Five for Friday {11-15-13}

So glad that today is Friday!  It has been a crazy long week and I don't think I could make it another day!  But ... since it's Friday, it is time to link up with Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching for my Five for Friday!



 

We had the carpet installed in most of the basement this week!  For those of you who don't know, our basement flooded on July 31st due to a problem with the construction we had going on at the house.  It's taken so long because of dealing with other people's insurance companies, but I'm thrilled with how it looks!

 

I have this thing with buttons right now ... it started when I began working on our sort and classify unit for math.

 

Then the tubs of buttons turned into crazy fun with sorting and making different rules for how to sort.

The table scatter from the dollar section at Target - I waited until after Halloween and got the packets for thirty cents!

Here's a couple of our activities for sort and classify.  I found these next two activities from Crazy for First Grade.  She has great ideas for sorting and classifying, including some online games!

These are the books and cassette tape I pulled for the listening center this week.  What a blast from the past!  One of my kiddos came to me in a panic because at the end of one of the books he saw coloring.  Laughing, I told him that I did it when I was about his age!

 

 I have been using Jodi Southard's Reading Comprehension Notebooks in two of my reading groups.  The first grade one, pictured here, is used in my group reading on grade level, and I also purchased her second grade one for my above level firsties.  I hope she creates more!  It's a quick way to assess comprehension, both fiction and nonfiction!



Tonight was our first Pinterest party of the year!  Several of us from school started this last year - we each take a turn with a craft and food, all found on Pinterest.  Tonight we used fall themed scrapbooking paper to create pumpkins.  I look forward to our evenings together!



 

Be sure to check out Kacey's blog to read other Five for Friday posts!  Have a great weekend!

 

November ... already?!

CaNnOt believe that is it already November!  Today I am linking up with Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade for my November Currently.

 

 

 

Loving and Thinking go together this month -

at the end of July we were having our basement resealed because of a lot of flooding every time it rained .. this meant the construction over took our front yard for what we thought would be a week to ten days, but because of problems they encountered, it lasted ten weeks and during that time a water line burst and our finished basement flooded - with about six inches of water everywhere. 

 

We now have the front yard finished (grass planted and it is growing, new sidewalk poured, & new bushes and tree planted and mulched) and are working on the inside where we lost flooring and furniture.  The carpet has been purchased and will be put in hopefully next week and today we are ordering the laminate flooring for the kitchenette and hallway.

 

My mom kept a box of special things when I was growing up and when the basement flooded, I thought that box was destroyed.  Last night I found some of the things, including my baby book and birthday cards from family - my great-grandmother who died in 1988 and my grandparents - I have just one grandma still living.  Finding these just touched my heart last night.

 

Wanting - wouldn't it be nice to have an extra day each weekend?!

 

Yummy Pin - peanut butter cup S'mores bars from

I have made these several times and they disappear almost immediately.  These are my favorite cookie bars ... ever.

 

Happy November!

 

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!  Today I am linking up with Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching for my Five for Friday!

1. Two of my nephews and a niece (the ones that live here in town, minus the new baby) stopped at our house last night to trick-or-treat.  So glad they came!

2. We have been working on shapes in math.  Yesterday - since the day was already going to be crazy - we made our shape people!

3. Our reading series (SuperKids by Rowland Reading) has a non-fiction magazine with each unit.  We read "Bubbles" today, so we HAD to play after reading!  The children tried to see how big they could get their bubble - check out this picture! We read that if your hands are wet, you can touch a bubble!   The article said that bubbles will drift up if the air is warm and will sink if the air is cold.   We tried next to the air conditioner and on the far side of the room (where it was warmer) to see if it was true.

4. We are getting ready to start our next reading unit, which includes 6 memory words that they will need to spell correctly.  Andrea Crawford from Reading Toward the Stars, is the reading specialist at my school.  She had sets of cards made for the children in her small group with liquid glue to trace.  All of the students made their own set of cards today!  They wrote the word first with a marker, then traced it using a bottle of liquid glue.  We spread them out in the hallway to dry and will use them first thing Monday morning! 

 

5. A nurse from one of the local hospitals came to talk about careers in the medical profession.  She brought some puppet friends along with her.  She had special programs for our kindergarten, first, and second grade classes.  The kids loved it and are very interested in medical jobs now!

 

 

Several of my kiddos are really struggling with short vowel sounds and I quickly pulled together a few colored picture cards and 3 printables.  These will be part of my seatwork next week!  Click here or on the image below to grab a set!

 

Hope you have a great weekend!

 

Five for Friday {October 25} with a fall freebie

I am linking up with Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching for my Five for Friday!

 

1. Yesterday was our turn for the fire safety program that the county puts on for all of the elementary schools.  We used to have a trailer for the children to go through with various scenarios of how to escape if there is a fire.  The fire departments in the county came up with a new program, which had a puppet show!

 

2. Target had fun stuff in the Halloween section that I couldn't pass up, including witch fingers.  I didn't buy them last year because I'm too cheap - didn't want to pay for shipping!  We used them in reading this week to track our story, along with the sight word review song.

 

3. We worked on equality this week using an equa beam.  This is the fastest my children have understood equality!

 

4. We read "Green Frankenstein, Green Frankenstein" by First Grade and Fabulous today, and created this fun little Frankenstein craft from Pinterest.  The first grade hallway looks awesome!

 

5. The story we read this week was called "Fiddlesticks" and the children in the story took turns adding to the story, but the only time they could speak was when he/she had the fiddlestick in his/her hand.  The story continued to the next child, etc.  The fiddlestick story was about a little girl who blew a bubble so big that she floated away on it.  I bought Hubba Bubba gum and we practiced blowing bubbles - absolutely hysterical with first graders who are still learning how!  Lots of spit was flying! :)  To protect my firsties, here's one of the pictures of me with my gum.

 

 

It's been a long time since I've last posted, I have a fall freebie for you!  Many times the message I write to my children is missing a punctuation mark, which we add after a discussion.  I put together this little sorting activity.  We are going to go through a couple of cards a day next week.  {Note: I only included statement and question sentences and not all of the cards have a Halloween theme.}  Click here or on the images below!

 

 

Have a great weekend!