Five for Friday

Happy Friday! It's time to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for her Fabulous Five for Friday Linky!

If you have been hanging around this week, you know that I celebrated my birthday this Thursday.
I received lots of gifts with squirrels:)
I love them all.
This is in the running for my absolute favorite!!

Shhhhhh.... I already have one- but I didn't tell my firstie that- he was too excited  while he was giving me the bag.
When Littlest Little came in at the end of the day he saw the game in the bag.
He said "Oh Mama! You ......."
I love that he saw "my look" and chose to end the sentence "......were wanting that game!"
I love that boy!

The game is The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game.
(I posted about the one I bought last year- this one means more (puffy heart).)

Place the acorns in the tree.

Spin the spinner.  Land on a color, pick up that acorn. Land on the sad sleeping squirrel, you don't get to pick up anything.
Land on the sneaky snacky squirrel, and you can take someone else's acorn! Sneaky Squirrel!!!

Look at the little guy you get to pick up the acorn with!!!!

Place your acorn on your tree stump. First one to fill their tree with acorns wins. And it takes longer than you think!!!

I also played some games this week with my Littles. Grandma sent us these GIANT cards!

Hmmmmmmmm, do I have any 5s??? Let me see.....

Enough with playing games right now though- I have to get my beauty sleep.
I got talked into bowling tomorrow.
AT 9am!!!!
With these nails!!!!

It's for a good cause though:)


Have a great weekend!!! I'll be back with SOMETHING educational- I swear!

Mystery Solved and a Winner

Hello- only four more minutes and it won't be Thursday anymore!!!
I have to hurry!

First for everyone who was concerned with what may have happened to Mr Green's gold, here ya go:

After our math tasks were finished and our creative juices were spent on writing, we had to have the best way EVER to display them both!
What better way to do that than a craftivity from A Cupcake for the Teacher???!?!

We worked on (and finished) our versions of Mr. Green with her

Here are a few close ups-

"A bandit with a gilley suit with a mask stole his gold and took it to his turf of bandits."
(Always be on the lookout for vigilante leprechauns).

"He spent his gold on a Xbox 360 and  Sonic and new green clothes and he wanted a Sky lander and that's where he lost his money."(Remember, he only lost 16 coins.....I want to live where he does, he gets a lot for his money)

"He accidentally turned it into chocolate and I might have ate it!"
This sweetie is the most expressive writer I have ever had. Her tone can be very subtle when she talks to you, but her sense of humor always comes out in her writing! Love her!

"It got lost"
(No need for all the details, eh?)

"Somebody must have took it"
(Someone must have.)

They did an fantastic job. There were lots of possible explanations- but I think we should definitely get a warrant for the bandits' turf- there's plenty of probable cause there!!!!

I get my student teacher the day after St Patricks day, I dont know how riled up I want to them the day before.
We may read a few more books and I think I might sprinkle out  a lttle green glitter here or there. I have my fingers crossed for a few Silhouette giveaways, maybe I'll get lucky and I'll be able to make  a little something, something:)


Today (the 7th, when I am starting this post) is a very nutty day for me-
Chances are though that I started this post so late, it will be the "day after" ....
The day after what?
The day after MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!
Wondering how old I am? Trying to figure out how old this cutie squirrelish figure is?

40.
Yep- I'll wait while you pick up your jaw.

My family made sure it was a day filled with lots of fun for this old Squirrel- check out what came in the mail from my Mother in law!

I can't wait to make squirrel chocolates for the class!!! (And for myself)

Later this week, I'll continue celebrating by sharing a virtual coffee date with Heidi from  MY Not So Elementary Life!!! Congratulations on winning THE WORLD'S SMALLEST COFFEE CUP!!! BOLO the lookout in your mailbox!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

Who Has Mr. Green's Gold????

Hey guess what-
It's Tuesday- do you know what that means?

IT AIN'T MONDAY!!!!


All this talk of St Patrick's Day coming made me feel like I was getting behind!
So today I had them do a Math Task on our district template. It was a fun one. I showed them a picture of JW Illustrations Leprechaun and gave them a few minutes to discuss what we should name him.
A few choices:
Lucky
Goldie
Travis (lol)
Leonard
and then the formalities came in
Mr. Luck
Mr. Gold
Mr. SneakyPants
Mr. (Our librarian- I considered it)
Mr. Squirrels (that one was really close too)

And finally they settled on Mr. Green.
I know, right? He wasn't even in the running!?!??!?

The math task was a "change unknown" problem- and I loved watching them solve it!
Mr. Green had 29 coins in his pot of gold when he left his house this morning. When he got back home there were only 13 coins. What could have happened to them? And how many are missing?

The "stories" they are coming up with are great!
I will tell you all about "thieving brothers", "bumpy car rides", and "sneaky squirrels" as soon as their final papers are finished-

They solved the math portion in a variety of ways.
Some drew 29 circles. Colored the 13 that were left. And circled the 16 that was lost.
Some started it out 29-?=13.....and dove right in.
Some started with 13 red counters and started adding blue ones til they got to 29.
There are some smart lil squirrels in that class:)

As soon as their tasks are completed tomorrow they will move it out to the hall to live with 'Mr. Green" for awhile.
I LOVE making displays! Love it!

