Frequently Visited

I've been meaning to share for awhile. I've just felt like my days have been incredibly short lately. Where on earth do the hours go? And why can't I keep my desk organized at school?

Here are a few of the places (or apps) I frequent in my down time.

My latest favorite is myfitnesspal.com. Actually, one of the reasons I gave in to the whole having-a-smartphone idea was to use an app like this one.  It helps you create a goal. It helps you count your calories to lose weight and counts your exercise minutes. As you put in your meals and snacks, it counts down so you are aware of how much you're eating. That's what I like. It keeps you aware of what you are putting in your body.

Another app I was excited about is called Use Your Handwriting. It's a list-maker where you literally use your finger to write on the screen. Perfect. You can quickly jot something down in a to-do list so you remember later. I have one list for groceries and another permanent list for school to-dos. I love that I don't have to type it. I just write it.

This last app was also one of my top download favorites because of the server restrictions at my workplace. I love listening to music while I'm working, isolated in my little room, so Pandora works great. Can you believe we can't access a site like Pandora? Sad, I know. Now that I have a smart phone, I can always access Pandora at work. Hooray!

Of course I also frequent Pinterest, Facebook, Gmail, and Blogger. Who doesn't? Right?

So, there you have it. My Internet staples. I am a creature of habit, and these are the sites or apps that feed it.

Any other great ones to add to my collection?

Laughs and Giggles

You gotta love a good game night with friends!
Tonight we played Lost in Translation, a very fun game.
This game is similar to the old school Telephone.

Everyone gets enough blank pieces of paper that you have one for every person playing plus one piece extra. For example, tonight we had 9 people playing, so everyone had 10 pieces of paper.
You start out thinking up a phrase and write it on your first piece of paper. Once everyone's ready, everyone passes their stack of papers with the phrase on top either to the right or left. The next person draws a picture showing the phrase on the next piece of paper. When everyone's finished drawing their pictures, pass the stack again and this time you try to figure out the phrase the person was illustrating. You keep passing. Keep alternating phrase, picture, phrase. End on creating a phrase. The change in the phrase and the pictures are sometimes hilarious!

Here's the funniest round tonight that I started...

The phrase I began with was There's a frog in my throat! I think the first picture was great. Clearly, it is illustrating a frog in the little girl's throat. And in case there's any confusion, she drew the water with the lily pad.

The next person also figured out that the phrase involved having a frog in your throat. The next person drew a lovely illustration of someone panicking about the frog in their throat.



This is where the phrase gets out of hand (and funny)! It changes to Aliens invading my body.

And then it changes again to An alien runs into Barbara Walters.

Finally it ended with Aliens on TV.


What a change! I love seeing everyone's interpretations and how the phrases evolve. Definitely recommend this game for any game night!



On a side note... the Oreo Pudding dessert was a HUGE hit! I left tonight with an empty pan.

A Few Favorites

No papers to grade tonight. Hooray! That means a little me time. Here are a few of my favorite browsing sites when I have some precious free time...


1.  Scholastic Top Teaching Blogs

Like, like, LIKE! These blogs are great, in my teacher opinion, because they give multitudes of ideas for the classroom. They are also written by teachers who are still in the classroom, not sitting behind a desk reminiscing about their past classroom experiences.

2.  www.worksheetworks.com

This is a great website that shares maps, graphic organizers, printable Math games, puzzles, and charts, and lots of extra practice. At the beginning of each unit, I check this site out to see if there will be anything useful for my lesson planning.

3.  www.superteacherworksheets.com

This is another great lesson planning helper. This site has great holiday ideas and extras. It also has lots of extra practice ideas, and I really like the comprehension passages, articles and poems. I really like that this site does not just have printables, it also has ideas to supplement some of my units.

4.  www.enchantedlearning.com

What a blessing that my school district has an account to this website. I like its encyclopedia-esque explorers and inventors pages. It also has neat fill-in-the-blank maps and charts, cloze activities, and much more.