100 Days of Happiness!

There's just something about the 100th day of school that makes everyone happy. 

Even those upper grade teachers, who don't technically celebrate, are smiling on the inside because they know that it means we've all reached a milestone. 

100 days. 

More than half the year is over, and warmer weather will soon return. 

Don't get me wrong, I love my job, my school, and my kids, but we all understand the magic of summer. 

Just typing that word makes me happy. :) 

I've been wearing this shirt every year since my first year of teaching when my sweet friend (whose room I went to every morning to cry mentally prepare for the day ahead) made this for me and the rest of our team. I even found a picture from that year in my 100th day file and had to take a selfie with it. It's hard to believe that this was my eighth 100th day! Oh how things have changed! 

My goal this year for our 100th day was not only to celebrate the day with my kids and make them happy, but also to help them focus on other people's happiness. 

At this point in the year, they've been together a while and can become critical of each other. Tattling, arguing, "you're not my friend anymore," we all know the behaviors. So I wanted to take some time to remind them of the importance of making other people happy. 

We started our day making happy sentences and happy equations for morning work. I forgot to take a picture while I was taking attendance/lunch count/marking dismissal changes, but here is what the pages look like: 

I also issued them a challenge to collectively read 100 books in one day, which they eagerly accepted! 

It doesn't hurt that I let them use my Scentos to record their titles. :) 

I don't think we quite made it to 100, but they were proud nonetheless. 

I helped by reading 100th Day Worries, The 100th Day of School, and 100 School Days to them, which are all fabulous read alouds for your 100th day!

I also challenged them to write 100 words they could spell correctly if they visited Word Work that day.  They did a great job! 

One of my little STARS made her own 100th day crown and wore it to school. I may have to borrow her design for next year. :) 

If they chose Work on Writing, they wrote about what makes them happy now, and what they thought would make them happy in 100 years. 

"When I'm young, I play on the swings. When I'm old I will sit on a rocking chair." 

"I will be happy because I have nice friends. I will be happy because I will have good grandkids."

After Daily Five and a brain break, we brainstormed a list of things that make us happy and what makes other people happy. 

I'm in LOVE with their list. We talked about how the things that make us happy may also make other people happy, so it may be as simple as just sharing our favorite things with others. 

Then we used our list and discussion to write "How to Make Someone Happy." We are working on informational writing this quarter, so this fit in perfectly. 

And writing is always more fun when it's accompanied by a little craft. 

I decided to let them decorate their own glasses/masks, and I love how they turned out! 

It was also their idea to blacken the teeth that they have lost. :) 

Boy: "Here is how I make my parents happy. First, I will put my clothes away when I come home from school. Next, I will help Mom cook once I am done. Then, I will put the dishes away when they are clean. Last, I will give my mom and dad a big hug when I go to sleep." 

Girl: "I love to make my friends happy. First I would say, 'Would you like to be my friend?' Next I would say, 'You are an awesome friend!' Then I would say, 'Do you want to sit with me at lunch?' Last  'It was a good day to have a friend like you.'"

So. Stinkin. Sweet.

During math we reviewed place value, ten more/ten less, one more/one less, and addition with this 100th Day Happiness Mystery Picture. 

I love how she decided to color the numbers she didn't use black, which makes the smiley face really stand out! This was an awesome review of these skills for my kids. 

And of course, no 100th day would be complete without a snack. 

Teacher confession: I completely forgot about a snack until the day of, but thankfully I had GoGurts and pretzels leftover and came up with this! 

It may not be the fanciest, but they loved it, and that's what matters. :) 

I had hoped to fit in these Happy 100th Day cards to their friends, but we ran out of time. 

It's too bad the 100th day can't last the whole week! :) 

You can find all of these activities and more in my 100th Day Happiness pack on TPT! 

It's on sale all week! 

Happy 100th Day, Friends! How are you celebrating? 

  

GoNoodle Sanity Savers

If you know me at all (or if you follow me here or here), you know I'm a GoNoodle fanatic. It has changed the way I teach and provides the physical activity my kids need every day. We are happier, healthier, and smarter because of it! 

So today I'm excited to be linking up with the beautiful and talented Elizabeth from Kickin' it in Kindergarten for her GoNoodle Sanity Savers linky! 

My Favorite Brain Break: Koo Koo Kangaroo is my jam. I love their brain break videos because they are catchy and engaging and have choreographed moves that my kids can imitate. And they add new videos all the time, which is AWESOME because novelty is the key to engagement in my book. This week they released a new video called "Pop See Ko," and it is stuck in my head all.day.long. But I don't even mind! 

"Our hands are high. Our feet are low. And this is how we POP SEE KO." 

You're welcome. 

My Happy Place: There is nothing better than being at home with my family. Except maybe being on "becation" (my four year old's way of saying "vacation," which I don't plan to correct anytime soon) with my family. We spent several days in our jammies over Christmas break, and IT. WAS. PERFECT. I've now watched Frozen more times than any other movie in my life. Even more than How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, which should tell you how much I love my babies. 

