Monster Fun

One of my sweet co-workers told me today that she wished she had done her internship with me and that I was her hero.  I don't think she realizes how her words touched my heart.  Thanks, Gwen!  ;0)


So back in August, I was shopping and saw these cute tissue boxes:

You've seen these, right (actually, I hadn't seen the black ones until this picture - I had the orange and yellow and a blue one)?  Anyhoo,  I finally used up the tissues in one and was going to throw it away when I thought, "you know - these are really too cute to throw away!" 

So...what's a teacher to do?  Why, make a game with them, of course!  I haven't made it yet because I only have 2 of them, but I'm thinking some kind of monster sort for Halloween.  Kids can sort pictures according to vowels, math facts, etc.  I thought maybe you could use this idea.  Plus, if you give me some ideas on how you would use these, I promise to make some game pieces, pictures, etc. for you to use.  Just let me know what you're thinkin!

Where in the World?

Before I tell you about my wonderful surprise weekend, I just wanted to share with you a cool activity I did with my strongest readers last week.  We were talking about nonfiction text features, specifically labels.  Because we were learning about bats last week, I decided to incorporate that into our small group lesson.  I took 3 pages from this book:

and covered up some of the labels on those pages (see below):

I then copied it for my highest readers.  We read the text on the pages together and then we discussed how to go back into the text to find the words and information that would help us complete the labels.  The kids did really well with this activity and it helped to reinforce the idea of going back in the text to find information.  The cool thing is that this activity can be done with any nonfiction books.  Not only could you white out or cover up existing labels, but you could add your own boxes for the students to label a picture. 

 

Now, on to the fun!  Sorry it's taken me so long to post pictures from the romantic weekend.  Rather than just telling you where we went, I thought it might be fun for you to guess.  Here's some pictures from our weekend:

We saw beautiful plantation houses

Some old homes in town

That's me and my hubby

Some beautiful interiors

Gorgeous gardens

Even the Moon Pie store!

It's beautiful at night

Yep, we took a ghost tour!

 

So...do you know where we went??????  Leave me a comment with your guess!

Just for fun and a surprise weekend...

My hubby surprised me earlier this week by telling me that he has planned a romantic weekend for us this weekend.  He arranged a babysitter for the kids and even arranged for someone to teach my Sunday school class.  The only kicker - he won't tell me where we're going!  Don't worry - I'll let you know next week when we get back.  And yes, there'll be lots of pics too!

In case you had as rough a week as I did, here's a little laugh.  Check out the explanation for the problem at the bottom of the page:

And that is why I love teaching firsties!