Balloons or Bust...{And Other Randomness!}

We are down to seventeen days until the end of the year, and it has been pretty smooth sailing. With PASS testing behind us, it is time to wrap things up and finish strong. I wanted to do something super motivating to keep our last few weeks...well...peaceful...and then I saw THIS idea on Pinterest....everywhere! It was like a message from above! 

I do not even have a clue where this idea originated, but my WORD, it is genius! Kudos! For Real! If you missed this idea filled with awesomeness on Pinterest, here is how it works. Basically, you place activities inside the balloons to countdown the last few weeks/days of school. I have definitely made this a motivational tool for my kiddos by waiting until the end of the day to pop our balloon. May I add that we only pop a ballon if our work is complete and our behavior is in tact! :) The class gets to participate in the "activity" the next day. 

The activities inside the balloons can be super easy and free. We may or may not be making a Harlem Shake video as one of our activities! :) I made a schedule of activities ahead of time so that they could occur in the order that I selected. {Type A much?!?} Then I numbered the balloons so that they would be popped in the correct order as well. This way, I know ahead of time how to prepare. 

They could hardly WAIT to get to the end of today. Seriously their behavior and work ethic was spot-on...All. Day. Long! Then, I chose my team leader to pop our first balloon.

Tomorrow, we have a chair swap and the students can sit anywhere they'd like for the day. They were beyond excited because I rarely allow them to select their seating arrangement. I know this is only day one, but if it keeps working so well, next year you may see 180 balloons hanging from my ceiling! ;) 

In other news...we have finally moved on from PASS! PTL. Last week, the students worked so hard. Check out our cute treats from our K-2 friends...

They turned out so cute and the youngsters did an excellent job. Now that this is behind us, we are moving on to bigger and better things. 

This week, we have been working on letters to our pen pals who have been patiently waiting since we had to set this aside until after testing. Today, we were finally able to publish. We used a little subway art from my Desire to Inspire pack as our stationary.

We have also been mapping out our futures with one of the activities in my Summer Writing Bundle. I love the innocence of kids! Some of their dreams and ambitions have almost made me cry! AND...they are very serious about their plans! Beyond precious! 

One of my sweet girls is going to be a financial analyst with a "majors" in mathematics. Oh...and she will marry a gentleman! It doesn't get much better than that folks! 

Today we also found some time to add a few things to our time capsules. 

I love that by the time this sweetie is in 6th grade, she will be a millionaire! :) I always tell them to dream big! :) 

These activities have been the perfect way to start winding down on our year. It makes me sad to let my sweet loves go, but it also makes me proud that they have such high aspirations for their future. I have no doubt that they will do amazing things! #proudteacher :) 

Happy Monday, friends! xoxo