How cute is this.......

If you're into Dr. Seuss, check these ADORABLE cookies, http://www.mypapercrane.com/blog/?p=1911.  And, totally random but..... have you heard of Razkids?  Our district bought it for all the schools this year, it's kind of like webkins only you read books.  My school had it last year so I was very familiar with it.  I added Danny to my k class list last year but he wasn't that into it.  His teacher went on with them today at school and what a difference a year makes.  He just spent the last hour listening, reading and taking comprehension quizzes trying to add up points so he could go to "raz rockets" to buy things for his rocket.  It's really an awesome reading tool.  Check it out, maybe your school may want to invest in it, I totally recommend it.  Well, it's getting late, have a good night, tomorrow is F-R-I-D-A-Y!

Dr. Seuss and other random stuff...

What we're doing for our Dr. Seuss party next week.....
On Tuesday I am going to read after we discuss Dr. Seuss, the kids will make Cat in the Hat headbands.  I have red templates all set up, the kids need to cut them out, add white strips and glue onto red poster board to make the headband.  I will save these in our room for our party the next day.  The kids are set up in groups of 4-5.  We will have 4 centers set up and will rotate every 20 minutes.
After listening to part of The first group will go to snack and eat green(lime) jello egg shaped jigglers along with alphabet cookies and juice.  I have a student who is allergic to almost everything and this is what she can have.  I would love to eat green eggs and ham though, maybe next year!
The next group will listen to part of  after they will fish for rhyming words from a blow up pool.  I bought these at Michael's and wrote words from the word families we have gone over so far.  After they pick up a fish, they will write what is says on a cute little worksheet and write a rhyming word in the fish next to it.  If I knew how to download I would, I need to figure that out :(  sorry.
Group 3 will listen to part of .  We have a button maker at school and we ordered Dr. Seuss buttons that say I Love to Read!  that the kids will color and make into buttons.

Group 4 will listen to part of  and make these adorable Cat in the Hat pictures with different color hats and bow ties that the children will choose.  They will then cut up the sentence "The hat on my cat is ____." and put it back in order and add a color word.  Danny came to school with me today and he made an example:
We're only reading part of each book because of timing issues but Dr. Seuss is my author of the month and I will read those during March.  I thought it would be fun to have a mystery reader throughout March as well, I know the kids will get a kick out of guessing whose mom or dad or grandparent is coming in to read to our class.
In other news, we all went skiing on Friday night and had a blast. I haven't skied in probably 17 years and I loved it. Skiing is like riding a bike, once you get going again it's a piece of cake. All 3 kids made it look so easy. Ryan and John had gone just a couple of weeks ago and Ry picked it up right away, so I didn't really see him the whole night. I felt a little sorry for Jack, it was his first time and all of his friends have been going for years, so he kinda just hung out with me and John. Something a 14 year really wants to do...NOT!  His buds were going on black diamonds and he was stuck with us :( Maybe next time he goes, he'll have more confidence and try the bigger hills. Danny was awesome, he looked so cute skiing down the bunny hill, so serious too, it was so funny. Unfortunately, it started to thunder and lightning which freaked him out so we called is a day, but he hasn't stopped talking about it since. The rest of the weekend was filled with basketball games and YAY!......football. Jack is playing in a winter indoor league and the jamboree was on Sunday, our real games start this Sunday coming up. Woo Hoo!  I love watching him play. And today was back to school and back to reality.




Danny riding up whatever this is called, sort of like an escalator.  Pretty cool.



Jack and Danny.



Even when he fell, he was all smiles!



Stylish Blogger!

Thank you Jonelle!  I feel honored :)  That was so sweet, you really made my day!!

Here are the rules for receiving this award:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Award 5 recently discovered great bloggers.

4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award.

