Vistaprint and a Behavior Clip Chart Freebie

Hi all!  I’ve discovered something new…Vistaprint is dangerous!  I can waste way more time on Vistaprint than on Pinterst…there are so many choices to be made…so many options.  It’s a dangerous place for an indecisive-perfectionist (when it comes to creating things at least)!


Cynthia at 2nd Grade Pad just shared some of her creations (which you should check out!)…and she mentioned that there is a sale going on until July 10th.  There are a bunch of products you can get for free!


I’ve made several things but haven’t placed an order, after following her link and checking my cart I realized that many of my items were now free (or super close to it!). 


Here is the link she shared, there you can see the huge sale and free items available to you!  GO…but wait till you’re done reading!

Behavior Clip Chart Freebie:
Last year I used the behavior clip chart, and loved it!  Unfortunately, I just made it without a lot of thought on the proportions and it ended up pretty big.  I’ve seen several blogs mention that they made theirs on Vistaprint. Many also made theirs “double” instead of making one very wide chart, they took advantage of the space to make two charts in one small banner.  I think this helped because otherwise the chart is quite wide and unwieldy…From my understanding most teachers then cut their banner in half…they have an extra to share, or to save when the other wears out.


I wanted to have a clip chart in Spanish and then have the option for English…so I’ve made one half of the final product in Spanish and the other in English.  


If you want a Spanish/English clip chart you can use mine as a reference, or feel free to load the image directly into Vistaprint if mine works for you.  The image looks huge on googledocs, but it’s not.

**DISCLAIMER**

I haven’t oredered mine yet, I’ll probably wait until the last minute on the sale since I’ll be creating other things.  Which means, I’m not 100% certain that this is the perfect design, or how the final product will turn out.  But I thought I would share while the sale was on in case you were planning something similar.


This fit my small vertical banner well…

The final price with this sale is $4.99.  The small banner is free, but when you upload your own design there is a $4.99 charge…pretty good I think!


Vistaprint resources:
I found a linky where others shared their Vistaprint creations here:
http://theapplebasketteacher.blogspot.com/2011/07/vistaprint-linky-party.html


AND, if you’ve ever used Proteacher to find answers to your teaching questions, there is a Vistaprint group where you can stay up to date on deals.  But the best part is teachers have also shared their creations.  Check out this thread where you can find links to tons of teacher Vistaprint creations:
http://www.proteacher.net/discussions/group.php?do=discuss&group=&discussionid=3060


Do you have any Vistaprint tips?  Did you make your clip chart on Vistaprint - are you happy with it?  What size did you order? 


I would love to see your creations...comment and leave a link to your posts/albums about Vistaprint.


Cheers!
Mrs. Castro Pin It

The Evolution of a Classroom Library–Part 3…& blogger advice needed!!

Holy cow!  Today was amazingly productive!  My classroom is emerging from the boxes and chaos…there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  Students can fit in my classroom for summer school next week!  Sigh of relief!


Check out the evolution:

Beginning stages of move and library organization:

Library book sorting continued:

Bins on shelves:

A classroom emerges! (ignore all the boxes by windows…I do!

• Today I finished sorting all of the books.
• Put the books into bins – blue bins are fiction, white bins are non-fiction.
• Put labels on each bin.  These are the practice labels…I stuck multiple labels on when my bins overlapped the other labels (for example I combined Franklin and Mercer Mayer)
• Placed bins on shelves, I wasn’t sure they would fit!  They did only just!  (Once my final labels I will place the bins more strategically.)
• Made a list of all of the bin labels to make sure I don’t forget any as I finish up my blog labels.

All but 2 of my bins have holes so I think I will laminate my labels and use the 1” metal rings to hook them on.  I think I’ve changed my mind about 20 times, but this is my final decision (for now).

Left to do for classroom library:

• Finish creating my labels. 
• Laminate them. 
• Place on bins using rings.
• Create individual book labels – perhaps using an Avery label…
• Strategically place bins on shelves.

Last year I discovered a website that helped me with every aspect of my classroom set up, but especially my classroom library.  Mandy Gregory from Mandy’s Tips For Teachers had a website for teachers before her blog…I’m eternally indebted to Mandy for all her helpful tips and advice.  If you’re moving rooms, making big changes, or just starting as a teacher, you should check out her website and her blog! 


