Five for Friday

It's Friday! Finally. [hehe] It's time for some more Five for Friday!



Last night my boyfriend told me he signed us up for a 5K... and it's on June 8th! We hardly have anytime to train... and when I say "we" I mean me.  He's a soccer player so he's in great shape.  Me on the other hand, I love chocolate and ice cream and chips and candy.  I texted sister 1 and 2 last night and told them we are walking on prep everyday for the rest of the year! Today was day one. We walked 10 laps around our track.  We're off to a great start!

Sister 2's fridge died yesterday while she was at school.  She came home to a huge water puddle, defrosted food, and her husband saying, "Sorry to leave you with this mess." She wishes she had signed up to be the boys baseball coach instead!

Sister 1 went to the Red Wings viewing party at Cheli's Chili Bar on Wednesday! She is a big Wings fan. Unfortunately, they lost and her boyfriend was devastated. She's looking forward to spending Monday and Wednesday in Hockeytown. 

This week we were all blessed with some mother-in-law / future mother-in-law time.  Let's just say that they were all some interesting visits.

This week we were working on opinion pieces about Where The Wild Things Are. We didn't tell them to turn into the wild things.  But a few of them did.... Ahhh.

  

Let's just remember...

Story Elements and Measurement

This week we've been focusing on story elements and measuring.  Along with assessing, assessing, assessing... ohh and the occasional brain break on the playground. The weather has just been too beautiful to not go out.

For one of our story element activities we partnered the students up and gave each pair a few sticky notes and a book.  They had to partner read the story and then fill out the story elements on the sticky notes.  Then we posted them up on the front of my desk.

Measurement is one of my favorite units... I know I say that about almost everything, except regrouping! Haha but I love measurement because everyone can get up and move around.  We do a lot of, "Be the first person to find something that is 4 inches.  Find something that is 15 centimeters." It's kind of turned into a game, but I'm okay with it!

We also like to measure ourselves!  I hear them comparing the length of their shoes or hands which others.  It makes me so happy to hear, "My shoe is 1 inch longer than yours." Real life story problems! And the best part is I'm not telling them to do it!

Today we had a parent volunteer come it... I just love those days! The kids love to have their mom or dad come in and do a special project or game with them.  Today's mom took groups of four to our pod to play a measurement game.  It was the first time they played and they absolutely loved this game!  They were begging to play again.  I can't remember the name of it but what they have to do is roll dice to see which body parts to add to their character. Some of them can get pretty funny.  Then they have to measure how tall it is and compare it to the other other players.  The player with the tallest character wins the round.

See you tomorrow for Five for Friday! 

Five For Friday

We're linking up with Doodle Bugs again for Five for Friday!

1. TpT Teacher Appreciation Sale 

This linky is going to include a linky! It's a two-for-one linky party!  Check out the great things we bought  below at the TpT Teacher Appreciation Sale!

2. Mother's Day

Sister 1 did an adorable If You Give a Mom a Muffin craftivity.  She can't take credit for this idea though, she found it on TpT last year but she's getting old can't remember who to give credit too.

Sister 2 had her class make a picture of their mom out of construction paper and had them answer a questionnaire about their momma.

I had each of my kiddos make a card for their mom.  We traced our hand and cut out flowers for the hand to hold, inside they wrote a letter to their mom. 

3. Bees

This week was dedicated to bees.  We read tons of informational books including a pocket book from A-Z (told you... obsessed).  We even watched a Magic School Bus about bees.  Grab our bee freebie found here!

4. Sister 2's Son's Birthday!

Happy 7th birthday to Sister 2's baby... Boy how time flies.

5. Last but not least .... right testicle surgery! 

Yes, that's right one of Sister 1's students announced to the class that this summer he would be having surgery on his right testicle.  On that note...

Time to Catch Up!

We've had so much going on the last week.. I feel like we've been neglecting our blog!  Soooo this is your warning, this post is going to be a LONG one!

It's crunch time and we're starting to feel the pressure.  It's hard to believe we're in the final stretch and there's still SO much left to cover. I know we say this every year but seriously, where did this year go?

Last week we talked about hosting, An Afternoon of Poetry.  Our classes worked on our poetry unit for two weeks.  We didn't want their hard work to go unrecognized so we decided to invite the parents in for a poetry reading.  We called it, "An Afternoon of Poetry." Grab our invitation here!

At the start of our unit everyone made a Book of Poetry.  I'm not sure what happened to the pictures we took of them but somehow they are lost!  What we did was have the students fold a piece of construction paper in half to create a folder/book and decorate the cover.  After we completed each poem the kids slid them into their book.

The day before our poetry event each child selected their best piece of poetry to read out loud.  We did a few run throughs of the program the day before to make sure everyone was comfortable going up to the document camera to read their poem.

The day of the big event I set up a refreshment table.. I went a little overboard on the juices!  It's just so hard to judge how much you need.  Trust me, you'd rather have too much than too little!  We had rainbow cupcakes, rice crispy treats, and goldfish butterflies!

A Pinterest find!

It was such a fun, laid back afternoon.  We got lots of wonderful feedback...  The parents and kids loved it... which obviously means the teachers loved it!

We've also been covering timelines.  We were trying to think of some fun ways to teach a topic that can be dare I say.. boring.  I think you'll like what we came up with!

We started with a few simple timelines that can be found in our Timeline unit on TpT.  Here's one of them... a timeline flap book!

