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Saturday, April 28, 2012

And Here They Are!

The kids were so excited when they walked into the classroom to see the updated versions of Action Adam and Being Ben!  That always makes me more excited!!  So without further ado here they are:

Here we have Being Ben on the right, now with arms to go with his body.  His smart look compliments his character of just being Ben, we'll take a close up of Being Ben in a little bit.  But now on your left you have the updated Action Adam.  If you look closely you'll see that he now has a nice little off to the side swept hairstyle which gives him a fun, youthful appearance.  His "do" says he's ready for any adventure.  You will also notice that he is styling an "A" on his outfit to show that he is Adam the man of Action.  This is a nice match to his cape.  Then we can't leave out his most interesting new feature....the Verbinator!  This is a very important, cool part to his costume that he must not be without.  This is the magic that helps him to be able to capture all of those action verbs!  He is ready to go out and conquer those verbs!  Both looks are great and work well for these characters to do their jobs of finding action or being verbs.  These are the must have looks for the verb season!
Just wanted to get a couple of closeups of Being Ben in his great-looking plaid shirt, don't miss his pocket design with the pencil, pen, and calculator.  Yes, those are all hand drawn lines on his shirt!  With this look he is ready to be all he needs to be!

Thursday, April 26, 2012

I Love New Ideas!

Big thank you to Laurie from Chickadee Jubilee and Melissa from The Dalton Gang for suggesting names for my Action???Man!  Today I gave my kids the name ideas and had them choose the one they wanted to name Action???Man.  They liked the name Action Adam.  I liked all the ideas these ladies gave me...Verbinator, Action Adam, or Adventurous___________!  Since I didn't want to see the other great ideas die away, I think I figured a way I can incorporate them into this whole verb plan.  One of my kids said Verbinator sounded like a machine.  So the idea came to me....how fun would it be for Action Adam to use a Verbinator to travel around sucking up or collecting action verbs?!?!?  Then, after Action Adam flies around and collects action verbs, my kids can write "adventurous" tales about all the amazing adventures Action Adam had!  Thank you ladies for being an inspiration in my quest to make teaching verbs even more fun for my students!!
I have been teaching my kids songs from a play we used to put on years ago called The Case of the Missing Parts of Speech.  It is such a great play, and the kids learn so much about the parts of speech from it!!  I still use some of the songs to help my students.  I taught them the two noun ones and the verb song.  The kids love singing the songs!  My little girl said she was singing the verb one in the car on the way home and her older sisters were begging her to stop! Haha!  We just learned it so she doesn't even know it that well, so I can only imagine on their 45 minute car ride what that must have been like, lol.  The other thing that made me laugh today was when I was quizzing the students on their knowledge of subjects and verbs and diagramming them.  As I was at the front of the room I complimented them that they were diagramming the correct way that I had taught them.  They were shocked and wondering how I saw them doing it correctly.  My little boy said I'm freaky like that! Haha.  They said a couple of days ago I was talking to a High School student who had come in, and as I was looking at and talking to the High School student, I quickly turned to my little boy and told him he was not doing his Math problem correctly, then finished my sentence with the High School student.  They said I have freaky eyes that can do that, lol.  I love that!  I also had a funny experience at recess this week or last.  I was watching the kids on the playground and a little 1st grade boy who I know well, not just from school, but also from my Sunday School class, and our Pee Wee class on Sunday night, he was walking past slowly and looking at me a little funny.  I didn't even notice him at first, but when I did, I played it cool and said, "Are you supposed to be doing what you are doing?"  He said, "No, I'm sorry Miss Monroe!"  I said, "OK, just choose to do right, you know better."  He said, "Yes, ma'am."  After he left I cracked up laughing with his teacher who was out with me....I told her I had no idea what he had done, the only thing I knew is he looked guilty!  I love that, too! :)