Mandy’s website with classroom library tips: http://www.tips-for-teachers.com/classroom_library1.htm

Also, my blog has hit 100+ followers.  I would like to have a giveaway soon to celebrate my wonderful followers. I’m semi-new to giveaways, and not sure how so many blogs host giveaways with so many participating teachers…any tips? I feel pretty clueless and not-in-the-know.  How do all these bloggers know what's going on all the time, and find ways to participate in everything?!?  HELP!


Thanks to all my followers old and new for your support!
Mrs. Castro



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The Evolution of a Classroom Library–Part 2

I took pictures of my progress – but frankly it’s hard to see the progress.  Somehow when organizing I make a bigger mess as I go…

Today I continued to narrow down my book categories and sort accordingly.  As I mentioned in my previous Evolution post, I used a mixture of labels from different sets I’d found online to help inspire my categories.


Today while sorting I had a very difficult time following these categories.  I have about 1,000,000,000,000 books with animal characters, and 12 mysteries at my kids levels.  Realistic Fiction isn’t so hard to find, but some books just “don’t want to be labeled”…after wasting some time visiting with my future teammate in her classroom I decided to once again follow the sage advice of Candis at I Teach Dual Language.  (If you haven’t visited her blog – you should, she knows a lot and she shares her knowledge! Teachers are great like that!)


Candis commented on my last post (apparently sensing my mounting hysteria at the thought of organizing all my fiction by category) “One idea for your miscellaneous fictions books is to group them in baskets by the author's last name. You could have a basket for Authors A-E, F-L, etc. Just tell your kids that if it is fiction and is not from one of the class's favorite authors or from a theme basket, then they have to look at the author's last name.”


So, that’s what I’ve decided to do.  I have some fiction categories that just fit with my classroom library.  Here are some of my categories for fiction:

• Easy Readers – Realistic Fiction
• Easy Readers – Fiction
• Fiction – Bears
• Fiction – Farm Animals
• Fiction – Cats & Dogs
• Early Chapter Books
• Chapter Books Mysteries
• Chapter Books Mix

Then I began organizing by last name.  It was eye-opening.  Obviously I was familiar with most of the books, but I’ll be honest and say details aren’t my thing.  While sorting the books I discovered that many of my favorite authors have written books that I didn’t immediately recognize as theirs.  I can’t think of any examples right now – but it was cool!  So often I limit my vision of an author to one famous book or character – but the best ones are able to transcend the pigeon hole and write other original pieces.


I’m looking forward to:
1. My students learning how to use the classroom library  - by keeping my library as similar as possible to the average library my students will be able to transfer their knowledge to other libraries!


2. My students discovering new authors and old authors just like I was today!  By organizing my fiction books alphabetically my students will be forced to familiarize themselves with authors names and styles!


I’m currently working on creating some labels that fit my library’s needs.  There are so many book bin labels online already but as I’m sure you’ve experienced, they have a lot of the labels you need but not all of them, or you would like to combine two of them, or split one, etc.  So, I’m working on my own set.  I’ll share them when they’re done…and you can do with them what you will.  :)


*TIP*: If you do decide to create your own bins think before you start.  I just started merrily creating mine before thinking how I would display them.  I’ve seen the labels displayed lots of different ways…I know I want mine to be durable, visible, and versatile (lots of different bin styles and sizes).


After already starting and nearly finishing the labels it occurred to me to consider this detail.  AND, would you believe it I had to redo them all because I decided I wanted to use a plastic sleeve to display them and the sleeve is 3x5 and horizontal, whereas my labels were 4x5 and vertical.  So, learn from my mistake and think before you begin working.


I want to use these self-adhesive index card pockets to display my labels:

Have you used something similar?  Any recommendations?


Here are my favorite two labels so far (labels do not include blue and red writing or arrow).  One with my favorites that I want to share.  And another with my favorites that I do not want to share. 

Happy 4th of July!  Today is my husband’s birthday – it’s like he was meant to live in this country!!!!!!!!!  We’re off to celebrate!


Cheers,
Mrs. Castro Pin It

Basic Blog Design for Dummies!

