Goodies in the Mail!!

So who knew the post office delivers on Sunday?!  (They do!) And let me tell you, friends, I was so, SO excited when I saw that white mail truck roll on up and stop at my house!

A few days ago, I decided to make my own planner this year. After much research on TpT and Pinterest, I decided to go with an Arc Planner. I ordered some of the accessories online from Amazon, and I'll make the meat of it.  I also went a little crazy ordering some Washi tape-which I've never used before in.my.life. I'm giddy with excitement to use it in my planner. (hee hee)  So...here's what I got:

I'm still waiting for the discs for the planner.  And I have to finish creating the pages, and then I can start assembling.  I'll post pics of it once it's done.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

Currently-on time!

Wait! What? I'm actually on time for a Currently! Yippee! I'm so excited! It's actually still Aug. 1st, here in Oregon.  If you haven't already linked up with Farley at Oh'Boy 4th Grade, be sure to do so (even if it isn't Aug. 1 when you do).

Listening: So, believe it or not, I have Sports Center on. (The hubs is still at work)  There is absolutely nothing on right now, and I just need noise-other than the AC.

Loving: I still have one month of summer left. I don't report back to school until Sept. 2. I love that I can still sleep in, even though I do have to start getting into the school mode-so much to do...

Thinking: So, here in Oregon, we have been having record-breaking high temperatures! It's been over 100 degrees the past few days.  Now, I'm used to heat, being from SoCal, but I honestly thought when I got to Oregon, my summer would normalize, and it would be in the 80's, maybe low 90's come August.  This heat is ridiculous! I wish it would just rain!! 

Wanting: I really want to get into my new classroom. This is going to be my first year in this room, first year at this school, and I know I have a TON of work to do to get it to my liking.  I have ideas for bulletin boards that I'd like to get started on, but I don't know what the bulletin board situation is. I also need to get a handle on room organization, etc...you all feel me-I'm sure.

Needing: I brought teacher's guides for each subject home in June, and I haven't looked at one. I really, really need to open those up! 

B2S RAK: Since I'm going to be the "newbie" at this school, I thought I'd drop notes in other teacher's mailboxes as pick-me-ups with kind words. Also, give my kids random notes throughout the year-just because.

So there you go! Now, be sure to link up here.

Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy your Sunday, and have a wonderful week! And best of luck if you are starting next week!

A Real Vacation (while on vacation)

Happy Monday, Friends!  I recently got back from my little vacation.  I met a couple of my teacher friends from my old school in CA, up in Seattle.  It was great seeing my old buds.  I have missed my friends a lot.  We went hiking at Multnomah Falls-amazing! The most treacherous hike I've ever done! I almost didn't think I was going to make it, but I did!  And that made me proud of myself for accomplishing something I would not have done on my own. Here are some pictures from the hike.

We had to cool our feet off in the stream. It was so cold, but extremely refreshing!

         
In Seattle, we did a lot of urban hiking. (and I mean A.LOT!!)  All in all, it was great to get away.

                                     

I still have a month before school starts, so I'm not really in the school frame of mind just yet.  I'll blog more once I start getting ready.  Until then, have a wonderful week, whatever you are doing.

Are you Periscoping?

Quick post today. Have you gotten on the biggest new social media craze? If not, you need to! Dive right in to Periscope. It's addicting and time consuming, if you let it be-which I have been lately...ohmygoodness. Must stop. Will stop.  Luckily for me, I'm off to Seattle and Portland for the week, so I won't be tethered to my phone or iPad. But, I highly recommend checking it out. It really is a ton of fun, and you can learn a lot from all those wonderful teachers out there in Periscope land!
                                                     

Have a wonderful week.

                   

Welcome Back Me!!

OMG!! Heavens to Betsy! Where have I been??  I'll tell you...NOT HERE blogging! Duh!

So, I don't know what happened to me-wait, yes I do! Last year, I had such a class! (I don't mean this in a good way, either). (insert "wah, wahh, wahh")  I had 3 boys who should NEVER have been put in the same class-E.V.E.R.!! So they sucked out TONS of my energy! (total Boo!)

That was problem numero uno.  Then, my darling husband who had started a new job last June, proceeded to lose that said job the beginning of December. (not his fault, really)  However, said darling husband landed himself a new job in February!! Yay! Except, this new job was in Oregon, so here lies problem numero dos: we packed our condo up, put that money pit on the market, and said "Hasta la vista, California!"  (But I came back to California after a week in Oregon setting up our rental house, as I had to finish out my school year with that "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad" class.)  I was living out of a suitcase at my super wonderfully sweet friend's house for three months. Yeah...that was F.U.N.

Sooo...that's why I was majorly MIA for 8 (ohmyword!) months.

                                                 

But...here's the thing. I've been rejuvenated and inspired! Have YOU been on Periscope yet? If not, you must give it a try! And find me and follow me. (@jmeln) I've been "periscope-sucked"! On there WAY.TOO.MUCH. oh boy...my iPhone6 battery isn't great to begin with, but now...yikes! It's all good, though, because it's so much fun!!  And all those AWESOME teachers have inspired me to get back on this blog! So here I am!  Thank you, Periscopers! Thank you small fish teacher tribe. Thank you third grade tribe.

All that being said, I hope to give it the ol' college try, yet again! 

See you soon! Have a wonderful weekend, friends!

It's Written in the Stars (err, Moon...)

Happy Tuesday, Friends.

Just a super quick post-I'm trying to blog more. Even if it's a quickie. This I learned from answering those questions for the Liebster Award last weekend! ;)

Anyway, we are studying about space in science in my class. I wish I could come up with some really cute stuff, but alas, I can't.  However, I am giving a quiz on Friday, and I thought I would share it-in case anyone needs a quiz. I just created this. I tried to make this work for Common Core. I think it works, but I won't promise anything.  I hope you can use it.

Click here to get the quiz. Earth, Sun, Moon Quiz

This quiz covers what causes day and night; seasons; Earth's axis; and the Moon.
You can click the picture to get the quiz, too.

        

Five for Friday...wait, I mean Saturday

Well, it's Saturday, and as usual, I'm a day late. But, better late than never...I'm linking up with Kacy from Doodlebugs Teaching for Five for Friday. Here's what I was up to this week.

First off, we had an inservice day on Monday. No, my district couldn't give us that day off, and extend the weekend since we had Tuesday off, oh no. We had to go in to work. Ugh! And the inservice wasn't even useful! (well, it was useful to vent with others about how awful our district has rolled out Common Core!)

Report cards went home on Thursday!  Thankfully, I didn't get any evil notes from parents on Friday, complaining about the new report cards or their child's grades. 

I had my students partner read one of our stories.  Then, I had them work in their table groups and discuss the questions on the strips.  Afterwards, they worked on their own to answer the same questions on a worksheet.  I'm hoping by discussing with others first, those that may not understand the question will, and they will have an easier time answering the questions.

We were studying the seasons and what causes them, so I whipped up this cause & effect sheet for the kids to work on. They had to find causes that had to do with seasons and the effects of those causes.  I think they did pretty well. I just didn't have any pics of finished products. Sorry!

Okay, friends. I found these mustaches at Target in the Halloween discount rack. I had to get them for "Movember".  I want to give them to my kiddos, but I don't have a good idea to use them with.  Please help with any suggestions!! I know it's getting late in the month, as we only have next week. Then we are off for the week of Thanksgiving!!

Thanks for your help!