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Action ???Man and Being Ben

I still don't have a clever name for Action???Man. :(  Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!!!  I introduced Being Ben today, my kids saw him next to Action???Man and knew he was Being something.  They were calling him Being Boy or Being Man, I liked Being Boy, but I think I'll stick with Being Ben.  I had words all around the room....but not just action and being verbs, I also had other random words.  I don't watch Price is Right much anymore, but I started thinking of the game where contestants had a certain amount of time to change the prices to the correct spots.  With a little change on that idea, I gave the students one minute, they could only get one word at a time and bring it to put under the correct character.  Then I had a spot marked "Other" where they would put the words that were not verbs.  I had them go one at a time to see who would get the most words on the board, but also who got the most correct.  We did a couple of rounds and they enjoyed it!  Both got most of the words correct with just a couple incorrect, which gave a great opportunity to talk about those words and what they were.
I made up lots of words, so I will choose some different ones for tomorrow,and we'll have some fun again!  It was great to get them moving and motivated first thing in the morning!
I decided to start making some bodies for the guys since they were a bit creepy as just heads.  I still have to finish, but I like how things turned out so far.
Looking forward to more fun with them tomorrow.  Just still hoping for some inspiration for Action???Man.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Who Is That Masked Man??

Boy, it's been a while since I have done an educational post!  Sorry, I've been a little sidetracked with some fun things...and some craziness.  Last week was the craziness...starting with my dog waking me up between 2-5 every morning, except Thursday!  Ugh!!  Then we had our Stamford Achievement Tests all week, every morning from 9-11.  Then in between those times, lunch, and recess, and by 1 p.m., I would have to try to get in the four subjects I teach.  So, I didn't have the time I usually do for each subject.  But we did get things done, and new concepts learned.  The fun came from having a giveaway, taking part in linky parties, and playing tag!
Now I would like to ask for a little help.  We are learning subjects and verbs.  Today I introduced Mr. Action Verb Man.


But......I wanted to think of a more clever name for him!  I thought of Action Arun (a run), I know that's a little ewww, cheesy, weird.  So, if you can think of a clever name for him that would help us remember he stands for our action verbs, that'd be great!! :)  Please leave a comment if you think of anything, I would be ever so grateful! :)  Tomorrow I will introduce Being Ben (been).  I thought that was a teeny bit maybe, almost, sort of clever....maybe???!? Thanks in advance for your help!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

12 on the 12th!



I'm finally linking up with Kacey from Doodle Bugs Teaching for her 12 on the 12th Linky Party!  I really love this party, and couldn't wait to wake up and start taking pictures of my day.  Then sadly there were a few things going on where I didn't get the chance to post until now.  So here it is!

