15th Day & Counting Down!!!!!!

So we have been counting down the days for the last 2 weeks.  I had told my kiddos when we got to day 15 we will start counting down by popping a balloon a day & inside the balloon is a special activity to do.  So I had my 15 balloons all blown up with our helium tank yesterday....well I got to school this morning & they were on the ground limp.  So I came up with the idea to hang them from our wooden beams.  So here they are & we are ready to pop away the next 15 days. 

Can't wait to see what our 1st fun activity will be......plus I am sure by day 1 all I will have is balloons with NO air!!!  Oh well.....my kiddos told me today all they care about our the pieces of paper in them! haha

Have a great rest of the week.....How are some of you counting down the last days!!!  Happy Hump Day!!!!

Field Trips

WOW!!!  What a crazy week!!!  We had 2 field trips & lots of work to do.  I will show you in pictures our week in review.  We learned about Creepy Crawlies this week, went to Hiddenite Mines & learned all about rocks & got to find gems while creeking & slucing.  On Friday we went to our County's Fairgrounds to learn all about the crops & animals that give us food.  Then the kiddies got to go to the park to eat lunch & play. 

Also don't forget Teacher Appreciation Week this week & I am having a sale on my TpT store all week & if you add the code TAD12 you will receive an extra 10% off.  Have a great week!!!!

Getting ready to go slucing

Working hard to find lots of gems

Look what I found

Creeking

Rock hunt.....just like an egg hunt.  All the rocks were laying on the dirt

My sweet class:)

We had time for an art project but also so a couple kids could finish their work. 

Making stained glass butterflies

Farm to Fork field trip....hayride

Petting Zoo

Every child got to hold a chick as we went around to different stations.

This is my fav pic b/c that would so be me...not wanting to get near it!!!  Funny thing she doesn't remember that last year she was all about holding a chick when they hatched in our room!!!

Some had the death grips!!! ha

Then finally 24 more school days & this shows all my excitement!!!!

Have a great rest of the weekend!!!

Teacher Appreciation Ideas

I am at home today with a sick little one....poor thing:(  We about made it out the door when blah!!! So it's Spongebob & Phineas & Ferb all day.

For those that have your own personal kids, I will share some ideas I got off Pinterest for Teacher Appreciation gifts.  All these ideas are pretty cheap & easy.  Here are pictures of everything.

Tumbler with the powered stuff to put in your drink.  The saying says- Thank you for quenching my thirst of knowledge!

Soap & it was on sale for 5 for $15.

Extra gum......comes in a pk of 3 @ Target.  I gave each teacher just one pack out of the 3 pk.

Candle- any kind will work.

Notepad & pen....Saying- Take "note" you are one of my favorite teachers!  Thanks for a great year.

I will fill this container with M& M's.  This is a poem about being a Marvelous & Magnificant teacher!!  I will tie the poem on with a ribbon.

Also I made a coupon  book for my 4th graders teacher & my 1st grader will give his teacher a book with a story retelling rope, I had made.  Hope some of these ideas help!!!  Pinterest can help any ordinary person feel very crafty!!!  ha

Rocks & Student Led Conferences

I think all weeks will be hectic crazy from here on out!!!!  But 29 more days but whose counting right??!!!  This week we did Student Led Conferences.  My kids did such a great job!!!!  They filled out a personal report card Tuesday morning, we had an agenda, where they showed their Daily 5 book bin, writing folder, math journal, Sci-Fri Journal & our plant experiments.  I had filled out a progress report stating what their reading & AR level was at the beginning of the year & what it is now.  Their parents were so amazed with mostly their reading & writing improvements.  Also at the beginning of the year, every students filled out a message in a bottle about what they wanted to learn this year.  The big day came & they got to open them....which was exciting because everyone learned what they had hoped to this year!!!!  Once they showed their parents everything, they filled out a paper where the student had to write 2 stars from the school year & 1 wish to work on over the summer.  Here are some pictures of what went on.

Thanks to all the parents & students who came out!!!!!


This week in Science we did MANY Rock activities.  We read the book Rock Basics, which is an easy to understand rock's book.  Students had to complete a Rock Scavenger Hunt at home.  Then at school, they shared the rocks they found with their classmates.  They picked three rocks from their hunt & completed a Rock Exploration page.  We were suppose to do many other activities on Friday after our field trip to the Mines but rain, thunder, & a tornado warning closed the mines.  So all we did was took a bus ride.  The sky fell as soon as we got their.  We did reschedule & Wednesday, if the weather cooperates, we are off for try number 2!!!!!  We did though complete a Chocolate Chip Cookie Excavation activity.  All you need is cookie & toothpicks.  They used the toothpicks to count the chocolate chips & had a recording page.  Here are some pictures of what we did!!!

Sharing Rocks

Page sent home

More sharing

After picking their 3 rocks, they completed the activities.

Does it sink or float???

All you need for Chocolate Chip Excavation

Recording sheet

Chocolate Chip Excavation

Digging out our "rocks"

Lastly I found this great idea on Pinterest.  Count down to the end of the school year.  I am doing it for the last 15 days of school.  I have come up with 15 fun cheap & easy ideas to do with your  students each day.  Such as eat outside, sidewalk chalk, popsicles, extra outside time, etc.  You can click here for the page.  Put each slip of paper in balloons.  Blow up the balloons & put through out your room.  You can number them or not.  Then count down the days by popping 1 balloon each day.  Fun way to count down the days!!!!

Stay tuned for teacher appreciation ideas if you have your own personal children who you need to come up with ideas for their teachers.  I have all my sayings printed out, I just need to attach everything with ribbon.  But today is the 1st nice day so it's lake time with the man!!!!!!  Have a great rest of the weekend or what is left of it:)