Five for Friday June 6th

I am linking up with Doodlebugs Teaching for Five for Friday!

We had so much fun with this How to Draw a Castle freebie from How to Draw Funny Cartoons. 

My girls love their princesses and my boys love their army guys who protect castles- so it was fun for everyone.  I had them draw the castle for one independent center, and then we wrote a little story to go with it later in the day.

I liked this one.  I'm right there with you, Izzy!

The kids liked that writing activity so much, that I found some more ideas at Activity Village.

We had sort of a farm theme going.  The kids could draw and write about whichever animal they wanted. 

We had our Kindergarten Orientation on Friday.  This is the morning where the children coming to Kindergarten next year get to come and see the classrooms for a while, while the parents get some information about school.  This is also the morning that I realize how FAR my little ones have come in a year.  We have different table activities out (Tangrams, puzzles, the ship and castle, coloring, Legos), read some fun stories, and sing some fun songs. They ALWAYS love Tooty Ta, Bubble Gum, My Mother is a Baker- basically anything Dr. Jean is a favorite.  I also have my class make a book of some of their favorite things about Kindergarten that the new class will love.

 This is exactly what the music room looks like, with the rug and chairs.

 This is exactly what my hair looks like... actually, I paid him extra to make it long and flowing.

 This is fun even if you don't have Kindergarten Orientation, for the beginning of the year with your new class.  Plus, my kids now feel VERY important since I wrote that the book was written by "First Grade Friends."  

This is what I decided to make for Father's Day this year. (I posted about it HERE.) I wanted to keep with the candy theme like Mother's Day, so I thought of this one...

I had the kids write a book about their dad and used this as the cover.  They got to pick which color Pop Rocks they wanted for dad.  I took their picture holding the bubble letter "MY" and printed and cut it out.  They each colored the letters to match their Pop Rock package. I taped the Pop Rocks on with double sided tape. 

Today I posted all about bubble fun at Pre-K & K Sharing. It's so much fun to learn with bubbles when the weather is so beautiful.  Stop over if you get a chance and see what fun we had!

I love The Important Book.  I love to use it for learning about details and for opinion writing.

If you haven't seen it, here is a sample page. It describes something, and then focuses on what the really important thing is about that object.

This picture was a moment that sort of put all the worry about reading levels and using a period at the end of a sentence in perspective, and made me think of a page I would write in The Important Book. 

The important thing about my students is that they have sweet, kind hearts.  My students can read. They can write.  They know how to sort, add, subtract, compose and decompose numbers.  They can count to 100 by tens and ones.  They can (insert any CCSS). But the important thing about my students is that they have sweet, kind hearts.  

I am REALLY going to miss this group.  The children go until June 24, and the teachers until June 27th, so I a couple more busy weeks to go!  

Have a wonderful weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Five for Friday!

I am ready for Friday this week!  I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday.

Here are my favorites- again some school, some not.
I'll start with school! :)

1.  We had Kindergarten Orientation today for our new little buddies coming in the fall.  We had a class full of new Kindergarteners for about an hour while our Principal talked to parents about the school and programs.  In the classroom they explored, played tanagrams, puzzles, Legos, colored a picture, and sang some FAVORITE songs- Tooty Ta, My Mother is a Baker, Baby Fish, Bubble Gum... We sent home a laminated  alphabet/number placemat  with an activity idea booklet. We read a book about a sunflower.  I like this one, because I have the big book, and the children can join in reading.

We gave  the children this little poem with some sunflower seeds to plant at home.  By the time the sunflower grows, they will be ready to come to Kindergarten!

 

 

Every child received an autographed copy of A Special Friend Indeed.  Suzanne Bloom visited our district last year. 

We made different packets for everything from colors, shapes, reading and writing to tying shoes for the parents to take home and work on with their children over the summer.  I know academics are important... but I am sure hoping some shoe tying practice happens over the summer ;) or else some Velcro sneakers are on the back to school list!

 



After the little guys leave, my own class seems so "old" and mature!

 

2.  Our end of the year tests are DONE!  My class did just fine- even better than fine- and hung right in there.  During the reading test, one little boy trying to read one of the passages said, "Can we skip twice using Skippy Frog?"  Poor thing- he was just looking for words he knew.  Our math test took an H.O.U.R.   Oh my goodness. They were TROOPERS!  We managed to make it fun.  In the afternoon, my son Matt (so confusing because my son and Ellie's fiance' are both Matts! :) and his girlfriend Jaclyn came in, and  we played Number Bingo for Dollar Store Prizes. Once everyone had won a prize, I let them open them and play a while (cars, trucks, Dollar store dolls, balls...)  One of my little guys said, "This is my best day EVER." Then we sang songs and danced!    So- it had to go on my Favorite Five, too.