I saw the beautiful red balloons on the front page of the paper, then read to see that it was a picture of the balloons the community sent off to remember sweet, little 6 year old Jeffrey Bourgeois.
The sweet note I found on my board after our restroom break, from my boy!  Awww!  What a surprise!
My super yummy lunch...shrimp salad!!  Mmmm....mmmm....good!
One of my other responsibilities this year, since it's a weird, crazy year for me....I help out the financial secretary a couple of days a week.
Another one of my responsibilities this year...directing the 5th and 6th grade handbell group.  I'll let you in on a fun secret if you promise not to tell. :-)  I have only told a couple of teachers, I'm not even telling the music director!  Feel special you're getting the inside scoop. :) The spring concert is coming up next month, we are going to be playing the William Tell Overture.
Of course they won't be able to play it super fast or anything, they're only 5th and 6th grade, but they have gotten it to a decent speed that we are all pretty proud of.  One boy suggested that at the concert I have them play it slowly first and then fast.  I told him that it's not really meant to be played slowly, but then that gave me an idea! (That's rare, I don't get those too often!)  I shared it with them and they are so excited.  So...for the concert they are going to go start playing the piece, I'm going to direct it a little slower than we know how to play it.  They are going to start with me, and then we have choreographed it so that some students start playing faster and some slow down.  Then they are going to start looking at each other and then me, to see what to do.  I'm going to keep directing them and "try" to get them with me, but at one point I'll stop them, apologize to the audience, then ask the kids what is wrong.  I'll say something about not knowing what is wrong, and why they are playing that way because they know the piece they have played it really well before.  Then........!!!! I am going to say, I know what the problem is....and I'm going to pass black masks to them to put on....you know, so they look like the Lone Ranger!! Then, we'll play it the right way (hopefully, lol), at that decent pace.  Doesn't that sound fun?!?  I'm so excited about it!  But remember, don't tell! Hee hee!
Taking our kids out after school to go to their rides, we get to see this beautiful tree!  This is my favorite tree to take pictures of each spring!
This is what the sky looked like when I pulled into my driveway.  It was a perfect example of what I drove home in.  It was raining on one side of the highway and in some spots and sunny on the other side.
I reluctantly had to sub for 6th grade the next day, so I had to bring the Language book home to study to make sure I knew what I was teaching.  (Then I won't share the fact that I left the book at home!!! Ugh!)
I had to add this, because I got home and mom was sitting in the living room, as she usually is.  At some point she wanted to get up and told me she didn't know where her cane was.  So, instead of relaxing and reading, I got up to look for her cane.  I looked in her room, under the bed, in the living room a couple of places, in the bathroom, in the kitchen, I even looked on the porch.  All places that she would go and would make sense for me to look....the porch because she takes our pup Bella out, so she could possibly have left it out there.  But when I ran out of all the practical places two or three times, I finally looked in the front hall closet, where the coats are, and look what I found!  She usually has her coat on the back of a chair in her room, so normally would not have thought to look there, thankfully I did!
I got a text earlier that my ballroom class was cancelled for the night :-(, that was disappointing, but... I decided to still....Just Dance on my Wii.
Relaxing with computer and TV time...LOVE The Office!!  Love how after many tries to get a good pic I caught a classic Dwight face! Haha!
I had to get my catalogs ready for my big wrap party Friday night!  I love It Works!!!  Detox, tone, and tighten in a healthy way, and many times lose inches as well!  I was so excited for my first party!  (** It went well, by the way, there were about 10 ladies that wrapped and all lost some inches, from 1 to 4 inches!  Fun stuff!)
I have seen a couple of the link ups, but look forward to checking out the rest of them!  I love seeing everyone's pictures!  I'm so glad to finally be linking up!

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Tagged!

I got tagged!!  .....and tagged AGAIN!!!  Man, I must be getting pretty slow!  I've definitely been slow in getting to this post!  :-/  Stephanie from 3rd Grade Thoughts got me, and not long after that Jenny from Luckeyfrog's Lilypad got me as well!  You ladies are good!!
Stephanie tagged me with these questions:

1. What is your favorite subject/unit to teach?
This is a hard one, I enjoy so many subjects, hmmm, I guess...History.  I like teaching about the different people in History, and using different voices and accents to act out certain parts in History.
2. What is your favorite school supply?
I know this may seem super lame, but I love colored staples.  The kids aren't used to seeing them much, so when a board is decorated with them or their papers are stapled with them, they get excited.  (And then I'm kinda cool :)
3.  What is your favorite non-teaching blog?
It's too hard to choose one, I love The Sister's Cafe for great food ideas, I love Moving Forward with Alzheimer's and God, Mom, Alzheimer's and Me for being an encouragement as they share their experinces with dealing with family members with Alzheimer's, I love Back on the Farm because I can live out my dream through her funny, exciting posts, I love Two Tiaras and a Sword because it is such an encouragement!  I'll end here, but there are many more, you can see them in my sidebar.
4.  If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you visit?
I would love to visit Tahiti and stay in those overwater bungalows!
5.  Have you ever made anything from Pinterest? How did it turn out?
Yes!!!!  I have made a couple of the recipes from The Sister's Cafe, that's how I found them, through Pinterest.  I made Chicken a La King, Caramel Apple Pork Chops, and Christmas Eggs!  All of them were so yummy!!  I made a Balsamic Chicken recipe from somewhere else that I did not quite enjoy so much.  Then, over spring break I made glitter flats and put glitter soles on my shoes.  You can check it out here.  The flats ended up cracking, I pulled most of the glitter off, but I am going to try it again after sanding the shoes down.  The soles were great!
6.  What's your cure for a bad day?
Relaxing and blog stalking :)
7.  What is one piece of advice that you would give a newbie teacher blogger?
Just be yourself.  Comment as much as you can on posts you really enjoy.  Then get involved in the linky parties and giveaways and games and have lots of fun!
8.  What one item is always in your fridge?
Milk, for my cereal!
9.  What are your plans for this summer?
Sleeping!!  Enjoying my family reunion in August.  Spending time with mom.
10.  What is one thing you never leave the house without?
Cellphone

