I love weekends where I have absolutely NOTHING planned. This weekend was NOT one of those weekends. My oldest played another exciting game of basketball yesterday {I should also add that these games are nothing short of comical} and then we enjoyed a little family lunch in town. After lunch, I rushed home to take a little siesta and then headed to the other side of town for an auction dinner in honor of my alma mater. Y’all. Let me just tell y’all this. I left a little piece of my heart behind in high school. I mean, I wouldn’t go back to high school to save my life, but a little part of my heart sits there still. My mom works there so I get updates on the livelihood of the school all the time. When I attended, it was a private Catholic school. Now it’s a charter high school part of the public school system. It pretty much runs on donations. The principal…an alumni herself…works there FREE. Y’all…I said FREE. She has never taken a paycheck in the 6 years the school has been open. This is just a small example of how everyone involved is dedicated not just to seeing the high school succeed, but to providing our inner city kids with quality education. We watched a little video at the auction dinner last night. I *might* have had a little tear in my eye. There were some amazing statistics. My old alma mater was named one of the top high schools in the nation by Newsweek. Currently, they’re boasting a 100% graduation rate. Is that not amazing or what?! They’re a smaller high school…about 350 kids 9-12th grades. When I attended, I graduated with only 42 people in my class. There’s definitely something to be said for small schools! They’ve worked closely with NASA on different projects and the kids have even taken part in restoring artifacts for the Railroad Museum in Galveston. Nothing short of amazing. I pray that the school continues to thrive and that donations keep pouring in. There’s nothing I love more than a success story…especially for those kids!!!!! Their stories would touch your heart and leave you in tears, too!!! I had to do my part to help, of course. So I pledged a donation and bid on a few things in the silent auction. I mean, I didn’t need anyone to twist my arm 🙂 I was beyond excited to win one of those items…2 one hour massages, a GC to Smoothie King, and a little Vera Bradley bag filled with a few little consumable goodies. I do believe I need a girls day….maybe mom will wanna share this with me?!?!?! Sounds a little heavenly. AND it all went to a great cause! Anyway…that’s all I can think about today so I just had to share. Now let’s move on to what’s on tap for this week. I’ve had several requests to go back to adding my visual plans, so I hope these are helpful! This week it’s all about the Olympics and Valentine’s Day! I mean, are y’all not LOVING the Olympics?! I’m OBSESSED. Don’t forget to download the Google Doc to access the links in the plans!!!!! I do hope this was helpful and I hope y’all have a great week! Now it’s time to grocery shop and get things prepped for another busy week! I’ll be posting here tomorrow to recap our 100th day fun. I can’t wait to share it with y’all. It was SO MUCH FUN!!!! Probably the best,smoothest 100th day I’ve had in 12 years!!!
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Lee Ann Rasey says
Such amazing plans! Do you get to everything each week? Your math times seem short; do you have enough time for students to complete math center work? Are there days where your whole group time runs over and center time gets shortened? I see that you have 1 hour for specials, 30 min for lunch and then recess and you still manage time for everything!
Cara Carroll says
I definitely OVERplan. I don't always get to everything, so when I know I'm running out of time, I choose the most important activities I have planned. That way we're at least getting to everything I feel like they REALLY need, y'know?! I feel like we have a good amount of time for math…sometimes I'll cut our theme time short so that I can fit more math in. Plus, I'm always integrating math into different parts of the day, so even though my kids might not be getting direct instruction, they're getting TONS of reinforcement and spiral review during really random times. Whole group definitely runs over quite a bit and I allot myself WAY more time for math stations than I really need just for that reason. If there were only 24 more hours in every day!! HA!
Beth Zercher says
Thank you so much for posting these. I know you are busy, but I really appreciate plans being posted by another Texas teacher. I absolutely love your stuff. Thank you so much for sharing all of your hard work with us!:)
Cara Carroll says
I'm so happy to hear that this is helpful!!! Blessings to you!
Jodi says
I can't wait to get m ore 100th day ideas. And please share what you do for the Olympics!
Vickie says
I am loving the Olympics!! I would love to know more about Fine Motor Friday! 🙂
Cara Carroll says
Ah…yes 🙂 Fine motor Friday! I'll post about that next week!!! It's my kids' favorite day of the week!!!!
Kristin says
I've been hoping you'd share your visual plans with us again! Thank you for taking the time to do that. I always love looking through all of your fabulous ideas!
Cara Carroll says
So glad to hear it's helpful! Blessings!
Nellie says
I love your visual plan template- do you sell it on TPT?
Cara Carroll says
No, I sure don't…but I'd be happy to post the template here for free 🙂
jamie lee says
Thank you so much for sharing your plans! It is so helpful to me for planning and gives me great ideas for changing things up. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all you do for us teachers!
Cara Carroll says
So glad to hear that this was helpful!! Blessings!
Mrs. Wheeler says
That's truly amazing that the principal works at the high school for free. WOW!
Megan
Mrs. Wheeler's First Grade
Mrs. Wheeler's TPT
Cara Carroll says
I know!!! Now THAT'S dedication!!!!
pattybaby says
YOU.ARE.INCREDIBLE! (and cute, too) I am a retired kindergarten and first grade teacher, and now volunteer at my grandkid's Catholic school where my daughter also teaches. Beyond blessed to be able to do that and I use lots of your ideas, so beyond blessed AGAIN! Thank you.
Cara Carroll says
You are so sweet 🙂 I bet you LOVE that opportunity!!! I know my mom loves being with my boys…I'm sure she'd LOVE doing that, too!!!! Blessings to you!
Heather Bryan says
Where would I find the Thing I Love Flip book?
Cara Carroll says
You can find it on the From the Pond blog 🙂 Here's the link: http://frompond.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/is-it-time-to-move-on.html