How's that for an alliteration?! I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for another installment of Five for Friday! 1. We've been learning about resource books this week. Not the most exciting topic. Today's topic was encyclopedias. Ummm.... do they even still make those?! We have the 2008 edition in our library, so I took the bunnies down there to check them out. As you can imagine, it wasn't all that thrilling. Then I said, "So, do you think Justin Beiber is in here" {It kind of felt like word vomit coming out, but whatever works to get their attention!}? We looked him up, and of course, no Justin Beiber. We discussed how the print copy of encyclopedias are out of date as soon as they're printed. Then we went next door to the computer lab. My district has a subscription to World Book Online: I don't know how much it costs, but you should definitely find out if you have it at your school, because it is AWESOME! I showed the kids how to browse and search, and gave them 5-10 minutes to look around. They were SO engaged!! We are working on writing informative/explanatory texts in February, so I gave each student a web graphic organizer and they chose a topic to research. I had everything from Taylor Swift to Tim Tebow to World War 2 to black holes to worms... ewwwww!! Thankfully I don't have anyone researching Justin Beiber, although one little girl was quite upset that there wasn't any information on One Direction... We ran out of time, so we'll have to finish researching and prewriting next week. I'm SUPER excited to see how these writing pieces turn out! 2. I love National Geographic Kids magazine! Here's this month's issue: We've been working on determining importance in reading and not only are the articles high interest, but they're also short, making mini-lessons truly "mini."That's one thing that I need to work on... Anyway, we read the article Extreme Ice and completed this graphic organizer together: Click on the picture above to snag a FREE copy :) This was such a great way for kids to visualize and grasp what's really important, versus the interesting details! We did this as a whole class, so next week I'm planning on having the bunnies read another article and complete this with a partner. 3. I went to spinning class tonight. I haven't been to Spin in like four years. A coworker and I decided we'd start going together. It was supposed to be an "express" class, only 30 minutes. The instructor showed up, and it ended up being a mom at our school! I never had any of her children, but my coworker has! She was so funny, making comments during the class like, "I don't tease the newbies, but especially today because my kids go to their school and I don't want to get them in trouble!" She also said, while she was running us through a super hard sequence, "These teachers are probably thinking, 'If this lady's their mom, no wonder her kids are crazy!" HA! OK, so remember how I said it was a 30 minute class? It was supposed to start at 4:45. The instructor was a few minutes late {I don't think she's the normal instructor of the class}, and by the time she checked in with everyone, we started at maybe 4:55. When 5:15 hit and we didn't stop, I wasn't too surprised. Maybe she was trying to give us our full 30 minutes. Then at 5:30 when we were still going, I was thinking, "Maybe she just wants us to get a full-fledged workout." At 5:45, I'm about to die, and she FINALLY stops. Thank goodness!!! We do some stretching, and I'm ready to go aannnddddd... she tells everyone to get a mat because we're going to do some arm and ab work. Wha wha WHAT?!?! Sorry, but I have to go. Not just because I'm sweaty and smelly, but mostly because the hubs was expecting me home about 20 minutes ago! Hopefully I'll be able to walk tomorrow... 4. I had my first Shamrock Shake of the season today!!! Hey, after working my tail off at Spin, I deserve it! And I've already burned it off anyway! YUMMM!!! 5. Today is my grandpa's 82nd birthday!! Here he is with my babies about 10 months ago :) The cool thing is that today is also his sister's 93rd birthday! Yep, brother and sister, same birthday, NOT twins!! Oh it gets even better... if my great grandfater {their dad} was still alive, today would've also been HIS birthday! How crazy is that?! Three people in the same family with the same birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA AND AUNT HARRIETTE!! Well I'm off to rest and relax after my crazy workout today. PS: My Valentine's Day Giveaway is still open for the next 2ish hours. Any item from my store! WOO!!! Check it out! PPS: My super creative bloggy friend Jean from ~Diving Into Second Grade~ is TWO FOLLOWERS away from 100!! She's planning a FAB giveaway, so getcher buns over to her blog and FOLLOW HER!!! :)
