January Currently

I haven't blogged in a loooooooong time but I am getting back into the swing of things linking up with Oh Boy 4th Grade for January's currently

*I am half way through season 2! I always seem to start watching shows after they are over... Makes for some good binge watching though ;)

*Christmas break has been great! It has been a perfect mix of spending time with loved ones, getting stuff done, and doing absolutely nothing!

*I always think he is the best, but right now I am thinking that because he is in the kitchen making a big batch of THE YUMMIEST homemade tomato sauce from scratch. He cans it and we get to enjoy it for...well, as long as it lasts (which around here isn't long)!

*Although I LOVE my job, having these two weeks off has been AMAZING! I miss my kids but I wouldn't mind a few more breaks like this!

*While I have been enjoying my break, I have not done ANYTHING for work and not a whole around the house. I really don't want to start the next semester feeling overwhelmed and behind already!

*I have gotten better about working out but I am still not even close to where I want to be. I am hoping to run a 5k by February (RUN the whole thing!) and run a 10k by this summer.

*I have way too much junk at home and especially at school that I need to get rid of! If I have not used the 50 plastic bottles and 100 paper towel rolls by now, maybe they need to find a home somewhere else!

*I just got a Silhouette Cameo and I am SO excited about the possibilities. I have pinned about a million different things you can use it for but I am still figuring it out. There are so many things I want to make; I would love to get really good at it!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

5 for Friday Spooktacular October Edition

This month has FLOWN by! I can't believe that next Friday is already HALLOWEEN!!  Since I have been a terrible blogger, this 5 for Friday is a peek into the Amazing Ants' classroom during the month of October (AKA what I thought to take pictures of): 

We learned all about Bats! Here is our KWL chart 

Students had lots of misconceptions about bats (including the "fact" that they eat rocks...what?!) and so they were eager to learn more about them!

 One of my favorite things that we did was play an "Echolocation" game. After learning that bats find food using echolocation, I chose one student (the bat) to close their eyes and yell out "ECHO!" while all of the other students (the insects) yelled out "LOCATION!" until the bat caught one of them. I saw this adorable game following one of the fabulous teachers on Instagram. I cannot for the life of me remember who it was so if anyone knows, I would love to give credit where credit is due!

As much as the kids loved our Marco Polo style game, I think that they loved this JumpStart Echolocation song just as much, if not more! I have had at least one student ask to hear it every. single. day. since the 1st time I played it for them! To check it out for yourself just click the picture below!

We also incorporated bats into our literacy lessons producing words that rhyme in the -at family during our morning message.

For some batty workstations, I love these great freebies over at The First Grade Parade. If you haven't already downloaded them, you definitely should!! You can go straight to her incredible blog by clicking the picture below!

One of my favorite things to use when teaching in October is pumpkins!! You can use them so many different ways. First we investigated the outside of our pumpkin using descriptive words. 

Then we counted the ribs of our pumpkin and measured how many unifix cubes tall it was in math.  In science, we tested  our pumpkin to see if it would sink or float.

Finally, we got to the messy (real fun) of the pumpkin investigation...cutting it open and looking inside!

1st be predicted what we would find inside. After someone said "a robot" I knew I had lost them and they were just getting silly....

After we took all of the seeds and pulp out, we made a brace map containing the parts of a pumpkin.

Looking back I see I left out the stem...whoops!

Then we taste tested a handful of roasted pumpkin seeds. As you can see, most kids liked them and even asked for seconds :)

Finally, we voted on how to carve our pumpkin. These sweet babies decided they wanted their pumpkin to be friendly, not frightening! 

Here is our finished jack-o-lantern! 

Then of course we had to learn about the life cycle of a pumpkin! After reading several fiction and non-fiction books and listing to this song about life cycle of a pumpkin we made the life cycle on paper plates

and bracelets

I was really proud of my kids because both the science teacher and their parents both told me the kids were able to explain that the white bead was the seed, the yellow was the flower, the green was a green pumpkin, and the orange was an orange pumpkin!

Finally we had to plant our own pumpkin seeds to see if they will grow.

I sure hope they do!!

Aaaand a quick little post about the Fall Festival! This year each class decorated a pumpkin to display and for the parents to vote on by making donations. 

I decided we had to do a book character and after a quick pinterest search, gave the kids a few options to pick which character we would transform our pumpkin into:

It was a close vote but in the end, Rainbow fish won. I traced the student's hands on sparkly paper for the scales and I just love how it turned out!

 
Although I did not even take a picture of my game or my booth, here is the Rainbow fish on display!

Hands down my favorite parts of the fall festival are seeing all of my current students dressed up in their cute little Halloween costumes and having former students come back to visit me! Working at a school that is all pre-k, once my babies leave my class I don't get to see them in the hallways or around school like at a regular elementary school. So when they come back to visit, it is really special! One of my students from last year even brought me this sweet Halloween card with a Walmart gift card!

