Made it Monday: Freebie!

I don't know about you, but I think making it through Monday is a fete in and of itself. Mondays in a classroom full of young people with nothing else on their minds but Halloween is crazy. If you can't beat them...and you do KNOW I mean that completely figuratively...join them!

We took a walk today to a local favorite bakery. We looked for signs of Halloween on our way. However, the sole purpose of our trip was to celebrate my birthday! No one knows how to celebrate birthdays like first and second graders! We had a great time and once we had counted thirty one pumpkins and four spiders we quit counting and played "I Spy Adjectives" for a while! Do you know how long it takes to herd a class of 1st and 2nd graders four city blocks? I didn't time it, but we almost didn't make it back in time for the dismissal bell! I was a little worried we'd be spending the night on my pull out couch together!

It was a beautiful day in West Michigan. We won't have too many more days warm enough for walks like this. The best part of our walk is crunching through the leaves of our woods.

So I really did make something to show you. I am so thankful for so many of you! Today I'm especially thankful for Barbara at Grade Onederful. She shared some cupcake liner owls on her Facebook page that I had to make. I'll make them with my class on Friday, but I couldn't wait that long! 

I was able to find many different varieties of liners at Joann's on Saturday all clearance priced.

I just used cardstock for the beak and talons. Fold and glue the wings to the middle. Fold down and glue the top. Add some wiggle eyes and glue on the beak and talons. I'm going to use my owls for some homemade Halloween cards.

Need an emergent reader and game to help you through the week? Click HERE for a fun FREEBIE! I'd love some feedback if you have the time. 

My donut of choice? Top left...Maple bacon! Donut worry, be happy!

Five for FRIDAY!

How did Friday get here so quickly? What a speedy fast week it was! This week really felt groovy...as if my class found their groove and could really feel and see all they have accomplished. I'm excited to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share five random things from my week.

When I saw this shirt at Meijers, I knew I had to have it! The bad news is, there are only six legs on the spiders!?! I didn't notice that until I got home. Oh well...

Number Two:

This is a picture from the night after the eclipse. Did you see the eclipse? I drove out of my way so I could catch a glimpse on my way to school. Doesn't this moon look spooky? I take so many pictures of the moon and they all end up looking the same...

Number Three:

Look at these three faces. I managed to get this picture on our Field Trip. I can't imagine doing anything better than teaching.

Number Four:

Here is Farmer Nancy. She is amazing. She does an amazing job teaching young people about nutrition. This is my all time favorite trip mostly because of Farmer Nancy! One of my owlets said, "I want to stay here forever!" 

Number Five:

Just about every day we get a letter or two in the mail. I'm hoping all twenty five letters will soon join! Why did I pick only six students to pose for this picture? 'Cause I only have six! Crazy, isn't it?

I love the Chicka-Chicka Boom-Boom alphabet exchange!  Thanks, Chrissy at First Grade Found Me!

I'm off for a long four day weekend! 

Five for Friday

It is a dark and stormy night. It is the kind of night to curl up and read a good book and listen to the wind whip through the tree branches and shower down bushel baskets of acorns. It is a night perfect for sharing five things from the past week. I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for (drumroll, please)

This week we celebrated our youngest classmate's birthday. No more five year olds in my first grade class. They are all more than a handful now!

These Owlets like a little chocolate cake with their green frosting! Do your girls pretend the frosting on their cupcake is LIPSTICK!? What a mess! 

#2

This little girl captured my feelings completely, as we finished globbing glue and glitter on green Gs. I mailed 25 of these to schools across the US and Canada for the Chicka-Chicka Boom-Boom alphabet exchange hosted by Chrissy at First Grade Found Me! This is my third year participating and this year my kiddos are more excited than any other class about it. We have gotten three letters and I'm expecting a full mailbox in the coming week! If you get something from the US Postal service covered in gold glitter, don't look at me. I know nothing!

#3 Applesauce is best served warm. We made a batch in a crockpot this week. I leave the peels on. I give my students each a plate, a table knife, and an apple. We halve and then quarter the apples. We add about 1/4 cup water and let it cook four or five hours before mashing it with a potato masher. We don't add sugar, but we do sprinkle on some cinnamon before we stir it up and eat it! 

I didn't have one kid turn down seconds or thirds. This pot was empty when the bell rang!

#4 we played a lot with "tricky teens" this week. Did you know that 15 is the number most often missed by young counters? True fact. To help my friends, I made this spinner game that required them to say the number correctly before they marked it on their game board/graph. They took this game home to play over the weekend, too! 

It looks like Pete the Cat is visiting today. He stepped in some strawberries and got his white shoes all red! If you would like a copy of this game click HERE! It comes with a funny book, too!

#5 My husband and I recently celebrated our 25th year anniversary. 25 years ago he stopped driving the car he had worked on with his dad when he was fifteen. My youngest daughter will turn 16 pretty soon and thinks she's getting the keys to his car since she's been working on it with him! They took it for their first spin last night. It was pretty cool to share their excitement!

I'm hoping they'll take me along next time. Would you like us to pick you up?

Waiting for Currently!! Apple Freebie!

All day long I've been planning on linking up with Farley for Currently October...where is that post!? Does she know how many of us depend on her to give us a jump start to get our blog writing engines going? I've been thinking all day about how excited I am to sit on my couch without feeling like I should be doing something else besides just sitting on the couch. Here I sit waiting for Farley's inspiration.

Are you waiting too? While you're waiting take a look at what we did today...

Can you identify the three apples we compared? As many times as I've studied apples, I still believe it is one of my favorite units of study. My readers are busy reading about apples

We're writing poetry about apples...

Apples here and apples there,

Apples apples everywhere

They hang on trees and sit in stores

We like to eat them to their very cores

We eat them sour and we eat them sweet

We think most apples are a yummy treat!

We dissected apples, compared apples, and contrasted apples. We tasted apples and graphed their seeds. 

I've looked at apples from both sides now. I have to admit that my favorite thing to do with apples is eat them!

Obviously, this kid has had too many apples!

I did say freebie in the title, but I expected you read every word in this post to find the word FREEBIE again! Here it is...I may have shared it before....but it IS newly improved!

Click on the picture below to go to TPT to snag your fee copy!! No TPT account? Leave a comment with your e-mail and I'll send it to you!

Come on FARLEY!!! We are waiting for you!!