Five for Friday

Well, it's a Friday post, so you know the drill... um... at least, I hope you do.  I'm going to link up with Doodle Bugs Five for Friday linky party.  I'm also going to link up to Freebie Friday at Teacher Blog Addict since I have some new freebies for you.

#1 - St. Patrick's Day

I was going to do these tasks with my kids this week, but things got away from us.  Well, they didn't really get away.  I realized that we still needed to get a few more assessments in before the our quarter ended, so now we are doing these activities Monday, especially since I promised my kids that we would do something fun on Monday and they wouldn't take ANY tests.  Do you ever feel like you test more and teach less the closer you get to April?  

 Anyway, here are some of the activities we will be doing.  I made sure I included pictures of the counters we'll be using and the packet.  My kids LOVE it when I run their papers on random colors :)  I'm going to place all the tasks around the room and then let my kids pick what they want to do.  There will be two rules.  One, there can only be two people at a task at a time.  Two, they can't switch until the timer goes off.  This way all the mass chaos will happen at once.

Even though these were made for St. Patrick's Day, they would be fun to do any time of the year.  If you are interested, click on any of the St. Patrick's Day pictures and it will take you to this item in my store.  If you don't have time for centers, but you want to do something fun, I also have St. Patrick's Day printables.

#2 - Dr. Seuss

Okay, so I know A LOT of teachers love Seuss and a lot dislike him.  I've wavered a little on my feelings the last few weeks.  When you start understanding copyright and trademarks, it can make you feel a little worn out on a topic.  Here's the conclusion I came to for me.  I've always enjoyed the books and my kids have always liked the books.  They are goofy, silly, and sometimes do not make sense at all, but they are some of their favorites.  Plus, honestly, there are LOTS of cute activities to do and you can do them and stay within rules.  It just will never be something I give away or make money doing which is fine because there are 100,000 other things I can do.  

So, last week we did a Cat in the Hat craftivity.  I found the idea for the craft on KINDERGARTEN KHRONICLES and slightly adjusted it for my kids.  Then,  I got the paper from Party City.  The paper I bought didn't have handwriting lines, so I made my own lines and transferred them onto the paper.  We read five or six Dr. Seuss books and then the kids wrote book reports.  It went great and it was one of the best writings I've seen from ALL of my students this year.  They did the craft one day and the rough drafts/final drafts another day.  It went great!

#3 - Easter Freebies

Since I created a St. Patrick's Day Printables Packet and a Spring Printables Packet, I skipped Easter, so for the next few weeks I will be making a few Easter printables.  Here's my first round.  If you like them, then click on the pictures to download them.  

#4 - Laptop Protection

So, my biggest fear is having my laptop stolen or dropping my laptop and it breaking, so I decided to solve problem #2 last week.  Mom and Dad, this is what part of my birthday money bought me.  A nice, tough case!  

#5 - Blog

I haven't decided when, but I've decided that I want to redesign my blog.  I am pretty certain I found a packet I love, so once I hit April, I'm going to grab a designer and let them go to town.  I'm pretty certain that I know exactly what I want, so I may do it in Power Point and then send it to whoever helps me out.  I've loved this design, but I'm ready for some new colors :)  Stay tuned...

Alright, hope you guys have a Fantabulous Friday!  Definitely check my blog tomorrow night.  I'm working on an Easter Top 10 and I already have some AWESOME freebies I have found!