Five for Friday!

It's Friday! We made it. There was definitely a point this week when I was not sure I was going to be able to say that! Who's with me?  But since we did make it, I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs for another round of Five for Friday!

We have been working on American Symbols.  I was lucky enough a few weeks ago to win my very own copy of  Simply Skilled in Second's Traveling Tourist Unit!  The kids (and I) have really been enjoying this Unit!

 We have also been working on weather this week as well. We just wrapped it up on Thursday. The kids did such a great job. Next week we will start learning about how to be safe in severe weather.  I'm working to finish up that unit, look for a post about it (hopefully this weekend, or Monday!)

We had a half day today for our monthly grade level planning.  We also had gym, so that took a huge chunk of the morning! Enter a productive math review...each child was given a shape template and a piece of paper. They were told that they had to make a picture, but could only use shapes from the template! Then we graphed to find the median number for shapes used.  The kids loved it and did a wonderful job! Here's a little gem from this activity.

That's my Five for Friday...more than five pictures, less than five activities!!! Hope your weekend weather sounds as great as mine (and actually holds up as projected!)

Bad blogger...

Over the past couple weeks I've fallen off with my blogging a bit.  Sorry! Life is getting a bit stressful and this  was what caused my lapse in blogging! But I'm going to really put in the effort to get on here more regularly!

So I am going to link up with Rowdy in First Grade to tell you all something good!  Make sure you check it out! This is such a great way to have a little pick me up...which I am totally ready for!

Here is something good from home:
The weather is finally cooperating on allowing some of this water to dry up.  Cannot believe all this flooding...so crazy! So it's awesome that the weather is warming up and the water is beginning the long road to receding!

Here is something good from school:
I have some of the best coworkers ever! I have worked with some of these ladies for almost five years now. They are wonderful at picking you up when you need it and sharing laughter!  It's always nice to have a great group of people to help keep each other sane ;)
We're working on a poetry unit. I brought in some awesome Jack Prelutsky poetry today and we had a blast reading some of it. It was a wonderful day to share some poetry and create some acrostic poems!

That's all I've got for now. Hope your week is going well...Friday is right around the corner!!!

Five for Friday!...Shockingly on a Saturday ;)

So I've been a little MIA this week.  I've been feeling a little blah with headaches coming and going (dang weather!). And I had my evaluation this week.  So I'm happy to say, I've made it to Friday in one piece! So in celebration of making it to Friday, I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for her weekly Five for Friday linky!

So here goes my random five things from my week...

First up, the weather. The weather has been crazy around here.  We've had snow, rain, and hail within the past few days.  We have major flooding going on here...not so fun! But the lovely part of this weather happened to be a teachable/aha moment! As we were filling in our Weather Observation Journal and discussing what hail means, it starts to hail outside! So wonderful!

As I said, the weather this week has been a rainy (snowy), awful mess.  Which as you all know means indoor recess.  Ugh...enough said there.  But I do have a question for you, what activities do you do with your students for indoor recess? It's supposed to rain some more this week and I could use some new ideas!

So after all the weather, we've needed a little pick me up.  What's better than this...

Doesn't it just look delicious? Who doesn't love a good s'more? I know we did! But we did s'mores in a cup, with a twist. Sometimes you have to earn your treat before you can eat it! So we did a little math first.

We estimated and then completed actual counts.  After that, we answered a few questions and then graphed our s'more pieces.  By this time, the kids were really wanting to eat those pieces.  Our classroom was smelling so good and they'd been putting in good work all day!  So we finished up and enjoyed our snack!

And to finish off our week, we made a class book. I found this book and knew it would be too perfect for this week! The kids loved it and it was a great way to wrap up our week.  You can find this from All Students Can Shine!

If you want your own copy of my S'mores in a Cup Graphing, go grab one for free!  I'd love a little feedback! The link is in the picture!

Hope your weekend is off to a great start! 

Five for Friday!

It's Friday...finally! Is it just me or did getting from Monday to Friday this week take longer than usual? But we did indeed make it. So, to celebrate that, I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five For Friday!

1. Like I said, longest week ever. But am I surprised? No...coming back after a two week Spring Break has the ability to be a little painful. So to ease myself back into the alarm, I promised myself a stop at my favorite coffee shop. This helped to ease the pain of the alarm a little bit!

2. This week we started learning about weather in science. The weather here has definitely lent itself to diving into a weather unit.  So far, we've completed a vocabulary read, write, and draw. We read definitions of the vocabulary, write a definition in our own words that will make it easy to remember, and then draw a corresponding picture.  We also completed one day of Weather Observation Journaling. Check out the unit by clicking the photo.

3. We also practiced using proper punctuation by completing a classroom quest.  We are loving classroom quests. They allow the kids to get up and move around while practicing and showing their knowledge of a certain skill.  This particular classroom quest is from Christina Bainbridge's TpT.  You should definitely check it out (they are called classroom hunts in her store!)

