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!

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!

Clever Chicks

I don't know about you, but I am so looking forward to the long weekend. We have Friday and Monday off, super excited! But I'm also looking forward to coming back next week and using some of the activities I've created to go along with Tippy-Toe Chick, Go! and Chick 'n' Pug.

(Click on the image to download a preview from TPT)

If you're a Reading Street teacher I'm sure you are very familiar :) with Tippy-Toe, but if you haven't read the story, it's a perfect springtime problem/solution story.

Chick 'n' Pug is my new favorite! My own son was laughing out loud as we read this story about a chick who loves reading the adventures of Super Pug. Chick is bored with the chicken coop, so he sets out to find the real, live Super Pug. He ends up meeting, not Super Pug, but a normal everyday pug. Chick also ends up solving a problem too. I promise your class will be laughing out loud as you read this story.

Below, I've included a link to a free word work game that is apart of this packet. I hope you'll check it out! Clever Chicks includes some really fun literacy, science, math, and cooking treat activities. Perfect for the springtime!

Luring Leprechauns and a Wedding

Oh my, the lead up to spring break was filled with such fun and excitement!

Leprechauns made footprint appearances early in the week. This led the students to design, bring in and set their traps. Such excitement, especially from my own first grade son!

And the traps from the students...love them!

We also completed our Luring Leprechauns experiment (the students used vinegar and salt to clean pennies), and sure enough those tricky little leprechauns snuck into the classroom and stole the shiny pennies. Click here to grab a freebie copy of this experiment for next year.

On Friday, the entire first grade headed out on a field trip to the butterfly museum.

We wrapped up the field trip and my wonderful teammates took all of the kiddos back to school on the bus so that I could head out of town for my little brother's wedding. He was married on St. Patrick's day, so I'm sharing a few photos. I hope you don't mind!

My sweet mom decorated the cake and I was her assistant cupcake decorator.

My all grown up, little brother and I...posing with our gold and green shoes.

It was such a fun wedding, candy bar and little green mustaches (on my cute cousins)!

Spring break is almost over. I can't believe we only have one more quarter until the school year is over. Boy has this year flown by!