Five for Friday

Since I'm supposedly back to the blogging world that means back to my weekly (hopefully) Five for Friday!

My theme this week was about giving thanks. We started by reading Thanksgiving is for Giving Thanks.

(Click on the image to see it on Amazon)

The book basically goes through different things that different kids are thankful for and the reasons why. This led to a discussion about what we are thankful for, which I listed on a circle map. (Love thinking maps!)

Once we listed the things we were thankful for, it was time for some writing!

Writing template came from Shawna Devoe from The Picture Book's Teacher Edition.

I didn't take pictures of everything...I wish I had. But on a different day we talked about nouns. I incorporated our theme of giving thanks to nouns by have the kids categorize the things we were thankful for into people/animals, places, and things. We also went through our circle map and sorted the words there.

Here's what I do have pictures of though! Thankful turkeys! Template courtesy of First Grade Fanatics. 

These are now hung up on our classroom window (my makeshift bulletin board). 

Thursday nights are "date" nights with the boyfriend. I'm a pretty easy date to satisfy because all I ever want are french fries. They are my comfort food! Mmmm~

Today, a volunteer docent from a nearby art museum came to do an in-class presentation on art. He talked about lines, color, and texture. Then the class got to look at different pieces of artwork and try to identify the lines, colors, and textures they saw.

Cuddles time with the pup when I get home!

He's starting to get a fan club in my classroom. (I talk about him a lot in class and show my kiddos pictures and videos of him) Students are turning in fanart of Snap!

The week is finally over! It felt SO long! Probably had to do with it being the last week the benchmark window was open. One of the benchmarks we have to assess is F&P testing, which is done 1-on-1. All of us first grade teachers were given a half-day sub for testing, but four hours is definitely not enough time to test 22 kids. I think I only had 8 students officially done after those four hours! Ended up not meeting with my reading groups this week so that I could have that hour to keep testing kids. Managed to finish all of them on time. Phew! Now to get report cards finished. Good thing we get a long weekend to complete them. Too bad I also scheduled a mini vacation with the boyfriend to Santa Cruz for the weekend just to relax. Oh well. Things will get done eventually!

Just out of curiosity, who else has Monday off? At least two other districts I know of are only taking Tuesday off for Veteran's Day which is just very strange to me. I am super thankful for this four-day weekend. I definitely need it!