the tattooed teacher

Last Minute Seuss Plans {Getting Everyone Involved and a freebie}

My grade level teammies are amazing. We all have very different teaching styles, but mesh really well. I truly learn from them and that’s something I could not work without! I’ve worked with dull and uninteresting before, and now it’s a dream!

We decided next Monday to do a “reading roundabout” with each of our favorite Dr. Seuss books.
Me-There’s a Wocket in My Pocket {it was my middle one’s favorite!}
Wacky Wednesday
Cat in the Hat
The Foot Book

We will each have 20 minutes in each classroom. So I will be doing my favorite Fact vs. Opinion lesson out of my Seuss-Y Literacy Pack. I LOVE this activity and used it ion 4th grader with my lower kiddos, too!

I always like the opportunity to teach and learn with other students.

I know cooperative activities simply won’t work in everyone’s teaching situation for many reasons, but if you can pull it off…what a wonderful way to kick off Read Across America {or Read Across Your Grade!}

My plans for Friday and next week:
A Cat in the Hat Snazzy Snack
Comparing Sneetches to Yooks and Zooks {Butter Battle is my second fav} –and see freebie below!

There’s a Wocket in my Pocket craftivity {students will create a rhyme about a imaginary creature in a place in our school {Ex. There’s a Noffice in the Office} –pinspired of course!
And I will be sporting my Seussy socks {thanks to my hubs who works at a hosiery mill!}
Not to mention we are knee deep in weather, dental health, character traits, Black History Month complemented with bios, and the local weatherman is visiting tomorrow and the tooth fairy came today!
and a note on Dental Health-If you purchased my Terrifically Tooth Unit I will be redoing the toothless kids graphics-they are still too blurry after I printed them to use this week

If there is one month a year that we teeny teachers each our whopping salaries-it’s gotta be February!

We love Snazzy Snacks and make one each month. I reformatted the recipe page and made seasonal themed ones. Here’s a sneak peek-it’s the generic, but probably the stinkin’ cutest! I hope to finished them this week along with a cover {we bind at the end of the year as gifts for parents and to laugh at our handwriting!}

*graphics from KPM Doodles and fonts from Miss Tina

happy Leap Day!

Bubble Blowing and Tornado Warnings

Sometimes…
things really happen at the wrong time

So today we are watching clips of storms on United Streaming
Just after the clip begins talking about the tornadoes in Kansas in 1991
"Attention staff, our area is under a tornado watch”

ok, really??!!
Needless to say, the kids were a little freaked
but I subdues them with reassurances it was just a “drill”
like the fire drills
only it wasn’t! eek!
Guess the conditions were ripe here in southern NC today

But on to a fun little weather/wind activity we finished up
Last year I had luck with mixing dish detergent, paint, and water to make the perfect blend to blow bubbles and have the pop onto our paper for a little art. This year for the life of me I could not get the mixture right, but we worked with what we had!
Each student came over to the sink and blew as many bubbles onto their paper as they wanted. I tried to keep them from smearing and dripping, but they make for interesting pictures regardless. Sometimes I just gotta let go!

After they dried all morning and we watched the weather clips, I guided them through writing what type of weather their picture reminded them of. You can’t see my bubble picture in the shot, but it just had 2 perfectly popped bubbles with a little bit of “shrapnel” all over. I asked them to tell their reader about the “what”{the weather} and the “why” {they chose it}

Here is how they turned out. I am pretty pleased

And here’s a little freebie to write their weather blurbs. 2 versions, same file in Google Docs

Funny Money

We actually had our first 2-hour delay Monday, so I have stretched out Presidential fun throughout the week.
Monday when the kids came in, they had huge funny money bills on their desks. {Dollar Tree!!}I had actually bought them to use for the 100th Day, but time was not on my side.
Needless to say they were ecstatic

Our strategy/skill lesson for the day was an adaptation of Amanda Nickerson’s Outside/Inside Character Traits pack.
After I gave them examples of each about myself-short, spunky, stubborn, shy, and pale…they decided which were inner traits and which were outer traits-and they added bossy and best teacher ever to the list…those go hand-in-hand!

Next, I read What Presidents are Made of…oh my! What a great on the whim purchase this was! The illustrations are amazing. I love that the do-dads used represent something about the person. Ah-Ma-zing!

Then we made a circle map of presidential character traits we thought were important to have

and the kids chose one {some did 2} traits they possessed and wrote why that was important. They turned out a-dorable. Here are some favs.

