Happy Easter!!!

Happy Easter!!!

I hope you are having a wonderful day with your family!!!!

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Five for Friday (& Saturday)

Happy Friday Saturday!!!!! Even though it's Spring Break I still can't pull my act together to get my Five for Friday posted on time (I'm just having too much fun, I guess...) :-)

Here are five randoms from my week:

I found the MOST fun app- CocoPPa - that lets you cutesify your iPhone apps! Check this out:

I'm not done cutesifying, but I just had to share this with you!!! So fun! There's a great tutorial {HERE}!

I've been making the most of my Spring Break (love Spring Break!!!!) and have been enjoying some relaxing time with the hubby!

Gorgeous!!!

We even splurged and got annual passes to the happiest place on Earth...

(I'm obsessed with that new nail polish color- too! It's 'Butler Please' by Essie :)

Today is my mom's birthday!!!

I am so excited to see her on Monday to celebrate her and go out to dinner and see the OZ movie!!! Have you seen it??? What did you think??? I'm so excited! 

Happy birthday Mom!!!!!

And my whole TPT store is on sale tomorrow and Sunday! I know I'm heading over to stock up on some great products to use after spring break (although I'm trying not to think about that right now...)

Thanks to Krista for the adorable button!!!

Have a great weekend!!!

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How to Make a QR Code: A Quick Video Tutorial

Here is a quick video tutorial on how to make a QR code! It's really easy! And they are so much fun to use in the classroom! You can read about some of the ways I've used them in my classroom {HERE}. You can easily get students to content on the web, ask questions, share pictures, or create an answer key! There are so many ways to use them, and in my experiences they are always motivating for students!  

Tabitha also has some AMAZING QR code ideas {HERE}!

Update! Since the release of Apple's iOS 11, you DO NOT need a QR code scanner or separate app to access the information embedded within a QR code. Yay! Click the pic below to see a quick post on Instagram on how easy it is to scan a QR code from an Apple device! This is a game changer, especially for classrooms with little learners because it's SO easy! 

 

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Remember, if you are using these in the classroom, your students will need a device (like an iPod or iPad) with a scanning app to scan the QR codes.

These are my favorite scanning apps (and they're FREE!)

RedLaser

Qrafter

There are tons of other scanning apps out there- these are just my faves. :)

If you don't have an 'iThing' :), you can read Kristin's post:

How To Scan QR Codes if You Don't Have an iThing

She has a wonderful blog with some amazing technology ideas!!!

 Go check her out!

Do you use QR codes in the classroom??? I'd love to hear about how you use them!!!!!

We are off to a Spring Break mini vacation to........

Disneyland!!!

                                                                                                                                    

The happiest place on Earth!!! (You're never too old for Disneyland, right???)

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A Hodge-Podge of my Week

So sorry I've been M.I.A. for a week or so!!!!!!!! Last week was like the never-ending week, with Open House and meetings and board meetings and meetings and trainings and meetings. You know how it is. 

And then Friday rolled around, and then it was Spring Break! Yipeeeee! But then I got sick. :( Stuck-on-the-couch type sick. So sick I had to miss the SoCal blogger meet up. :(  

But then I felt better and I've been having way too much fun enjoying the sunshine and doing fun stuff like this with my teacher besties: 

Wine tasting!!! Fun!!!

I was way too exhausted to link up with Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday, so here's a quick recap of my week. :)

Open House was Tuesday (check that off the list- done and done!) and we had some QR code fun. There were QR codes hanging up all around our classroom for the kids to scan and share with their families. Some of the QR codes linked to plain text about what they were looking at, some linked to audio of the kids voices telling about the school year or a certain project (we used the AudioBoo app for that), and some linked to collaborative websites (Padlet, TodaysMeet) we've been working on. 

Here's an example from TodaysMeet (we were working on similes):

And this QR code told all about our class pet, Stinky Fluffy

It was also science week, so our mornings were filled with fun experiments and investigations all having to do with force and motion.  

We did bottle rockets (AND launched them!!!): 

(We used Skitch to annotate on top of that picture) 

Which tricycle will move farther with the same amount of force applied?

And we had fun dropping stuff to see which would hit the ground first (very scientific terms right???)- tennis ball or domino? Tennis ball or soccer ball? Tennis ball or ball of paper? 

(The tennis balls were on loan from:

)

Anyways...

