Five for Friday :: November 13

 Hey there!  Happy Friday!

Every Friday morning during calendar time in my classroom, my students and I sing "It's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday, Friday, Friday....wooooh!".  I've been singing it all day long.  Hip, hip, hooray for Friday!

Here's what 's been going on lately in my classroom!

1. Kindergarten students digging through their Halloween candy buckets to bring you your very favorite treats must be one of the most pure acts of love possible.  My sweet Kindies have been flooding me with Twix bars ever since Halloween.  Love them so much.  I know how precious Halloween candy is to kids.  Their generous little hearts are so special!

(And I'm just going to pretend that I don't see the calorie count on that full-size candy bar!  Yikes!!  Cover your eyes!  Don't look!!!)

 2. Sometimes teachers just need permission to take things one day/hour/moment at a time.  This verse has been in the forefront of my mind this week.  I'm so thankful for TRUTH and precious, timely reminders.

3. Few things melt me more than Kindergarten friends immersed in books.  Looking, talking, learning together.  I had to capture this sweet moment from today.

4. 'Tis the season for turkeys!!  We started these "Thankful Turkeys" last week and finished them early this week.  Love.

5. And we made these directed drawing turkeys today!  They turned out too cute for words!

Wishing you a relaxing and wonderful weekend!!

It's beginning to look like October!

Happy October!!  In Michigan, this week brought us from early September to mid-November!  The drop in temperature and bitter cold wind of the past few days has been a drastic change from mid-70's and sunshine!  It definitely feels like Fall has arrived....and just in time to turn the calendar to October!  It's beginning to look and feel like October in the classroom too!!

I make these spiders with my students every year.  I've gotten smart over the years and now always make sure to have a parent or two come in to help out.  These cute little guys require lots and lots of cutting, which is a challenge for some new-to-Kindergarten hands.  It's helpful to have another adult there to help.  My crew this year did a great job!  They turned out as darling as ever and they just make me happy! 

On Friday, we did a fun apple taste test.  Students tasted a slice of red, yellow, and green apple and then added their favorite to our apple poster....

 Later in the day, we analyzed our data and organized it into this graph so that I could tie in some of the concepts we've been practicing in math - graphing, comparing, more/less, greater/fewer.  Learning is especially fun when it's so delicious!!

 Each Friday, we do a directed drawing activity as a class.  Last week, we drew a pumpkin.  This week, my students got to paint their pumpkin drawings!  They turned out so beautiful!  I can't wait to pull out the watercolors again.  My students LOVED this calm, creative activity!

Caramel apples as a birthday treat from one of my sweet former students???  Yes, fall is here!!

Happy weekend!!

Random Randomness

I have a long list of things that I have been meaning to post about, but December is just flying by and when in the world am I supposed to find time to write blog posts??!?  But, I miss sharing with my bloggy friends, so here is a super random post full of all sorts of things from the past couple weeks!

Have you seen these little guys?  

Are they not just downright adorable???  I found these little monsters in the Target Dollar Spot (where else?!?) and knew that they would be perfect for guided reading.  I'll be pulling these out after we return to school in January to provide a little fresh motivation for my budding readers!  Not sure if they're still there, but if you're in Target anytime soon, you may want to check for them!

I love love love this Christmas book.  Every year, it's the first one I read in December.  This year, I pulled it out on December 1st.  Right away in the morning.  We have read it several times because my students love love love it too!  The story is silly and sweet and the illustrations are so fun!

Sadly, it's REALLY expensive on Amazon and at Barnes and Noble.  But, maybe you can find it at a library?  Or maybe you already have it?  Such a great one.

 To say that Jingle Joy has been a hit with my students would be the understatement of the year.  They. love. him. so. much.  They can't wait to find him every morning and read the notes that he writes us.  And they love writing him notes during Choice Time too.  It's been so much fun and a wonderful way for us to talk about kindness and love every single day.  

I even made this special stationary because my kids were so nuts over writing letters to Jingle Joy every day!  The other day, Jingle Joy asked the class to write him notes about how they could be kind at home.  

Love.

These directed drawings are sooooo cute.  You might know that I love doing directed drawings with my students.  These elves have gotten so many comments from teachers and parents that come into my classroom.  They are simply adorable!!

 Head over here to find the directed drawing instructions from Mrs. Parker!

Look what I got in the mail yesterday!!  

On Thursday morning, I happened to click into an e-mail I had received from Amazon....which I normally would have just deleted, but it must have been meant to be because this laminator was on sale for $16.99!!  I have secretly had this on my mental wish list for a long time but kept talking myself out of getting it.  After I saw it, I quickly posted something on Instagram asking for input because I knew my IG friends wouldn't steer me wrong!  The reviews were awesome (I knew they would be), so I had this all ordered before school began!  And, yesterday, I heard that magical knock at the door and knew it was here!  

Only my teacher friends could understand such excitement over having a laminator of my very own!  I'm way too excited about it, and I kind-of want to laminate everything in sight. ;)

 We're close to being done with the reindeer ornaments we make for dads and moms each year.  I love these simple and sweet parent gifts.  The last step this week is to add eyes and a red nose.  Then, we'll be able to get them wrapped up and sent home to put under the tree.

I'll be sure to share when we finish them!

Five more days of festive holiday classroom fun.  I love this time of year in the classroom!

Five for Friday {April 18}

Hi, friends!  Happy Friday to you!  

I'm linking up with Doodlebugs again today for Five for Friday!

Check out what we were up to this week!

1. My students helped me put together a fun package on Monday to mail to our Texas pen pals.  This was sooo fun and my kiddos LOVED it!  They thought it was awesome that they would be surprising their pals with a box full of Easter eggs!

 2. We did some writing about Spring Break early this week.  I love teaching writing, and writing at this point in the year is just the best!  They have grown so much and have become so confident!

 3. The finished product of our "Buggy Over Books" display!  I had the students color the letters.  I think that adds a really personal touch to the board.

 We completed book recommendations for the display.  I chose five familiar books and asked students to choose their favorite to write about.

 Pete the Cat was the overwhelming favorite (Of course!  EVERY kid loves Pete!), but a few students chose one of the other books.

 And the bugs.  OH the bugs!  They. are. precious!

 The bugs are from Doodlebugs' Spring Directed Drawings pack.

 4. We had some Easter egg fun during math stations this week.  Skip counting practice!  It was a hit!

 5. We wrote a pen pal letter today.  It will be on it's way to Texas soon!  And we got a letter from our Colorado pals today, so we'll write them back next week.  Pen pal love is such a fun part of Kindergarten!!

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Scarecrow directed drawing

I came across this blog post at Welcome to Room 36 last year with directions for the cutest scarecrow directed drawing.  I knew right away that I wanted to try it with my students and I ended up just LOVING it!  I was so looking forward to doing it again this year.

The students just love it...one step at a time they can draw anything!

Click HERE to head over to Welcome to Room 36 for her step-by-step instructions.

I knew that I wanted to display these in the classroom for the month of November, so I added just a touch of writing to it by having my students complete a sentence, and then I stapled it to the bottom of the page.  I had them think of something they didn't like and would want their scarecrow to scare away.

 I scare away bears.

 I scare away ketchup.

 I scare away tornadoes.

I scare away biting bugs.

I love how each scarecrow has it's own character.  They are so adorable!!  If you'd like to grab the "I scare away..." sentence that I added to the bottom, CLICK HERE to get it from Google Drive.