Five For Friday

I'm carrying around such a mixed up bag of emotions! Do I sing or cry? I'm just not sure yet, but I'll let you know when I figure it out! I'm linking up (seems like all I've done this year is link up) with Doodle Bugs Teaching for FIVE FOR FRIYAY! (I think I just sang that!)

 One of my students had her last day today. She has been a delight to teach and have as a student. Her mamma just graduated from law school, so they are moving back home to her dad and brothers. I'm singing for her family being back together and no longer having to drive hours to spend weekends together. Her mom was an inspiration for many as she studied, worked, and mothered! This family has left their fingerprints on my heart!

I traced around her arm and hand leaving the fingertips open. Then we all used green paint to put our fingerprints on to make green leaves. I used three shades of green. I thought about putting a brown fingerprint on and making an owl somewhere in the tree!

I get to pick TWO winners! One will get a set of 12 Kwik Stix  and the other a gift card to Starbucks! Oh how I love giving stuff away. Congrats to the winners!!

 Three. More. Days. Water Day, Field Day and Last Day are all that's left. I just cannot believe how quickly this year has flown by. I'm hoping for really nice weather for Water Day. Come back next week to see what my kindergartner partner in crime and I think up!

 We are finishing up memory books to help us remember the special times we've had this year. I found THIS on TPT to help me wrap things up and put some closer to the school year. The details that some of my kiddos came up with were amazing! Here are FOUR pics from the books...

Look how long my arms are. They either got stretched out from carrying bags to and from home, or too much hugging!

We spent a lot of time thinking of the shapes we can see on our school and playground. I pressed them to add as much detail as they could. Our skies were blue most of May!

  

So many of my Owlets chose The Wild Robot as their favorite. It was certainly mine for the year!

Here I am again. This time I'm birdwatching...Imagine that! The artist said I was watching a Pileated Woodpecker! Made. My. Day!

 Five Eastern Bluebirds are getting closer to becoming fledglings. How I love sharing my love of birds! How can you NOT love these bluebirds? Since putting up ten boxes three years ago we've had nesting pairs in them each spring. Wouldn't it be awesome if they flew away on the last day of school?!  Take a quick peek before I close the box back up! Can you see the little hint of blue?

You can read about our bluebird house building project HERE!

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!!

Truth Revealed! Five For Friday

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for another Five for Friday. A chance to blog about five random things from my week. Thanks for hosting, Doodle Bugs. I'm sorry you couldn't make it to the party this week. Enjoy some much deserved time off!


I had so much fun linking up late to try and stump you all with my two truths ans a lie. I have to say that I kind of sorta did two lies!! I didn't intend to, but it happened. If you haven't had a chance to guess you can go back and take a guess HERE!
So the lie(s)...I haven't blogged much lately because I've lacked motivation! It just seemed kind of nice to blame  it on my daughter. My daughter and now son in law planned and executed every detail of their wedding. I just showed up and smiled a LOT. The whole day was unbelievable. All of my sisters and my brother were able to come and so many friends too. The wedding was in my former stomping grounds...St. Louis home of the Cardinals. It is pretty cool that my daughter born and raised in Michigan ended up at WashU where her grandmother, for whom she was named, attended nursing school. My mom would have loved every minute of the celebrating right down to the bagpipe playing the processional and recessional in the church. Here is one more picture for you...Okay you twisted my arm hard enough here are two!! (See randomness number 3 for the real lie!!)

Cutting the first piece of this awesome cake with Bilbo's sword. Yes. They are Lord of the Ring fans!

So the whole thing about the Bocce Ball team...Never happened. I like playing Bocce, but I don't even know if there are teams. I went to Germany two summers ago, but didn't ever play a game of Bocce there. I hope my IG friends saw my post about my Bocce Ball tournament being cancelled today. I was just trying to throw you off!

It is time for a true confession. Sometimes I read books to my class for the sheer joy of reading. I don't think aloud and I don't make them respond in a writing assignment or project. We just pick up a book and read it. We laugh and sometimes, if they ask, I read it again. Sometimes on Friday afternoons I let them play too. I don't have any hidden agendas in their freetime. They get to play with anything they want.They make zoos out of cardboard, They set up the train set to go all the way around the zoo. They plan, execute and work in collaboration with each other. They play school on the chalkboard. They set up a bakery with playdough. They are allowed to be kids having fun with each other!

Do you know Arnie the Doughnut? I love that guy! For National Doughnut Day we celebrated the only way I know how. We ate doughnuts. We gave our doughnuts, hands and feet so they could escape if they didn't want to be eaten. We gave him/her eyes and then asked them, "Do you want to be eaten?" If they don't answer it is safe to eat them. So far, I've never had a doughnut tell me he didn't want to be eaten! Laurie Keller herself taught my children and I the proper way to eat doughnuts years ago at a library event she spoke at! All of her books are delightful, but Arnie is my favorite! 

Five For Friday

I'm linking up with the amazing Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. I get the opportunity to share five random things about my week.

The end is near! I always have such mixed feelings about these final weeks/days of the school year. I feel rejuvenated by spring in the air. I also itch to be outside watching and waiting for migrants of the bird kind to pass through on their way to their nesting sites here or further north. Luckily I manage to find ways to integrate the outdoor learning with reading and math. I teach at a school that has a delightful wooded lot attached. We've used this woods to learn about insects, birds, fairy house building, environment and oh so much more. My BBF posted a picture of Birdology on her Instagram and I'm pretty sure she knew before I did that I'd have to have it. What a treasure trove of great information about birds, color photographs and activities, 30 to be exact!

We learn about nests and what materials are best for putting out for birds to use in nest building.

I've been watching birds since I was 6 months old. Crazy? My mom tells me that I used to take out all the toys in my toy box, climb in and look through a birding guide. My sister and I were out birding last weekend and had the pleasure of seeing an American Woodcock taking a stroll with her three young. I was shaking so hard from pure excitement that I couldn't get a great picture.

Aren't you glad you don't have to carry a beak like that around?!

Check out this sweet video of young eating. They have this cute little wiggle when they walk.They are just darling.

I think my little American Woodcock story counts as number 2.

I run two book fairs a year. I just finished up number two today. This  was our BOGO fair where everything was buy one get one free. I'm stocked up on books for the rest of the year and next year too! Favorite book of the fair...

This story is told by the tree and starts at its roots and grows up to the leaves introducing the reader to the delightful creatures that find shelter in its branches. Jennifer Ward hasn't written a book I don't like! I'm going to read this to my class next week outside under an oak tree! Not only do Jennifer and I have the same first name we also both have four sisters. What are the chances of that?!

I was starting to talk about the book fair when I got distracted by Jennifer Ward. Sorry about that! In December a former student of mine was hospitalized. She is still in the hospital. She's had one health crisis after another and is only 13 years old. She used to love the book fair visiting every day to pick out books and erasers! This year the book fair is going to visit her. We were able to raise enough money to send her more than a couple of books to read and to gift to other children in the hospital as she meets them. If you are a prayer warrior, please pray for my friend Sable to be returned to health. If you would like to help Sable you can read her story here and give her a helping hand. These books and assorted fun items will arrive at Sable's bedside soon!

Oh, no! I'm back on birds again. Our chicks will be three weeks old on Monday. They love to sit on the edge of their box and roost. My Owlets know they are making too much noise if they wake up and start hopping around. We started with eleven chicks. Seven have already found a forever home and these four are left...

I had so many more random thoughts to share. I guess I'll have to wait until next week . . . or tomorrow!