Five for Friday ~ April Fool's #2

OK, I know it's April 8th, but does Mother Nature?? We've had rain, sun, snow, sleet, rain, snow, sun, rain, snow, sleet, snow, rain, more snow... All TODAY! Seriously! What is happening???

This is what the Weather Channel says our overnight/early morning forecast looks like. Ahh ~ April in northwest Indiana! Tomorrow my daughters & I are participating in a "Chocolate Walk" downtown. Twenty + businesses will be giving out chocolate delights. I can't wait ~ but I wish it was warmer.

I love picture books! I'm a serious picture book junkie. I can't go into Barnes & Noble without coming out with a bag of them, my Amazon cart usually has several of them every time. But, there is nothing better than FREE picture books! This is my latest haul. My order came in the same day that we got our freebies from the book fair (our PTO runs three book fairs per year & they let teachers order books based upon the sales. This year we each got to choose about $120 worth of books, so I got a bunch of hardcover books).

Do you use interactive notebooks? I really hadn't until this year and I love them! So do my students. They provide engaging practice of important skills, and because they are in a notebook the kids can go back to refer to them as needed. Below are some examples of my CVCe interactive notebook. 

I like how the little cutie labeled this page as a "book about lazy e and not lazy e." :-) 

Click HERE to purchase my CVC & CVCe bundle.

It's Science Fair time again! In the past few years participating has been required. The primary grades do grade level projects ~ we do my Watching the Grass Grow project. It has all the elements of the scientific process, is easy & cheap to do, and the kids have fun doing it. Here are some pictures of my Kinders working on their observations. I created our display board the first time we did this project and kept it so we only have to plant seeds & print out the booklets each year. It's a pretty easy peasy science fair project!

Differentiation! The little darling on the left is typing her observations on an iPad using the Super Duper Story Maker app. It's a great app that lets her create stories and write responses with ease. 

Click HERE to purchase.

I've started to revamp some of my older products. I've learned so much about creating products, making things look nice, and what to include in products since I've started selling on TpT. This is a before & after shot of one of my very first products. EEK! It didn't even have a cover! When I created it I didn't own much clip art or fonts so my products weren't as cute. This freebie has been download well over 1,000 times in its old form. Hopefully the new version will be downloaded (and rated, please) even more times! Check it out HERE.

BONUS!! Recently we took our darling Amelia somewhere nearby for the day ~ can you guess where we went? The picture clues below include: Amelia on a John Deere harvester, at the wheel of a big ship, sitting on a trolley, and the attic of a Fairy Castle. One more clue: we were in Chicago. Leave a comment if you know where we were. :-)

In addition to the regular displays we took in an amazing Lego display. There were some incredible structures, but this replica of Cinderella's castle was our very favorite creation. 

Now be sure to hop over to Doodle Bugs Teaching to link up your own Five for Friday. Have a great weekend!

April 1st Five for Friday

Happy April 1st! I always kinda dread April Fools' Day at school ~ Kinders aren't really good at "fooling." One example from one of my little cuties: "Mrs. Phillips have you ever petted a bird?" I said yes. His response was "April fools!" Hmm, I don't think he really gets the spirit of the day. :-)

We began our science fair project (Watching the Grass Grow) this week. As a kick off we brainstormed this list of things Scientists Do. I'm pretty impressed that the very first thing they came up with was "think!" 

I was "mugged" at school this week! This fun little treat was given to me by an anonymous coworker who must know me pretty well ~ there is a Chapstick in the mug. I'm never without a Chapstick. The rules of this game is that I fill & give away two mugs. It will be fun shopping for two teacher friends!

What's in your pocket? I'm sure you have taken small treasures home, too. It's always interesting the things that I pick up throughout the day. 

#teacherfeetupfriday is a fun Instagram link up! I wore my glittery Kate Spade Keds today and had to snap a picture of my feet. :-) Look me up on Instagram HERE.

A little girl came bounding into the classroom and handed me this gift card. It wasn't in an envelope or card, so I thought that it could be something plucked from her mother's purse or picked up off the floor of their car. I went on Steak n Shake's website to check if it had a balance before contacting her parents. LOL ~ it was not even activated! She apparently lifted it from the display at the restaurant. 

