Five For Friday~First Week of School!

Wow! Can you believe it's been so long since I posted anything?  Sorry to leave you hanging all summer.  I decided to go on a break and fully enjoy my vacation.  Now we are back in business and I am SO EXCITED about this new school year.
Well my first big update is that I no longer teach Kindergarten/First Grade. This year I am teaching a First, Second and Third Grade class. Yep, you read that right- 3 grades!!!!
I don't have a very large class this year so it feels like a manageable challenge.
I'm very pumped to link up for Five for Friday! It's been so long, and it feels incredible to link back up with this wonderful online community of educators.

doodlebugsteaching HERE WE GO:

First Day Selfie- #firstday

This was such a fun way to start our school year!

I was inspired by an idea I found on Pinterest. 

You're Finally Here!

This story was such a huge hit- I can't emphasize enough how much my kiddos loved it. I chose to show the youtube version of the story being read aloud by Arwen Sharp.

Some people have a serious gift for reading children's books aloud with animated expression on tone (I don't feel particularly amazing at this) and this lady is one of the best I've ever heard.

Check out her rendition of this book

After listening to the story, we discussed as a class reasons it took us so long to finally arrive at school…i.e. what we did during summer vacation.

Then we did this cute little follow up craftivity to write about some things we are looking forward to this year. *when you lift the bunny, students' writing is displayed underneath.

 This is only 2 parts of an amazing unit I found on TPT created by Linda Kamp. It was the best way to start the new school year and I'm so thankful I stumbled upon it! (the night before school started, which led to me rewriting my whole weeks worth of lesson plans, but it was definitely worth it. My kids were thoroughly engaged in all the mini lessons it provided)

Check it out HERE

The Marshmallow Challenge

This was another amazing pinterest find! Seriously what did teachers do before pinterest and the internet?? I'm sure glad I can teach with the help of technology.

This FREEBIE was created by A Learning Affair was so much fun!

This activity was a great way to encourage team building and problem solving. In retrospect, I think I should have put the students into teams of four instead of groups of two.

All About Einstein

I always like to kick off science for the year by sharing an inspiring scientist with my students.

Last year I read Meet Einstein and it is one of my favorites, but this year I stumbled upon On A Beam Of Light, and I think it's even better.

It illustrates the way Einstein was different than others, but how that difference set him apart in a wonderful way. It also beautifully describes his life story and accomplishments.

My kids were mesmerized and inspired.

We then drew ourselves as scientists. I encouraged the kids to draw themselves with all the "tools" they might need and the uniform they might want to wear.

They blew me away with their creativity!

*I decided to do a directed drawing to show them what was expected, and let me tell ya- they did not disappoint! :)

Not sure if you can see that little light bulb, but it says "idea"- just way to cute, right?

And finally- Friendship Advertisements

I read this awesome post on iTeachThird featuring Jillian from the Starrspangledplanner.

She created the coolest back to school unit. The activity I implemented this week is called the Friend Wanted activity.

 After the students wrote their friendship advertisements, I typed them up and posted them on the bulletin board. As instructed, I covered each student's name with a post it and let the kids read each others ads and try and guess who wrote it.

This was a big hit!

I could keep going, but I'll just save some fun updates for next time.

Stay Tunned….


Happy Friday Everyone!