Five for Fraturday & a freebie

Ok I'm a little late, but I had no energy last night to post this. It was one of those afternoons, where the internet went down in the middle of plans, one copy machine was down, the other one was out of white paper & we only had colored left. Plus it was rainy & cold, so I went home, & tried to relax.

So here I am today (Saturday) linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday, instead of doing those plans that I need to finish. Haha!!!

1.) We had family pictures taken this week, so we could send Christmas cards out. Here's picture I took on my phone of one of the proofs online.

2.) The Elf on the Shelf joined my classroom this week. I have a group of 3rd graders and a group of 4th graders so they each named him & they are keeping an elf journal while he is visiting with us. They have to write about where the elf is sitting each day and what he did, if he was up to any antics, then write about how it made them feel & why, and make a prediction on what they think he is going to do the next day. Here are some pics of what he did each day.

3.) Does anyone else's desk look like this when they are trying to do their plans?

8 tabs open as I try to search for different resources and activities

Piles and papers everywhere as I consult curriculum & take notes of things I need & as I print

Planning is so frustrating and overwhelming. I hate having to do it at home, but some weeks I have no choice & since I refuse to print at home, then I'm rushing around like a crazy woman Monday morning printing & copying.

4.) As you know I teach 3rd & 4th grade Resource room, so my guys reading levels are below grade level & some of them well below. So we are working on grade level skills as well as foundational skills. Here's one of my guys working on a short vowel sort I created, Sort the Shorts.

Check it out in my store by clicking the link above or this pic.

5.) Before Thanksgiving even rolled around I began thinking about what to give my students as a Holiday gift. I only have 10 kiddos but I still don't want to spend a ton of money. So after some research I came up with a coupon booklet, personalized bookmark (that I'm going to make for each of them), and a dry erase board from the dollar store that is personalized with their name using letter stickers. (I'll post pics once I have them completely done) 

Here are the coupons I created for them, they are the only things that I done. Click the picture for your free, editable (the blank section is where I wrote a note to my kiddos. That's why I made it editable in case you wanted to put a little note from you to them in there), copy of them.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!!!