My questions from Jenny:
1.  Did you take lessons in anything as a kid?
Yes, swimming, tennis, rollerskating for a couple of lessons, and flute.
2.  What is one book you would recommend to a new teacher?
Definitely The Essential 55 by Ron Clark
3.  Who is your very favorite children's book author or illustrator?
I like so many, but I think I have to say Andrew Clements.
4.  If you could only listen to one musical artist/group for the rest of your life, who would it be?
Josh Groban
5. What is your favorite dessert?
Tiramisu!!
6.  What is your biggest strength as a teacher?
I think being different (kids have said they have never met another adult like me, lol), being a kid at heart, and loving them!
7. What is your favorite piece of clothing?
Probably my maxi dresses, they hide some unflattering parts, lol. And I get lots of compliments when I wear them.
8.  What is the last thing you bought?
For clothing, my Easter dress...for anything, UNO's Deep Dish Cheese Pizza for dinner tonight.
9.  If someone gave you $500 for your classroom right now, what would you buy?
A computer, since we don't have one in the classroom, except the one the school gives me to use.
10.  What is your favorite vacation spot?
I haven't been able to vacation a lot since having to take care of dad, and now mom the past few years.  But I do love going down to Saybrook Point Inn and Spa on the sound of CT.  It is beautiful down there, and I get the best massages at the spa.


OK, I'm going to have to take a little bit to find some of you that weren't tagged.  I will do that soon, if there is anyone left. :)  And I better hurry before there is no one left. :)  Thanks again, Stephanie and Jenny for tagging me and allowing me the chance to play! :)



Sunday, April 15, 2012

Guest Book for Jeffrey BOURGEOIS – Online Guest Book by Hartford Courant and Legacy.com.

I don't know if you have heard the terribly sad news from Salem, CT about a little 6 year old boy who lost his life last week.  This little boy was helping his dad who was cutting down some trees and using a wood chipper.  The dad had turned his back for a second and this little boy tried to help out by putting a branch in the wood chipper, only to get pulled in himself.  This was such a horrific accident that we heard much about this week.  My heart just goes out to this family!  There were other siblings as well!  It made me think of my kids at school.  His school was on spring break this week, but they still had counselors come to the school.  We need to be praying for his friends and the kids in his school this week, I'm sure it will be tough.  His funeral was yesterday.  We also need to keep his family in prayer!  Please join me in signing the online guest book to let the family know thoughts and prayers are with them during this tough time.


Guest Book for Jeffrey BOURGEOIS – Online Guest Book by Hartford Courant and Legacy.com.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Giveaway Winner!!

I had a wonderful time at Fiddler on the Roof!!  So much fun!  I love musicals!  Then I went out to Red Lobster after that, oh my yum!!!  Shrimp and lobster tail dinner worked for me!  I have some posts I need to catch up on, but I did say that I would announce the winner of my giveaway tonight...so I will have to get to the other posts later.
I realized that with Rafflecopter I would have had to already have it set up, so I just went with Random Number Generator.  Thank you to everyone who left a comment and took part in my giveaway.  You made me feel special!!  And thank you for the funny stories!!!  I cracked up laughing, they were really great!  I enjoyed this giveaway so much, can't wait for another one! :)
And.....the winner is #15 Marcia from Learning in Bliss!!  Congratulations, Marcia!!  Thanks for being a new follower! :)
Sorry, I don't know how to get the picture from Random Number Generator.  I still have lots to learn... Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!

