Five for Friday

Oh weekends, how I love you! I often wonder why can't the school day start around 10. I linking up again with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. I am loving peeking into other people's classrooms and seeing what they are up to for the week. Doodle Bugs keep this going! :)

1. May Day What!?
This was the view from my classroom window on the first day of May! What?! It was so sad to have to wear my winter clogs when all I wanted was a Pedi and some peep toes. Sigh!

2. Butterflies
We have butterflies! My kiddos are so excited. The only bummer was that none of butterflies came out of their chrysalises while my kids were at school or even when I was at school. They must be the shy sort. On Monday, we are going to dress up the net a little bit. Thank goodness I bought extra flowers this spring.

P.S. I have no idea if butterflies like watermelon. I just had it in my lunch and I thought why not.

 

3. Kindergarten

It is official....Miss Gill is going to Kindergarten. We received our teaching assignments on Friday. I'm nervous and excited all at the same time. I have taught first grade for 6 years and thought that I would be a firstie for life. I volunteered to make the switch and I think it will be eye opening and fabulous. I'll keep my fingers crossed.....and toes!

 

4. Word Hunt

When I introduce a new book in reading groups, one of the strategies I like to use is going on a "Word Hunt". I have these green and pink clear chips that the kids use to find words in the text. After they find them, I slide the chips off the page one at a time. The kids have to read the word under the chip. If they miss the word, I put the chip back on and say practice the word and move onto the next kiddo. They love it and I love that it gives them confidence for tricky words in new stories. We also use this same activity with our sight word cards. 



Here is another group. We were going on a word hunt for words with endings. They had to put one chip on the base word and the other chip on the ending.

 

 5. Plant Mom
I'm officially a plant mom. Jason and I started an herb garden in one of our windows. We planted 3 kinds of peppers, basil, parsley, and cilantro. I was starting to feel like we failed at our quest when these little sprouts popped up yesterday. Yay cilantro!

I hope you have a fabulous weekend and thanks for stopping by.

 

Priscilla

Daily 5 Book Totes

I have throughly enjoyed reading the Daily 5 and CAFE this summer. I have so many ideas that my mind is swimming. One of my favorite things I put together was our class book bags for Read to Self. I thought long and hard about what to use for book boexes or bags and one magical day at the Dollar Tree I found these fantastic totes.

I love that they have a pocket on the front for various reading items (I'm thing word rings, book marks, highlighters, ect) and my kiddos look so cute carrying them to their special spot.

I put all of my students' names on them with Avery labels, scrapbook paper, and zip ties. I was considering using the metal rings that open and close but to be honest I felt like we would lose the names, metal rings or both. Plus zip ties are cheap and durable!

For the cubbies, I just took two small standing bookshelves, gave them a little spray paint love, and turned them sideways. The color coded slots help the kids find and put away their book bags quick and efficiently. Love it!
Tell me about how you do book totes/boxes? What works for you?


Priscilla