Five for Friday

It's finally Friday! Is it just me, or are the weeks getting longer and longer? I felt like everyday was Thursday this week. 

{One}

Our caterpillars are finally making some progress! By the end of school, we had one in his chrysalis. There is also one that, sadly, didn't make it. Some of my kiddos took it hard.

{Two}

On Friday, we went on a field trip! We went to go see a play of Frog and Toad. We had a great time!

{Three}

We had a lot of fun with Earth day this week! (I was slacking and took very few pictures--more to come next week.) When we brainstormed things that we could recycle, one student suggested recycling diamonds--if you don't like your jewelry anymore, turn it into something else! How clever of him!

{Four}

I just had to share this precious picture I pinned. Puppies and babies--my two favorite things.

{Five}

Only 17 school days left! Are you counting down?

Tell Me Something Good

I found this awesome linky today all about focusing on the good! So I'm linking up with Rowdy in First Grade to share one good thing from home and from school. Head over and link up!

From Home

This weekend, I finally got to plant some things! Spring is finally here to stay, which means its time for flowers, tomatoes, and herbs! Just more signs that summer is around the corner!

From School

I have one student who has given me trouble all year. Any weird, bizarre thing you can imagine, she did. She was very defiant and turned away any positive reinforcement I offered her. I was almost to the point where I was just going to give up and survive the last 20 days. This week, I have tried to spend about 5 minutes, just me and her, where she could just talk to me about whatever she wanted, hoping the extra attention would do her some good. And it has! She has been a completely different student this week! Let's hope this is how the rest of the year will be!

It's the little things in life...

Lucy Calkins

Just a quick post tonight--we had the longest PTO meeting ever. But I had to share my outrageous excitement--I get to use Lucy's Units of Study!!!

11 other teachers and I are going to test it out at our campus next year. We currently have zip, zilch, zero writing resources--not ok. We will meet to share what is working and not working for us. Now I'm just crossing my fingers that we get it before school starts so I can read it like a total nerd this summer!

Do any of you use this in your classroom? Thoughts? Advice?

PS. I have started planning my 100 follower giveaway. And let me just say, the other bloggers donating items are AWESOME. Only 10 more followers needed!

Let's Get Acquainted Linky

I'm linking up with Latoya again! I love this kinky--I always find great blogs from it!

This week is about the 3 favorite parts of my classroom!

1. Our Writer's Workshop wall. I totally dove into Writer's Workshop blindly this year, but I have loved it! These anchor charts are a great reminder for my kids, and they look to them all the time!

2. Our classroom library. This is a picture from before school started. I had to change the bins about halfway through the year--they just didn't hold enough. There are some pillows by the window, and the kiddos love to lean up against the pillows and read. Makes me such a happy teacher!

3. Our math board. Some great thinking happens here! We do a daily word problem together, and you can really see how far they have come! Their critical thinking and the connections they make blow my mind!

Well that's my classroom! (You can see more pictures here). I already have so many ideas on how I want to change it up for next year!

Now for something completely not school related...

Pictures from the Color Run!

Before

Showing off our "happy" tats.

After

So fun!! I might have had to take a few showers after, but it was totally worth it!

Five for Friday

 This has been a looooong week. So I am very excited that it's Friday--which means Five for Friday time!

1. This week was our first grade program. The kiddos did so good! It was absolutely precious. I wish I could have gotten a better picture of them. The program was The Cheese Stands Alone, so they were all dressed as different types of cheese. A lot of them wore giant boxes and had a really hard time walking--super cute!

2. Meet our new class caterpillars--Yoko, Mohawk, Ms. Cranfill, Hayleigh, Napkin, and Heart. (I did not name them). We are so excited to watch them slowly turn into butterflies!

3. Tomorrow I am doing The Color Run! I am so excited!! I am definitely not a runner, but how can you say no?! It looks like so much fun!

4. I am excited to say that I am up to 90 followers! I can't believe it! There might be a giveaway in my future...

5. Only 22 days of school left! Where did the year go?

Happy weekend!!

Poetry Month

 Since April is National Poetry Month, we have been working on writing poems! I was a little apprehensive, but they have loved it!

Last week, we learned all about clouds. Then we wrote a list poem about clouds.

It was the perfect way to start our poetry unit! Super, super simple.

