Five for Friday

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday again... wow two weeks in a row?! very unlike me ;)

 

On Thursday, I turned 30! It's been a week of celebrating and although I am not typically one of those people who like to celebrate my birthday for the week {or even month, as some people do}, I had a memorable and exciting week! My fiancé Surprised me on Saturday, with a surprise 30th birthday with tons of friends and family! It was such a great night! On Tuesday, we had birthday cake with his family. On Thursday, my "real" birthday, my students surpassed me with these beautiful flowers and cards and my fiancé, sisters, parents, and I went out to dinner to one of my favorite restaurants! 

I read Kelley's recent post from The Teacher Idea Factory, about how she used GoNoodle for "brain breaks" and I thought I would give it a try, since her class seems to really enjoy it! Needless to say, I was not shocked when my students came in the rest of the week, asking if they were going to have another brain break, after we tried it out on Monday! I worked in a break break activity once a day this week, and will continue to do so for the remainder of the school year, because it really does help the children get some energy out :) Thank you Kelley for sharing!

This week, we have been working on teen numbers in math stations. This week students played number bingo, played Purrr...fectly Fast Teen Numbers, and traced and colored a "number giraffe". 

My pre-kers have really enjoyed "write the room" and this week I introduced another option, which is to survey their classmates with a "Do you like...?" activity. Students really enjoyed walking around the classroom and asking their friends if they liked a certain movie, food, game, sport, etc and then recording their friends names by using the name tags or the word wall. How do you get your young learners excited about writing?

On Thursday, students viewed the video, Curious Cat- How Paper is Made, and then we discussed the long process of creating paper and the importance of recycling it. Students have been recycling paper and plastic bottles in our class and now have a better understanding of why it is so important to do so. 

How was your week? I'd love to hear about it... link up with Doodle Bugs to share with others!

Five for Friday!

Happy Spring!! It's been three weeks since I have posted a Five for Friday {gasp}! Needless to say I have been so busy with personal things and work. I'm excited that I can finally have some time to link up with Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday!
 

In my last Five for Friday post, I discussed how my school was adopting the "flipped classroom" model. I am almost finished with the assigned book, Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day and have learned more about what the "flipped classroom" looks like. After further clarification, pre-k teachers are not required to use it, although it was suggested that it can be used to reinforce the skills learned at school. Here is a mock video I made, which I played for my class to see how they reacted to it. They really enjoyed it and were very receptive to following the directions/ prompts as I instructed. Overall, I am excited to continue to make videos! We will be receiving training in April, on how to make videos, using screen casting programs, etc... so please bare with my lack of editing, the times I get tongue-tied and the times I pause for an awkward amount of time :) 

Last Friday, we made a leprechaun trap. The children came up with great ideas and worked very cooperatively to come up with a trap with the supplies we had! We didn't capture him this year ;) but we knew he was for sure in our class because he stepped in the bowl of paint and left footprints all over the shelf and windowsill, which Miss Harbison of course had to clean up! He also left us a teeny-tiny note! 

Last week & this week, in math stations, students continued to practice counting and writing numbers from quick products I created and other wonderful products I found on TpT!

In language art stations, I worked with a group of children who are ready for instruction on blending and word families. This week we played a "mix and match" CVC game and then the students completed this activity page from my March Simply Print Pack. 

Have you ever heard of a Super Secret Reader or done something similar?! Well in my class, a S.S.R. is someone who comes into our class and reads a favorite book or a themed book without the children's knowledge of who is coming in. It's a BIG surprise! This person signs up using a form I provide each parent (siblings, grandparents, and extended family members are also welcome to sign up) and we set a date and time that works with both our schedules. When someone is coming in to surprise the class, I have the children all face the door, I go greet the S.S.R. in the office (while the aide watches the class) and then we are ready... in walks the "Super Secret Reader"! The expressions are PRICELESS and I have literally been brought to tears a couple of times due to the overwhelming happiness of my students. I especially get emotional when the S.S.R. is one of my former students and they are surprising their sibling, whom is my current student. Today was one of those days!! 

How was your week? I'd love to hear about it... link up with Doodle Bugs to share with others!

Spring-time Scarf Giveaway!

It's a floral scarf giveaway! What a great accessory to transition out your Winter outfits and bring some Spring into your life! To hear why I am having a giveaway, visit my original post!

Enter below and good luck on winning this great addition to your teaching wardrobe! The giveaway ends on March 27th!

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