Workin’ It Wednesday~Fold it FUN!!!

Hi there! How are ya? I’m linking up with Corinna at Surfin’ Through Second to share what we’ve been workin’ with.



If you stopped by the blog recently, I told ya I’d share a foldable we began using recently that’s quickly become one of our favorites. Like dioramas? Have a hard time collecting boxes? Don’t want to stress about finding boxes? Wellll, this is a perfect foldable for you!

Start with a plain piece of construction paper. I ALWAYS keep a stash handy. You never know what your smart cookies may discover while learning that you may want to capture in a fun way.



Have students create an illustration to demonstrate their learning that covers the entire space of the paper. This sheet is 12x18. ;-)


Fold the sides in to meet at the center. Fold the corners to the outer edges as pictured above.


Fold the top to the bottom to create a “hamburger” fold. Slit the center folds to the outer edge.



Set atop a flat surface. Fit the top flap over the bottom side flaps and staple in place.



….and voila! Diorama! Seems like a lot of steps, but once you’ve done two or three, you’ll whip them out in a matter of minutes and the kids LOVE seeing their work transform from a flat drawing to standing at attention and awaiting details.



Add details (one of our favorite phrases)….and share to “show what you know”!

  

Didn’t they turn out cute? Hope you’re able to draw, flip, and fold to help wind down these last few days too! Enjoy!

 

Five for Friday~Under the Sea

Hi, Friends! How are ya?

It’s been one long, fun week…(mostly fun). I started out the week doing a little of this….


…which led to my body initiating and all out revolt against dust! I’ve tried packing a little each day, so that it's not so overwhelming, but those darn dust mites attacked me with a vengeance! By week’s end, I was teaching via text ….


…because of all the sneezing and coughing. Thank goodness, it's the end of the year and they can read it or we might’ve been in serious trouble!!! I completely lost my voice and sounded much like a strangled duck trying to talk. Good thing I’ve got the teacher “look” down pat, lol!

We took a dive into the deep blue sea. As we reviewed digraphs and adjectives, we couldn’t forget to include our favorite shark friend, Gilbert! I love this little character!



Him being such a sweetie shark, made it easy to extend shared reading to writing. This is the list of adjectives that we used to tell about the story.



We also used what is now, my favorite foldable, to create an ocean habitat. Didn’t they turn out just adorable? The animals swam in the next day. I’ll share the finished product a little later. =) I was so grateful to my sweet firsties for working quietly while I rested my voice, that we broke out the supplies to create our own little versions of Gilbert too. We spent a calm morning working quietly and listening to our virtual ocean waves. I think they like the relaxation app almost as much as I do because now they’ve begun to ask for it while they work! We’ve even had sweet school helpers stop in our room to take a quick break and enjoy them with us….*LOVE*!



If you think teaching by text was tough…..we had Field Day after lunch! You should’ve seen me trying to lead by hand signal as we made our way through all of the activities. Luckily, we had some awesome parents show up to help. We had a total blast, but doing it without a voice made for an interesting experience!

9 more days to go! Almost there…! Don’t forget to stop by Kacey’s to hop through the Linky Party!



Have a great weekend!

 

 

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Workin’ It Wednesday

Hi, Friends! How are ya?

I’m linking up with Corinna to share a little of what we’ve been workin’ with this week!



As if my clipart obsession wasn’t bad enough, I purchased a little set that I thought was absolutely adorable from Melonheadz Illustrating last week. Initially, I bought it to create an encouraging award for a sweet 5th grade friend, but was quickly inspired to use it to create some goodies for my firsties too!



I am a really lucky teacher, who’s had a SUPER {chatty} class this year! No, really….lol! I love my sweet batch of kiddos!!! After grabbing these cute little superheroes, I thought what better to use them for than to have one last hoooorah in math stations!

Our station activities always start with students reading an I CAN statement. For us this serves two purposes….1) understanding what will be expected at the station and 2) reading practice.



We’re reviewing place value AND how to work nicely in a group! (11 more days, 11 more days, 11 more days…..=) The stars on the bottom of the cards are a gentle reminder to make sure our 10’s are on the left when we place the card into a pocket.


Adding to sums of 18…



There’s always one little megamind in each group that I can depend on to “double-check” to make sure the activity was completed correctly. My cute little “Future Teacher” made sure all of these sentences were in the correct place before it was time to clean and move on to the next station! =)



We’re making number sequences…



…and taking a closer look at the hundred chart. 
 
