Saturday 26 January 2013

Five for Friday Again

I'm loving Doodle Bugs Teaching's Five for Friday linky parties... I can't seem to get it together enough to blog during the week, so these Friday postings are perfect for me! I also like randomness, so throwing together five ideas from our week is a lot of fun for me! :)


1. We finished our mini bear unit with some bear fact writing and Eric Carle inspired bears (directions for free on TpT). They turned out pretty cute I think! And you have to love first grade listening/observing skills... check out the little guy on the bottom left on the green... he's standing up straight and has buttons. What a goof!


2. We have been playing a lot of card games in math lately. I have a lot of different types of decks, but there are a few doubles... so I used Renee's (from The Reading Corner) idea to write a letter on the back of the cards. Makes sorting a lot easier!!


3. Here's the weather I left school in yesterday. Cold, snowy, and windy. Yuck. I laugh when I read some of my southern friends' blogs.... you have no idea what winter truly is until you have spent one in Manitoba, Canada!! Let me give you the low down of this week... At our school we go outside for recess unless it is -30°C (-22°F) or colder with the wind chill. It has been around -40°C (-40°F) with the wind chill every day this week... -40!!!! Five days of inside recesses.... I almost couldn't take it today. It has been the longest. week. EVER! Thank goodness for Mr. Harry's Kindergarten and his fun, active songs. We have been doing a lot of action songs to get our bodies moving!


4. Pencils have been a big issue this year. I think my kids may eat them. They just constantly disappear! I started the year with my sharp/not sharp cups... But as soon as I put new pencils in the shapr cup, they would disappear! No matter how many conversations we had about proper pencil procedures, there would be no pencils left in either cup! So I hit the end of my rope yesterday when a student said they couldn't find their pencil and there were no pencils left in either sharp/not sharp cup and no one would admit to having an extra pencil in their desk (admittedly my patience may have been worn thin due to a full week of frigid temperatures and inside recesses as mentioned above). I decided it was time for a pencil talk. I got out 24 brand new pencils. Sharpened them. And LABELLED them. I brought out the bundle of pencils like I was holding a brick of gold. I made a HUGE deal about these brand new, perfectly sharpened, full erasered pencils! I showed how to take care of it. I showed how to sharpen it correctly. I showed how to treat the pencil like it was their baby. I showed how Ms. T would cry if a poor baby pencil was left uncared for on the floor. So far so good. No lost pencils, no crying teacher, no pencil nubs the size of my finger nail. Let's hope we keep it up!


5. I decided to skip penguins this year. It makes me sad. I love penguins. They are my favourite animal to teach about. I just don't have time this year... So we skipped right on over to the senses! I made this poster of my "friend" Bob. The kids were quite impressed with my drawing skills, although apparently the eye lashes make Bob look a little girly. Although one my little guys told me Bob had very pretty eyes like he did. That made me laugh.
 

Well that's it for tonight. I've got a few new units in the works, but have been feeling pretty unmotivated lately. I should have my Valentine's Day Word Work Centres up shortly. We'll see! But for now I'm going to leave you with this little math equation...

27 - 1 + 1 - 4 + 1 - 1 + 3 = 26

That is what my class has looked like so far this year. I have had six kids leave throughout the year and gained five new students. I just found out this afternoon that I am getting two new students on Monday. Well, technically one new student and one returning student. A returning student who was on an IEP, who had a lot of behaviour problems, and who has been out of school for three weeks. Let's just say today was a pretty stressful day. Thank goodness for Mexican restaurants and margaritas! :) Night all!

3 comments:

  1. Love your 5 for Friday! I might be a little biased though as I am mentioned! haha. I wish I had thought of that card idea years ago. I also noticed that I have that exact desktop calendar that is sitting under your bin of cards. lol. We are working on the 5 senses right now too! I posted a 5 senses labelling craft on my blog if you are interested!

    I am soo tired of indoor recess too!

    Keep Warm!
    Renee
    The Reading Corner

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  2. My kids are out of control with the pencils this year. I swear someone is eating them. They are also constantly all over the floor! Literally every day, I am having them "go through their desks" (yeah right) and "bring me the extra pencils they are hoarding."

    I think I just have a really messy group this year! Drives me bonkers! Great idea about putting the label on them!

    Megan
    Mrs. Wheeler’s First Grade
    Mrs. Wheeler TpT


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  3. I like the pencil idea! What does happen to all the pencils?! I teach kindergarten and so I have stopped allowing them to use the electric sharpener because what would happen is a pencil would go from 10 inches long to 2 inches long in about one second.... soooo with me (or a volunteer) sharpening them all- I find myself even more interested in maintaining the life of each pencil! I may be labeling them soon!

    Christy
    Crayons and Whimsy

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