Five for Friday April 17

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

We planted our bulbs for Mother's Day.  OK- want the ugly truth?  Well, I had the kids plant the bulbs and thought we were all set.  Then, I woke up at 2 in the morning- honestly- and thought... Did I have the kids plant the bulbs upside DOWN?! 

                                                   

 So, yeah. I did.  First thing in the morning, I flipped them all, and the kids never knew a thing.  Who does that- plants a bulb upside down?!  

I made an Earth Day Prezi that is free at my TPT store if you are looking for something to do to help celebrate and learn about Earth Day in your classroom.  I put together some of my favorite videos and games for Earth Day.  Feel free to share it!

I posted about some of the learning centers we played with this week.  Yes- PLAYED with...  cause we still play.  We read. We talk about books. We write in all sorts of genres. We compose and decompose numbers. We explore science and social studies topics.  AND we sing, dance, and PLAY.

My kids are having so much fun with the Vet Center.  They make appointments, take care of the sick pets, weigh and measure the pets, feed them, and write a report about each pet they take care of.  I love, love, love that it is so real to them.  I love authentic learning.  

Here is the little vet sheet that I made for the kids to use.  I have clip boards for them to use or just these sheets on the table so they can write about the pets they see. If you would like a copy, just click the picture below!

Here are some of the reports that I found on my desk after this little sweetheart played at the vet center.  

"Her head is bleeding.  Puttin pressure in and stitch and put on a bandaid."

"She is dying in 54321.  Use every tool in the world."

This one is pretty self explanatory...  he's fat and needs kitty liposuction. 

The Important Book, by Margaret Wise Brown is always one of my favorite books to read to and share with the children.  

 

We do a writing activity after we read the book, and I love  hearing and reading what the children think is most important about themselves.

I do not lie to my friends.  

I eat my healthy food.  (I LOVE how she spelled it hell-thee.)

I am funny. 

My brother is my favorite kid in history.  

I updated my writing prompt for this book if you would like a copy of it.  Just click the picture below.

This is one of the writing prompts in my packet of 170 writing prompts! I use them all the time. They're perfect for days when you want a writing lesson to use with a read aloud. And they are also perfect activities to leave for substitutes!

I also have a packet of Writing Prompts to go with books by eight different authors.

My kids were on the rug ready for our read aloud after centers, and I was having a quick conversation with a teacher in the room.  So, I hear the kids say, "I hope she reads the dirty book. READ THE DIRTY BOOK! READ THE DIRTY BOOK!" - like I've been reading them 50 Shades of Gray or something.  Who even knows what stories go home with the kids... I'm surprised I haven't gotten phone calls. 

Anyway, here's "The Dirty Book" that my kids love because it is MESSY!  

In this interactive and engaging read-aloud, bestselling author and award-winning artist Patrick McDonnell creates a funny, engaging, and almost perfect story about embracing life's messes.

Little Louie's story keeps getting messed up, and he's not happy about it! What's the point of telling his tale if he can't tell it perfectly? But when he stops and takes a deep breath, he realizes that everything is actually just fine, and his story is a good one--imperfections and all.

 

 

Have a happy, healthy weekend. Thank you for stopping by! 

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!