Reading and Writing Love

Five quickies on this almost-to-the-end-of-school Friday. We get out in three weeks. Am I counting the days? Am I counting the minutes?? Thanks Doodle Bugs for the Five for Friday linky. I include a Funny Kid Friday below, too.

1. We wrapped up our Mo Willems unit today. Ya gotta know about Elephant and Piggie, Knuffle Bunny, and Pigeon books, right?? If you don't, go look them up RIGHT NOW. We own several copies of ALL twenty five E&P books (book lingo in my classroom). I save them for the end of the year, not only because they are a happy note to go out on, I mean funny even for adults, but because at this point ALL my kiddos can read them... well, read them after they've heard them, and read them with a partner. And they do love to read them. From the teacher perspective E&P are especially good for teaching dialogue, talk and thought bubbles, reading details in pictures, punctuation... so much. We've made Mo hats to celebrate his unit before, but only with Pigeon. This time all the characters prance across the front with a little directed drawing help.

Mo hats!

To show just how much we connect with Mo and his characters, I share what I found inside one little guy's hat.

Mo love

Cracked me up. I have about seventy Mo books altogether and they were worth every penny of investment. Most are available in paperback now, so they are a bit cheaper than when they first came out. Our school library is well stocked, too, as they fly off the shelves during our unit. Ya GOTTA do Mo if you don't already.

2. When the kiddos have the whole room to choose from at free choice and they choose this, you know something is going right, eh?

They LOVE the window seat!

3. Speaking of books and reading, I am going to be doing a book linky this summer so we can share the book love.

Teachers can share favorite kid books, teacher books, and books they read for pure pleasure. I've started my list already. It's going to run on Tuesdays for twelve weeks from June 6 thru August 22. Please spread the word and remember to stop back here when it starts in less than two weeks now. Keep your eye open for the book button!

4. I found these at Target this week.

Fun, cheap, and LOOK what you can do with them!

They make the CUTEST little first day of school gift for incoming students! I know it is early to be thinking about BACK to school, but you want to do this. I include a letter to students on how to use the wishing star that goes out to incoming families in their school start-up packet. I am especially proud of this idea because although you find great ideas all over the internet, the wishing star came out of my own little head. I happily share it because it brought me big kuddos with my new students and incoming families this past fall.

And people, my resource is FREE! You can read about how I use it by clicking on the family letter below.

Then grab the FREEBIE at my TPT store by clicking on the pack.

5.  We wrapped up a letter writing unit today... not letter, as in alphabet letter, but letter as in written communication. Letter writing for my class is a "bend in the road" mini-unit in writing workshop. In the past I have done this unit earlier in the year, but I found it to be a great end of year unit to do right now, too. The kiddos are getting just a bit nostalgic... if five year olds can get nostalgic... as it slowly sinks in that our year is coming to an end and they are not going to see all their friends over the summer as they do now. We spent the last three weeks writing to all sorts of people, but especially to each other.  The classroom mailbox has taken on new meaning.

For our celebration we played with our food, so to speak. I gave the kids licorice strings and they "wrote" the two most useful words in letter writing– Dear and Fondly. They loved it.

I really relied on my Let's Write to Someone letter writing resource, one of the few products in my TPT store. It helped me remember what I do in this unit, and the anchor charts, stationery and postcard are really helpful. You might check it out if you are looking for a way to refresh writing in your last weeks of school. You can find it by clicking below.

Along with this unit came a little Funny Kid Story I share in closing.

A favorite guest teacher was in our classroom during writing time this last week. Even though she knows our kids well she was rather taken aback when one of the littles asked, "What is the F word?"

She got quite a chuckle when she realized he was after the word Fondly!

Have a great last few weeks, OR congratulations on finishing another successful year of teaching, whatever your case may be.

Click on back to Five for Friday! Thanks, Kacey, for helping us find each other!! And I sure hope that Five for Friday will be back next Fall!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Five for Friday and a Funny

Happy chilly Friday in February. Here are five random things going on in this Five for Friday... including a Funny Kid Story. Haven't had one in a while.

1.

