Hello Mrs Sykes

Well, we are hanging in there.  2 days of craziness   insanity  orderly learning left.  Here's a quick peek at what we've been up to... No More Boring Words!!  Last week we used Tonya's Overused Words packet, and created an interactive thesaurus on our staple wall using envelopes.  My kiddos have been referring to it like crazy.  Be sure to visit Tonya's Treats for Teachers - it's super cute!! Minute to Win It!!   Have seen  Regan's  Minute to Win it?   We had so much fun!!!  :) Freebie Time!!  My blog reached a new milestone.  In appreciation of all of you, I have 4 new sight word games for y'all .  They will be free for the rest of this week, so be sure to download !  While you're there, become a follower and leave feedback.  :)  Have a wonderful rest of the week!!!

Happy Memorial Day!  Be sure to share the history of this day with your class.  My students were impressed to learn that it originally was called Decoration Day since people would decorate the graves.  {source} If you are looking for resources to use with your class, many activities and printables are available at Apples4TheTeacher.com . ==========================================================>>>>> If you are blog-hopping over the holiday, be sure to hop over to Rachel at A. B. Seymour .  She is having a huge 200 follower giveaway , and I'm proud to be a part of it!  Check it out here . ==========================================================>>>>> I'm joining up with lots of other bloggers to offer 20% off in my TpT and TN stores today, tomorrow, and I'm extending it until Tuesday.  Enjoy 20% off everything!  You can find more sales at the linky party over at A Cupcake for the Teacher . my TpT shop ...

Congrats to Jan, the winner of the completely *huge* giveaway!  Jan, check your inbox for bunches of goodies.  :) Yesterday was a good day.  I taught my favorite Science lesson 2 times.  Here are the pics from "Slush-y" Science:  2 cups of ice in a large ziplock bag...  add a sprinkle of rock salt...  drop in a small ziplock bag of fruit punch...  and gently shake! What fun!!  Last step - remove the small bag, put a straw in the small bag of slushy punch, and enjoy!  We already knew that fruit punch would freeze if you added ice, but today we learned that the rock salt keeps the fruit punch from turning into a popsicle!  :)

Am I the only one who procrastinates when there's serious work to be done?  I'm talking "8 days of school left, have to finish report cards and assessments because kiddos take them home on the last day of school, but I'm blogging instead" kind of procrastination?  {It makes me feel better that so many of you raised your hands!}  For real, I have had 2 sick kiddos of my own for the past 2 weekends!  You know, when I was actually planning to do some of my paperwork.  Being a mommy to sick kids comes first, tho.  Maybe the pediatrician can write an excuse note for me to put in the report card envelope...  "Your child's teacher was unable to complete the report cards since she was taking care of her own sick children.  Now she is poolside."  Naturally, I'm kidding; no doctor I know would sign that!!  ;)

Whew!  Yesterday was another long day... I was at school early for a meeting, then left school early to go to another meeting until 6:30.  Certaintly they'll let us out early, no?  No.  It was pretty interesting, though.  Here's a video I saw at the meeting to share with my students during our Sound unit - to show how sound waves travel.

"And now," cried Max, "let the wild rumpus start!" - "Where the Wild Things Are," 1963 One of my earliest memories involves this book.  My parents read it to me many times, every day.  As I've grown and become a teacher, it's been one of my favorite books to read aloud to my classes.  Since I've become a parent, I've been sure to share this story with both of my children.   Thank you, Mr. Sendak, for the love of language and books you have shared.

I had some fun putting together Teacher Appreciation gift baskets for my daughter's teachers.  They aren't completely finished, but I'm sharing the pics anyway... The basket :) A peek inside - subway art, colored dry erase markers, shaped sticky notes, and scissors in a red plastic bucket. A pic of the subway art .  My personal fav. Here's the skinny - I shopped  stalked the Staples ads for the dollar specials, and picked up the post-its, scissors, and markers for $1 each.  Not too shabby when you keep in mind that I make 2 for my daughter's teachers and 3 for my son's teachers.  The plastic buckets came from Dollar Tree.  The frames came from WalMart, and the Subway Art is available online here  from eighteen25 .  If we have time tomorrow, we're making a bit of homemade goodness (cookies!) for the baskets, too.  Super cute, eh? Wait... is it really May already?  Must be time to link up with Farley !!  Seriousl...