Apostrophe Showers.......

It's almost May and it's Sooo cold here in NY! Waiting for those May flowers :) I've always gotten a lot of emails about my "Apostrophe Showers" bulletin board, so this time around, I saved the template so I can share it. Uploading onto TpT is so much easier than dealing with Google Documents, so you can download the freebie here. If you can't see it that well the contraction goes on the flower (don't) and the parts of the contraction go on the leaves (do not).

I'm telling ya, it's been an exhausting year. I'm now in the process of apply for jobs and that's so much work and emotionally draining, especially when you don't even get called for an interview :/ Don't forget about the Capital Region blogger's meet up next month! 

On another note, I found out last week that I will be giving the IOWA test in 2 weeks. Hello, short notice! Does anyone have any experience with this test? Any advice? Resource book suggestions? I'm meeting Love to Teach at our local teacher store today so we can look at some resources together and hopefully find something suitable for our kiddos :x

** Capital Region Blogger Gathering **

So my buddies, Little Literacy Learners and Love to Teach, and I have been discussing how jealous we are of all the blogger gatherings across the state. We've decided to host our own in the Capital Region! We haven't decided an exact location yet because we want to know how many people would be interested first. You can RSVP via email or comment here. Please share this post or invitation to spread the word! Look forward to gabbing with you all!

Help Wanted

I'm watching Starsky and Hutch, drinking Diet Pepsi, and doing report cards when I realized, wow, I've really neglected my blog this year. 

It's been a crazy year! Last week I presented a literacy workshop and I think it went really well. I discussed what a literacy rich environment looks like, how to conference 1:1 with your students, and our district assessment requirements. 

I also put my resignation in about a month ago. If you know of any districts (preferable public school) in the Albany, NY region hiring for next year, I'm on the market. I am struggling with the thought of not having my own classroom next year, but it's time to move on. 

So last week we finished my matter unit and one of my cutie pies wrote this on her test: 

The arrow says "I couldn't think of anything else!!" This was definitely the highlight of my week. I'm still laughing about it. 

On Friday I played a little April Fools trick on my students since it fell on a Sunday this year. I gave them a spelling test and most of them didn't even notice until the very end that it said something vertically: 

They thought this was hysterical!! It says "there really is no spelling test today. April fools ha ha ha"

We also made ice cream on Friday for our snazzy snack and end of our matter unit celebration. The recipe can be found here. It was so much fun and it was actually really tasty. It was made in a Ziploc bag and they just ate it right out of the bag. It shows a chemical change. 

My friend Laura over at Love To Teach does a weekly blog post about freebies that she finds. I like this idea and I want to share a couple of my finds last night. 

This first freebie is data binder materials. This must be very time consuming BUT I can definitely see this making me a better and more accountable teacher. There will also be no surprises when report cards come around. 

This next freebie is a poetry unit. I hate poetry :( I'm just glad April is a short month and I only have to teach it for 2 weeks. Hopefully this freebie makes it go a little more smooth for me. 

Have a great week!! Since I teach at a Catholic school we don't have school Thursday, Friday, or the following week. I plan on working on a magnet unit so if there is anything you would like to see in it, let me know :)