Olympics - Going for the Gold

Oh - the Olympics. I love the Olympic Games! 

Last time the Olympic Games came - we kept a super simple, but FUN interactive scoreboard. We'd change the score every morning to match what was happening in the Olympics. It's nothing fancy, but the kids loved it! 

I also LOVED this book - Olympig

SUCH a cute book!!

I've also done a Scholastic News articles - I keep them to use year to year. 

And then we do this fun little craft and writing from Kelly. 

I also got Gold medals from Amazon. 

I made these Gold Medal Student awards, which are also perfect to hand out for their character traits, too. Click HERE to download them for free. 

And of course, you can't end the Olympics without an edible torch! lol

I'm such a sucker for themes, I couldn't help myself! 

Hope you found some good ideas! 

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January Adult Book Review

This month, since school started back up, and I was back to being in the car a lot - plus on the dog walks, I got in a few more books than in December. lol 

And this month was filled with a bunch of great books!!

Let's take a look! 

The Broken Girls - my first book of 2022

I actually had no idea what this book was about when I saw the recommendation to read it. Didn't even read the review  

But I really liked it! It's a mystery book (as that's what the library says ). It toggled between 2 time lines. So in the end you see how it all comes together.

https://amzn.to/3FOxeLo

 

 

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Have you read it? What did you think? After reading some friends' reviews, it was either hit or miss, but I really liked it! It's been in my TBR list a long time, and I don't know why I never felt the need to read it. It was definitely different than what I thought it was going to be, but I really liked it! 

https://amzn.to/32aBfeJ

Local Woman Missing - Oh. Em. Geeee

This book kept me guessing until the very end and I couldn't put the book down. I mean, I had to, because #momlife  I actually recommended this book to my friend, who happens to be a Doula and teaches yoga (just like the main character) and she was like ummm... this is eerie! lol

If you like mysteries/thrillers, grab this one!

https://amzn.to/31Fxb5X

Aww - A Man Called Ove

I know I'm late to this book, but I'm so glad I finally got to read it.

I LOVED this book. I loved this old man, and found myself laughing at his old man grumpiness and his love for his wife (who had passed away, but still was very much a part of the story).

AND one of my followers just told me that she heard they were going to be making an American version of this move with TOM HANKS!!

Oh my goodness. That's be so good

https://amzn.to/3o1lQoH

Such a good book. I loved her "One Day in December" book, but I like this on even more.

Lydia loses her fiance in a car accident and basically ends up living two lives, one in reality, and one in her dreams.

I spent a lot of this book super emotional (I mean, I cry ALL THE TIME with commercials and movies, so this is no surprise lol)

I loved watching the main character grow and learn.

It's also a British book, which I love.

It's not a light hearted chick lit, but still a good book!

https://amzn.to/3K3WwYu 

Ok, I can't decide on this one.
On one hand I really liked it, but in the other hand... I just don't know. Maybe it was the style of writing?? But I liked the story line.. its actually kind of appropriate for today's dating world. She meets someone on a dating app - and things start happening!

Idk. Have you read it?? What did you think??

https://amzn.to/3fQUI7w

Our Woman in Moscow-

I didn't think I was a historical fiction book person, but Beatriz Williams keeps changing my mind...and she's becoming one of my go to authors! I really liked this one too. 
Another good book by her!!

https://amzn.to/3JY0MZp

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Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is almost here!

I love spending a few days on this tradition. It's such a fun holiday teach, filled with tons of rich culture. 

Typically, for our non-fiction reading/research, I like to use Scholastic News (and yes, I keep all of the year's sets so I have the theme when I need them to fit a theme or subject), ReadWorks.org, PebbleGo, and Reading A-Z. 

Here are a few activities we get to throughout the week. 

We make a dragon puppet - using popsicle sticks. It's great as a stand-alone activity, or I actually like to glue it to the top of the compare/contrast writing activity for a little added flare. 

Another fun activity we do - write about the Chinese New Year and glue it to a flap book with the dragon attached to the ends. You could also use the page without a title to do a Sam and the Lucky Money summary (or any book) 

Sam and the Lucky Money is one of my go-to books. It actually used to be a 2nd Grade story in the Reading series. I don't teach from the reading series, but it was one of the stories I actually did.

There's a really cute directed draw from Art Hub for Kids, too - a lantern. My kids always love doing those drawings. I'll post the link in our Google Classroom and it can be a center activity, the drawing to a writing response, OR maybe it's an option for morning "tubs" if they're finished with all their work. 

You can grab these activities (and some more!) in my Chinese New Year Mini-Unit. 

Another cute activity we do is with the book, The Panda Problem...just because. It's SUCH a cute book! It was a Florida Sunshine State book and I read it during this week and I fell in love with it! 

We did a directed draw from - yep, you guessed it - Art for Kids Hub, 

Then we did a little writing to go with it. You can download the free writing page HERE. 

Have a great Wednesday!

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Valentine's Writing Ideas

Every year - I change up what kind of Valentine's Day writing I do. I think it really just depends on the class I have, maybe??

Anyway - I wanted to put all of my past ideas in one post for you - so here you go! 

One of the things I do is to have them write about things they love about themselves! I really love doing this. You'd be amazed at how hard this is for them. 

I use the heart scrapbook punch to cut out various size hearts on various paper for a cute pop of color. 

I do make it a writing lesson too, of course. 

Another idea I've done is to have them create a Google Slide with a speech bubble. I take their picture, remove the background (thank you, PicsArt for doing all the work for me!) and then insert it into a google slide. I print them up and they can put it on the inside of a card for whoever they want to give it to. Parents, grandparents, whoever they live with. 

One of my favorite cards we make is this one - I let them watercolor paint whatever they want.  I take their picture and remove the background, print them up and glue them to the front of the card. I love using that heart hole puncher to make quick hearts! 

If they don't feel like blowing kisses, no biggie - they can pose however they want. I have a few other props they can use too. 

They can write a simple letter to glue on the inside of the card - 

I have some freebie letter templates - click the picture to download!

Here are a few other Valentine activities we love to do! 

Candy heart math is one of our favorites

And our Class Books - such a fun writing and they always want to read them throughout the year. 

And ELA and Math Centers - for Grade 1 and Grade 2

Hershey Kiss Similes 

One of the best centers - Label it and write about it!

And these Monthly Family projects are always fun to hang up in the room! 

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