It's allllllllmost summer!!

Can you taste it?! It's sooooooo close! {I know some of you are ALREADY out, I'm super jealous!}
I'm pretending that tomorrow is not a school day...we haven't put the kids down yet- we're living on the wild side!! {it's 8}

Also, I've been working on reservations for Ella's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese's.... I know, I know!! We went to a party there last summer {the one and only time we've been!} and she HAS NOT been able to stop talking about it. I try to suggest other fun activities...to no avail. The girl's got a strong will, I tell you.
So, Chuck E. Cheese's it is.

I also planted some succulents this weekend. They tell me they're super easy to take care of. I sure hope so...because I have the WORST luck with plants. Seriously.

I've also been day-dreaming about my summer. And what I might do with my classroom next year. I've been making a to-do list in my head and on my Pinterest account! :) So..I like to stay a little on track with my plans and make a few million to-do lists. Anyone else with me?!

I made up this little freebie pack last summer. It helped me to stay on track and not lose my summer to catching up on the Today show and reading all the books I can manage {don't worry, I'll still do that}

I'm adding these little to-do lists to the packet...so hop on over and snag them up. All of the calendars and lists are EDITABLE so for those of you with OCD...you can type in them instead of write ;) 

{click on the pictures to snag these up!}

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On the countdown!

Hey friends!

I'm reposting this fun countdown printable for the rest of the school year! I made these printables last year and we are on. the. countdown! We have 4 days left...we can hardly contain the excitement! You know the feeling, right?! Your perfectly trained kindergarteners turn into these radical almost-first graders?! As if the full moon last week wasn't enough!!

These are FREE and fit perfectly in an 8x10 frame. You just have to trim down the edges of white paper and you have an easy display! :D Click the pictures below to snag them up!

Let me know if you snag these up! I love to hear your feedback!

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5 for Friday

Happy Friday friends! I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs teaching for this week's Five for Friday! It's been a while since I've joined the fun!

 

We finished up our little worm mini- unit this week. We wrapped it up with some fun worm experiments! My kids LOVE watching the little guys move toward the side they preferred. We experimented with dark/light, vegetables/cheese, and moist/dry. So fun! 

This week we raised money for the March of Dimes. We looked all over {interest for crazy hair ideas. Ella had a vision for her hair...and I *tried* my best.. lots of pipe cleaners and hair spray! Cutie patootie!

YUM!! I was looking near the Crystal Light little packets last week and found these gems. SO good! Nice and refreshing!

We've been working on even and odd numbers this week. I made this cute little anchor chart with my kiddos. Hopefully I will post a little more on this soon!

Soooo....I got a wild hair this week. I've had my mind on next year and I REALLY want to move my classroom furniture around. I have a weird computer for my Smartboard over in a random place on the wall and it drives. me. crazy!! I thought I would move my desk over by the computer, so I tried it out one day during my conference. It was even worse than before! LOL! The desk was so heavy I could barely move it back.

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Worms! Worms!

It's my favorite week of the year!

I *might* say that a few times a year...when we get to teach something that I REALLY love teaching...the kids get into it, I get really into it, and it's just a whole lot of fun!

To be fair... we are doing 2 weeks of worms- we've been learning about recycling and composting in Science so my teammate {Hi D'Andra!} found some super fun experiments to do with worms.

Last week we read "Diary of a Worm" for our close read.

 Monday is always a "read for enjoyment" day. I have my students respond in their writing station with "I wonder questions." I really loved some of their "I wonders" this week!

"I wonder how worms breath under the ground."

"I wonder how worms make macaroni necklaces because the don't have arms because it is interesting." 

Tuesday is always vocab day.. my kids pick out the words that THEY are not familiar with. I like to guide them a little..but mostly, we go through and they choose the words. 

We came up with these definitions and then on Tuesday my students always write in their station time using a new vocabulary word (or 2, or 3!) 

 "One time I left tracks in the house. My mom got mad she told me to clean up and I did, she said thank you." From the mouths of babes, right?! ;)

"Agents do not dress up just to look cool, dressing up that is not a part of why they are important is this- they protect the president."

On Wednesday we ask text-dependent questions. My students have to go back and find the evidence for their answers. We talked about what worms eat, what happens to them if it rains, and then lots of little silly details about diary of a worm!

 

Thursday we usually work in collaborative groups- this week we worked ALL collaboratively. We just learned about fact/ opinion so I wanted to model and guide a little bit more before setting them loose to do this! Grab the sorting page HERE for free!

Friday we did this little glyph! SO cute! There is a little "find a friend" activity that goes with it to collect data about the class glyphs!

If you're looking for some extension activities or station work, I have THIS worm FREEBIE packet! 

I hope you can use it!

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Fair Share

Hi friends!

Has it been a busy week or what?! Somehow this time of year sneaks up on me and everything ends up in a whirlwind! Ella has dance recital coming up {it's a huge production...we are required to go to meetings before she can perform!} the stomach bug is STILL going around, and here in west Texas it's been a constant dust storm...lovely! ;)

We've been working on fair share this week in math. I always make a big deal about fair sharing and how the REALLY big kids are still working on division but really, it's easy peasy and that we can totally do it as kindergarteners. I mean, why scare them with such things as long division numerators and denominators all math higher than a kindergarten level.

We made an anchor chart...made up some silly motions and "teach, ok'ed" it to each other. Before I drew the candy pieces onto the anchor chart I had several friends practice fair sharing and then UNfair sharing too. They all agreed that it wouldn't be fair if Mrs. Alderson got all the candy and I didn't share it with my friend. Although, it sounds like a good plan to me! ;)

We got out our sorting mats and practiced with manipulatives. I gave several story problem situations to my students and had them practice fair sharing. "Luke has 12 bouncy balls. If he shares them with his sister, how many will Luke and his sister each have?" We tried out switching amounts of friends to share with, etc.

 

In stations, I gave my students this printable page. They did so well! 

The next day we read "The Doorbell Rang"I LOVE this book and my kids always love chiming in as we read along. I drew some silly pictures of Sam and Victoria and their friends up on the Smart Board and as we read through the second time I had students come up and practice fair sharing the cookies. After that, my kids were SO excited to make their own book to be able to read to their moms and dads at home.

Click HERE to snag up the printable pages from my newest packet- Fair Share! A Mini Unit.

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Teacher Appreciation!

Good morning you guys!

I hope your students have been showering you with appreciation this week! 
I'm popping in really quick to let you know about the TpT Teacher Appreciation sale! Woot woot! What teacher doesn't love a good sale?! lol! Click HERE to visit my store!

I just uploaded a new comprehension packet last night: "It's Almost Summer!"

My kids really have come a long way with these comprehension pages. I used to have to sit and guide them through the color codes and slowly break apart the sentences and use our strategies to read the sentences. Now they are breezing through! They know the routine but the passages and questions still make them think!

Grab the freebie page from this packet to give it a try!

Have a happy Tuesday!!

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