100th day is coming!

We will be celebrating our 100th day in a week, so I'm trying to gather some new, fun activities! I plan on having my kiddos make themselves at age 100 (with cotton balls for hair) and then write about it. I usually have them roll a dice 100 times and tally which number they roll the most, some estimation activities, etc... We will also make 100th day hats and/or glasses :) gotta be festive, you know! If you have any ideas, I'd loooove to hear them :)

Let it snow! PLEASE! :)

I just cannot seem to get back into the groove ever since Christmas break. Partially because we have to do all of our winter testing (no fun). And that full moon that seemed to last ALLLLLL week this past week didn't help either. I am loving the nice weather we are having, but it does NOT feel like January at all. I have secretly been waiting and waiting for some snow days.... but since it doesn't seem like that will happen anytime in the near future, we had a snow unit at school for the past week and a half!

This is a long post! So grab a coffee and enjoy :) 

After reading some books about snowmen, we made this "Snowmen are.." chart. Always good to review adjectives :)

We learned the three states of water by observing the The Life Cycle of a Snowman. Uh, have I mentioned that I. LOVE. PINTEREST?? (this photo is not mine-from Pinterest)

I didn't do it exactly like it says in the link above... I bought Sonic ice and formed a snowman in front of my kids and put him in the skillet immediately. I turned the heat WAY up and we watched and discussed what was happening. Who knew that watching ice melt and turn to steam would be SO. COOL. The kids loooved this activity. Then I had them write what they observed and how the snowman changed. They had to determine if he was a solid, liquid or gas.

We made snowman glyphs one day. The kids had to answer questions such as, "What is your favorite snowy day activity?" "Do you like snow?" etc.

We read

and I had the kids pick any item they wanted to hide in dream snow! They had to draw it, then they got a piece of white paper to tape on top of it. They had to write 5 descriptive sentences about their item that was hidden in the snow. Then they all got up to share, and we all got to guess what was hidden. They did AWESOME! I forgot to photograph my class' writing/pictures, so here is one from Amy's class! So cute!

 It's a horse! Super cute and EASY activity to do :)

We worked on synonyms this week too. I was inspired by Pinterest yet again! We spent a few days discussing synonyms and doing some group activities, then my kiddos used paint chips to come up with three synonyms. We talked about how the words are similar, and the colors on the paint chips are similar. Then I made Synonym Snowflakes to display their work. **NOTE: Do not let your kiddos use black magic marker to write on paint chips. It smudges. Pencil would have worked juuuust fine :) I learned that the hard way!**

For my observation I did a lesson on symmetry. I (bravely) brought my iPad to start the lesson, and the kids were going nuts! :) I showed them photos of real snowflakes and we discussed what they noticed about them, which lead into talk about symmetry. I used the "mirror" in photobooth to show that symmetry is a mirror image, and they thought it was THE. COOLEST. THING. EVER! Then we made Cara's Symmetrical Snowflakes. I just LOVE how they all turned out! :) And they were all different, just like real snowflakes!

I read them a few books about snow and snowflakes and we completed this chart together, and then they did one independently:

The past three days we focused on characters (and how they change), setting, and summarizing the beginning, middle and end of a story. We read

I just love this book, and so do the kids :) We made this anchor chart together after reading the story a couple of times:

At the end of the week, we wrote directions on how to build a snowman, and made snowmen with snow paint. This was my first experience with this stuff (equal parts glue and shaving cream). I don't know if all of my kids put enough of the paint on... I really wasn't sure what to expect!! So we will see what they look like when I go in tomorrow morning :) Yet another learning experience for me!

Not gonna lie, it's gonna be a little hard going back to school tomorrow, but I am excited to teach about tolerance and MLK :) If you read this whole thing, THANK YOU :) Have a great week!



A post that has nothing to do with teaching.

First week back was really good. The kiddos settled in really well, we started our Snow and Winter unit and we did some great writing activities. I will post about them later next week!

The highlight of my week happened on our first day back. My friend Amy and I found a (very skinny) miniature Australian Shepherd during our plan time that was right near where the car riders were going to be picked up in like 15 minutes! So we took her in and put her in our closet for the last 30 minutes of the day to figure out what to do (and to keep her from getting hit by a car!) We also fed her some string cheese, which she loved. Poor baby had a collar but no tags :( I don't know if anyone knows this, but I have a mini Aussie of my own named Lulu so I fell in love instantly!! Now, Lulu is an "only child" and doesn't always like other dogs... so I was worried about bringing this one home. But Lulu LOVED her!! And they were HI-LARIOUS to watch play! Anyway... long story short, I kinda fell in love with "Lily," as my mom named her :) But in the back of our minds, hubby and I felt guilty about having someone's dog without at least trying to contact the owner. So I took her to the vet, no chip. Vet said she was a little too skinny, and her coat was not the best. We (or I) really struggled with what to do.

We were able to track down the owner (because some people at school ended up knowing the area she came from)... and they wanted her back. I guess I thought (or hoped) they would let us keep her because we would provide a really good home for her. I feel bad that this sweet baby may be going back to a home where she is left outside all the time and not fed enough. And hubby said they didn't seem all that excited about her when he dropped her off (and that she wasn't wagging her tail or excited like she was with us). So I am a little sad about this, and I just pray pray pray that she is taken care of. Sometimes doing the right thing sucks!

