Five for Friday March 18

I'm linking up with Kacey for her wonderful Five for Friday.  Thank you, Kacey!

My husband and I  just finished watching Season 4 of House of Cards this week.  W.O.W!  An episode or two of that show, and you feel so much better about any mistakes you've ever made in life- because they really don't compare.  Anyway- the  day after we finished, this was a page in one of my group's guided reading books- and I just had to smile to myself.

Here we go with Five for Friday!

Here we go!

Each year, we are so lucky to have bagpipe players come to play for us up and down the halls for St. Patrick's Day.  It's very quick- just up and down the halls- but it makes such an impression. One of my student's fathers plays. They go around to several local schools as close to St. Patrick's Day as they can.  If you know anyone who plays, they may be willing to come to your school if you ask.  The kids love it.  I do, too. 





Here is a plant update for you!  I sent home the beanstalks and the Silly Hair People with the kids on Open House night on Wednesday, so they had a better chance making it home than on the bus.  This is the growth after about a month, just to give you an idea.  HERE is my post all about Jack and the Beanstalk and the activities we did to go along with it. 

Everyone got a golden egg of their very own to go with their beanstalk.  That's why Easter is a great time to grow these!.



Here are our morning glories!  They are climbing their little hearts out.  Again, this is about a month's growth.  I am hoping they will be in full bloom for grandparent's day in May.

These ALWAYS amuse me.  When I show the kids their hair updates, I always tell a story to go along with their expressions.  They love it.   I am thinking I should have cut the top rim off the cups.  Next year...

 

Most of my girls wanted little barrettes for their hair, before they gave haircuts at home.

My class had so much fun with this activity that I wanted to share it with you.  I posted all about my Words with Friends writing and shared the book I made for it HERE.

It's a great activity for working on questions and using question marks in writing.   I work with a little girl after school who lives near me, and as we were reading we came to a question mark.  I asked her what it was, and she said, "It's just a little mystery."   I LOVED that explanation, and now I can't NOT think that every time I think of a question mark. 

Another way I like to have my students practice writing questions is whenever we write thank you notes.  I have my kids write thank you notes a lot.  Not only is it great writing practice (and they must be neat so the receiver can read it!) , but it's a life skill that so many people no longer have.  My hope is that even one or two of the kids remember our lessons about writing a thank you note when someone does something nice for you.  You can write to the band or chorus after they put on a concert, the lunch ladies if they serve a meal your class really likes a lot, the custodians for keeping the school clean, bus drivers for keeping the kids safe every day... The possibilities are endless!

This week, my kids wrote thank you notes to the leprechauns for their surprise visit!  I loved seeing them add those  question marks in the letters all by themselves. 





I wrote about some ideas I love to do to go with Good Job, Jelly Bean- and some other fun Easter activities HERE.  Here are some of the things we did that are in that post-

 This cute letter to the Easter bunny paper (with a surprise bunny tail left as a surprise!)-

These sweet little bunny necklaces-

Our bunny hats and "If I were the Easter bunny" stories-

I found these little chocolate carrots (CHEAP- Palmer chocolate, so they were only $1) that I bought to save for when we do some activities with The Carrot Seed after Easter- so go get some if you want them! The won't be around when I actually want to do my lesson with carrots after Easter.

I found these cute pictures from Miss Lee that will be great for sequencing the story.

"How to Grow a Carrot" would be a great book for the children to write using first, next, then, and last. 

I always read The Carrot Seed and Tops and Bottoms together. 

This art project from Art Projects for Kids   really shows how the root vegetables grow underground.  It would be great to use with  both these books!  Don't you love the colors?

Here is another fun activity from Along the Way!

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Thank you for stopping by!  Have a wonderful weekend!