Happy weekend! Did you survive the “teacher trifecta” this week? Apparently there was a lunar eclipse, a comet and a full moon all on the same day… I heard this was “a once in a lifetime astrological event”. If your week was anything like mine I’m sure this is not new information to you 😉 but we made it!!!
To celebrate making to the weekend I am linking up with Doodlebugs Teaching for 5 for Friday (on Saturday… because that’s how I roll!)
Yesterday my oldest daughter didn’t have school. I secretly love when I have school and she doesn’t. (Actually, it’s not very “secretly” since I cheer, clap and rejoice.) When she has a day off she comes to school with me to volunteer! She has been doing this for years and she is the BEST volunteer. She works so hard and gets so much done. The kids absolutely love her… and I don’t feel like I have to do any of the “work” of getting ready for a volunteer. You know how when you have a volunteer coming you usually have to get nice, organized piles of work ready for them. Then you have to write out clear directions for everything. Plus, you have to make sure that you have tasks “ready to go” so you don’t waste their time. Well, when Kirsten comes I can just point to a closet and say “Will you work on that?” and she DOES! She organizes and gets it all done…it is heaven. AND I get to have her around for the day… which I love :).
We started learning about rocks in science this week. I find it interesting how much I love to teach science. I mean, I love, love, LOVE to teach science. However, I was not ever a kid that loved to learn about science. Which seems odd..plus it seems like all kids like to learn about science!
I think a lot of it has to do with the non-“hands on” approach to learning that we used in “the old days”. Luckily, I loved to read. So, book-based learning usually worked for me. However, I work really hard to make sure that my lessons are as active and hands-on as possible.
However, rocks are not really “my thing”. I don’t know much about them and have never really been interested in them. I mean, they are just rocks, right? Wrong apparently!
Luckily, my new intern (who is amazing) and my mother-in-law both have great rock collections that they brought in for the kids to explore.
They had SO much fun describing the properties of their rocks, comparing and contrasting, sorting and learning about their rocks. It was much more fun than I ever knew rocks could be!
In math we are all about money right now. We have coins coming out of our ears! I bought about a thousand “money games” during the big TPT sale last week. However, the favorite so far is when we play Race to a Dollar as a whole class. (Kind of like when your kids get a great gift and spend the afternoon playing with the box.)
I gave each student a set of coins and a die and projected values up on the board. (Roll a 1-take a penny, Roll a 2- take a nickel, Roll a 3- take a dime, Roll a 4- take a quarter, Roll a 5- Your choice!, Roll a 6- No Coin!) My plan was to play one round as a group and then to have them pair off and play with a partner. However, they were having SO MUCH FUN playing whole group (we called it “BINGO style”- They yelled out “MONEY! MONEY!” when they reached a dollar) that we just continued playing together. It was really fun… I highly recommend it 🙂
I love teaching my students about Black History Month. It is a favorite of mine. This is the bulletin board that I put up this year. We are having a lot of fun learning about all of the different people that are featured. (The favorite lessons this week were on Jackie Robinson and Ruby Bridges.) You can read more about my love for Black History Month and these lessons HERE. This post also includes freebies and links to some videos that we have really enjoyed this week. 🙂
I am going to end with a smile this week.
I saw this on Instagram earlier this week and I laughed SO HARD. I’m not sure exactly why it struck me as so hilarious…maybe because it is crazy how wrapped up the world gets (myself included) in “celebrity news” sometimes. Whatever the reason, I have been saying this all week and making myself giggle.
…And this is the note that one of my sweeties gave me as she was leaving yesterday. It was a very chaotic, crazy afternoon. I didn’t shine, I can tell you that… but her sweetness made me smile and warmed my heart exactly when I needed it.
I hope you had a great week and that you have an amazing weekend!! I hope you get to take a nap, have a glass of wine and laugh until your sides hurt 🙂
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Hi Marcie! Thanks for the ideas on Black History Month. I am going to incorporate the videos with my kinder cubs and I know they are going to love them!! There is SO much to teach in February for it being such a short month!! We even have a week break beginning on Presidents Day, so it really makes it difficult….but please know I'm not complaining!! I savor any holidays we get for sure!! I will just have to be even more creative with my teaching so I can get it all in!! Have a great week!! And I'm sure you do shine everyday!! 🙂 Linda Groce-Linda's Learning Loot