TGIF! Five for Friday

My goodness! Even though this was a short week it was definitely an EXHAUSTING one. You know how right when we came back from winter break I mentioned how my kids were doing surprisingly well? Well, the coma is over, and we are all awake...a little TOO awake. This week was the first week I threatened to send a kid to the office. Some kids have gotten to become REALLY good friends and just won't stop talking no matter how much distance I put between them. T_T

On a positive note, the week is over! I really like this Five for Friday linky party that Doodle Bugs Teaching hosts. Hopefully I can get myself to keep joining on a weekly basis!

1. Seattle - Monday is still part of the week even if it was a holiday right? :) So I had Monday off due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I took advantage of the long weekend by going on a mini vacation to Seattle with my boyfriend and friend. It was a great trip! We entered Seattle in the fog and left Seattle in the fog. Read more about it in a previous post.

Entering Seattle

At the airport, ready to leave Seattle. 

2. Clay Fish - My class has been blessed with an awesome art docent (parent volunteer). All I did was tell her what art concepts we need to learn in first grade, and she comes up with all the lessons and materials for each lesson. She comes up with some awesome art lessons that I hope to share some day! Anyways, we are learning about texture right now and so my art docent thought it would be a good time for the kids to do something with clay. so we made clay fish!

3. Handwriting Certificates - We finally finished our handwriting book! We use the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum. I find this an accomplishment since we were nowhere near finished with my class last year. It was also very exciting because the kids received "neat handwriting" certificates for completing the book and getting a "perfect" stamp on their penmanship assessment. I told the kids that there's no turning back once they got their certificates. It was a pretty big thing to them! It's a wonder how kids can get super excited just from receiving a piece of paper. :)

Got the certificate from Teaching With Love & Laughter freebie.  Click on the image to get it yourself!

(P.S. See how some of the text is blurred out in the screenshot above? That's what I get on some of my pdf files when I open them. Anybody know how to fix this? I am using a MacBook Pro if that makes a difference. Thanks for the help!)

4. Terrariums - Our Science unit on plants and animals is my favorite to teach because the curriculum we have provides some really good hands-on activities. So far, we have grown mini lawns (rye grass and alfalfa) and "planted" wheat seeds in straws. Today, we made our terrariums with earthworms and pill bugs! My first batch of live specimen accidentally froze in my classroom fridge. But I ordered new ones and we got them all on time. The kids had a blast as did all the parent helpers who came to help!

Earthworms!

Hopefully our worms survive the weekend! They tend to die super fast. :(

5. TGIF! Went out for dessert with a friend and colleague. Ran into a former student there which is always bound to happen when you go out to a well-known place in the area. Where did we go?

Yup, that's right! The famous Fenton's Creamery in the Pixar movie, Up. That's not what it really looks like but it's more famous than before now that it's made it into a movie!

Okay, that took longer than I thought. Hope you enjoyed reading! Have a wonderful weekend! :)