She wrote, "To the Best Teacher". How sweet is that?!? Definitely made my day!

Have a great weekend!! 

Apples Apples Everywhere!!

First let me say, I LOVE FALL!! Everything about fall! I love the leaves changing colors, apple cider, hay rides, corn mazes,  ALL things pumpkin, Halloween, Thanksgiving, the crisp weather, the cozy sweaters and boots...You get the idea :)  

Even though fall has not officially begun aaannnnd it is still 90's outside, I could not wait to kick off the season with some fun, apple themed activities! 

All week long we read a ton of apple themed books. Here are a few that you can find on amazon:
   

I also found "The Story of the Apple Star" here and read it to my kids. It is so cute! My kids could not believe their eyes when we cut open one of our apples and found that there was really a star inside!

Then we read this little rhyme I found here whole group and circled the rhyming words. In small group, each kid got their own version of the poem and highlighted our HFWs we are working on this week: is, a. Then, they got to use our halved apples to make their own apple stamp. 

During science, we discussed the different parts of an apple as we dissected our own apple.

Then, using our 5 senses we explored 3 different types of apples and discussed how they felt, looked, and smelled the same and different.

Next, we listened to see if there were any differences in the CrUnCh when we bit into the apples to do our taste test. :)

Finally, we voted on which apple we liked best. Obviously we are still working on name writing, but we are getting there! 

In math this week we have been working on patterns so of course, we had to use our special star apples to make apple print patterned headbands!

During "Science Friday" we made applesauce in the crockpot.

This is one of my FAVORITE things to do each year because the kids LOVE it and my classroom smells AMAZING! Oh yeah, and it's educational...

Next week we will be having even more apple fun (Johnny Appleseed's birthday is Friday!) and my kids will be working on these cute little apple themed workstations! 

Fill in the missing letter

Word wall vocabulary cards (also used in a separate workstation to practice syllabication) 

Match Johnny to the apple that has his beginning sound

Spell the CVC word on the apples

And apple themed rhyming puzzles

You can find these activities and several more by clicking the picture below. In celebration of old Johnny's b-day, it is even on sale this week! :)

Made it Monday and SALE SALE SALE!!

I am so excited to be participating in Teachers Pay Teachers big sale over the next two days! Both as a seller and a buyer ;) 

Hopefully I sell SOMETHING to soften the blow of my full shopping cart! Ha! 

I just added a few simple little things to my store that I made for my classroom and I am really excited about!

And it is Monday so of course I am linking up with Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics for 

My first two "made its" are already in my Teachers Pay Teachers store (and on sale - woohoo!) and I cannot wait to get into my classroom and put them up today! 

First up is my chevron brights days of the week and months of the year.

I am loving these for lots of reasons! For one, I cannot get enough of these adorable little icons for each month! I mean, how stinkin' cute is that penguin?!? 

Besides looking cute, the different colored borders and icons help give visual learners something they can relate to each day of the week and month of the year.

Auditory and Kinesthetic learners have no fear... there is something for you too!! I also included links to 5 different days of the week songs as well as 5 months of the year songs. That way you can not only find which one is a good fit for your class, but you also have a variety and can change it up mid year to breath new life into your calendar routine! 

These next little cutties will go on my calendar as well. Calendar time is a big deal in my room, I will have to write a post about what all we do during calendar later!

These chevron apples can be used many different ways:

Pages 3 – 14 have apples with numbers 1 – 184 which should be enough to help you count every day of the school year! (If you need additional numbers please feel free to e-mail me.)

•All odd numbers are on blue apples and all even numbers are on green apples.

•These are designed to help students recognize patterns, identify odd and even numbers, and practice counting by 2’s!

•

Pages 15 – 17 have apples counting by 5’s from 5 to 180

• The circle behind the numbers are purple so they are easily identified when counting by 5’s

•These apples can be used instead of the 5’s and 10’s on pages 3 – 14.

•

Pages 17 – 18 have apples counting by 10’s  from 10 to 180

•The circle behind the numbers are purple so they are easily identified when counting by 5’s.

•There is a pink background  behind each apple to help students easily identify the 10’s.

•These apples can be used instead of the 10’s on pages 3 – 14.

Here is an example of how I plan on using them in my room:

This ways, students can easily distinguish odd and even numbers or when counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's!

My final made it for the week is a clothespin redo.

I try to send all of the things that have kids' names on them home with them at the end of the year. Somehow, these little clips didn't make it home and because I am a hoarder teacher I could not just throw them away! :)

So I took my clothespin, some cardboard letter circles that I found in with my old scrap-booking stuff, and a few coats of paint and....

Voila! Letter clips for workstations!

Easy peasy! :)

Be sure to go check back with 4th Grade Frolics to see her fabulous made its, along with many other teachers!