Friday, April 25, 2014

Five for Friday (April 25)



HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!! I'm linking up with Doodle Bug for...
 

one- My most exciting part of the week was not at all school related. Me and the hubby went to see Lion King the musical yesterday at the Fabulous Fox Theater here in Atlanta!!!! I had heard it was great, and it certainly lived up to those reviews. The costumes and props were just breath-taking and so creative! Merry Christmas to us!




 two- This week ended our plant unit. We had already talked about plant parts and plant needs, so this week, we talked about plants in different habitats. We made an informational book that turned out ADORABLY! If you like it, you can get it for free in my TPT store.



 
three- We read Eric Carle's The Tiny Seed and made our flower to go along with it.

We drew the flower with a black crayon, and then glued on tissue paper. We glued on a lima bean at the bottom to be the aforementioned tiny seed.
 

To end the unit, my students wrote as many facts as they could think of about plants. They sure remembered a lot! This one is my favorite...I love how she spelled "nutrient!" 
 

four- Happy Earth Day! We did a lot of chatting about recycling this week and ended with this poem:
 
 
Then we made these cute flip books. Under each flap they illustrated a line of the poem.  


I found this poem on TPT (for free!)
five- My school is really trying to promote learning math facts, so we've developed the Math Olympics. It's supposed to be for 2-5 graders, but my kiddos are such math whizzes, we decided to get in on the action. Students complete a math fluency sheet in 1 minute (there's +, -, x, and /). If they correctly complete all of the problems on the first sheet, they earn a bronze medal sticker to put on the wall. Then they move to slightly harder math facts for their silver and gold "medals." They earn the last medal if they can complete the fluency test faster than an administrator. My kids have gotten really motivated to study their facts (especially since I've told them this is SECOND grade work!) and I had my first kid race an administrator today!!


That was my week! I hope you have a nice, restful weekend!

Monday, April 21, 2014

Sneak Peek at my Week (April 21)


We are standardized testing this week. Even though my kinders don't take the test, it affects our schedule and means my para-pro is gone to proctor all morning (NOOOOO!!). Somehow, we will try to carry on!

Science:

After reviewing plant parts and needs, we're going to focus on different plants that grow in different places.

Tuesday: Forests-We're going to research the layers of the forest on PebbleGo and begin an anchor chart. Then we'll begin our habitat book.


Click Here

Wednesday: Deserts-We're focusing on the cactus! After reading non-fiction books, we'll add to our anchor chart and habitat book. The best part? We're going to draw a cactus in our book and then add rice to it to look like the prickly part. Inspired by this pinterest pic:

 
Thursday: Oceans-We're focusing on kelp and phytoplankton. We're going to research a couple of websites and then make a class PPT. I found some pictures, and they have to sort the kelp from the phytoplankton, and then pick a pic of each to add to our PPT. I've never done a class PPT, so I hope it works!

Reading:

Our whole group reading is going to focus on Earth Day and recycling. We will watch a free BrainPop video on recycling (LOVE Moby and Annie!) and read some recycling books.

Our Class is Going Green!

Recycle!

 Then we will do some sorts on what items can we reused, reduced, and recycled (found in these TPT freebies):

Click Here
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We'll also do this adorable flipbook which goes along great with out science lessons about oceans, deserts, and forests (don't you love when things just work out like that!)
 
Click Here

Finally we're going to make headbands! Who doesn't love fancy, luxurious head-wear?!

Click Here
 
Math:

Testing is making our math time a little wonky, so math is short and sweet this week. We're going to be reviewing word problems and practicing addition fluency. Need a good math app to help with fluency? Try CodeSquad!!! The kids are absolutely in love with it, and up to 4 kids can play on 1 iPad. Check out this video to see how cool it is!

 


Writing:

We have been reading folk tales and fairy tales the last few weeks. This week's writing is going to focus around The Jolly Postman who delivers mail to all of the characters from these books (if you haven't read it, it's adorable!). For writing, we're going to discuss how to write things like letters and invitations.
 
The Jolly Postman

Here's a great and simple template I love using it to teach friendly letters:

Click Here

I hope my week gives you some ideas for your week! Click below to link up with your weekly plans!


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Hey! Speaking of Mrs. Wills, she, Mrs. Jump's Class, and Kreative in Kinder are hosting an AWESOME giveaway for math products! Check it out by clicking on their links below!

 


 

 
Kreative in Kinder
 

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Freebie Linky and Technical Support Needed!

I just discovered (or possibly rediscovered) a fun linky party!


Who doesn't love freebies?! Especially on tax day. My freebie is this brand new Spring and Easter Literacy Activities. It includes a write the room activity, a CVC match, and a vowel sort. 

Click to Download

BLOGGING HELP NEEDED!

My blog has a new look, but I'm not quite 100% satisfied. I think I'm in need of some blogging help!
 
You can't ignore this face, can you??   =)
 
Where (or from whom) did you get your blogging template? Any cute resources you recommend? Thanks, blogging world!!

Monday, April 14, 2014

Noooo! Spring Break...come back!

ZZZZZZZZ! That's what I wanted to do all day today! It was SO tough getting up this morning after a week of spring break! My alarm literally went off 3 times before I comprehended what it was or what I was supposed to do (I'm thankful my hubby didn't push me out of the bed!). Regardless, I think this break will give me the stamina I need to make it the next six weeks of school. Six weeks...that's it! WOW this year has flown by!

In celebration of spring and Easter, here's a free product that I hope makes your Monday a little brighter  =)  It includes a spring write the room, a spring writing template, an Easter egg CVC word and picture match, and a Easter egg short vowel sort.

Click Here to Download
I hope you can use this. Happy Monday!