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Five for Friday, April 17

Hey, y'all! I'm teaming back up with Doodle Bugs Teaching again for Five for Friday!
Numero Uno (1):
We are studying life cycles for the next few weeks, and I wanted to try something I hadn't done before. I ordered Insect Lore's Butterfly Garden and had 2 Day shipping, because, well, who wants to wait more than 2 days?! My students were asking me for days if that was the day we would start our butterfly garden!
While I was waiting on our caterpillars to arrive, I had to create our observation journals. 

 
Our "Class Pets" arrived on Wednesday afternoon!!

As you can see, this is REAL LIFE...How many of you still have students who get confused while writing on more than one line? These are going to be added into our butterfly observation journals next week once we decorate our covers and observe more. My little guys were SO worried that our caterpillars would transform into butterflies over the weekend. I had to explain how long each stage of the life cycle was again, and they seemed reassured!


Number 2:
Dove-tailing off of last week's organizational efforts, I continued to try to get ahead on planning and organizing. I printed all of the newest TPT products I created and purchased. I should be staying in my room next year, so I want to keep things as streamlined as possible. 


Number 3:

NEW SPIRIT SHIRTS! I loooooove having school shirts. Is that strange? I feel like teachers who have school spirit have students who have school spirit! I even got my name on the back! Whoop, whoop!

Number 4:

Don't mind my Tom's sneaking in
I found these rhyming flash cards in the Dollar Spot at Target a couple years ago and had to snatch them up. My students don't have a lot of difficulty identifying rhyming words, but they have trouble producing rhyming words. Anyone else have this issue? I used these cards to play a game in pairs. Students each got one card with a word family on the front. For the students who still had trouble creating/producing rhymes, they had helpful hints or ideas on the back. Using Partner A as a starting point, I would set the timer and play "rhyming war" where Partner A would say a word that rhymed with his word, and Partner B would try to quickly say one that rhymed and they would go back and forth until the timer went off. Then, I would set the timer for Partner B's words and play the same way. NO LIE, the next morning, students came in BEGGING to play again. I am really hoping this game will solidify struggling rhymers. :)

Number 5: 
 
Because, DUH!, we HAVE to read The Very Hungry Caterpillar  when learning about butterflies, we are slowly creating our own books using some fun fruit masters that I actually purchased at a yard sale last year! We will be painting each of the fruits and doing a scrambled sentence for each page (that I have yet to create). My students LOVE having a major hand in creating their own literature, and the parents say that they love to read them to their parents at home. I am ALL FOR students reading on their own accord! :)

HAPPY FRIDAY! I am trying to decide between Dickey's BBQ for dinner, or taco truck... Big decisions over here....




6 comments:

  1. Hi Erin! I just found your blog through Five For Friday! I teach third grade, and I love to do butterflies. I still get a butterfly garden for my soon to be 23 year old son every year for his birthday. It must be fun to live in California!

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    1. HI Susan! Yes, it is great to live in California. I get to live in the agricultural valley! So GREAT to experience life where so much of our food comes from (even though we NEED rain)!! How cool that you continue to buy butterfly gardens for your son! Great tradition!

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  2. Where did you get your caterpillars? I really want to do that with my daughter. She would love it. Your new spirit shirts are great. Love how it has your name on the back. Hope you have a good weekend. :)

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    1. HI, Jennifer! I bought them from Insect Lore (there is a link in the post). They also sell the kits on Amazon. :) I have even heard some nurseries may have them available. Good luck and happy Friday!

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  3. Hey, Erin! It must be the time of year to do butterflies for us all! I've done them for years and LOVE it as much as the kids do! I totally need a school shirt with my name on it. Super cute!
    Andrea
    Always Kindergarten

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    1. Thanks, girl! Loving the excitement the butterflies have generated in our classroom. My mom usually does them in her first grade classroom, and I thought it would be fun to try in mine. Why did I wait so long?! :)

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