100 Days, Northern Lights, Fossils, and More!

Quite a combination, eh?  Well, we started Monday with a 2 hour delay thanks to ice and we ended the week with a 2 hour delay for snow flurries/freezing temps.

Because of our snow days, we had our 100th day (originally last Friday), this Wednesday.  The good news was the kids had a BLAST!  Bad news was, I was stuck PALS (reading) testing the entire day. :(  However, the assistant who was in my room had fun with the kids and they behaved well for her, so all in all, a good day!

My daughter had a special one hundred day shirt that was actually not too hard to make....if you'd like the template, click {here}.  I can't guarantee the spacing is accurate, but I think it turned out cute!  I just printed it on one of those sheets that goes through the printer and is a t-shirt transfer.  I think you can find those at Walmart, Target, or Staples. 

Because I was not in the room, I don't have very many photographs.  Actually - I have one, and that's what I hung proudly outside my room.  If you'd like to see more 100 day festivities, please check out my Pinterest page!  There are so many great ideas out there, I didn't have to reinvent the wheel!  The picture below is some of my students "100 dots" artwork and their "100 creations."  They also had to do things in 100 seconds, measure 100 centimeters, had a special 100 day snack (which they used their hundreds chart to count out), talked about what they wanted 100 of/didn't want 100 of.  Mine was 100 meerkats :)  NOT 100 spiders!  Too many legs!!!

With our Polar Habitats/Unit, we studied fossils on Monday and created some on our own.  I pinned the recipe I used for the dough, and then added food coloring to the student fossils (shells pressed in the dough).  We let them dry for the day on the windowsill and the students took them home the next day.  

On Tuesday (no picture) we studied icebergs and glaciers and answered the question, "Does Ice Float?" (it does).  Even in salt water!

Wednesday, of course, was the 100th day.

Thursday, we had a blast learning about the Northern Lights and created our own, using pastel chalks (borrowed from the art teacher).

Friday was  a day of rest.  Just kidding!  Friday was another 2 hour delay day, so we didn't get quite as far as I'd like (and we were still trying to catch up from last week - we only went 2 days!).....so no spectacular thing unfortunately for Groundhog's Day, other than reading one of my favorite books, Groundhog Gets a Say, as well as predicting whether he'd see his shadow tomorrow.  (I think it's unfair when two holidays come in one week!  Help!).  

 

We also studied polar bears and filled out our charts and diagrams.  At some point, I WILL finish putting together this polar unit and post it for you to see!  I've really enjoyed using the polar animals to study habitats, adaptations, life cycles, and throwing in maps.

Oh!  How could I forget????  We also received our gingerbread from Christine's Gingerbread Project at Sugar and Spice.  What a great way to discuss diversity, learn about new places, and geography skills!

So....whew...wish I could rest some this weekend, but my daughter is now a budding cheerleader with her first game on Saturday (our local Parks & Rec) and my son has a sleep study on Sunday/Monday. :(  We're trying to figure out exactly what's going on with him.  He's had an awful time this year falling asleep in class....we're not sure if its his absence seizures, sleep seizures, sleep apnea, or....which is apparently the "unfixable one"....a sleep disorder where his internal clock is set from 10pm-8am every morning (yeah, think about what my reaction was when the doc asked if he could go to school at 10am every day and the school would be responsible for filling in the gaps!).

But, not to end on a downer note --- don't forget about the SUPER SALES this weekend at Teacher's Notebook (can't wait to see their new design!) and Teachers Pay Teachers!!!!! :)

An Award and a 100 Days

Thanks to Christa over at Sweet Life of Second Grade who gave me the Versatile Blogger Award! :)

 

Here are the rules:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.
2. Include a link to their site.
3. Include the award image in your post.
4. Give 7 random facts about yourself
5. Nominate 15 other bloggers for the award.
6. When nominating, include a link to their site.
7. Let other bloggers know they've been nominated. 

Okay, here are my 7:

1.  I am a closet cartoon fan.  I have the best time watching cartoons with my kids!  When Cartoon Network was created, I did a happy dance :)  Boomerang sent me over the edge with shows from my childhood (but unfortunately when we downgraded our satellite package, we lost it!).  Of course, it helps me to relate to my students when I know just as much about what they're watching as they do!  hah hah ;)

2.  My grandmother always told me that it makes sense that I ended up teaching in "Louisa County" since my great great grandmother was named Louisa and she was a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse!

3.  My first date with my husband was at a hockey game.

4.  My favorite color is purple.

5.  I started out teaching middle school.

6.  I love teaching collaborative classes.  I mean, who doesn't like to team teach? :)  It's great to bounce ideas off of someone, or some days, simply to "tag team" a lesson!

7.  I still do a happy dance every time I find I have a new follower or sell a product at the teacher stores!

Here are the blogs I have nominated (and please forgive me if you've gotten this before...just makes you extra special!!!):

Enriching Kinders

The Second Grade Superkids

Stapler's Strategies

2nd Grade Rocks!

All Students Can Shine

Ginger Snaps

Luckeyfrog's Lilypad

Teachin' First

Frogspot

Funky First Grade Fun

First Grade Fresh

Buzzing with Ms. B

Marvelous Multiagers! 

Speech Room News

Ladybug's Teacher Files

 

 Thanks once again to Christa! :)  It's placed proudly in my sidebar!

As for the 100 days...I was looking through the 1001 catalogs that seem to come in the mail this time of year (and no, I'm not complaining....I really do enjoy flipping through them!).  I'm sure you're familiar with this scenario....I was looking at some and going "Hmm....I could make that!" and voila!  Came across my newest idea:  100 facts for 100 days!  In PK-2, and sometimes beyond, we count out the 100 days of school.  

 

For the past couple of years, I've used a magnetic jellybean poster that counts the days off.  Cute, but nothing too special.  When I was flipping through one of the catalogs, I saw the 100 fact cards, but they were random facts.  I thought a theme might be cute!  Hence...."100 Fun Facts for 100 Days:  Marine Life and Ocean"

I might have bit off more than I could chew!  This took me almost a week to gather facts....so I'm hoping I'll do another one, but right now it's not on the top of my list.  In the catalog, they charged $11.95 for this....I'm charging $3 as well as including stickers (well, you print them on sticker pages)...10 of each kind, to use to count the days off.  

 

My idea is to get blue bulletin board paper, draw a background, and create an ocean scene for the first 100 days!  I hope you'll check it out!  Click on the picture to take you to my Teacher's Notebook store (or you can click on the link here for TpT...your choice!).