December Review: Jamberry Nails! {12.28.13}

Hello wonderful bloggers! How has your December been so far?!

Besides this month being a complete whirlwind for me- I have embarked on a new adventure! :) Thanks to Christi Fultz over at Ms. Fultz's Corner, I now have a new addiction... JAMBERRY NAILS! Have you guys heard about these awesome little time/money savers?! I'm not quite sure what I ever did without them!

Here is how this adventure began- I saw a picture on Instagram of her (Christi's) FABULOUS chevron nails and was like "OMG! How did she do that?!" I immediately contacted her and she said "Oh, those are my Jamberry nails!" Ok- did I miss the memo?! Did I get left in the dust? What are "Jamberry Nails"?? So, being the nosy super investigator person I am ;) I decided to find out more. She sent me a sample and I fell in LOVE! Those silly little accent nail samples stayed on for 3 weeks before I finally received more and changed them out.. they totally would have kept on going though! Here is a picture of my nails after about a week...

Crazy right?!

This  next picture was taken after two and a half weeks and 2 re-paintings of my other nails

Jamberry nail still in perfect condition, the others... not so much! I was blown away!!

So, now I was really hooked! Especially considering that this company was started by three sisters that were tired of paying ridiculous amounts of money for gel nails that were tearing up their nail beds. I was in that same boat! My nails are STILL recovering from my acrylics from nearly a year ago... That is not something I want to do again! With the price point being incredibly low for these at $15 a sheet which does 2-3 mani's and 2 pedi's depending on your nail bed size AND they last from 2-3 weeks on your hands and 4-5 weeks on your toes! (I've heard even longer from some people!)... I knew that this was an easy way to get in with a phenomenal and successful company! As a teacher- we lack spare time and I always messed my nails up EVERY time I painted them no matter HOW long I let them dry. It was infuriating because I spent so much time painting them! It just made sense for me to sell them as well, so I signed up as a consultant! 

My first full-hand "Jamicure" isn't it gorgeous?! That Diamond Dust Sparkle and Black and White Chevron just completely go together! Love it!! 

This has seriously been the best thing I have done in such a long time! The extra money, the AMAZING nails, and awesome friendships I have formed already has been fantastic! I cannot believe I was able to get involved with a growing company like this! I feel so incredibly lucky! 

So thanks Christi! :) 

Here is my NYE "Jamicure" in Midnight Celebration and Diamond Dust Sparkle! LOVE THIS! It's my favorite so far!

If you are interested in joining my team, I would love to email you some information! Just leave your email below! Or, if you have been eyeing my Instagram account @justkeepteaching and want to sign up- here's the link: www.lcrodriguez.jamberrynails.net/join/ 

The benefits are INCREDIBLE in January for hostesses- so if you want to host an online party, it is super fun and you get to do it from the comfort of your couch :) Here's the link to request a party, or leave your email for more info: www.lcrodriguez.jamberrynails.net/host/ 

Finally, if you want to try them out here is the link for the shop:

www.lcrodriguez.jamberrynails.net

Thanks everyone for all of your awesome support and enjoy the rest of your winter break my fellow teachers! :)

It's been awhile- but HERE I AM! :) {12.5.13}

Hello everyone!
Firstly, I apologize for my lack of blogging. Life has been... well, life as a first year teacher! That is really the only way that my fellow teacher blog friends will understand. I'm linking up with Blog Hoppin' since I will discuss one AMAZING writing bundle I got from TpT during the big Cyber Monday sale! If you got some sweet stuff, make sure you to link up too! :)

 

I seriously feel like a chicken with my head cut off! Everything I touch seems to multiply into 500 other things I need to do as well. I decided to take a break while sitting here entering grades for progress reports (YIKES!) to catch everyone up!

I am so in love with my kiddos! I cannot believe it is already December! Where in the world has the time gone?! I have seriously watched these kids grow before my eyes in the last 4 months! With all of the holiday festivities, testing, and trying to get ahead of the game, I have seriously slacked off from blogging. But, I miss it and the ideas I received from everyone! So please leave a comment below if you have any ideas for me :)

October- We started out this month by making some really cool Spider shaped Cinquain poems! The kids loved doing this fun little craft with their poetry. We also made shape cinquains where each student cut out some construction paper in the shape of their topic. They turned out really good! I have some amazing writers in here! We also had our "Fall" (Halloween ;) ) party and we had a BLAST! I really have the most amazing parents this year. They made sure our kids had a fun craft, we mad monster mix (chex party mix), and we had some sweet treats. We also had the BEST thing of all- our first ever PUMPKIN MANIA DAY in our magnet program! The students each brought a pumpkin in and they traveled to each classroom teacher on a rotation basis to learn more about pumpkins! It was so neat! My teammate and I did the Math rotations and the kiddos really just loved it. Their faces were priceless :) (P.S.- I dressed up as Pete the Cat! ;) )

Monster Mix!