Gotta have this up near my library book bin. It is going to mean LOVE for some of my short fellows. And who knows, maybe they'll remember their books more often. Comes from Imgur.

2.  We learned about symmetry in the past weeks. I tie it each year to our trip to the art museum because we'll sure see it there. As we were talking about how symmetry is everywhere, even right there on our faces, an art project occurred to me. I'm sure I've seen it somewhere over the years, but who knows where.

Here's how I did it. I took headshots of the kiddos and then printed on a regular black and white printer on regular paper. I cut the photo straight down the middle of the face. I then cut out the head and shoulder and glued it to another plain piece of paper. I demo'd with my own photo which the kids loved. I decided to give them only drawing pencils to keep with the black and white mode and to allow them the opportunity to shade. Our drawing pencils are fat number two pencils without erasers. (I use black vis-a-vis pens and black flairs for a lot of drawing projects, as well, but I thought those would be too harsh a line. My illustrator husband sees good value in kids not being able to erase, and over the years for a variety of reasons, I've have found it to be true.)

Boy, did they put in effort. The room had barely a murmur as they worked, totally engrossed in reproducing their own face. They had to really pay attention to detail and they LOVED it. The adults who have come into our room where they are on display have not failed to comment. They are pretty impressive and "Picasso-like" as one dad said when they are all seen together in the collection. It really is a worthwhile project and I highly recommend it, whether for a symmetry lesson or an All About project.

3. Our latest FAVORITE math video.

It is a favorite for the kids because the timing is just right to sing along to. It counts all the way up to 100 with a pause before each ten number. I say "Tell me" in that pause, and they say the next ten number, which is the tricky part in counting to 100 and you see some of them putting in extra thinking effort. There is a bonus for the math wizzes, too, because it counts past 100 going through the thousands, millions, billions, to one trillion. I tell you, one trillion is a very exciting number. In addition to great counting practice, I love it for it's sound. It is a more melodic tune than the raps, yet isn't babyish, and the singer articulates the numbers very well. Try it. Listen and you'll see why the kids love Big Numbers. KidsTV123 has other videos up on YouTube as well, and there are more goodies to be found. It is nice that most classrooms these days have the ability for just a few minutes of engaging number counting in the form of videos to keep kids on their toes and engaged. Ah, technology... and to think when I was in Ed School I had to learn how to load a film projector...

4. Have you tried a new trend– Small Worlds? I have to chuckle as I type "new trend" because imaginative play in this way has been around for a long time. I particularly like, though, how this is "packaged," and it's given me new ways to group items for play centers.

In a nutshell, you gather small items- toys, blocks, items from nature, scraps– and put them together in collections which lead kids to play in smaller, quieter ways around a theme. As I thought about it I could come up with several themes just with the stuff I already had. Here are some photos of one collection over a few days.

Small World play is fun!

I pulled Jenga blocks, popsicle sticks, micro cars, small signs, trees, figures and animals. The astro turf squares come from Menards– they are free samples– put you could just as easily use felt squares. The kiddos were totally engrossed. They worked individually and in groups to form roads, fences, buildings, cities, zoos, farms, forests with all sorts of things going on. They LOVED it.

I also put together a beach themed collection, and have stuff ready to go if we ever get snow again to do a winter themed one. Bringing snow into the classroom is always a hit, but now with the small world theme, it will have yet another purpose. I'm even working on an alien planet– the sky's the limit... er, rather NOT the limit. You can't imagine all the doodads I'm finding around the house and classroom to put to use this way. Have fun.

5. 

Do you ever wonder just HOW much your kids keep track of you? I was coming down with a cold the other day and to combat it I was drinking plenty of fluids, with the usual result. I was in the bathroom, which is in our own classroom, when I heard through the vent in the door:

Child A:  Where's Mrs. Wright?
Child B:  She's in the bathroom.
Child A: No...

I emerge at this moment.

Child B: See, she was in there.
Me: Teachers have to go to the bathroom, too, you know.
Child A: But you only go once a day, and you've already been today.

Hope you have a great weekend with no little eyes watching you. Thanks for stopping by.

Click on back for more posts. Thanks, Kacey.

