Five for Friday

Whew! What a whirlwind week we had. I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for some Five for Friday fun.

For starters, it was our annual Spring Show at my school. I did a Pete the Cat number with my kids and I am waiting on the video, so that I can show you and you'll be impressed (I Hope) but....

1. I do have a pic of the other little number that I did with my Grade 1 girls, it was a ballet to the music The House at Pooh Corner, they were so cute!

2. And since I am now on a cute run, here is another cutie!! She finally had her appointment at the groomers and it was long overdue, she was beyond dirty. There was this grey stain on her neck from her collar, it was driving me nuts, I just wanted to see her white fur again. She's back to white now.

3. Meanwhile, in my class we have been hard at work on the 2nd half of our Baseball Math Centers, I had to split them up, couldn't do them all at once. My kids loved the baseball theme:)

4. My sweet daughter, Kailee started her summer job at the RCMP stables in Ottawa. Here is a pic, she is the one in the middle. I would LOVE to have her job and be around the horses all the time. And she is great at it too. I am so proud of her.

5. And finally I am off for the next four days (if you count today) it's like a mini vacay. In Canada, we celebrate the Queen's Birthday on Monday. Yippee!! LOVE the Queen! And I'm working on this.

Should be ready soon. Have a great weekend, Queen or no Queen.

Dino Fun Continued...

Last time, I promise. This is the last time I will tell you about my Dinosaur stuff, but honestly I am just so proud of my kids. So this is the report part of this project. Once my kids chose a Dinosaur, they had to write a report on it. I gave them a step by step plan and they had to follow it and write their report in good copy.  Here's a sample.

And then, here is the Dinosaur he made to go along with it.

So, tomorrow, I start 2 weeks with a class set of these babies. I am pumped. I'll keep you posted. 

Day 1 - ipad rules. A little boring, but necessary. Then we are gonna take some school pics, can't wait!!

Dino Fun

We finally finished our Dinosaur Unit and topped it all off by making our own Dinosaurs. I tried to arrange the pics so you could see the progression.

Apparently, we like to take our shoes off to paint, I never even noticed it until I looked at the pics. I LOVE this project and one of the little things that makes it work so well is that every firstie has their own personal roll of masking tape. It's a must! I'll miss the Dinosaurs, it has been so much fun in my class for the past 2 weeks. This Art Project and the Research Report that goes along with it are all in this pack.

And of course, I'm sure you know there's a TPT sale right now, thought I'd tell you anyway.

Graphic courtesy of the very talented Ashley Hughes.

Don't Let Insects Bug You Freebie

I really really want to tell you what I got my Mom for Mother's Day, but alas, I cannot cause she reads my blog. Not every day mind you, but I can't take the chance that she might. So, you'll have to wait, but it's so, so nice and I kinda had to make a part of it and that's what I want to tell/show you...Anyway, I will soon, promise.

I just finished up a little freebie for y'all. It's insect themed and will give your kids some addition and graphing practice. If you end up downloading it, I wanted to explain that for both graphing activities, there is a rectangular box, sort of off to the side. I use this so that my kids write down every person's initials in the class first and then as they ask each person, they write the answer down and then cross the name off. Have you ever watched kids very excited to go around with their little clipboards asking the survey question then they forget who they asked and the graph just doesn't add up. Been there, done that! Not anymore though. I tell my kids now that their graphs need to reflect the number of kids in the class and when they do it correctly, it does add up. I'm tough aren't I?  But, seriously though, they rise to the challenge. You can click on any of these pics to download.

Head on over to Freebielicious for more great ideas.

Thanks to everyone who entered my Groovy Giveaway, I really appreciate it. The winner was Noelle Pickering who recieves a $25 TPT gift certificate, a Melonheadz bundle and some great Stampin Up stuff!

Easy Peasy Art

O.K. so here is my latest bulletin board...

The flowers - got that idea from a teacher friend, but the bees, that's all me! This art project is so easy, you will want to do it. First, the flowers. You just need a piece of blue construction paper 8.5 X 5 and a  cupcake/muffin liner, some sequins and a small strip of green construction paper. I show my kids how to make a stem and two leaves and then just let them go. That's why all the stems are sooooo different. As for the bee, I made tracers on cardboard (I actually just use cereal boxes) and my kids traced them onto yellow construction paper and then added black felt for the stripes, so that the bees are nice and soft when you touch 'em. The wings are just a piece of doily coloured black. Voila - DONE! If you want to try it, you can click on the bees to download the outline. It's not perfect cause I did it freehand. 

While I've got ya here, I would love for you to enter my Giveaway. Click on the pic to take you there!

Hope ya win:)

A Groovy Giveaway

Hi there! I thought this would be a good time to tell you that I am having a Groovy Giveaway! It's your chance to win some great prizes and my chance to say thank you for stopping by my blog and leaving sweet comments and just being there to read my posts. I appreciate it. So... you have the chance to win 3 things. The first is a $25 TPT gift certificate, then, a bundle of your choice from my friend Nikki at Melonheadz and last, but not least, $20 worth of Stampin Up products from my sweet follower Rachel. Sure hope you enter! And good luck.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Name of the Tree

I want to share a heartwarming story with you. It's about a little boy in 2nd grade who was just recently diagnosed with cancer. His name is Taten. My friend Jennifer at Runde's Room is having a sale today in her TPT store and she will be donating all the money to Taten's family. Jennifer has awesome products, so if you need anything,  head over to her TPT store and support this sweet boy and his family. You can read more about Taten's story here

Tomorrow is Earth Day, are you ready for it? In case you missed my Earth Day freebie, you can grab it again by clicking on the pic below.

But, I also wanted to share with you an amazing story that can be read any day, but it seems more fitting for tomorrow. 

The Name of the Tree. It is up there in my top 10 and here is why. For one, it is so beautiful, both for the illustrations and the story itself. It is set in Africa and is about a group of animals who set out to find food, during a drought. They discover a tree with lovely, colourful fruit on it, but they cannot reach the fruit until they figure out the name of the tree. And it is only the Lion who knows the name. So, the animals take turns going to see the lion to know the name of the tree, but they end up forgetting it on the journey back. It is the turtle, who perseveres and saves the day returning to tell the other animals that the name of the tree is Ungalli. And so they are saved. My kids walk around chanting Ungalli, Ungalli, the name of the tree is Ungailli after I've read it to them.

You just feel good reading this story to your kids, it has such a hopeful message. I also love it cause my mentor teacher, at my school, introduced it to me. She has read it to her class every year all the time she's been teaching. She retired a few years ago and we put together a little farewell video for her. It was students and teachers sharing their memories of her over the years. And the class that was graduating that year (cause my school is also a High School) appeared in the video one by one and each one of them told her how much they loved the stories she had read to them all those years ago and that they all still remembered that the name of the tree was Ungali. It was heart wrenching, it really was. So, if you can get your hands on it, not just for Earth Day, but anytime, it is worth it.

I wish you a Happy Earth Day!