Evaluations, Halloween Writing, and a Giveaway!

Well Fall is officially here, my jackets are out, and morning bus duty has been a bit chilly...I know it's only September.

Evaluations
Now that school is in full swing, my principal and I are beginning our observations as a part of our new evaluation system.  Indiana has put a a new evaluation plan in place, which is rather complex, but the teachers in my building are awesome, and are going along with ALL of it!  **Lucky me!**
As I begin entering classrooms, I hesitate a bit because I remember the feeling when someone walked into my room.  Sometimes I was ecstatic, because I wanted my principal to see the awesome things happening.  Other times, my thoughts were a bit different.  As I begin my routing of walk-throughs, observations, etc. I wanted to get your feedback.  In one word, how would reflect on your feelings when your evaluator walks in?  I'd love to read your comments, since I only know what my feelings were!

Halloween Writing!
My very first unit on TpT was created almost one year ago...and it was awful!  I didn't realize it was awful at the time.  I actually thought it was great, out of this world, ahh...my first time to use licensed clipart.  Holy cow!  Ever since then I have improved, edited, and revised.  When I looked back at my Halloween Writing unit, I realized how far I've come.  When I say this, I don't mean that my cover looks better, or the pages are more creative, but they are designed for real, student work.  I revamped my writing unit to make it better for my students, and more thought out.  Click on the pic below, check it out, and see what you think!

Giveaway!
Finally, my good friend Natalie over at Teachery Tidbits has hit 500 followers!  I know! She is awesome! She is having a week long giveaway with a winner everyday!  She has so many ways to enter that are easy and fast.  You can even win my Student Led Conference Binder for her Day 2 giveaway.  Head on over to her blog to show Natalie some love and congrats for getting to 500! Click Natalie's link below to go to rafflecopter and enter!

I hope you all have a great end to your week!!

Giveaway Winner, Weather Unit, and a Confessional!

Congratulations to Krista on winning the grand giveaway!  I will contact you with further information about obtaining all of the goods!  

Weather Madness

We wrapped up our weather unit last week, and it was a great week for it!  The temperatures were warm and there were various weather related alerts.  To record the highs and lows we watched the video on our local tv station's webpage.  They LOVED watching this, and it brought up a lot of other things about the weather too. We have been filling out our Weather Super Files for the past few weeks, and we wrapped it up by finishing our graphs on Friday. 

With our Weather Test on Wednesday, the students used their Super Files to quiz each other today before taking them home as their study guides.  As teachers we always say, "Don't forget to study," but we often forget to teach them how to study.  The kids had so much fun quizzing each other, and they learned a lot along the way.  We'll see if it pays off on Wednesday (fingers crossed)!

If you want to snag a copy of my Weather Super File Unit, it's on sale right now!  Grab a copy for yourself, and join in on the fun!

Confessional

Okay, I am now in my 5th year of teaching and I have never done a life cycle unit with my students!  I know, I know, some of you are saying where do you teach?  How do you still have a job? What were you thinking?  Shame on me...I'm aware now!

Teaching 3rd grade, we didn't really cover the life cycle of animals, but I feel like I have let my students down!  I can't believe I never made this a priority!  I'm sure many of you have done butterflies, frogs, or chicks, but I have had a BLAST watching the changes.  The best part, though, happened today.  The butterflies started emerging from their chrysalis and they were in awe!  I even had kids donating their oranges from their lunches to feed them.  I guess this is the best part of teaching...you never know what a change in your curriculum/grade can offer!  It was a great day on the Riley Ranch! 

 A little extra tidbit. This weekend we headed to Nashville, TN for my sorority sister's wedding and it was Gorgeous!!  I mean I couldn't get over it, and unfortunately pictures don't do it justice.  It was all outdoors on an old plantation with a big red barn, chandeliers, and these hanging Ball Jars with tea lights on all of the trees.  The ambience was beautiful, so I had to share a snip it!

May Currently, Giveaway Reminder, and New Puppy!

Good evening!  It's a crazy night here, but I thought I drop in with a few quick things!

First, it's Farley's May Currently Linky Party!  I love the pageant title at the bottom.  It's a great way to dream at the end of the school year.  Link up to see what our other genius teacher friends are up to!

Giveaway Reminder!!!!

Next up is my reminder about the giveaway that ends on Sunday!  A 12 month subscription to the math website and data analysis amazingness at Sumdog.com, a 12 month subscription to Runner's World Magazine, and $10 to spend at my TpT Store!  Yes, $85.00 in giveaways!!!  Click here for the post and to enter for all of the GREATNESS!

New Running Buddy! Meet: Addie!

The Mr. called me at school the other day and said he had found a white german shepard and he really, absolutely had to have the cutest little thing on the planet!  I went home, met her, and now we're a family of 4!  

She is so playful, and then wipes out cold!  Love her to pieces, and can't wait for her to build her stamina for a good run! 

I hope you all have a LOVELY Friday, and a wonderful weekend!  We'll be in puppy world!