Last Day Friends and Thank You Parents

 

This year I used a combination of the two memory books from above.  This first one is from Mrs. Johnson's First Grade and the second one I can't for the life of me remember where I found it!

On the back of the student's memory books, I add the page below.  I print our class/school information and then attach a class photo.  We each grab a sharpie and then walk around the room signing each of the memory books.

I love these last day of school photos!  I printed them in antique and black and white.  I had a few of the funny glasses left over from my son's birthday, so I thought it would be cute to let the kids pose with those too.  Click here to grab a copy to make your own.

                                

My friend Stacy found this super cute idea on Pinterest.  The kiddos colored the letters and I snapped some photos. Then I arranged them on this cute background Stacy threw together.  I printed it out on photo paper and laminated it.  Finally, I grabbed a little easel for display and I had a super simple, cute gift for my parent helpers.

Happy Friday!

Wacky Science!!

Wacky Science Day 2012!!!

During the last week of school first graders spent the day as wacky scientists.  It was a day filled with excitement, fun, mess and lots oohs and ahhs!  The wacky scientists experimented with slime, fizzing potions, poked polymers and all sorts of other wild and wacky experiments.

Good thing the teachers practiced first, ha!

Click here if you would like to sample one of the experiments.

And for the real deal click on the Wacky Science cover to check out the whole unit on TPT.  

Love the Mentos explosion from Deanna's Simple Science Volume 1 (if you're a Reading Street teacher you'll love the pig experiment too)!

Angry Birds, Pronouns and Keeping My Boys Engaged...

Usually I'm all about my weekly reading theme matching all of my daily 5 activities, but Alexander Graham Bell just wasn't doing it.  Mainly because it's so close to the end of the year, sorry Alexander!

So, to keep my friendly little boys "on task"  I added this little pronoun sort into daily 5 this week, and guess what?  Big hit!  Even my writers who need me sitting with them usually were so motivated to write all of the steps to playing angry birds.  Don't you just love when this happens???!!!  

And with this being teacher appreciation week, here's my gift to you...  Hopefully, you'll have a little extra engagement in your classroom too!

Click on the picture to get this Angry Bird freebie:

  And here are a few of the super sweet gifts that have come in from students this week, darling huh? :)

Activities from last week...first grade inventors hard at work (thanks First Grade Parade).

Fun with fractions (thanks to Crazy for First Grade , Mrs. Bainbridge, The First Grade Parade and Mrs. Schmelzer's) for their fun ideas!

Hoping you have a terrific teacher appreciation week!

Konnichiwa Friends!

My first grade friends were so excited to receive pen pal letters. Our pen pals are Japanese students learning English. Along with their letters our pen pals included origami and instructions for the students to make their own origami too.

After writing back to their pen pals, some of my wonderful parent helpers volunteered to come in and help with a special project to send to our new friends.

We needed something light for shipping, and one of the parent helpers thought of this cute banner used for celebrations during Mexican holidays (our school in very near the U.S./Mexico border).

Click on the Pen Pal letter below to get your free copy!

And few photos from our Tippy-Toe Chick-Go! and Chick 'n' Pug activities...

Happy Thursday!

Some Bunny Loves You!

If you're teaching this week, here's a last minute Easter project.

The parents in my class (and me too!) loved The Inspired Apple's Valentine (I moustache you a question). This inspired me to come up with this Easter project for my students to bring home to their families. Aren't these lil bunnies just so cute???

One of our phonics skills this week is c + le, so we did a little word work and then I passed out the poem Funny Bunny. We highlighted the c + le words, added some action movements to the poem and read for fluency.

Then the students copied the poem onto a new piece of paper,in their very best handwriting of course :) and added it to the inside of their card.

Click on the photo below to get your download for Some Bunny Loves You!

Oh, and I almost forgot! Click here for the bunny prop free download.

Happy Easter!