Five for Friday- Racing to Spring Break!

 I actually started this post on Thursday night but just didn't get a chance to finish it up until now.  Happy Weekend!

PARCC testing was this week and even though we don't take it, it still affected our grade.  Our specials were switched to first thing in the morning rather than the afternoon.  You know that threw off our day.  The poor kiddies asked for snack after coming back from gym at 9:30am.  And it made for a LONG afternoon.  Wednesday was especially hard, with having library in the classroom and then indoor recess too.  I think we were all a little tired of looking at each other by the end of the day!  On a positive note, the weather is supposed to be warm(er) this week so we will plan on getting outside more! 

We have been saving gallon jugs to make these cute bunny baskets next week as an extension of the end of our animal unit during our last three days before Spring Break...perfect timing!  I'll post another quick tutorial on these tomorrow.

I started incorporating math journals this week with my higher kiddos as an early finisher option.  (I purchased these on Teachers Pay Teachers.  Thank you to The Kindergarten Connection for your fun math journal pages!)  I have SUCH a "hurry up and get it done" class.  Maybe I have too many Type A personalities, or something.  Or maybe they are just five and six years old, I don't know.  But EVERYTHING is a race, especially for my high flyers.  This did not make for very thorough math journal work at first.  Once they got past the reading of the problem, they quickly filled in the equation and flipped the page.  No, no no no.  I showed them all the things we could do...we can fill in the ten frame, we can show the hops on the number line, we can draw tally marks, we can draw a picture and cross off/add objects, we can make them different colors, we can label, etc. etc.  It's starting to sink in a little bit with a few of them.

Also in math, we started measurement this week.  So much fun!  My kiddos moved very quickly past the longer/shorter concept, so we went ahead to measuring and comparing objects with linking cubes.

I was even noticing my high kiddos having a competition with who could get their estimates "right" on our non-standard units of measurement activity, to the point that they were sneaking cubes under the table to measure the object I handed them before filling in their estimate!  I found myself continually repeating "It's not a race.  It's not a contest.  It's not a race.  It's not a contest."  Shew.  They keep me on my toes, that's for sure.  But they are all really enjoying this as one of their math stations this week! I laminated the recording sheets from Crazy for First Grade so we can use them every day.

This has nothing to do with school, but it's so nice to be out running again!  I got in a four mile run last weekend, just before it got dark.

I need to work on strength training again.  I used Sworkit in the past, but it's been a year or so.  I just downloaded the app again and it has improved so much since last time!

However, I have not improved so much since the last time I used it.  So. Sore. This. Week.  Ouch.

 

Last but not least, I've been seeing plastic egg posts everywhere so I know the possibilities with these are endless.  This is just my two cents.  :)

I looked at lots of ideas but ended up with one math and one sight word activity.  I decided to keep it simple, as my class does better with less "stuff" and directions.  :) 

For an addition activity, students will grab one top and one bottom of an egg.  They add the numbers and record the numbers they used and the sum.  I am going to use Kindergarten Smorgasbord's bunny recording sheet here.  He has tons and tons of other fabulous ideas for using eggs, too!

For sight words, they will open an egg and write down the sight word they find inside.  Very simple.  I included our most recent twelve, along with the word so they can make sure they have all of them.  (And so they can close the egg and put the egg back for someone else to use!)

I haven't decided whether I want them to hunt for the eggs, or simply pull them from a basket.  I mean, a hunt would definitely be more fun, but how much chaos would ensue???  Hmmm.... 

Looking forward to three days of school this week!  I'll be taking the week off from writing to enjoy spring break and the Easter Triduum.  Happy Easter!