Three for Friday (on Saturday)

Hi there, friends!

I'm popping in today with a three for Friday!  On Saturday.  Seriously, what is that??!?  I hardly had my camera out at all this week, so I only have four things to share.  And I had plans last night, so I'm posting on Saturday instead.  I knew you all would forgive me because the last few weeks of school are not for the faint of heart and teachers are just BUSY in May.  There is no way around it!

1. I hosted our Girls Only Lunch on Tuesday.  I only have six girls this year, so I was really looking forward to this day of pampering and loving on these sweeties. 

We had a picnic at our carpet area complete with girly cupcakes.

 I invited each of the girls' moms to join us and they were all able to make it!  It was so much fun.  After lunch, all the moms painted their daughters' fingernails and toenails.

I picked up some nail polish and each girl got to choose a color to take home with them.

 Melt me.  These girls.  We had the best time.  There were so many smiles and giggles.  Definitely a highlight of my year.  Hopefully a highlight of theirs too!

Now I get to look forward to my Boys Only Lunch with all 18 of my busy boys.  I might be asking for prayers on that day!  Ha!

2. I changed out my math stations this week and the kids had a lot of fun with the new activities!

Addition, addition, addition is our focus right now!  We are practicing like crazy!

 I whipped this activity up quickly and it was a hit!  We use these bugs for all sorts of things -- especially in the Spring.

CLICK HERE to grab this page from Google Drive!

 Race to 100!  Just change up the graphics on the page and the kids think it's a brand new game!

Again, we're working hard on addition, so the kids used two dice and added them together.  

You can grab a copy of this game by heading back to THIS POST from last year.

 Lima bean math is a classic and always a great activity for addition practice.

3. My sweetie had her Kindergarten screening on Thursday.  She is so ready for Kindergarten, and I am thrilled for her because I know how much she'll love it!!  

That's it for me today!  I hope that you are having a wonderful weekend!

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!!

Five for Friday {April 11}

Why is it that Spring Break week goes by SO MUCH FASTER than every other week of the school year??!?  Ha!  

I had a wonderful week off, with lots of family time.  It was just what I needed!!  I don't have too much school stuff to share this week, but I just love me a Five for Friday, so here goes!

1. We traveled to Wisconsin Dells for a few days to enjoy the indoor water parks.  We were anxious for a little getaway after the long winter.  The Dells are about a 5 1/2 hour drive from our house.  Two movies and some reading/playing time, and we're there!  The perfect distance to drive with our kids.

Rowan had fun with some Road Trip Bingo on the way. 

2. The weather was awesome!  The skies were blue!  The clouds were big and puffy and my whole family was happy the entire time.  Love!!

 3. The last time we were there, Trey was too short to do many of the bigger slides.  This time, he was JUST tall enough.  He was so adventurous!  And then he wanted me to be adventurous too....which isn't always in my nature, but what I won't do for this kid!  This is what he said my face looked like while we were riding "The Hurricane".  Ha!

 4. You know you're a teacher when your souvenir from vacation is a pack of Scentos markers.  Hee hee. :)  My students will be so excited!

5. A little bit of prep work today for next week.  But, now that I look at it, should it say "Buggy FOR Books" instead of "Buggy OVER Books"???  Oh my.

Anyway, I plan to pair this with some student book recommendations and Doodlebugs' Spring directed drawings.  Look for more on this fun new display next week!

Happy Friday, friends!!

Spring Colors book {FREEBIE}

A mid-week post!  Can you even believe it??!?  I have a few free minutes while my son is at his church choir practice and I wanted to share this book freebie with you!

My teaching partner and I have parent volunteers come every Thursday to pull kids for small group activities.  Last week, we were trying to decide what to have them do, and my partner had the idea of putting together a Spring-y class book for the first day of Spring.  Perfect!!  She came up with the cute wording for the book and I put the page together.

 They turned out really cute!!

 Oh, I am so READY to see green grass, trees, and flowers again!!!

I loved the ideas that some of my students came up with to match their color.

Here is a copy of the blank page.

Maybe it's something you can use too?

CLICK HERE to grab a copy of this page and the cover from Google Drive!

I like to laminate the pages of my class books, punch them, and bind them with metal rings.  I save all the pages to put in my students' memory books at the end of the year.

Please leave me a comment if you grab it!  I'd love to hear from you!

Happy Wednesday!  Temps are supposed to be OUT of the 20's here tomorrow -- I'm so, so excited for Spring!!! :)

Race to 100....and a bloggy break

Who knew that such a simple game could be so LOVED by my students??!?  I whipped up a version of this game around Christmas and my kindies enjoyed it so much that I've made a couple of different versions since then.

"Race to 100" is the simplest concept ever.  It's a partner game -- each partner chooses a color.  One partner rolls a dice and colors that many squares.  Then, the next partner rolls and colors.  They continue taking turns, coloring the boxes in order.  The person who rolls the exact number to land on 100 is the winner.

I usually make enough copies that each pair can play twice.  The winner of the first game brings that page home, and the other partner takes the other one home, whether they were the winner or not.  They love it.  

This game board is fun and Springy, and the KPM Doodles clip art is so cute!

Please grab a copy for yourself if you'd like it!

On another note, I will be taking some time away from the blog while I tend to a situation that has arisen in my life.  I am needed for my family right now and just am not in a place of having the mental energy needed to maintain this blog effectively.  In time, I will return.  I look forward to that day!

Spring Break is slipping away... {boo!}

The to-do list for my Spring Break was long.  And I got a lot done.  Not everything, but a lot.

BUT...the top of my to-do list was to spend oodles and oodles of time with my kids, to not wake up to an alarm clock, and to relax and enjoy!  SUCCESS!!  I did all of those things, and it was FAB!

Today, I was too lazy to do much :), but I did manage to complete a TPT product that I've had on my list for a while.  This write the room activity will be perfect for Spring, and the graphics from KPM Doodles are so cute!  I love the bright colors -- they have me dreaming of temps in the 60's and 70's (yes, we're still in the 40's and 50's). 

 I'll be plugging this in to my next round of literacy stations, and I know that my students will be glad to have our write the room station back.  We've been without it for several weeks since it took me so long to get a new one made!

Click here to check it out on TPT

I'll give this away to the first 2 people who leave me a comment.  Make sure to leave your e-mail address so that I can send it your way!  Hope you're having a great weekend!