 7 things about me:

• I have been teaching for 18 years, however, after my third son, we moved a little north and I was able  to stay home with him for 4 years.  
• We have moved every time we had a kid...nothing like adding a little stress to pregnancy!
• I have to make the beds and shower before I go downstairs in the morning...I know just a little ocd ;)
• I absolutely love watching my kids play sports especially football and lacrosse.
• I love to dance especially with my college chickies, we have the best time every time we get together.
• I really do not watch a lot of tv, but when I do it's crime shows and the Kardashians, what a combo LOL.
• I wish me and my sisters all lived near each other :(

Now I tag these FABULOUS bloggers:
Annie at http://annieadams.typepad.com/jumping_on_beds/
Sarah from http://firstgraderatlast.blogspot.com/
Katie from http://katiesliteraturelounge.blogspot.com/
The girlies from http://frogsbeesundertheseas.blogspot.com/
Tricia from http://www.scribblingonwalls.com/
Kim from http://saylorslog.blogspot.com/

Valentine's Day in my room was nice and relaxed. We decorated our mailboxes (white bags from Michael's) for morning work.  Read a few Valentine books:
 

Before reading The Valentine Bears, the kids predicted what the story might be about and what vocabulary might be in the story which we charted.  They love doing this, but they especially love when we check afterward to see who had the best predictions.  Then we went to gym, came back and had our Valentine snack ~ heart shaped rice krispie treats-YUM! We worked on a few math activites involving sorting and finally the moment we were waiting for ALL MORNING......delivering our Valentine's.....woo hoo!

February page for Jazzy Journal courtesy of kinderbykim



sorting conversation hearts



Decorating our bags

The finished product

Delivering cards

Hope you all had a nice Valentine's Day Party, now on to the 100th day of school......tomorrow!  FINALLY....with all the snow days I was wondering if we'd ever get to it... But the best news of the week is, drumroll......... it's supposed to be 60 on Friday!  I am so excited!!  I know it's just a tease but I'll take it.  And the crazy thing is we're going skiing that afternoon, that is my kind of ski weather, lol.  Anyway, Danny's class is having International Night tonight that I have to go get ready for.  ttyl

Valentine's Day Brunch

My LOVE's

Danny lovin' his 1 millionth stuffed animal

LAX outfits for the big guys

We decided to celebrate Valentine's Day one day early here.  Tomorrow morning would be way too rushed.  I decorated the table while John made most of our breakfast.  It was awesome, everything was delicious (breakfast is my fav. meal) the kids loved their little goodies and we ate PEACEFULLY- lol.  When we(meaning me and Annie) first started planning this brunch (her Vday fun day is tomorrow) I was very gung ho. The table WAS going to be elaborately decorated, but as it got closer it seemed like a lot to do since our weekends are jam packed. Sometimes things sound great until you actually have to do them right?  Anyway, the menu was:

• french toast and pancakes
• bacon
• cinnamon rolls
• heart shaped rice krispie treats
• scrambled eggs
• milk in a lovely shade of pink
• strawberry nesquick with heart shaped marshmallows that Danny tossed out immediately :P

YUM!!! Red food coloring was put to good use today! Tomorrow is the big day at school, hope you all have a HAPPY HEART DAY too!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

A couple more things...



Painting the puzzle pieces



We finally got to finish our gifts for our moms and dads for Valentine's Day.



The finished products, I LOVE THEM TO PIECES!




So Cute!

 We read a few stories about Abraham Lincoln and made our own little book entitled, Abraham Lincoln's Hat.  Honest Abe kept very important papers in his hat at all times.  I asked the kids what they would put in their hats if they had a hat like Lincoln.  They came up with some cute ideas.

Class Book

                          

working hard on our illustrations and writing

Spongebob of course, cookies-I would agree on that one, and mom and dad

How cute, I would put mom and dad in it :)

Well that's all for now, off to bed.  Happy TGIF!!!

Way to Go Ryan!

The proud recipient (April 2010)

Here we are at Gillette Stadium

For the second year in a row, Ryan has been awarded the Pop Warner Little Scholar Award. To receive this, you must have a grade point average of 96% or above(Ry's is 99- woo hoo),community service hours along with playing pop warner football. The kids and their families are invited up to Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots for a luncheon and then the award ceremony takes place. It's a huge honor and it's very hard to come by in this part of New England. It seems most of the awards are given to kids from Mass and RI...that's where the headquarters are ;)  just sayin' Last year when we went, many names called were from that area. However,  needless to say, I am one proud mama! Way to go Ry! 

Superbowl XLV Steelers vs. Packers

Even though the Giants were not playing today, we were very excited for the big game.  Jack wants the Packers to win, the rest of us are indifferent.  Danny was totally up for making these cute football dudes, had to coerce the older ones just a little.  But they got very into it.  I asked everyone who they wanted to make, a Giant, a Steeler or a Packer.  Danny and Ry went for the Giants, Jack made Aaron Rogers. Love how they turned out!

