Five for Friday... On Saturday again!!

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday... on Saturday!

I can't seem to get these posts up on Friday night!!  Here are some highlights from our week... it was another long one!!

ONE: Morning Work

After reading Brown Bag Teacher's post on her morning tubs I was intrigued!  We rarely get free choice time during our week and I thought this would be a perfect opportunity for my kids to play games, work on some fine motor skills, and learn to work together,  I decided to do it three days a week and the kids LOVE it!  They're motivated to unpack and make a selection and they are truly learning how to work together.  I've decided to change the tubs every two weeks so it's a little less prep for me on a weekly basis.  

TWO: March Math

This week during our math rotations we took out our March math tub games.  I was going to wait another week but with Easter being so close to St. Patrick's Day, I took out all the March themed tubs and problem solving printables.    

THREE: Contractions

Last week we reviewed contractions by matching cards together. This week we stepped up our game a bit.  I had my kiddos take two words and write a contraction with those words on a post it.  Then they needed to sort the word on the board.  My kiddos this year are getting contractions and they are understanding what letters to replace with the apostrophe.  

 FOUR: Vocabulary
As part of our weekly ELA curriculum we have "Amazing Words" that we introduce and use in a poem/song.  This year we've been introducing the amazing words on Monday. We define the words, act them out, use them in a sentence, and then sing them in a song.  The acting out of the words has really transformed this time as it gets the kids moving and really helps them to internalize the words.  By Thursday we each get our own version of the poem that we read and highlight amazing words in.  It's amazing to me how the kids remember these words weeks later when they find them in other texts.  Usually they act out the word when they find it and this tells me the acting out is a great edition to our word study time.  

  To ensure we're practicing and attempting to use these words each day of the week, I created this tree where we collect our amazing words.  The bananas play off the monkeys I have hanging in my Jungle themed classroom and the kids love adding the words each week.  

FIVE: Math Manipulatives

I may have a slight obsession with math manipulatives.  The Target dollar spot gets me every time... much to the dismay of the Mr.!!  This is just a sampling of what I have for the spring!!

Have a great weekend.. Don't forget to check out Doodle Bugs Teaching for more Five for Friday posts!