OK- I make it sound like a perfect afternoon- but  I left out the part about the custodian having to come into the room to clean up a mystery mess on the floor while we were all playing.  It suddenly appeared and no one knew where it came from.  Although I am still guessing it came out of someone's pant leg-????????  WHAT?!  Of COURSE Matt and Jaclyn were there then, as I was kindly asking, "Does ANYONE have to go to the bathroom?!" hint-hint-    And nobody did.  Still don't even get it!  I have to just let it go, disinfect some more, and move on! :)  SO- it was an almost perfect day.   No picture needed. I am sure you can all picture it just fine...

 

Wellll- since I went so low as to discuss the custodian's visit for a clean up - maybe I should be done with school topics.  On to different topics!  :)

 

 

3.  We had a ball at my daughter Ellie's bridal shower last Saturday!  We had a great day with friends and family -with great games, prizes, and delicious food. It was wonderful to meet Matt's extended family. His grandmother had the shower at her home and it was beautiful!   We played Match the Bride's Phrase (We had to match how we thought Ellie would finish the phrase- like "wedding __________."); Who Said It? ( where I had both Ellie and Matt's answers to a question and chose one.  People held up a wand if they thought it was  Ellie's answer,  or a mustache if they thought Matt's, , or both!); and Guess How Many Pearls in the Jar.  I had prizes from Bath and Body, frames, candles, Lindt chocolates, and just fun stuff. Can't go too wrong with those chocolates. Yum.  OH- you could also win a prize if you had a picture of Prince Charming or Matt in your sealed envelope...  the other envelopes had frog pictures inside  :).  I actually loved the idea of the homemade scratch off cards I found , but I decided to use the envelopes instead so we didn't get paint all over Matt's grandma's house- since I had never tried making the cards before and figured I would probably overdo it with the silver paint and it may make a mess!   

 

Prize

No Prize 

 

Later, my mother, sister, daughters Ellie and Emily, Ellie's friend Erika and I went to a Tuscan Cooking Class in a little Kitchen Store in our town.  This was a ball! I had no idea what to expect, but we met eight other really nice people,  had a lot of laughs- and a delicious meal. We all also realized that risotto takes FOREVER to cook and that it tastes very similar to Rice a Roni with cheese on top.  (That tells you how refined my tastes are! HA!)  The Lemon Chicken with Spinach and Wine Sauce was fabulous!

This is Ellie, me, and Emily ready for our next job cooking! I think mine was chopping the onions. It was serious business! :)  I look nervous or really ready to go!

 

 

4.  My nephew Tim is going to open his own Karate Academy in Naples, Florida!  I am SO thrilled for him and so proud of him. He has worked so hard and is an amazing teacher.    His Aunt and Uncle may need to come visit- a lot!  :)  SO EXCITING!

  

 

5.  This has been my favorite devotional for a while. I love it.

Here is today's- and I could read it every single day just as a reminder!

I am all around you, like a cocoon of Light.  My Presences with you is a promise, independent of your awareness of Me.  Many things can block this awareness, but the major culprit is worry.  My children tend to accept worry as an inescapable fact of life.  However, worry is a form of unbelief;  it is anathema to Me.  Who is in charge of your life?  If it is you, then you have good reason to worry. But if it is I, then worry is both unnecessary and counterproductive. When you start to feel anxious about something, relinquish the situation to Me. Back off a bit, redirecting your focus to Me.  I will either take care of the problem Myself or show you how to handle it.  In this world you will have problems, but you need not lose sight of Me.

I also love my Joyce Meyer! :)  I tape Enjoying Everyday Life each day and then try to catch up with them on weekends- but I am looking forward to making a better schedule this summer to enjoy the show.  I went with my parents and sister to see her conference and loved it.   By the way, it was her 70th birthday  this week. Happy Birthday, Joyce! :)

It felt like a REALLY LONG WEEK.  I fell asleep for an hour right after dinner Thursday night. What is that about?!  Happy Weekend!
Carolyn :)

PS I'd love you to stop over and share a funny school story on my Linky Party! :) THANK YOU!