Buddy Day/Gingerbread Man Hunt

Today we had the best day with our buddies!! It was a half day and 5th grade stayed with me all do so we were able to spend the whole day with our little friends. We started the morning writing about how we would make the Grinch grin. 

The 5th graders helped their buddies write their sentences. 

We then watched the Dr Seuss's The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

After our Grinch activity we ate lunch outside with our buddies. My students love to eat outside and their buddies were SO excited to sit with the big kids at lunch. It was a great day to be out, the wonderful thing about Florida is that the week before Christmas the temperature is in the 80's. :)

The real fun started after lunch. Our buddies had special cookies to share with us but the gingerbread man stole them while they were at specials. When my 5th graders showed up the kindergartners were so upset. They made lost posters to hang up in the room in hopes that the gingerbread man would return the cookies. 

We then followed the clues to find the cookies and gingerbread man. The kindergartners were so excited and my 5th graders were great sports. I could tell that they loved it but still wanted to be cool. Several of my students remembered the same hunt when they were in kindergarten and afterwards were telling me how it was different/wrong. 

I am happy to report that while we were out searching for the gingerbread man he returned all the cookies. Our principal and vice-principal caught him and made him give the cookies back.

Today was a fun day and nice break from the everyday lessons and schedule. I think that my kids enjoyed playing like a kindergartner for the day. :)

My Gift For....

I found the cutest idea on on Pinterest, no surprise there. :) Check out Unique Teaching Resources for lots of other cute ideas. The original idea that I found was a gift box where students give a gift (actions only) for their family, school, town and world. I created my own box pattern and had the students give a gift (action) to one person in their family. I love how this turned out and it was a simple gift to make and their parents will love it. 

The students explained their gift on one side of the box and decorated the other. They were very creative with their gifts and how they decorated. It still amazes me how excited 4th graders get over stickers :)

My students created a pyramid for me with some of the boxes.

*I used an onion soup mix box for the template and copied the template onto card stock.

Our Tree Name Steve - Main Idea

We recently finished lessons on finding the main idea and writing a paragraph explaining the main idea. We used lot of different books and articles as we talked about an main idea. The final project that 4th grade completed was from the book Our Tree Steve by Alan Zweibel. The students loved the book. 

*Warning: if you have never read this book before be prepared. It is sad and every time I have read it have I fought back tears. 

I found this project on the blog Step into 2nd Grade with Mrs. Lemons. After reading the book Our Tree Steve, students wrote the main idea on the trunk and five supporting details on the leaves. The students then

wrote the main idea and supporting details in a paragraph. I love how this turned out. 

Decelaration of Independence

I am getting a head start on planning our next social studies unit: Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War. While searching online I found this AMAZING video with several different movie stars reciting the entire Declaration of Independence. I want to share this video so that anyone else what will be teaching about the Declaration of Independence can use it. Happy lesson planning!

Silence for Sandy Hook Elementary

Sandy Hook Elementary