Five for Friday - End of a Crazy Week!

I cannot believe it is already Friday! Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining but this week flew by and now we are only one week (and two days) away from Thanksgiving Break! Thank you so much to Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching for hosting such a fun way to share!

 Last week we talked about Native Americans and I shared with you some of the cute projects my class and the other K teachers did. However, I left off my favorite project. Our directed art Native Americans. I have done this for years and got it from another teacher friend that has now retired. I am unsure of its origins so if you know, PLEASE let me know where to give the credit!

 This is a directed art lesson my teacher neighbor did, she found it on Learning with Mrs. Parker's Blog.

This week we talked about Pilgrims. We had a lot of fun learning about the Mayflower. We decided we would not have wanted to travel on such a crowded ship for 66 day!

Pilgrim Anchor Chart - in progress

Mayflower Anchor Chart

My across the hall neighbor made this super cute graph!

 Love these directed art pilgrims (also from Learning with Mrs. Parker). I think they turned out super cute!

 Liebster Linky

Have you received a Leibster Award? Would you like to check out some amazing teacher blogs that have?  The super sweet Kathleen Wright from Kidspeople Classroom has created a place to link up with other Liebster Award blogs. Check out the linky {here}!

Thank you Kathleen for doing such a great service to help connect more bloggers and teachers.

On a personal note:

 I just have to take a minute to share what is going on in my personal life. Previously I mentioned that we are selling our house so that we can build a new one. I have been hesitant to say anything on here before for fear of things not working out but I feel led to share. We are getting custody of my beautiful nieces in December!!! My little family of 5 (me, hubs, and 3 fur babies) is growing by two! As much as I love my house and our neighborhood we are going to need more space. I said it before, this is definitely a God thing. Our house has been listed for a little over a week. We had asked our realtor to give us two weeks to spruce things up and get it ready. Well less than 24 hours after we listed the house someone wanted to see it. I was very disappointed when that showing fell through. BUT Tuesday when I was off (and painting a bedroom I should say) we got a call that someone wanted to see the house that day! I had four hours to get my house clean and back together. And although that family picked a different neighborhood, my realtor called the next day to say that she has someone wanting to see the house today. I love how things just keep working themselves out! I am ecstatic! I have never sold a house before so maybe two showing week one is not as great as I think it is but considering we were thinking it would be a much slower start, I couldn't be more pleased. Please continue to pray and/or send positive thoughts our way - every little bit helps!
Also, any house selling tips are appreciated - just leave a comment below!

What has been going on in your classroom / life this week? Leave a comment and head over to Doodle Bugs Teaching to link up and read about other amazing teachers!

Five for Friday!

Happy Friday! I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share with you five things that happened this week!

This week we started our three week unit, "All About Me". This first week we spent learning all about our five senses.  Here is our anchor chart that the kids have been labeling all week. The labels are in the library to be laminated (nothing like finding a fun idea on Pinterest last minute!!) so we have just been using sticky notes!

To introduce the Five Senses, I used a Common Core in the Classroom lesson from Discovery Education. My Five Senses: How They Help Me Learn About the World is an amazing three day lesson that really helped my students understand the importance of our senses. Using the wolf from the fairytale, Little Red Riding Hood , I introduced the five senses to my kiddos. They were HOOKED! We then watched different video clips, read books about each sense and did a lot of whole group and independent writing to explore how our senses help us learn about the world around us. I plan to do a more in-depth post about this over the weekend!

This week we also began our AMSTI Science Weather Kit. Before we became scientist though, we had to brainstorm exactly what a scientist does. Here is our super cute anchor chart that will hang on our science board all year!

Our first lesson on weather began with a book by one of my favorite author/illustrators, Jim Arnosky, Rabbits and Raindrops. I love his books and so do the kids!  In theory we would have contrasted our weather with the rabbits but since the weather was exactly the same, we had a great time comparing them. My kiddos fell in love with being a scientist and observing the weather. For the first time in three weeks, they were ALMOST quiet! :)

Later we discussed different types of weather that we have here on the Gulf Coast and graphed our favorite kind! As hot as it has been the past few weeks, I don't think I blame them for liking cold weather best!

  This week we have begun our Counting Jar morning work. Counting jar is part of AMSTI Math from the Terc Investigations math book. We have PE first thing so there is not a lot we can get done in the short amount of time so we do our counting jar. The kids come in and they have a counting basket on their table. In the basket there is a bowl of buttons, four empty containers, sticky notes and counting manipulatives. The students count the buttons, create a counting basket containing the same amount, and then write the numeral (if they can at this point) and draw a picture representation of the number. The students post their sticky notes on our class counting jar. After finishing my morning work, I walk around and check their baskets. This has worked out great! We are still working on working quietly and independently but it is going really well!

 We are also starting Daily Data. Right now it is more like weekly data but (fingers crossed) it will become daily soon. Each day there will be a question for students to answer in the form of a graph. Our first question is below. We had a great discussion about what all this chart could tell us. I love the last sentence. "If you put 9 boys and 9 girls together, that is like 9+9=18." WOO HOO!!!

What amazing and fabulous things have you done this week? Leave a comment and then check out all the other Five for Fridays from Doodle Bugs Teaching!

Five for Friday - Niece Addition!

Oh my what a week I have had! *Warning* This post has nothing to do with teaching and everything to do with two of the most precious girls EVER!!!

Our Holiday weekend was a success! We spent the 4th with my best friend and some of her family. The girls now have another aunt! We also headed over to Dauphin Island to slide down a huge water slide and then to the splash pad in Spanish Fort! 

 You can't beat a day that starts off with Dunkin Donuts!

 After a long day of shopping and more splash pad fun, there was still plenty of energy for hoola hoops and jump ropes in the back yard!

 Tuesday brought Pirates and Princess on the beach at The Hangout! 

"We" made princess tutus! (AKA Aunt Melissa stayed up until almost midnight making tutus!) :)

 Love these sisters! They dressed up like their favorite sister princesses, Ana and Elsa!

 Since we were there, we just HAD to go to the beach. 

 By the middle of the week it was time for some down time! After 12 hours of sleeping, we met up with friends to swim and then off to get hair cuts!

Two cute sassy cuts for two cute and sassy girls!
A few months ago a certain red head decided to cut herself bangs and some front layers. They have now all been evened out. I cannot wait for the bangs to grow out. Too cute a face to hide behind think bangs!

Thursday we visited another splash pad. I don't know how I went all day and did not take any pictures. Then we spent the rainy afternoon dancing to my brain breaks!  Today we are taking a break from sun and water. We are headed to school to get my classroom set up, just waiting for the AC to come on!! 

I hope you all have had as fabulous a week as I have!