Monday, April 9, 2012

Happy Easter, Award, and.....Giveaway!

Happy Easter everyone! **(Well, it was Easter when I started this post! :-/  Then it got late, and I seriously needed my bed.)  I hope it has been a blessed day with family and friends!  It was an absolutely beautiful day!  Mom came to my church today to see our Easter cantata.  The cantata went really well!  People really seemed to enjoy it and the choir got through the songs well, and the actors remembered their lines and did a great job!  Phew!  (It was a little rough the other day at practice!)  It was a great service!
So.....is it bad that I still feel the strong need to get a new dress each Easter??  I haven't seemed to grow out of that yet!  I thought this dress was too cute and was excited to wear it today!

  After church we went home, got changed, and went to my aunt and uncle's house for Easter dinner with their family.  We enjoyed some good fellowship and laughs and great food!  This was so good for mom to be able to get out and engage with people.  She seems to be less social lately, I think she is starting to struggle more with conversation and finishing sentences.  She enjoyed joking with my uncle, and he definitely got her laughing, it was great to see and hear her joke with him!  It was a wonderful day!!
Then Pamela, at First Class Teacher, was sweet enough to award me the Lovely Blog Award again.
I am so glad she found me, because I was able to find her super cute blog!! I'm really looking forward to stalking her blog more!  Thank you so much, Pamela!  The rules state that I am to pass this award on to 15 other blogs, but I know many of you already have gotten this award.  But, there are a few new blogs that I have started following that I would like to pass this on to.  I think they really deserve it, and hope it will be as much of an encouragement to them as it was to me!   Here they are:

Bekah at Mrs. Mason's Monkeys
Jessica at Learn, Play, and Have Fun
Sam at A Teacher's Looking Glass
Rachel at A-B-Seymour
Katy at Stickers and Staples
Casey at Miss Casey's Corner
Summyr at The Teachaholic
Monica at Classroom Capers
Ammie at Giggles and Squeals
Debbie at Ms. Squier's 3rd Grade Thinkers
Scholes at My Days as a Third Grader
Teacher Bug at Read and Black and Learning All Over
Sally at The Fearless 5th Grade Teacher
That's my few, I didn't realize there were that many newer ones I was following that might not have already received this reward.  Please go by and visit these blogs!  These ladies have some great ideas, and some super cute blogs!! :)  I'm sure they would appreciate some new followers and some encouraging comments, as we all do.
Now....on to the news that oddly enough I'm almost afraid to share, how weird is that??!?  But I did already give a heads up that this might be coming.  I have enjoyed taking part in many of the different giveaways that have been going on, and I wanted to have one, too.  I had planned to do it for 50 followers, but as I told you before, because of joining in with some fun linky parties, it went past that before I could do it.
So....for my 75+ follower-belated Happy Easter-looking forward to a fun weekend-so thankful for my wonderful follwers {breathe} giveaway, I am giving away a $15 Target gift card!!

I guess I'm a tad afraid, as others have said, that no one will enter, but then I think...hmm...well, then I would just get to use it for myself!  Hee hee. :)  But, I would love to give it away to one of you, my amazing teacher friends, you have encouraged my heart so much these past few months as I have embarked on this teacher blogging journey!  I have another post that I am hoping to share very soon about what this and you all have done for me as a teacher.  So, thank you, and pleeeeaaaseee enter!
I am a pretty simple girl, as you can probably tell by my blog and shops, and I'm not all creative and crafty, so I don't have fancy things for you to do to enter.  I like to be different, hee hee.
So...here are the ways to enter the giveaway:
1.  Become a follower of my blog, or tell me you already follow and leave a comment.
2.   If you feel so inclined, share my giveaway with others and leave a comment that you did.
3.  Tell me which you like better or recommend more, Random Number Generator or Rafflecopter, and why.
4.  Share any funny thing that has happened to you or in your class.  I love to get good laughs!
Oh and don't forget to leave your email address with your comments so I can contact the winner.
So, yea, that's it, the contest will end Saturday night, April 14, after I get back from seeing Fiddler on the Roof!!! :) So excited!  (And the day after Ricky Schroder's 42nd birthday! :-D)
One last thing, today was a windy day with some strong gusts.  When that happens there are screw-type things in the ceiling that move and squeak.  When my students heard it, I told them as I have with others before, that it's just the rat that lives in the ceiling.  Then they looked at the ceiling and finally noticed the slight movements of the screw-type things, which makes my story even more believable. hee hee  They look at me, and at the ceiling, and I have gotten pretty good at hiding my grin, as they try to figure out if I'm being serious or not.  Today, I actually had to laugh out loud because my little girl tried to figure it all out.  She said, "I know, she is downloading that sound from her computer, and using her X-Ray power eyes to move that thing!"  Hahaha!  I love it when they think I have powers! :)

