Five for Friday: July 1st

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for another Five for Friday!

Last week was really busy with creating for the classroom, so this week was a little more focused on relaxing.

 I made the best find ever at Five Below this week! Check out my giant foam dice!

I am so excited to use these in the classroom next year! I am thinking about making a giant 120 chart mat for some math floor games. I think it would go perfectly with these giant dice!

 Next up, I have been working on some new phonics resources!

We use a phonics notebook daily in my classroom, but I wanted a way to make it more engaging for the kids, so I started making some interactive notebook sets.

So far, I have made sets for letter ID/sounds, CVC words, digraphs, r-controlled vowels, beginning blends, and ending blends. The goal is to have the rest of first grade phonics targets done by the end of the summer.

I am really enjoying them so far, I especially like printing them on bright paper so I can make my example notebooks!

I recently spent some time organizing the closet in my office, so all of the colored paper was easy to find!

Is it bad that I sometimes just stand in the doorway and look at the pretty paper? :)

 I recently started a free trial of Audible. I'm not usually a big fan of audio books, but they were offering 3 months and 3 books free, so I figured I'd give it a try.

The first book I got is one that I have been wanting to read for ages!

I plan on starting it this weekend, maybe another beach trip is in order?

 I have been spending more time outside lately. One of my favorite things to do is go for a walk around the lake by my apartment.

About half of the trail is out in the open, but the back is in a very shady area with lots of trees. It is a very peaceful place to walk. I've even seen otters in the lake!

This was taken as the sun was rising. I think it is one of my favorite pictures I have evern taken!

Last up, my sweet Maggie just had her 11th birthday!

Naturally, being a teacher's cat, her birthday presents were Dr. Seuss cat toys. :)

She quite enjoyed Thing 1 and Thing 2, but the mouse in the hat was her favorite!

She liked it so much that she was willing to dive under the entertainment center when she accidentally knocked it under. That doesn't happen... ever. I have the piles of toys under multiple pieces of furniture to prove it! :)

That's it for this Five for Friday! Thanks for stopping by!