Friday, March 28, 2014

Five for Friday with doodle bugs & it's Spring Break!

I am linking up with doodle bugs once again! Spring break has finally arrived and I couldn't be more excited. This winter seems to have gone on FOREVER!! This is my week in pictures....
I have been working so hard on finishing this pack for my Kinder kiddos. It has everything I need for my Spring work stations that hit the CCSS....beginning/ending sounds, blends, word families, prepositions, syllables, long/short vowels, numbers galore (sequencing, odd/even, ten frames, number bonds, tallies), sequencing, telling time, and decomposing numbers. Lots to explore and utilize for fun learning!! Check it out in my TpT shop!

Living in the Midwest has made for a very long winter. Still not getting much time outside has made for lots of baking with my boys =) We got 5 inches just this week! Mother Nature must have not gotten the memo that Spring is here =)

I am very happy that I have two more weeks of Extension activities to make before I have finished the series. WOOT WOOT! It has been like running a marathon and I am almost at the finish line =)

I found this cute little number on Pinterest and they came out so cute! Great way to incorporate more addition into the curriculum in a fun way.

At last.....this will be my view for the next week. Ahhhh! I am so excited! My husband said that there is no laptop coming on this trip for me to do work....little does he know that I have this extra pocket in the suitcase that it will go =)



Have a great weekend!




Friday, March 21, 2014

Five for Friday with doodle bugs!

I am linking up with doodle bugs for her Five for Friday! So happy the weekend is almost here and Spring Break will be in one more week! Woot Woot! Here is my week in pictures.....
I am so excited!!! I just ordered this and it should be on my door step when I get home today. DeeDee Wills recommended it and I am sure it will be a keeper!
We are talking about transportation in our reading selections this week. I had the kids use my web brainstorming page to think of the various types of transportation they have used or could think of after reading our books. They then had to choose when to focus on. We will be writing more extensive passages next week about their selections and sharing them with the class.
I know St. Pats has passed but I still had many of the materials I made for the Unit to share with the kids! We practiced our digraphs by matching the pictures with their corresponding digraph and then writing them out. We also matched ten frames with numbers and wrote the tallies.  The other station pictured here is the use of prepositions. The kids had to pull a card, match the letter from 'leprechaun', and then follow the directions. For instance, they had to draw a shamrock under the rainbow.
We continued our Seuss Unit and read "Fox in Socks" and "Horton Hears a Who". The kids cut out Horton, wrote his saying and then we added the speck of dust to it. They turned out cute =) I am going to have more chances to do these fine motor activities next year when we are going all day/every day.
My biggest project I completed was the extension activities I create for our reading program that we use in class. I have one more to go and I feel like I have run a marathon. They are very time consuming to make but they really engage the kiddos and it is enjoyable too.

Have a wonderful weekend!!





Friday, March 14, 2014

Five for Friday: March 14th Linky Party

I am linking up with doodle bugs for her weekly linky party. Here is my week in pictures!
We were animal detectives this week as we researched various animals and their habitats. The kids used my template to come up with various animals to draw and then write each corresponding habitat on the line. We then used these to help us answer our detective question words. The kids did a great job!
We continued our Dr. Seuss studies and read several of his books.  This is from "Oh, The Places You Will Go!". They added their names to the title, used wall paper to make their colorful balloons and then answered the writing prompt of what they wanted to be when they grew up!
We also read "The Cat in the Hat" and wrote about what we would do if Thing One and Thing Two arrived at our house. I was laughing so hard at some of their responses but impressed with their writing. I had a hard time choosing which ones I was going to post =)
  





This is some of the morning work stations that I have created for my kinders. We practiced some shamrock rhyming and word family activities. Also, we are starting long 'i' words and future verb tenses! Can you believe it?! If you are interested in any of these activities, you can find them in my TpT shop =)


My boys having their daily wrestling match. It's hard to get out with another snow day this week! So glad it is only a couple of more weeks until Spring Break! If only the weather would cooperate!
Have a great weekend!








Friday, March 7, 2014

It's finally Friday and the sun is shining!!

It's been a long week....we had conferences on Tuesday night which makes the week seem that much longer... but the sun is shining and we are almost at 50 degrees. I actually have my classroom window open to smell the fresh air. It's glorious!! I am teaming up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for her Five For Friday and feel so thankful that she does this every week. I love reading about everyone's week.
I am so glad that I finished my literacy pack for our reading program before the weekend. We are going to be learning about adjectives, long 'a' sounds, and opinion writing. My Kindergarteners have a lot to learn before we finish the year yet!

                                                 
We have been talking about animals in our Unit Study with the focus on pets this week. The kids had to use the brainstorming web to generate ideas about pets they would like or have in their homes. They then chose one to make an animal card and write a fact about in their journals.

We have been doing a lot with rhyming and word families. I like these boards from Learning Resources that were specifically made for word families. The kids look at them as little puzzles and think they are fun games. Win Win!

It's that time of year....Seuss celebrations! We read "One Fish Two Fish" and "The Lorax" this week. The kids had a blast using their hand prints to make the trees and pom poms for the truffula trees before writing how they could help the Earth (writing prompt page is on seusstastic blogspot).
My middle son, who is in second grade, was treated to dinner with mom all by himself. With two other brothers, he was in his glory having all of the focus on him for a change. His choice was Longhorn's with a trip to target and ice cream from McDonald's to cap it off! We have to watch those middle kiddos, don't we? =)
Have a great weekend!!