Five for Friday {March 7}

Happy Friday!!  

It was a busy week for me.  A 2-day professional conference with the super-talented and funny Kim Adsit + 2 evenings of parent-teacher conferences + 2 full days of teaching.  And no school today, which is just about the best way to top off the week.  I just LOVE a 3-day weekend.  That one extra day makes the weekend feel so much longer!!  

Even though I only taught two days this week, we fit lots of great stuff in.  It's time for Five for Friday!!

1.  Kim Adsit.  This woman is brilliant.  And then some.  You better believe I Instagram'd her. (I'm jillsloothaak if you want to follow me!)  

Two full days of learning from this master teacher left me SO inspired and challenged!  So thankful for the opportunity to attend this awesome conference!

2. We are enjoying our "My Earth" science unit so much!  My teaching partner and I switch for science, so I teach her class first, then keep all of the materials out and do the same lesson with my class.  This week we did an investigation with earth materials - pebbles, soil, sand, and water.  We searched for the one with the smallest pieces, the biggest pieces, the strongest smell, etc.

The kids LOVE getting their hands dirty!!  I put together an "investigation station" for my students to explore during choice time.  What is it about magnifying glasses that kids just can't get enough of??!?

3. Every March, we do this same writing activity.  I pull a name for each student and they write a letter to that friend explaining what makes them great.

I was so proud of the thought they each put into their letters.  The finished products are so sweet!  There were lots of BIG smiles as I read these to the class.  We are lucky to have each other!!

Head back over to THIS POST from last year to get a copy of the page I used.

4. One of the ideas I got from Kim Adsit's conference was the idea of "character bibs".  Basically, it's a character card on a piece of yarn or ribbon.  So much easier than finding props or a costume!  Our story of the week in our language arts curriculum was Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and I knew that it was the perfect story for the kids to retell by acting it out.  It only took me a few minutes to make these.

The kids LOVED this.  They giggled and giggled while I read the story and their peers acted it out.  And it's a great way to work on sequence and retell!

If you would like these cards to use in your classroom, send me an e-mail (the light green circle with the envelope on it at the top right of my blog) and I'll pass them along to you!

5. Since I didn't have school today, I was able to go into my son's 1st grade classroom to read a story.  I chose Strega Nona and gave each student 3 kisses at the end to remind them of the story.  I loved being there with his sweet class and sharing such a fun, classic story with them.  It was a new one for most of them!!

And something extra, just for fun....

My daughter brought this plant in from the garage yesterday and said "Mom, can you please water my plant before it dies???"

Hmmm......pretty sure we're too late.... :)

Happy weekend, friends!!!