Five For Friday- It's May!

Happy Friday!  I am linking up with Kacey from Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday! Thank you for always hosting this, Kacey. I love it.

I had such a wonderful time meeting and learning from Dr. Jean this past week.  She put on the best Professional Development workshop for our district on Friday afternoon.  There was just a JOY in the room that hasn't been there at other PD workshops.  It was fantastic.  I posted about it HERE!

(My sweet teaching buddies and me with Dr. Jean in Tooty Ta mode!) 

                                   
Friday night I was lucky enough to get to go to  dinner with her and three other friends.  We had such a great time. I, of course, have no pictures because I didn't want to be so annoying, star-struck, needy, rude- you pick. But I will never forget it.  It's like the olden days when we had memories in our heads and not on the phone.

 On Saturday, she put on such a fun concert for our Kids' Book Fest, took pictures with the kids, and signed their books.
                                      

I love the faces!

If you haven't had a chance to see her or go to a conference she puts on, GO! You will just be a better teacher- because she makes you feel like what we are doing- singing, finger plays, dancing, telling stories, AGE APPROPRIATE activities- are the right things.  The children are not only learning all the while, but they are making memories while they learn.  AND she will take one song and magically give you ten different extension activities that you can do with it.  On her website she has so many freebies that are SO wonderful!  Check out her Cheer Cards if you don't have them.  Here are a couple of  our favorites this week:

And OF COURSE the Firecracker Cheer!
                               
I had used some of her cheers, but somehow some of them escaped me! Not anymore- we are cheering up a storm!

Next is... GO NOODLE!  I posted about my love for it HERE.  It's a FREE brain break site that offers calming, energizing, and focusing brain breaks. They include Olympic Track and Field events, Youtube video dances, sing-a-long songs, Zumba, yoga, calming activities, plus more.   
                                  

Your class chooses a Class Champ Mascot, and each time you complete 15 minutes of brain breaks, he goes into a transformer machine and grows.  It is magical.  

                                      
The children try so hard to do their best, concentrate, run fast, or sing along- because I may have told them that they think they may earn more points if they all participate and do their best.  Magical.  

They are twisting to warm up for the long jump!

Here is one little movement Youtube video that my kids love.  I complimented one little guy on his very fast feet, and all of a sudden I had 34 VERY FAST FEET dancing away.  Magical.  

Cleaning up to Happy-  Magical.

Sometimes this time of year, you need a little magic!

                                                             

I wrote a post about practicing recognizing and writing sentences, AND using periods correctly. We had lots of fun, learned a lot, and only ate 6 mini m&m's in the process. Not too bad!

Angela, from The Cornerstone shared such a great tip, that I can't stop thinking about it.  If a child answers with, "I don't know," she said that one simple phrase can get a child talking.  You just say, "If you did know, what would you say?"  This takes the pressure off of the child, and let's him/her answer without worrying about being right or wrong.  I loved it!  She also give some other possible responses.
I just want to remember that tip! And I also want to remember that it's OK not to know sometimes, and I just have to say, "Well, you don't know YET.  Let's find out!"  There may be a thing or two I don't know, so it's even good for adults.

My fifth one is just a sweet moment.  This morning after morning work, these little guys finished up, got a book, and decided to go into housekeeping for a quiet spot to read together.

I wish some day, when they were all retired guys meeting for coffee at a diner, I could send this to them and say, "Remember when!"  (My one little guy wouldn't even stop reading for the picture. It must have been a great book!)  This picture also made me smile and take a moment to think how FAR everyone has come this year. Sometimes we get so busy trying to get them to learn more and more, we forget to enjoy that part.

Have a wonderful weekend! Happy Friday!