Friday Flashback Linky: Geometry, Biographies & Weather

Happy Friday, friends!!  Today was a teacher workday for me and I had GRAND plans.  I mean GRAND plans.  But, of course, I wasted the day away chit-chatting. What can I say?  How often do we have a chance to gab with our teaching buddies?  It's rare, I tell ya!  We did move the chit-chatting to our favorite little Mexican restaurant for lunch.  That was productive, right?  Oh wait - after lunch we actually did get SOMETHING accomplished!  We decided to submit some proposals to teach workshops at our district's Summer Academy.  I used to teach LOTS of workshops (over 100 hours per year!!) and, frankly, got burned out.  After taking a couple of years off, I'm ready to teach some again!  I love sharing ideas with other teachers...especially in my own district.  We submitted proposals for about 8 workshops, so we'll see!! :)

Although it was a short week for the kiddos, we were super busy!  On Monday, we had a hot cocoa party to celebrate that our class reached its AR goal for this quarter.  I took my crockpot to school and we made the cocoa using this recipe that I found on Pinterest.  DEE-LISH!  My teaching neighbor said it was the BEST cocoa she had ever tasted and my kiddos agreed!
Of course, I had to make the party a little educational, so we did practice our similes that we've been working on in our descriptive writing unit.
LOVE their similes!  One student even put, "My mug is as beautiful as Mrs. Madden." {I heart these kids.}

We wrapped up our Geometry unit this week by learning how to "partition" {yes, that is the term used on our district assessment} rectangles into rows and columns.  Now, multiplication is no longer in our standards, but I have been working on this with my little nuggets.  They want to know how to multiply sooooo bad and it will show up on their MAP testing, so I figured I would throw it in there.

To give them LOTS of practice drawing their own arrays, we created these little suns.  Just a spur of the moment idea that gave them LOTS of practice drawing their own rows and columns.  They NAILED IT on our test yesterday!  WhooHoo!
I told them how many rows I wanted them to put on each ray, but they got to choose the number of columns and then they wrote their multiplication sentences (which we read as 6 "rows of" 5 is 30).

In weather, we worked on clouds and weather tools this week.  Here's a little cloud activity we did...
It's very simple, but effective in helping them remember the cloud types.  We really focus on those sounds (soft c=cirrus/ice, hard c=cumulus/cotton, str=stratus/stretch).  We also sing this song...which I'm sure I totally destroy since I have no tune, but they love it!
(click the pic to grab a copy of this song to use with your class)

And, finally, students started putting together their bio-buddies this week!!  They turned out so stinkin' cute!!!!!!!!!!!  I can NOT wait until our Living Museum next week....always one of my favorite activities of the year! :)

 Right now, I'm headed to watch a little Homeland....my husband has been watching this since season 1 and has convinced me to get on board!  I'll be back soon and hope you'll link up below so I can see what happened in YOUR classroom this week!

 

13 comments

  1. Oh my gosh, as beautiful as Mrs. Madden...too cute! Chitchatting, teachers, and Mexican restaurants just go hand in hand! This the M.O. with my teacher friends and me as well! Sometimes when I want to get a lot of work done at school I put on facebook that I am going in and not to stop by room...as I have no self control. Haha!
    Jean
    Diving Into 2nd Grade

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  2. Can't wait for that bio unit!

    I love the poem. Thanks for posting it here! Hot chocolate in a croc pot? Genius! So glad you shared this because I have been looking for a way to do this without having to microwave 20+ cups of milk!

    Thanks for hosting this link:)

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  3. Thanks for hosting the Linky!!

    We do clouds in 4th as well! Thank you for sharing the poem! I'll have to file it away for next year!

    I think we are going to do a hot cocoa party soon so I'll have to get that recipe. I love that you did similes with it! We are in the middle of poetry right now so that will be perfect!

    Thanks!
    Amanda
    Collaboration Cuties

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  4. Just linked up! LOVE this linky! Thanks for hosting! :)

    Lindsay
    Primary Polka Dots

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  5. I'm in love with you activities. Can I be in your class!? My 4th graders just earned a behavior reward and I think crockpot hot chocolate would be a perfect idea! Thanks fr the thought, I will check out that recipe! Have a great weekend!

    Pinkadots Elementary

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  6. I may be a little biased, but I can't wait to see your name on the Summer Academy list. ;-) A hot cocoa party sounds like so much fun!

    Jeannie
    The 2nd Grade Surprise

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  7. Thanks for hosting this linky! I laughed when I saw you had grand plans but talked the day away instead. That sounds like me! Adult interaction with other teachers can be so therapeutic though!
    Erin
    Sample’s Superstars

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  8. If I had something of substance to post I would! Sick all week! I love teaching weather. We are getting ready to sart and I even sign a water cycle song! bless their little ears!
    Rachel

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  9. I like how your hot cocoa writing turned out!

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  11. Thanks so much for hosting another Friday Flashback, Amanda!

    I love your cloud activity! We are currently studying weather, as well and will be making cloud books this week. They're prepped and ready to go, but I like yours so much better I may have to scrap it! We had a fun weather event this week....our local new channel came and did their broadcast with all of our second graders!

    It's so fun to see all of the wonderful ideas and activities you do with your class. Thank you for being such an inspiration!
    Linda
    AroundtheKampfire

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  12. the poem seems to fit perfectly to the tune of 'when the saints go marching in' :)

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