Five for Friday {9.25.15}

Hey friends!

It has been a CRAZY week. I can't even talk about everything that has happened with kids at school. Seriously insane. I have been waiting for today since Monday! That sounds really bad...but this was one of those weeks where teachers were seriously checking if there was going to be a full moon. One of those weeks!

I'm joining in with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday!

Here are 5 things from this crazy week!

1. Writing

We have gotten A LOT accomplished so far this school year (26 days to be exact). This is our writing bulletin board. We follow the Lucy Calkins Units of Study. We started with personal narratives and today was our writing celebration! The kids were super excited for our first celebration. We discussed how hard they have been working and how to keep up the motivation to continue working hard.

The kids shared their stories in groups. They got to switch groups a few times to practice rereading their story multiple times. After sharing their stories, they had some treats and then their stories were put on display on our hallway bulletin board!

2. Reader's Workshop

This group of firsties is doing WONDERFUL with their reading stamina! Reader's Workshop is going so much better than I anticipated. We are already up to 20-25 minutes of read to self daily!

They are also doing a nice job at their "respond to reading" station.

Again, I'm super impressed! :)

3. Math Reads

I mentioned it in my last blog post...I am loving math reads! This is a book from the Math Reads set that my school purchased. The book is called Handa's Surprise. I gave the students each a picture of a basket and the pieces of fruit from the story. They used the fruit to model as I went through the story, then they wrote subtraction equations to match what was happening in the story. It went really well! I am keeping a file of things that I am creating to go along with these books to post at a later date! :)

We also did a math activity with Pete the Cat and His 4 Groovy Buttons! I found this activity from Learning with Mrs. Parker! It is free!! I drew in the picture of Pete before making copies so that wouldn't take up a lot of their time.

4. Happy Fall!!

I love fall...it's my favorite! Surprisingly, we are still experiencing summer weather here in Illinois! I won't complain though...as long as we DO eventually get fall weather, and not just skipping from summer to winter! I found a TON of cute fall decor at Target & in the dollar spot. I also painted a bottle that I had into a candy corn. (The other bottles are for my little guy's Mickey bday party in October!)

5. Wedding Shower

We had a wedding shower this week for one of the teachers! It was tons of fun. I found this super cute idea from The Dating Divas. I made a few changes but it turned out really great. I included 3 bags of chocolates, a bottle of wine, wine glasses, and a super comfy blanket! :)

One last thing I wanted to mention...did you know that dry erase marker can erase permanent marker? I typically write names on the name tags and then laminate them. But I also laminated a few name tags knowing that I would eventually get new students. I was told that I was getting a new little girl on Monday...but she ended up staying at her old school, after I had already labeled things. Then Wednesday I was told I was getting a new little guy...so I had written the girl's name in permanent marker on top of the lamination. I scribbled some dry erase marker on top of the permanent marker writing. Then I used a dry erase eraser to erase it all! Awesome.

Have a great weekend!!! :)