Five for Friday - Cinco de Mayo

Happy Friday y'all!  This week seemed to fly by which is always a plus!  I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for another Five for Friday!  Here are some highlights from our week! 

ONE: Scrabble

We still have two more months of school here in upstate New York and I'm trying anything and everything to keep my kiddos engaged and focused!  This week and last week as well we've been playing a scrabble game with our spelling words.  Once the kids saw how the game worked and how they could use existing letters on the board to build new words they were hooked and challenging each other to build larger words.

As you can see in the picture we've been working on the OO pattern. Instead of using two O cards I've created cards with the pattern that we're working on but we could have just as easily used two O cards.  

Teacher confession... I only copied and laminated one set of cards so we've been playing the game whole group.  Honestly, I didn't want to put a ton of time into this if it wasn't something that would work or the kids weren't into it.  This weekend I'd like to prep two more sets of cards so next week I can split my kiddos into three groups so they can independently play their own games!

I also created a recording sheet to go with the game as a way to hold all the kids accountable.  I don't let a team build the word on the board until everyone on their team has the word spelled correctly.  This keeps ALL the kids engaged and promotes teamwork as the kids are "coaching" each other towards the right answer rather than "telling" them the answer.  My kiddos know I'll take points away or at the very least take away a turn if they give away an answer!  

TWO: Main Idea

We've been hard at work over the last few weeks tackling main idea.  This is always a challenging skill for me to teach and this year has been no exception.  I wanted to create a fun way to apply what we've learned about main idea and I felt it was time to see if the kiddos could figure out the main idea of short passages that I created.  

I decided to give the passages a doctor/health vibe and we ran with it... creating "patient files" in which the kids needed to figure out what the main idea of each short passage was.  For this task I had cards that listed details and some possible main ideas... the kids just needed to read the passage and figure out which cards went with their particular passage.  Next week we'll move on to have them come up with their own main ideas... baby steps people!!

  The doctor hats, surgical gloves, white tablecloths, and heart monitor sound file created a great buzz in the classroom and the kids loved it!  

THREE: Math Games

We've been working hard on regrouping over the last few weeks and I wanted a fun way for my kiddos to get some review before our test.  This week we played a large checker game in which each piece was labeled with a number.  The number corresponded to a board with several number sentences that needed to be solved.  This served as a great review for our test and was far more engaging than a worksheet would ever be!

We also played a game of Hungry Hungry Hippos to review regrouping and adding two-digit numbers.  Of course, the amazing Hope King shared this idea on her blog some time back and I've been itching to buy the ball pit balls for my classroom.  I finally caved a few weeks ago and picked up a bag from Walmart for $13.  We didn't play the game quite like her kiddos did, but nonetheless, my kids still loved the game.

We donned our safari explorer hats and pretended we were zookeepers in charge of feeding the hippos.  Each team, I had 6 teams, was tasked with collecting two balls of each color.  When they collected one ball they had two addition or subtraction problems to answer correctly. If they answered correctly they were able to keep the food for their hippo.  If they didn't answer correctly they got one chance to make a correction before the ball needed to go back and they needed to move on to another color.  

My kids did a fantastic job on the number sentences and word problems.  Once again a great review that kept the kids engaged and loving our math block!

FOUR: Morning Tubs

I cannot say enough good things about morning tubs.  We do these tubs three days a week and I am in LOVE!  It's a great time for the kids to use their imagination and work with students that they might not otherwise work with that often.

Here I had some kiddos created trees from Minecraft.  Another student brought in a stuffed animal and asked if she could make a cage for it using Lincoln Logs... of course... how precious!  I also had a student build his name and then sight words using the BrainFlakes pieces!  So fun to see their little minds at work!!

FIVE: New Coffee Maker

I've been on the look out for a new coffee maker.  I'm one of those coffee drinkers that drinks their coffee for an hour... or more some days.  I'd rather enjoy my cup of joe in the morning.  That being said I've gotten tired of bringing coffee to school each day and drinking it ice cold.  The coffee that I've been making at home never seems to be hot... even right after it brews!!  So that coupled with the fact that I'm trying to drink it for the next hour or so has not been good... first world problems I know!    

Pardon my reflection in the picture!

But anywho...enter in the two-part solution... a coffee percolator and a Yeti travel mug!  This percolator makes a GREAT cup of coffee and I'm picky about my coffee and I can say I LOVE the coffee it makes.  It also makes it HOT and keeps it HOT if it stays plugged in!  Best part it was only $37 dollars on Amazon.  No fancy coffee makers for this girl, just a $37 old-fashioned percolator is all I need! 

To ensure my coffee stays extra hot I spent another $30 on a Yeti travel mug.  I'm a believer... the coffee does stay hot in it and it stays hot for much longer!  Coffee dilemma solved for this week!  Now I'm trying to perfect a cold brew that I can make at home for the summer!  We teachers sure do love coffee!!

Enjoy your weekend and don't forget to check out Doodle Bugs Teaching for more Five for Friday posts!