Five for Friday!

It's a double Friday week! Wednesday was technically Friday since we only had 3 days of school this week. Why? Because didn't use any of our snow days this year. THAT. NEVER. HAPPENS.

I'm linking up with Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching to share 5 highlights from our short week.

We kicked off Monday with a birthday celebration for Dr. Seuss! Complete with none other than GREEN EGGS AND HAM!

Students graphed their answer to "Do you like green eggs and ham?" by placing a green egg with their name under the YES or NO. I don't have a final picture, but the results were16 YES to 1 NO.

Headbanz - Math Edition! My kids love to play Headbanz during free choice time. Which got my teacher brain a-thinkin'....

I modified it a bit...
Whoever is "it" closes their eyes while I take a number out of our hundred's chart. 

I clip it in their headband. Then, they call on other students to give them clues to help them guess their "mystery number".

 It's a great way to grow critical thinking skills and reinforce math vocabulary and concepts:
"Your number is the sum of 3 + 4."
"It's 2 more than 5." 
"It's 3 less than 10."

Be prepared for everyone wanting a turn.

We finished our literacy weather unit last month, but I didn't start our weather journals until the end of the unit. February weather around here is just.... well...LAME! Last year I started our journals earlier and every page was practically the same: "It is cold. It is cloudy. It is very cold. It is very, very, cold...."  *yawn*

This year, I'm hoping March weather has a little more diversity. 

You can get these adorable journals from Tessa Maguire's TpT Store.

Even though we don't write in our weather journals every day, we always check the weather using the Kid Weather App. It's amazing! Totally worth the $1.99. It's kid-friendly, interactive, and.... you can graph the weather each day!

What better way to invite spring... than to make the classroom look like spring!
Take down those snowflakes!

We first watercolored our Rhyming Rainbows then added rhyming raindrops.
(The original "pinspiration" came from The Virtual Vine.) 

I'm looking forward to spending my day off drinking coffee (in my P.J's of course) and reading ahead.

Elizabeth at Kickin' it in Kindergarten hosted the first linky of a blogging book study: Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites by Marcia L. Tate. My book margins are filling up as I glean ideas from so many amazing teachers! Come join us tomorrow as we link up with Mrs. Wills' Kindergarten to discuss learning outside of our classroom's walls- field trips!

After reading Chapter 2, I challenged myself to find a way to incorporate drawing and artwork into this week's literacy lesson. We started our plant unit by reading  Oak Trees by Melanie Mitchell.

The writing extension focus skill was steps in a process.

Research states that "drawing is a powerful way to develop the thought processes and perceptions of children", in addition to helping them "comprehend and encode new content for later recall" (Source: Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites by Marcia L. Tate)

We made a pamphlet style book by folding a piece of paper in thirds.

 

 I only had my students write one step in the process. (I've learned from previous years, that having them write ALL of the steps can be very overwhelming for some students. I plan to do several more "steps in a process" writing projects later on in the year. Eventually, they will write all of the steps themselves.)

Have a fantastic Friday!

Five for Friday: Rhyme Time with Dr. Seuss

Who doesn't love Dr. Seuss? Favorite children's author - HANDS DOWN!
This week is all about the rhymes! I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for a little Friday fun!

We started this week with Cat in the Hat himself. After reading, we did a little guided drawing... can't help but love these!

 

It didn't take long for things to get Wacky! 

My students thought their clothes and hair were going to be the only things Wacky about Wednesday.... but they were WRONG!

We had a lot of fun with nonsense words... or as I like to call them... "Dr. Seuss words".

Students created their own crazy creatures. They glued them into tiny craft pockets and created  a rhyming name.

Calling all shoppers! It's our classroom store's GRAND OPENING! Our math unit is focusing on coin names and values. (Mini Rant: Why couldn't coins have sizes that make sense!?! Why is a Dime the smallest coin yet worth more than a Nickel and Penny? A size-value correlation would make this unit so much easier! End of rant.)
Anyways... we did some serious shopping this week.

 How could you not with these unbeatable prices?

Students made all of the price tags.

When students came to the checkout, with their purchases, they had to tell me the name of the coin they needed to pay with and the value of that coin.
If they wanted a turn as the cashier, they had to identify names and values of every coin- very motivating!

Bulletin board paper + IKEA table + Tape = Conveyer Belt

On Monday we will be celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday with green eggs and ham. Students make and wear their own "Cat in the Hat" hats just for the occasion. A volunteer even comes in to paint faces with black noses and whiskers.

A parent made these adorable marshmallow hats one year, and I've been carrying on the tradition ever since. SO EASY! Just dip 1/2 the of each marshmallow in water before rolling in red sprinkles and let dry before stacking on a lollipop stick.

"If you never did you should! These things are fun and fun is good!"~ Dr. Seuss