Saturday, February 20, 2016

Five For Friday on Saturday!

Why did this four day week seem soooooo looonnnng? It wasn't bad. In fact, it was a lot of fun! It just seemed to be a bit draggy! Maybe it is the mid-winter if the ground hog saw his shadow why isn't it spring yet blues! As long as it is too cold to head outside, I'll link up with Doodle Bug Teaching for a little Five for Friday fun.

Did I tell you I'm having a Give Away? Consider yourself told! You can find out more about it HERE!

Wondering what to do with old calendar pictures? You know they are two beautiful to throw away, but what can you do with them to turn them into a learning tool? I've recently started to cut mine into strips to help students practice skip counting and putting words into ABC order. They have been a big hit in my room. I have so many bird calendars that I'm having them do double duty...My kiddos are learning the names of some amazing birds, and what birds aren't amazing?


Chinese New Year is coming to a close. My Owlets and I loved celebrating it's coming in and we'll celebrate its going out with a festival of lanterns. A friend of mine lived and taught n China for five years. She visited and brought many beautiful items that delighted and thrilled us. We loved dancing around with dragons over our heads. Of course we came up with a long list of words that begin like dragon and used them to decorate our own dragons.



I found the template for the head and tail HERE! You'll find a plethora of pretty cool ideas at that site to explore!
Long noodles for a long life, anyone?



Do your students like or love Mo Willems? Mine happen to love everything about the guy. So when I stumbled across Diva and Flea on a Friday night, I couldn't wait until Monday to start reading it. It is perfect for every reader in your classroom. Even if the reader happens to be seventeen years old. Ah... The joys of having my own personal chauffeur! After buying said book, my chauffeur drove me home while I happily practiced my read aloud skills. She was, my daughter who also happens to be my driver, laughing and so engaged, I almost had to stop reading. The friendship between two unlikely characters, who are really quite a bit alike, will find their way into the hearts of your youngest reader. I've already gifted this books several times. Oh, Mo...You've done it again!





I wish I had loved numbers as a first or second grader. It may have helped my math curse as I had grown older. I do a good job of hiding my disdain for math. It's probably because I've changed my thinking about math. I've changed my mindset and have come to fully love math and numbers. I've been helped tremendously by Bedtime Math. If you don't know about this website you must click HERE to check it out. I frequently read the daily Math Problem of the Day to my Owlets. The story and three questions take only five minutes at the most and are easily incorporated into a Morning Meeting.  I love the videos and ask to watch them over and over again. My kiddos love them too so they put up with my watching them again and again. Please, Bedtime Math folks, more videos, please!!
Look! They have a section just for us!!


4 comments:

  1. Ah! A new Mo Willems book? How did I not KNOW about this? My second graders absolutely LOVE Elephant & Piggie and Pigeon! Thanks so much for sharing! Am off to order it from Amazon!
    ~Jennifer
    ML code:
    Stories and Songs in Second

    ReplyDelete
  2. I can't believe he has another book!!!! I can't wait to get my hands on it! It may or may not help that we are starting a narrative unit using Knuffle Bunny. Sounds like a story about friends will fit in perfectly. Actually anything Mo will always fit in perfectly to anything I decide to do in my classroom! :)
    I LOVE the idea that at some point in my life I'm going to have a chauffeur. It'll be a nice payback for all the years that I've held that position. :)

    Thanks for sharing all this great stuff!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. My kids adore Piggie and Elephant! I'll have to get my hands on this new one.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love your idea for using old calendar pages! I'm always looking for ways to recycle things in my classroom. Great idea!

    ReplyDelete

Please give me a hoot!