May, Worms, Ducks, Sale and a Freebie Oh My!

Hello May!  (How did I miss the first 5 days?)  At any rate I have so much going on as you will see in my post.  It may be a little long... so I am giving you 2 3 FREEBIES!

To start things off I am linking up with Farly's Oh' Boy 4th Grade May's Currently.  This is a great link up with so many fabulous blogs featured.  I can literally get lost on this linky for hours....  I only a few days late linking up, so here is what I am currently up to!

I want to update you on our little ducklings.  We had 9 of our little ducks hatch Saturday during the day.  I was so bummed that it didn't happen on a school day.  I was able to stream it live and many families watched.  I also recorded it to show my class too.

Aren't they adorable!!!  I will bring them in for my students to see tomorrow.  I will have to wait until after we complete the sections our standardized test for the day.  I will hide them out in my office until then.  Here is a "Hatching Announcement" we will complete to share the great news!  It can be used for ducks or chicks!  Students draw pictures of the new arrivals, list their names and their hatchdate.  Grab it FREE here!

In addition to hatching our ducks, we also have been learning about earthworms.  Before you ask, NO I am not going to feed my worms to my ducks!  Although I could use it to teach about food chains!  Before doing this earthworm unit, hatching eggs was my favorite unit/ lesson I did.  Now, I will have to say I think I like teaching about Earthworms just as much as my little guys love learning about them!

I have put together everything I have used while teaching about these amazing little diggers in to my new (finally completed) Primary Unit All About Earthworms!  The unit is packed with so many activities and printables.  It is for sale in my TpT and TN stores for $2.95.  There is a great FREE activity in the preview.  If you are looking for a fun, educational and dirty activity for the last few weeks of school, this is it!!

It gets even better with Teacher Appreciation Sales this week!  Teachers Notebook is running a sale all week!  Teachers Notebook is giving an extra 10% off sale prices for the entire week!  My items, including my new Earthworms Unit are 20% off, for a total discount of 28%.  Teachers Notebook is also having a giveaway everyday!  Make sure to stop by for your chance to win!

In case you haven't heard, Teachers Pay Teachers is having a 2-day Teachers Appreciation Sale May 7th and 8th!  You can save up to 28%!  So start adding to your wishlist!

Speaking of Teacher Appreciation Week, I thought I would share one of the items I am giving a few of my favorite teachers this week!

Click here to grab these tags free!  They also make great gifts for volunteers at the end of the year!  I actually make up a few to have on hand for whenever I may need them.  You can get these cute coffee cups at the dollar tree!  Include a coffee gift card if you like!

OK, I guess this about does it!  I am linking up with Manic Monday!  Don't forget to check in over there for more great freebies!  Check back later this week for information on a Teacher Appreciation Blog Hop coming up packed with freebies for you!

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!