Spring is Near!

Has it really been a month since I last blogged?  My New Year's resolution there is not going so well. Let me start by saying, I am so over this snow and cold weather.  Bring on the sunshine and warmth!!  Bring on Spring.  Speaking of Spring, I was planning ahead in my lesson plans, and I saw that all the "Spring stuff" starts in about a week!!  This excites me!  We really are getting there, and the time change this weekend only helps things along.

So this is what we have been up to in the classroom for the past month:

We love our QR codes, so I made more:  Scan and write, scan and write, they just can't get enough:

We also have been working in some of the reading groups with inflection and how to change your voice while reading a sentence ending in an exclamation point or ending in a question mark.

They were cracking me up because they were ever so sneakily trying to pick out exclamation points because "we like to yell!" :)  

To get my spirit (and classroom), all ready for Spring, I made some Spring-themed name plates. I am hoping (fingers crossed), I get these printed this weekend with their names on them.  

They are free in my TPT shop, so go help yourself, fellow teachers.  

This past week was Dr. Seuss's birthday on Monday, and the lower grades at our school celebrated "Reading Week", with a whole bunch of reading activities.  Monday was wear your Dr. Seuss hat.  I was fresh out of those, but we did have some "hats" in our literacy centers focusing on, what else?  Rhyming!

Tuesday was dress as your favorite book character day.  Teachers also switched classes for 20 minutes to read their favorite books to a different class.  

We had "Jack" from Magic Tree House, Harry Potter, the Tortoise from "The Tortoise and the Hare", Pete the Cat, and many more.  Here are some pictures from that day.

The two Pete's!

Wednesday was dress in PJ's and have 3rd graders read bedtime stories to our Kinders.  It was so cute!  They loved it!  Thursday we made time school wide for some silent reading.  Friday we held a book swap for those who wanted to participate.

This week we read one of my favorite books:  Horton Hatches an Egg.  The class cracked up when an elephant-bird hatched out the shell, so we decided to morph two animals together to make a fun animal creation.

We also wrote postcards to a loved one after reading "The Cat in the Hat".

As I look forward to Spring, I start getting excited about chicks, and Easter.  Easter is not super early this year, but I know it is going to be here before I know it.  

I wanted my own kids, as well as my classroom,  to be aware of what we are recalling on Holy Week.  So this weekend, I finished up a packet I have been working on for awhile.  

The above are some examples of what we will be working on as we come closer to Easter.  As I had said, I create not only for my classroom, but also for my own kids.  I think these activities are simple enough for young children of faith to understand, and reinforces the true meaning of Easter.  I'm excited to use them.  

Thanks for visiting!