We’re also continuing to practice procedures because the year is.NOT.over yet!



….like cleaning up correctly. Once, we complete a station rotation, all materials go back into a bucket with the I CAN statement on top….all buckets go back onto the shelf, ready for the next day and we’re off to lunch!

That’s what we’re workin’ with this week! Click the pic below to check out these stations in my little TPT shop, then hop over to Corinna’s and link up to show what you’re workin’ with! 


Enjoy the rest of the week!

 

Five for Friday~Measurement

Hi~ya, Friends! How are ya? TGIF……14 1/2 more days ‘til sweet freedom! I know some of you may have less, but please don’t tell me, lol! We’re in full review mode and wrapping up the end to a great school year. We’ve learned a lot and are all looking forward to some rest, relaxation and fun under the sun!



So, let’s get to it…here’s a little peek at what we’ve been up to over the last week-ish. =)



For teacher appreciation week, I wanted to get my team a little something to say “thank you” for all they do…soooo, what better than something to help with a little organization? I absolutely adore all things personalized and tried to select a little gift that resembled each of their classrooms’ decor. Looking at each of the clipboards, you can tell we’re quite the eclectic bunch! There’s nothing better than being your own kind of beYOUtiful! My faithful supermom put these together and I couldn’t thank her enough. I think they each came out super cute!



In math, we’re focusing on measurement during the last six weeks of school. Length…check. Area….check. Now, capacity and weight! To use the little activity above, we set up 6 stations in our classroom to explore capacity. Why 6, when the chart has 5 rows? Well, because we have 6 table groups, 1 container for each table…it just helps to spread the group out a little more into smaller groups.



Each table group had a container set in the middle of a tray of manipulatives. As students rotated to each station, they had to write the container number, estimate how many of the manipulatives it would take to fill the container, then measure to check their “guesstimate”. Simple…fun….and LOUD! Oh my! Daily 5 is so quiet and peaceful, but math on the other hand is so NOT! In the midst of the roars of guessing, checking, and recording, students had fun with measurement and were very engaged as they explored capacity.



Part of our standard for measurement is using comparative language to describe it, so to conclude the rotation (and calm down before transitioning) students had to divide the back of their paper into 3 sections. By doing so they created spaces to make observations about the containers they had just explored. *The number on top of each container is the table/container number where it was used to measure capacity, not how many objects used to fill it.



If you’ve stuck around my little blog for any length of time, you know we like to doodle a LOT in our class. As an introduction to weight/mass, we created this little illustration and used it to explore weight/mass with real life objects found in the classroom. After having a hefty conversation to introduce vocabulary, we went on a “heft hunt”. Students looked for 2 items that were “wimpy, wimpy, wimpy” to illustrate on the heavy side and 2 items that were “hefty, hefty, hefty” to illustrate on the heavier side.

We’ve been working on comparative adjectives too, so I tried to sneak a little language arts into the lesson. Did they notice? Well, of course they did, lol! By this time of year, my little mega minds don’t miss a thing!

We doodled, but if you’d like to go on a heft hunt too….click the pic below to grab it! Have a great weekend! Summer is in sight! Whoooo hooo!



ANNNND…don’t forget to hop over to Doodlebugs Teaching to hop through the links and check out more of the fun Five for Friday posts! I’ll “see ya” there!

 

Fabulous Feedback Linky

Hi~ya, Friends! I’m linking up with Christina at *Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge* to share some of our favorite, fabulous feedback! I absolutely *LOVE* reading the feedback left by awesome teachers at TPT! I have to admit, it takes me for.ev.er to finish a unit and it feels great to have that hard work appreciated with a little feedback.



We’re getting ready for the BIG “Teacher Appreciation Sale” going on at TPT tomorrow and Wednesday, May 7th and 8th. My entire store will be on sale. All of my items will be 20% off AND TPT is offering an additional 10% off if you use code TAD13 at checkout.

Graphic by: Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Designs {One of my TPT faves!}

To add a little more fun to the linky, if it is YOUR feedback that is shared below, comment or shoot me a quick email. I’d love to share one of my newest products with you for FREE! Sound like a plan?

Let’s go……….!

