Pumpkins and MORE!

It's Friday!!!! Woohoo!  It has been a dark, rainy, and dreary week in Lexington, Kentucky!!! Inside recess is GREAT!! Said no teacher ever!!!!! I actually took my kiddos outside to play in the rain one day!  Thank goodness the sun is shining right now!  And, I hear that we are going to have a beautiful weekend!!!!

We've been busy in my classroom this week!!  But, aren't we always busy?!? If you're a teacher... you're just always busy!!!! 

I didn't take a bunch of pictures in my classroom this week!!  I'm just going to have to show you a few of the highlights.  

On Monday, we learned all about Christopher Columbus!  We made these super cute lap books that are now hanging in the hall.  We learned about explorers, ships long ago, and Christopher Columbus.

The rest of the week we have been all about pumpkins!  We have read a ton of pumpkin books! After reading Pumpkins by Gail Gibbons my students completed this directed drawing diagram and labeled the life cycle of a pumpkin.  My kiddos love drawing this year! I definitely have some little artists. 

We read this fun informational book/PowerPoint.... You can grab it for FREE HERE!

My students made these cute little pumpkins and wrote their first narratives about a pumpkin that grew legs and began to talk.  We will definitely be finishing these up next week!  Writing conferences take me FOREVER!!!! 

We used this outline and it worked really well!  I first had them draw their problem and solution.  Then, they wrote their problem and gave several steps to solve the problem.  I really wish I had taken some more pictures.  We had pumpkins that were stuck in the toilet, pumpkins that wouldn't stop talking, pumpkins that wouldn't get out of the bathtub.... I could go on and on!  They were definitely enjoying the writing process!!!

In math we have been all about the number grid, number line, and we have also been telling time to the half hour.  We use the Everyday Math program and it is definitely a spiral approach to teaching math. My kiddos are still working to add and subtract on the number grid and number line.  I had them complete this fun little pumpkin by adding 10 to a given number by going down one on the number grid. My students have done quite a few activities like this and they are beginning to recognize the pattern.

 I love that my students have a number grid on their name tags this year!!!!

Oh yes, we have been all about /th/ words this week!  And let me tell you.... the "th" digraph is just HARD! According to my students, letter patterns SHOULD NOT have two different sounds.  

I really LOVE these interactive printables that are used to teach and reinforce different phonics patterns.  They come from my word work bundle!!! I REALLY love that I can teach the phonics patterns but address the needs of my on level and above level students.  My students colored the patterns, went on a word hunt to find words with the pattern, unscrambled words, and they practiced rolling and writing words with the digraph.

This "th" sort was REALLY helpful for both levels of students to distinguish between the different /th/ sounds.  I find it interesting, when doing activities such as these, that my very high students have a little trouble.  I think it's because they are fluent readers and we don't spend as much time in their guided reading groups focusing on the phonics skill but rather the comprehension strategies.  It was definitely an eye opener! AND... you can only imagine what my class sounded like when they were reading these words and making all sorts of /th/ sounds.... ha.

 

And... to wrap up our pumpkin fun we had a pumpkin tasting!  

Our field trip to the pumpkin patch was cancelled because of the rain!  So... we are going on Monday!  My students told me that they were going to hunt for male and female pumpkin flowers!  Ha!

If you are interested in any of my pumpkin activities you can find them HERE!

I've also bundled my favorite October units... Spiders, Bats, and Pumpkins!  You can find that HERE.

AND... Last but not least, My FAVORITE TpT product of all time is my word work!  I realized just how much I love it this week! SO... I'm offering it 50% off today and tomorrow ONLY!  Act fast!!! This BUNDLE is HUGE.  You can find it HERE!!!

And I'm off to enjoy the rest of my weekend!  Have a great one!!! 

Hollie