Summer Lovin'

I know, I know... our poor little blog has really been neglected. Every time I think to work on a new post I get distracted, and I'm sure you would too if you had a four month old at home.  But I'm vowing myself (because this is my little escape) and to you that I will give this blog a bit more lovin' from now on! [Aaaaand I hope that the other sisters will too!]

Speaking of my four month old... how did she get so "old"??? This has been the best summer of my life. I LOVE spending time with this little girl, who wouldn't? Just look at how precious she is...

She has learned to roll over, both ways. She loves bath time and jumps like a manic in her jumperoo. [It's hysterical.] She hates red lights and stop signs and makes it known! Now, we are patiently waiting for her first laugh, she's sooooo close. Every day is a new adventure.

Our little family has taken two road trips this summer. We headed to Missouri the day after school got out for my sister-in-law's wedding. Surprisingly, a 13 hour car ride with a baby went well. She slept the whole way- there and back! The wedding was beautiful, it was at an outdoor venue in a nature preserve. The view was breathtaking... and so was the bride!

We also ventured to northern Michigan for the 4th, where my family has a lake house. We brought Jack with us on this trip, poor guy gets stuck in the back.

We decided, in addition to all the lake fun, that we would hold the first annual 4th of July Olympics.  We planned 5 events.... all silly and for ages 5-75. We split up our family into 3 teams, 8 people to a team. Team Red, Team White, and Team Blue. [Pretty clever, aye?] It was an absolute blast! Once the events were over we counted up the points and handed out the medals.

I've also done A LOT of shopping this summer. We are remodeling our kitchen and I found my inspiration at Marshalls. It's perfect! Now we just need to get all our contractors lined up.

I've had a little bit of time to squeeze in some work on a new unit for the fall. PUMPKINS. One of my favorites of fall. The sisters and I make a day dedicated to everything pumpkins: reading, writing, math, and science. So I decided that our activities, lessons, and worksheets needed an overhaul.  You can check out our latest product here.

Sister 1 got married this summer! Maybe if you show some love she'll share about her special day...

-Sister 3-

Compare and Contrast

This week is all about comparing and contrasting. The kids are digging it!

Yesterday we read, Who Would Win? Hippo vs Rhino. If you have never seen these books, let me tell you... they are a crowd pleaser. Especially with the boys!

After we learned all about these two gigantic mammals we completed a venn diagram sort. You can grab it here! 

Today we compared Goldilocks and the Three Bears with Dusty Locks and the Three Bears. We watched this YouTube clip...

...then read this story...

After watching the clip and listening to the story we completed another sort. You can also print a copy of this worksheet from here!

Tomorrow we will be be completing a double bubble map with a classmate. We will be finding 3 things that are the same and three things that are different.  We are going to be using a very generic map, you can grab it here! 

Lots of comparing and contrasting fun!

-Sister 3-

7 days left...

Where did this school year go? It's been a crazy one for the sisters and I. But we wouldn't have wanted it any other way... a baby and an upcoming wedding! Two of the best blessings on earth.

My class loves seeing pictures of my little sweetie pie. Since my mom watches her during the day she tries to come up with "fun" photos to send to the kids. This is the latest...

... yes ... that's my 2 month old with a sucker! Don't worry, grandma took it away BUT not until after she let her take one lick.

tooooo sour for a little baby girl, lol

I don't know about you but our kiddies are tested out. These poor kids have reading, writing, and math assessments that sometimes seem like they are never ending. We've really gotten our money's worth from these bad boys. 

When I started grading the math assessments I found quite a few kids who decided to write in their own answers. Seriously?????

We've been trying to squeeze in the last unit of social studies in between the end of the year assessments and festivities. Today we whipped up this little three branches of government "tree" map. 

We also watched a few short YouTube clips. Here's our favorite! 

We are doing our best to fit in some activities from our Groovy Government unit... we need to remember to start this unit earlier next year so we can take full advantage of this pack! 

We hope you are enjoying your last few days of this school year! 

-Sister 3-

Shower, Graphs, Custard and Bounce Houses!

End of the year craziness is in full swing!

Sister 2 and I hosted a bridal shower for Sister 1 on Tuesday. We had an ice cream sundae bar...it was a huge hit. She loves hockey and the Red Wings. When we were out shopping for her gifts we found a Stanley Cup popcorn popper, we couldn't resist!

We have a few more units to get too but the kids are checking out and I have to admit... so are we! We've been really drilling subtraction with regrouping. We've also been working on graphing. It's one of my favorite units!

It's getting harder and harder to get the kids to focus on learning. Especially because today was our end of the year celebration [even though we go until June 12!].

We had a frozen custard firetruck swing by today!

We also had 5 bounces houses, obstacle courses, and slides!

Why did I wear a dress today?!? I would have totally raced the kids in the obstacle course!

We also had yearbook signing. We couldn't have asked for a better afternoon.

It's time to head home and snuggle my little girl... who's 2 MONTHS old. Ugh, how is it possible??? Time's going by tooooo fast.

-Sister 3-

Subtraction with Regrouping

Subtraction with regrouping is one of the hardest concepts for our students to grasp. They get so mixed up and try to regroup like they did in addition. Does anyone else have this problem??? We knew we needed to do something to help them understand why and how we regroup in subtraction!

We teach our kids 4 strategies. We start with base ten blocks. We have them work with a partner to practice different problems. They build the numbers and manipulate the blocks to come up with the answer. We also have them write about the problem and explain the steps they do in order to solve it. We've learned that this is the best way to start our unit!

After they have a handle on the base ten blocks. We move to the open number line.  This is the easiest strategies for students.

The next strategy we work on is decomposing, we won't lie.... this is the most challenging. I kind of dread this one! BUT it's so important.

Finally, we get to the algorithm.  The kids think they are so cool when they finally learn this! They think they are "big kids."  After all the strategies they truly have a deeper understanding of subtraction with regrouping.

We made some worksheets that require the student to complete all 4 strategies with the same problem. You can grab one of them here!

We will be finishing up our subtraction unit this week!

-Sister 3-

Hello.. is anyone still out there?

OHHH MY! We are terrible bloggers... we've been MIA for a while now. Let's get caught up on what we've been up to.

I've officially been back to school for a week now. Coming back from maternity leave is HARD. Leaving my precious baby everyday is so difficult but I know she's in good hands, my mom's hands. So she's being spoiled - that's for sure!

Sister 1 has been busy planning her wedding and is building a new house! Sister 2 and I have been planning her school bridal shower for May 20.

Baseball season has started for Sister 2. With her 3 boys she's been running from game to game.

And at school...

I came back to a busy week. We had our field day... which made the transition easier. You can't go wrong with an afternoon of fun!

We finished our poetry unit last week. One of my favorite poems is the shape poem. We have the students pick anything they want and create it out of construction paper. They glue it all other on a piece of white and then write words or phrases that describe it along its edges.

Another favorite is the Haiku.

After we create a handful of poems we put them all into a poetry folder. The student's each get to pick their favorite poem and practice reading it for our poetry party.

Last year our "Afternoon of Poetry" was such a hit that we decided to host "A Morning of Poetry" this year. We invite all the parents, have each student read their best poem, and then celebrate with snacks. It's a ton of fun!

We are going to try and be better about updating this blog sooooo if you're still out there, THANK YOU for not abandoning us and please check back soon!

-Sister 3-

It's a Girl!!

It's official... I'm a mommy. My beautiful baby girl was born March 19th! She is absolutely perfect. :) We are both doing great and enjoying spending all day snuggling. Words can't even describe how in love with her we are.

-Sister 3-