Rock Babies

Happy Friday!!!

Today was R Day, for Rocks Day! It was also a half day for Teacher Appreciation Week, so I was really scrambling to fit in some kind of rock activity into our super short day!

I decided to take the kids for a walk around the neighborhood in the hope that they could each find a rock to bring back to school. Some brought back 50. Some brought back 0. In the end, we each had a rock to clean and call our own.

I meant to have the kids paint and decorate the rock babies, a la Reagan, but we really only had time to glue on googly eyes. However, this TOTALLY made their day.

This one had a little sling!

The little smile on this one cracked me up!

And this fancy pants lady had a balloon hat with a flower on it!

They cradled their babies, they took them to lunch, and they read to them even when it wasn't sanctioned independent reading time! Note to self - study rocks next year!

I keep forgetting that I, like everyone else, was nominated for Most Fascinating Blog of 2012, haha. It was because of my Threaded Commenting post!

I guess I've really hit the big time now, haha!!

Have a good weekend! 

Origami and Picnics!

Well, it's been a bit of a crazy week, so I am happy that the weekend is coming up! And this is one of the first weekends in a while that I don't have anything major going on - no First Communions, no school picnics, no weddings, no bridal showers... only Mother's Day brunch on Sunday!

Here's a little update on our ABC Countdown!

O was Origami Day. This was a great day! They loved it and they're still making origami in their free time. :)

This is the book that I read to introduce origami to them. It was a great book! I am a Grace Lin fan. :) It was a really cute story about Lissy, who is a new kid. She has a hard time making friends, so she makes origami animals to be her friends! Eventually this leads her to make a real friend.

Then, I whipped out this easy origami book!

It truly was easy! There were a few little things that didn't take a ton of crazy folds to make. We made butterflies, since we are going to the nature museum on Monday and we just can't get enough butterflies in our lives right now!

The teal one is mine, and I don't know whose the blue one is! That makes me happy because I didn't make it and it looks good. Thanks, first and second graders, for paying attention!!! :)

P was Picnic Lunch Day! This was one of the best days yet, mainly because I didn't have to try and squeeze anything extra into our already crazy packed day. I just brought a bunch of blankets and we ate our normal lunch on the playground.

They thought this was the BEST THING EVER. Note to self (and to you) - this is a great reward/motivator! I was planning on just spreading the blankets out on the classroom floor if necessary but it ended up being a really nice day!

Tomorrow the teachers have a half day! Our Parent Club comes into our rooms in the afternoon with popcorn and movies, and we go home. I am feeling a little control-y because I really wish I had the afternoon to fit in more math... oh wells. I will probably just go home and take a nap!! :)

Happy almost Friday!

May Currently

Happy May!!

I feel like sometimes I am a little over the top with the optimism... I don't do it on purpose... I think it's just in my brain. But it makes me happy so that is what counts. :)

Today was Laugh Out Loud Day. The kids were supposed to bring a joke from home. I think maaaaaaybe 3 kids brought a real joke; everyone else just made one up on the fly.

Some highlights included:

• Why did the chicken cross the road? He wanted a drink.
• Why did the cow cross the road? To go to school.
• Why did the duck cross the road? He wanted to play.

There was also a joke about Selena Gomez and the Biebs but I didn't really catch the whole thing... sorry to disappoint you!

What are you doing currently? Link up with Farley!

K is for Kite!

Today was K Day in our ABC Countdown, which meant that it was Kite Day.

Honestly, I didn't really have a lot planned for today. I figured maybe we'd make some symmetrical kites or write about kites or something. The hourly forecast predicted rain every hour today, so I figured I'd have an easy out when the kids asked if we were going to fly kites today.

"Of course not!!!" I imagined myself saying. "Can't you see it's pouring out there??"

However.... the hourly forecast lied to me and it hardly rained at all! By lunchtime the sun was shining like it didn't have a care in the world. So I knew I wasn't off the hook!

So during my kids' specials time this afternoon, I googled and googled and found 20 Kids, 20 Kites, 20 Minutes. SUPER EASY kite-making directions! And I had everything in the classroom - regular paper, coffee stirrers, streamers, string, and tape!

I did have to do the diagonal fold for all of my kids, but it was a small price to pay for the sheer happiness on their faces as they flew their handmade kites outside!

I was lucky to have a semi-windy day, too!

This was an easy and fun little activity and I'd recommend it highly!!

Landform Map Project: Day 1

Today we started on a geography project that the kids are SO EXCITED about!

We've been studying geography and landforms lately, so we'll be making our own landform maps. My book suggested that we make landform maps of our state... but how fun would that be? And really, how much would they get out of it? Instead, my students are designing their own island countries. They have to include at least 4 different landforms in their country that we learned about. Eventually, they'll have a raised-relief landform map of their imaginary country!

Here we are hard at work! No wandering aimlessly around the room... no harassing other people who are trying to work... no clips moved! Go kids!