Kevin Boss, Phil Simms and Aaron Rogers

Wanted to get this in before Danny Boy fell asleep.  He ended up making a bloody player too.  Did you like the Black Eyed Peas?  I love them, but I kinda thought they sounded a little weird, maybe the sound system wasn't working that great or something.  Well, back to watching the rest of the game, this was the fastest post ever.  Have a Happy Monday!!

Friday Fun

These were the cute groundhogs I was posting about earlier this week. I read Punxatawny Phyllis and Groundhog Day. The kids predicted whether or not the groundhog will see his shadow on the Yes and No graph. Then we wrote about our predictions filling in with the "muscle words" Side note: If you're wondering why we call them muscle words, I'm right with ya- haha just kidding- my sister thinks our word wall is so ugly and I may have to agree :) But I am new to the district and this school so I'm just going to go with it. Anyway, they are the words the kids have to know by the end of K, you can't sound them out, you have to memorize them. We tell the kids these words are like muscles in your body, you need to have muscles to hold things in place. And we need to know these words in order to complete sentences. Ok, back to groundhogs, then today we graphed whether or not their predictions were correct. This was a little tricky because if they said no the groundhog won't see his shadow, they had to put yes on todays graph. This took a little longer than I would have liked because some just didn't get it. Oh well, live and learn.

                                                    

                    

        

Our real science unit is suppsed to be on Shelters for animals. I sent home the houses for the kids to look in magazines to find and label at least 5 animal homes. They came out pretty cute, some families went all out! Then I introduced them again to the Venn Diagram. They did a great job.

                                          

        

We finally got to go back to school today.  The board of ed voted last night to take February Break away.  I'm so glad, I'd much rather have April.  March-June would be a LONG stretch. In other news here, John and Ryan are going on the middle school ski trip.  I'm so excited for them, Ryan has never skied and John hasn't skied in years.  The last time we went was way before Jack was born to this fabulous place.  I have BIG plans for when I get a full time job again  LOL.  All I ever say is when I get a full time job we are so going there again. California, Disney World and now because we're talking about skiing, this place - ha ha.   I always say to John though, getting to stay home with my little dude was so worth it and I wouldn't change anything. But still, fingers and toes are crossed beyond crossed for full time.  Well I hope you have a terrific Friday!!

Home Sweet Home {again}

Well we're home again, this time it's for safety.  The roads are fine but the roofs are not.  Last week Jack's bball practice was cancelled at the local middle school because they had concerns of the roof's well being.  Back then I thought hmmm, that could be dangerous but kind of brushed it off.  Then this happened on Tuesday night, thankfully no one was in the building.
                
This picture doesn't even do this justice.  This is the Tennis Club here and this is only one section, the place is huge and it is destroyed. This has happened to several buildings around the state.  SCARY!  The town and the custodians have been busy shoveling the snow off the school roofs these past couple of days. I'm hoping that we can return to safe buildings tomorrow, we're definetely ready for it. My house smells so clean and is sparkly.  Thought I'd take a little break to blog.  Danny's upstairs watching Fox and Hound, love that movie and the big guys are down here watching The Blind Side, my FAV all time movie. It's so peaceful right now.  Hope you're having a nice day too!

Meet The Teacher

This morning when I clicked on my blog, Cara Carroll posted this.  I love her blog.

                              

So I decided to join in the fun.  My sister Annie introduced me to blogging a few years back.  She lives in California and I loved seeing pictures of her kids and what she was doing on a daily basis.  So I thought I'd give it a shot.  Anyway, I was pretty good in the beginning, then I became a slacker and then I got the facebook bug, so I stopped it altogether.  In the meantime, I went back to work teaching part time so I started googling websites to get ideas to use in my room. Kinderbykim, Mrs. Jumps Kindergarten and Beth Newingham were the ones I found first, LOVED THEM!  All of a sudden one day I clicked on mrs. jumps kindergarten and it said to click on her new blog...hello I was in teacher blog heaven because that's how I found most of you.  So around Christmas time I decided to give it a shot again.....this blog thing is addicting!!

A little about me.....
I have been teaching for practically 18 years, I have taught 1st grade, 2nd grade, Kindergarten and was a Literacy Tutor for grades 1-5.  Most of my teaching took place in Stamford, CT but now I am lucky enough to work (although only part time) in my town teaching kindergarten again.  However, I'm praying that this year turns to full time :) 

My fam!

