An Egg-cellent SALE....


Since Easter is Sunday {yes...SUNDAY!!!} and I am officially on spring break as of 2:30 p.m. today, I have decided to offer a few of my top selling/rated products to you at a discounted price for the next three days. Be sure and snatch them up and use them now...or you can keep them for later. Either way, these are some units that you don't want to miss out on! 


Cloudy with a Chance is the perfect addition to any weather unit. The kids will love this weather study with a twist, plus...it includes some pretty awesome experiments and projects! 





Now, who doesn't love Patricia Polacco? This has and probably will always be one of my favorite author studies. So many wonderful themes and ideas to explore! 





It's still not to late to snag my newest writing bundle {especially since it is on sale}...


And since spring is on sale...I guess winter should be too! 



Since spring is the perfect time for poetry, this is definitely something that you could add to your collection. Your kiddos will love creating their very own poetry apps! :) 



Finally...if you are into all things nonfiction, this is definitely the unit for you. This unit will take your students on a nice road trip though all of the important text features that will help them develop strong comprehension skills when reading nonfiction texts. 



You can click on any of the pictures above to take a closer look at each of the units. Now, I am off to finish my very last day of professional development until I ride off into the sunset for the next 9 days!!!!!!!! Wait...I need a few more.....!!!!!!!! Can you sense the excitement??? 

TGIF!  

A Sweet Project for Standardized Testing!

Oh my goodness! We ALL know how stressful the week of state testing can be, and yet it seems to roll around every single year! :) Since we can’t get rid of it, I say we do everything we can to help our students get pumped up instead of stressed out. Testing should be a time that everyone pulls together to really show their support for our students. In most schools, only the grades 3-5 are tested. So what can our younger friends do to help? Show their sweet support {of course} through this super easy, yet super motivational project!



  Every year, I organize a school-wide sweet treat drive. Each grade level collects a specific type(s) of treat. Once the candy is donated, each of our kindergarten, first, and second grade friends spend a few hours attaching motivational quotes and sayings to the treats. Then, to add a little personal touch, the students write a hand written note on the back…yes…even our K friends. Trust me, the “big kids” love it, and they think that it is super precious {even if they can’t read the note}. They love to see that their whole school is giving them 100% of their support and are counting on them do their very best! This is a great project to really build that school community and also gives the younger kids a positive attitude towards testing. 

 
 
 


This super sweet pack includes everything that you need to get organized, get parents informed, and get those treats to your tested students.

All resources are offered in full/partial color, or black and white! Check it out below! 

So what are you waiting for? Get ready to show your kids some sweet support during testing to help them all ace that test! 

This unit is now offered in my TPT shop and will be on SALE for $5.00 today and tomorrow! Click {HERE} to check it out!

Happy Testing!

Happy Birthday Chicks!

I am pleased to announce the birth of our sweet baby chicks! 


Our "hatch date" was yesterday, and the kids were a tad {okay...a LOT} disappointed that we did not even see one sign of a chick. I on the other hand got a little nervous. I kept checking and rechecking to make sure that I had followed every single direction. I kept thinking, ohmyword...what if we do not even have one chick hatch. I can't even imagine! ;) 

However, after some prayer last night, this morning...first thing...we had *a* chick, and I was praising the good Lawd for that one chick {even if he had to be THE only chick we had}. 

Of course the kids were beyond and I do mean beyond thrilled! 


They gave him the most honorable name imaginable. Meet...Silas! However, they refer to him by his nickname "Uncle Si"... 


Here is my future vet teaching his friends all about the egg tooth. He was totally in his element! Love this sweetness! 

So after meeting our little friend, we set off to do some research. I had to keep their minds busy, and since they weren't going to think about anything but chicks, we decided to do some chick research. My Spring Writing Bundle came to the rescue! They were all about finding out how to care for our new baby. 

Can I just say that I am amazed that they completed their entire research papers in one hour flat {research and all}. I think I will hatch chicks every single day of the week! 

Just look at these writings: 




You can find these cute chicks right {HERE}. 

