Fabulous and Fantastic Friday at the End of January!

Happy Weekend!  Today I'm delighted to share my news as I link up with Anna Nuttall's New Bloggers Link-Up and   Erika,  Narci and Andrea for Friday Favorites!

Lunar Eclipse

Last Sunday I managed to stay awake (thanks to my daughter awakening me at 11:30 p.m.) to observe the total lunar eclipse in near zero temperature, too!

Super Storybird

My students are totally enthralled with writing on Storybird!  My student, Megan, has written 23 stories.  Here's a sample of one of her many stories:

Storybird is a free web site that offers kids writing opportunities!  The kids get to choose illustrations and go from there.  In addition, my students even write at home ~ FOR FUN!  Plus, my students LOVE to leave comments on their classmates' published stories. 






Therapy Dogs Are Terrific!

Our class earned enough kindness points to earn a visit from two therapy dogs.  Check out golden doodle Oliver who prefers chasing his ball to having a treat:

New Blog Post At Conversations From The Classroom

about Canadian children's book.  Click here or on the picture to check out these books.

Well, that's all my news for now!  Thanks for visiting the blog today ~ I really appreciate it!

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Long time, no blogging, but I'm finally back!

Happy Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Weekend!  I'm so happy to be blogging as well as linking up with Anna Nuttall's Bloggers Link-Up and The Blended Blog for Friday Features!

Super Artist Rob Surette Visits!

On Friday our PTO treated our school to an amazing assembly in which extremely talented artist Rob Surette painted and put on an inspirational and moving assembly:

How can you make the longest paper chain?

We've been working on measuring and drawing lines using rulers.  One afternoon I gave each student a piece of 8.5 by 11 inch paper.  Then I told them to make the longest paper chain possible.  Several students used their rulers which made me so happy!

Click here to get FREE directions for this activity.

Welcome Winter ~ Whether We Like It Or Not!

As I sit here writing, the first snow of the winter is starting to fall.  I always enjoy incorporating poetry by my favorite poet, Doug Florian, in my morning messages.

It's Nice To Be Important....


The day after I used this Morning Message, I asked the kids to tell me what their parents always tell them.  The next day, many of my students came back with the following answer:  "Clean your room." 

Did your parents ever tell you the same message over and over?  I always heard this one, too:  "Freckles are a sign of beauty."

Please feel free to leave me a message to let me know!  

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Currently ~ Just January ~ Happy New Year!

Happy 2019!  Time sure flies where you're focused and keeping busy!  I'm delighted to link up today with Anne in Residence for:

Choosing 

I'm currently taking an online course about incorporating STEAM into my classroom.  I'm trying to spend time watching all the videos and reading all the articles so that I can learn more about this area.  STEAM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math.  The emphasis is one hands-on group work that solves a real life problem.  I really love this quote by John Dewey:

“Give the pupils something to do, not something to learn; and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking; learning naturally results.”

Tidying 



I could spend endless time tidying everything and everywhere in my house.  After Christmas I spent an hour cleaning the top of my stove.  Then I had to clean the kitchen counters,...Tidying to infinity and beyond!

 
Resolving 






It's really fun to eat anything and everything you want until you step on the scale...which means I need to start eating better and more healthy food.  Eating gluttonously was fun while it lasted.  Now it's back to reality.

Exploring 

I've been having the best time researching STEAM resources in Massachusetts.  I knew there would be a lot because of the huge number of universities, but I still made some exciting discoveries. For example,

Massachusetts has an annual STEM conference in November.  The conference is in Worcester which is about an hour from where I live. The next STEM summit will take place on November 5, 2019.

In addition, I checked out science apps and web sites.  I was just playing this sorting game on Science Kids in which I needed to sort moving objects into birds, insects, mammals or plants.  It was quite challenging for me.  Click here to check out the home page.

Refreshing

I'm really finding Polar Seltzer water to be very refreshing.  Seltzer is now my everyday beverage of choice.  It has fizz like soda minus all the artificial flavorings and additives.  

Well, there's the current news for now!  Please let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions for me about anything I write about!  

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