Five for Friday 6/7/13

I just got home and I can officially say I am on summer vacation!  Woo!!!  Before I get too settled into relaxation mode, I want to link up for Five for Friday!  So here is my top 5 of the last week :)

1. Summertime and the living is easy!
Our students' last day was yesterday and today was a work day.  I packed up my classroom in record time.  Our school was new this year so I moved in this year.  I think that helped with the clean up because I was so organized back in August (after going through all my stuff this summer).  It feels great to be home... even though it is raining.  My hubby doesn't get out of school until Monday and later today so I think a rainy day afternoon nap may be an order!

2. End of Year Perks

My kids this year were really sweet with their end of the year gifts.  Most of them didn't bring one in from home, but tried their hardest to show their thanks.  My favorite was a box of raisins :)  I did, however, get these cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake!  I have never been but I have heard wonderful things about the cupcakes.  They were delicious!!

3. My Birthday
My birthday was on Wednesday.  My husband and I aren't big gift people and I am impossible to shop for... I am allergic to most jewelry, I don't have fancy tastes, and I hate having something if I don't need it.  That makes it a bit difficult for my husband... he did a good job and got me flowers and Backstreet Boy tickets (yay!)  I also received some beautiful flowers from my best friend.  It wasn't a big birthday, but it was a good day :)

4. End of the year present
I have always tried to do something meaningful for my kids at the end of the year.  I saw this on Pinterest from The Polka-Dotted Teacher.  My kids loved it and it was super easy to make!  I made it on Tagul.  What I did to make it easier is I made a "generic" cloud with all the kids names, the size I wanted first grade to be, my name, our specials - all the stuff that applied to all of them.  Then I duplicated it to personalize each one.  It took me about an hour.  I laminated them instead of framing them to save on costs, but I think the kids will treasure them for a while.

5. American Symbols Cubes

We finished up learning about American Symbols this week.  There are 5 symbols we learn about in first grade (Statue of Liberty, American Flag, Washington Monument, Bald Eagle and Liberty Bell).  Each day, I present a different symbol with some facts we talk about and a short video clip from youtube.  Then they make a side of their cube.  It takes some time to put them together, but the kids really like their final projects.

Have a GREAT weekend!

Annie