Harley on the Mend

A few weeks ago I shared that my dog was sporting a hurt paw. Well after a vet visit, it ended being an infected dew claw. Harley is now a week and a half post surgery to clear out the infection. He had both dew claws removed, plus while he was under I chose to get a couple of skin warts removed. The vet tech called during the surgery to ask if I wanted to also have his teeth cleaned so he now has sparkly clean chompers too. His first couple of days post surgery were rough. I ended up sleeping on the floor next to him the first night. Poor guy!

My parents have been watching him during his recovery while I'm at work and he's been a good doggy patient. So much so, that when they went for a brief shopping trip the other day they left him without the cone on. They came back to cotton all over the floor as Harley chewed on the top part of one of his bandages. Harley got scolded and on went the Cone of Shame.

Harley is not a happy camper!

He is back to not wearing the cone, but only when he isn't being supervised.

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Five for Friday ....

I'm joining in again this week for some shared randomness.

My last day before my week long Thanksgiving break was Friday!

My class ended our day doing some fun readers theatre scripts and a turkey apple craft.

I've been getting back into my walking routine after a long time of going without exercise.

Harley sure does like his walks. Now he is resting in one of his favorite lounge spots.

I'm busy prepping my winter holiday gifts for my students. I get decks of cards at the dollar store and have them "Deck out the Holidays" with math games. I've had parents love it as it reinforces critical math skills in a fun game format. If you'd like to try this holiday gift this year for your class you can get it in my TPT store.

I went to the store today to pick up the baking ingredients for the chocolate trifle layer cake my family EXPECTS me to bring to Thanksgiving dinners every year. It is unbelievably yummy and is always such a hit, especially for any newcomers who taste it for the first time.

I'm hoping to read at least one good book over my Thanksgiving break.

The last book I read was The Husband's Secret which I did enjoy.

I ran across the site What Should I Read Next? which I'm planning to explore for my next read.

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Five For Friday

Happy Friday! Here are my 5 random end of the week shares.

It's the little things that can make your day. This week I found this random slip of paper on the classroom floor.
I figured it was from student who ripped a piece of their paper to then pass a note to a friend. But it was instead a happy note to me. I asked the class who gave it to me, but nobody fessed up.

My conferences are OVER. Yeah.  I made a goal setting conference sheet to keep me on track when discussing the progress of my students. Grab it as a FREEBIE from my TPT store.

After being swamped with parent conferences this is what I face in my office at home. I have stuff spread out all over multiple desktops to organize. When will it get done? I'm not quite sure. Some days I just shut the door so I don't see it all when I walk by.

Love the feathery frond stalks in my backyard planter. Usually this plant is just the green stalks most of the year though. Sorry, I'm not a plant expert and have no idea the name of it.

I'm now enjoying a cup of tea and Reeses while sitting in my living room. My favorite wall art is behind my couch.  It makes me feel like I'm taking a peaceful walk in nature.

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Remembering our Veterans

When I teach about Veterans Day in the classroom I share with my students that my grandfather, died in World War II at Iwo Jima. His sacrifice for our country meant that my dad and his brother, at the ages of 2 and 1, grew up without their father. My dad, over the years, has read numerous books on Iwo Jima and shared that wisdom with my nephew. For a project in my nephew's history course he had to pick a historical moment that made a pivotal impact. Naturally, he chose to write about Iwo Jima and tie in facts about my grandfather's service and death.

Here is his poster board display of his project

I've added this directed poppy art drawing lesson to my ever growing lesson ideas for Veterans Day.

If you'd like a Veterans Day pack to add to your lessons I've created this one

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Doggy Tales Writing Pack

Oh, I wish dogs could talk. My Harley came down with a swollen, infected paw this week and I have no idea what he did. It's a fun battle to try and get his paw to soak in a tub of warm water. I have his bag of treats close by to reward him after I manage to soak it for a few minutes at a time.

I hope he's on the mend soon!

If you are looking for cute doggy themed writing, including a prompt on "If My Dog Could Talk", check out this pack in my TPT store.

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Multiplication Fluency Practice

Multiplication mastery is a MUST in 3rd grade and is the building block that leads to other concepts.

This year I use song fact videos to reinforce students mastery. The videos are repetitive and also show the facts visually on the screen. My students love them.

Another project that comes in handy is for building arrays.

I do this every year with my class and then each student becomes the "expert" on their array and teaches it to the class.

You can get this project from my TPT store.

In addition I also have a Multiplication Activity Bundle that may interest you.

What are some fun ways you teach multiplication?

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I recently started a Facebook Group for teachers to share ideas, questions, and inspiration. 

Come Join the group!

Solar System Research

My science focus in my classroom right now is learning about the solar system.

My class used the picture dictionary tool on Enchanted Learning to practice research skills.

The picture dictionary is set up in alphabetical order and for larger categories of letters , like "S", have subheadings similar to guide words to narrow ones search options.

My students had search questions to research like you see below:

 Here's a sample screen for looking up the answer to Question 1, which is the solar system.

First, students would click on the letter S and then on the subcategory So to search for the answer of solar system.

Each heading is also clickable to read and research further about a topic

This is the expanded information for solar system

This tools hit science, technology, research skills and dictionary practice all in one.

Hope you might find it useful too!

Find more great ideas on my Pinterest page or TPT store

I recently started a Facebook Group for teachers to share ideas, questions, and inspiration. 

Come Join the group!

Wedding Fun

My only niece recently got married and will be moving out of state.

She spent the night at my house the night before the ceremony.

Her wedding was wonderful!

Guests enjoyed the Photo Booth fun.

Pick a prop, any prop and do a photo shoot!

My sister, mom and me

My dad and niece

She has her car all loaded up to the max and has it parked in my garage for her cross country trip after her honeymoon.

It's Five for Friday

I'm joining Doodle Bugs weekly linky.

On Wednesday I reported back to work for Teacher Prep Days and had to leave Harley at home solo.

He was so happy to see me come home at the end of my first day of work.

As part of my prep work at school I put together and Emergency Sub Tub Cart.

I have it permanently up at my front teacher desk in a rolling cart.

It will make needing to be out unexpectedly less stressful.

I'm still recovering from a recent surgery, so being up and about all day at work has been a bit exhausting this week. I've been using heat packs to curb my pain a bit and then I come home and use the heating pad while sitting in this MOST comfortable chair.

My district has adopted Go Math for our new curriculum so I spent a good chunk of my time today lesson planning and trying to find my way through their technology pieces. It's going to take some time to get the hang of things.

My most recent addition to my TPT store is a MEGA bundle of all my reading and language task card sets. It's a total of 40 different skills at a 20% discount AND if gets even better. TPT's Back to School sale is coming up on Aug. 4th and 5th.  This MEGA bundle will be an additional 28% off (be sure to use the TPT code BTS14 to get that extra 8% off). Task cards are a great resource in any classroom.

If you've never used them, give them a try.

Click picture view this MEGA bundle

Don't miss out on the shopping TPT spree!

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