Five for Friday {November 14}

Hi there!  It's the weekend and that's a wonderful thing!  I'm cozied up under a blanket today because everything outside is snow-covered and all of a sudden Michigan is like a frozen tundra!

In related news....I survived the first days of snow with my Kindies.  This is no small feat, and I'm feeling extra successful this weekend.  Every time I got them all bundled and out for recess, it was a feeling of sweet victory!  Only infinity more recesses to go before winter is over.  We can do it!  Ha!

Here are my Five for Friday (Saturday) this week... 

1. I created this simple anchor chart a couple weeks ago to remind my students what I am looking for in each of their stories.  It simplifies the process for them a bit, and is easy for them to remember.  My students are at so many different levels, but this is something they ALL need to remember.

 2.  We drew dragons this week during Project 64.  They were all so cute.  So, so cute.

 

 

3. It snowed all night on Wednesday, so we woke up Thursday to a snow-covered ground.  Meaning that I had to make sure my kids had everything they needed for recess when I brought them to school on Thursday morning.  Adding that one extra thing to my morning completely threw me right off and I realized when I got to school that I had forgotten my shoes!  I had my big clunky boots, but I couldn't teach all day in those...my feet would have been soooo sweaty.  So, I used these socks from the office.  They had been donated by one of our staff members after her son outgrew them.  He is now in 4th grade.  Navy skinnies and faded navy little boy socks.  It's a good look.  

 

4.  We completed our Thankful Turkeys this week.  I always love these.  They are so sweet!

I love that this girl added bottom lashes to her turkey! :) 

 Melt me.

5. We're learning about MOTION in science.  My kids loved this investigation this week.  They had to make ping pong and golf balls move without touching them.  Such a blast!  

SNOW, SNOW, SNOW!!!  My kids played outside until dark on Thursday.  Fun in the snow!  

Just can't believe it's not even Thanksgiving yet... 

Hope you are enjoying your weekend!!

Five for Friday {October 24}

Happy Saturday!  I'm a day late with my Five for Friday, but I actually thought to take pictures this week, so I wanted to be sure to link up!

 1. We began our second science unit this week.  We had been learning about our five senses since the start of the school year.  That's such a good place to start, because it's the foundation for exploring the world around us.  We had so much fun with our five senses unit, but were excited to move on to something new this week....Motion!  And we got to explore motion on the playground.  My students were sold immediately!!

2. We completed one of my very favorite class books this week.  Even though this sentence-builder book is a little tricky for some students to figure out, it always turns out soooo cute!  Their little illustrations make it super sweet.

We completed two other class books this week too!  I have a blog post in the works.  LOVE class books!

3. We used this cute cute cute pumpkin life cycle freebie from Erica Bohrer for our interactive notebooks this week.  So cute!

4. We began academic vocabulary with a bang this week!  We added four words to our binders - two literacy and two math.  

 These great pages are from Kim Adsit.

We are really working hard on "speaking like scholars" and focusing on academic vocabulary really helps with that.

5. We did this fun early addition activity yesterday to display for parent-teacher conferences next week.  I punched circles with my 1" circle punch, and each student rolled dice to figure out how many apples and pumpkins to add.

It was a great week in Kindergarten!  Hope yours was awesome too, and that you are enjoying some relaxation this weekend!!

Five for Friday {October 10}

It's been a while since I've joined the Five for Friday fun, but tonight I'm watching last night's Project Runway and taking some time to reflect on my week.  Check out what we were up to this week!

1. We have been working on building our "writing muscles"!  Stamina, stamina, stamina!  This week we got up to 13 minutes!  I am so proud of my talented writers.  Everyone is working hard and many are implementing the things we're working on in our writing mini-lessons.  I just love writer's workshop!

2. We had a lot of fun with science this week.  We are still working through our Five Senses unit.  This week, I supplemented our curriculum with Caitlin Clabby's Five Senses pack.  This sheet came from her pack.  I used a sound CD that I have.  The kids loved this!!  

We also did a taste test, focusing on foods that are sweet, salty, sour, and bitter.  This is always such a blast.  The bitter taste of the cocoa powder always surprises the students, and the puckery lemon faces make everyone giggle!

3. I discovered an awesome new October read-aloud!  My class (and my own kids) loved this book!  The rhymes are so much fun.  I love love love finding great new books!