P.S Anybody going to this retreat? I am planning on it, but am looking for buddies. Let me know. Midwest events don't come too often.

Self Portrait Symmetry- Great Project

Just goofing around with PicMonkey and making things Pinnable. Hope you'll Pin away!

Pick 3 Pins and Freebies

Happy New Year! It's not only a new year, but a new month and that means it's time for the Pick 3 Pins linky. YAY! Thanks to Pawsitively Teaching and Inspired Owl's Corner.

With FREEBIES this time- whoot

To be very honest, I really have a love-hate relationship with this linky. I LOVE posting to it because I love Pinterest and use it all the time, and I LOVE going to this linky as a teacher and finding new great stuff. HOWEVER, I HATE only being able to share THREE! Three?? I mean, com'on, I could share three hundred! sigh.

So, in the end I share two snow themed pins, because my class is all about snow in January, and one little diddy that I just have to share. AND I give you a freebie I made to go with the song. Actually, one of the snow pins leads to a freebie, too, so click away.

Do you know the short Lily and the Snowman video? I haven't seen it come across any pin boards yet, but it is so lovely. I can hardly wait to share it with my kiddos... it has similar themes to Puff the Magic Dragon, which we love and sing all the time, and it will lead to good discussion about growing up, like Puff did. But spoiler alert– it might make some of you cry! My own daughters just tease me and tease me... one day they'll know!

Okay, so there isn't too much new about sparkly playdough or making clay snowmen... but would you look at how it is set up!  SO cute. SO inviting with wonderful choices. And see that little snowman factory sign?? Well, its a FREEBIE when you click through to the blog. I think after we've spent a day with playdough, I'm going to break out the air dry dough and let them create permanent snow friends. Love.

This is the CUTEST song. Found on YouTube, complete with sign language, you and your kids will have fun learning the song. My kids and I usually sing a goodbye song at the end of the day, so I typed up the words to put up in my classroom for the kiddos to read along. YOU can download my little poster by clicking on the pic below.

Well, that is all for today. I do encourage you to check out my Pinterest boards and the snow themed one in particular because there are so many great ideas on there and I am adding to it all the time.

Click to go to my Pinterest page!

I've been using my own student break count down on my fridge and it was a sad mark I made this morning. If you'd like to share it with students next year, you can download it by clicking on the picture. Now make sure you're ready for tomorrow's return to school because ready or not, here they come charging into 2016!

To find more great pins just continue down the page and you'll find tons. It is your lucky day! Thanks for stopping by.

An InLinkz Link-up

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New Back to School Linky

Yippee! A new linky to show you some of my teacher faves! I'm linking with Layla, Courtney and Jamie for their Back to School in a Flash linky. Thanks, Ladies! This linky party goes for four weeks to share four different sorts of back to school tips with everyone.

Yep, I write with them.
They're not just for kids any more.

I know, I know, I know. Every teacher likes Flair pens. I do, too, and I have quite a stash. However, I might be the only teacher on the planet who actually prefers to write with good old cheap, fat Crayola markers most of the time. Sometimes the Flairs just make too skinny a line, and with the Crayola I can vary the size of line better. Ten colors are plenty- though I have a love of red, purple and black. And they are ONE BUCK a box at this time of year. So as I pick them up for the kids, I pick them up for me, too. I get the classic kind– I don't know why the washable even exist. Again, I might have the only classroom on the planet that doesn't use any washables, but I find they smear WAY too much as kids use them. And the classics have never been a problem when washing off the kids or clothes.

Restickable glue stick opens up new possibilities

Do you know about THIS glue stick? It's restickable! It turns any piece of paper into a sticky note. I keep a couple handy all year and find all sorts of use for them. I posted about building a start of year name chart that teaches abc order, among other things, where they play a key role. You can read that post here.

These are GEL highlighters 

Okay, so for me, these are a new find– Sharpie GEL highlighters. I've used them a bit and they are way cool. Entirely different than traditional highlighters, they are a gel stick, like a twistable crayon. They never dry out, so if you lose the cap you can just twist down the tip when you are done. The edge changes as you use them, like a crayon, but you can get all sorts of lines out of them. When they highlight you can see even very light text underneath. They take some getting used to, but I think I'll always have some on hand.

