Currently August is upon us!

Hello there!  Can you believe that August is upon us?  Time sure flies when you're having summer!  It is time to link up with Anne in Residence for:

Admiring

We went to Block Island off the coast of Rhode Island last week, and I really admired the beauty of the place:  the ocean, the bluffs, the scenery in general...The Abrams Animal Farm was right across the way from our hotel, and I went there every day to check out the alpacas which were my favorites!

The owners of the farm shave the alpacas and make yarn.  You can even buy socks and others items made from the yarn!

Anticipating

As soon as August arrives, I start thinking about Back to School and what I have to do to prepare.  There is uncertainty because of the the new variant, but I am really hoping to have the rug back in my classroom.  I have heard that students need to sit 3 feet apart so I'm not sure if they'll be able to sit on the rug yet, but I remain hopeful!

A flashback to a visit from a therapy dog on our classroom rug!

Enjoying

I am enjoying the sunny and mostly dry weather.  In Massachusetts, we had one of the rainiest and coolest July's on record, but it seems like the weather is improving, finally!  Now that it's August, the weather seems to be settling into temperatures in the 80's, low humidity and less rain (hopefully, now that we are not having a drought anymore)!

Spending

Of course, I spent some money at the Nordstrom sale.  I bought two winter coats (although I'll only keep one at the most).  My at least 10 year old red Lands End winter coat is no longer waterproof so I need to replace it.

Links:  Bernardo coat; North Face coat; skirt; blush pink shirt

Did you buy anything at the Nordstrom sale?

Saving

Last but not least, I am saving book recommendations.  Anne recommended the book, The Soulmate Equation, and now that book is on reserve for me at my library.

Read more at Amazon:  Nobody will tell you....,  People We Meet on Vacation, The Soulmate Equation.

I just finished this book and really enjoyed it:  The Henna Artist which is a Reese Witherspoon Book Club Selection.  This book takes place in India and centers around a woman who is trying to make an independent life and living as a henna artist.

If you have any book suggestions for me, please leave them in the comments!

I hope you are enjoying the summer and staying healthy!  Thank you for checking in today!

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We are back to school!

Hello there!  It has been a whirlwind with school this year!  We have a hybrid model so there has been a lot of preparation.  The good news is that there are students in the classroom!

 

Miracle Flower

Last week I found this most adorable plant growing from a crack in my outdoor stairs.  Seeing this little flower gave me a healthy does of happiness and optimism.

 

 

My Classroom

 

 We are doing a hybrid model at school.  One group comes Monday and Tuesday; the other group comes Thursday and Friday.  We are all online on Wednesday.  The kids were over the moon to be back in school!

 

We still managed to do our traditional activities:  tangrams; math card games; the Probably Book; and Play-Doh:

 

 

 

 

 The Probably Book is a class book, and I save them all.  Each student has his/her own page that starts:  "I am probably the only one in 3rd grade who...."  It is so much fun to see what each student writes and look back on their pages later in the year.

 

 

The Peloton Bike

 

My family and I are loving the Peloton.  It came on September 4th.  I just did my 10th ride today.  The best part is that it is on sale ~ if you are interested!

 

 

 Make sure to use my code: 7tvnaq to save $100.  You do need to buy the spin shoes to use the bike, and this savings comes in handy!

 

 

Hornet's Nest

 

 This hornet's nest in my backyard is thriving.  It even survived a microburst even hanging from a "thread" of a branch.  It just keeps getting bigger and more fascinating!!

 Today I'm linking up for Friday Favorites!  Make sure to check out more blogs over there!

Thank you for checking in today!  I'm hoping to write more news in my blog as soon as I have some sort of routine!

 

 

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Learning Something New Every Day!

Happy Friday the 13th and the beginning of my two week "break/vacation" due to the Corona virus.  I'm very happy to link up with  Erika,  Narci and Andrea for:

Precautions = No School For Two Weeks & The Gym

My classroom has gone dark, and I'm sad.  This is prime time for preparing for our state test (MCAS), and school has closed for two weeks.  My students and I cleared off our desks and all hard surfaces so the custodians can do a deep clean.

Check out this heavy-duty industrial cleaner the custodians will use:

Click on picture to read more about this cleaning sprayer.

This morning, when I went to the gym for my spinning class, these signs are everywhere:

March 14th = Pi Day While March 10th = Mario Day!

This week is full of very important holidays!  For example, today is Pi Day, and I fought this ultra-cool t-shirt that shows an amazing revelation:

On top of that, I learned that my wedding anniversary is an important holiday:  Mario Day!

Author Norah Dooley Visits Our School

Norah Dooley is the author of a very well known book:

During her visit, she shared her background, her writing process (which includes writing at least 20 drafts), and her many other books.  I enjoy how the author weaves a great amount of multicultural information into her books.  I'm definitely going to check out more of her books!

 Thank you for checking in and reading the blog today!  I'm hoping to post more now that I'll be home for the next two weeks.  I have plenty of cleaning jobs to do, but we'll see how that goes!

In the meantime, Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Please let me know how you're doing where you live!

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And Just Like That ~ We're Back to School!

Happy Wonderful Weekend!  Thanks for checking in to see what we're up to as I link up for:

  with Erika, Narci and Andrea for:

Classroom Open For Business!

After much cleaning and organizing, my classroom came together just in time for my students to arrive last Thursday:

Getting Right Back to Business!

The kids got right to work on the first day by completing a vacation report.  After morning exercises, we had our first Morning Meeting!

 Play Doh = Beginning a New Tradition!

After reading many blog posts about giving students Play Doh at the start of the school year, I decided to try it out!  I bought a 20-pack of Play Doh at Walmart for $8.40.  The kids LOVED creating with their Play Doh for the last half hour of school on Friday.  Check out some of their creations:

New Blog Post at Conversations from the Classroom

Check out my new blog post about getting off to a good start every day by clicking here or on the picture:

I'm so glad that I have such a great group of students this year, and that we are off to a great start to another great school year!

Have a wonderful weekend!

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Happy Labor Day Weekend Friday Favorites!

Happy Friday, Friends!  I'm so happy that you're visiting the blog today as I link up with The Blended Blog for Friday Loves:

and with Erika, Narci and Andrea for:

Gingham Sneakers!

I had to pick up a 20 pack of Play-Doh that I had ordered at Walmart.  I finally decided that my students would LOVE this relaxing activity at the start of school.  Luckily, a Marshall's was right next door so I had to go in to check out the markdown items, and I found these most adorable slip-on sneakers that I didn't need but had to buy anyway:

You can find the exact same pair at Amazon!

Farmer's Almanac Predicts Warmer Weather In New England!

According to The Woman's Day web site, Massachusetts and the Northeast will have more rain than snow next winter (= less snow days to make up in June!):

If you want to read the whole article, click here or on the picture.

Classroom Organizing and Purging!

At the end of school, I broke my foot but still needed to get everything off the classroom floor.  Consequently, I threw everything in the cabinets.  I spent a vast amount of time over the past two weeks fixing the mess I created:

In addition, I arranged all the books in my library and made new labels, too:

Have a marvelous long and relaxing Labor Day weekend!  Do you think the Farmers' Almanac accurately predicts the weather?  This winter, I sure hope it's right!

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