Manic Monday with Mother's Day Freebie

It's Sunday night and I am hoping for not such a Manic Monday. I only have 5 more Monday's left and 28 more days left of school! (We go the week after Memorial Day, now that is going to be a rough week.) We are going to be prepping for the GMADE/GRADE we are taking the first week in May. We are also getting ready to celebrate those special ladies, our Moms! Here is my Celebration Moms Unit freebie. Grab it here for free!

I also shared this freebie on www.teachingblogroundup.com Friday, but thought I would mention it here too just in case you missed it.  I know sometime Monday Heather has a puzzling post and fabulous freebie so make sure sure you stop by there too!

So how many Mondays do you have left this year??  Remember, you don't have to count Memorial Day!!

Friday Fun, a Freebie and BIG News!

Today I am Happy, Happy, Happy!  (Yes, I admit I love Duck Dynasty!)  On today's Five for Friday I have some great things to share with you!

1. Teaching Blog Roundup

I have been working hard (with an amazing team of teaching bloggers) on my new collaborative blog www.teachingblogroundup.com and the first real post is up today!  Pop on by and check it out!  Find out about my plans for Mother's Day and grab a 10-page freebie from me!  Be sure to follow us so you won't miss a thing!  I am so excited about this and hope you enjoy it too!

2.  Meet Miss Phillips

Today was bring your child to work day.  Well I bring my girls to school with me everyday, but today my youngest daughter helped me teach.  (Apparently it was not cool enough for my 6th grader...)  She spent about half a day in the classroom and had a great time.  She was a big help too.

3.  Egg, Egg, Ducks???

My little eggs are still incubating.  I am so grateful that my amazing custodian has started turning them at night so I don't have to go back up to school every night!  When we candled the eggs today we could see their little beaks/ bills.  The kids still aren't sure if they are chickens or ducks.  We have come to the conclusion that if they hatch Monday or Tuesday they must be chicks, but if they don't we must have ducks.  Of course I know our little quackers will be here in a week from Monday (hopefully)!

4.  We are Worm Farmers!

Today we make worm farms for our earthworms.  This project was a great tie together for Earth Day!  We reused many things to make environments for our earthworms.  We also added food scraps for them to compost.  I highly recommend doing this for your class!  I can't wait to watch these worms and my students observing them.

First I showed the class how to make one and then put them in teams to have them work together (in most cases) to make their own.  They loved it and I think our worms are happier here than in their bait cups!  (After we are finished watching them, we will release them!)

5.  It's Friday Freebie Time!

I am busy preparing my kids for the upcoming GRADE and put together a letter reading comprehension passage and questions.  Click here to grab it.

We love worms!

We had a great time getting dirty today!  As an extension of Earth Day we have been learning about earthworms.  We started out with the cute KWL chart I blogged about earlier.  Then we read several great books about these very interesting little guys.  The kids and I loved everyone of these books.  The stories were great and we even learned many interesting facts about worms.

We read a few traditional non-fiction books about earthworms as well as internet research.  The students were really engaged in all of these lessons.  

After reading and researching, the real fun began!  I spread out a plastic picnic table cloth and we gathered around.  I then proceeded to dump out a container of red wigglers!  I wish you could have seen their faces.  At this exact moment I was elevated to the coolest teacher and girl ever!!!  I was amazed at the kids who had never played with these little guys.  After talking about what we were observing, I told them how to handle them and not to squeeze to hard.  I also had to reiterate that "yes we learned they can regenerate a part of their body if a small section is cut off but we are not doing this today or ever!"  Then I paired them up and passed out plates of worms.  I then realized I should have also mentioned not to kiss the little wigglers!

After we examined out red wigglers with magnifying glasses and were over the gross factor, I pulled out another container.  This container was full of night crawlers and they were HUGE!  The kids loved them even more.  I added a night crawler to each place and we examined and compared the two.  The body parts were easier to see on these juicy little guys.  

Then we took the plates back to our seats and filled out an observation sheet of what they observed.  We measured them with rulers too!  I loved watching them try to figure out how to get them to be still and straight!  I took some great pictures too!  (I will admit it took us a little while to bring it back together after all this fun!)

Tomorrow we are comparing our worms to gummy worms!  I will be sure to share!

Have a great day and don't be afraid to get dirty!

I Speak for the Trees!

"I speak for the trees!"  is the popular theme from the Dr. Seuss classic The Lorax.  This is a great story to share during Earth Day and Arbor Day.  You can find some great resources for teaching The Lorax at www.seussville.com.  There are also some great ideas as always in the land of pinterest.

Why is it important to speak for the trees?  Why are trees so important?  This is a great time of year to teach about trees.  Their life cycles, the many different kinds and why they are important.  While teaching about trees and all they give us, don't forget "The Giving Tree."  Every year I read this story I have a child cry during the story.  This is often the first time they become so immersed and emotionally involved in a story that cry (as their teacher usually does too!)

Here is a summary writing activity to conclude your study of trees.  Click here to grab it free.

I hope you have a fabulous Earth Day and celebrate every day!

Friday Five and a Freebie

Happy Friday!  It has been a pretty good week!  I hope you had a great week too!  It is Friday so I am sharing 5 things!

1. Is there a cure for rolling eyes???

I have a soon to be 12 year old daughter who apparently is perfect and knows everything!  I am really surprised her eyes have not rolled out of her head.  I wish there was an eye drop that would prevent the eyes from rolling.  Don't get me wrong, I love my daughter dearly!  However living with a 6th grader reminds me why I teach K/1!

2. My eggs are cookin'!

My eggs are looking great!  Today is day 12, almost half way there for my ducks!  Out of the 14 eggs, 11 were good!   Here is a peek inside, it is amazing how much they grow in just a day or two.

I have to share a funny with you.  One of the students from a class also doing eggs went home to tell their parents about the eggs in the "exterminator".  He said his class was "exterminating" eggs and he thinks they are chicks. 

3.  I found new cute clip art!

I will admit I have a problem and love collecting clip art.  One of my favorites is the clip art at www.mycutegraphics.com!  Not only is this clip art amazingly cute, but it is free too!  Laura Strickland now has a new premium graphics site with higher resolution clips.  She also has new kids that are adorable!  You can check them out at www.whimsyclips.com

4. Earth Day with the Lorax!

Earth Day is Monday and I love reading the Lorax on Earth Day!  It is one of my favorite books to read on Earth Day.  What is your favorite book to read while celebrating Earth Day?

5.  Earthworms!!!

Next week we are going to learn about earthworms.  This week we did the KW of our KWL chart about earthworms.  It turned out sooooo cute!

I am learning so much about these interesting little guys.  I can't wait to get down and dirty as we learn about them next week.  I have so many great things planned and will share them with you all this week!

Here is a Friday Freebie for you!  Click here to grab this Earthworm Graphic Organizer and Writing Activity.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

There is so much going on in our room and we are having fun learning this Spring!  It is day 9 for our eggies!  (Only 18 or 19 days left to the big hatch!)  The kid were super excited to see the little guys moving inside their eggs today.  The writing where we predicted what will hatch turned out great.

I was blog stalking hopping and saw this adorable craft and post about Mrs. Dwyer's A+ Firsties big hatch today.  You should head over and check out her great pictures.  I showed them to my class today.  We are all so excited for our little guys to peep out!

We also started our Earth Day unit today.  After discussing the basics of the 3 R's we made these.  They look great in the hall.

As I was wasting time looking around the net today I saw this picture several places and I think it summarizes everything so well!  We can still learn from Mr. Rogers.  I really wished there were more people like him in our neighborhood.  I hope to remember this when we we get those hard questions from our kiddos.