Peek at My Week: Week 7 2016

Good Morning Everyone!

It is so nice to be coming to you on a Monday morning!! I really needed this three day weekend to recoup after the flu bug hit my house and to recharge my teacher battery. Another bonus is that it is a four day week so hopefully I won't wear myself out this week.

Anyway, I am linking up with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten for her Peek at My Week linky to show you what we will be working on during this 4 day week.

This week we will be studying George Washington in social studies. My teaching partner covered Abe Lincoln last week during reading using the story Abe Lincoln's Hat so I will teach George this week. We are keeping things simple with George because of the shortened week and because we have some bigger projects coming up within the next few weeks.

We will also be attempting another STEM activity from the amazing Brooke Brown. It is one I wanted to use the Friday before last but some scheduling conflicts came up and it didn't work out. This week I really want my kids to work on the Air Mail activity from her February activity. I love how engaged they are during these activities and am so excited to see what their young minds come up with during this activity.

My lesson plans for the week are below and links to any products that I will be using this week can be found below that. 

Place Value Mystery Pictures
Smart Cookie Math
George Washington: Our First President
Abe Lincoln's Hat
Thankful Thoughts
STEM for February
 Double Digit Math Packet
Second Step

Have a wonderful 4 day week!

Ashley

Valentine Activities

Hi Everyone!

I am so excited to be coming to you today for an original post. This doesn't happen very often for me. I'm usually a little too chicken but I am trying to be braver in 2016. Tonight I thought I would share in detail our awesome Valentine's activities that happened this past week.

On Monday we partnered with our third grade friends and created our own Valentine Monster glyphs. I love creating glyphs because they always look so unique and you get to know new little things about your students. It was a little crazy, loud, and chaotic for a little bit of time but the end result is awesome and our firsties always enjoy spending time with the older kids.

On Wednesday our students finished their Valentine's gifts for their parents. It is a little paper jar craftivity. They get to write sentences about things they like, love, thankful for, etc. about their parents. The strips get cut out and then placed into their little paper jar. The jar says "Overflowing with Love." It is a sweet project and so fun to see what the kids write. I am sure their parents loved every sentence from their cute little valentines.

This week we have also been enjoying Valentine themed math centers. I have a few task card sets. I taped them around the room so that the kids had to move around a little. It completely through for a loop the first day. This was the first time they have done task cards and any change in the routine tends to send this group into a temporary tizzy. They are over it now and enjoying the task cards.

On Friday we made a book about love verses throughout the Bible. We aren't using all of them because that would take way too long; however we are using a collection of the most popular ones. I love this project!! I love giving them a solid, visual reminder that they can read over and over again that reminds them of how much God loves us. This will hang on our Bible Adventure wall for the next week or so and then I will send them home.

Well that's all the excitement I have tonight. Tomorrow I will be linking up with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten for a Peek at My Week. You can catch a glimpse of all the activities we will be using to help us study Washington and Lincoln.

Have a great night!!

Ashley

Peek at My Week: Week 6

Happy Sunday!

Good Morning! I am coming to you early this morning for a peek at my week because it is Super Bowl Sunday and we will be glued to the TV this afternoon. Go Broncos!! If you are able link up with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten for this awesome Peek at My Week linky.

 This week we have lots of Valentine activities. We are joining our awesome third grade buddies to make a Valentine Monster Glyph. They are so fun and the kids love having "monsters" hanging in our room. We are also working on Valentine's for our parents this week. This is a project that my fabulous teaching partner puts together. I am just there to assist.

For math this week we have all Valentine themed math centers. They will review time to the hour and half hour, double digit addition, and place value using task cards. We will also be working on some new strategies this week.

To go along with our Bible studies we will be making a book about love verses throughout the Bible on Friday. This will be a great reminder for our kiddos about how much God expresses his love for us. We will also end Friday with a Valentine exchange and a small party with just first grade. We didn't want to do anything big this year since we just finished National Lutheran Schools Week and we have Saints week in three weeks. A little calm is good for the time being.

Links to all the packets I am using this week can be found under my plans.

Valentine Math and Literacy Activities
Second Step
Thankful Thoughts
Bible Verses for Valentine's Day
Holiday Worksheet

Have a fun Super Bowl Day and a wonderful week!

Ashley

Peek at My Week: Week 5 2016

Happy Sunday Eve!

