Insects...

This week is all about insects! We've been working our way through Deanna Jump's Insect Unit and some other fun goodies, including our class caterpillars. They have just reached the chrysalis stage and the kids have loved every moment of watching the transformation. 

Here are some of the insects my kiddos built, each unique and wonderful! :)

 Do you read "Hey, Little Ant" to your kiddos? It's such a cute book and makes them think about what they would choose... to squish the ant with their shoe or let it go free? We made this into a brief writing assignment and they did such a great job with many different, creative answers. Click here to download the writing paper for your class.

As a class, we are looking forward to the wedding of Q and U and our special Mother's Day Luncheon...pictures to come! 
Adrienne

Spring Centers and Plants...

Our focus for the week has been plants. The kids loved watching our green celery turn red, after being placed into a vase with red water, doing plant art projects, life cycle pictures, and more! This first picture is an art/math project in Kim Adsit's Spring Is Here unit.  We've completed our art portion and will be moving on to some measuring and observation writing later in the week.

 Today, we completed our life cycle of a sunflower. Such a simple, yet effective, activity. We used real sunflower seeds to add a bit of life to our picture. They had a great time and did a wonderful job!

The next few picture are from some of our centers this week. In the first picture, the students are using sunflower seeds to help them subtract. It amazing how quickly they pick up on concepts when given a hands on approach. Check out my Spring Subtraction Puzzles!

 The kiddos are also working on position words and medial sounds. Both of these activities are in my Spring Math and Literacy pack.

Are you looking for some plant videos for your kids?  My students have loved watching these videos in their iPod center this week. Let me know what you think!

Click here to download my Plant QR Code sheet!  It includes two plant videos and two stories.

All in all, the students have worked hard this week and had lots of fun learning about plants. Up next? Insects! Another fun week of learning activities!
 
Adrienne

Spring and Reading Fluency

This week, we're beginning to work through my spring math and literacy pack. The kiddos are doing a wonderful job completing each activity. I love watching them learn, even more when they have FUN doing it!

Sums of 10

Counting On...sorry for the glare!

Syllables

I can't remember if I posted about this already, so I'll just do it anyway :) In the last month, we have started working on our reading fluency with basic leveled passages (see the pic below). The kiddos begin by doing a quick practice of decodable words. Once they complete the list, they use the voice memos on the iPod to record themselves reading the given passage. Then, they listen to themselves read and repeat 2 more times. How do I monitor this? It's all about practicing routines and expectations...To start off, I walked through each step of the process with them, one at a time. Then we worked in into our center rotation, with my guidance. I would sit next to two kids and walk them through it, eventually working into my watching them do it on their own. Now, I just pop in and out of the center, once in a while listening with them and giving pointers. They're becoming such great independent workers! :)

Reading Fluency

Container to hold each of my kiddos ear buds

I just cannot believe we are wrapping up our third quarter! 44 days and counting. Where has the time gone?

Adrienne

Spring Sale!

I feel the Monday blues coming on, so I thought a spring sale in my little TpT store would be fun! Head on over and take advantage of the discount. Let me know if you find something you love! Click on the graphic to go to my store!

Adrienne

Spring Break...

I have waited for this week for a very long time! Sadly, it's coming to an end but I wanted to take a few moments to share some of the fun. It's always hard to find the balance of activities and relaxing as I am not a 'sit at home' kind of girl, however, I think this week has been just about perfect. What did I do?

1. Worked out 3 of 5 days! I go through phases of working out. I'm either really into it and focused or really NOT! I'm hoping this has started a good trend for me. :)

2. Hydrobiking! My boyfriend and I have done this once before, and thanks to Groupon, we were able to go again this week in Long Beach, Ca. What a blast! It's basically a pedal bike on water. If you ever have the opportunity, you must go! The pic below shows us on our tandem hydrobike.  :)

 3. Two visits to Hobby Lobby resulting in a wonderful sewing experience. Sewing is a new hobby for me, and I'm definitely still a beginner, but with the help of tutorials and my handy dandy sewing machine manual, I made my first few throw pillows! How cute are these?!?! I already have friends requesting pillows :) Too bad spring break won't be continuing next week so I can sew some more! 

4. Coffee with friends. I bet you can all relate with a busy life, and many of you probably even have kids to add on top of everything else. Sadly, coffee and chatting with friends gets put on the back burner. However, this week was a wonderful time of catching up!

Here's to pushing through the last 40some days of school!

Adrienne