My Guilty Pleasure: TV feeds my procrastination addiction. It and social media are the main reasons I am up late every night and rarely get anything accomplished. But I looooove my shows. The Bachelor (#sorrynotsorry), Grey's Anatomy, Mistresses (slightly embarrassed to admit that one), Nashville, Parenthood, all of the Kardashian shows (yup, not kidding), Modern Family, Last Man Standing, Love  it or List it, and the list goes on. 

Oh, and Friends is the best show ever made, hands down. 

I'm also a little bit of an online shopping addict. Very Jane and Zulily really know what they're doing with the daily emails filled with adorable stuff. 

Keep Calm: It's FREEZING here. I brought sweatpants to school last week to put on over my leggings for bus duty. #thestruggleisreal

Be sure to check out the other GoNoodle Sanity Savers posts on Kickin' it in Kindergarten and enter to win some fabulous GoNoodle swag!! And if you haven't seen the light and signed up for GoNoodle yet, do it NOW! :) 

Shop Away the Snow Day!

I don't know what it's like where you live, but here in Indiana it is downright FRIGID. Some of my Hoosier blogging buddies have been blessed with snow days this week, so we decided to throw a SALE to celebrate! 

As of this post, there are 131 fabulous products on sale for just $1! There is no better time to buy! 

My two newest packs and my two best sellers are included in the sale! Click on the images to check them out! 

I {heart} the 100th Day of School, and I can't wait to use this brand new pack with them! I'm really trying to encourage them to do nice things for others and try to make others happy, so I'm hoping this helps to reinforce that. Plus, who doesn't love a super cute craftivity? :)

Career Day was one of my FAVORITE days of the year last year, and I'm really looking forward to our second one this year! This unit includes math, literacy, social studies, writing, speaking, and QR codes! I'm so excited to use it this year! 

My Finish the Picture Writing Prompts are my kids' favorite! Since I have young kids (who tend to get sick a lot) and am on several teams at school that require PD, I have to get subs fairly often. I usually save these for sub days because they're so easy to use, and I know the kids do a great job with them. They ask me all the time when they get to do them again! 

Use my First Grade Parts of Speech as you're teaching each one or for review! Conjunctions are our last part of speech to teach and are on our curriculum map in February, so I'm planning to use this pack for review next month!

Be sure to check out all of the other fabulous products and get them while they're so deeply discounted! 

I'm crossing my fingers for a delay tomorrow due to these ridiculous temps. Stay warm, everyone! 

An InLinkz Link-up

January Currently!

Somehow another fabulous year has come to an end, and it's time to begin 2015!  

Here's what I've been up to today: 

Listening: At the time when I started this, my little family was hanging out in the basement, and my girls were watching Handy Manny on TV. 

Loving: I freaking love Christmas Break. Almost as much as Summer. And Spring Break is a close third. It's the best feeling in the world to be sitting in my living room snuggled up with my family in my sweatpants on a Thursday afternoon. I love me some sweatpants. 

Thinking: Alas, all good things must eventually come to an end, and I know Monday will be here before I know it. In fact, I kept having mini panic moments today thinking that today was Sunday. Yikes. A full five day week after two weeks off is never fun, but I went to school on Tuesday for a few hours to get some things done and organize my massive stack of papers I failed to file this semester, so I feel slightly more prepared. 

Wanting: I had REALLY hoped to finish a product or two over break. Or even a blog post. But I started this post around 1:30 this afternoon, and here it is now 9:20. My priority is always my family, so work takes a backseat when my babies are awake. My 14 month old is drawn to my laptop like a moth to a porch light, so there's really no getting work done when I'm home. There are still a few days left, so  we'll see how productive I can be these next few nights…

Needing: I. MUST. STOP. EATING. CRAP. Junk food has been my vice this entire school year. My name is Marissa, and I'm a hardcore stress eater. I love healthy food, but chips and cookies just taste so good. My main resolution for 2015 is to keep these items out of my shopping cart. Hopefully my bathroom scale will give me some good news in return. 

My definite YES: The second annual Spring Teacher Blogger Meet Up in French Lick, Indiana is happening the weekend of March 13-15, and I will most definitely be there. If you would also like to attend this AMAZING event, visit Holly Ehle's blog for more information. 

My Maybe: I really, really hope I can make it back to Vegas this summer for the I Teach 1st! and TPT conferences. Last year was amazing but crazy expensive. We'll see if I can make that happen…

My Wish: This wish is a total pipe dream at this point since I can't manage to even finish and post a product lately (see "Wanting" above). Most milestone sellers have at least ten times the products I have in my store, but I'll get there someday!! A big, huge thank you to all those who have supported me so far! 

Meanwhile, I'm thankful for a few more days off with my family before heading back to kick off the second semester of my eighth year of teaching!

Check out all of the other Currently posts at

Happy New Year, Friends!! :)