As we were writing, I periodically sent students on chick check duty...those who were working of course! And I wonder why they had such thorough research! ;) 

While doing our research, we had another perfect surprise! We must have done our job well! We had two chicks hatching and chirping all day long! 


Is that not amazing? I was so excited that every student was able to observe the second chick hatch. 


And in true Duck Dynasty fashion...our second chick now goes by the name "Willie". Love these kids! 


After our second chick, the kids came up with a great idea. They decided that we should create fractions to represent how many chicks have hatched by the start of each hour. Then, they wanted to create a line graph to see when most of the hatching occurred. So, I threw in the towel and let them become the teachers. :)  


Since we only had two chicks by 2:00, I kept track of the rest. We will complete our charts and graphs on Monday! 


And by about 7:00 tonight, we had an entire chick family. 


If you have the opportunity to get your hands on some chick eggs, I highly recommend it! Just in a short time, my kiddos learned some of life's most amazing lessons! 

Happy Birthday Chicks and Happy Friday to You! 

Chicks, Eggs, Matter...& MORE!

Is it Thursday already? Where did this week go?!? Oh...how could I forget? We have been knee-deep in PASS Testing! ;) The good news? PASS Testing is over!!!!! Well, until May when we have to test in every other content area. :) Even more good news? My kids totally rocked it and worked so stinkin' hard. I am so proud of them. They truly gave it everything they had and then some. Today, I gave them a little treat to reward them.


Now my mom {a.k.a. the class grandmother} on the other hand promised them pizza. So we *may* have had a small pizza party as well! ;) I will be sharing more about how I pump my kids up for state testing in my new unit coming out this weekend! It's a really fun community project that involves our younger friends who are not tested! The kids love it and look forward to it every year! Be on the lookout! 


Although we have had tons of testing coming our way this week, we have also been working on some really fun projects as well. 

Our chicks are due to hatch tomorrow! Praise the Lawd they did not begin hatching during out testing today! That would have been craziness. 


They are now off of the turner and we should start hearing some chirps from inside the eggs tomorrow. 

The kiddos have really enjoyed charting the developmental stages of the chick each day. My sweet teacher friend {who has hatched eggs for years} gave me this super cute idea. We have been charting each day's development on egg shapes. Then, we put our information in plastic eggs and keep them in order in our egg cartons. We will decorate the front with a picture of each student and our sweet chicks. 




On the back, the students describe what is occurring in the egg during each day of development. 


Tomorrow we will add our final day! Day 21...which means it's hatching time! 

Along with our chick study, we began a new science unit. For the next few weeks, we will be all about matter. They are already thrilled about this unit because it opens up so many opportunities for experiments. 

I began this unit with a fun experiment that I found right {HERE}. We called it balloon poke! I set up three balloons and explained that each balloon represented one state of matter. 


I called on three volunteers to poke our ballon. Then, we charted our observations and classified each balloon as a solid, liquid, or gas. 


Solid! 


Liquid! {I say when you have made a mess...it's a great day! Our sweet custodian disagrees!} ;) 


Gas! 


Oh my! 

Today as we continued with this little study, we learned all about what the molecules look like in each state. Once again, I selected three volunteers to represent each state of matter. They suited up, and I used balloons to represent what these molecules would look like if they could be seen with the naked eye! Once they were suited up, we let them jump around and around. We observed what happened to the molecules.


In this example, nothing moved and it kept a definite shape. 


In this example, the balloons bounced around everywhere super fast! 


In this example, the molecules moved past one another. 

 After we observed each person in front, we showed what happened using Froot Loops! 



Finally, we classified our three friends as a solid, liquid, or gas. 

Then, we finished up with a little note taking and sorting activity using flip books. 

So, let's talk about the fact that I misspelled liquid and didn't even realize it until I had printed everything in color. Umm...nothing a little paint pen can't fix! #tired! 





Tomorrow we will be exploring gases! Lot's of crazy experiments in store. I also have a reading group staying after to watch James and the Giant Peach and a school dance! Let's just say that I may be sleeping until noon on Saturday! 

Have a great day tomorrow, friends!