Makeover Madness: Week 1

Hey all!

Have you heard of the TpT Seller Challenge? The ladies over at Third in Hollywood, Sparkling in Second, Peppy Zesty Teacherista, and Teach Create Motivate have a great linky going on right now.

For the 1st challenge, we were tasked with making over one of our products. I selected my Fossil Unit. This was one of the 1st units I made and sold on Teacher's Pay Teachers.

In honor of this challenge, I am offering the unit on sale.

Now on to the next unit. :)

Spring Cleaning and Five for Friday on a Saturday

Hello all!

I am officially on Spring Break. Whoop whoop! I love being a teacher and I really enjoy my kids but boy did I need this break. I'm a day late on linking up with Kacey at Doodle Bug Teaching.

Here are my 5 random things this week:

1. We started the week off by making these dinosaur models out of marshmallows and tooth picks. Every single student was completely engaged with the activity. They even broke the tooth picks to make the claws and beak.

2. We also got to make these awesome noodle fossils. The students even dug out the noodles like real paleontologists.

3. I got completely funded for my Donor's Choose project on Monday and yesterday I already got my I-Pad! I haven't told my students yet, but I can't wait to see their faces when we get back from Spring Break.

4. I don't know about you, but my wishlist at Teachers Pay Teachers is L-O-N-G. I am sure that I am not the only one. I am linking up with some other wonderful teachers to offer a 20% off sale today and tomorrow to help you "clean" out your wishlist.

5. I am on Spring Break and I have absolutely nothing planned. I can't wait.

Have a great weekend.

Fossils, Fossils, and Fossils...Oh My!

Happy Wednesday!

I am so close to Spring Break, I can feel it! Our school district gives us 2 full days with no kids to do conferences. Most teachers meet with parents throughout the week, so they can have Friday off. I have 10 conferences tomorrow standing in between Spring Break and I. (Boy, am I ready.) Today the students were practically buzzing with excitement. My 2nd grade team and I decided to pull out all the stops this week. We came up with 3 different activities to try to keep the kids engaged.

The first activity we did was building dinosaurs using marshmallows and tooth picks. Some of their models were HUGE but they loved it. (Especially eating their dinosaurs.)

The next activity we did also invloved fossils but the students used noodles and play-doh. The play-doh acted as "dirt" and the students formed the noodles into what they think a fossilized dinosaur would look like.

All the play-doh and noodles.

I love the last couple of dinosaurs.

The last activity we did, I got from Abby's The Inspired Apple blog. The students get to become palentologists by digging out chocolate chips from chocolate chip cookies.

Of course the best part was they got to eat the cookies after they were done.

We topped the day with a root beer float party that the students earned for good behavior. Oi, I am tired. I just keep telling myself...one more day, one more day, one more day.

Spring has Sprung!

Hello hello!

Sorry I have been MIA for the last couple of days. I am barley hanging in there. Whew! We have a week and a day before Spring Break with conferences thrown in there. (Do you see my happy dance? Oh I’m doing it!) I think no matter how much we love our kiddos, I don’t know any teacher that isn’t ready for a break right about now. In the mean time, we have been working really hard on finishing up this fossil unit. (Take a closer look at my TpTstore.)

Last week we also made these adorable leprechauns from A Cupcake for the Teacher. (Doesn’t she make wonderful craftivities? I love her stuff.) When I was explaining the directions to the activity, one of my kids launched into this story about how he made leprechaun traps in kindergarten. He also described all the crazy things the leprechaun did to his class. Like tip over desks, put things in the wrong place, and generally cause chaos in the classroom. How adorable is that?

Today we made these umbrellas and a spring poem in honor of the 1^st day of spring. It sure didn’t feel like spring today! It has rained almost 2 inches in the last 48 hours. (Yikes!) I am just happy that is not snow.

I am just now realizing how long this post is. If you are still with me, I would love to tell you about this linky party that Christina at Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge is hosting.

All you have to do it talk about your favorite blog. (I think this is a great idea.) It was really hard to only pick 1 blog.

Drum roll please…..

I love the ladies from Across the Hall in 2^nd Grade. They share wonderful ideas and the reading comprehension packet is perfect for helping your kiddos with their comprehension.

Also, I have this little springtime craftivity for you! All you have to do is follow my blog and leave me a comment. (Don’t forget to include your email.)

Happy teaching!

Krystyn

Five for Friday...on a Saturday

Hello all! I'm a day late for the weekly Doodle Bugs Five for Friday Linky Party. After Valentine's Day I was wiped out yesterday. I was asleep by 8:00 last night, so unfortunately I didn't get to my blog. Better late than never, right? In case you don’t know, Five for Friday Linky Party is when you post 5 random things that happened during your week.

1.   I was able to finish my literacy unit on Fossils just in time to start our new unit! I posted it on Teachers Pay Teachers earlier this week.

 

2.   On Valentine’s Day my students were on sugar overload. There were so many sweets. My entire classroom even smelled like sugar.

 

3.   I posted 2 freebies this week! Click on the pictures to take a look.

Graphics: Scrappin Doodles

Graphics: KPM Doodles

 

4.   I tried to fit in some President’s Day things this week among the sugar. I got this great packet from A Cupcake for Teacher. We will finish working on our packet next week.

 

5.   I had bags and bags of those conversation hearts with the intention of doing a graphing and sorting activity on Valentine’s Day. Well, we didn’t get to it because we ran out of time. I absolutely HATE those hearts. I think they taste like chalk. So I knew I didn’t want to be stuck with all those bags for year. (Plus who has that kind of space to waste on storage?) We had Valentine’s Day party part 2 on Friday. I got through most of the bags. Yeah! Next year I will know to buy fewer bags.

 

Have a good weekend. Do you have Monday off? What are your plans?

Krystyn

Valentine's Day...sigh

Oh.My.Word....I am so tired! (I can hear the amens from teachers across the world.) I made them wait until the last possible moment for their Valentine’s Day party. I actually have a double prep today so the party itself was only about 20 minutes. Thank goodness! It was 20 minutes of pure craziness. I had my students pass out their Valentines before recess to try to minimize some of the craziness. It sorta worked.

Look at our adorable Love Monsters. My kids love them! I got them from this “All You Need is Love” unit by the Teacher Wife Mrs. Lindsey. At of the end of the day, one of my students’ bags broke. He kept on yelling “My monster exploded!” Aww...

I love where the eyes are on this one.

We also did an experiment on whether the students liked chocolate kisses or hugs more. I got this freebie from Cara Carroll last year. I thought this was a fabulous idea...so did my kids.

Take a look at all of our snacks! Oi! I actually ended up saving some of them for tomorrow. I thought it was a little excessive to have 5 cookies per kid. Yikes! They were already bouncing off the walls with the amount of sweets we had.

I whipped up these quick freebies. One to go with the compound word concepts and the other to go with our fossil unit.


Graphics by Scrappin' Doodles

 

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Krystyn