Bushels of Apple Fun! (with Freebies)

Look at this SAD pathetic face!  It's the same ol' story every time my husband leaves for work trips.

I, on the other hand, am SO excited because I am on TRACKOUT!!!  Three weeks of fall vacation bliss!!!  We had three days this week and I wanted to keep my friends BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!

So I filled their three days with all things apple.  It was educational and rigorous of course.

Many of the apple activities I use I got from A Cupcake for the Teacher YEARS ago.

An oldie but a goodie.

The crafts always turn out so precious...

And she has some really good activities where you can collect and graph data.  This is a concept that we BARELY touch at the end of the year so I try to make sure I incorporate it as much as possible throughout the year.

We did an apple taste test and graphed the data (see above) and we completed this activity from Jessica at Wild About Firsties.

 I wished I had taken an after picture because they turned out so cute!

 Some of my friends had never tasted apple cider!!!  Oh the horror!!  This was something I felt I should expose them to!
So we did a little taste test and graphed the results. Educational.  Check.  Fun.  Check.
These were some of the graphs I did myself.

 As you can see, not many of them liked the cider :(

 I always have a leader directing the rest of the class on the overhead...

We also made homemade applesauce!  We watched a few videos of kids making homemade applesauce (on YouTube) and then I started the process.

 Then they wrote the ingredients and the steps of how to make the applesauce.

Oh man did it turn out delicious!

 We had some happy firsties wanting MORE!

 NOTE: Every time I have made apple sauce it has turned out disgusting!  The only reason it turned out so good this time is because I have a teacher's assistant that has been cooking for much longer than I have!

 Then we graphed whether we liked the homemade kind or not.  This was a definite yes!
*Please excuse the bottom of my chart...the laminating machine...that is all...

These were just SOME of the activities that I packed into three days!  I kept all their materials gathered and stapled in a little book.  Then they just pulled out their book when we got to the next activity.

You can get the applesauce and cider graphs for FREE HERE.
Get ready friends - October is HERE!

Adjectives Freebie!

I'm lucky enough that my county already has lesson plans already done for us.  Yeah, you heard right.  I click on writing, I click on the day and print.  So. easy.  The great thing about these plans is that they aren't ironclad.  They can be flexible.  

I came to the day in which I had to do a mini lesson about my students adding adjectives to their writing to make it more interesting...

Ummm...they had NO IDEA what an adjective was!!

So in true teacher style, I had to STOP and do a mini lesson on adjectives.

I found this poster on Pinterest.  I'm not a very good drawer.  Plus, it would have taken me forever to draw all the little pictures and doodles.  I got stressed just looking at it.

Way to go Cupcake for the Teacher...I applaud you.

  So I did what I do best: I printed.  and cut.  and glued.

(They loved the stinky feet!)

 And then of course, what would a lesson be without food?

We had a little taste test lesson...

 and wrote adjectives to describe the popcorn.

There was definitely an "OOOHHHHH....I GET IT!"  moment in the room.

But now we want to describe everything.

My job here is done.

Enjoy this FREEBIE in your own classroom!

Interactive Math Walls (Making the most of "calendar time")

We are required by our county to practice certain math skills EVERY DAY.  Good Lord!  Seriously! How are we supposed to cover these skills but keep it at 7 minutes!?!

I wanted my students to get as much as they could out of a VERY short amount of time.  So I created an interactive math wall that my students can use at their fingertips!

As you can see, this is a LOT for my students to cover in a very short amount of time.  BUT, we are in the seventh week of school and my students are FLYING through these activities.  They are learning more and more as we progress through the year and they are growing their number sense by the day!  

What kinds of things do y'all do for calendar time?