Then we learned about acrostic poems. Another simple poem for them to get started with! Except for the vertical writing. I have one student who really struggled with it. When we first started, his name looked like this: 

Logan

Ogan

Gan

An

N

Precious first graders.

We have lots going on this week! We are getting our butterfly kit in and we have our first grade program!

How are you celebrating National Poetry Month in your room?!

Let's Get Acquainted Linky

It's time for Latoya's Let's Get Acquainted linky!

This week: the Skittles Game!

Here is the code:

Red- Favorite Ice Cream Flavor

Orange- Favorite Memory from College

Yellow- Favorite Sports Team

Green- Favorite Fast Food Place

Purple- Wild Card(Tell anything about yourself)

Red

I love all ice cream. I could eat it everyday. But if I have to pick one--classic chocolate. You can never go wrong with chocolate.

Orange

There are so many. I LOVED college. I lived in my sorority all but my first and last semester of school, so those are definitely some of my best memories. So many silly, fun things happen when that many girls are put in one place.

Oh--or studying abroad. I spent a summer in Prague and it was amazing. It's too hard to pick.

Yellow

It is in my family's blood to be a Cowboy fan--so there's my football pick. And of course the OKC Thunder (I feel like it's a must if you live in Oklahoma.) I haven't been to a game yet, but it's definitely on my to-do list!

Green

Umm...Jimmy John's? Does that count? That is often my there's-no-food-in-the-fridge/I'm-too-tired-to-do-anything place. They are just so darn fast.

Purple

I always struggle with questions like this. So I turned to my two favorite sounding boards--my mom and my sister.

My sister's suggestion--I am allergic to wasps. I guess allergic is not the right word. But there may or may not have been a terrible event in my childhood that involved me getting stung by a wasp on my eyelid and swelling up like you wouldn't believe. There is a picture that captured this wonderful moment--and it led to me being compared to Elephant Man. So pretend I didn't tell that story.

My mom's suggestion (the better of the two)--I can (and have a tendency to) quote the TV show Friends in any given conversation. I often find myself laughing, alone, because someone said something that reminds me of Friends. It's a sickness really. 

Happy Monday! Head over and link up!

Make It Rain!

Well...I have been the definition of a terrible blogger. But we have been so busy in first grade! 

Last week, another teacher brought chicken eggs to school, so our class went to go see the incubator and learn a little bit about how a chick grows. (I, of course, forget to take any pictures). When we came back on Monday, we had chicks!! Aren't they just the cutest things you have ever seen?! The kiddos were beyond excited!

 

This week is full of cloud fun--which is perfect because it was super rainy here in Oklahoma last week, and more chances of storms tonight!

I made these little guys to help the angels remember the different kinds of clouds. They turned out pretty darn cute!

Thanks Pinterest for another great idea! How did teachers live before Pinterest?

Today, we did a super fun and simple science experiment about rain. First, we read possibly the cutest book ever.

If you have never read Cloudette, you need to. 

After that, we talked about why a cloud starts to make rain. (In the book, Cloudette holds her breath to get bigger and bigger then rains.)We knew that wasn't true, but we weren't sure why it rained. So we did a little experiment. First, they made predictions. 

{I am actually not sure what this paper says at all! The other picture I had turned out super blurry.}

We filled a plastic container with water and put shaving cream on the top. Then we dripped blue food coloring on the top. We noticed that one drop didn't do anything, but three or four would. Then we realized that more drops were heavier! When a cloud gets heavy, it starts to rain. Such a fun Tuesday! 

I wish I didn't have to blur out their faces in this picture. They were so excited and into this experiment!

Can I also add that I only have 30 days left of school?!?! 30 days! Craziness. How many days of school do you have left?

April Currently

It's April again--which means another currently with Farley!

Listening--SVU is one of those great shows to have in the background. It is often on while I am blogging doing school work!

Loving--My kids were absolutely precious today! They loved trying to trick me. I was hearing "Hey, Ms. Cranfill. Look over there!" all day long. They were so proud of themselves whenever they tricked me! I just adore them.

Thinking--There is so much going on this month!! I have a feeling the end of the year will be here before I know it.

Wanting--My name is Lindy Cranfill, and I have an obsession with clip art. It is a dangerous thing.

Needing--Ice cream. It is a constant need of mine. If only I could find calorie free ice cream!

Advice--I firmly believe that happiness is a choice. There are so many things to be thankful for, and I try to remember one everyday!

Happy April!