I have been married for over 18 years to the best guy in the world-John, who would do anything for all of us and really anyone I know.  We have 3 awesome boys, Jack 14, Ryan 12 and Danny 6.  It was a piece of cake to get pregnant with Jack and Ry and for some reason it took forever to get Danny.  But the wait was well worth it, he is the sweetest kid.  I grew up in New Rochelle and White Plains, NY and I am the oldest of 5 girls, 4 of us are teachers!  Woo Hoo!  My blog is called Football Nut because I seriously am.  I love football and actually get depressed when it ends.  I love watching my kids play sports especially football- shocker!  I LOVE the NY GIANTS!!  My grandfather was the Vice President, I went to all the games growing up and 2 Superbowls. It really was an awesome life. My real name is Monica, but my nickname is Mikey.  No one seems to know how I got that name but it has stuck.  I love the beach and warm weather, my dream is to one day move to California, but that is total wishful thinking, at least I know I have a place to always visit.

My boys!

My Fabulous Sisters
Kerry 21, Me 42, Erin 23, Annie 40 and Katie 33 

Now for the Q & A

Q: What would you be doing if you weren’t a teacher?
A: I would say a nurse who works in the maternity ward.....I love babies!

Q: What are your hobbies?
A: Sadly, hobbies seem to have been put on hold, as everything I do, I do for my kids.  I do love photography and traveling though.

Q: When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A: I wanted to be a teacher, I played "Romanian School"  all the time with my sister Annie and our 2 next door neighbors. Romanian School??? random I know.  When I was little, Nadia Commeneci was this unbelievable Romanian Olympic gymnast. I thought she was the greatest thing ever, so when we weren't playing Romanian School we were pretending we were gymnasts.

Q: What are your guilty pleasures?
A:  Shopping of course and Dr. Pepper with greek pizza-yum! Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, E! True Hollywood Story, Cold Case and House Hunters
 
Q: What is your biggest fear?!
A: My biggest fear is leaving my kids, I want to live to be in my 80's at least.

Q: When you’re on vacation, where do you like to go?
A: Disney World!!!!!  I cannot wait to go again, it's been a little too long.

Q: What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
A: Everything always works out!

Q: What do you value most in others?
A: Honesty and loyalty

Q: If you could choose one of your personality traits to pass down to your kids, what would it be?
  A: To speak up more for yourself
 
 
Q: If you could have lunch with anyone in the world….living or dead…who would it be?
A:  I would LOVE to have lunch with my grandparents one more time so they could meet my kids.  I know they would absolutely love them.  I'm so sad that they are no longer here, they were truly the best!
 
One random thing about me:
I cannot live with out chapstick, I swear I'm addicted to it, like right now my lips feel so chapped and I don't have it on me but I want to finish this post, so this part will be brief.

Groundhog Day

I feel like I'm in the movie Groundhog Day, only it should be called "Snow Day!"   We have not had a full week of school since before Christmas.  I am sooooo bored and so sick of being snowed in. How much cleaning and laundry can I do?  Maybe I should mention baking too, I swear I have gained weight during these days, I have baked so much junk, it's ridiculous. We are all bottomless pits.  Anywho, my class finished up their groundhog projects yesterday at school and of course I forgot my camera.  The groundhogs are so adorable.  I'll have to post pics on Friday when we go back, tomorrow is going to be another crummy day. Getting back to groundhogs, I read the books,

and  I have never read either one of those and they were great books.  Groundhog Day was full of awesome info and Punxsutawny Phyllis was an adorable fiction book about a girl that wanted to take over after her uncle Phil retires, it was so cute. I only read these 2 this year.  I'm NOT a big fan of Geodfrey Groundhog and It's Groundhog Day(if that's what it's called). There's no way of being delicate with this so, I'll just be blunt, I think they have the dumbest story lines ~ I was thrilled to find these 2 gems.  Anyway, speaking of groundhogs, I found this wonderful blog a few weeks ago, this girl makes you want to cook and bake.  She has the best ideas.  Just look at her cute and yummy groundhog treats, I wish I had some of this stuff in my house so I could make this for the kids tomorrow.
In other news, I think Ry has strep, so a trip to the doctor will be my big venture out tomorrow.  Oh well, here's to hopin' and prayin' the groundhog DOES NOT SEE HIS SHADOW tomorrow morning!  Have a good night all.