Five for Friday - Join Me for "Fun Friday"

Happy Friday! 

Around here that means "Fun Friday" which is often just too much "fun" for me. ;-) My husband is always teasing me about it…the kids are pumped and excited for "Fun Friday" every week and at some point in the morning as I get ready I will sarcastically say, "It's Fun Friday!"

Why is it so much fun (for them)? 

Well, let's just say we break away from routines. 

I love routines.

I thought it might be fun to invite you along for today's "Fun Friday" for my Five for Friday (thanks DoodleBugs). 

We usually start Fridays by practicing our spelling words on a whiteboard with partners for a few minutes before taking our test. So exciting!

Then we do a shortened version of Daily 5. The group on Time with Teacher usually gets to play a game while I'm conferencing with other kids. This week they played our "I Have…Who Has…?" game. They love to play these…we have one for each unit and as you may know an insane amount of them for different phonics skills in our TPT and TN stores. This particular group is so quick with the words that they get to time themselves and see if they can "beat their time." 

After Daily 5, I send the little kiddos off to recess. Teachers do not have recess duty this year. Whoop! Whoop! This was sort of a trade-off because we don't actually have a plan time during the day since we teach our own specials. Technically, our plan time is before and after school. 

After recess, we have MTSS (maybe RTI where you are at) groups. 

When they get back, we have a little time to work. All of their work must be finished if they are going to do "Fun Friday."

Math on Fridays is usually a game day or a test day or both. Today was game day. We played "Scoot!" using our "I Have…Who Has…?" game cards to practice telling time to five minutes. Click here for an explanation about how I easily turned these cards into a "Scoot!" game.

We also played "Connect Four" to get even more practice!

Both of these games are from our Telling Time Mega Pack if you're interested.

In the middle of math, we take a lunch break.

After math, we do an activity as a reward for STAR homework (idea from Amanda Madden). Today we went outside for extra recess because we have been stuck indoors for weeks and it was finally in the 50s today! I hope parents forgive me…as the information letter about STAR homework says we will earn learning game time.

Then we came back in and the "fun" really begins. I announce Dojo points for the week and the students sign up for their reward. 

Then the kids choose their "Fun Friday" activity. Some of the favorites are board games, legos, write/draw on the whiteboard, painting, and play-doh. Think indoor recess activities. I totally stole this idea from Kristin at A Teeny Tiny Teacher. This 20-30 minutes of "fun" gives me a few minutes to get some things done for next week. It's definitely a win-win. The kids earn a fun reward for working hard, and I get a few minutes of prep time…unless I decide to sit down and do a puzzle or something with one of my kiddos which is my kind of "fun." :-)

Thanks for joining me for "Fun Friday!" Have a great weekend!

Difficulties, Telling Time, and Jeggings Anyone???

Yes...jeggings.

 

I never thought I would say that I owned a pair of jeggings...nor did I think I would ever say that I want more pairs of jeggings. In case you don't know...jeggings are leggings that look like jeans (I guess).

 

Disclaimer: I am not a fashionista...not even close.

 

Anyway...these are the boots to blame for my sudden need for jeggings:

 

 

I got these boots for Christmas (wow, they look dirty in the picture). Okay...really I bought them for myself for Christmas. But hey, they were $80 boots and I got them for $20. PLUS I had a 25% coupon and PLUS I got Kohl's cash back on my entire purchase so technically they were like $0.

 

Speaking of Kohls and Christmas, my mother-in-law was a dream shopper. Got her entire basket for free! She had to have her picture taken and everything...

I was not a dream shopper.

In fact, I hate shopping.

I did my Kohls shopping online.

 

Sorry...back on topic here. I loved the boots! So warm and toasty. I quickly realized however that I had pretty much nothing to wear with them. Hmmm...

 

I had seen the leggings with warm and toasty boots.

 

It looked cute on other people.

 

While out and about several weeks ago, I was brave enough to try on leggings with a big sweater.

 

It was as I expected... :-(

 

No, leggings were not for me.

 

Fast forward to Wednesday night. Away basketball game planned for Thursday. Temperature expected like -15 with the wind chill. The girls voted to dress up (rather than wear our team shirts and jeans). An hour and half bus ride with cold toes is not my idea of fun. I was desperate to wear my toasty, warm boots.

 

While shopping for groceries, I slipped over to the ladies clothing section, threw a pair of jeggings and a big sweater in the cart, and raced out of the store before I could change my mind.

 

When I got home I realized I no longer had a full-length mirror (long story) and had to take my hubby's word for it that the outfit didn't look bad. The next morning at school, I found the closest thing to a full length mirror and here you have it:

 

 

 Apparently, I'm not good at taking selfies...but as you can see it turned out okay for not even trying it on at the store. I still say the jeggings look cuter on other people. But they are so comfy I may have to get another pair...

Okay, enough about jeggings.

Thank you for all your sweet comments after my heavy heart post. Circumstances no different, but The Lord has been sending all kinds of encouragement my way. Check out this quote taped in the front of my Bible:

 

 

It has been in there for years, but read it with fresh eyes this last week. Isn't it great?

Last, but not least (and probably why you're reading a teaching blog), telling time! Every spare moment I have my kids playing Time to the 5 Minute Connect Four from our Telling Time Mega Pack. I absolutely love the clock graphics in this pack from Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Designs. The hour hands are in the correct position(meaning when it is 2:55, the hour hand is almost to the 3 instead of pointing at the 2) and my kiddos are really improving at their telling time skills. Hooray! Just look at these hard workers:

I'm also excited to try a little experiment this week. My students have loved the "scoot" games I've found lately. I thought...I should find one for telling time. Then I realized I already have all the I Have...Who Has? cards ready and laminated from this pack. I think it should be easy enough to turn it into "scoot." I'll let you know how it works.

 

Hope you have a great week!

Try some jeggings! ;-)

Hopping in a Winter Wonderland!

It's here! It's here! It's here!

Okie, dokie. Time to get started. Grab a cup of cocoa or coffee (or if you're like me, mix them together for a Cafe Mocha) and get started hopping!

 

Thanks to Tori at Tori's Teacher Tips for hosting our hop. You'll start on her page and hop, hop, hop! Look for this tab when you get there:

 

 Here's a peek at what you'll be getting from us:



I have...Who has...? Game - Telling Time to the 5 minutes (one hour later)

I'm super excited about this game because my kiddos have been struggling with the concepts of one hour later and one hour earlier. The hop inspired me to do something about it! I wanted a great new freebie to give away and my students love I have...Who has...? and Connect Four games so I created a Telling Time Mega Pack!

Includes 12 games designed to give your students a fun and engaging way to practice telling time.

6 Connect Four games

•Time to the hour

•Time to the half hour

•Time to the hour and half hour

•Time to the 5 minutes (3 different game boards)

6 I Have…, Who Has…? Games

•Time to the Hour and Half Hour (our all-time BEST SELLER)

•Time to the Hour and Half Hour – Who has one hour later than…?

•Time to the Hour and Half Hour – Who has one hour earlier than…?

•Time to the 5 Minutes

•Time to the 5 Minutes – Who has one hour later than…?

•Time to the 5 Minutes – Who has one hour earlier than…?

Happy Hopping!