Sunday Scoop!

I have been trying to make a little more time for blogging lately and these easy link-ups are perfect! I am linking up with Teaching Trio for the Sunday Scoop!

Sometimes 4-day weeks are the slowest and busiest, am I right??

My husband had a total knee replacement (no, he's not 80!) almost two weeks ago and my weeks now consist of running home right after work to pick him up and take him to physical therapy. It's amazing to see the progress that he has made in such a short amount of time! Tomorrow is his follow-up appointment and we see if he is ready to go back to work. I hope so!

I am just getting back from my sister's bachelorette party this weekend in Austin and in less than 3 weeks her bridal shower is at my house. I haven't been focused on that since I have been planning the bachelorette weekend, but now I can focus on that. 6 weeks until the wedding!

And, lastly, I am so excited to have tomorrow off! Nuff said. How does your week look??

Secondary Smorgasbord Link-Up: Out of the Deep Freeze!

I sure would like things to thaw out around here...we haven't seen the sun in what seems like weeks! Cold and rainy around these here parts! This seems like the perfect time to join in with a bunch of secondary bloggers and take our best products out of the deep freeze!

This link-up is hosted by the ELA Buffet and Desktop Learning Adventures.

I don't know about you, but when we come back from Winter Break, the focus is on test prep. And, since I am from Texas, it is all about the STAAR test! I have worked tirelessly to make sure that the task cards I made last year have been updated to reflect the new TEKS and I have even started using them in my classroom as warm-ups and exit tickets to spiral in some content that was taught first semester to ensure that my students don't see questions like this for the first time on the actual test. 

Right now, I have completed sets for 6th and 7th grade and half of the sets for 5th grade completed. For 6th grade, I need to finish the TEKS for Personal Financial Literacy, and that will be done within the next few weeks.

This is such a great resource because each set has 4 task cards per standard. That means your students will get exposure to STAAR-type questions multiple times whereas on a released test you might see one or two if you are lucky! The other bonus is that there are VERY few materials to help prepare for STAAR math this year since the TEKS are brand spanking new.

This was one of my best selling products last year and many teachers saw great results. If you own these, remember to go back to TPT and re-download so that you get the newest version. 

Don't have them? Click the images above to be taken directly to the listing or click here to view all of my STAAR resources. Be sure to check out what other secondary teachers are taking out of the deep freeze!

An InLinkz Link-up

Currently January 2015!

Oh my goodness. I used to LOVE waking up on January 1. Literally. Not because of all that clean slate nonsense that everyone gets all crazy about. I mean, that is great, too. But, the reason why I literally used to jump out of bed on the morning of January 1 and run all over the house is because it would begin the countdown until my birthday which is on May 1.

No joke. Every year I would tell anyone and everyone who would listen that "it was now 4 months until my birthday and you better start planning whatever it is you are planning for me because you only have FOUR MONTHS to plan and if you wait a month you will then only have THREE MONTHS and are you even listening to me?!?!"

Well.

Today is different.

Today marks the start of the 4 month countdown to my 30th birthday. I am in mourning.

BUT! January 1 also means time to link up with Farley for her monthly link-up! I have been a terrible blogger lately because there is so much going on that I just haven't had a second to think about blogging. I hope to get back into it because I really love having a place to document what is going on in my classroom and my life at home.

Ok, without further ado:

I am listening to THE BEST station on Pandora if you love 80s music. Right this second, I am listening to Kenny Loggins' "Playing with the Boys" and I am jamming out right along with him. It is so good.

I am LOVING that for some reason this winter break seems to be going slower than usual. This is the first time in 4 years that we have been home the entire time and it is a wonderful feeling! I should probably find some wood to knock on now.

I have been working on revising my STAAR Task Cards for way longer than I would care to admit. It takes so long to look at each standard and make sure that the way that the question is being ask aligns and blah, blah, blah. I am about 2 hours away from posting the 7th grade revision on TPT and I am pumped!

I want chinese food in the worst way. My husband hates chinese food. Like with a passion. I daydream about a surprise romantic date at Panda Garden but it hasn't happened. Maybe that should be my "I wish" at the bottom?

I need our insurance company to get the heck together. My husband has a knee replacement scheduled for Tuesday. As in 5 days from now. We are both employed in the same school district and we changed insurance companies as of today. Or so we thought. Turns out we have a big 'ole gap in coverage because our district scheduled the new coverage to start on the 3rd. I mean, have you ever heard of anything so stupid?? Regardless, the new insurance company won't authorize the surgery until we are "customers" and that won't be official until the first business day after we are customers. Which turns out to be next Monday. A whopping 24 hours before said scheduled surgery. We are ridiculously stressed out. My sister's wedding is in 8 weeks and we are both in the wedding--no walkers or canes allowed! And, being that we are both teachers, you KNOW how much planning went into my 3 days of sub plans (teaching two different grade levels) and his 2 WEEKS of sub plans for his 8th graders. Just UGH. Here's hoping that everything proceeds as scheduled!

And, I think the last three things are pretty self explanatory. The last one will be difficult since we don't play the lottery...haha! Be sure to click the link below to see everyone else who has linked up!