Presidents' Day!!

I found some great books at the library about presidents and everyone - adults included! - loved the presidential fun trivia! We only spent 2 days on presidents' day activities, so here's a look at our anchor chart with describing words and activities! I had a bunch cut out and gave them out one at a time to the kiddos - if it was a word/phrase that did not describe the president, they got to crumble it up and throw it in the trash!

 

Next, we made these crafty George Washingtons - Coffee filter neckpieces and cotton ball wigs!

The last fun Presidents' Day activity: Our faces on Mount Rushmore! Here's our speech therapist, Ms. Dexter rocking George's space - the kids were cracking up and I got some great pics to share with their parents... still need to print them out though! It's been a busy week!

Presidents' Day was fun - hard to believe how much stuff we've squeezed into February and there's still a week to go! I had to create a separate school board on Pinterest for all of the Winter Olympics, Valentines, 100th day, winter ending, dental health, Groundhog Day and Presidents; Day stuff! Next week, we're focusing on money and getting ready for March... I need some new fun bulletin board ideas! Pinterest, here I come again!

Don't Blink... 100th day of school!

Finally! With all the snow this year, I thought we'd get to the 100th day in April! Haha! But, our daily count in our morning routine finally promised just 2 more days... just 1 more day... the 100th day is here! Our monkey friend, Zero the Hero brought 100 paper bananas to our sticker board! We also made posters with 100 stickers, 100 pom-poms, and 100 puzzle pieces! We built stacks and invented games using 100 styrofoam cups - definitely my favorite part ;)  and we even created art pieces using 100 post-it notes (time 5 different colors I think... I'm not sure, I know there were a lot and the white board looked awesome!) Here's a quick pic of all our activities!

On to Valentine's Day and Presidents' Day and SPRING!!!! :)

Groundhog Day

Super cute Groundhog Day crafts!
Peek-A-Boo Punxatawny Phil!

We also painted paper plates and made groundhogs holding signs that showed a sorting page (winter/spring) and the kids circled "Winter" since Phil saw his shadow this year...man, I'm so ready for Spring!!!

Letter M is for Mouse!

It's been a while since I posted about our letter of the week activities. This week's mice were just too cute not to share! I saw something similar on Pinterest of course, but I love the way my kiddos adapt the examples I give them and make them their own!

what's winter without a penguin theme??

Well, some of our penguin theme lesson plans have been pushed back for later because of all of these snow days... but here's one craft I just couldn't wait for! Water bottles stuffed with leftover white crafty materials (tissue paper, cotton balls, pipe cleaners - anything to work those little fingers), then decorated to look like penguins! I love pinterest!!

 

Aren't they just so cute!??

SNOWFLAKES!

We haven't been back to school much this month it seems, but on one of those fun days we made these super cute handprint snowflakes! I found a book at the library called "No Two Alike" that fit in just perfectly with our little poem and handprints - because just like snowflakes, we're all unique :)

 

Sorry the pics are sideways... don't know why I'm having trouble with these today :/

snow day? blogging? what do you think??

My facebook newsfeed is full of guesses about tomorrow morning - snow day or no snow day? I am going to have to say I think we'll have our winter vacation extended a day due to these crazy low temps expected, but nonetheless, parents rest assured, if my Pinterest newsfeed is any indication, your students will be experiencing some pretty awesome lessons once we do get back to school! haha! Yes, I do consider pinning ideas "planning" and my fellow teachers are hard at work on this long break! I just added some pins of my own to my "Stuff for School" pin-board (mostly they are links to other blog posts on here for my non-followers).  I think I'd really like to expand my use of this blog and try to get a bigger following of teachers out there... so I'm thinking about writing - really writing - not just posting pics of our craft projects. What do you all think? If you are reading this, PLEASE comment, like, or pass along to others so I can know if this would be something to consider ;)

Thanks so much!
Amanda

I had forgotten how fun watercolor painting can be! Here's a picture of what I think has been my little girl's favorite winter break activity!