Reading Games, Play-dough, and Other Activities

                                           

More PARCC Testing, allergy attacks, and a desire to punch a certain someone...thank goodness this week is over.  Happy Five for Friday!

1

Reading Musical Chairs - I am obsessed with books.  This is pretty well known.  I always try to convey my love of reading to my students.  I noticed that lately my students haven't been as into reading as they once were.  I think that a focus on testing can definitely do that.  To combat this, I wanted my students to see a variety of books that they could be reading from our library, so we played reading musical chairs.

Each student picked out a book bin from the library.  (All of my books are in bins based on subject, theme, genre, or author.)  We then played music and the students walked around the room.  When the music stopped, the students had to find a seat.  I then gave them time to read/look at the books.  We did this for a few rounds.  My students found books they never saw before.  It definitely helped increase the book circulation in the library.  I will definitely do this activity throughout the school year.  This way my students get to always see new books.
                                         

My Reading/Language Book Bin

                                                                                        

2

Musical Big Books - We just made our first musical big book this school year.   This one was to the song Happy.  Check my blog next week.  I will have lots of musical freebies for you.

These are some of the pages that are going into our big book.

                                           

3

Peep Play-dough - My co-teacher had the students make play-dough using Peeps.  It was messy, looked gross, but was fun.  To make your own, play one Peep in a Ziploc bag.  Add a teaspoon of of coconut oil.  Squish the combination together.  Add some powdered sugar to reduce some of the greasiness of the coconut oil.  Wait about 15 minutes once all the ingredients have been mixed together.  This should give a play-dough consistency.

Our greasy looking play-dough.

4

Taxes - I got my taxes done, and I did it before the deadline.  Last weekend is still considered early!  I think I deserve a treat!

5

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - This may not be the greatest show.  It's back for season 2 today.  I think I found my mindless weekend plans!

Bonus

Multiplication Math Brain Breaks - In case you missed last week's post, I made a bunch of brain breaks.  Click here to get your own free.  I made a bunch more this week to add to the collection.

Five for Friday

                                             

Woo-hoo!  I am finally on Spring Break!  I should be cooking since I am hosting Easter tomorrow and Sunday.  Instead, I am sitting here writing this.  Happy Five for Friday!

1

Parent-Teacher Conferences - We had our second set of conferences yesterday.  I am happy with how it went, although I would have liked more parents.  Only 11 out of 20 showed up.  If you have conferences coming up, click here for a Parent-Teacher Conferences freebie.

                                              

                                                                                        

2

Easter - Since we had a short week due to conferences and Spring Break, I didn't get a chance to do any fun Easter activities.  I have a bunch copied/ready to go when we get back.  Click here for your free Peep Activity.

                                                

3

Leprechaun Traps - This year we made Leprechaun Traps.  The leprechaun was going to visit, but he saw how crazy the class was on St. Patrick's Day and decided not to make an appearance.  Oh well, the traps were a fun STEM activity.

4

St. Patrick's Day Art - We made leprechauns and cut them in half.  They traded them with a classmate to create a whole leprechaun.  We also made leprechauns with a directed drawing activity.  It was a great way to see them follow directions.

5

Easter - Now I really need to go and cook.  If I don't, my guests will probably get a bit cranky! Happy Easter!

Five for Friday - Spring Break

I skipped last Friday's Five for Friday due to pure exhaustion.  This week, I am back; more relaxed, calm, and completely stress free.  Can you tell I haven't been at school?  I love Spring Break! Happy Five for Friday!  

1

After holiday shopping - I love shopping after holidays.  These times are ones in which I stock up on clearance items for my classroom.  I especially love Easter clearance.  I like to get the plastic eggs with the candy inside.  I use the candy for my candy container and the eggs for making games, craft projects, etc.  (The only issue with this is remembering where you store the eggs.  I may have forgotten where they were when I looked for them before Easter.  Whoops!)  Look below for some ideas on how to use the eggs.

My TPT page has this free download.

                                                 

2

PARCC Reflection - I am glad that PARCC is officially over (at least until May).  I am choosing to focus on the parts that amused me instead of stressing myself out thinking about the actual test.  Here are some of my favorite memories.

A.  First, there is the boy that called me over during the math test and asked if he should write a number or word problem in the answer box.  When I told him that I couldn't help him, he proceeded to tell me that if he writes a story, he shouldn't use swear words because they are bad.  I am curious about what he ended up writing.