Here are a few of our prototypes so far...

You can't really see... but they marked off where they wanted each kind of landform on their island. I am really excited for how these will turn out!

Our ABC Countdown continues to march on toward the end of the year. Today was J - Jump Rope Day! I probably won't do this again because half of my kids didn't know how to jump rope and I didn't block off enough time for lessons... so my fun jump rope ideas kind of fell to the wayside while we had jump roping lessons.

Oh wells! Maybe next year we'll jump rope more often so we'll be ready for this day. :)

E is for Experiment!

I haven't been very diligent about updating you all on our ABC Countdown!! :(

So far we have gotten through A - Animal Day, B - Buddy Reading Day, C - Clean-Up Day, and D - Dancing Day. Dancing Day was definitely the best and reminded me that I NEED to incorporate movement breaks into my day on the regular!

Yesterday was E, Experiment Day! I was looking for something quick and fun, so I looked around online and found this cute little experiment using only a few materials: Skittles, bowls, and water!

Before we started, we each made a hypothesis about what would happen if we put Skittles in water. Some thought the Skittles would disappear, some thought they'd dissolve, and one wishful thinker thought they'd explode. Haha!

What really happens is that the colors come off and make a beautiful little display!

Here we are in our little experiment circle!

I gave each of the kids 3 Skittles. Then I filled their bowls with JUST enough water to cover a Skittle (so, hardly any). Then I instructed the kids to carefully place their 3 Skittles equally apart so they weren't touching in the bowl. And that was it!

It will take a few minutes to start dissolving, so don't despair if you don't see the color instantly start to spread! I was a little worried at first, but it just needed some time.

The kids are still talking about it excitedly today! Super fun, super simple, and hardly any cleanup. :)

Giveaway Winner!!

Happy Friday, friends!!

This was a long week for some reason. The kids are starting to lose it and the ABC Countdown is not helping... although they tend to shape up when I suggest that we just skip the ABC Countdown celebration for that specific day. Sigh.

Oh wells! Weekend time!

I have a winner for the Teacher Tipster giveaway!

Congratulations to Alyce!! I'll get in touch with you soon. :) And you all should check out her blog, too! She teaches at an ag/tech charter school and they have a farm there! Sooo interesting!

I always roll my eyes when other bloggers say this buuuuut I really wish I had a DVD for everyone who entered! Your stories about the Teacher Tipster made me so happy and I was just tickled by all of the comments. Also I have never use the word "tickled" in a sentence like that before! Haha!

I felt like there was something else I wanted to say... hmmm....

Oh yeah!

Tomorrow I am heading back to school in the morning because it is time for my second graders' First Reconciliation. We have been prepping and practicing and talking about sinning and forgiveness a lot. I hope they don't get scared and I hope they can remember what to do!

Also on Sunday I am going to a bridal shower! I am SUPER PUMPED! I love showers and I have the cutest gift! I will show you on Sunday afterwards... I don't think the bride reads my blog but you never know! I do post my posts on facebook and we are friends!

Hopefully I'll post again this weekend. I have an idea for a freebie I want to make on landforms. Anyone else doing geography/maps/landforms right now?

Dun Dun Dun...

Just some pictures to share today! I have a new obsession with the Picasa download! You can make collages very easily and I much recommend it.

First, I wanted to show off my clean room!

I guess this just looks moderately neat... but that entire windowsill by the circle table was COVERED with stuff. It's the only surface in my classroom where I can stack things, and stack I do. Before the open house I just shoved everything into that blue plastic tub there. I love the way the windowsill looks now!!

One of my little ladies was in India for three weeks and she brought me back a gift!

It hangs up and each panel is a pocket! It is so pretty and I love it!!

We also got to eat Indian candy!

It was a chocolate bar that was a little nougat-y in the middle. It says it had caramel but it wasn't overwhelmingly carmely. Yummo!

Last week we read The Pokey Little Puppy, and one of my second graders made a copycat version starring kittens. It was quite lengthy, but the last two pages were my favorites.

The End............ or is it? DUN DUN DUN! Haha!!!!! I always say "dun dun dun" at the end of our Magic Tree House chapters. This seriously cracked me up yesterday. I loved it more because her story was incredibly not suspenseful, as it was about kittens eating dinner. Haha!

Tomorrow we start our ABC Countdown! The last 26 days of school are upon us.... ridic. Are you doing an ABC Countdown? Here is my schedule if you need some ideas! Just click on the picture. :) And if you're interested, and want to know more about a specific day, let me know. Or stay tuned because I will be excited (hopefully) to post about the days of our countdown.

I am really hoping that I don't regret making tomorrow animal day..... let's see if we can keep it together!

If you haven't entered my giveaway for the Teacher Tipster's Musical Morning Routine DVD, you should!! It ends on Friday. Thank you to the people who have entered so far! You have warmed my heart 21 times over. :)