Five for Saturday Morning

Saturday mornings are my favorite. Most of the time, I am the first one awake and I am grateful for the quiet since I don't get much of that during the week. Saturday mornings give me time to reflect on the past week and then get myself ready for the week to come. Saturday mornings in the fall are REALLY my favorite but Texas hasn't quite gotten the memo that it is supposed to be cooler yet, so I guess we will wait a few more weeks.

This is going to be short and sweet!

We celebrated Homecoming this week with spirit days at school. My students normally have to wear uniforms so they were super excited to get to dress up each day. Tuesday was Twin Day so my TBFF (teacher best friend forever) and I put on matching scarves and everyone thought we were super cute. Let me tell you about this sweet lady-- I never thought that when she moved in next door to me, that we would become such close friends. She is the most positive and fun person to work with and I am so blessed that I get to call her a friend. I am not sure what I would do without her, She is the bomb dot com.

We are in the process of getting a new playground built so in the mean time we are using a little grassy patch to play on. I have been bringing out soccer balls, bubbles, and chalk for the nuggets to play with in case they don't want to come up with a game on their own. One of my friends called me over to show me his picture. He wrote it all on his own and was so proud. I love this group of kids, I tell ya! They are just a super sweet and loving group. I am grateful every single day that I get to keep them all year!

We began our study of apples this week! This is truly one of my favorite units to teach. I don't have any pictures because #teacherfail, I forgot. We looked at the parts on an apple, tasted 3 different kinds, graphed our faves, (That darn Golden Delicious wins every time!), and then ended the week with making homemade applesauce in the croc pot. We are continuing our apple study next week with some Johnny Appleseed activities and the life cycle of an apple/apple tree. I'll be better about getting pictures next week.

Maybe.

We broke out of alphabet stamps this week! I have a love/hate relationships with stamps. The kids love them and it is such a great way to keep them engaged. I don't love the ink everywhere and the way they are organized. Those little plastic boxes they come in just aren't 5 year old friendly. I have the sets from Lakeshore like these:

Before we even start, I go over the expectations of stamp usage. "Pinch the sides with two fingers....." "Dab it ONE time into the stamp pad..." "Stamp it on the paper..." "Put it back in its little home..."

No matter how many times I say it and we practice, someone always jabs the stamp into the stamp pad and then looks at me like it is my fault they have ink on every inch of their body. Someone please tell me I am not the only one who feels this way!?

Anyhoo-- I have a love/hate relationship with stamps. But I use them and the kids love them.

We started using Deedee Wills' Stamp It! units. They are great activities with no prep. No prep is my jam! The nuggets did a great job and stayed engaged the entire time. Engagement = happy teacher.

Look at those expert stamping skills! ;)

I don't really have a number 5. My day is going to consist of some laminating pumpkin stations for the upcoming weeks and watching some college football. Sounds like the perfect Saturday to me!

Happy Weekend, friends!