Friday Flashback Linky: Tough Lessons

Whew!  We're headed out to dinner tonight and boy do I need it!  This has been a tough week.  My sweet, sweet class seems to have come down with a sudden case of the "sibling syndrome."  This is what I call it when your class has been together so long that they begin acting like siblings.

You know.  Annoying each other.  Arguing.  Bickering.  Tattling.

Yi -Yi -Yi!  It is TOO EARLY in the year for this to start, so I have had to nip it this week!

Yep, we also had to have the talk about fun learning activities being a privilege and how we don't HAVE to learn in fun ways if we can't handle it.  {sad face}  Yep, they learned this the TOUGH way yesterday!  The fun activities went away and they were in for a shock!  Today was much better though! ;)

With that being said, I'm surprised I have anything that resembles a fun learning activity to share this week, but I'll give it a try!

Social Studies
We began learning about the regions of the U.S. this week.  I absolutely LOVE teaching this unit and making our scrapbooks of our travels!

This week we visited the Northeast Region!  Here's a sample of one of the scrapbooks...
Our instruction is led by a PowerPoint and we travel to different states to learn about the region the first four days of the week.  Then on Friday, we sum up our learning with the "snapshots" page and have a lil "celebration."  This week we had will have a tasting of ice cream + syrup and pickles + syrup which is a tradition in Vermont where they produce TONS of maple syrup.  

Writing
We've been working on memoirs this week.  Most of them are inspired by Patricia Polacco books....I'm working on a new bundle for this unit, but here are a couple of our activities so far.
First of all, we started out by creating our own "Keeping Quilt" to keep special memories that we might want to write about during this unit.  Here's a sample....
They can all be displayed side-by-side to create a HUGE classroom quilt of memories.  

Then, we read Some Birthday and students wrote about a special birthday memory of their own!  We displayed them in these cute little "gifts."
I'm crossing my fingers that I can get this unit finished this weekend so I can share it with ya! :)

Reading
I didn't snap any pictures of our Fable Puppet show practices, but I'll  definitely snap some next week!  Then we'll be starting Tall Tales {MY FAVORITE!!!!} and I'm working on a new Tall Tale Craftivity pack, too!!  Here's a little sneak peak...he's still in the works, but I plan to have a craft for all of the characters we study.  Do you study Tall Tales?  If so, who is your favorite??  I LOVE Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind Crockett and Swamp Angel!
Link up to share a bit about your week with us!




16 comments

  1. Sorry you had a rough week! Your Some Birthday board is very cute! I also {heart} your Paul Bunyan, I used to live where "he was from", so his Tall Tale is my favorite :)

    Jess

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  2. Ugh, I always find that students start that "sibling syndrome" around March. You are right - it's too early!
    Love you Tall Tales packet! We study Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed, John Henry, and one more. I'm just drawing a blank!`

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  3. It must be going around!! We had similar talks all week and mine did lose fun math workshop stuff this week and were given a packet instead while I pulled groups. :( (Which I HATE buuuuut they couldn't handle it!) I'm really hoping we can actually handle the fun Valentine's Day stuff next week!!
    Jessica
    ideas by jivey

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  4. I love that birthday present bulletin board. Hope your kiddos are back on track next week! Enjoy your dinner!

    Looking From Third to Fourth

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  5. It is DEFINITELY going around. I have never heard SUCH tattling from this group as I have this week. OY VEY! :) I was SO glad to have a snow day this week. LOL!
    Jean
    Diving Into 2nd Grade

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  6. Ok, are we teaching the same class or something?? My kids went through that this week too! I've been driving me nuts. They calm down and then the next thing I know another one is tattling on another. We've had many chats this week about being respectful and kind of each other. Plus our weather has been wacky here in AZ and we threw in serious testing this week. Yikes!
    Maribel
    Learning In Wonderland

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  7. Sorry that your week didn't go so well. I love using Powerpoint to "travel" to different places with my students. They get a kick out of it!

    Sara :)
    Smiling In Second Grade

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  8. Awww, you had lots of fun stuff to share! We all have those weeks! Ugh! I'm not looking forward to when Spring Fever strikes!! ;O)

    Amanda
    Collaboration Cuties

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  9. Sibling Syndrome- I like it! My kiddos all have a bad case of this lately! I hope both our classes get over this soon!

    Kimberly Ann
    Live, Laugh, I love Kindergarten

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  10. In the middle school where I work, our students are tracked together all day long. The result is 25 hormonal and dramatic teenagers in the same class from 7:15-2:35. Sibling Syndrome is exactly what we have been experiencing in my classes as well.

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  11. Hi Amanda! Thanks for hosting this fun linky once again - I LOVE your crafty ideas this week, especially the quilts and birthday present stories; those are too cute!

    Have a wonderful weekend!
    ~Jessica
    Joy in the Journey

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  12. My class had terrible "sibling syndrome" last year when we looped together. Good luck dealing with that! I love your keeping quilt activity :)

    Danielle
    Carolina Teacher

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  13. I thought it was just karma for all the arguing my sister and I did when we were younger! :) It drives me crazy too-I mean when you start arguing over wanting to be the last person in line, come on!

    NotJustChild'sPlay

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  14. LOVE the birthday memory bulletin board! Thanks for hosting-it's my first time linking up. I'm a day late, but already planning for next week!
    Joanne
    Head Over Heels For Teaching

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  15. Hello,
    I was curious about your U.S. Region power point. Is this something you created?

    cmansfield8259@uvaldecisd.net

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    Replies
    1. Yes, I created them for the 4 regions I teach - Northeast, South, Midwest, West - and they can be found in my U.S. Regions unit (Teacher's Clubhouse on TpT).

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