Five for Friday: May Already??

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

This was our first week back from an 11 day Spring Break and we had a lot to do as the calendar changed to May!  Here are some highlights from our week!  

ONE: Mother's Day

At the beginning of our week and a half long spring break I had all my plans finalized and then I realized the week we go back was the week we needed to create Mother's Day gifts!   So I cut out some of the plans I had ready so we could make these vases for Mother's Day.  I found the vases at the Dollar Tree for $1 each... such a steal.  I had paint left over from our vases last year so this gift only cost me $23 plus a few bucks for tissue paper to wrap them up.  All in all not a ton of money and such a cute gift for the moms in our class!!  

TWO: Fairy Tales

We began a unit on fairy tales this week and the kids are hooked!  I decorated the classroom door so my kiddos walked into an "enchanted castle" and they were so excited to begin.  I also made these crowns and princess hats that we can wear when we read fairy tales.  I can't wait to see what next week brings as we read Rapunzel and the Frog Prince!

  THREE: Spy Missions

Just prior to our spring break my kiddos were kind of over our math tub games and the independent work they were completing each day during our math workshop block.  So I knew I needed to think of something to get them engaged again because we still have two months of school left!!  

I created these math mission folders and we had a whole math workshop block dedicated to "math missions" they needed to complete to become spies!!  This captured their attention right away!!  Now they're so excited to get out their independent "Math Mission" folders every day.  They can't wait to tell me how many "Missions" they've competed by the end of the week and they're so motivated to do better each day and week!   

 FOUR: Nonfiction Writing 

I feel like the nonfiction chapter books have been being published for days!! I'm so glad my kiddos have enjoyed writing these chapter books and we worked hard this week to edit them but we need to finish them on Monday!  This kiddo wrote a ton about US symbols... can't wait to read it!

FIVE: Spring Break Challenge 

Because we had such a long spring break this year (11 days) I sent home s short packet of work as an optional assignment to do over the break.  I was so pleased when we returned on Monday to learn that 20 of my 23 kiddos did the assignment.  So proud of my hard workers.  I decided to have my kiddos back for an ice cream party to celebrate all their hard work!

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