the settings. 

My other student simply refused to use his. He didn't think it was cool and found it too laborious to locate what he wanted to say. He also doesn't really see himself as different, and doesn't understand why his speech is not intelligble to others. I am very concerned for him as he is going to the middle school next year and I feel it's very important that he have an alternate way to communicate. I have had him for 4 years, and while I have learned to understand his language pretty well, the middle school teachers are not going to be able to and he is going to get frustrated!

Our speech pathologist came up with the idea of PECS wallets! I had never heard of them. She thought this might be something my student would think would be cool.....having his own wallet!! So I retired the iPads and started using these wallets this week. 

So far they are working well!! Both of my students LOVE them and have carried them everywhere! Even my boy that didn't think the iPad was so "cool," thinks his wallet is "COOL!" I'm working on getting another set for them to keep and use at home. I've also been working with the middle school teacher to add some words that he will be needing in middle school.

Now to announce the winner of my Prefix Centers!!
Brenda, you won!

If you're still looking for a Cinco de Mayo activity for tomorrow, check out my Cinco de Mayo mini activity booklet. It's perfect for kinders and preschoolers. 

And now for a "Monday Made It" and a housewarming idea you might like. I made this yesterday for my nephew that just got his own place!

Flying Kites With May Currently!

Listening to hotdogs sizzle....

yes my son is making hotdogs at 10:00 at night!

Loving Friday!!!! Of course!

Thinking....my students had so much fun flying kites today!! We are so fortunate that our community has the most beautiful park and it is right beside our school with a little side trail that leads there. 

My kids had such a BLAST!
And 5 of them said they have never flown a kite before!!??? huh? I just love creating memories for my students!

Wanting a personal housekeeper.....who doesn't, right!?

Needing another tutor for my student. 

I am so excited.....I got one of my Autism students qualified for in-home therapy services through my school district and the Lovaas Center. I'm so excited for her and the family. It is probably one of my biggest educational accomplishments to date. 

The Lovaas Center is going to train two tutors to go into the home and provide ABA therapy to one of my Autistic students 40 hours a month for a year. My district is paying the lead tutor $14 an hour and the secondary tutor $12 an hour. The only catch is that the family and I are responsible for locating the tutors, and the teacher, which is me, is not allowed to do it. One of my aides has volunteered to be the lead, but I am still searching for a secondary tutor. 

I am so excited about this amazing opportunity for this child and just hope we can get it all into place before summer break!

Surprise......have you checked out "Educlips" clipart sets?? I just love her clipart! Formerly known as "Educasongs," which was famous for her songs, is now creating the most darling kid clipart sets ever! 

This is my most recent favorite! 

And her clipart is always 50% for the first 24-48 hours after she posts it on TpT! She also has a new clipart store you should check out {here}. 

Head over and link up your "Currently" with Farley!!

Prefix Centers & A Birchbox

I recently canceled my maven subscription with Julep and then decided to try out Birchbox this month. I just love getting surprises in the mail each month. It's so fun and about the only thing I really do to even come close to spoiling myself! 

If you haven't heard of Birchbox; it's a monthly mailorder program you can subscribe to and they send you a surprise box each month of samples of various products! It's only $10 a month to join......and

My very first box arrived today!!

It's like a kid at Christmas....cause let's face it, who doesn't love getting gifts in the mail!!?

There were 6 samples in the box. They even included a card with details and prices of each item if I were to like a sample so much that I wanted to order it.

Here's what was in the box.

"Number 4 High Performance Hair Care" Shampoo
"Number 4 High Performance Hair Care" Conditioner
"Harvey Prince" Yogini Perfume
"Color Club" Nail Polish
"Sumitas" Eyeliner
"KIND Snacks" Grain Bar

I'm a bargain shopper, not a brand name shopper, so I know very little about any of these name brands, but I know I love everything in my Birchbox. The perfume smells fabulous and I can still smell it on my wrist 5 hours later! I only wear perfume on special occasions, so I figure this cute little spray bottle sample will probably last me for months!!

Already excited to see what will come next month!! :)

I'm also very excited about finishing up my new prefix centers!!

Here you can see some of the centers in action in my classroom!

Visit my store {here} for more details!

You can also win a free copy! Leave a comment below telling me you can use these and I'll pick a winner on Saturday!