4. We have been having a hard time with subtraction. So I wanted to make something that would help my students to visualize what they are doing. Of course, I didn't take any pictures of the completed work...we were too excited once we completed them and saw how much it helped us to think about subtraction that I totally forgot. So I will share a picture of a noncompleted form! Link in picture.

5. Word Work is a favorite activity in my classroom.  So I always try to keep it fresh and exciting. So when we came back from Spring Break, I had several new things already printed, cut, and laminated for our Word Work center. A new favorite is the Noun, Verb, and Adjective Sort. I don't know if it's the bright paper I printed it on or the fact that they are really starting to grasp the difference, but my kiddos are loving this sort!

Thanks for checking out my Five for Friday.  Be sure to head over and link up!

And for those of you who stopped by and read this far...I will give the first two people to comment and leave their email a copy of the base ten subtraction!  Happy Friday!

Just blogging through...

This post will not be super long as I'm holding all the good pictures of our week for tomorrow's Five for Friday! Also, I've had an on and off headache for almost two days now...this weather is driving me crazy! But I wanted to remind everyone that Keepin' It Kool in KinderLand is having a giveaway.  It is amazing and I totally want to win!  There's some great graphics prizes to win that I totally want! There's also a second rafflecopter that has some units and such from some totally awesome bloggers. But you have to  hurry, there's less than 24 hours to enter to win!  Head over and check it out!

Hope your week is going well.  Be sure to stop back tomorrow to see what we've been doing this week!

It's A Lovely Day for a Linky or Two!!

I am taking part in two linkys today! First up...
I am linking up with Fantastically Average once again for this week's 5 for Five!

Here's how it works...Completed/Not Completed. Now let's see how I did!
1. Get to the gym at least 3 times. I'm glad that I left it at 3 times of getting to the gym.  Not sure I would've made this goal otherwise. I almost didn't make it as is!
2. Meet up with my Momma at one of our favorite lunch spots. We went out a few times, actually!
3. Create new inserts for my grades/data notebook. Just have to get some insert sleeves so I can put them in my binder!
4. Drink 6 cups of water a day. I actually did pretty well at this, but there were a few times when I did not make it to my six cups. But at least I'm aware of it!
5. Take a trip to a newly opening greenhouse. Love the greenhouse! I did  get some great prices and will definitely be going back once it warms up a bit more!

Now here are my goals for this week.
1. It's back to work this week for me. So I'm setting a goal to get to the gym twice! I am very aware of how getting back into a routine after a break/vacation can be a little rough.  So I am being a bit lax on this goal!
2. Cook at home for the week. I am hoping by making a menu, I will be able to stick to this and not spend money on take out unnecessarily!
3. Fold and put laundry away. This is the worst part of laundry. If it could just put itself away, I would have no issues with doing laundry!
4. Finish lesson plans for next week before the weekend so I don't have to complete them on the weekend!
5. Comment on at least two blogs each day! This will help me not feel so bad about checking out some blogs daily after work!

My Second linky of the post...
I am linking up with Lisa from Growing Firsties for the April Shout Outs Linky.  This one's pretty easy too! All you have to do is share one blogger/blog you enjoy that has more followers and one with less followers.  What a great way to get new followers for blogs with less followers! I came across linky when Lisa commented on my blog to let me know that my blog had been given a shout out by another blogger. How sweet of Tina at Mrs. Crofts' Classroom to share my blog! Anyways...here are my picks!

A blogger/blog that I adore that has more followers is the fabulous Christina at Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge.  I have followed her for a while and love her products.  We have used many of her hunts in our Classroom Quests (what my class calls a classroom/hallway hunt!). 

A blogger/blog that I recently came across and adore that has fewer followers is the fantastic Mr. First Grade.  There are so many awesome ideas on this blog.  You should definitely check his blog out!

Hope those of you that went back to school after Spring Break had a smooth transition back into your routine. My alarm and I are currently in a hate-hate relationship and I think it's only going to get worse tomorrow! Here's to a lovely Tuesday!

Fun with Weather!

Hello Bloggy Friends! Happy Sunday to you! I'm a little bit sad thinking about how my Spring Break has come to an end.  Today is the last day.  I feel like I accomplished so much, but that I still have so much more I want to cram in today! So I decided to blog!!!

I wanted to pop in here and share with you my very first Science Unit I have created.  I have been working on it here and there over break so that I could have it ready for my kiddos upon return. And I'm happy to say, it's done!

When we come back from break, we will be starting our Weather Through the Seasons Unit.  Before we left, my students were so excited about the fact that Spring had started (even though it did not appear that way outside)! So building upon their excitement and the fact that this is the next science concept for us to study, I can't wait to see these activities in use in my classroom.

The packet includes a weather observation journal...

There are also vocabulary posters to accompany a vocabulary activity...

You can grab a Weather Vocabulary freebie by checking out the download preview.  I hope you and your students will be able to enjoy this weather unit. Also, stop back later this week to see how we're doing with this unit in the classroom!