If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time you probably noticed my new design!  I am really excited because I designed the blog all by myself.
Some of you out there are very good with techy blog things, but I am definitely a beginner.  I wanted to take a minute and share some of the resources that made my blog design process a success, so other blogger newbies can feel empowered to take control of their blog.


When I first started blogging I was very intimidated by the blogger interface.  I couldn’t figure out what was going on and decided to have someone design my blog for me.  She did a lovely job and I really liked my blog’s look and layout.  There are all sorts of wonderful blog template designer people out there.  The only problem I encountered was a lack of flexibility.  (This may not be the case with every custom blog template design…)


The blog template I had purchased was customized and as such I couldn’t make changes to the template, layout or design without fearing a complete blog meltdown.  I don’t know about you, but I like to fiddle around with my blog and keep it fresh and new.  So I got frustrated and decided to try doing my own thing.


*Disclaimer* – I am not a blog design expert!  I am just sharing what worked for me. 


First – create a test blog where you can mess around and try out lots of different backgrounds, layouts and looks.  I just made mine private so nobody could witness the madness!


Next – explore the blogger interface – choose the template look that works best for you.  Don’t get hung up on color schemes…look more at the header layout, what do the tabs look like, etc.  You can change the background, fonts and colors.  In the end I chose the “Simple Template”.


Then start to play around with your new look. I tried so many different background I can’t even tell you!  I did this by opening the background in PowerPoint.  Your layout should mimic your blog – Portrait and similar dimensions.  (This is what worked for me – may not be the smartest way)  I would then save the background as a .png file – these apparently open more quickly in blogger (according to a couple different websites).  I kept my background simple because I couldn’t seem to master the layered look…


Here is a tutorial I found to help with setting up your blogger background: 

This blog has all sorts of tutorials for blogger – you should check it out if you need some guidance especially with basic HTML.  Several of the tutorials helped me!
After my background was decided I began to work on my header, sidebar titles, social media icons and more.  Here are some of the tutorials I found:



I had to play around with the different pieces of this a lot!  Be patient!  I had about 100 tabs open on my browser and created many images that did not end up working – they were too big, too small, ugly, etc.  But I got better and better at creating images and using the tools that these tutorials explained and now feel semi-confident that I could do it again in half the time!


Tutorial Websites: So, if you are looking for blogger tutorials these are the two websites that you should check out (same as from the links above just go to homepage)
http://makincuteblogs.com/ – to to Tutorials
http://www.somethingswanky.com/ – go to DIY design


Free Graphics: I also found a website with amazing graphics you can use for personal use or for your own blog design (not to sell as a template – you would need to buy the commercial license).  This lady takes pictures and somehow extracts the images to create some really cool graphics!  It’s not easy to sort through all of her stuff, but it’s worth it!  I got my thumbprint art here:
http://www.scrappincop.com/ – just start scrolling through!



Free Digital Paper (Backgrounds):If you haven't invested in digital paper yet to use as your background, you can find amazing backgrounds to download for free here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37570710@N02/collections/72157629393674335/


I hope these resources are helpful if you’re thinking about making some changes to your blog.  I truly could not have done it without them! 


Cheers,
Mrs. Castro Pin It

The Evolution of a Classroom Library–Part 1

If you read my last post you know that I am in the process of unpacking my classroom.  You may also know that I’m not a particularly talented organizer/unpacker.  BUT, since my last post I have made some headway.  I have continued the process of organizing my classroom library.


Last year I did not have a great library system.  It wasn’t particularly organized, and I didn’t work hard at training the students to use it well.  Overall I was dissatisfied with my classroom library organizational system.  It quickly became clear that if my library isn’t organized it is not a useful resource for my students.  Ergo – I am working hard to take full advantage of the classroom move to organize the library.


I asked on my FB page how you organize your classroom library and received some great comments!  I tend to agonzie when making decisions of any kind and your feedback helped me make my decision!


My classroom library is going to be organized by theme/genre/topic. instead of organizing it by levles. Why you may ask…3 reasons.


1.  I want my students to read good fit books.  BUT I want them to be able to identify good fit books in a realistic setting. 

