What a Weather Five for Friday & a Freebie

What a weather it would be!

If only those snowflakes were milkshakes or tortellini, my little one would be thrilled. Looking out on my front yard, it looks as if giants were quilting. Snow, Sleet, Rain, Sleet, Snow... I admit that I didn't get much done yesterday on our Snow Day but I did have fun playing with the kids and my husband even got to stay home. : )

My son in the insert eyeing the snow.

Number 2 - I have been thinking about having a giveaway in honor of our PYP unit at school. Our central idea: Communities consist of people and places that provide goods and services. In between the snow and testing, we have been digging into map skills, international shelter, and economics. I finally gathered the courage to email and ask a few people for donations. I am offering up units from my store: Read, Write & Count Around Town (we hit places hard) and Ask a Community Helper (a speech bubble book). Of course, I'll bundle in the freebie Wants & Needs Reader if you haven't picked that up. I've got some emails out to some friends to add their units to the giveaway which will start on Monday (if you have a unit you think is complementary and want to join in the giveaway, email me!). I am so excited to be including a set from these 2 generous clip artists: Kari Bolt & EduClips.

Number 4
How do good writers use the setting to give details?
We continued investigating this idea with us as writers. I made a few readers focusing on "are" but left out the setting. As we read, we traced our focus word, decoded and used picture clues to identify the picture words...and decided on the setting. The first page had us eating pizza and the kids loved adding the details like the table, chairs, counter, cashier...and a disco ball light. I want to go out to eat with that child.
Now, I know no one will notice this picture is upside down b/c we are so used to reading that way. : ) It was a great formative assessment on setting but also explored their background (especially on the mechanic). We talked about how the lifeguard could be at a pool or at the beach and the setting tells that right away. Another group used the version where they drew the setting for animals.

Number 5 -  Did I mention I was off school on Monday to go to the doctor's. Turns out that rash flaring up on my palms for a week and extreme tiredness really was just the end of a virus and my little one really enjoyed visiting the doctors. As soon as I mentioned what we were doing, she ran and got her stethoscope and baby doll to practice on. Anyways, I need to make something quick for a sub for Math on Sunday in between naps. Since it was dress like an Olympian day at school, I made a few winter sports Math pages. So let's play the freebie game now. Survey, graph and analyze our favorite sports.


I am linking up with Five for Friday and Freebie Friday so don't forget to stop on by and see everyone else's great posts and freebies.

I have a few more pictures of our community unit & plastic plates in Math coming up next week. Also, a tutorial for using your pdf in Smart.

See you Monday.
Jenn