Five for Friday!

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for another Five for Friday! Join the party and link up HERE!!

Over Thanksgiving, I brought home our class pet, Master Splinter. Well, my husband fell in love watching him scurry around in his exercise ball. So... guess who got a hamster this week?! Hahaha! My parents and in-laws are waiting for us to open a zoo. My husband and I would take home every animal we come across if we had the space. So check out Jub Jub (named after the Princess Leia's Ewok friend), the newest addition to the LoConte family.

It's Christmas cookie time!! My husband and I invited one of our best friends and my brother over to the house to start the holiday baking! We kicked it all off with chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter chocolate chip (my brother's FAVORITE), and sugar cookies. As I believe I've mentioned before, my husband and I are total NERDSSSSSSS and my husband, in particular, is a HUGE Star Wars fanatic! Williams Sonoma had these adorable cookie cutters on clearance this summer, so we snatched them up! After fiddling with them, we were able to merge the character heads with our gingerbread people and VOILA! Star Wars has never been so cute... or tasty!! :)

My sister-in-law is engaged!! My sister-in-law is engaged!! I am so excited to shout it from the rooftops... MY SISTER-IN-LAW IS ENGAGED!! She and her fiance have been together for about a year and a half, but there was something between them from the very start -- I think that they both just sort of knew. They have already faced so much together, but... they've remained strong and it is so clear that they love each other. Now, as I've blogged about before... I've known my husband since I was 14 years old. We were friends through high school. Well, Christine and I, we were friends during that time, as well. At one point, I would say that she was one of my closest. I love how everything is coming full circle. It is just so wonderful to see her as happy as I am with her brother. I could not be happier for her! Tomorrow, we are heading out to a bridal expo to start the planning! Yay!!!!

Christmastime has always, always, ALWAYS been one of my favorite times of the year. No matter what, everything just appears magical. Since getting married, it's all just gotten so much better! Dave and I have created our own little traditions and I couldn't love them more! Every year, we get crazy cozy PJs just like when we were kids... bundle up in bed with the electric fireplace going and fall asleep to Christmas movies. Then, we get up super early (again, I swear we are just like children) and open presents. Then, we head over to my in-laws' house and snuggle in with hot chocolate, more pjs, and more Christmas movies. There are few things better than that homey feeling. All of us together... the lights twinkling... and piping hot chocolate! That is love.

Here's a quick throwback to two years ago because I'm so bad at remembering to take pictures at the holiday. I have got to get better at it before we have kids! Hahaha!

Right before break, we attended our first field trip of the year. Spearheaded by the Kindergarten team, we were so excited to head out to Stepping Stones Museum in Norwalk. Learn more about the museum HERE.

We had SO MUCH FUN!! Here's a quick taste, but there is just so much to talk about that I think it merits a blog post of its own!

Seriously, though... don't forget to give me a follow to stay up to date on all posts! :)

And check me out on instagram!

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Five for Friday!

Once again, I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday!

 This week is mostly focused on technology in the classroom, so take a peek and enjoy!

Feel free to link up, also! :)

I know that I have written about Go Noodle before, but I have to bring it up again. We may not be trying to thaw out from under 6 feet of snow, but here in Connecticut, it has been bitterly cold -- into single digits when you include the wind chill and very few of my students own winter coats! Many of my kiddos get their coats from local charities, but those are rarely delivered before Thanksgiving. All I know is that Go Noodle has been my saving grace! My kids love working to earn more Go Noodle time and it definitely helps to shake some of those wiggles out! Some of my kiddos' favorite activities are the yoga ones!

One of the greatest benefits that I have seen is that one of my students with fine and gross motor interventions written into her IEP has flourished! Her motor-planning and cross-body capabilities have improved ten-fold! Additionally, her confidence is through the roof and I honestly attribute it to her time on Go Noodle!

Pebble Go has been a God-send! Really! Anyone out that in bloglandia use it?! I was introduced to Pebble Go by a colleague during the summer while we worked in a program for English Language Learners in grades 4-8. For those who don't know, Pebble Go is a research database for the emergent reader. Students have the opportunity to research assigned topics (or topics of interest) at an emergent reader level! 
Unfortunately, there is a fee, but this summer I proposed it to my Principal and she agreed that Pebble Go is a must-have for any school!

