Queen for a Day

Today I got to dress up like a Queen!


We have had THE BEST time in Math this week.  

To start off, I had an AMAZING substitute yesterday who really helped set the whole stage for this impromptu lesson.  We are in the beginning of our measure unit.  To start off, she told them that she was going to read them the story of a king who wants his apprentice to make a bed for his queen.  They discussed questions the apprentice would have to answer in order to be able to make the bed.  Then she read them the book, How Big Is a Foot?   

From Amazon:  "The King wants to give the Queen something special for her birthday. The Queen has everything, everything except a bed. The trouble is that no one in the Kingdom knows the answer to a very important question: How Big is a Bed? because beds at the time had not yet been invented. The Queen's birthday is only a few days away. How can they figure out what size the bed should be?"

After reading the book, they discussed the importance of using feet (as in the body part) versus using the standard units of measurement.  She then told them that they were going to attempt to make a bed fit for QUEEN VAN ORMAN.  They worked in small groups using a 12 inch ruler.  They were told to create a bed that is 6 feet long and 3 feet wide.  When they were finished, they decorated their beds and hung them on the walls.  












I LOVED the decorations!  A couple of the groups did an AMAZING job coloring and decorating their beds to match my taste.  They know I love chevron, so they tried to draw it.  

not birds - HA!

So sweet!

My substitute also left me this adorable note in order to finish up the lesson the next day.  

Today, when I was back at school, I pulled out my Dollar Tree Royal Crown, Earrings, Scarves, and Glasses and got my Royal Ruler ready to inspect their beds!  


Two of the groups made PERFECT beds for me!  The others were close, but it led us to some great conversation on how we line up rulers, why it's important to know about different tools of measurement (ruler/yardstick/measuring tape), appropriate times for standard/non-standard units of measurement, etc.  

It really was the best day ever!
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LOVE is all you need!

We had a blast celebrating Valentine's Day yesterday!  Like I mentioned earlier, it is definitely my favorite holiday to celebrate at school, and I loved every minute of it! 
 
We started the day with reading centers.  I chose 5 activities from Amy's Valentine's Day Pack and Hi, Valentine pack. 
 
I Adore ABC Order

 
Making Words Sweet




This little boy was SO adorable while playing this game!  :)
 
Special Sentences


 
Cute Contractions



 
Stay Sweet Compound Words

 
During our reading intervention block, we went on a Valentine Scoot for prefixes and suffixes.
Check it out here.
 
Everything is more fun when you draw hearts around it.  :) 
 

 
 
In computers, I showed them some of the fun Valentine's Day games on Starfall and Abcya.  Then I let them play whatever they wanted.  It was the best computer time all year! 



 
For math, we did the typical conversation hearts activities.  We had just finished our graphing unit, so I was happy to review all the types of graphs in a fun and delicious way!  Well, the kids think they're delicious.  To me, Jimmy Fallon said it perfectly.
 
 I made up my own Valentine's Day graphing activity to incorporate tally charts, picture graphs, bar graphs, and line plots. 
 
You can check it out here
 




 
 One of my parents brought in some pink paint chips, so I had my classroom aide cut out some hearts and then spontaneously decided to have my class write a Valentine's Day note to another teacher at our school.  I let them decorate and design their cards however they wanted, and write whatever they wanted.  I totally let them have control.  It was SO not like me!  But they loved it, and ended up writing some very sweet notes.  One teacher told me after school that the note she received was exactly what she needed to hear after a rough week.  Made her day, which then made my day.  :) 
 






  
Finally, the time had come for us to look at our Valentines!!  We made Love Monsters from The Teacher Wife last week to hold their Valentines in.  I let them pass out Valentines throughout the week, so we didn't waste any time or chaos doing that. 

 
I passed out my Valentines. 
 
This year I bought them highlighters and attached this note
 
Then, I passed out their bags and they spent the rest of the day assembling their books.  I started having them make Valentine books my first year, and I will never stop.  I love it!  I stapled the cover to about 4 or 5 pages of blank paper.  I told them to take one Valentine out of their bags at a time, read who it was from, write their name, and glue it down.  I made a front cover last year, but of course wanted a new one this year.  Click here to download it.  The poem is from Rachelle.  :) 
 





 
Before I sent them home to their families, all sugared up, I told them all about the very serious, LOVE POX.  I love this idea from The Teacher Wife.   I spread my Love Pox to them by giving them a high five or a hug.  After they left school, they were supposed to spread their Love Pox by doing the same. 
 















 
 It was a day FULL of love, happiness, and fun!
Happy Valentine's Day!
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