Sommer's Lion Pride

Storybook Sunday - The Mitten by Jan Brett

I am linking up again with Paula's Place for her Storybook Sunday feature!

We wrapped up our unit on Weather last week and one of the highlights was reading and reenacting The Mitten by Jan Brett.

This book is a beautifully illustrated retelling of the Ukranian folktale. After a young boy drops one of his mittens in the snow, forest animals come one by one to squeeze in the mitten to stay warm.

If you haven't checked out the website for the author and illustrator, Jan Brett, you are missing out! She has many resources that are perfect to use in your classroom!

I printed up the masks that I found on the website. They are fantastic!

And then we performed our version of The Mitten! The students had great fun! And it got them up and moving while interacting with the story!

Here are the actors squeezing into the mitten! We performed our play a couple of times so that everyone in the class could participate.

Next time you read a story, bring it to life!

Happy Reading,

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Brrr....another Popcorn Blizzard!!!

Last year my students loved imagining and writing about what they would do in a popcorn blizzard! You can read the post from last year HERE!

So I decided to do it again this year!

It is the story of Paul Bunyan and his lumberjack crew. The weather was soooooo hot one summer that the corn popped right off the cobs! Popcorn covered the ground. The men believed that it was snowing, so they began to play in the popcorn snow!

Here is some of the writing from my class.

"I would make a popcorn castle."

"I would eat the popcorn."

"I would make a snow castle."

"I would slide down the popcorn."

"I would make a snow angel."

"I would get buried in popcorn."

So what would you do in a popcorn blizzard?!?!?!

Storybook Sunday - If by Sarah Perry

After a few busy weeks at school and a weekend trip to see my daughter play some softball games at ASU, I am enjoying my three day weekend at home!

Today I am linking up with Paula at Paula's Place for her Storybook Sunday linky!

When I was teaching 2nd grade, each year we did a unit on imagination. I was introduced to the book If by Sarah Perry during a district training. I immediately purchased the book and read it to my students. They loved the colorful and imaginative illustrations and I know that you will too!

Here are a few of the fantastic illustrations! You can see why a bunch of 2nd graders would go crazy over this book - imaginative and a bit disgusting!

If worms had wheels...

If zebras had stars and stripes...

If caterpillars were toothpaste...

After reading the book, I had each student create their own page for our class book using the same pattern as the book If. The student were able to really be creative in their imaginative thoughts and illustrations!

Imagination is the highest kite one can fly. ~Author Unknown

Happy Reading,

A Bucket Filling Snack! {and freebie}

We are very enthusiastic bucket fillers in our class! And on our 100th day of school today, I decided that we should celebrate 100 days of bucket filling with a fun and healthy snack!

Here are the directions for you!

I prepped the cups last night. You will need flexible plastic cups (I used 9 oz. size), hole punch, chenille stem (pipe cleaners), and a permanent marker. Begin by punching two holes across from each other at the top of the cup. Attach the chenille stem to make a handle. Draw a cute face on the front of the cup with the marker.

Then it is time to fill it with goodness!

We used vanilla yogurt colored with blue food coloring, strawberries, blueberries, and bananas.

Each student was able to cut up their fruit (with a plastic knife) and then put in on their yogurt. Then it was time to eat!

And now for the freebie!

Each day since the first day of school, I had the student helper of the day complete a bucket filling sheet. I have the student draw a picture of three things that they did to fill a bucket. You can also have them add the number for the day of school at the top.

Today, on the 100th day, we compiled our class book 100 Days of Bucket Filling!

Click on the picture to get your freebie!

New Collaborative Blog Post

I recently mentioned that I am part of a new collaborative blog called Who's Who and Who's New! Well, today I published my first post over there!

Head over and learn about The Power of Graphic Organizers!

Five for Friday {1-17-14}

I'm linking up again with Doodle Bugs Teaching! It's Friday and that means it's time for Kacey's weekly linky!

Here is a little peek into my classroom this week!

We have had some HOT days here in Southern California this week. Here is what our weather chart looked like all week! We have been in the 80's for the whole week! HOT and SUNNY!

I'm hoping for a cool down! I mean it IS January!

Finally found a solution for my Bucket Filling wall. This wall changes temperature like the weather outside. I started the year using Stikki Clips, which I love. But they were not strong enough to hold the metal buckets. When the wall got too warm or too cold, the buckets started popping off and spilling pompoms all over the floor!

After trying a few other options, that did not work, I found out that I could use my staple gun on the wall. So I stapled some felt to the wall and attached the buckets to the felt with safety pins! Fingers crossed that this will last the rest of the year. My kiddos love to fill buckets!

I let my kiddos pick their table names. I give them some time to discuss choices with their table mates and they all have to agree! This is what they came up with this time around!

I try to create a story map with most of the stories that I read in class. This story map covers standard RL.K.3 - with prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.