Sunny Summer Days Linky Week 2 and Monday Made It

 Ahhhhh!!!!! I can finally say it's the first Monday of summer!  Boy, does that feel good!  I think we all darn well deserved it!   For those of you still going, your summer will be here soon enough.  Enjoy these last days with your students and make learning as fun as possible!  Carrie and I would love to hear what everyone is up to this summer!  Whether it's relaxing, vacationing, blogging, making products..anything and everything that you are doing on a day-to-day basis!! Make sure to follow us on instagram to see what were doing on these "Sunny Summer Days." You can find us at @tabletalkwithcandc. Share with us what your doing on instragram 

End of the Year Fun: To end the school year, Carrie and I did a fun math "RELAY RACE ACTIVITY" outside with the students.  It took up 2 days worth of math time (30-40 minutes/day)!! Wahooo!!  The relay consisted of kinesthetic and cooperative learning approaches to figure out the answers!  Our students absolutely loved it!!   Students were divided into teams of 4 or 5.  Each team had to work together to solve the problems on their slip of paper.  After they finished the problem, students had to show Carrie or I their work before they could go onto their next math adventure!  All of the problems consisted of various skills we learned throughout the year.  It was a great review and a great motivator for all!   

You can get your copy of this fun math relay race from the Queen of the First Grade Jungle. We are also excited to  be linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made-It.

Pinterest Inspired Co-Worker Gifts: Sooo...it dawned on me pretty much 2 days before the last day of school that I needed to get some gifts for some of my colleagues! Ugh, I am so bad about remembering the fun and thoughtful parts about our jobs!  (It just gets so crazy busy at the end of the year! ) Carrie made me me this cute "Hope you have a sparkly summer" tag that came with nail polish and nail filer!  So cute, right?  Simple, yet so thoughtful and definitely going to be used!!  My other co-worker got me "The Little Engine that Could" book.  This year was a big year for our district as we took on a new initiative to take on "The Skillfull Teacher." Has anyone heard of it???   I'll give you the cliff notes version of it.  It's written by Jon Saphire and it directly correlates with the new Chorlotte Danielson Evaluation framework.  Is this sounding anymore familiar with anyone?!?!  I am sure many of you know exactly what I am talking about with all of the change in education and with Common Core. Anyhow, "The Skillful Teacher"  has a strong philosophy in teaching "EFFORT" and flooding your classroom environment with effort, etc, etc.  It actually is really good stuff..but I won't bore you.  So, "The Little Engine That Could" was the perfect book to represent effort as we take on this new "Skillful Teacher" adventure as a district!

Below are some of my pinterest inspired gifts for my colleagues!  I made Carrie this cute little clipboard and found some other fun ways to say "THANK YOU!"  We also had several retirees this year, so I found a cute note on pinterest that said "Your Retirement Sucks! (Seriously)! "  I had so much fun creating little thank you tags and buying simple yet useful gifts for my co-workers! 

End of the year Student Gifts! I love giving my students awards at the end of every year.  Something fun and to remind them all of what they've accomplished this year.  This year I created a few extra fun things for each student.  We also handed out "super sweet candy awards" from Hope King at 2nd Grade Shenanigans.  My husband helped me shop for the "movie size" candy for each award.  So fun!

Inside each bag -

We've been working on Super Improvers this last part of the year.  So I created awards for each student  for the level they ended on.

  Saturday Cook Out with Friends! I got to enjoy my first weekend of summer with great friends!  My husband and I had some friends over on Saturday for a little cook out!  The weather was perfect.  We got some yummy fresh burgers and brats from Marianos!! Anyone else just love Marianos!?!?  Made a yummy appetizer and guzzled down  a few delicious sangrias!  For those of you who are simple cooks like me...all this little appetizer needs is ....  1. French bread (cut thin slices, and toast!) 2. Salami (preferably sopressata) 3. Fresh Basil (cut into fourths) 4. Boursin Cheese (Garlic and Herb) 5. Artichoke hearts

TARGET Dollar Spot Find:  Had to do my weekly shop at Target today!  Little did I know they were going to have these great book boxes or organizational boxes!  I had bought a handful a few months ago, but definitely wanted more! I  can use these at school as student's book boxes for guided reading, my professional books, my guided reading lessons, literacy or math centers, etc!  I am also thinking of using these boxes in my office at home to keep me organized!  They sure are cute, so maybe it will actually motivate me to go into my office at home to do the fun "grown up" stuff (pay bills, organize bills, blah, blah, blah)! : )

What have you been up to on these "Sunny Summer Days?!?" We would love to hear about your summer activities, summer hobbies, books you are reading, things you are working on for next year, and anything else you would love to share! 

In case you are new to Linky Parties, here are some helpful directions! There are a few ways to copy the image for the Linky Party.  

1. You can right click on the picture and choose "Copy Image," 

2. You can take a screen shot.  I'm not sure how you do this on a PC, but on a Mac press "shift command 4".  Then trace the object you want to take a picture of.  It will save the image to your desktop.  

Now you have the image to insert in your blog post and link back up to our blog.  

*Caitlin & Carrie

Sunny Summer Days Linky Party

Since summer break is fast approaching or already here for some of you,  we've decided to host a fun summer weekly linky party!  We thought this would be a great way for everyone to share what they are working on for the upcoming school year and share the fun vacations and activities that everyone is doing!  

Since we aren't on summer break yet, here are some things I've been working on to prepare for summer break.