We also did a paper plate turn style timeline of Disney Parks.  We read a biography of Walt Disney so the kids had some background knowledge on the man who created the magic.  We also visited Disney's website to learn more about each park.  Most of them had visited Disney World before so they were pretty pumped to be doing this assignment.

One of my favorite wall displays is our timeline of pictures.  We start this in September and add all of our favorite school pictures as the year progresses.

We've also been knee deep in measurement.  We start our unit with, "Rulers are tools, not toys,"  otherwise we have helicopters, weapons, and who only knows the other things they might think of to do with them!  I bought Amy Lemons', I Can Measure! unit.  We've been having so much fun with all the activities.  Here's a look at the Measurement Garden.

This activity inspired me to make a Measurement I Spy.  You can grab it here for free!

We've also done a lot of practice measuring... I'm sure you have tons of these worksheets.  

Finally, informational text.  It's a biggie!  We started printing pocket size books from A-Z Learning and have been using them for everything, not just informational reading.  They are so cute and educational.  We needed a few grades so I whipped up this little half sheet assessment.

I foresee many more of these in the future! I can't get enough of these little books.

Telling Time

This week we have been caught up in telling time.  It's one of those topics where either they completely get it or they're completely lost.

We started with our analog and digital posters.  These posters are in our telling time unit.  These know have a permanent place on our math wall!  We also have the minutes taped around a clock next to these posters.  The kids reference these a lot.

Then we met our friend, Judy!  They love Judy... and all the Judy Jrs.  We use Judy for some intense drilling.  Repetition, repetition, repetition.  Needless to say, I'm sick of Judy!

I found these fantastic clock flashcards in the dollar bin at Target!  I had to have at least 5 sets, we broke up into groups and quizzed each other.



Then we played Around The World.  I found these two circle rugs at Walmart - super cheap.  I put them out and the first players in line have to stand on the rug and they are the only players who get to answer. We split into two teams either boys vs girls, even class numbers vs odds, birthdays, colors, you get it. We like to mix it up!  This game is a crowd pleaser.. they beg to play. 

We're chugging along!  What are some of your favorite ways to teach time?

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

Happy teacher appreciation week everyone!  Our store is 20% off May 7th and 8th.  Use the code TAD13 to get an extra 8% off.  Happy shopping!

A Day in the Life of the Sisters

Today we are linking up with our friend from Second Grade Nest!

Here's a look into our day!

We wake up between 6:30-8:00. [no no we don't live together.]  I'm ALWAYS the last one up.  I'm just not a morning person... thankfully school doesn't start until 9:00.  As soon as we get to school we make a cup of something!  Sister 1 drinks hot chocolate, Sister 2 drinks tea, and I drink my decaf.  Having a Keurig as school is AMAZING.  Then we spend some time chatting with each other and checking our email before the morning music starts.  Our school welcomes our kiddos with some upbeat music to get them pumped for the day!  Once the bell rings we take attendance.  Each class has their own office folder.  

These two cuties swear they didn't plan this! How cute are they?!?  After we settle in we go over the agenda of the day and review some of our learning objectives. 

First up is math.  This week we've been working on telling time.  My class calls our clock, Judy.  Most of them even say hi to Judy when they come in... strange? Maybe, but whatever gets them excited to tell time!  This week we're also studying time lines, so we thought why not kill two birds with one stone.  

I swear the "sharp" pail was full before school started! But after math, I always have to sharpen pencils.  I really don't know how they are all dull at the same time? Do they purposely break them just to torment me?

The rest of our morning seems to be lost because my next picture is lunch.  We hit up Subway, for the second time this week.  Don't judge. hehe

After lunch we had to take advantage of our beautiful 74 degree day!  But when we came back in, it was time to get back to business.  First we finished up a poem we had started  before lunch.  Then I went through everyones "Book of Poetry."  Each student selected their favorite poem and we did a run through of our program...  Tomorrow we are hosting, "An Afternoon of Poetry." We'll fill you in on this tomorrow!  

Next we worked on our informational research project.  The sisters and I each did it a little bit differently.  Sister 1 decided to do her research online and display it on the Smartboard.  Sister 2 is doing hers with a book.  I decided to print off a pocket book for each one of my students... tons of prep work.  I'm the crazy one!  But they all LOVE their little book on elephants. Soooo it was worth it. 

Finally, it was time for specials.  Today our class had science.  The science teacher comes to our room.  I always leave and sneak to Sister 2's room with Sister 1.  I forgot something I needed on my desk so when I snuck in to grab it I couldn't resist snapping a picture of these really cool bridges they where building.  How fun!

The sisters and I have prep last hour.  We generally spend all of it catching up preparing materials.  

Today we were busy.  I hung out with the copy machine for about a half hour.  I also hung up our pop can drive posters.  We got ready for our volunteer luncheon, Cinco de Mayo style.  We love our kindergarten teachers for making those adorable centerpieces!  Finally, after school made a few phone calls to parents.    

After school, Sister 2 had to run to all of her sons baseball practices.  3 boys, I don't know how she does it!  Sister 1 stayed late at school putting the finishing touches on the volunteer luncheon decor.  I had to scoot to the grocery store to get stuff for our "Afternoon of Poetry." Two trips later I had it all. Note to self, always make a list.  My mom and I made cupcakes, Rice Crispy treats, and a butterfly goldfish snack we found on Pinerest. We went a little over board!  We were so busy with the treats that we decided to order a calzone for dinner.   

After dinner, I took my little Bella Baby for a walk.  I couldn't get her to smile, she wasn't in the mood for a picture!  And now... the Wings are playing. It's finally time to relax.  

Phhew I'm tired!