Five for Friday...I'm Finally Back!

Hi, everyone. It's been a rough couple of weeks.  Too much to do and not nearly enough time.  Is anyone with me?

I'm finally rejoining the Five for Friday posts.  It's been a gazillion years since I was able to link up. Well, maybe I exaggerate a little.

If you keep up with me on Instagram, you might know what I've been up to lately.  And if you don't follow me, why not?  It seems like that's about the only thing that's *somewhat* consistent in my life right now.  It's easy to upload and share a photo...and a lot more to actually sit down in front of a computer for a blog post.  Follow me {here} on Instagram.

Anyway...here's my break down of my week.

Last Saturday, my Josh Groban and Disney Partner-in-Crime (Beth) and I drove to Orlando to see Josh Groban and then go on a marathon Park Hopper excursion across The World.  {Our trip was hijacked by two other friends, too.  They didn't do Josh, but joined us at Disney World.}  Beth and I combined our two favorite things into one trip and our heads didn't explode.  We survived and the memories are amazing!  This makes **ehem** concert #8, we think.  We've lost count.

Disney!  18 hours of non-stop excitement.  It was amazing.  This picture is one of my favorites.  The castle is so beautiful this time of year with the extra lights.

We are working on division concepts this week.  Long division stinks.  Who's with me?  We are plugging along working so hard.  I'm so proud of how hard all of my students are working.  We broke up in partners today to review.  These girls were working so hard they didn't even notice me snap a picture.

I just love listening in on the conversations between my students.  When they are helping each other, they are so cute.  I also love the way they describe the math to each other.  We've been using some of the flipbooks that I created last year that was in my Division Lapbook Pack.

My girls really loved the chevron division symbol from Ashley Hughes @ The School Supply Addict :)

A few weeks ago, I signed my class up on the Adopt A Classroom website.  It's a lot like Donors Choose, except that I didn't have to submit a project.  I simply signed my class up and was going to explore how to get donations later.  This week, I received an email from Adopt A Classroom that JCPenny had awarded my classroom $100.  That's awesome considering I didn't really do ANY work at all.  Have you signed up for Adopt A Classroom yet?  What's stopping you?  It's so easy.  It literally took me about 15 minutes.  That's a lot of money for only 15 minutes, don't you think?

Finally, I just love the way my Dum Dum Tree looks on a Friday afternoon.  It totally cracks me up.  Well, actually it doesn't.  It's an eye-sore.  My students love it, though, and that's what matters.  My students earn fuzzies for good behavior, answering questions, participation, etc.  At the end of the week, they can trade in two to go to the Dum Dum Tree.  I don't call it that, just so you know.  I also have other rewards (passes, treat box, etc.), but my students just LOVE this tree.  About 15 of the Dum Dums have a color on the end of the stick.  If they pull one with a color, they earn a bonus trip to our treat box.  The reason all of the Dum Dums are on my desk is because I don't let them eat these.  They have shorter sticks so that they will fit in the Styrofoam ball that creates the tree.  They pull their Dum Dum, see if it has a color, then pick a different Dum Dum from a box.

If you'd like to read more about my reward system, you can read {here} or {here}.  

Well, that's it for this week.  I hope that I will stay more current with this blog.  It's so tough this year for some reason.  How about you?  How's your year going?  Are you busier or less hectic than last year?

Head on over to Doodle Bugs Teaching and read more link ups!