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Giveaways Galore and Currently

There is lots of happy giving going on in teacher blog land.  And for all the ones I have joined in on, I'm almost positive that sadly there are probably others I am missing.  All this happy giving has made me want to have a giveaway, too!  I planned to have one when I reached 50 followers.  Then I joined a couple of linky parties and next thing I knew I had 72 followers, and wasn't sure if it would still be OK.  Of course giveaways are probably always OK. :)  So, stay tuned, I will probably be joining in all this happy giving.  I already have a gift card that my little boy will be getting because he won March Madness in our classroom!  After a great spring break, and fun crafts that I did, and great books that I read, and wonderful shopping that I enjoyed, why not carry it over with a giveaway?!
Anyway, here are the ones that I am participating in right now.  I am joining up with Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade with her April Currently.  These are always so much fun!  If you haven't read hers yet, you need to!!  Talk about laughing out loud, I totally did at her post, especially her Super Power, hee hee!  Plus she has the cutest picture of her little Target shopping buddy!  On top of that she is also giving away a cute nautical theme thermal tote!  Go check it out.
Also, Stephanie from 3rd Grade Thoughts  is having a 50 follower giveaway!  She has well over 50 followers now following her super cute blog!  She is giving away a $10 Starbucks gift card!  Umm....yes, please!  Love some Starbucks goodness.  Go check out her blog and leave a comment about your favorite Starbucks drink.
Then, Amy from The Resource(ful) Room has lots of great things to celebrate this week and is having an amazing giveaway!  Wait for it...she is giving away a $50 gift card to the store of your choice!  Yes, you read that right!  Go check out her great, helpful blog to see all about this great giveaway, as well as the many great reasons that she is celebrating!
Last, but definitely not least, Jenn, at Finally in First is having an amazing 5days=5 giveaways!!  Each day of her spring break this week she is giving away some awesome prizes!  She has some wonderfully helpful posts and is great in sharing her wisdom with newer bloggers.  You will definitely want to head over there and check out her great blog and amazing giveaways!  Phew, those are the ones that I have entered. Hope you'll get in on some of these great giveaways, too!
And now for my Currently:


I struggled for a bit with my super power...I don't think anyone can beat Farley's awesome one!!  But I chose Pin Power because as many of us are, I am a Pinterest addict.  So, I thought, how great would it be to pin something and then have it appear.  Pin that cute outfit...and there it is, in your size and everything.  Pin that great recipe...and dinner or dessert or snacks are done!  That would be so nice!  Pin that makeup look before you go out...and you're looking pretty great!  Pin that awesome reading, math, language, etc. idea...and there you have it ready to go at a moment's notice.  Pin those to-die-for shoes...and you've got a great pair of perfect fitting shoes.  Pin that butt or ab exercise...and it does just what it says and you are looking mighty fine!  Then it will be OK to pin those delicious looking cupcakes, because later you can just pin the exercises again and BOOM, that slamming body is back.  And then.........pin those Ryan Gosling or Tim Tebow Hey Girls....and {sigh}, there they are encouraging you and helping you out!!  :-D  Yea.....I'd like that!

**Update:  Oops, the giveaway for 3rd Grade Thoughts is already over, earlier tonight, but still go by and check out her cute blog!