A Mother's Day Five for Friday

I had the most fantastic week, and I can't wait to share it with you! :)

This week was filled with preparing for today, when we hosted Muffins with Mom.

We made special hats for our mom's to wear for the occasion- the hats were a HUGE hit and amazing for pictures! They were SO easy to make. All you need is coffee filters, construction paper, string, tape, scissors, a stapler, a water bottle and markers. The students cut out the hat template and used a marker to draw "band" on the hat. Then the students colored a coffee filter any way they liked and used the spray bottle to spray it with water. After the coffee filter dried the students crushed it together to form a flower and stapled it to the hat. Last with the tape we attached a string to use to tie the hat on...VIOLA! 

We made a little recipe card holder for a little gift for our mothers. We used medium size paper clips, a picture and a recipe card. Keeping the "muffin" theme, I took each student's photo and place it inside a muffin template. Each photo read "Happy Mother's Day 2013 From Your Little Love Muffin". Then The students created a "Recipe for a Great Mom (Aunt or Grandma)". We just attached the muffin photo to the paper clip and then placed the recipe card in the holder. 

My mom was such a HUGE help getting ready for this event and even serving as "mom" for a few students whose mothers were unable to attend today. She is the best mother EVER! :) I am so blessed to have her...she has always been my biggest cheerleader and in all my failings she is always proud of me! I don't know what I would do without her! Isn't she gorgeous! LOVE HER!

This week we did a mini science experiment. I was so fascinated by this activity! We took a head of red leaf lettuce and cut it off at the bottom. We placed the bottom root portion, in a cup of water. After just a few days, the lettuce started to sprout and regrow! Yes, the lettuce grows again! I have thrown away so many bottoms, who knew that I could have had lettuce growing!

This week I was so spoiled for Teacher Appreciation Week. I feel like I don't deserve all that I was given. My students are too much! I forgot to take a picture, but my favorite gift this week was a "Love Jar" filled with Love Notes from my students! I will treasure this ALWAYS!

Today we received our placements for next year and well, I am sooo happy! I will be teaching...

I hope you had a wonderful week! Only 18 more days for me...how many for you? Go link up!! 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

 

Plants and Earth Day...a Giveaway Too!

This week is FCAT testing for grades 3-5, so there are lots of schedule changes this week...which is great because I have extra time with my little friends to do some extra fun activities!

We are loving studying plants. We have learned all about flowers and the parts of a flower.  We finished up our models of a flower yesterday and started learning that trees are a kind of plant too. It is perfect timing for Earth Day! We read lots of nonfiction books about trees today and tomorrow we are going on a tree walk and will do a leaf rubbing! Maybe we will even get to do a fun painting activity to learn about the parts of a tree...we will see how much time we have! :)

We have been reading all about taking care of our Earth for Earth Day. The kids have so many questions, especially about recycling. I even had to look up the answers to three of their questions today! I love how curious they are...at least I know they are listening! Yay!

During ELA centers we are having fun with Earth Day too!

The kids will be responsible for making this little craftivity at the writing center tomorrow too! I showed them an example today and they came up with amazing ideas! 

Oh my I almost forgot...how could I forget the BEST part...I am so excited to help Regina at Kinder Krazy celebrate 100 followers! Yay!! Head on over to her blog and join her giveaway...you could win so many great prizes from lots of talented teachers! 

I hope that you are having a fantastic week! 

Five For Friday!

It is my favorite day of the week...IT IS FRIDAY! :) Yay! I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for her weekly Five For Friday!

1. We had so much fun with this activity by Rachelle at Life Is Sweet...In Kindergarten! If you haven't checked her out you should...she is SUPER creative and talented. Last week she posted this FREEBIE which was perfect for our learning about 3-D shapes. My kids went crazy for this lesson! Thanks for sharing Rachelle!

2. We finished learning about living and nonliving things. I swear every day the kids are pointing out living and nonliving things to me. Some of the things they come up with are hysterical!

3. As we finished learning about living and nonliving things, we started learning about plants. The kids are so interested in plants. We created our "I wonder" chart and they have so many amazing questions! On Monday we took a "Plant Walk" and made plant observations. The kids took this assignment very serious! Love it! :)

We started creating a model of a flower today, but didn't get to finish...we will have to finish on Monday!

4. These little guys have missed me for FAR too long...every day they give me the "evil eye" telling me   to put them on and go for a jog. For the past few months I have ignored them...BUT I am happy to say the past 2 weeks we have been back in business baby! Yay! 

And since I been trying to exercise, I thought I should be eating a little healthier too. I have been loving greek yogurt. I have found so many ways to use it to replace other not so nutritious but oh so delicious foods!

5. My kids are absolutely in LOVE with fairy tales. We are right in the middle of our fairy tale unit and I wish I could video tape them...no seriously! They are too much. They reenact every fairy tale to PERFECTION! Even my little friends that are usually shy and quiet volunteer to be characters in the fairy tale. Today when we had indoor recess due to the weather I had kids fighting over who was going to the "Fairy Tale" center to act out the fairy tales. So since they are so into the fairy tales I have been working on some craftivities to go along with different characters. I hope to have them finished and posted to TPT by tomorrow!

If you are looking for activities, centers and craftivities for Earth Day, stop on over to TPT and check out my unit!

Well I am off to have dinner with my handsome man...I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Don't forget to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching! Happy Weekend!