Five for Friday- March 8th

Woooo, it's Friday!!  We actually get a three day weekend because we have built in snow days and we've had no snow this year.  Sooooo, we get Monday off.  Sometimes, it just feels good to be able to sleep a little longer on a Monday, right? (I promise I'm not trying to rub it in!)  :O)

We are linking up with Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching for her Five for Friday.

1.  We had cultural arts on Monday.  A guy came to share different instruments from around the world.  You know how when a speaker comes and he or she asks for volunteers, and all those hands go up, and then they pick a student to come up to the front to help them out and you are kind of wondering who is going to be picked?  Then you see THAT KID get picked and you find yourself going, oooooooooooooooooooooooooooh nooooooooooooooooooo!!  Yeah.  That happened to me twice during this one presentation.  (I have several of those kids in my class, so I guess it was inevitable.)  The first one got to sit on an African drum and bang the beat.  She handled it pretty well.  Then, the other one was chosen to hit a huge bell thing.  He did pretty well, too.  Phew!!  I wish I'd had pictures!  It was absolute chaos when he said, "Now, everyone pick an instrument to play..." and 180 kids go in all directions to find an instrument.  Yikes.  But it's ok.  (I can say that now since it's over.  I don't handle chaos well.)  ;O)

2.  We started geometry with some pretzels and marshmallows!  Math is always fun with food!!  :O)

3.  We created a bulletin board that will hopefully build community and self-confidence.  It's my pot of gold.  To learn more about it, check this post here.  The kids absolutely love it, and so does everyone else that walks by it in the hall!  Here is the finished product:

4.  Our grade level had an all day planning today and we got a TON accomplished.  That always feels good.  We mapped out everything we had to get done before THE BIG TEST in April.  That was a little overwhelming because I'm so far behind.  I'm trying not to panic, but I was pretty close to tears today.  My team was super supportive and helped Stacia and I make a plan of attack.  I just LOVE them!!

5.  If you missed our freebie, check it out below.  :O)

If you download it, please let us know what you think!

Happy Friday to you!  We hope you have a great weekend!!  How do you handle the stress of "getting it all in"?  Stacia and I eat lots of chocolate and jelly beans.  The scale doesn't appreciate it, but my psyche does!!

*Amanda*

Also, don't forget to enter our 300 Followers giveaway!!  It includes prizes from over 40 bloggers and is split into a K-2 giveaway, a 3-5 giveaway, AND we are giving away a pencil sharpener!!  You may just have the "Luck o' the Irish" with you and YOU could be the winner of 1, 2, or all 3 of the giveaways!!  ;O)

Just click the button below to go to the giveaway!