Five for Friday...or Fraturday (it's been a busy week)

This week has been busy, busy, busy!  It started with giving an orientation to our Science Fair Judges (while making a BIG push to get more judges), and helping with a big activity at church, to spending all week with reading and Dr. Seuss.

We tried some new things, revived some old things, and generally had a ton of fun.  So here are five pictures from this week, just because I want to look at it again (and I LOVE linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching)

Here I am getting my cat on.  Every once in a while I wonder if I am too old for dressing up, and then I think what the heck....have some fun and make memories with your kids.

Here are my little blue haired Things.  One advantage to numbering them each....we are doing MATH!!  Some of them really worked hard at getting in the right spot.    Okay, Thing 1 had it easy and Thing 20 didn't want to be last in line (his best friend was Thing 2) but it was fun to watch them help each other.

We were exploring the Foot Book and the question was, "How many feet can jump over two boxes?"

Friday was Green Eggs and Ham day.  Our local Kiwanis Club help put on a breakfast for the kids.

Thumbs up for green eggs and ham!

I want to be sure to get every last bit.

My favorite day was Read in Your Pajamas Day.  The reading and excitement going on in the hall was great.  I took a ton of pictures, but just a few of them even come close to capturing the fun going on.

Trying to end on a yummy note...snack.  Loved our cat in the hat cookies. 

There will have to be more fun next week, because I just couldn't fit it all in. Too many books, not enough time.

Read in your pajamas!

I love reading!  I especially love reading picture books.  I can take that one step further and say that if the books have rhythm and rhyme, I love them even more.  I blame that on my mother.

My mom is an author....a children's book author.  I have talked her into guest blogging sometime in the near future.  She wrote Stand Back Said the Elephant I'm Going to Sneeze, Nature's Paintbox, and her latest is Mouse's Cookie.  My wonderful mom is Patricia Thomas.

Today was read in your pajamas day.  We opened our doors and the kids sat in the hall reading.  Siblings found each other and read.   Second graders read with kinders.  A class of third graders came down the hall and spread out.  They had 3 or 4 little ones around them.  They read with friends, they read with teachers, they read by themselves. 

Before we started I gathered up all my Dr. Seuss books and put them in tubs.  I surprised myself when I realized I had 11 tubs of books.  I love having multible copies of books.  I like when students can read together and have the  same book.  I like when they talk about a book that they booth have read on their own.  I never turn down a book.  You might ask, where do I get them all?  Mostly thrift stores and garage sales.  My husband is always on the lookout for me.

I also get books and "buddies" at Kohls.  I LOVE getting their characters and books. My closest Kohls is more than three hours away, but every time I get to the "big city" I check to see what books they have.  My classroom library has grown greatly.

I have come to realize another of my most favorite things is taking pictures of kids reading. 

Today was such a success.  It was a chance for everyone to be reminded how fun reading can be.

Five for Friday...getting ready

Another Friday is upon us....Where did this month go?  Our groundhog was wrong, and spring seems to be coming sooner than we think.  Looks like March will come in like a rainy lion, not a cold snowy one.  In like a lion out like a lamb....right?

Time to look ahead and link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching.

This weekend I will be going back to school, partly to work on Science Fair, partly to set up a Truffula Forest.  It is a big week next week and I want to be prepared.

I will be making a few more of these truffula trees.  All you need is some foam pipe insulation from your local home improvement store, yellow duck tape, tissue paper, and I used pipe cleaners.  Super easy and not too expensive.  I learned how to make them Mrs. Lodge's Library blog here.  She has a great tutorial.

Next I will be making these books with our hat die cut.  Each hat will have at least 5 papers.  Each day we will read one book and draw a picture.  At the end of the week....we will have a record of the books we read.  Some years we included a quote from each book.  One of my favorites, from One Fish Two Fish Read Fish Blue Fish:  "I don't know, go ask your mother" 

This is my Kindergarten student asking his mother again and again to try something.

I will be checking my closet to make sure I have my black sweater and black pants.  I need them for my Friday outfit.  All I have to do is add a white oval, my tall hat, and a red bow.  B.I.N.G.O.  I am the Cat in the Hat.

My kinder kids will be wearing these hats to our Green Eggs and Ham breakfast Friday morning.  I just use the blue butcher paper we already have at school.  I fold the paper so that the folded end is the bottom of the hat, then I add a couple of staples for stability.  I draw a line  2 1/2 inches from the bottom and let my students do the cutting.

Lastly I need to get ready to make these hat cookies.  They are scheduled to be our treat next Friday.

You will find the instructions here.  They are quick, inexpensive, and easy.  Just what you need for last minute fun.

Have a great week!   What are you doing to celebrate?