Spring Lunches

It always sounds very simple and border line silly when I explain it.
But the one thing that I can't explain to you is how excited my students always get for this.
It's ridiculous actually. You are going to think, "That's it! That's all there is to it?" and yet some of my students have told me that it was the highlight of their year.

In the past, I have actually always done Snowy Lunches- to brighten up the winter blues.

But, since I was on maternity leave during Jan/Feb, I decided to change it to Spring Lunches.

Both were a hit!

First, I split my class into groups. Usually I have about 4-5 kids in each group, depending on how big my class is. I always find something similar about all of their names, like- they all start with an "A" or they end in a vowel or they all have five letters in them. This some how makes it more special and creates a sense of fairness for the kids. Although this year, I had one boy complain that it wasn't his fault that his mom didn't name with with a name that had double letters in it. :)

Then I send out invites to the kids. Nothing fancy.  A picture of my invite is at the top of this post 

(fancy letters by letteringdelights.com)
I always put them in envelopes and decorate them with stickers and make them look all lovely.

The day of...
Throw a plastic tablecloth over a table in your room. 

 Put a bag of chex mix in a bowl. 

 Place the plate of Pinterest inspired cupcakes that are "spring-like".  

Mix up some "Bug Juice" in a pitcher (Hawaiian Punch with plastic bugs in it). 

Put place cards, a paper plate, a napkin and a cup with a flower straw in it at each seat.

And you are ready!

Cupcakes inspired by Disney Parties via Pinterest

Made with Sweedish Fish for the petals and Gumdrops for the center

I should also mention that the kids eat lunch with me in our room everyday. 

Which probably isn't true for most of you. But, that might make it even more special 

if they get to stay in your room with you during lunch instead of going to the cafeteria!

Conference Notes

I'm sure none of you are actually doing conferences right now,

but file these away for later or use them

any time to encourage your little ones!

I love having my kids write notes to their parents telling them

how much they love them or how great they are, so I quick made this

note for spring conferences and ran them off on bright colored paper.

Click on the picture to download the file

However, the day got away from me this spring and so I didn't have time for my

kids to write the notes.  Instead, I decided to put them out in the hallway for parents

to write notes to their kids on.  I"m so glad I did!

My kids loved getting a note in their locker from their parents 

telling them how awesome they are and why.

The reasons the parents wrote down were so sweet and 

2 months later they are ALL still in their lockers.

I always leave out paper for parents to write notes, 

but for some reason the sentence starter worked well for them too. :)

For another idea, I love Skip to my Lou's lollipop butterflies and flowers!

I have had my kids write notes to their parents on them,

but of course you could write notes to your kids on them too!

When I'm a Grandparent...

A while ago, we had our annual Grandparent's Day at school.

So much fun!  The kids put on their musical for their Grandparents and then 

the Grandparents were able to visit the classrooms and the art fair.

It is always such a special day!

In the past, 4th grade had written stories about what they would do when

they are the grandparent (take their grandchildren to the zoo, vacation in Florida, etc.).

However, 3rd grade ended up doing that same project without realizing it, so 

this year 4th grade tried something different.

I read about LessonPlanSOS's Mother's Day project here which was inspired by Finally in First's 100 Year Old project here and put the two of those projects together to come up with this one. :)

Students had $5.00 to spend on their supplies.

There was lots of fun stuff to choose from!

Then, they wrote 10 adjectives that would describe themselves as Grandparents.

And away they went, putting their materials together!

 

I love the hair!

 

This one was a "karate" Grandma.

 

Don't you love the glasses chain?

The Grandparents thought they were great (of course!) and the kids had so much fun creating them.

A Riddle a Day in May!

My class has been having so much fun with "A Riddle A Day In May!"

They definitely don't let me forget to read the riddle of the day each morning and 

they are begging to extend the riddle a day into June. :)

Each morning I read the riddle to my class.

They have the whole day to think about their answer.

But...their answer must be in the bucket by the end of the day.

No sharing answers or giving clues. :)

Then at the end of the day I give them the answer and anyone who is right gets a piece of candy.

Then, we write the riddle and the answer in our books.

Good practice for handwriting and remembering those question marks!

*Edited 4/11/13- I recently made this into a pack on TPT! Click on the picture below to find all the fun!*

Teachers Notebook Sale

I can't believe that in one month school will be out for the summer! 

I have many posts in my head to write about...we just finished moving,
so maybe I'll have time for them now. :)

But, I'll start with this one since it's only for this week...

 

Visit Teachers Notebook for a chance to win $100 worth of items!
Also, many shops are running a sale...mine included.  :)

I don't have a lot of items for sale (project for the summer), but all of my items are 20% off!

Go HERE to visit my shop.

One of my favorite things I have made is the Pinwheel Math.

 I used this for my Spring Day last year and my kids adored it!
It is great for a math center or an extra challenge activity.

I also used my Spring Word Sort for my Spring Day and it is great for a fun grammar review.

Have fun checking out all the other items on Teachers Notebook too!

Busy, Busy...

Ah, we have had a few crazy busy weeks at school, but

now it is SPRING BREAK! :)

We were busy with...

*report cards

*conferences

*testing

*Easter devotions/booklets (a post coming soon on this!)

*enjoying the crazy warm weather

*celebrating birthdays

*Battle of the Books

*music field trips

...and all the other million things that go on in a normal week!

We also had some redecorating in our room.

First, I added some new posters for my kiddos to look at.

I downloaded them from Technology Rocks.Seriously.
There are so many cute ones to choose from!

I love this one!  Isn't it perfect?

Not the greatest picture from my iphone, but you get the idea.

All of my students wrote about their greatest ideas for an invention.

There was everything from homework laser beams to high tech cars!

And of course the desk fairy visited again!

Thumbs Up for clean desks and Thumbs Down for messy desks! :)

Have a wonderful week!

Wonder

Have you seen this website?

WONDEROPOLIS

It's such a fun website with lots of possibilities!

Each day they post a Wonder of the Day.

All of the posts have a short video to go with the wonder

and an article about the wonder.

You can look through all of the older wonders too- 

today was Wonder #527- so lots to look at!

I loved the post from yesterday about yodeling with a clip from 

The Sound of Music.  How fun!

So...how can you use this with your students?

Today, I used it in my class as a writing prompt.

My students were so much more motivated to write in their journals.

There is a place on the website where students can nominate their own wonder.

You could have students come up with a wonder to nominate.

And lots of the wonders match special days in the year so it would be

great to watch the videos and read the information with your class on that day.

I also love that they have wonder words to know and use.

They also have a section called Try it out! where they suggests activities to do that match the wonder.

I'm sure there are lots of other ways you can use this website...

I have some more exploring to do.