Five for Friday Link Up/ "Last Friday Night"

It's official people... I'm addicted to blogging.  I mean I think I've always been a little bit obsessed with reading other teacher blogs, but now I've discovered the possibilities of linking up to other teachers and the addiction has taken over.

But seriously people I'm linking up to doodlebugsteaching Five for Friday Linky Party for the first time, so I hope I'm doing this correctly.  I've seen other teachers post freebies on their Five for Friday, but I've yet to do make freebies worthy of posting. One of my teaching goals for next year is to get better at making my teaching creations worthy of TPT. :)

Alright now for the Five For Friday part of my post.... I tried to make them more about fun than frustrations and fears.

1.   Fun:  This week my third graders showed me how grown up they've become since they showed up in my classroom so many months ago.  When I first got these kiddos they didn't know how to "help a friend" without taking a pencil and giving answers.  Now I've got a group of teachers all about helping one another...  I couldn't help but take pictures of how cute they are when they're being "teachers".

 

2.  Fear:  I literally have put off cleaning and packing for my big move back home to Indiana.  I will do one priority box at a time and then stop because I'm so tired.  (I'll write more about that later.)  Here's what my poor classroom looks like...

Yes, I'm one of those barefoot teachers.  ;)

3.  Frustration:  Behavior.  Dear goodness!  Behavior is probably the biggest problem most 1-2 year teachers have anywhere, but it's REALLY hard out here in rural Alaska.  I use every trick in the book, all the time!  My class is much better than they were at the beginning of the year with getting along with one another and working independently, but we've definitely hit the post Spring Break slump.  I guess that this weekend will have to be spent reinventing the behavior wheel. *Big Teacher Sigh*

4.  Fun:  My class loves reading.  *VICTORY DANCE*  I have a range of Pre-K to 3rd grade readers in my classroom, but every single one of them begs me for more independent reading time EVERY day.

• "Please please please Miss Wilson, just 5 more minutes for DEAR time."  
• "This is a really good AR book!"
• Turns to another student, "Want to read this one with me?"  

We read to our Preschool buddies yesterday!

5.   Fun:  This weekend one my teaching friends out here is coming to visit me and Mr. B in our village.  That's a big deal since he has to take 2 little planes just to visit us for one day.  But, such is the life out here.  The plan is for him to fly from his village, to Bethel, then take another little plane to a neighboring village to see other guys from "The Crew" (my guy friends out here), on Saturday he will snowmachine back to Atmautluak with our NYO team and Mr. B.  After that we'll give him the tour of the village (aka: a trip to the two stores) and then cook dinner and watch a movie.  Then feed him breakfast in the morning before  putting him back on the plane.  Whew, I'm tired just thinking about it and I'm not even the one traveling.  I don't know how he'll do it!  I'll be posting pictures of the weekend if you're interested.

OOOPS. I had to include one more for the cute factor!

6.  Fun:  We have something here that kids with good behavior and perfect attendance get to do.  It's called "Open Gym Thursday".  The kids K-12 who have come to school on time and had good behavior through the week get to come in after school has let out and play in the gym.  Take a look at how cute this kindergartener is!

It's hard to take an action shot and this was cuter in person!

Ok, my post was all over the place!  But, in the words of all 90s kids everywhere, "TGIF!"

*Side note*:  I try to use song lyrics as my post titles, so excuse the strange title in your dashboard. ;)