I've added this linky party to my Linky Party page, which I update regularly. So if you are a link-a-holic like me, you can find more by clicking the image below.

Hope you had fun on my page! Now it's time to party with the rest of the linkers. There are lots of new ideas to be found to carry you back to school and into the midst of the short people, when you click on the button below.  

Thanks for stopping by.

Find a Linky Party!

UPDATED April 3, 2017

























Folks I have very sad news! There used to be FIFTEEN linky parties listed here, but as of April 3, 2017, there are only two left of those fifteen. So sad! The two that are still active are right on top, though the previous ones I left below, with very small buttons, just in case readers and bloggers want to know what used to be available... sort of a history of teacher blogs, I guess... though maybe inspiration for a new linky. I will update and add more buttons as more linky parties are created again.

And for anyone who finds this in the next couple months– I am going to do a book talk Tuesday linky for teachers to share books they use with kids, books they use as teachers, and favorite reads for their own pleasure. Comment below if you want details.

As a teacher reader and blogger I LOVE link-ups. I get inspiration for the classroom and inspiration for posting. I scour the internet to find them all, but it is hard to keep track... so I decided to put them in one place. Here's a list, updated regularly. Just click on the image buttons to visit the sties. Have one you want to see on the list? Email me, or comment below. I find this list helpful and hope you will, too.

Weekly Link-ups

If there is only one to do, this just might be it. So faithful every week. Thanks to Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching.

Monthly Link-ups

Stephanie over at Forever in 5th Grade does a Show and Tell Tuesday linky. It happens on the third Tuesday of each month and you can show and tell about up to four things happening in the classroom or life.


Link-ups That Are No More

This weekly linky used to focus on a picture that says a thousand words... well, and a few from a blogger. Get all sorts of ideas from all sorts of bloggers. Thanks, Miss DeCarbo at Sugar and Spice.

If you kept yourself busy making things for school or home, this was the place to share them! Each Monday click away to find all sorts of inspiration. Thanks to Tara at Fourth Grade Frolics.

This one let you in on what's happening with teacher bloggers as they looked ahead to their week- 3+2+1=Six things on the to-do list. Thanks to Teaching Trio for this one.

Do you like Freebies? Duh, who doesn't? Each week you used to be able to find them here and link yours for maximum coverage. Thanks to Tamara, Leslie and all the TBA authors.

This was for teachers who did centers in their classrooms... so LOTS of us. Let teachers find your ideas and activities by linking up with Mary at Sharing Kindergarten.

Kelly and Kim's Kindergarden Kreations did a link-up that highlighted TPT items on sale.

Farley over at Oh, Boy Fourth Grade did Currently at the start of each month. It was a great way to find out what teachers were thinking about. Were there ever a lot of sad teachers when Farley gave this one up. 

This is one I participated in since its launch. Who doesn't like Pins? The hardest thing is to find just three that you want to share with your teacher friends. Thanks to Pawsitively Teaching and Inspired Owls Corner. Another one I was so sad to see go!

Each month with this linkup there was a new topic to share about. Topics might be classroom improvements, parent communication, schedules, etc. It was a great way for teachers to share what works for them. Thanks to Ashley at Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd and Angie at Lucky Little Learners.

Buzzing with Mrs. McClain did the You Oughta Know linky. Read and post about a new idea monthly.

Short Term or Seasonal Link-Ups

This linky was hosted by Cyndie at Chalk One Up for the Teacher. It is a weekly party for the summer. Link up if you have two products on sale for that day only.

This linky was a fun one for summer and came from Deb at Not Very Fancy in 1st. Link up to share your favorite recipes and cooking tips. 

Here was a special back-to-school link up that went for just four weeks, a new topic each week. Thanks to Layla from Fancy Free in Fourth, Courtney from Ramona Recommends, and Jamie from Not So Wimpy Teacher.

If you have a link-up or know of some not on the list, let me know in the comments and I'll refresh the page to add it, too!!!!

Also, it would be great if you'd pin the heck out of the linky button so lots of readers and bloggers find it and continue to refer to it's updated list. Thanks!