I created the end of the year gifts for my students. 

I created some cute "Mickey" gift bags with each student's initial.  I love using my Cricut!!  Inside each bag will be a bottle of bubbles, goldfish, and end of the year awards.  I created some cute tags for the goldfish and bubbles.   To download your free copy, click on the pictures below.

I've also been working on my parent volunteer gifts.  

I found some colored water bottles from the dollar store.  I filled each bottle with lifesavers, starbursts, and a gift card to Starbucks.  For your free copy of these tags, click on the picture above or HERE.

These last few weeks have been a struggle to keep our kiddos motivated, so I created some fun QR Code activities.  If we've had a good day, at the end of the day, the class gets to scan a QR code for a fun activity for the next day.  So far, our kiddos are loving it!  To download your free copy, click HERE or on the picture below.

We would LOVE for you to join our weekly linky party this summer!  Please share what fun summer activities you are doing or what things you are working on for the upcoming school year.  

  

Please follow our blog and click on at least 1 or 2 more blogs linked up.

In case you are new to Linky Parties, here are some helpful directions! There are a few ways to copy the image for the Linky Party.  

1. You can right click on the picture and choose "Copy Image," 

2. You can take a screen shot.  I'm not sure how you do this on a PC, but on a Mac press "shift command 4".  Then trace the object you want to take a picture of.  It will save the image to your desktop.  

Now you have the image to insert in your blog post and link back up to our blog.  

Since this is the first time I've added a linky, if you have any trouble linking up, please let me know so I can try to fix it!!  Thanks

*Carrie

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Sunny Summer Days Linky

Since summer break is fast approaching,  we've decided to host a fun summer weekly linky party!  We thought this would be a great way for everyone to share what they are working on for the upcoming school year and share the fun vacations and activities that everyone is doing!  

What do you think?  Is this something you would link up to??  Our plan is to start the first week of June.  We will post more details next week!

As our year is ending, I've been preparing some end of the year gifts for our kiddos.  On our last day I usually give our students a jar of bubbles.  We spend some time outside blowing bubbles and they have a blast!  I made a cute little tag to add to the jar of bubbles.  I created a color version and a black and white version.  

Click on the pictures or HERE to download your free copy.

I've also decided to give my students a bag of goldfish (which they love).  I found some cute orange and white polka dot ziplock bags in the dollar spot at Target (one of my favorite places to shop for my class).  I plan to fill the baggies with goldfish and add these cute tags to show the kids they are "o-FISH-ally" in 3rd grade!  I created a color version and a black and white version.   I made tags for students entering 1st thru 6th grades. 

Click on the pictures or HERE to download your free copy.

Enjoy!

*Carrie

Five for Friday and End of the Year Portfolios

I really love linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for  Five for Friday, but, I never seem to be able to get myself together to post on Friday!  One of these days . . . . I'll be on time!!

We are also linking up for the first time with Teaching Maddeness for "Friday Flashback"!  Very 

excited!!

We had a busy week working on end of the year assessments, learning about biographies, fairy tales, 3-D shapes and cleaning our very messy desks!!

1.  This week we read five different versions of Cinderella and compared each of them.  We read the original version, which is always a favorite.  Then we read "Seriously, Cinderella is So Annoying!".  This version is told by the Step Mother.  It's quite comical!  Then we read "Cinder Edna".  Cinder Edna is Cinderella's practical neighbor, who knows how to make 16 different versions of tuna casserole!  "Cinder Elly" is a modern version of Cinderella, visiting a basketball game instead of a ball.  Our last story was a prehistoric version of Cinderella called "Dinorella".  Our kiddos really liked this one!

Students worked with partners to compare Cinderella to one of the other characters - the Step Mother, Cinder Edna, Cinder Elly, or Dinorella.  They came up with some great ways that they were alike and different.

2.  In math this week, we focused on 3-D shapes.  We learned about the edges, faces, and vertices for each type of 3-D shape.  We created 3-D shapes with marshmallows and toothpicks.  We love "food math" activities!!  Then students went on an I-Spy 3-D shapes around the room using real world examples.  

3.  We also spent some time practicing our math facts on xtra math.  The kiddos really love racing against the teacher!  One student earned 60 smiley faces in a row!!  He was so proud!!

4.  Our kiddos have been so chatty lately!  So, we moved our seats around and then realized how messy our desks were.  Sooooooo . . . we had to clean them out!  It was a process for sure!  

 5.  Finally, the summer vacay countdown begins . . . we have 13 days till break!!!  Happy Dance!!!  But there's sooooo much to get done before that, so the panic and stress has officially set in!!

 As we are wrapping up the end of the year, we are working on our end of the year portfolios.  All year I have been collecting work my students have completed.  We are going to take all of that work and put it together in a portfolio/memory book.  

I have created labels that the students use to write about their work - why it was hard or why they are proud of it.  I copy the labels onto shipping size labels (2x4) and they can attach them to the back of any piece.  

I also created some memory book pages that we are going to include in our portfolios.  Students will have fun writing about their friends, favorite things, what they love about their class, looking forward to next year, etc.  I can't wait to read what our kiddos write on their memory pages!

If you would like a copy for your class, click on the pictures above or HERE.

Be sure to check us out on Instagram!!  (I have to admit I'm slightly obsessed with it!!)

Hope everyone has a fantastic end of the year!  (If you are already on break, I am officially jealous!!)

*Carrie