I received this feedback earlier this year from ajshaw. Texas is a country unto itself that refuses to let go of the reigns of our state’s standards, so I was thrilled to see that teachers outside of the state lines can relate to my products.

“Great for my kindergarten intervention group-aligns great with CC and Dibels testing!” ~ajshaw

 

This little packet has been one of my class’ absolute favorites! They happily worked with compound words for weeks!  Elloakley really warmed my heart with the heartfelt feedback left for this product!

 

 

“I have looked for materials to use for phonemic awareness with compound words at school supply stores without success. I was happy to find this resource and I think it will be very helpful to use with my little ones.” ~elloakley

 

This little guy has been my biggest seller to date! I like simple. Cute, but simple and to the point. This little packet of goodies is an easy reference to guide students with the different types of syllables. Its gotten a LOT of use in our classroom and I’m so glad other teachers have found it helpful too! =)

 

“Super cute and just what I need to teach syllables!!” ~eatierney

Two of my most recent products that we worked really hard with and enjoyed are pictured below. I’d love for them to receive a little love too! Time, practice, and learning new “tips” from so many talented friends is definitely showing up in my work! I’m so looking forward to the summer to work on the list of ideas that keep popping into my head…

 


Click any of the pics to check out the product in my little shop and stop by Christina’s to hop through the linky. You never know, it might be your feedback that’s being featured!

And….don’t forget that YOU receive credits that can be used towards saving on your future purchases when you leave feedback for the items that you buy. Happy shopping and enjoy the sale….I’m headed over to get my wishlist ready!

Happy ‘Teacher Appreciation Week’ to you!

 

CURRENTLY…it’s FIVE for FRIDAY!

Hi~ya, Friends! TGIF!!!!! How are YOU?



Afternoon nap…check! Now, I’m wide awake and listening to an episode of Kym Whitley’s new show on OWN. I’ve always loved her as an actress; now she’s starring in a new reality series that’s cute….

I’m loving that we’re down to counting how many days are left in school…I think we’re at 24!?! We began our annual ABC countdown on yesterday and have had so much fun in the last 2 days! 

Having so few days left has got me thinking about long, late, summer nights and lazy summer days! I can hardly wait! I do believe I may have previously been a nocturnal animal because I come alive after dark and my sleep cycle completely changes the minute we get out of school! Heck, my sleep cycle changes every weekend! Ha!

I’m wanting a few more hours in the day to get it “all” done. Alas…I’m working on prioritizing…over procrastinating. My summer bucket list is pretty simple…just to spend quality time with my kiddos. They’ve been so sweet and patient as I’ve worked, blogged, and gone back to school over the last few months. They deserve a lot of hugs, kisses, and quality time. Can’t wait!



While we have just days left to wrap up the school year, we’re also still packing in LOTS of learning to review all that we’ve done this year. We recently used a new little foldable that my kiddos really enjoyed.



After reading a simple story about a set of sisters who loved planting seeds, we discussed how to drop the y, change it to i and add suffixes. After completing the folds, stapling, and slitting …there are 4 pages to write on.  In the pic, it looks like an x on the cover..but its actually a y crossed out with an arrow pointing to the letter i…On the inside pages, we added the changed forms to a word that ended with the letter y like happy and funny to each page. {happy, happier, happiest}

At the bottom students had to choose one of the forms of the word to use in a sentence and  illustrate it. Quick.visual.review.

 
We also released our little butterflies this week! This little guy stuck around just long enough for us to snap a few pics, but his sibs were definitely ready to flutter away because as soon as we opened their little netting, they flew away quickly one by one to the delights and squeals of my crazy little crew!

Remember that ABC countdown I mentioned? Well, today was Beach Day…BUT guess what? The high…{in Texas, no less} was only IN THE 60’s! Say WHAT?!!! 60~ish! Soooo, we had to move our beach day inside.….We created a little atmosphere in our classroom by….



….kicking off our shoes, listening to ocean waves on a relaxation app, projecting a little scenery onto the whiteboard, turning off the lights and opening the blinds.  After the mood was set, students got comfortable to read and enjoy their afternoon snack in a spot of their choice on the floor around the room.



These may be our last few days of school, but we’re gonna learn and play in such a way to make them our BEST days of school! Have a great weekend friends and don’t forget to head over and link up with Farley and Kacey! =)