Five for Friday (After a brief linky absence...) March 21!

I haven't done a Five for Friday link up in a couple of weeks. I would completely forget and I didn't want ALL of my FFFs on Saturday! Anyway, I apologize for my absence but I'm glad I'm back!

Here we go!

Because of my absence, I didn't post about our Dr. Seuss week! On Read Across America Day, my class was on a field trip, so I decided to celebrate the good doctor's birthday the following week. And due to my absence from the linky the last couple of weeks, I'll post about it now. :)

We made Green Eggs and Ham!

(Sorry the picture is so dark... the lights we dimmed because we were watching Horton Hears a Who...)

Because I have a student with allergies who couldn't eat the eggs, we also made a Cat in the Hat snack which was a huge hit with the kids. I sliced up bananas and strawberries and used one little grape at the bottom. I gave them all a skewer and they stacked their hats and an A/B pattern. It was so much fun and all of my students could eat this healthy snack.

I also made a Tic-Tac-Toe file folder game for our fun center. I found the idea on Pinterest and HAD to use it. I used it kind of like a "bonus" center for incentive for finishing the centers where they actually learned something. ;)

If you decide to make this as well... laminate the pieces!

I also used a game that I made that I posted about previously HERE. It is a Dr. Seuss themed game that I had originally used in a theater class I taught a few months ago. In the original class I used it for, I used it like a human board game, but this time around, I used a pocket chart that I found that fits the cards perfectly and I used it like a Jeopardy game. The game is sectioned into categories so it worked really well for that and since I used it whole group instead of small group, it worked out great that way.

Click the picture to go to the download!

We've been working on our shapes lately, which I'm sure a lot of people are, and we have done some pretty neat things. I posted about some of my activities HERE, but not all. We have had some really fun learning centers for shapes this week and I thank goodness for Pinterest! I found a lot of the ideas there!

PICTURE 1: I found this freebie on TpT for building 2D shapes out of toothpicks and marshmallows. I used it as a center this week and it was awesome! I can't believe it was free! Here's the link to Rachelle Rosenbilt's store and the free download.

PICTURE 2: I also incorporated a little Seuss into the mix with Prince Padania's pattern block designs. He's got some GREAT stuff on his store and the kids absolutely adored the Dr. Seuss pattern block pages. If you want to check it out before buying, I believe he has a Lorax freebie. HERE's the link.

PICTURE 3: We did some pattern block centers as well with masking tape, which they liked because they were bigger than the pattern block pages. Easy to make and easy to clean up!

PICTURE 4: And one of my favorite Pinterest finds is the picture in the bottom corner. I called them Shape Trace Bags but I'm not sure what others called them. It is SO SIMPLE. Cheap dollar store hair gel and food coloring. Draw a shape on a baggie with a sharpie and when the kids trace the shape, the gel holds what they drew in place. They were amazing. In the post I found on Pinterest, the bags were not secured down... but believe me when I tell you, using packing tape to tape the zipper part onto the table was the best decision I made this week...

And our FAVORITE anchor chart of ALL TIME, also found on Pinterest is....

Yeah... I went there. Huge success!

I am SO happy it is Spring Time!!!

We made wind socks this week out of plastic soda bottles and cut up strips of plastic table cloths. How cute are these?? We have a lot of things hanging from the ceiling right now so we ran out of clips, so we doubled up the wind socks. Pictured here are two hanging up hehe.

We cut the bottle's bottom off and had kids use sponge stampers with paint. The trick is to paint on the inside of the bottle, so if you decide to hang it outside, the humidity and water from rain won't wash the paint! Be warned that this is a messy project and to wear aprons for sure.

Because of St. Patrick's Day, I HAD to have some sort of fun leprechaun center! So, I incorporated it into my art center this week with a How to Draw a Leprechaun step by step activity. Their drawings came out so great! And the kiddos felt awesome because they were successful. I HIGHLY recommend step by step drawing with the youngsters because they love them, they are great for practicing following directions independently, and they will almost always experience success.

This is something my supervising teacher got at a yard sale or something. It's a chip holder from a gas station! It has tons of clips, so I decided to use it with my steps of drawing a leprechaun. I used index cards and a sharpie and that way every student could see it from their spot at the table and there was no fighting!

Look how awesome these turned out!!!!!!! OMG. I love them...

Tomorrow is my first official day of Spring Break! WOOO HOOO!

I am going to work on a few new products this week as well as a lot of work for my internship. When I return to school, I only have three weeks left until the end of my internship and then I graduate! I can't wait for my first classroom, ya'll!

Happy Spring!