Check out this gold! I used my 1' hole punch to make yellow coins- but they were B.O.R.I.N.G.
So I covered them in white glue and dipped them in glitter!!

I am going to add a few more in the morning. I was pretty- after I get a few lil friends to make me some more.

I may have  a slight problem with this display thing. We do so much great stuff that I can't decide what to display and what to pass on.  Prime example? This is my section of the hall as of 6:30pm this evening. Check out all that is "mine".

(And the Facebooking with Dr Seuss is still on the door)

Note the Habitual Photobomber. This is Littlest Little- he's the "dancer". Whenever Big Brother gets in a shot- it's ALWAYS a "thumbs up pose".....that info might help you distinguish between the two in future posts:)

But see what I mean? The birds on the left will come down this Friday. And the Leprechaun Writing Craft we are working on will go where the Happy Birthday (to he who cannot be named) Cakes are.

You may have heard me say before that EVERY PERSON in our school passes our room at least once a day. The cafe is just to the left of where I shot this pic. So they all have to pass it to get in- I like for the them to have lots to interest them while they wait. And my sweeties LOVE LOVE LOVE showing off what they do. They even stop and stare at the own work sometimes and hold up the line behind us!!!!

Stayed tuned this week for some great stories about how Mr. Green came up short on his gold- and don't forget to enter my nutty little giveaway

Have a great Wednesday!!!!

Giveaway and a "Teacher Crush"

Happy Monday!
I will admit that it is "happy' for me right now because it is almost over
{sad face}

What a day! What a day!
I was out both Thursday AND Friday- so I had to "mop up " all those messes before I could begin the new week.
After all those were taken care of, we moved on to our day.

I introduced some AH-mazing Math centers from my friend Jen @ The Teacher's Cauldron- you are going to fall in love with these-
I will post some pictures of those centers in action tomorrow!


In Lit Block last week, our spelling words were all compound words. When I saw Miss Kindergarten's Compound Words Craft this weekend- I knew that it would be something that they would instantly LOVE today. I was right!

{My class kinda has a "teacher crush" on Miss Kindergarten}

They absolutely loved working on this!!
Here are some pictures of the final product, the work in progress, and my favorite- THE DISPLAY:)

Isn't that the best? I printed the pages with the strips where the compound words were and then they chose a strip- with their eyes closed.
And then I told them it was
 A SECRET!!

 DON'T TELL ANYONE!!!

KEEP THAT WORD TO YOURSELF!!

And it was the quietest, most relaxed, craft we have done in a long while.
"Secrets" are the new "secret" in my room!

Thank you Hadar for making compound words so fun!

Here's something that is NOT a secret
{great segway}
I am a Squirrel in L.O.V.E. with coffee.
I drink it in the morning, I drink it in the afternoon, I drink it at night.
This could be insight as to why I am so high strung sometimes...... I may have to look into that!


Sometimes late at night, when I am perusing the blogs, and replying to all the great "nutty chatter" you leave for me- I wish that I had someone to share a nice hot cup o' joe with ....but everyone here is asleep (thank goodness)

How great would it be to share?

How cool would it be to enjoy a little latte together?

Well, now we can. At least one of you can. Check out this mug. It could be the best coffee mug ever!

Is that not hilarious???
It's SQUIRREL APPROVED, FOLKS! It's right there on the package!!!
When I saw it at our bookstore I bought two-  because this is just too funny to keep to myself!!

So what crazy thing does Squirrels want us to do?
Easy Peasy.


a Rafflecopter giveaway


The winner will be announced Thursday evening!
For now though, I am going to take a little hint from Barkley:)
Hope everyone has great Wednesday!

 

 

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

FIve for Friday

Happy Friday, Friends!
This Friday I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching
 for

It was a short week {for me}. There was a this "court thing" on Thursday and a Little who was feeling a little under the weather today. But missing days at school did not keep me from having an abundance of pictures.
{I may have a slight problem with taking soooooo many pictures}.

1. One of my firsties brought in her make up case because she Just.Had.To.Show.It.To.Me. I NEED this case in my life. Daily. To hold all my important stuff...or cause I am just a hoarder.

2. I know you can all count change. So I will wait while you count this up.
Know how much this is? It is five cents less than what you can get a soda for in my building.
Yes, we still have 75 cent sodas in 20 ounce bottles in a machine.  I really needed that soda too!
I sent a pic to the Mr- being all silly- with the caption "AGHHHHHH!!!"
He sent back a pic of all the change in his pocket with the message "Take one"
We work 20 miles from each other.

3. Dagwood sandwiches for dinner tonight. Easy and yummy.

4. On my "judicial errands" Thursday, I was behind this guy. I want this sticker.

5. And finally, had some Chinese for lunch today. The front of this fortune vs. the back of the fortune really makes me wonder .......nothing says "I hope you enjoyed your meal" like learning how to say "disease" in another language.
I was also curious about the Chinese word for disease being Bing. Do you think Microsoft knew?

Hope you have a great weekend!!!