Made it Monday.....(on a Thursday)

I know its Thursday but this was out Made it Monday activity this week.....Our class loves to play with little fidgety toys so our fabulous occupational therapist decided that she would have our students make their own stress balls!!! These are so easy and they are great for the teachers students to keep at their desk to use throughout the day. Here is how we made them: 

Supplies: 
-water bottle (top half)
-balloons
-play dough

This is so simple I promise :)

cup the top of the water bottle so it looks like this: 

next take the balloon and place it over the top of the water bottle

have the students roll small balls or snakes using the play oh and place them into the balloon 

  once the balloon is full of the play doh you can take it off and tie it closed

  now the students can use their stress ball :) 

We are always looking for fun OT activities to do with our students....if you have any suggestions please comment below :) 

Sunday Scoop 4/26

How is it already Sunday?!?!?! 

I have linked up with Teaching Trio for their Sunday Scoop Linky Party!!

*3 things I HAVE to do:

1. Finish up my lesson plans....I have them all planned out it is just that last step of typing and printing them out that I always seem to put off 

2. My husband is a director of a local gymnastics and day care center and they are having a booth at a local street fair and I offered to go and shop at some local vendors help him out 

Diamond Gymnastics

3. Laundry....the dreaded L word! I have let my clean clothes pile up and it is getting out of hand...I always find other more important things to do besides putting them away 

*2 things I HOPE to do:

1. I would love to find some time today to create and work on some of my TPT products that are still hanging out in my Working on folder

2. I have a love/hate relationship with Netflix...I am binge watching Dexter right now but it seems to be taking up a lot of my time....what Netflix shows have you binge watched lately? 

*1 thing I am HAPPY to do:

1. We are getting our backyard leveled out and a fence put up!!! I was so excited when I woke up this morning and heard all of the trucks and men working in my backyard! 

What are you up to on this beautiful Sunday??? Make sure to head on over to Teaching Trio to link up :) 

Schedule link up!

Hello!! We are linking up with Ashley  and Angie for their #2getherwearebetter monthly link up!

Being a self-contained special ed teacher (in a Title 1 school) my schedule is INSANE!!! No two days are ever the same and there are rare times throughout the week that I actually have my entire class at one time. I teach grades 3-5 and currently have 4 students who are all on different grade and ability levels. My students go our for mainstream specials, some mainstream core classes, OT, PT, speech, and counseling. It is crazy to keep track of everyones schedule. This is what my schedule looks like.......

 (sorry it is sort of cut off on the side I wanted it to be big enough so you could see :/ ) 

Every day I write the schedule on the board more for myself so I don't forget to send the students where they need to go....they are pretty good at reminding me when the time comes for them to leave the room :) Some of my students have their daily schedules on their desk as well as a picture schedule to help them get through their day.

The most challenging part of the schedules is when something has to change. It isn't so much the rescheduling that is the difficult part but talking to the students and getting them prepared for he change that is the tough part. My students know their schedule and they need this type of consistency in their daily lives.

How do you help your students deal with changes in their schedules? I would love to hear some of your ideas! 

Wishlist Wednesday Link Up!!

We are back!! It has been a busy couple of weeks getting our classrooms and ourselves students ready for the PARCC test but we are back into the swing of things! We have linked up with Hanging Around in Primary to mark down our most wish listed items! On Wednesday March 4, 2015 our top three wish listed items will be 20% off!! 

The following items will be 20% off: 

1. Finish the Picture Writing Prompts

2. Blank Monthly Calendars

3. Follow the Yellow Brick Road Behavior Chart

Make sure to check out the other sellers who have marked down their items! 

Wish List Wednesday!!!!

Is it March already?!?!?!

WOW! Where has the time gone! I am in shock that it is already March :) I am linking up with Oh' Boy 4th Grade for their Currently March....(only a few days late)

I am currently......

• Listening to Law and Order SVU playing in the background while I catch up on some TPT and emails....No matter how many times I see the same episode I still have to watch until it is over!
• Loving that we finished the language arts portion of the PARCC!!!! I can't wait until next week when we finish the math section and are done testing!
• I was thinking of getting Dairy Queen for lunch today, is it too cold out for ice cream for lunch? What are your thoughts? 
• I need want a new Michael Kors bag....what is your favorite bag designer? 
• THE SNOW NEEDS TO STOP!!! I can't remember the last time I saw my grass. I am over shoveling and cleaning my car off to go to work. Hurry up Spring!
• Spring Break seems so far away! We get the week after Easter off and we do not have any days off in March. It is going to be a long month but I am looking forward to spending some time with friends and family and relaxing a bit......what are your plans for Spring Break?

February Favorite Things Linky!!!

I have joined up with Teaching Trio again for their February Favorite Things Linky! I was having some trouble deciding what I wanted to focus on this month but decided to focus on my favorite Target Dollar Spot finds! I know I am not the only teacher with a small Target obsession :)  Every time I am at Target the first place I go is the Dollar Spot to see what new items they have that I can use in my classroom. These are three of my favorite finds this year so far..... 

1. I found these great pink and blue cardboard book bins from the dollar spot over the summer. These are great for personal book bins! Each student has their own book bin and inside it has three books on their reading level, their reading stamina graph, a non-fiction response journal, and for some of my students a E-Z Reader! Below are some pictures of the book bins and what is inside :) 

2. My second favorite Target Dollar Spot find is my mini pocket charts! I was so excited when I saw these that I bought 5 of them! I have no clue what to do with the other 4 of them but I use one in my word work center to hang up the students weekly spelling words. What would you use the other mini pocket charts for? 

 3. Dry erase boards and markers! What teacher does not love dry erase markers and boards! I use these all the time. I love these new ones that I recently bought with the lines already on the board! They are great for helping dictate sentences for journals and just helping students practice their letter formation. These items are almost always in the dollar spot and I always find myself buying tow or three each time I visit Target :) You can never have enough dry erase markers or boards right?

Head over to http://teachingtrio.blogspot.com/ to check out some other great blogs and find out what are some other teachers favorite things in February :) 

-Lisa @Sparkling in Self Contained 

Sunday Scoop 2/1/15!!!!

Happy Super Bowl Sunday!!! Even though my team is not in the Super Bowl (J-E-T-S!)  I am still excited to have family and friends over to watch the game! I am linking up with Teaching Trio again for their Sunday Scoop!

 

Having family and friends over means cleaning the entire house and making sure we have enough pick food for everyone! I am making one of my favorite snack foods, baked mac n' cheese bites!  

http://cupcakesandcashmere.com/food/mac-and-cheese-cups 

This recipe is so easy and yummy! Check it out if you have time, it is worth it! 

I don't know about you guys but we are supposed to get some more snow tonight! I am hoping that this is not like last time and we actually get some snow. I will be patiently waiting for a phone call for either a delayed opening or a snow day! 

Make sure to visit http://teachingtrio.blogspot.com/ and link up today!! 

-Lisa