Sweet treats and goodies!

Yes- that is a Snoopy Costume that one of my students wore! :)

November- Let's start out with the AWESOME project from Fabulous Life of an Elementary Teacher the Turkey in Disguise project! My kiddos truly went ALL out for this project! Their writing was even better! I was cracking up! :) Thanks so much for that Lacey and if you haven't checked her out, click on over to visit her amazing and fabulous TpT store! We also did an awesome Kagan strategy called Jot Thoughts where they brainstormed as many invertebrates and vertebrates as they could. They were coming up with some amazing ideas! I love that strategy! Because I wanted my students to have a clear understanding of what Thanksgiving was really about, I focused on this A LOT during this month. We did everything from reading and writing about it to social studies lessons on it. They thanked me afterwards for telling them about the first Thanksgiving! I felt so proud to be their teacher when  I read their papers where they had to put themselves as a Pilgrim on the Mayflower and write about their experience. When we shared, you could tell they totally understood the concept and what it meant to be a Pilgrim back then! Then, of course we had our Thanksgiving feast thanks to my wonderful parents AGAIN! They made a full turkey, stuffing, homemade pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes... You name it, and we had it! It felt so awesome to be able to experience that with my students! They also made a really cute photo frame and wrote what they were thankful for on the frame! So cute!

Working on inferences! I love the mystery paper bag idea! :)

Santa Turkey ;)

One student made a Mexican party turkey! :)

Alien Turkey.. I love the creativity in this one!

Sheep disguised turkey

Pageant girl turkey

Indian turkey

Scarecrow turkey

AMAZING sunflower turkey!

Our Thankful Frames

December- Well, things are in full swing and we just took our mid-year FAIR test, which is completed on the computers. It tests the students comprehension, word analysis, and maze skills. I really just hate having to do these with my students, but I don't have a choice! They were so great and they honestly never complain about them. I always give them a little break after those tests with brain breaks :) We just recently found the what does the fox say dance video- OMG! I was CRACKING up watching my students! They just loved it!! The next couple weeks are going to be so packed full of holiday activities- I cannot wait! We are doing Holidays Around the World from the AMAZING and SUPER talented Hope King over at Second Grade Shenanigans. You can check out this adorable and HUGE bundle here in her TpT store. I mean seriously- let's be honest- the WHOLE reason I bought the bundle was for the I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas writing activity! :) But, honestly- this pack will be used in it's entirety! I cannot wait- you should definitely check it out! My kids are going to just love it! YAY! My husband and I also participated in our church's annual Serve Day for our community. It was one of the most rewarding and humbling experiences. Other people were telling us how blessed they felt that we were there to help, but I felt amazingly blessed to have that opportunity! Also, we found the most perfect Christmas tree the same day! DOUBLE SCORE!!

Hubby and I serving our community! We are Here For Good! AMEN!

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree!!! :)

My kiddos dancing to the What Does the Fox say video! :)

Finally, I am having a few issues with some of my students. They are REALLY struggling with comprehension strategy skills. It is like they came to me with absolutely NO schema for reading! They can read and are knowledgeable enough to figure out basic questions, but higher order questions really shake them. Also, I cannot- and I really mean CANNOT- get one of these students to slow down OR check their work! She is like Speedy Gonzalez and she refuses to check her work or slow down. I have tried restricting to doing one page at a time with a time limit and they are not allowed to move on or do anything else except check work during that time for the page, but she just sits there and refuses. Anty suggestions?!? I am at my wits end with her! During our FAIR test she was finished in less than 20 minutes for an hour long test, which means she didn't get past the lowest comprehension passage because she bombed it :( It makes me sad-frustrated-irritated-mad... I just don't know what to do! HELP!


Well everyone, I hope that gets everyone caught up in my world and I am off to finish up my plans for next week! Please leave some love below- I could use it!

Tried it Tuesday- A Day Late and a Dollar Short! :) {10.9.13}

Hey everyone! One of my favorite linky parties is the Tried it Tuesday link over at Fourth Grade Flipper and this week I actually made something to share! How awesome, right?! Can you tell I'm excited? :)

I'm actually pretty proud of this because I came up with the idea all on my own! This week one of our reading skills is main idea/details. I was trying to think of something really cool (no pun intended!) to put in their interactive reading notebooks. As I pondered about a foldable to do, I thought of ice cream... Don't ask where it came from, I guess I just wanted ice cream at the time (blame it on Monday!)- so that's what I created! An awesome ice cream main idea/details cut out for their notebook :) They LOVED it! It was so adorable the way they decorated the ice cream cones unique and special!

We also did Cinquain poems this week during stations and here is a cute picture of some of their spiders :) They really enjoyed doing this craftivity!

