Five for Friday November 7

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. Thank you for hosting, Kacey!

I put together all of my turkey posts so they are all in one place in case you find yourself in need of a turkey idea! Never fear... 

We just made these turkey stories for the hall.  

I love doing this with my class.  The activity started out to be a "How to Make a Thanksgiving Dinner" children's recipe book when I first did this. I have changed it a little bit over the years. I start by asking the children what they are thankful for, after we have our morning lesson on being thankful. Then, I ask them what they do on Thanksgiving. Here are some questions I may ask: Do you stay at home or go somewhere? Who comes over or is at dinner with you? What do you have to eat? Who gets the turkey? Where do they get the turkey? How do they cook it? How long? How do you know when it is done? Do you do anything else special on Thanksgiving?

The turkeys go over their lockers in the hall.  I also put the stories in a Special Thanksgiving Dinner book that I send home with each child before Thanksgiving break, with their special turkey and story stapled on top. I include a note to parents explaining that I wrote down exactly what each child told me, and even read it back to each one to be sure it was what he/she wanted to say.

My friend, Leslie, who teaches across the hall made these precious heart turkeys!  I loved them and wanted to share. She had the hearts cut out, and the kids put them together. They wrote what they were thankful for on the hearts.  

You know how some people have a "Moment of Zen?"  Well, this is my "Moment of Mr. Greg," in honor of Greg Smedley.  There was absolutely no Zen in the moment, because the excitement was everywhere. I can't believe this picture wasn't a blur of movement. We were working on Mm today, so it was mustache day!

  

I took each child's picture, and they had to write, "I have a mustache." on their paper.  "I have a" are sight words, so that's great- and we practiced starting with a capital, leaving spaces between words, and then hearing the sounds in "mustache."  

They're wearing their mustaches like it's their job! 

The kids kept looking like other people to me... for example... Is he NOT Ron Swanson, from Parks and Recreation?  He even has that look in his eyes. Oh my.  

The children stuck their mustaches on their papers to get them home. They wore them for their work in the morning, and then snack came at a perfect time, so they took them off. 

I did get some mustaches from the Dollar Store, and they were so cheap, they didn't even come off the adhesive paper.  I found some at Walmart that were cheap, but not THAT cheap, and they worked great.  

Greg has these great Sentence Strip  Sight Words at his TPT store. 

And, of course, he has a set of sight words with his famous mustache in the packet that I LOVE.  These are perfect for a Write the Room, Mustache Style!



We also had lovely lips for Ll day, by the way.   Part of these fun things are just for me, I'm pretty sure.  These sweeties just make me SMILE.  Some of my little guys were out of the room for this picture.

My students sign in each day when they come into the room. We start with first names, and then as the year progresses, I have them write their first and last name.  It's fun to see the progression throughout the year as these names improve.  Sometimes, I like to change it up a little when they least expect it- and have them sign in with a sight word. Today was "like" day!  They love something a little different.  Sometimes I have them sign in with "O12345."  You just never know!  

(Spoiler alert... it was all going along without a hitch, and then when this one started to write... his "like" might have come out looking like "Jacob."  Oh well...   I took the picture at a good time. because you'd never know if I didn't open my mouth  keep writing too much, and spoil the illusion.

I just love it when my past students come back to read to my class.  This little sweetheart is in 5th grade, and has come back every year, a few times a year, to read.  What a special thing to watch your students grow.  She starts asking when she can come in September, and we keep looking forward to it until the day is here!  I take pictures for her each year. 

Thank you so much for stopping by!  Have a wonderful weekend!