Review: Classroom Sharpener Review

Shh...Do You Hear That?...Nope, I do not hear a loud obnoxious pencil sharpener that students are constantly "feeding" because I tried out the Classroom Friendly Pencil Sharpener.  The good people over at Classroom Friendly Supplies sent a desktop pencil sharpener for me to review...and the students and I LOVE it (not to mention some teachers who kept asking about the "pretty" "good sharpening" pencil sharpener).  I know that everyone is looking for a good pencil sharpener for the start of the school year.  Lol!  When are teachers not shopping for school supplies!  Check out some of the features of the Classroom Friendly Pencil Sharpener!

How many of you have pencil sharpeners in your classroom like this?  They are an eye sore and attached to bookcases and walls.

The Teacher Next Door

A Local Library

Classroom Friendly Supplies offers pencil sharpeners in the following colors: Groovy Green, Cool Blue, Firehouse Red, and Midnight Black.  They are beautiful!  Love the Retro Look!  
I chose the Firehouse Red!  

The pencil sharpener also comes with a clamp to mount the pencil sharpener to a table or a desk.  No more bothering the custodian to mount your pencil sharpener to a wall or a bookcase!

                     

The Classroom Friendly Pencil Sharpener is VERY QUIET!  No more classroom interruptions or distractions!  The pencil sharpener also sharpens very sharp.  Check out the point on these pencils!

                              

My own personal children also LOVE the Classroom Friendly Supplies pencil sharpener!  Of course, they were the first ones to try it out!

So if you are interested in one of these great pencil sharpeners to start the new school year check them out on Classroom Friendly Supplies or follow me on BlogLovin'---I will be giving a Classroom Friendly Supplies Pencil Sharpener away VERY soon!  It will totally change the way that students sharpen pencils in your classroom!  So stay tuned!

Busy & Happy Kids Linky

So summer is here...how do you keep your kids busy and happy?  I'm linking up with Katie from Teacher to the Core to share my week with you!  I started writing this post last week, but it was interrupted by the 4th of July celebration...We visited my parents for a few days.   Soooo here's a recap...

I surprised my husband, Marrio, with two tickets to WWE as a Father's Day gift.  Yeah, wrestling, ladies & gents!  My husband loves wrestling!  My son,MJ, is OBSESSED!  He sleeps, eat and breathes wrestling!  My family, friends and co-workers know this, and we all joke about it!  Marrio has always wanted to go to a WWE show and most importantly, he has always wanted to take his son.  So I thought that would be the perfect gift for them to ummm...bond?  Lol!  Of course, my son was super, duper excited!  Marrio was pumped too!  While there, Marrio let MJ take pictures.  He loved holding the belts and posing!  Disclaimer:  "The Rock" and "Kofi" are not real in these pics!  But my lil' guy was ECSTATIC!!!  This made my son VERY HAPPY!

So sometimes what our kids might THINK will make them happy...does not always make them happy! The kids wanted to go to the park.  I usually take them to the park at least once a week, but the weather is either way too hot, or it's pouring rain!  On this day I told them that it was too hot, but I decided to take them anyway.  The heat in Georgia ROCKS...it keeps getter hotter and hotter..LOVE IT {insert sarcasm}!  Anyway, anything for our kids, right?  I surprised them and took them to get ice cream, and we headed to the park!  

Arrival....Don't they look happy!

15 minutes later...uh, yeah!

We weren't there for 15 minutes, and they were ready to go!  They were complaining!  This lil guy began crying.  OMG!!!!  It was awful!  I told them to play because this is what they wanted to do.  My 10 year old, Marri, grabbed my keys (totally out of her character), and they started walking towards the truck.  They were leaving me!  Kids!

Swim lessons make me happy :)  They are on Tuesdays and Thursdays and are much needed! The kids are improving!  Yay!  MJ tried on one of the girls' cover ups and said, "Mama, I didn't know that these things are so warm and cozy!"  

After swim lessons on Thursdays, we visit the local library.  They are enrolled in a summer reading program where they can earn prizes for reading.  We check out books and attend the children's show.  The show usually lasts about 45 minutes and ties in reading.  They love the shows because there is always magic or live animals!  Our library visit usually lasts about two hours.

In between library visits and swim lessons we play games, or I place the kids on educational sites like xtramath.org.  I'm definitely not saying that my kids don't play "fun to them" games on their Kindles, but I've always told my husband that kids today do not know how to "play".  When we were younger, we played outdoors all day.  We made up games!  Now technology has taken over!  So we always buy board games and such to let our children know that there is more to playing than spending time on their Kindle Fires.  You can find cheap card games at dollar stores.  I found them oldies at Dollar General for a buck each!  The kids love them!

MJ won his first game of Uno!  I tried to capture his excitement, but I ended up capturing a little more (Check out the girls!)  Lol!

Well, that's a week with my kiddos!  Be sure to check out how other bloggy mommies keep their kids busy and happy over at Teacher to the Core!

CCSS Standards for Mathematical Practice

What are SMPs?

Common Core Standards are new to a lot of teachers.  One portion of the standards that teachers sometimes forget to focus on are the Standards for Mathematical Practice or SMPs.  SMPs are math standards that describe a variety of skills that teachers should seek to develop in all of their students.  SMPs are listed with K-5 math standards to reflect the need to connect the mathematical practices to content in instruction.  Standards 1 and 6 should be practiced daily in the classroom!  

Standard 1:  Make sense of problems and 

                  persevere in solving them.

Standard 6:  Attend to precision.

I've updated my Standards for Mathematical Practice Posters.  Posters include "I Can" statements to help students understand the meaning of the standards.  

Original Version

       
                             
Updated Version

Click here to purchase

Suggestions:  Use the posters for lesson planning, 

or create a bulletin board.

