Five for Friday...so glad it's Friday!

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching this week to share my Five for Friday.  Life has been busy and wonderful around here and I couldn't think of a better way to share all the latest!

1.  Last weekend the hubs and I went to my beloved alma mater for a basketball game. I realize I'm a bit biased, but I truly don't believe there are many places better than Allen Fieldhouse on game day.  Right before the game started and we headed to our seats, big Jay walked right up to me to pose for a picture... and who's going to turn that big guy down?  We had a fantastic time and, of course, a big KU victory at home!

2.  Speaking of Kansas... Kansas Day is coming up on January 29th, so we have been working on Kansas symbols in Kindergarten.

My mind was blown last year when a new co-worker moved in from out of state and informed me that not all states go crazy over their birthdays the way Kansas does, but, well, that's just how we do it around here!   Probably one of the cutest conversations I heard this week went like this:

Me: Ok kiddos, who remembers our state bird? (and, of course, several shout out)

Student 1: Bald Eagle!
Student 2: The Jayhawk! (clearly earning extra credit)
Student 3: Hummingbird!
Student 4:  (scrunching up face and thinking really hard) I know it starts with M... um... Mummingbird?

I was just tickled!  He was trying so hard to remember!  FYI, the correct answer is Meadowlark.  You know, in case you ever find yourself on a game show about to win a ton of money and they throw a little Kansas trivia your way.  Just don't forget to share the winnings!

3.  The weather in good ol' Kansas is finally starting to warm up to above freezing temperatures, but we have had our fair share of snow lately (which also means our fair share of indoor recesses).  Rather than hate it, we embraced it in sweet room sixteen!  Snowmen are everywhere!

Inspired by the wonderful and talented Cara Carroll, we did two snowmen crafts this week.

After reading the book Snowmen at Night by Carolyn Buehner, the kiddos began brainstorming what the would do if they were snowmen alive at night to do whatever they wanted.  Their responses were precious!  These were two of my favorites:

Read 100 books

Go to the wedding dance

I made my own number stories to go along with our math lessons this week (see Five for Friday #4) and was very pleased at how the students were able to solve the problems independently.  I think they are truly grasping how to make ten!  If you'd like a copy of your own, click the here for a free download!

4.  We hit a milestone this week in math:  Making 10.  We have been working on understanding addition and number sentences lately, so this week we had some fun with all the different ways we can make ten.

Inspired by A Cupcake for the Teacher, I helped the students see all the different ways to make ten with our Rainbow to 10 anchor chart.  I don't know if it was all the colors or the fact I busted out the smelly markers, but my students loved this chart!  Luckily for me, A Cupcake for the Teacher also posted a freebie for the little ones to make their own Rainbow to 10 to keep.  I had them leave it in their work folders this week to refer back to in different lessons, but sometimes I find my little learners just admiring their math masterpiece!

We just couldn't quite leave our sweet snowmen out of math this week, so we made these awesome ten frame books by The 2 Teaching Divas.

5.  As wonderful as this past week was, I think I saved the best for last.

I can barely type this I'm so excited.

Remember my inspiration for my snowmen craftivities (and a gazillion other lessons I've taught throughout my career)?

I get to meet her!

My principal approved my request to attend the SDE Conference for Kansas Kindergarten Teachers and Cara Carroll from The First Grade Parade is presenting!  I'm beyond elated to get even more ideas from her!  

How was your week?  I'd love to know!  

Have a wonderful and amazing weekend!

-Liz

Five for Friday!

Does anyone else remember the little theme song that went with ABCs TGIF back in the 90s?  "Gonna have some fun, show you how it's done - TGIF!"  Is it bad that I still often sing that to myself on Fridays?  Because I definitely do.  It's peppy!

But seriously.  I'm so thankful the weekend is here.  I love my little ones, but wow-oh-wow were they full of extra energy this week!  I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to celebrate the fact that I survived with five of my favorite things from this past week.

1.  Thanksgiving is EVERYWHERE!  I love holidays in Kindergarten because we do so many craftivities and decorate our classroom and hallways.  Here are some of our favorite masterpieces:

These sweet Native Americans were inspired by A Cupcake for the Teacher and oh how I love doing these with my students each year!  I tweaked the writing prompt this year for my Kindergarteners because while darling, the craft does require quite a bit of listening to create.  I knew if they had to write much more I might lose them, so I compromised a bit!  Next year I may omit the small picture of the pilgrims and Native Americans in the writing paper because it looks like by the time we got to that we forgot all about or Three Star Coloring....

I'm kicking myself because I didn't take any pictures of the pilgrims that go along with this craftivity, but I can assure you they are just as cute!  I loved reading what my little ones were thankful for!  Of course I had to display the student's work that said she was thankful for her teacher (melt my heart!) but I loved that one of my little guys wrote that he is thankful for numbers!  

 

Our next Thanksgiving craftivity was inspired by Just a Primary Girl and this year was the first time I tried this one out.  I adjusted the writing prompt again and had so much fun helping my students brainstorm some of the best parts of Thanksgiving!   A few of my kiddos cracked me up when they said their favorite part of Thanksgiving was taking naps!

2.  Our Christmas cards arrived!  

Ah, love being married...and merry!  I figure we only really have one Christmas to share our wedding photos AND send holiday greetings, so we made sure to find a cute play on words for our card this year.

3.  Jerry. Seinfeld.  

This SO happened Thursday night!  My husband, parents, and brother all headed out for a fun night to see our favorite comedian perform live.  No kidding, my cheeks hurt for hours afterwards from laughing so hard the entire time!  Laughing really is my favorite and I figured I burned enough calories giggling to compensate for the glass of wine I enjoyed on our night out.

4.  I'm finally getting over the horrible cold I've had for the past week!  Despite how we scrub and disinfect our classroom, germs still seem to creep in every now and then.  I won't post pictures of my recovery process, but I will promise that lots of Emergen-C and Clearquil did the trick for me!

5.   We are SO close!

I have a feeling a lot of teachers will be posting about this and it's so true - just make it to Thanksgiving break!  We go Monday and Tuesday next week, so I'm working on my plans to do lots of mini-Thanksgiving projects, a Fingerfood Feast, and, of course, GoNoodle breaks. :)

Happy Friday, everyone! 

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