I really liked what Candis from I Teach Dual Language had to say on the topic:
"I recommend genre/thematic and maybe favorite authors similar to what they will find in a real library. While I do recommend small group instruction should be focused at students' instructional levels, I really believe that interest plus a little bit of guidance creates ability for self-selected reading. My students made much better gains in reading when they could find books they were interested in. Plus, as you add more books and books in both languages, it is much easier for students to understand and maintain your system by topics than by levels. Just my humble opinion of course! :)"

2. As an avid reader since a young age, I never ever chose a book based on a level.  I chose books based on my interests.  While I do recognize the importance of students reading books that are at their level – I want their reading experience to be as authentic as possible.  I hope train my students to first identify their interests and then how to find a book within that interest that is at their level.


3.  Properly leveling a library takes a LONG time!  Like a REALLY LONG TIME! 
So, here is how I am going through the process of organizing my classroom library.
First, I unpacked all of the books and did a general sort.  I sorted the nonfiction books, and fiction.  I’m definitely finding the fiction books to be a bit more problematic when sorting – not nearly as clear cut as say dinosaurs or the states of matter.
Here you can see my amazingly well sorted piles!  I had a lot of fun tossing the books around the area.  Debbie Diller would be proud! 

This is the first step she employs in her Math Work Stations book – a general sort!  But as you can tell my piles were not exactly…distinguishable from each other. 


So I continued my general sort by then doing this:
*I found lots of lovely sites that shared their book bin labels.  I printed the labels and cut the ones that fit my needs.
*I gathered my piles and made fancy piles on my empty desks.  I started with the easy stuff – Arthur, Clifford, and the non-fiction piles. 

I will now need to begin more thoroughly sorting through my fiction.  I found some good book labels to give me ideas – books with animal characters, books about friendship, books about real life, books about human and animal relationships, etc.


So tomorrow I’ll continue the general sort by more thoroughly sorting my fiction.
After sorting Debbie Diller recommends purging.  I’ve been doing this throughout the sorting, but I may identify more books that are purge worthy as I label the books and book bins.


Here are the sites I used for my first round of book bin labels.  I believe I’ll eventually need to make my own but these helped me with this first round of sorting.
http://hill.troy.k12.mi.us/staff/bnewingham/myweb3/basket_labels.htm
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/62178652/Book-Basket-Labels#


If you have any tips on classroom library organization or management I would love to hear from you! I’m always open to friendly advice!


Cheers,
Mrs. Castro Pin It

Debbie Diller Chapter 2…Unpacking my classroom and a New Design!

First, I briefly want to mention Chapter 2 of Debbie Diller’s Math Work Stations – it’s quite straight-forward.
Chapter 2 of Debbie Diller has all sorts of good tips on how to organize your math manipulatives. You should read this chapter! If you’re naturally organized this chapter will be very gratifying. For example, while reading this chapter I felt like my husband was breathing down my neck – every word she said was his mantra…”A place for everything, and everything in its place”. (sigh)
Are you naturally organized?  If you are I envy you!  Long-term organization is elusive to me as a rainbow colored unicorn.  I try, I strive, I wish really hard, but I can’t seem to achieve organization.  The problem is, that I’ve moved classrooms.  My general inability to be organized transfers into my ability to pack, unpack and stay emotionally stable while involved in these activities. I’m useless. I’m frustrated! I’m whinning constantly! I resent the wealth of resources I have! I cry while driving to work! You get the picture… 
Debbie Diller says when organizing, “sometimes we’re tempted to start putting things way in another part of the room, and we get distracted” – YEP, that’s me!
Take a look at what I’m dealing with – truly the pictures don’t do it justice! I wish I knew how to take a 360° picture so you can see the chaos I’ve created in my efforts to organize!

 In the midst of unpacking it made sense to also organize my classsroom library.  So I have about 75 piles of books to sort through in addition to the general organization issues.  So this next week I’ll be busy getting ready, because…would you believe my room needs to be ready by July 9th?!  That’s when summer school starts.  Wish me luck. 

Math Corner – cool idea!

BUT REALLY, there are some good things in Chapter 2 of Debbie Diller.  What I really want to try next year is the math corner.  The math corner is “a place to store manipulatives and graphic organizers used to teach math concepts, rather than keeping them in a closet where they are out of sight…students may use a material from the math corner…”  So basically the math corner is an area in the classroom that is separate from the work stations where students can access manipulatives, organizers, math literature and such to help them during independent work.  I like this idea, because it places the control in the students’ hands.  They can choose when to use the materials and what materials will help them.  
Now I need to decide where to put said math corner…do you have a math corner?  How did you set it up/keep it organized/etc.?
Now for something totally unrelated – I’m redesigning my blog!  I want something more fun.  So take a look at what I’ve done so far…let me know what you think – too bright?  too much? 