If you want to do the same-here are the signs and writing papers!
Just click below {they are 2 separate files}

We also made Amy Lemons’ little Lincoln craftivity today! Oh, precious! We read Abe Lincoln’s Hat then the kids wrote what they would keep in their hat.

Here they are! You gotta read the one below. A child of my own heart.

Seuss-y Graphics Panic!

Just in case you haven't checked your email...

Scrappin' Doodles has just advised everyone who purchased their Cat in the Hat graphics

ok-who hasn't

that all "seuss" and Cat in the Hat" wording has to be removed!!

from...

titles

descriptions

and PRODUCTS

ahh!

So I am now offering

Seuss-y Literacy Centers!

since I figure "Seuss-Y" is not "Seuss"...

so Seuss-y Reading Response sheets is still kickin'

On another note

I can't wait to share our 1st round of Presidents' Day stuff with you tomorrow

{cause I didn't take pictures today}

SO ca-ute!

$300 Can Buy...

not too many books from Barnes and Noble!

I recently worked with our local university {and my undergrad Alma mater} on the annual Little Read event for our district.
And I got paid in BOOKS!
I spent a long time choosing books
why is it always harder to spend money when it's not yours??
I recieved them all at once and wanted a meanigful way to introduce them to the classroom library, so I made "New Book Review" slips for the kiddos to fill out
We've been learning how to determine importance, so this was a perfect tie in
They each chose a book to review, read it independently {I chose appropriate ones from lower readers} and then we taped the reviews inside the cover.
Next we shared with a partner
Lots were immediately tucked into book boxes! Yay!

Here's the book review freebie on TpT

What else have we been up to? Air! I love our Air and Weather FOSS kits. The lessons are air and so engaging and just plain fun!

water fountains

parachutes

keep the paper towel dry!

Babbling Abby's moustache freebie!

We focused on quotations with this one

Arachnids Need Lovin’ Too {and you need freebies!}

So last week in guided reading my Leaning Tower of Pisa group {yep…we are named for amazing landmarks!} was reading about Arachnids and Insects. They were fascinated with the scorpions..and frankly, so was I.
Enter Sunday
Usual trip through Petco
and I came home with an Emperor Scorpion!
Now, I swore off mammals in the classroom after Wicket {my Mini Lop rabbit}
just too much upkeep for 2nd graders
too much touching temptations
I We already have Harriet {a male tarantula we think…}
and lots of fish in a 20 gallon aquarium
And we have 2 Hissing Cockroaches…after an old teammate’s had babies
They are wonderful classroom pets!
{you can check out our critters here} though I haven’t updated since the dimise of Cookie and addition of yet to be named scorpion
The kids LOVE them and can do all the work!
So what’s one more arachnid??
I brought him to school Monday morning and they were so absolutely excited!
What’s it’s name? Not sure yet, but I like Virgo…we like April…oh geez, no
Can it kill me if I touch it? Would I buy something for school that could kill you…really…?
Can we touch it? No, I am not going to touch it and you’re not going to touch it…See those pinchers?

The Lowdown:

The bigger the scorpion, the less venom
Emperor Scorpions, much like Harriet, only cause irritation, not death!
He/She {thinking she…} eats crickets! yay! Just like Harriet, too

Here’s where it hides out. Feeding time tomorrow.

And just for fun, we have to do some more research. How many kids of mine do you think checked out books about scorpions from the library Monday? Four…that’s all that could find any! Isn't inspiration and excitement what this is totally about!?

I am ~~working on a minibook and comprehension activity for TpT,~~ finished my arachnid mini-pack plus have a little Venn freebie here. Click the picture

And here’s a little 12 page minibook about the history of Valentine’s. I know it’s too late for this year, but I did not do it until last night after scouring the Internet for child appropriate explanations! I read these and filled out Amy Lemons’ Who, What, Why foldable from her V-Day Pack.

Yosemite Sam anyone?
We had to use The Inspired Apple's “I Moustache You a Question” freebie! I took the pictures yesterday afternoon on my phone, uploaded to walmart.com, and paid a whopping $3 for the prints!

And I got more oohh’s and aahh’s over these monster bags from the Teacher Wife! SO precious!

Hope your Valentine's is amazing! Next post is about getting to spend $300! woo!

Love You Sale!

Roses are Red,
Violets are Blue,
You read about Me
and I Reward You!

Enjoy 20% off everything
at my TpT store
and
20% off at
Teacher’s Notebook store
through Wednesday!

and just what would I recommend you ask…
well
Dr. Seuss stuff of course!