Five for Friday- Happy Valentine's Day!

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

 

This week, all 3 1/2 days of it, I have very random, sweet moments to share, since it is Valentine's Day.   Here we go with Sweet #1.



Yesterday, we had the fastest Valentine Party on record.  It was sad, though, because Valentine's Day is my favorite party- always. Hands down.  Favorite.  The children are just so precious, carefully opening each card and thanking friends, playing some fun games, and eating a special snack.  It is usually calm, peaceful, easy, and so much fun. 

Well, thanks to Pax, or whatever the storm's name is this time, our school let out early.  We are low on snow days, so we went in and dismissed, basically.  Meanwhile, THE PARTY! That was the only thing on every little mind, as it should be.  Don't you remember reading into every Valentine that said, "Be mine," or "Cute as a button,"  as...  "He loves me and thinks I am beautiful!!!" ? Maybe it was just me.   

As soon as we were told that we were dismissing early, we had exactly 20 minutes to "party" which consisted of  setting up for and eating our special Valentine snack, opening and enjoying  the Valentines, packing up for home, and washing up for lunch.  :(  I felt like I was in fast motion trying to run around and help the children read their cards and make each one special. 

Meanwhile, the snow was coming down hard and steady outside, and everyone was thinking of the hill they needed to drive up to get home.  Well, not everyone. The kids were wondering if they could eat every single piece of candy they found in their Valentine bag. 

We all got home safe and sound.  The children were thrilled with their Valentines, and all is well.

This little "Valentine" made me laugh, because all year, six children have been sitting at each table, except for one table which has five.  So, the kids started calling the spot at that table where nobody sat "Elmer's spot" after we read Elmer the Elephant, and the kids fell in love with him.  Every day during attendance, someone says, "Elmer isn't here," or "Elmer didn't finish his paper," if I accidentally put a paper at that spot. It is funny every. single. time. when you are five.   So, when Leah was handing out her Valentine candy, I found this one:

We taped it up on the wall for him, in case he ever shows up. 

It is really funny, because  last year we got all ready for a new little girl to come to our class, and she never ended up coming. I will call her "Sarah."  So, all year, the kids kept saying "Sarah isn't here," or "Sarah didn't finish..."  just to be funny.  So in the beginning of THIS year, one of my little girls from last year came running into my room and said, "Guess what?! Sarah is finally  here and she is in my class!"  She really, actually was!   If Elmer the Elephant shows up, I will be sure to let you all know.

 

After we finished reading  Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch (my favorite Valentine story to read), we had a wonderful discussion about what love is- or what the children thought love is.   I printed out the verse from 1 Corinthians 13 (from my favorite book!), and read part of it to introduce some new vocabulary words about love.  We talked about what it meant to be patient, kind, envious, jealous, and forgiving. I shared some mistakes that I have made-which the children LOVED to hear- and how Mr. Kisloski forgives me, and says, "That's ok!" (Like when I backed into the snow bank trying to back out of our driveway, and he had to shovel me out... and he didn't yell, "YOU ARE THE WORST BACKER OUTER EVER!" but he just said, "OK. Maybe you could try to use your mirrors." Aww. I stink at backing up for some reason.) and finally at the end, I said to the children, "Love never gives up."  To which one of my little guys said, "WELLLL... sometimes love gives up."  Oh my gosh- he said it so knowingly.  (His parents are happily married, by the way, so I am wondering where this deep knowledge is coming from.) So then, one of my little girls said, "NO- Love always keeps trying."   It was one of those sweet, precious moments.

It sounds like a wonderful movie line, but I think it comes from this part of our Writing Prezi that I use a lot as a reminder, because I have a couple little ones who are very quick to say, "I can't do this," and try to give up.

There will be no giving up in my room, apparently!

If you would like my Primary Writing Prezi , just click on the picture below.

Morning glory update: 

This was the morning that it was -19 outside.  It feels a tiny bit more like spring in my classroom with these happy little sprouts!



Do you think my mother is loved in my classroom?  She reads with one or two children at a time during our center time, and as my group was busy working, I glanced over and saw this:

He was reading one second, then snuggling right in the next.  

 

Finally, the artist that we learned about this week was Georges Seurat.
I found these great pictures from Therapy Fun Zone  that worked perfectly for our Seurat paintings to show the children what pointillism is.  You can download the pdf  at the site.

 

 

 Our little poem to remember Seurat is, "Seurat, Seurat, he painted with a dot."

 

  (I know he is French, so it isn't a hard "t"- but I also know that I never forget that he painted with a dot because I remember it this way. )

The children can mix colors or have the dots close to each other, so they see how the primary colors blend to create secondary colors.  

Anyway, as the children were painting I heard, "Seurat, Seurat, he painted with a q-tip."  So...  whatever.   They finally did get it, though, and then did not stop saying it all day long. Now they will remember him!

 

My Discovering Great Artists Prezi at my TPT store.  Here is the post I wrote all about Great Artists at PreK and K Sharing if you would like to see some other simple artwork to help children learn about great artists. 

Tomorrow we are off to watch my daughter Emily swim in her last college swim competition ever.  Wow- did that time fly!  We need to do some shoveling before then if we think we are going anywhere.

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day! Thank you for stopping by!

Valentine Fun

I just wanted to share a few quick Valentine things today.  

My favorite Valentine book to share with my class is Somebody Loves Your, Mr. Hatch, by Eileen Spinelli.

The children always love this story, and really seem to understand it. You can just see the empathy in the kids' faces as you read it.
If you aren't familiar with the story, here is a really quick synopsis.