Well, that's it for me! Hop over to Doodle Bugs Teaching for her Five for Friday linky.

Springing into Science Blog Hop

I am excited to be a part of this fun Science themed blog hop.  As a busy kindergarten teacher, I find that I don't have a lot of time to devote to all things Science. Literacy & math take up lots of time.  But, our Kinder kids recently had the opportunity to participate in a special presentation by our county Soil and Water Conservation department.  My Kinders got to be Soil Scientists for an afternoon!

 Our guest presenter, Mrs. Benson, taught us about the types of soil in our area.

 Each student was given a "soil" sample made from kitchen ingredients such as cornmeal, cocoa, and flour.  After observing the samples with their eyes, ears (shaking the containers), and noses, the kiddos got to feel their samples.  Mrs. Benson gave the kids words to describe their "soil."  Rough, smooth, powdery, etc.  Some samples included cinnamon ~ which smelled much better than real dirt!

 Before adding a spoonful of water, the Kinders were instructed to give a practice stir in the air.  Mrs. Benson explained that soil scientists add water when studying soil.  The samples really did mimic different soil types ~ the cornmeal was like sand, and the cocoa/flour mix really looked like real mud!

After stirring their little pots of "dirt," the kids had fun trying to make mud balls.

I plan to schedule this presentation with my future Kinders.  What a great, hands-on way to learn about our Earth & be scientist for the day!

Thanks for visiting!  Check out my post about our recent Science Fair project, and enter to win $20.00 worth of items of your choice in my TpT store. 



 

 Hop over to Sweet Integrations for the next stop on the Springing into Science Blog hop!

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Watching the Grass Grow

What is more fun than watching paint dry?  Why, watching the grass grow, of course!  Actually, watching the grass grow has been pretty fun.  My Kinders have been busy this week and last working on our project for the Science Fair.  The primary grades do a grade level project, and my teaching partners & I wanted something simple.  And, what can be simpler than watching the grass grow?

 We only have to submit one display for the Science Fair.  I created this board using my new Watching the Grass Grow product.  I didn't get home until after 5:00 tonight, but I think it turned out pretty cute!  In addition to our display, we will set out a set of cups & the kiddos' booklets.  I think our display will be the hit of the show!

 Using the pages in my new set, we made our hypotheses, recorded our observations, and (will tomorrow)  write our conclusions.  My little cuties really enjoyed being junior scientists!  They were thrilled each day to come in and check out the cups of grass/seeds.  Click HERE to purchase.

 I can't claim the cute cups 'o grass as my own idea, but I can claim how they were made.  We are hoping to reuse this display board next year (it will be a new set of kids...), so we didn't want to hot glue the cups onto it.  I traced the shape of the half cup and taped on bent paper clips which act as holders.  To keep the yarn "dirt" from squiggling out of the cup, I taped a piece of brown paper onto the back.  (If you do this - put the tape onto the paper & make tiny clips into the tape sticking off the edge of the paper.  This will allow the tape to fit onto the cup ~ the little tape tabs will overlap slightly on the side of the cup ~ and the tape will be smoother & less noticeable.  If you sew, you will know just what I mean, if you don't & aren't sure, find someone who sews and ask them what I'm talking about.  :-)  I wish I had taken a picture of this step.)  Plant some green pipe cleaners, and PRESTO!  You have a pot of grass!

 The little cutie on the left got a little mixed up with think/thing, but I do like how she spelled definitely! 

I love the progression of how this Kinder wrote his observations.  He really added some great details!

The Science Fair is this Friday, so we will have to do one more observation & write our conclusions tomorrow.  We also will have to look at the "no water"grass of our neighboring class because it grew!  I guess the potting soil must have had enough moisture for it to sprout!  Who knew...

And, once we submit our display, my Kinders want to rescue the poor weak, yellow grass from the cabinet.  They want to put it by the window so that it will turn green.  Boy, do I love those kids!