We used this app to record our experiments & watch them back in super slow motion!!! We loved this!!!  

VidoPix

And if you're looking for an awesome unit on force & motion, you MUST check this unit out:

Super teacher and kid friendly, and we've had SO much fun with it! (Way better than the lame-o experiments in our text books ;)

I've got about a million ideas bouncing around in my head of things to create and share and do...

So- I'm going to do my BEST to be back soon. However, this:

may take over my life for the next week or so.

;-)

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A New Take on the KWL

We've been busy busy busy learning all about forces & motion! I ran out of time in the day (SHOCKING- I know!) to fit everything in, so we've been doing science and writing together. And we've had SO much fun learning about forces, speed, gravity, pushes, pulls, and ramps- you name it, we're learning about it! (If you're looking for an awesome Forces & Motion unit- check out TPT HERE! This unit is super kid and teacher friendly!!! Love it!) 

"To make it move you can lift the noodle up" 

We used the app Skitch here (it's FREE) to label and predict!

*Disclaimer- I am SO lucky to have a class set of iPads!!! I know I'm a lucky girl! 

Please don't hate me :-/ 

I wanted to start the unit out with the good old KWL chart, but instead of having me create it, the students did using Wallwisher- now Padlet- which allows you to create a virtual "wall" for stickies! I created three walls- one for K, one for W, and one for L. The kids came in, scanned the QR code which took them to the wall, and they posted using a sentence frame. 

This is what our KWL chart ended up looking like: 

It's not so pretty {yet} but it's serving the purpose ;-) 

They LOVED this because they could see what everyone else was posting in real time, and got new ideas from everyone else's stickies. Plus it's interactive, rather than having them watch me write their ideas on the chart! 

Now when the parents come in for Open House, they can scan each section and see what we've been working on and learning! 

I wonder what Aidan's parents will think...

"I wear your granddads close I look incredible I'm in a vehicle from that gift shop down the road" 

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Five for Friday (Late Again) & Fun FREE Apps!

What. A. Week. Eeeek!

Here are a few pictures from my week! :)

We started off the week with Jen's Fish Math-

This was a perfect wrap-up to our data and graphing unit! And who doesn't love Goldfish...? 

On Tuesday we got together to watch the Women Tell All from the Bachelor (teacher friends- NOT my students!) And we made breakfast for dinner! So much fun!!! (So grateful to work with such wonderful friends- not just colleagues!) 

We are learning all about ants this week, so we've been using this app:

to organize our information. 

This is a free app!

My kiddos are finishing up publishing their writing from President's Day (finally) and they've been using Comic Touch to add a little flair to their final projects. Check these out:

Such a fun way to show learning! And this app is FREE too!!! 

Report cards and conferences are next week, so I've been busy getting those done:

At least I have Abby here to help...although she's not too happy about it. (Neither am I...). 

Hope you are a having a GREAT weekend!

Looking forward to a (little bit) less stressful week with lots of fun lessons I can't wait to share! 

Make sure to link up with Doodle Bugs to share your week!!!

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March Currently Time!!!

It's already March!!! This year is just flying by!

I think all of my Currently's have me listening to FRIENDS. It's my all time favorite show, it's all over my DVR (see-)

and it's always on my TV. Where's Sara- she can relate right!?!? :)

I love the staff I work with, which makes going to work each day that much better. On Friday night, we participated in a district-wide air band competition and it was so much fun...

And this was only half of the people that participated. Even though we came in second, we had such a wonderful time- one of the highlights of my year!!! I am so thankful to work with such amazing people. 

I have report cards coming up, and I need to get working on those!!! All of my assessments are done (yay!) but now I actually need to sit down and do the report cards. I (might) do that this afternoon... ;-)

I went to Target yesterday and got this super cute springy dress for a baby shower I went to! It made me want to do more "springy" shopping! :) 

Plus, the weather is really warming up (it was in the 90s yesterday!!!) and I love (and like) the sunshine!!!

(So does Abby...) 

I love my students!!! This is probably the best class I've ever had!!!

And I hate sneezing- with Spring comes allergies, and with allergies come sneezing and itchy eyes. :-( 

Hope you're having a great weekend!!!! I'll be back this week with some fun school stuff we've been working on in class!!! I promise! :) 

And make sure to link up with Farley for this month's Currently!!!

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