I'M LATE!

Guess what??  I'm late! 


{eyebrow raised . . . duck lips thrown . . . awkward pause}


Snicker . . . snicker . . . I had you going, didn't I??!!  No, not that kind of "late," I am late for Five for Friday, but then again, I am late EVERY week.  This one takes the cake, though.  I've NEVER posted this recap on a Sunday, but there is always a first for everything, right??!  One of these days I am going to shock myself and push "publish" on a Friday evening.  I smell a challenging New Year's resolution in the works :)  

All nonsense aside, I wanted to drop in and showcase a few ideas and activities from our week.  So, without wasting a moment more, here you be . . . 

MOJA 
Our room needed some serious "turkey" added to it now that it's November. Well, the lovely Susan Jones over at TGIF came through for me on this one and we completed her Number Turkeys this week.  The kids loved it and it had math standards attached . . . uh . . . WIN-WIN!!!  Thanks Suz!  

The pic is a little fuzzy, but they turned out so cute!

MBILI
Have y'all heard of Art Projects for Kids?  It is the best art bloggin' site I have found and it always comes through in a pinch.  The time change absolutely blew my kids' minds and by Friday they were D-O-N-E!  So, we completed this little scarecrow masterpiece.  Click here to snag the FREE directions.

TATU
We rounded out our short vowel whole group phonics study this week.  Short U was all the rage and we completed a cute word family flip book - Stuff Your Mug.  I know short vowels are a bit easy this time of year in first, but you can bet I snuck in the -ck rule during our studies and pushed those higher kids with multi-syllabic words like "pumpkin."  My hope here was to start easy and capture that handful of kids who are right there in small group studies, but still struggle when it comes to tappin' and spellin' on their own.  We will cruise into digraph land next week.  

All of our fun short u activities came from my latest short vowel pack . . .
All About Short U!

NNE

I finally officially introduced verbs this week.  We have been talking about it for weeks, but I wanted them to experience some direct instruction and games to help further their understanding.  With this said, we just had to play Verb Charades (verbs are doing words for goodness sakes) and they were delighted. Brave actors and actresses pulled a word card out of my deck and put on some Oscar-worthy performances.  Our favorite was PICK.  Sure, he could have "picked some apples," but this was so much clearer and so our class :)  

TANO

I had an idea to help my kids practice their tens facts and I wanted to test it out before I finished and posted the packet.  This crazy collection came to me on a car ride home from school last week.  I needed a craft for my lonely bulletin board that wasn't a turkey (I already had Susan's cool turkeys penned in). Well, I was pleased as punch with the outcome and I finally finished  I am working like crazy to put the finishing touches on . . . TENS FACTS AREN'T CORNY.

CLICK HERE to see more!

First up, we tried out the math craftivity and it was a HUGE hit.  The kids were giggling and it looks so stinkin' cut up on the wall.  

After the craft, we tried one of the Mix + Mingles.  The kids bought into this one right away and everyone was super successful.  We will be playing the missing addend version (yes, I am scaffolding like crazy) next week ;)  

Following this interactive activity, the kids completed their Tens Fact Flip books. The moment I heard one kid say, "OH, I get it . . . look at the pattern," I knew I had a winner.  

The teamwork blew my mind!
Early finishers jumped in to help.  It was a magical moment :)

Before I jet, I wanted to mention that I am now a part of Blog Hoppin'.  I am beyond thrilled to join this amazing crew.  CLICK HERE to read all about the newest bloggers to hop on board.  There is also a HUGE hop and giveaway in the works and I will be publishing my very first "Hopper" post tomorrow!

Alright y'all . . . I am out.  Thanks so much for accepting my tardy post.  I'll see you soon with that update.