Well I am back after a crazy exhausting week. My house spent most of this weekend napping and laying around because of all the crazy adventures from last week. My toddler had her first spirit week and our school had their spirit week as well. My husband was gone the majority of the week with work so....napping was necessary.

To get ready for the week I am linking up with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten for her Peek at My Week linky. A great linky to help ensure that I am completely prepared for my week and that I get some great ideas from other teachers. 

Some of the excitement is carrying over to this week. On Monday we will be making our groundhog predictions. We will write out our predictions and explain why we think it will happen this way. Then we will complete a groundhog craftivity. It is super cute and will look great on our science wall. We will also do a quick study on groundhogs to become more familiar with them.

At the end of the week we will be making another big prediction. This time it will be about who wins the Super Bowl. We will write out our predictions and then make a Super Bowl buddy wearing the colors of the team we believe will win. It is always so fun to read why my firsties think different teams will win and you can definitely tell the ones who have listened to moms or dads become excited during games. They use similar vocabulary.

The rest of our week is blissfully calm after the craziness of special dress days and special events each day of last week.

The links to any packets that I will be getting materials from this week can be found beneath the image of my plans.

Groundhog Craftivity
February STEM
Thankful Thoughts
Football Buddy

Have a wonderful week!!

Ashley

Peek at My Week: Week 4 2016

Hi Everyone!

I am back this beautiful Sunday to give you a glimpse into the absolutely crazy week that I have this week. I am linking up with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten for her Peek at My Week Linky. Join if you can!

Our school participates in national event for Lutheran schools across the country called National Lutheran Schools week. It is a week packed full of all school activities, fun dress days (we are a uniform school), and so many schedule changes that you have to get creative to get any kind of teaching in.

To adapt to the craziness and schedule changes we are having some extra fun with our lessons this week. In math we need to work a little more on subtraction so we will be doing a little bowling. We use 20 cups and nerf balls for this game. We use 10 cups the first day we play and 20 cups the second. This way we can practice subtracting from larger numbers. For the end of the week we will be enjoying some 100 Day math centers and super hero math to go along with our dress like a super hero day on Friday.

Other than the math we have our Bible lessons, a science review and test, and a super hero project. The rest of my teaching time is taken up by our all school events. It will be fun and there will be many pictures to come.

Any packets I use this week can be found by clicking on the links below my plans.

1ooth Day STEM Activities
100th Day of School
Come in From the Cold Math Centers
Up Up and Away Super Hero Math Task Cards
Thankful Thoughts

Have a wonderful week!

Ashley

Peek at My Week: Week 3 2016

Good Morning!

Today I am coming to you with a peek into my upcoming week. I am linking my plans up with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten. I am so excited for the three day weekend and a four day work week. That four day week will be pretty packed though.

This week we are studying the amazing Martin Luther King Jr. in social studies. We started our studies Friday with a super cute project and videos from Reading Rainbow and Kid President. It was a great way to kick off our studies.

At the end of the week we will be using one of Brooke Brown's amazing STEM activities from her January STEM packet. My little firsties will be so excited when they find out we will be starting with the creation of several geysers and moving into some marshmallow tower building. It will definitely be an awesome afternoon.

You can find links to any of the packets I will be using below the image of my plans.

Snowman Math
Thankful Thoughts
January STEM
Martin Luther King Jr. 

Have a wonderful Monday off and a wonderful four day week!

Ashley

Sharing Sunshine

Good Evening!

Happy Friday! On this happy Friday evening I am coming to you to link up with my friends at Hello Sunshine for the Sharing Sunshine linky.

My little bit of sunshine happened yesterday. I love that I am a Christian school teacher and that I get to share the Bible with my students each day. I also love those moments when you find a way to connect another activity you are doing to what you teach your students in their Bible lessons. Yesterday it came in the form of a snowman.

We teamed up with our two third grade classes for a snowman activity in the afternoon as part of our snowman day fun. We made a snowman to go along with The Meaning of a Snowman. They are now hanging on our classroom wall the meaning typed in the middle. The kids thought it was cool that our snowmen could remind us of God's love ans sacrifice for us. It was also fun tying it into our theme for the day.

Here is a link to the PDF on TpT that has The Meaning of a Snowman page already typed up and ready to use.

Have a wonderful night!

Ashley