4. We added a Community Helpers poem to our Interactive Notebooks this week.  The Melonheadz clip art mixed with sweet 5-year-old coloring?  Precious.

5. I arrived home on Tuesday to a beautiful box from Lakeshore (love Lakeshore!!) on my front step.  I was so excited because I knew that the farm animal counters I have wanted for so long were inside!  They will be the perfect addition to the farm study we do each May.  But, we'll also get lots of use out of them the rest of the year.  My own kids enjoyed playing with them at home all week, and today I brought them to school and took them out during Choice Time.  We had to take turns because EVERYONE wanted to get their hands on the sweet little animals!

I am so looking forward to this lazy weekend!  Enjoy it, friends!! 

Five for Friday {June 13}

Hello, hello!  Isn't today a glorious Friday?  My first Friday of summer break, and it's just plain wonderful!  

Freedom!  Relaxation!  JOY!

Of course I LOVE my job and my Kinder-babies, but summer is just pure bliss through and through.

I didn't do a Five for Friday last week, so I have a few school things to share and also a few non-school things.  Two weeks worth!

1. We spent lots of time as scientists during our last week of school.  We discussed habitats...

...and we made friends with some big, juicy earthworms!  Most all the kids LOVED them....and I ALWAYS love these slimy, wriggly guys!

Someday I'll have to write a post about all the fun things we do during "Worm Week", but not today... :)

2. We finished off our last week popping a balloon every day.  One of the activities was movie day, and the class enjoyed a special snack during a movie.

 3. Friday, June 6th was our last day of school.  Here are my kids, ready to go!  Last day of pre-school and 1st grade!

 We had a staff lunch after our half-day of school.  Love these ladies that I am lucky enough to work with!

 4. I went into school on Monday of this week to tie up a few loose ends and prepare my classroom for summer.  I'll be in many times over the summer, but there are several things that I have to do to "check out" at the end of the year.  I took care of those things and got my class list for next year!

Rowan came with me (wearing her bumblebee antennae...) and enjoyed reading book after book from my reading corner.  

5. The rest of our week consisted of a driveway bonfire with our awesome neighbors and our first s'mores of the summer, 

 driveway basketball, 

 planting flowers, 

 summer haircuts (4 inches off for Rowan!), 

 family bike rides, 

 and little league for Trey.

Loving every minute!!  

Happy weekend, friends!

Five for Friday {May 30}

It's a great Friday!

I'm linking up with Doodlebugs to share my Five for Friday.

We're still having lots of fun at school, but truth be told, we're all fading.  When Kindergarteners begin fading, you know you're in trouble.

Summer!  It's so close I feel like I can reach out and grab it!

I'm craving lazy days and oodles of time with my kids, but we're finishing off the year strong.  I know I'll miss my kindies like crazy when they leave me, so I'm soaking up their almost first-grader goodness with the time we have left.

1.  We're still starting every day by popping our countdown balloons.  This week we had a bubble party with the other Kindergarten class, we hung out with bare feet in the classroom, we chewed bubble gum, and we enjoyed some outside reading time.  

2. We planted seeds over a week ago and watching them grow has been such a disappointment!!  I'm not sure what we did wrong.  Maybe the seeds were old???  Only about one third of the class has a sprout.  Bummer. :(  

On a positive note, next week is Worm Week (LOVE!), so all will be forgotten with these boring old plants.

3.  We made these addition ladybugs this week.  A fun craftivity to go along with our BIG addition/subtraction review push to finish off the year!

4. We received our last pen pal letter for the year this week.  We have been so lucky this year to be class pen pals with two awesome classes.  My in real life bestie is a kindergarten teacher in Colorado, and one of my blogging besties teaches Kindergarten in Texas.....it's been so much fun for us to write back and forth and for my students to learn more about these very different places!  They were intrigued by the mountains in Colorado and the Spring dust storms in Texas!  So much fun!  

5. My students completed their final writing assessment this week.  This piece goes into their permanent file at school.  Both of these sweeties began the school year barely able to write their names.  They are going to first grade as writers!  So proud of how hard they've worked this year!

My weekend will be filled with baseball, planting flowers, and getting Memory Books put together!  Bring it on!  Hope yours is awesome as well!