Mr. Hatch had no friends.  He was sad and stuck to his lonely routine every day.

 

One day, the postman delivered a box to Mr. Hatch, with a note that read, "Somebody loves you. "

 

This note and gift changed his whole outlook on life. He was happy, started talking to and helping people, and making friends.

 

The postman returned and sadly explained that he had delivered the gift to the wrong address.

 

Mr. Hatch again felt that nobody loved him, and he was all alone.  (This is where my class said, "It's a CIRCLE story!"  But I told them that it wasn't over yet! ) 

 

The neighborhood people had come to love Mr. Hatch because they finally got to know him.  They missed the happy, friendly Mr. Hatch who they had come to know.  They thought of all the kind things Mr. Hatch had done for them, and decided to do something to let Mr. Hatch know that he really was loved.

That weekend when Mr.  Hatch went out to sweep his porch as he usually did, he was greeted with the happiest surprise he had ever seen- and he knew that he truly was loved. 

The illustrations and expressions are so much fun to look at.  The coloring  is great, too, because we noticed how the pages where Mr. Hatch is sad are dark and not colorful, but when he is feeling better and more hopeful, the pages have more bright color. 

We had a wonderful sharing time about what small things we could do for people to let them know that we appreciate them.  We talked about how sometimes people who seem sad may be feeling like they have no friends, and may just not know how to let us see the happy person they can be.

I had the children share what they think love is.  Then, I told the children that I have a favorite book that taught me some important things about what love is. I had copied off and read some parts of 1 Corinthians 13 about love. We talked about what it means to be patient and kind. We learned what the words envy and boast mean, and how that isn't a loving way to act.  We talked about how love is thinking about other people, not getting mad easily, and forgiving others when they make mistakes. 

We also made some fun and easy  Valentines. 

First, I had the children learn to trace and cut half a heart on a fold of graph paper.  After they cut the heart, they colored in the squares with glitter crayons.  When it was done, they glued it onto a  piece of construction paper to make a Valentine. 

This is an easy little activity- but not all that quick, because I really encourage the children to take their time and color neatly.  We started it today, and will finish the design tomorrow for morning work.  If you have bigger graph paper, they wouldn't take so long to finish.  If you have smaller graph paper, you could be busy for a week!

 

I also love marble painting.  We make spider webs in fall,  flowers and butterflies in spring, and these hearts for Valentine's Day.  We sprinkled on a little glitter after the painting- just because glitter makes everything just that much better.  

I had the children write a note on the inside of the card to tell mom and dad, or whomever it was for, why they love them, and to thank them for something.  The cards turned out so sweet.

 

That's it!  I just wanted to share in case you were looking for a quick little activity to do in all of your spare time!  :) 

 

Thank you for stopping by!

 

 

 



Five For Friday

I am linking up with Kacey from Doodle Bugs Teaching my favorite linky party...

Here we go!  

I just finished updating and organizing my Primary Writing Prezi so I like it better.  It is free at my TPT store if you would like it!   I love to have it up on the Smartboard during Writer's Workshop (or is it Writers' Workshop?  Or just  Writers Workshop?) writing.  I use it to review editing, letter formation, story starter ideas, lots of things. 

YEARS ago when my children were little, one of them got a Doodle a Day Daily Calendar for Christmas.  I saved the Valentine doodles for years.

This year, I enlarged them and made a simple drawing book for my class, which they have loved.  Plus, they get to use the glitter crayons- so... 

If you would like a copy of my little drawing book, click on the picture below!

We planted morning glories in our classroom this week. I look forward to planting these all year long and could not wait another day. 

Here is my post about my morning glories.  Apparently, the groundhog was angry that I was rushing spring, and thought it would be funny to send a foot of snow day after we planted these. Luckily, the seeds are warm inside the classroom and don't care one bit about the snow. I, however, am pretty much DONE with the snow. (This was first thing in the morning... it snowed more during the day!)

 

The happy side of the foot of snow was a FABULOUS snow day! I even exercised. :) I know!  I was so excited about that, that I made cookies.  I know. :(  It was sort of my husbands fault idea, because we were smelling this candle that is on the stove, and talking about how it didn't really smell like chocolate chip cookies, and then he felt like chocolate chip cookies, and I am such a good wife, so...

I caught up on my Joyce Meyer Enjoying Everyday Life, which I LOVE- and we watched Swamp People and Gold Rush, in cozy sweatpants, with a blanket, on the couch.  Oh yeah, and Jeff and Matt shoveled. I offered, but we only have two shovels, so...that was another reason for the cookies.

Finally, I am so excited to share my Discovering Great Artists Prezi with you.
I put together a simple biography, samples of artwork, and links/videos if available for ten different artists.

       

I posted all about the art activities that I do with my class to teach them about different artists at my post on Pre-K and K Sharing.  The children love learning about the different artists.  My activities are very simple- and are either independent centers or a rotation during Free Choice time, so they don't take one moment away from the "Common Core,"  but instead give the children a glimpse into a new world of art, provide new experiences, and add yet another layer to their world.

Have a cozy, sunny, wonderful weekend!  Thank you for stopping by!

                             

Discovering Great Artists

Today I posted all about Discovering Great Artists at Pre-K and K Sharing.

 I shared the simple art activities that I use to teach children about the eight artists below, as well as these little information sheets to go with each artist.

I am so excited that I finished my new Discovering Great Artists Prezi, and I want to share it with you!

You can click on the button below to go to my post at PreK and K Sharing! 

 

Have a FABULOUS day!



Morning Glories in the Classroom

I've updated this post and you can find it HERE!  :) Thank you for stopping by!