I will try not to let unpacking and organizing my classroom prevent me from blogging and being productive in general.  So many blogs are sharing so many cool ideas and I want to be one of them…
Cheers!
Mrs. Castro Pin It

Linda Hoyt is BRILLIANT!

I am very lucky to have been able to attend a two-day literacy conference with Linda Hoyt as the one and only presenter!  Here I am with Linda Hoyt!

If you haven’t seen any of Linda’s work you need to take a look!  For the past few years I’ve been using Interactive Read Alouds in my classroom.  It’s a wonderful resource that has read alouds identified for different reading comprehension strategies, and lessons to accompany the read aloud.  It’s fantastic!  I’m not doing it justice, you should check it out!

I bought two new books.  They’re my birthday present to myself.  Isn’t that semi-sad?  But I can’t help myself…all of my jeans have holes in them but I would rather buy teacher books than clothes.  Sigh – I’m hopeless!

These are officially on my summer to-read list!
I originally wasn’t planning on buying anything but Linda Hoyt shared some truly inspiring ideas for reading and writing and I had to buy them.  HAD TO!

*********Keep Reading! *********

**There are Common Core nuggets of knowledge from Linda Hoyt herself!!**

Did you know the common core has created a list of text exemplars?
This means that for the grade levels examples of excellent text have been identified in different areas – stories, poetry, read alouds, informational text, etc.


The Common Core emphasizes that our students need to read and be exposed to complex, rich text – especially informational text.  And they’ve provided a list of examples – wasn’t that kind?!


Hoyt recommended that we familiarize ourselves with the text attributes that characterize these exemplars.  What makes them examples of excellence?  By identifying these attributes we can better identify other wonderful books, and we can teach these attributes to our students.


But we can’t stop with just reading these texts, because, according to the Common Core, writing is also of utmost importance.  Our students need to be taught to write and write well.  What better way than to study excellent works of writing!


For example, all writing has punctuation.  BUT excellent writing includes rich internal punctuation.  (I nearly jumped out of my seat with excitement at the term – she gave a name to a vague idea that I had floating around my head).  Also, by writing in clusters of three the text becomes more lyrical.  Vivid imagery is also a common characteristic of excellent writing.


See coded example:

Hoyt recommends that we study these texts with our students.  That we identify these writing attributes that make the texts great together with our students.  Then, with our students, work on creating writing with those attributes (i.e. internal punctuation, clusters of three, or vivid imagery and so many more). 


This is just one example of many.  Hoyt was able to make these attributes come alive.  She was also able to present instructional strategies that were feasible for any grade level.  Remember, I’m excited and I teach in a bilingual 1/2 classroom where nothing is easy!  I can’t wait to start teaching writing!


Hoyt shared many more strategies and ideas on reading informational text and writing informational text.  I will share them as I have a chance to reflect and read her books.


Click below for the common core list of exemplars:

Common Core Appendix B

This was ridiculously long and I commend you if you made it this far, you’re an awesome teacher!!!  I hope at the very least the link is helpful so you can hunt for the text exemplars at your grade level.

Cheers!

Mrs. Castro

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Debbie Diller Math Work Stations Chapter 1

I believe I’ve taken more naps in the past week and a half than I have in over 20 years!  I’ve never been much of a “napper”, even as a kid…but I can’t keep my eyes open lately.  BUT, this is my week of professional development and I’ve semi-emerged from my hibernation state.


I’ve finally begun reading the book I bought ages ago.  I forgot to mention when I went to the Debbie Diller conference that she signed my book…so exciting!  Check it out!  It’s like I’ve been in contact with genius! 

After going to see Debbie Diller I knew I wanted to implement her vision in my classroom, but I’ve been resisting reading professional books lately.  Now that I’ve napped a week of summer away I believe it’s time to get busy!


Here are the key points and ideas I’m pulling away from chapter 1:


*W.S. are not meant to replace a math program or curriculum – just support and extend it.


