Teacher Appreciation Week!! BLOG HOP & FREEBIE BOOKMARK

I always love Teacher Appreciation Week at my school.  Often there are morning treats such as fruit, muffins, and juice. The last day of the week traditionally brings the staff luncheon.  Classified employees are recognized the following week usually, but we all share a lunch feast.  There will be a small gift from our principal..wonder what this year's will be? In the past it has been a staff t-shirt, a pin, reusable bag. Our district always has a gift for us as well, anything from a memory stick, reusable lunch box, bag, pin, etc. complete with our district name and logo on it.  We don't really advertize that it is Teacher Appreciation Week so our parents and students do not go hog wild on us which is really okay considering the economics of our parents. I have friends who work in districts where the PTA gives them a gift card, rolling cart, gift certificates to salons, etc.  A neighboring district uses the school's automated system and calls home letting parents know it is Teacher Appreciation week and what to bring their teachers each morning. Honestly, that is a little over kill.  I don't mind advertising it in terms of putting a notice on the school website or in the newsletter, but to tell parents what to bring is a bit much! I enjoy student notes and letters so much more than a gift card that their parents felt obligated to buy. Those notes and letters stay in my Personal Smile folder. When I need a pick me up, I open it and within seconds I am refreshed and energized enough to face the next crisis.  How does your district or school celebrate teachers?

To celebrate Teachers everywhere, I am hooking up with this fabulous Teacher Appreciation Blog Hop that was so graciously hosted by Teacher in Blue Jeans!!Thanks so much AMY!!  There are amazing products available to win and many of the sites you will visit will have freebies as well!! I can't wait!!! Isn't the graphic above amazing?!  I love 3Am clip art!! They are always so versatile! Click here for a freebie to celebrate you and all that you do for your students.

Enter through the Rafflecopter for the goodies seen below!!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Continue on The Best for the Best Teacher Appreciation Blog Hop by clicking the picture below.

The Learning Center's 100 follower giveaway!

Danielle over at the Learning Center is celebrating 100 followers on TeachersPayTeachers but her giveaway is hooked to her Facebook! She has gathered some really cool items up for grabs in her 4 pack giveaway.  My product is in Bundle 3! Good Luck!!

Ancient Civilizations and Elephant Toothpaste!

Hands on, cooperative, engaging, and learning all wrapped into one!! I love watching faces light up through exploration and engagement! This past week has been one after another of engaging learning opportunities!

Ancient Civilizations and Early Man were our focus for the week after spring break!! Students worked in their teams to create beautiful posters about their assigned Ancient Civilization.  It was a perfect refresher course for what are authentic websites and what sites are made by students or the average tourist visiting these ancient ruins.  Students really enjoyed the activities and maneuvered really well through sites that clearly were not written by historians or experts.  I was really impressed with the amount of information they were able to dig out and visually and orally inform the rest of the class about. 

Science was a blast this week as we wrapped up chemical reactions!  After learning about ancient man, students decided that we really should have called one of them Wooly Mammoth Toothpaste instead of Elephant Toothpaste due to how much one bottle kept fizzing and fizzing and fizzing!  The good ole Vinegar, Baking Soda, and Balloon on a Water Bottle was once again a class favorite.  Monday they get to clean out their cups and determine which of the 8 mystery liquids cleaned a penny the best!! Hands on science is THE ONLY way to teach and learn!! My students cheer when it is SCIENCE time! I hope they always keep that excitement and enthusiasm!