We also tried a new Kagan strategy this week called Numbered Heads Together- it was so AWESOME!! :) I used it to review our last math chapter before the test and the kids loved hearing about how they came up with their answers. I was so pleased at how my students interacted and worked with each other, it was a true teaching moment :)

What have YOU all tried this week? Leave some feedback love below! I would love to hear from you all! :) Also, don't forget to link up as well! :)

October Currently… Late of course :) {10.6.13}

Hey everyone- IT'S OCTOBER! I love October! The air changes, the moods of people change, and life itself starts to feel more at ease… Well, maybe not the last one lately, but the rest is totally true! I keep waking up every morning wishing/praying/thinking that it's going to be cold :) Living in Florida, that's pretty much a long shot! HAHA! But onto other (more IMPORTANT) topics….

It's that time again! Time to link up with the lovely Farley over at Oh Boy, 4th Grade… She is phenomenal…. and I absolutely love her hair :) I'm just a little jealous ;) So, here we go!

Listening- I love football and my husband does as well. I tell him all the time how lucky he is to be married to a wonderful woman who loves football as much as I do :) I'm sure he totally agrees!

Loving- Have I mentioned how much I truly love October?! The fall/Halloween decorations and pumpkin flavored EVERYTHING make me the happiest person in the world. I am pretty sure I did a happy dance, in my car, in the drive thru at Starbucks for my first PSL of the season :) YUM! not to mention, Sundays in the fall are for watching football… and sleeping- DUH! ;)

Thinking- I've been pretty stressed lately… but not with school stuff! Actually, we found out that a pipe in the wall of our laundry room has been leaking for some time now and it was leaking so slowly and for such a long time that it has seriously damaged the entire side of our house. We didn't know because it was seriously just dripping enough to not show on the wall until recently. This is like, we are going to have to tear the side of our house off-kind of damage :( We called the insurance company and they are not being that helpful, so my dad and his contractor friend are coming to inspect the damage tomorrow afternoon to hopefully get a better estimate of the damage than the $3000 that the insurance originally said. This damage is extensive and I am really worried about the repairs to be made, it's going to be crazy… But, as with everything else like this- I'm really trying to rely on my faith and belief that He will never give us more than we can handle, to get me through it! Say some prayers my me please! 

Wanting- November 5th cannot come fast enough! I absolutely LOVE Chris Tomlin and my mom, dad, hubby, and I are going to his concert! I am SO excited, I can't even contain myself :) It's going to be a powerful concert for sure!

Needing- I am pretty sure I wrote about this in my last currently, because I STILL have not gotten my hair done. It's actually pretty depressing, but to be honest- it just is NOT in our budget yet! I keep finding other things that take precedence… ONe of these days I will make it happen though :)

Track or Treat- TREAT! Pumpkin  Fritters, YUM! This recipe was one I found on Pinterest and I am going to try this week! This recipe looks so delicious and I am just CHOMPING at the bit to try it! If any of you get to it before me- feel free to share your awesomeness below ;)

That's it for now everyone! I hope that everyone is having a fabulous October so far and just think, before we know it- it will be December! :) I know, I know- you all are SO excited I just said that, right?!

Until next time!

Five for Friday! Woohoo!

I'm so excited to link up again with Doodle Bug for her Five for Friday linky! It's been forever since I last did it! :) I just love reading what everyone has been up to :) One thing I definitely need to remember is taking more pictures! I just always seem to forget! That's one of my goals to be better at :) Here we go!

1. Realistic Fiction Writing (no picture :( )

My students used this week to plan, prewrite, and draft their first realistic fiction writing in their notebooks. I have to say, some of these stories are phenomenal! I have some of the most creative students I have ever met! So excited for writing this year!

2. Science Lab- dissecting the Lima bean!

My students go to the science lab every Monday and Tuesday, as well as alternating Wednesdays. This week, we've bee focusing on plant parts and how they grow. My kiddos are SO fascinated by how this stuff works! We dissected a Lima bean and they just thought it was amazing!

3. My church opens a coffee shop with a cause! 

I'm so excited becaus where we love, the closest coffee shop is 20 minutes away!!! That used to mean tired mornings at school, now I can support my coffee habit AND missions projects at the same time. All of the net profits go to missions. I am just loving this idea :) YUM! Not to mention their white chocolate mocha may have beat Starbucks ;) 

4. Donor's Choose Project- FUNDED!

I am still in shock by how fast my project was funded. I have doe of the most supportive family, friends, and parents in my classroom! My project was up for less than 8 hours! Can you believe it?!? I am just so humbled by the response! :)

5. Random thought/picture since I forgot to take pictures this week :) 

I felt like this ALL week long... Hahaha

Thanks for stopping by y'all! :) Until next time!

~Lindsay