*Partners - Something D.D. really emphasized at our conference and then seen here is: W.S. are meant for groups of 2 – a.k.a. partners.  NOT groups.  Why? Increased engagement, less interpersonal requirements, easier to work as a partner then a member of a group.


*What is the teacher doing? Leading a small group, or observing students and taking anecdotal notes.  W.S. are not implemented in order for the teacher to lead small groups, that is not their purpose.  D.D. was very emphatic on this point at the conference.  Groups are important, but so is observing students in action.


*Math talk – I like that D.D. makes such a point of explicitly teaching students math vocabulary and then expecting them to use the language at the work stations.  I’m looking forward to reading more about this!


*Differentiation – D.D. briefly discusses this in this introductory chapter.  It is clear that with some planning, the W.S. are a great means for differentiating math instruction.  In a bin there may be different materials to meet the different needs of different groups, or there may be extension activities for students who can work more quickly…


*Controlled Choice – D.D. talks about allowing “just a few choices of materials or activities within a work station.”


**I am anxious to read more about D.D. work stations.  I think the idea sounds great.  I’m also anxious about the amount of time and planning that go into setting up meaningful work stations that offer the amount of differentiation and choice necessary to make them an effective use of our math time.** 

Did you use math work stations this year? Any tips you would like to share?

Tomorrow and Friday I’ll be at a Linda Hoyt conference.  I’m quite excited! 


Last week I went to an iPad training day.  It has led to my latest obsession - the Sock Puppets app. You talk/tell a story with different settings/sock puppets, and then your voice is magically changed to sound ridiculous. The mister and I cannot get enough of our sock puppet stories! Maybe I’ll share one sometime…

Cheers,
Mrs. Castro Pin It

Summer Bucket List Linky

I’m finally getting my act together and joining this linky party! You can see more bucket lists or join the linky party here at A Cupcake for the Teacher

Professional Bucket List:
1.  Organize my classroom in a super meaningful/purposeful way!  Inspirations on my Pinterest board click here!


2.  Make this amazing organizational masterpiece as seen all over Pinterest.  This particular version is from Molly at Lessons with Laughter



3.  Sort through materials and pitch whatever is no longer relevant/useful/deemed unworthy.


4.  Set up a math workstations area for my classroom…I have to paint a bookshelf that is covered in cobwebs in my parents’ basement to hold this amazing amount of learning funness!  


5.  Read Debbie Diller’s Math Workstations from cover to cover! 



6.  PLAN!!!! Next year I’m switching from bilingual 2nd grade to bilingual 1/2.  I need to meet with my teammate and plan!!!!


7.  Finish creating my Splat unit.

8.  Continue to create bilingual materials for freebies and for sale…I’ve been slacking!


Personal Bucket List:


1.  Finish the Couch to 5K running program.  I’m on week 5 now, and the runs are getting longer and I tend to psych myself out during the run – “this is boring”, “nobody will know if I stop now”, “who says running is good for you?!”, “why did I decide to do this, it’s lame”…and more.  I use an app for my android phone to keep track of my progress, there are apps for iPhones too!

2.  Participate in the Lozilu 5K Women’s Mud Run!!!!  To keep myself motivated I’m signing up for this event later this summer.  I’ll have had 2 weeks of being able to run a 5K at this point, so I think I should be up for it.  Granted everyone I know thinks I’ll get hurt considering I’m super accident prone…they’re probably going to take bets, but I will not let their negativity bring me down!  Have you done a mud run?  Looks super fun!




3.  READ!  Any recommendations?



4.  Celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary by doing something different.  With my husband studying and working it’s hard for us to get away, but I need to think of something because holy moly – 5 years!!!


That’s it for now!  I hope that this helps me stay accountable.  I am good at making lists, not always good at checking things off them, or even remembering where I placed the list to begin with!  This should help!
Cheers!
Mrs. Castro Pin It

Best Endings post and Bunnies!

