Gettin' Froggy ALL week!!

Yes, friends! I said it!! We got our frog on this week! 

Seriously, not my favourite things in the world but my kids have been lovin' them all week! Our story this week is "The Kite" from the Frog and Toad series.

I love this one, especially when Toad shouts, "Up, Kite, Up!" Sounds so like me when my kite doesn't go up, either! Or when I go bowling and I hurdle the ball down the lane and I look at it anxiously and jump up and down as if my vibrations will somehow make the ball turn and go down the middle and get a strike! 

Can you relate?? LOL! 

Anyhow, we moved on to another favourite story, "The Lost Button" and we wrote riddles and made buttons. Some buttons weren't finished when I was taking pictures but this one was! We are having a riddle party tomorrow!

Then we made these cuties! Frog life cycle head bands! They loved it! I introduced them to the frog life cycle with this great song from the Singing Biologist. It has a catchy reggae beat to it! I've caught myself singing it this week! 

Though, I do think the highlight of their week was playing "Would you like flies with that?" a phonics game I made to help practice our phonics patterns this week! I don't know about you but anytime I can use everyday things, in this case a fly swatter, to help make learning fun, I am all for it! They swatted flies and had to sort them into the correct "french fly" boxes! 

All these centers are in my Gettin' Froggy With It Pack! You can check it out here. 

To help tie this all in, today we went to see the play, All Year with Frog and Toad! AMAZING!!!

This was all I was allowed to take a picture of! 

Again, my fabulous team!!! I lub them very much!!!

Me and my own sweet firstie!! It is such a blessing (some days a test of patience at the end of the day when I have to get stuff done!!!!) to have him with me at school everyday! 

Next week, we have a 3 day week with kiddos and then a teacher work day for grades then SPRING BREAK (run-on sentence!! I know!!)! The beach is calling my name!!! In the meantime, we will be doing St. Patrick's Day centers on Monday.  You can read about my magical pudding that I will be doing again here! The kids go crazy for this! I am also leaving you with two fun centers to help bring some Irish fun to your classroom!! To download these fun freebies, please click on the cover pages! If you download, please leave feedback! I'd love to know what you think! :-) 

Happy Friday tomorrow! 

Extraordinary Spuds and a Freebie!!!

Today was a crazy day! Friday.... is all I can say! The kiddos had a magical day! The hats were a hit this morning and I definitely had believers at the end of the day! The leprechauns wrote them a note explaining that they were too busy dancing a jig and that was why their hats had shrunk more than they should have-- it didn't matter to them as they just enjoyed the fact that their hats had shrunk and then towards the end of the day came the magic leprechaun pudding! Oh my!!!! You would have thought we were at a sporting event. I told them that they had to believe that a leprechaun was near or it wouldn't turn green. They took that to mean, the louder they chanted the greener it would become. I swear, the whole building heard us! They were just amazed! I wished I took pictures but I was too amused by them I forgot! But I did remember to put pictures of my spuds activity! So stinkin' cute! I don't remember where I saw the idea originally so I am sorry...

Army Spud

Super Spud

Surfer Spud

French Fry Spud (LOL!)

Gymnast Spud

Leprechaun Spud

Aren't they the cutest??? They are so creative!!!! 

Next week we will be working on more Key Ideas and Details in non-fiction as well as cause and effect (zoinks!!!) I will be posting some other ideas and centers to share with you. I am also working on abbreviations in grammar and to tie in the cause and effect we will be working with Laura Numeroff books and a spin on If You Give a Dog a Donut, I have created this little freebie for you on abbreviations! Just click on the picture to download the center. Hope you can use it!!! 

Click me for a freebie center!!

So, it's Friday and my sweetie husband is actually home and that is rare (he is a pilot) so I am actually going to talk to him for a bit! Ha! Plus my little boy Aidan is sick-- I think he got what I had so it will be a long night! Take care!!!

Magical Leprechaun Words!

So, I have managed almost a whole week with no voice! It has been quite difficult to teach with no voice but it is coming back.. slowly but surely! I hope to be back 100% next week and next week is of course, the week before Spring Break! I. AM. IN.NEED.OF.A.MENTAL.BREAK! Can I get an amen???? I don't know about you but this year has been tough... Common Core, new teacher evaluation system, a new professional development plan, a new grading system (don't get me started!), a new online gradebook, and just so much overtime-- it is all so overwhelming. Plus being gradechair has extra responsibilities. However, I have to remind myself that I went into teacher for the kids.. hence my excitement for them tomorrow! We have snuck in some St. Patrick's Day stuff. I read Jaimie O'Rourke and the Big Potato by Tomie dePaola and we made extraordinary potatoes! I will have to post some pics but they are hilarious! One sweetie made a "French Fries" potato! I have shark potatoes, army potatoes, princess potatoes, and so much more!

The other St. Patrick's Day thing we have been doing is the Incredible Shrinking St. Patrick's Day Leprechaun Hat! We decorated them today after we read, The Leprechaun's Gold by Pamela Duncan Edwards and I told my class that they would only shrink to leprechaun size if they believed. 

At first, they didn't shrink down enough but then I increased the heat to 400 and it only took one minute and then they really started to shrink. Check out Mrs. Miner's Kindergarten Monkey Business for this great idea!  Then to add to the craziness (didn't I say this is one of my favourite holidays??), I have made magical leprechaun pudding!!! 

If your students truly believe in leprechauns and they believe in their magic, then as you stir, this pudding will magically turn GREEN!!! Plus, it helps, if you have magic words (and green food coloring hidden in the middle-- tee hee!)!

Leprechauns, Leprechauns!

Shamrocks seen! 

Magic Powder,

GREEN, GREEN, GREEN!

They go wild and are believers! This is why I love first graders and I love the look on their faces! Forget that I am supposed to be writing up my pre-observation form for my evaluation (it's like I am a 1st  year teacher when I am a 9 year veteran!!!) I would rather blog and share my excitement for my kiddos with you because this is what teaching is about. Creating a memory with them that will last. They will not remember the countless formative and summative assessments you give them, the retelling of events of every story you tell, the timed math fact quizzes you give each week to improve their math fact fluency.... So with that, I will take myself to my observation form so I can be fabulous once more! Wish me luck as I am not always sure what they are asking of me on these forms! Happy (early) St. Patrick's Day!