Five for Fraturday

IT'S THE WEEKEND! So I'm linking up late to Five for Friday

Sometimes life weaves into your lessons so perfectly, it creates better learning than you ever could have imagined. With my organized and driven personality, my lesson plans are very detailed, but I am also a firm believer that when those precious teachable moments present themselves you RUN with them! 

This was one of those times! Our novel study is The Lemonade War, which is just perfect for our standards and kids. Aside from that we were also reading a read aloud called Love That Dog by Sharon Creech. On the same day a few Fridays ago, they both brought up the topic of animal rescues. The kids were very interested in this topic so we stemmed off and had a quick conversation about it before lunch. Then it got even better, while grabbing stuff out of my mailbox I saw the cover story of our local paper was about Maverick a paralyzed dog that had been saved by a local animal rescue. I grabbed all the copies they had and brought them back to the classroom so the kids could check them out if they wanted after their quiz that afternoon. 

It just snowballed from there. They were really interested in helping out Maverick and the local rescue so we emailed Heidi the owner and asked what we could do. She is such an amazing person, and is bringing Maverick in to talk with the kids about how they can help and all about her job. The kiddos got to work right away and have started a school wide pet supply donation drive, penny wars competition, and are selling lemonade at a school function (just like the book) all to raise donations and funds to surprise Heidi and Maverick! 

We have 17 days of school left! CRAZY SAUCE! I decided to do the ABC Countdown to Summer instead of the balloon pop countdown this year just to mix it up! The kiddos have made paper airplanes, played with bubbles (which had to be inside thanks to a crazy hail filled thunderstorm), ate cookies, danced their little hearts out, and the list goes on! I'm loving each little activity and so are they. Just 10 minutes around recess or dismissal to bring in a little more silly fun as the year is winding down is really keeping them focused and working hard. 

My sister is here to visit which makes me so happy! We decided to go try something different yesterday and go blueberry picking. It was super hot, so we weren't there for long. But we have blueberries to last a lifetime now! 

I ordered all my books for the summer, and they have started trickling in over the last few days. Last summer I read Word Nerds and posted about it weekly (or at least attempted). I also read Words Their Way, and re-read a few classics. This summer I am excited for these babies, as well as Guided Math, and all the re-reading I can handle! 

In case I haven't already told you- I have the most amazing students. I love this group so much my heart could burst <3