B.  Then there was the girl that wanted to show me how much she wrote for her answer.  I really try not to read anything but noticed she had a PS at the end.  The PS was her telling whoever read it that they should let her know if they need any help with anything because she was really smart.  I guess a lack of self-esteem was not missing with her.

C.  On a positive note, I really got my steps in on my Fitbit.  The test made it easy to make my 10,000 steps each day.  I kept tapping the display, watching the lights add on as I made laps around the computer lab.

3

Easter - I hosted Easter and got to dig into my creative side.  Here are some pics of things I made for the day. 

Too bad you can't see the fluffy tail in the back.  I figured everyone needed a favor when they left. I then came close to forgetting to pass them out! 

Cloth napkins in the shape of bunnies.

4

Donors Choose - My project got funded!  This makes number 7 in about a year.  This one only took about 2 weeks.  Take advantage of partner funding and matching donations the first week your project is posted.  There are lots of generous people out there!

5

Last day of freedom - Today is the last official day off.  Yes I know that I have the weekend.  Maybe I will go for a walk.  I should go finish my taxes.  Maybe I will just curl up on the couch and bond with my furry babies.  No matter what I do, I will try not to think about school.  At least I keep telling myself that I will not think of school.

Easter Writing

Woohoo!  Last day before Spring Break!  I am really excited about it, even if it means subbing again.  I do like the class that I am substituting in.  I also love the ideas that I am getting.  

One activity we completed today was a writing assignment.  The students all got a sheet of stickers (shown on the left in the picture below).  They got the create a picture on the top of the page and write a story on the bottom explaining the picture.  These stickers were perfect because it gave the opportunity to create an actual picture for the students to write about.  Some students chose to write fiction stories while others choose nonfiction stories.

In the future, I may do this with my class for a variety of holidays or just a fun activity.  I may even do the stickers on one page with the writing on another.  This would allow me to have the students go through the writing process.

Peeps Writing Activity

Tomorrow is our last day before Spring Break!  I am so excited about it.  I know that my students will be nuts, so I am creating a lot of activities to keep them occupied.  I have jelly bean graphing, an April Scoot game, and a Peeps writing assignment.

If you are interested in the Peeps writing activity, check out my Teacher's Pay Teachers store.  This activity is free.  You will need plastic eggs and Peeps candy (one for each child).  I hope you enjoy it.

Checker Review

 

I made these math boards to review subtraction and multiplication facts.  I put them in a container for those that finish their work early.  My summer school students love it. (They make great guinea pigs!)  It's fun to watch them answer the questions before they can move their piece.  This is a fun way to review their facts while working on their critical thinking skills.

 

Alternative game:  Reading - sight words or vocabulary words, comprehension skills (Put words like character, setting, problem, solution - after reading a story, students must answer based on the story.)

Easter Activity Results

Yesterday was our last day with students before Spring Break.  I am excited to have a little break (although I have a lot of projects I want to complete).  We completed the jelly bean and Peeps activity I had previously written about.  They were huge hits!

First of all, my students completed the Peeps activity.  I had a great time watching them trying to figure out what was in the Easter eggs.  They tried to shake them, and there was no noise.  I tried to tell them that maybe I forgot to put something in them.  They knew there was something because they could see some color through the egg.  Most students predicted that there was candy inside.  When they opened them, the look of excitement was amazing!  The Peeps opened up.  The students furiously completed their prewriting sheet, and then used that to write their stories.  They were very creative. 

During math, we completed the jelly bean activity.  Having the jelly beans pre-portioned out was definitely an improvement over previous years.  I didn't worry about running out, giving students too many, etc.  It was a fun review of our objectives.  The students liked it.  I just need to think of another way to add some more creativity into this activity, because that was my favorite part of the Peep activity.

Jelly Beans

My night tonight is all about filling these eggs with jelly beans.  I am going to have the students graph how many jelly beans they have.  I figure portioning them out means I won't run out or hear arguments that someone has more than them.  Now, if it were only Wednesday so I can do these activities!

Easter Ideas

I was trying to think of something creative to have my students complete before they go on Spring Break.  They are a bit crazy knowing that it is almost vacation time.  I made goody-bags for the students complete with a pencil, eraser, pencil sharpener, and an Easter egg.  Inside each egg, I put in a Peep.  I created a writing activity to go along with this.  Please follow the link for a free copy of this activity - http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Peeps-Easter-Writing-Activity.  Hopefully, this will keep my kids entertained for a while!