Favorite Day of the Year

Happy Easter,

Where did Spring Break Go?

I do not know how it happened....but it is Saturday of Spring Break.  Two more days and it is back to super early mornings (and the end of my pajama marathon). I went to the beach, quick visit to my aunt's, in Medford, and read a few books.  Oh and I watched all of Downton Abbey, season three.  Now I am trying to get caught up on blog reading and responding.

But I leave it with a couple of gems I can across this week:
This cracked me up....not going to lie, I have watched it at least 10 times.  (Click the pic to get to the video.)

Jimmy Fallon cracks me up!  If you are a Downton Abbey fan, you must look up Downton Sixbey.  Jimmy Fallon's take on the hit show.

Easter is my favorite!  All the kids in their Easter outfits are adorable!  Can't wait for church tomorrow.

Happy Saturday,

Some State Testing and Some Science

The sad part of the day.....
door closed-students all apart-state testing

I duct taped the door jam so we wouldn't be distracted if people came and went...I encourage movement breaks...just not in the room:-)

Just a note to let everyone know to stay out...I taped this on top of the doorknob.

Sustenance for all involved!

The better part of the day....
My Chickadeees are SO into their non-fiction books.  I am loving how hard they are working!  Even the off-task ones haven't needed reminders.

 We ended the day with some science.  We defined germination and the parts of a plant.

a diagram to add to our lap book

Then we used our bodies to show what each stage of a plant might be expressed.

germination...note the tiny leaves

seed

Then I sent four students in the hall and told them to each pick one stage of a flower.   Then told them to come back in, out of order.

 Another student had to direct them back into the correct plant growing order.

Happy Tuesday,

Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3

My 3rd graders are starting the reading portion of the state test this week.  We have been working on lot of test taking strategies.  More importantly, I have been working on ways to prop them up!  Half of the work is knowing you can do and not stressing out.  I posted about some of the ways I try to encourage students once before.  You can check it out here.  Parents are sending in encouraging letters for students to read before they begin.

This year, I had my 2nd graders do some work to encourage their 3rd grade friends.  I told them it was a secret project and explained a bit about the test the third graders were going to be taking.  Then when parent volunteers were at school, they took 2nd graders into the hall and worked on the "Secret" project.  My 2nd graders were loving getting to have more info. than the 3rd graders:-)

First each 2nd grader picked a 3rd grader and made them a water bottle label.

Then in a big group, they all made a giant poster....it will be so useful in covering up some of our not-allowed anchor charts:-)

Love that they tried to make both Duck and Beaver fans happy in their color choice.

What do you all do for the ridiculousness of standardized testing?  For more ideas check out this linky party.

Happy Sunday,

Pretty Pastels

Sunflowers are my favorite and oil pastels are messy....everyone wins with this project! 
Three instructions only:
1)  Draw a sunflower from any point of view.
2)  Petals must be sunflower-ish, but the middle was all up to them.
3)  The original pink color of paper should be showing through...most of them loved this because they didn't like that pink paper color.  It encouraged coloring all the space and layering and blending the pastels along the way.  This was also very difficult for some of my Chickadees...but overall I am loving them. 

The oil pastels are so blended the one looks painted.

Happy Friday

Pansy Dissection

More dissecting today.  This time a flower.  We had lots of fun finding all the parts. 

Cleaning table before cleaning up plant parts....

Then each group had to choose one part that we are going to replant for our science inquiry project.

That's all for today.  Now off to the annual staff vs. student basketball game.
Happy Thursday,