Snow Day

It's been unseasonably warm for Chicago, and I'm not going to complain. Today, the midwest is getting it's first covering of snow. Of course, this meant the kids were going CRAZY!  Plus, it drives me nuts how long it takes them to get ready into their snow gear. Put anywhoo, I was expecting this today because of all the hype from the media:

 Me on Michigan Avenue during the blizzard

And yet again, myself  on the closed Lake Shore Drive

But it wasn't. Not going to lie, the drive home from the the suburbs to the city was quicker than a normal, but I could use a snow day tomorrow. I'm beat from the first four days back!
But back to the kids, one of the things I've done over the years on snowy days is have them have a snowball fight. They hide behind a desk, and take a minute to build and pack their own snowballs, and then for 30 seconds, we have a snowball fight. Best part - it's silent. It gets all the giggles and squirms out of the kids, and they have a ball. Try it. It's great. Trust me (plus you don't get wet!).

How do you keep your kiddo's engaged during "snow"?

Sale Alert

I love shopping, but even more, I love me a good sale! I'm sure I'm like many teachers who spend countless dollars on their classroom (anyone else stop adding it up each year?!). So, when I find a good sale, I feel I must share.

Anyone else use the 9 x 12 envelopes? Staples has them on sale this week for $3 (regularly $7.99).  I use them for all sorts of things from storing assessments, centers, and even for my Monday Folders. They're sturdy and they fit all sorts of goodies inside.

Run, drive, walk, train, cab, whatever to your nearest staples!

And if you get in the store... there's a coupon for 15% off your purchase of $40 or more! Have fun!

Scientists Matter in 2012

School starts on Monday and we'll be ringing in the new year with some fun science activities. Our next science unit is Matter.  This is our first physical science unit of the school year, so we haven't done any experiments yet. In order to get the kiddo's ready, we'll be doing an experiment with skittles.  We'll start off by seeing what happens to a skittle when we put it in water (use clear bowls to be able to see this - plastic work great!).  Have you done this? It's neat!  After we do this, students will share their results and then we'll  change a variable and see what happens.  Kids looovvveee to use other liquids like 7-Up or even glue!  We'll be reviewing the scientific process as we do this.

I'll also be having the students discuss what they're doing as scientists and how these are characteristics of scientists. Then, they'll write about why scientists matter.  I'm going to have them fill out the sheet below.

I created three different levels. You can get them here with a banner! Free!  You know the construction kid cut out from Abby at The Inspired Apple? I think they'll decorate one as a scientist and voila - an easy bulletin board! 

Hopefully someone can use it!!

Grrr!

So of course, I've had the time to post, and what happens to my work computer? It becomes overcome by a virus/trojan. Blarg. I don't have any of my programs on my home computer so I'm out of luck working on my Bingo thing until next week when it will get fixed.

However, check out Tara's Math Bags over at 4th Grade Frolics. I LOOOOVVVEE this idea so much! It's just what I've been trying to do without the bag. I hope the Dollar Tree's in Chicago are ready for me tomorrow! 

For some more ideas of what to find to go in them check out the Teaching Blog Addict's site.  This site has been linked to many ideas I've found on Pintrest (what am I going to do once I go back to school next week?!). I love the Snake game I found on Love 2 Learn and Share.

If you started back today, hopefully it went well or perhaps you're lucky like me and still enjoying break!