First, I posted for the first time in a long time on Best Endings!  Best Endings is a great blog where you can share what books you recommend and discover new books to read.  Check it out:

Now for the bunnies…


The house where we live sat unoccupied for over a year.  This means that the yard is semi-overgrown.  Slowly but surely we’ve been chipping away at it so we don’t look like we live in a suburban jungle.  The front yard is looking pretty shnazzy right now – at least in my opinion and considering my black thumb!  I even have tomato plants, parsley, mint, and basil.  Check it out my tomato plants!  Please also note the lovely annuals – that were planted last weekend.

Really, I’m going to talk about bunnies…


Unfortunately in our zeal for improving the yard, this past week we dug out an area and discovered a bunny burrow.  There were 4 little bunnies and their neighborhood had just been destroyed!  According to the internet the mom should return in spite of our scent.  So we covered them up as best we could and waited to see if the mom came back. 


What was really awful is that while the weather had been great last week, this week it’s been cold and rainy.  We covered the little guys up with a big leaf so they wouldn’t get wet and waited…the leaf didn’t move.  Further research led to the discovery that the mom uses landmarks to find her burrow, well at bunny eye-height, everything was markedly different and we weren’t sure if she would find them…but all the research said to leave them alone.


Wednesday afternoon burrow uncovered…Friday afternoon still no mom and 2 bunnies had already died.  I felt terrible!  I cried.  I didn't know what to do.  I felt guilty that we exposed the burrow.  Then my hero of a husband went outside and put the remaining two in a box and brought them in.  We warmed them up and then did something I now regret – gave them a little bit of warm milk.  They seemed to like it. 
BUT after they warmed up I started looking for a wildlife refuge and found one.  What does it say…not to give them anything to drink, not even water.  So now I’m worried the milk will be the end of these two little guys:



In a few minutes the wildlife rehabilitation place opens so I’m hoping I can deliver the bunnies ASAP since I’m obviously a hazard to them.  Right now they’re sleeping warm and toasty in a box, in the bathroom – the only door in our old house that latches properly so these two guys don’t get them:



So there’s the latest…pray for my little bunnies.  I know there are lots of bunnies in the world, but they still seem precious and special and I desperately want them to make it!


Mrs. Castro Pin It

Survival Mode, Moving, Linky x 2

Only 2.5 days left with the kids this year!  This year has flown by, but the past few weeks I feel like I’ve been in survival mode and completely unable to to think of blogging, or creating.  I’m exhausted all the time, and in a semi-paralyzed state knowing that I need to pack up all my stuff, set up a my classroom, teach summer school, and prepare for the 1/2 classroom next year. 


I’m a terrible packer…every move we’ve ever done personally, I’ve been more of a hindrance than a help.  I’ve broken fingers, cried, and basically been a complete nuisance…so I’m absolutely DREADING packing and unpacking and all that.  Luckily, my lovely assistant is a genius when it comes to organizing and general productivity, and she has offered to help. 


On Pinterest I also found a lovely site that has all sorts of tips for packing up your classroom…I’m going to print and study this over the weekend!  Do you have to pack your room up every year?  (CRINGE!) At our school you only need to pack if you’re switching rooms or your room is being painted…I don’t think I’m meant for schools that require packing annually…I would be a hot mess!!!!


Pinspiration – click the image to go to the original site, and learn how to pack like a pro!

Onto other less emotionally terrifying things – there are all sorts of wonderful linkys going on! I've been stalking the reading ones, because I’m a book nerd.  Lately, I’ve been in a funk…I haven’t been able to find anything that can hold my attention (may have something to do with work and the dreaded move!).

For Pleasure

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness – the sequel to A Discovery of Witches.  The first book is absolutely amazing.  If you like romance, supernatural, and a well-written story then you’ll love these books!  I can’t wait for this to come out in July!



The I will probably reread this whole series, because the final installment came out and I can’t remember what’s going on!  The series is titled, The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott.  This is young-adult fiction that is somewhat similar to the Percy Jackson series because it brings ancient mythologies to life in the present.



I will definitely read other books, but at this point I don’t know what they are…I’ll be checking your blogs to be inspired!

Professional Reads

If you have any other books you recommend share away! 

I’m so glad I’m finally blogging again!  Coming soon will be my summer bucket list.  Not because you care, but hopefully by sharing it, I’ll hold myself accountable.  Moving rooms is a great opportunity for organization and I need to take advantage of it…that means I need a bucket list! 

I hope you all have a great weekend! 

Mrs. Castro

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