A black and white version has been included as a part of the product.  Suggestion:  Print the black and white posters onto colored paper and laminate for centers.

Click here to learn more about 

Standards for Mathematical Practice!

Be sure to pop in my TpT store and purchase

 Standards for Mathematical Practice Posters!

Currently...It's July...and HOT!

Currently...It's July!!!  And YES...it's definitely HOT!!!  Yesterday I wanted to take the kids to the park again, but it was TOO HOT!  Got to love Georgia weather!  

{Hahaha!  By the way that park visit will be in tomorrow's post so stay tuned!  Sometimes kids ask for something, and then they find out that they REALLY don't want it!}  

Anyway, I'm linking up with Farley over at Oh' Boy, It's 4th Grade!  So check out how I'm "currently" feeling in July!  Be sure to stop by and join the Currently fun!  

Also don't forget to follow me on Bloglovin'!

Don't forget...follow me on Bloglovin'...July 1 is on Monday and 

Google Reader = No More!

Lovin' Bloglovin'

I'm linking up with Laura Candler from Corkboard Connections, and I'm Going on a Blog Hunt!  

You should pop on over and link up!

It's time to make a decision...How can you follow your favorite blogs?  Bloglovin', of course!  Every since the announcement that Google Reader is going away in July I've tried a couple of different blog feeders!  By far Bloglovin' is for me!  It's so easy to use!  I signed up for a daily feed to see posts from the day.  And, of course, "there's an app for that!"  Sooooo....guess what I do when I'm at the doctor or dentist office waiting and waiting and waiting....I'm catching up on my favorite blogs!

Follow me on Bloglovin' by clicking the Bloglovin' widget on the right!  I hope to see you there!

Need more info about Bloglovin'?
Check out these posts from some awesome bloggers!

Third Grade Tidbits
Google Reader Is Going Away...

Common Core & So Much More 

Bloglovin' Tutorial...It's Time To Make The Switch!

iTeach..What's Your Super Power
Claim Your Blog on Bloglovin': A Video Tutorial

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Five for Friday {June 14}

 Happy Friday, ya'll!  I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for...   

I'm so glad that it's summer break!  I still don't have time to get much accomplished, but I love saying "summer break"!  Here is a snapshot of my week in pictures...

This summer my youngest kids are finally taking swim lessons.  We have always had our oldest take lessons when she was younger but our other three not so much.  In the past I was always teaching summer school and did not have the time.  Sooooo.... after the kid's first lesson I felt like a bad parent.  Our two girls didn't want to put their face in the water.  Our son was afraid that water would go up his nose.  They SO needed the lessons a long time ago!  They are getting better though.  Most importantly they are getting more comfortable with the water which is what I worried about the most.  Wheew!  SN....I signed the girls up to participate in Guinness Book of World Records largest swim lesson.  On Tuesday, June 18 at 11:00 am many water parks around the country will conduct a swim lesson at the same time to try to get in the records book.  If they pull it off my girls' names will go in the Guinness Book of World Records...how cool is that?  I will let you know how it goes!

We always have visitors...well, kids, anyway!  My niece, Jaia, is with us for a few weeks.  She's a sassy little 4 year old!  Jaia told me this morning that she's never going home.  Sorry, honey!  After a few weeks it's "home, sweet, home".  I also have a 14 year old cousin who seems to always be at our house as well.  He's now on week two with us.  We're up to 6 kids in our house!  I need groceries!!!

A friend's birthday party

Do your kids love veggies?  Well, mine despise them.  They will "play" with them but not eat them.  I have to sneak baby food veggies into spaghetti in order for them to get some servings.  I've even gone as far as putting avocado in their chocolate milkshakes.  Sounds gross but it tastes delicious..very rich!  {Love The Sneaky Chef book!!!}  Anyway, my oldest daughter, Kiana, has a paid internship (Woo Hoo!!) this summer at the Cooperative Extension Office.  She brings home vegetables sometimes.  Last week it was Vidalia onions, and this week she brought home zucchini and squash.  So I have plans to make a Zuchinni and Squash Casserole...Yeah, Ive never made nor tasted it!  Ok, I'm a very picky eater as well.  Any recipe suggestions?

I love our local library!  Every year I sign the kids up for the summer reading program.  They love it because they earn prizes!  I love it because it encourages them to read.  Each week they have an awesome show or activity.  We attended the Chad Crews Magic Show.  He talked about the importance of reading and brought in some "friends"!  I wasn't going to touch this particular friend, but my kids loved it!

Cue the slow, sad music!  My most favorite fabulous discontinued GAP long and lean jeans have finally run their course.  No!!!!!!!  I LOVE these jeans!  Best jeans that I've ever owned!  They have been discontinued!  What now?  Bring on the patches!!!!

Here's an extra pick...I finally got my son to wear flip flops...we live in the south and he hated wearing flip flops because he cannot stand to have anything between his toes...Talk about a time saver!!!!  Love flip flops!

Coming soon!!!

I'm in the middle of updating my Tracking Common Core Checklists.  You can use these checklists to keep track of the standards that you address in class as well as the standards that your students master.  Here are some of the updates that I'm making are...
1.  The name of the standards strands have changed a bit.  The strands for my checklists were named by my state, Georgia, so I change from CCGPS to the CCSS.  Only the strand name changed not the actual standard.
2.  Added a class checklist to track mastery of standards for each of your students.
3. I think I'm sort of digging creating covers...I placed covers and some ideas on how to use the checklist.
4.  Most exciting--- I will be adding bundles!  I know that some of you teach multiple grades so I will sell them in bundles at a discounted price.

The checklists are available for K-5 for English/Language Arts and Math!  Check them out by clicking on the picture!

Hop over and link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for the Five For Friday linky party!  Thanks for stopping by!