Summer is FINALLY Here!

I feel like it has been years since I've been on my blog and all othe wonderful blogs. I just finished my last HUGE project for grad school and I'm not even going to look in my grad school bag until August 27th. Woo Hoo!! We had a ton of things going on the last month of school. I was sad to see my kiddies go but look forward to a new "batch" coming in. I do have ten of them over the summer for a first grade bookclub. I have 10 of my top readers and we meet at the library once a week for an hour. We are reading The Chalk Box Kid and Choloate Fever. They love it (and so do the parents).  Anyway, on to more blogging. These are just a few of the awesome bulletin boards my daughter made for 3 of our classrooms.  Gotta love the cricut machine. Thanks for stopping by.

I am Still Alive!

 This is what we have been doing. We hatched a dozen eggs. The kids are soooo excited and I am more than ready to send them to the farm.They hatched last Tuesday so a week with them is more than enough. Don't get me wrong, They are so cute but I can't handle the smell at this point. The farmer is going to pick them up in the morning. The kids are bummed but they understand that the chickens can't live in a fish tank . We love doing this project every year. It's so easy. So, if you ever get the chance give it a try.

I found this cute project on Pinterest and I'm sorry but I can't remember where. Among all this excitement in our class I have been working like a crazy woman on writing reading case studies for our master's class. After turning in the project I don't ever want to see another case study. This is just crazy. Class ends this week, just on time to start the next one that goes through the end of June.  Anyway, thanks for stopping by and hopefully I'll have more to post soon.
Happy May Everyone!!

Plants

We like to hang out our dirty laundry! Not really. I saw this cool idea on Pinterest. We planted seeds in the fingers of the rubber gloves. First we soaked a cotton ball in water, put it in the fingers of the gloves and added seeds to it. After 3 days we already have sprouts. The kids are so excited to see their seeds sprouting. Last year we put bean seeds in a wet papertowel in a baggie and hung them in the windows. Bad idea! They either turned into mush or dried out too fast. This year it's working out much better. You should try it out. 

This is a favorite of all the kids. I put seeds in the cupcake tin and the kids have to guess what will grow from each seed. Right away they think they know them all but surprise, surprise! Many don't know their seeds. We have fun with this activity. 

This board turned out so cute. The kids painted their handprint four times to make the flowers. It was messy but cute!

Thanks for stopping by. Now I'm back to writing 3 papers this weekend along with report cards. Enjoy!!

The Eagles Have Landed!

Ok, I know I haven't been posting lately. I haven't had a minute to breathe around here. Whoever said going back to school for a masters was going to be easy? The work isn't hard, it's the amount of work that is driving me crazy. I haven't been in school since I graduated in 1985 ( I know, I'm old) and this work is for the birds!  Anyway, have you checked out the eagles from Decorah, Iowa? The are sitting on their eggs and the eggs should be hatching soon. My class is facinated with them. You should really check them out.  Here is the link   http://soaringcafe.com/2011/03/decorah-eagles-livecam/.  You can also check out the eagles at Alcoa http://www.alcoa.com/locations/usa_davenport/en/info_page/eaglecam.asp  These eggs have hatched
already.  Anyway, I hope you are having awesome weather like we are here in Chicago, middle 80's in March, Unbelievable!!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!



What a week we had at school. We did several Dr. Seuss activities and the kids loved it (so did I)! The fish was a glyph from the Glyph Girls, however, I find it easier not to do it as a glyph. Sometimes the kids just don't get the glyph. So we tweeked it a little and they turned out cute. Our other favorite was the Lorax. Since the movie was coming out we decided to make this guy. I found him from Elizabeth at Miss Delk's blog. She has some awesome Dr. Seuss things on her tpt. Sorry about the Dr. Seuss bulletin board being such a bad picture. The sun is always on that corner of the room. Next week I am still going to do some more Dr. Seuss things, there is so much stuff to do.

Besides all this going on we had some really bad news at school. Our principal's 25 year old daughter passed away. She had been very sick. Thank goodness we are a catholic school, the prayers were going all week. Next week is going to be a tuff one too, with the funeral. Hopefully things will calm down soon.  Anyway, thanks for stopping by.



More 100 Day Portraits

What a hoot! These pictures turned out so funny and realistic. I haven't had much to post lately. It's been crazy around here. Last week my father-in-law passed away, our school had it's evaluation, and I'm still in grad school and am tutoring for practicum right now, and to top it all off I have a TEENAGER to deal with. I feel exhausted all the time. As soon as I have more pics I'll get busy posting. Thanks for stopping by.

100th Day Celebration and Bulletin Boards

Today was our 100th day of school and look who dropped by. The kids all came dressed up like they were 100 years old. What a hoot! I wish I could post more pictures but I just can't. We laughed all day with this little guy.  Most of the day was geared around 100 activities. We took a walk around the school to all the classrooms, we read 100 theme poems to kindergarten, we had 100 theme centers, and we sorted out our 100 collections in all different ways. I am totally exhausted now. It's always a fun day but I'm glad it's over.

Here are a few more bulletin boards. I found the Valentine boards on line, sorry I can't remember where I saw them. The penguin board belongs to our second grade teacher. I thought it was so cute I wanted to share it with you. The kids wrote book reports on them. Anyway, have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by.

Snow, Maps, and Red Solo Cups!

I know, I haven't been around lately. Well, as some of you may know I am in the middle of getting my masters and besides my own classroom we are in the middle of afterschool tutoring sessions. Not to mention report cards, open house, two teenagers, and a very sick father in law. Oh, and our school is up for evaluation by in February.  So needless to say, I don't seem to have a minute to breathe these days. Here are a few pictures from my classroom since we came back from break. I know these ideas are not mine, I got them all from wonderful teacher blogs. I want to give credit where credit is due. Thanks to all the wonderful teachers out there who share their classrooms and ideas. I love them all.

What a great book, It's Okay to be Different by Todd Park. I used this book for our MLK lesson and the kids really "got it". They each drew their pictures on Kidpix, I printed them and they had to color them in. We had fun with this lesson.

Our reading unit theme these day is mapping. I found this cute idea on Pinterest. The kids did a great job and the parents really like it too. I shortened it a little to fit our schedule and their understanding. You'll love their drawings of themselves. They are a riot. One last picture for now. Have you ever heard the song Red Solo Cup by Toby Keith? If you haven't you must. It is soooo funny (and true).  

Clouds

We have been working on a weather unit these days. I found these adorble clouds on Babbling Abby's blog and had to make them. I think it's a great visual for the kiddies. After we labeled the clouds, described each one and looked for them on the internet the kiddies went outside to check out the clouds for the day. It couldn't have been a better day. The temps are in the 50's and no snow yet (however, it is coming in the next day or two) . I'll post more pictures in the next day or so of our weather activities.

Sliding into a New Year

Our back to school board. I saw it on Pinterest and loved it. The penguins are so cute. Well, let the rat race begin. Besides being back to school full time I also start up on my master's classes again.. So needless to say it's going to be a busy few weeks. As soon as I take pics I'll post more this week. So thanks for stopping by and have a great week.