End of Year Wild Things

Hi, Friends! It seems like its been for.ev.er since my last blog post! The last few weeks have been crazy busy, but alas the tick tock of the clock has signaled the end of another year! That makes lucky number 13! WOW!  I wasn’t sure that this year was ever going to come to an end, but once it was finally here, it was definitely bittersweet and a bit surreal.



One thing I love about the last week of school is how the pace of things slow down just enough for enjoying each other to be the priority over squeezing everything in, testing, or gathering data. Now, let me just keep it real and say…….. my class was ready to go their separate ways by the last day of school because the {sibling} tattle tongues were running rampant! Lol! Nevertheless, our last week was all about having fun and enjoying our few remaining days as a little family unit.

Our Kinder friends stopped in to get a quick preview of what first grade will be like. We let them sit in our “big kid” chairs at the desks, and each student read one sentence to tell why 1st grade will be the best grade ever!



We read, we sang, we laughed and they left reassured with a smile!

www.buildyourwildself.com

For W Day of our ABC countdown, we created our wild selves. Have you ever used this little site? It’s super easy, informative and the kids *LOVE* it! We wrapped up the year in science learning about different habitats so this was the perfect, fun culminating activity! After the first friend shared how to use it, kiddos were sent to the computer station in groups of four to create their wild selves. What was the rest of the class doing?

Wellll, that’s where classroom management a.k.a the “quiet game” comes in! It is amazing how quietly friends will sit, in order to be the friend who gets to build their “self” in front of the whole wide world! After the friend at the laptop finished, they got to go over and choose a friend following rug rules to build theirs. The friends at the computer station did the same thing.

Unless we’re completing an assessment, I don’t feel like my whole class absolutely has to be doing the same thing at the same time. This little project had three steps and as long as they were engaged in completing one of them, I was one happy, happy, happy teacher.

After building their wild self, they illustrated it and wrote about what they would do as the wild self they built. With the inclusion of so many different animal parts, the activity lent itself to some fun, creative writing and an opportunity for students to share what they had previously learned about habitats.



Behavior during the last week a little wild and crazy, you say? Don’t fight it! Channel it…build your wild self, push back the desks, work on the floors, let students pick their seats, allow them to work on projects together, write the room, work together, sing, read, chat {with a purpose} and most of all have fun! Afterall, they may never see some of these friends again. It’s a very special time of year.



Annnd, pull a little something new out of your bag of tricks. I had been promising my kiddos…all year long…(time flies when you’re having fun)…to add a clock to our classroom floor. FINALLY<-------------THEIR WORDS, NOT MINE, lol, I added one during the last week to review telling time in a fun way. We used Jack Hartmann’s ‘Hip Hop Around the Clock’ to play “musical chairs” with the large clock on the floor.

Students walked around the clock and stopped as he gave a specific time during the song. As he gave the time, the student closest to the hour for the time stood on it and got a sticker. The person who got the sticker, then moved to the carpet with a small Judy clock to show the time from the song and sing to cheer on those still in the game. I was dizzy as I don’t know what watching them go ‘round and ‘round the clock, but they were so happy that it was definitely worth it ANNNNNNND it started my wheels turning for next year!

ANNNNNNNNNND guess what? I made some REAL numbers to put down on the floor to match the color scheme of my new classroom! Yep! I’m one of those crazy teachers who just got out and is already thinking of what I’ll do differently for next year! Cray, cray, I know….



I’m going from a dark purple accent wall to a sunny yellow one, so 2013-2014 is literally going to be so much brighter! If you think you might be able to use these little babies, click the pic to download them! Can you tell what my color scheme is going to be? Chevron *LOVE*….