Five for Friday: Goodies from the week!

This was my fortune in my cookie this week. Couldn't agree with it more and it serves as a daily reminder. I took a pic so I wouldn't forget!

We've had so much going on this week that we will be celebrating 100 days over a couple of days. LOL! I made a few activities to do in class. I gave the kids the dotters and they made 10 dots in 10 squares while reviewing our counting skills.

I'm sure you have seen the aging photo booth on the internet and Pinterest. I have to say that most kids found it funny. I think it bothered some but we talked about how age changes our bodies and this was NOT how they were going to look. It is just a fun app. =) They glued their two pictures on the front and then wrote about what they will be doing when they are 100.

"I will sit in a wheel chair. I will have grandchildren. I will live in a nursing home."

We have been studying arctic animals for the past several weeks. Our Guiding Readers this week was from"Ice Bear". It is an informational text that tells all about polar bears. We learned that their skin is really black and that their hairs are hollow making them look white. Kids were given black construction paper with white chalk to blend in. They came out really great!

I finally finished my Differentiated Text Evidence pack for Arctic Animals since we finished our unit. I always have the kids do the activities to make sure they all work well. They did a fabulous job. I think you will find a lot of great information in teaching your kids about the walrus, polar bear, narwhal, and penguin. There are three reading levels per animal to meet the needs of your kids as well as a fun 'label the parts' for each animal. I've posted it in my shop and it will be on sale through Sunday (along with some other goodies too). Click on the link below!

 Differentiated Text Evidence Passages for Arctic Animals

I have really been struggling with behaviors in my classroom. I adore each kiddo in my room...I seriously do. However, when you mix some of these personalities, it gets a little crazy. I spent all of last weekend making these. We are working on being kind, listening, working hard, raising hands, and cleaning up. If they are struggling then they flip the card. At the end of the day, we will in the daily check in cards that they take home. A parent signature is required each night. It has made a difference this week. I hope these will be great anecdotal notes for my files too =)

We've been fighting some germs in our house this week. The amount of work that goes into preparing for a sub is insane but finding subs has been incredibly hard too =(

 Trying to strengthen those bellies back....

 Happy to finally get out of the house early in the morning. I had to actually capture the moment! 

Have a good weekend!

Five for Friday: Writing, Wonka, & Penguins

Lol! This is so true! I use every second of my day without taking a lunch since I have to take my kids to the sitter in the morning and pick him up after school. I'm on a fixed schedule =)

We finished up our Martin Luther King, Jr. study with writing about our own dreams. This was a great opportunity to review speech and thought bubbles in our writing as well. I loved the one that said he wished it was summer again. Yeah...me too =)

Our district started our second annual One District, One Book (ODOB). This year we are studying "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". Kids went on a scavenger hunt to find our basket of books and one lucky kiddo found a gold ticket in her book so she won a purple top hat. They were very excited!

We studied penguins inside and out this week. We made an anchor chart, talked about the parts of the penguin, made a life cycle flip book, and much more. You can check out all of the goodies in my penguin pack that I just posted. Lots of interactive and differentiated fun for everyone. 

Penguin life cycle: Interactive and Differentiated

I love to hear my kinders read! Here is my friends reading her flip book to me!

On of my favorite things on a Monday is to hear about what everyone did over the weekend. It is a great way to ease ourselves back into the work week. I am so happy with how well their writing is getting!

How come the short weeks seem so long? LOL! I've been fighting a cold but still trying to get my runs in as I'm signing up with a group of friends for a local Half Marathon. It's the day after we get out of school for summer. A great way to celebrate!

 I'm ready for Spring Break and warmer weather. How about you?

Have a great weekend!

Five for Friday: Executive Functioning, arctic animals, & a FREEBIE!

 

Woohoo! So excited for the long weekend!!!

 

We read "Snow Dance" and made our own pics of catching snowflakes on our tongues. We discussed perspective and how you see things at different angles and distances. I was impressed with how well they did. I only had a couple that added eyes but they actually looked like nostrils. LOL! We then turned it into a math activity as well adding the number of snowflakes in the air plus the ones on our tongue. They created their own addition problems based on their pictures.

 

We couldn't finish the week without studying MLK, Jr. I made an interactive book for the kids to do that highlighted his life events.  They really enjoyed them =)

 

One of my birthday gifts I received was a year subscription to iFit. On my new treadmill, there is a screen and it has Google maps. The iFit app allows me to choose routes that they have designed all over the world. During these cold winter month in Ohio, I love being able to see the palm trees of Honolulu. I have also ran in Mexico, Amsterdam, and Hilton Head this week.  So cool!

 

We have been reading an "Arctic Animals" poem all week so I started creating some text evidence packs that are differentiated to learn about some of the animals. Here is a FREEBIE to teach your kiddos about the walrus.  There are three different levels with a labeling activity as well.

FREEBIE! Arctic Animal Text Evidence pack

 

I have been participating in a couple of book studies over the past few months. This book, "Causes and Cures in the Classroom" was through my building principal. I just gave a presentation to our staff this week and thought I would share some of the highlights. It really focused on executive functioning and could apply to so many of the kids in my room. It is a quick and easy read with lots of explanations and suggestions.

I couldn't forget to add this picture. I don't know about your classrooms but ours was in serious need of some cleaning. I told the kids that we were still covering our standards of sorting and classification.  It felt good to get rid of some stuff. Nothing wrong with some spring cleaning in the middle of winter. LOL!

                                                         Have a great weekend!