And the winner is....

Here are three of my winners for the Liebster Award! I am getting very irritated because blogger keeps freezing up on me, so I could only get to three blogs!!! Anyway, check 'em out :)

Little Learners

Life in the Lime

Stories From Second

Today I went up to school with my friend Amy to get stuff done. We left school pretty much as soon as the bell rang before break... meaning we did not clean up or plan anything :) We got our Snowman Unit planned out today, and I am really excited for all the fun stuff we will do! I have one more little day of freedom, and then back to my kiddos :) I wish everyone a wonderful week back!!

Happy (almost) New Year!

Sooo, I intended on posting about our Christmas Around the World unit and our Christmas party, but as I am sure you all can understand, time got away from me, and I just have felt like relaxing and not thinking about school on this (short!) break!!! I have also been very busy playing with my new toy!!

I. LOVE. IT. Enough said :)

In other news, I was awarded this! Thanks, Patricia!

I will be looking for some blogs to award this to as well! :)

Enjoy your last few days off! Have a HAPPY, FUN, and SAFE new year!

Gingerbread Week!

This week we spent time reading several versions of The Gingerbread Man! We read one book each day, and as a class we filled out a comparison anchor chart so that we could compare and contrast each story we read. The students then had their own journal to fill out each day! They did great!

We focused on characters, setting, the refrain and how the story ended. Below is our comparison anchor chart (excuse my handwriting!), and a sample of a journal page!

About a week before this unit, I sent home a blank gingerbread man for my students to disguise, because Mr. Fox was going to be lurking around the halls on Monday, looking for a treat! That day, my kiddos used this prompt, "I'm not a gingerbread man! I'm a ____!" and they proceeded to describe themselves vs. a gingerbread man. They were so stinkin' creative!

(don't you just love all the Christmas friends above??!)

We did a graphing activity. I gave each child a gingerbread cookie, and they took one bite. We graphed which part each child took a bite of! (head, left arm, right arm, left leg, right leg). Then on the back there were several graphing questions they had to answer.  

Then we did Abby's Gingerbread Science to find out what would happen if the Gingerbread Man fell into the river! The kids were so into this activity!

Here is what he looked like right when he fell in!

And after!

And to end our fun week, we made milk carton gingerbread houses! This is a VERY much anticipated activity and I don't know how many times I heard, "This is the best day EVER!" :) I always love seeing how different every house looks! And it's funny, because their houses tend to match their personalities :)

**I always use 2 milk cartons per child, and I send a note asking that each child bring 1 package of graham crackers, 1 large bag of candy, and 1 tub of icing**



I was one exhausted teacher after this activity, and I am sure my adult helpers were too! I recommend having several adults come to help for this activity! I have 6 table groups in my room, so I had one adult per table and it was fabulous! Thanks to all my helpers :)

8 more school days until break....

The Grinch!

Grinch Week was so fun!! I will definitely be doing it again next year, and it may even be a two week thing! Originally, I wanted to do a Grinch Day with my kiddos. I shared the ideas I had found through Cara  and Deanna  with my team and it turned into a whole week of fun! We decided we wanted to do a day where we all wore green and Santa hats, and the whole school wanted in on the action! It was great! Look at my sweet Assistant Principal, aka Cindy-Lou-Who!

She visited our class and was a special guest reader for our Grinch reader's theater! The kids were stoked! We practiced our reader's theater all week long, then got to share it with my friend Amy's class. They did great! This story is a great one to reinforce reading with expression!

After I read the story for the first time, I had the kids describe the Grinch. They also came up with adjectives to describe his heart at the beginning of the story, and his heart at the end.

Then they did some writing comparing the Grinch (and his heart) at the beginning and end of the story. They did an awesome job!

We talked a lot about how the Grinch had changed in the story, and what caused him to change. I was able to tie in antonyms with this. I gave each child half of a heart. On the left side of the heart was a word that described Grinch (and/or his heart) at the beginning, and on the right side of the heart was a word that described the Grinch at the end. The kids had to find a person who had the antonym to their word. They did great!

Then to assess them, I made up this antonym page. Nothin' fancy. Again, it went along with how the Grinch was at the beginning and at the end of the story. (Sorry it's a little blurry).

We worked on similies this week, too. I first read this cute book: 

Then we listened to the Grinch song. You hear a couple of similies in the song, like, "You're as cuddly as a cactus." So we brainstormed similies to describe the Grinch, and then similies to describe Cindy Lou-Who! The similies they came up with were darling!

We worked on fractions, too!

We also practiced measuring in inches and centimeters by measuring the Whos' presents! The kids worked with a buddy to measure the length and height of each gift.

At the end of the week, we ate "Grinch Grub" (basically rice krispy treats, but you use corn flakes instead, and you dye it green!), watched the cartoon Grinch movie, and made the Grinch grin!

I loved this week and can't wait to do it again next year! Off to plan our Gingerbread Week now :) Have a great weekend, friends!