Can you say M.I.A.?

Holy Cow! I can't believe that I haven't blogged in weeks....actually I can!  Since the dance recital and field trippalooza we've had a birthday and Mother's Day.  School has been busy with the usual end of the year junk PLUS 3 extra random days off due to snow day makeups.  My student teacher recently left so I've been busy to say the least.  I don't for see myself blogging until summer when I can devote 100% effort to it, otherwise you get random babbling such as this.
Anywho, after this coming week I'm taking my oldest to the Taylor Swift concert then it'll be SUMMER!!!!
Enjoy the end of your year, hope you survive with a smile!

My Busy Busy Week

This week has been so crazy busy, I'm looking forward to passing out on the couch Sunday!  Here's a run down of my fun, exciting week...

Monday:
Monday I went with my 4th grade daughter to Walnut Canyon to go look at and explore ancient Indian ruins.  The day was perfect!  We had warm sunshine and 70 degrees!  Hey, I was even able to work on my tan while I hiked with the kids.

Tuesday:

Tuesday was our first grade field trip to Bearizona.  Bearizona is a wildlife park located about 30 mins. west of town.  At Bearizona you stay in your car (or school bus) and drive through the different habitats while the animals come right up to your windows.  After the drive thru part we watched the bird show then did the walk around trail where we say itty-bitty baby cubs that were born in January.  It was a little breezy but all of my kiddos LOVED the field trip.

Wednesday:

I actually had to work on Wednesday but I spent my evening, until bedtime, at school so my girls could take their dance pictures.  I love all of the costumes and how dedicated to dance both of my girls are BUT  Mommy was T-I-R-E-D!!!

Thursday:

Thursday I went to the Arboretum with my Kindergartener.  The weather was horrible! We were under a red flag warning day due to the terrible wind and low humidity.  Luckily I was on this adventure because after about 10 minutes off of the bus the wind caught her ear and she developed a horrible earache so we left the field trip and were off to the doctor....ear infection!

Friday:

And well, that's today and here I sit at dance dress rehearsal.  I finally got smart and brought my district issued laptop so I can use the internet for the next SEVERAL hours. Today was the school's talent show, of which my 4th grader was the MC so she's been practicing that shpeel all week.  After the talent show my class was off to the 4th grade Arizona Animal Walk.  The 4th graders spend close to a month researching AZ animals, they write reports and have to create a life size model of their animal.  Finally after school we held our Parent Volunteer luncheon.  

Saturday:

Tomorrow my girls have their dance recital, I look forward to tomorrow night when all of this will be past me and I will be in my warm comfy bed. 

I hope you all had a great week!  Cheers to 15 days of school before SUMMER!!!!

CRAY_CRAY!!!!!

So this week has been absolutely INSANE!!!!  I promise I will blog with real pictures and such this weekend but here's a glimpse at why I'm M.I.A:
Monday: Field trip with 4th grade daughter
Tuesday: Class field trip
Wednesday: A.M. dance, IEP meeting, Dance pictures (4:00-7:00pm....yes 3 WHOLE hours!!)
Thursday: Field trip with Kinder daughter
Friday: School talent show, AZ animal walk (4th grader again), parent volunteer lunch, dance dress rehearsal (4:00-7:00ish pm)
Saturday: Dance recital
Sunday: PASS OUT!!!!  and blog

Stay tuned.........

Instagram, what???

So I've joined the Instagram movement!  Follow me.... Burns1stGradeBunch

Run Run as Fast as You Can...

Today was our 5th annual Jog-a-Thon.  This is my most favorite fund raiser that our school does.  The students have to collect pledges, either a flat rate or an amount per lap ran then we run for a 30 minute block.  100% of the proceeds go to the school, this year we are buying more laptops for our C.O.W. and a cart of iPads.  This year the event had a neon theme, and well, the teachers took it to a whole new level by adding tutus.  The weather was a perfect 65 degrees (a few years back it was spitting snow so they had to reschedule the event).  My class ran their hearts out!!! After the run the PTO passed out popsicles which I decided meant automatic extra recess!!!  Here's a few picture from the day.

Honestly the best part was walking around with my teacher friends and spraying the kids with the water bottles.  We may or may not have tried to SOAK our principal in the process....those tricky water bottle just spray spray spray!!!

Struggling

This will be short and sweet, simply put, I'm struggling.  I'm trying like the dickens to figure out how to use clip art, make it cute, and add text.  I have NO clue which program to use nor how to secure it.  I will keep trudging because I want this dream of mine to become a reality.  I want to be known in the teaching world for my cute products and more importantly I want to be able to show my students what I've made for them.
I guess this is my cry for a mentor.  Until I get noticed, until other teachers start reading my blog, I guess I'll go at it solo.  Trudge on Amber, Trudge on!!!

It's a ZOO in there!

Today was one of my favorite days in first grade, the Phoenix Zoomobile came!  This is such a wonderful program, every spring they load up some of their critters and head North!  We live about 2 1/2 hours away from the zoo so not all of my students have had a chance to visit it.  This mobile program brings the animals to us and the best part is that it's FREE, so we tie it into our habitat unit.  Today's animals were all nocturnal. Here's some pics from our day...

 This gal is a crack up! She keeps her presentations so engaging and fun for the kids!

 This "cute" little fellow is Darth Vader the millipede. NASTY!

 My class was super excited about the Leopard Gecko because 2 of my students are Leopard Geckos in our class play, though they were not as thrilled once they found out that they eat mosquitos.

 I can not for the life of me remember what this little gal is, I do remember her name was Gloria but no clue what sort of critter.

All in all it was a fantastic day in 1st grade!