This has been one unbelievably stressful week in first grade for everyone. Unfortunately, there have been some changes at our school -- some first grade students were shifted around to other classes, one of whom landed with me. This young girl is lovely. She is one of the most intelligent students I have met. She is also very needy. And loud. And she is not handling the class change very well. Additionally, one of my loopers moved this week and boy oh boy do his friends miss him already!!
In school, we haven't had either administrator present for the past 3 days for various reasons and... there's a long weekend coming up, so I'm sure you know how that goes!! As a class, we have been working diligently to keep things in order, to stay focused, but my kiddos are a little shell-shocked. So many changes, so much inconsistency. In their own special ways, my students are begging for things to change.
Today, we took a walk. We are truly blessed to live but a block away from the beach. Even in the New England cold, it was such a calming experience. We all engaged in a Visual Thinking Activity and took some time to discuss how things change. It helped me to feel rejuvenated and I feel ready for that last push to the holiday weekend. 
How do you get your class centered after crazy times? How do you help them to stay focused when everything around them is pulling their attention?

Two years ago, our school received a grant for 30 Chromebooks and a Chromebook cart.
Last year, our district received a grant and placed an additional 30 Chromebooks in each school.
This year, our school has purchased an additional cart and 30 more Chromebooks allowing 30 Chromebooks to "live" on each floor of the building!
Beginning this week, I was asked to house the Chromebooks for grades PK-1. I have been spending some time working with my kiddos on how to log into them, how to make sure that the wifi is working, and how to choose and activity to work on. They make me very proud! Having the cart has enabled me to add 2 more "Tech Buddies" to our Job Chart, totaling 4 students deemed our Computer Experts! These kids are so intuitive, even for a group that of 24, I am personally aware of 11 that do not have internet in their home at all. These kids blow my mind every day. I am so glad that the district and our Principal see the importance of providing us with the necessary tools to teach our kids at their level.
Additionally, it allows me to provide my Tier 2 and Tier 3 students with the resources they need to get in their minutes on Lexia! <3 Lexia... but that's a post for another day ;)

Last Friday, I entered our classroom to find that Master Splinter's cage had been moved to another part of the room. Naturally, I thought it to be very odd and immediately checked on our little fella. As I approached the cage, it was clear that something was wrong. Normally, our guy is curled up sleeping under a pile of bedding with his face peeking out. I didn't see him! I opened the cage and dug through all of the nastiness that is a hamster cage and he was nowhere to be found! Upon further inspection of the cage, it was clear that someone had removed a piece. Now, we had conferences the night before so I was at the school until 8:00pm. But, I did leave the classroom unlocked for the last half hour while I met with parents in our school library. When my kiddos came up to our room later that morning, I was worried about their reactions. I didn't want to tell them what had happened and scare them unnecessarily, but at the same time... I hoped that they wouldn't notice. You see, Master Splinter is nocturnal and he sleeps almost all day. Unfortunately, they noticed pretty quickly that he was missing and it broke my heart to tell them what happened. We. Looked. EVERYWHERE! But we just could not find him. We placed treats along the baseboards and turned out the lights in case he was still in the room. 
He didn't come out.  On Monday, the treats were still there. On Tuesday, the treats were still there . On Wednesday, we cleaned up the stale treats and put out new ones. My kids were distraught. On Thursday morning, we were sitting on our magic meeting carpet when one of my students began to yell, "Master Splinter! He's back! HE CAME BACK!" I honestly didn't want to look. I was SO nervous that he would be sick, injured, or worse... When I did check, however, I found Master Splinter, our lovely little class pet, walking around at the bottom of a tote bin that I store my morning meeting manipulatives in. It was clear that he had been there for days... I think he got in and didn't know how to get out. The whole class was cheering and I may or may not have teared up a little. They were ecstatic, I was relieved, and I didn't have to report a missing rodent to the custodial staff. Everybody won!
When we got him back into his cage, we found that he was STARVING -- he ate SO MUCH food, SO QUICKLY! I called the vet and they told us to monitor intake and output of both food and water.
My kids are ecstatic to have him back! Just look at that little face! Love<3
Definitely something to be thankful for!

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