Insects, Bugs, and Bucket Lists

 

These shoes are just so adorable. My firsties wrote about what they hope to do this summer. I found this project from The Bubbly Blonde blog. 4 more days left but whose counting?  Me, me, me!!!

 

 

Since we are finished with all our science and social studies I decided to do a short unit on insects and bugs (tis the season after all). My firsties are lovin' it. Together we made an anchor chart about what insects can, have, and are. We also made a huge list of insects they know of. It was amazing what kind of bugs they can name. Some of them I'm not even too sure they really exist. After that we did some directed drawings from Kacey over at Doodlebug Teaching.  I have never done a unit on insects before and after seeing how much my kiddies know and want to know about them I may have to squeeze this unit in next year.

 

 

Non school related

 

My brother has the most adorable, pleasant, easy going labradoodle. Two weeks ago they noticed how he was bumping into everything. So they took him in for a check up and found out he is full of cancer. It is sooooo heartbreaking. Canyon isn't even ten years old. Everyone just loves him.

So my brother and his family decided to fill Canyon's bucket list before they have to say goodbye ( who knew dogs have bucket lists)! Well, one of the items on his bucket list was to take a ride in the firetruck.  That was an easy thing to do since my brother is a fireman. Here is Canyon getting his ride. We laughed so hard upon seeing the pictures.

 

Now they are going to have a birthday party this coming weekend for Canyon and anyone can come and bring their dogs. They will have the yard fenced off and a piñata filled with dog treats. What a hoot!!  Item number 2 on his bucket list.

 

They took Canyon to Petsmart and let him roam the store and sniff all the dog toys. They bought him his favorite toys that he pulled off the shelf. Item number 3 on his bucket list.

 

They are feeding Canyon anything he wants to eat (he always had such bad allergies he was on a strict diet and now prednisone takes care of that) including a huge steak. Item number 4 on his bucket list.

It's going to be one sad day around here when everyone has to say goodbye to him. He is an awesome dog and great friend to many!!

 

 

Here is the latest selfie my daughter and I took last weekend. Thanks for stopping by.

 

Chicks and End of the Year Boards

 

 So, our chicks have arrived!! After 21 days of turning the eggs three times a day and keeping a close eye on the temps our little babies have hatched. Out of a dozen eggs we hatched nine cute, fluffy chicks. We were so surprised to get black chicks this year. We were expecting the traditional yellow and a few brown chicks. Certainly not black ones. They are adorable. Each one has their own yellow spots and markings so my firsties can tell them apart. Sooo cool!! The other first grade class in my school has seven, mostly black chicks. If these days haven't been loud and crazy enough the chicks just add more excitement to first grade. As you can probably figure out, there isn't much learning going on these days. Tomorrow the chicks will be going on a fieldtrip to hang out with the kindergarten kids for a while. Maybe then we can squeeze in a little teaching.

 

 

 

 

We did get a chance to complete this project about all our first grade favorites. Each year I usually have my firsties make one of those booklets of all their favorite things about first grade and it takes so long to get each page done. This year I just loved this project when I saw it and I thought it would be much easier  and less time consuming. Don't get me wrong, I do love all the other booklets the kids make and I know the parents love them too, but this is not the group to do that with. It would take forever to get many of them to finish the pages. Each group of kids brings it's own set of rewards and challenges and this group likes to take their time completing their work OR they rush through so fast it is quite sloppy. Therefore, I thought these little people would be perfect and they were. Thanks to Lyndsey Kuster over at A Year of Many Firsts for this adorable project. 

 

 

I found this cute board on Pinterest. It's perfect for our summer board. This is the first thing our parishioners see as they enter our building to attend mass. The tree does look much bigger in person.

So needless to say, it's done and now let's move on to summer.

 



 

Mother's Day Spa Treatment!!

 

HAPPY TEACHER APPRECIATION DAY!!

 

 

 

So we've been busy with our eggs and Mother's Day projects. I just LOVE this awesome Mother's Day project from Dragonflies in 1st. She had a giveaway and I was the lucky one to win it. I think I can truly say this is one of my most favorite gifts we have made for our moms over the years. The unit includes coupons for moms, grandmas and aunts. So versatile. My students wrote all kinds of special things about their moms under the top sheet. Love it!!

 

We've also been busy getting ready for our eggs to hatch. We are expecting them to hatch on Monday and my firsties are unbelievably excited about the big day. Monday we are going on a farm fieldtrip, which is a ton of fun and the easiest trip with first graders. These windsocks have the chicken life cycle on it and I found it from Robin Sellers on TPT. Too cute!  The chickens came from Christie at First Grade Fever. They are a riot and we have had a ton of compliments on them.

We have 19 days left before summer break (but who's counting)  and I don't know about you but my kiddies are more than ready to go. All I can say I thank goodness for outdoor recess these days. Have a great rest of the week!!