Bug Unit (April)

I began April thinking that there were very few bug books that were appropriate for my students.

Turns out I was wrong.

I actually checked so many books out from the library, that I could only use a percentage of them.

Kindergarten and 1st grades: The Very Busy Spider, The Very Quiet Cricket, The Very Clumsy Click Beetle
1st and 2nd grades: The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Leo the Lightning Bug
2nd and 3rd grades: Gotta Go! Gotta Go!, Diary of a Spider, Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly

For all these stories we focused on vocabulary, repeating lines, and story retelling (with visuals).

And of course there were Bug Bingo Bingo boards...


Overall, I was pleased with my bug month (appropriate for my K-3rd graders, my 4th and 5th graders were focused on class curriculum vocabulary).

Great tongue twisters!

Not only are these tongue twisters loads of fun, but the site has alphabetized them as well!

Perfect activity for those speech students who have almost perfected their sound but need some fun phoneme-rich practice at home.

Samples include:

Working on /k/ sounds?

Comical economists.

Cows graze in groves on grass which grows in grooves in groves.

Crisp crusts crackle crunchily.

Kris Kringle carefully crunched on candy canes.


Working on /s/?

The sawingest saw I ever saw saw was the saw I saw saw in Arkansas.

Say this sharply, say this sweetly;
Say this shortly, say this softly;
Say this sixteen times in succession.

Sinful Caesar sipped his snifter, seized his knees, and sneezed.

Differentiating /s/ and /sh/?

Selfish shellfish.

She sells seashells on the seashore.

Shy Shelly says she shall sew sheets.
The shells she sells are seashells, I'm sure

This is it. Last Auctionable Cookies! (April)

This delicious recipe is not only my last Auctionable Cookies of the year, but possibly the last ones ever (since my son's school decided not to put on a school auction).

But last does not make least. Not even remotely.


These cookies are to die for delicious. And if only peanut butter chips didn't run at $2+/bag (ouch!) I'd be making these daily often.

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies (from How Sweet it Is)

1 cup butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup peanut butter chips

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Cream butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until fluffy. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt and mix until combined.

Fold in peanut butter and chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for 1-2 hours. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350, roll into balls and set on baking sheet.

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

Plant unit (March)

For the month of March, I worked on a plant unit with my language students. My Life Skills students focused on Plant Bingo and the other grades worked on plant within the context of books. The 5th grade teachers reported that this aligned nicely with their science studies as they were working on life cycles and further preparing for the state science test.

The students first focused on plant vocabulary:
Then we moved onto story books that focused on plants in some way and learned vocabulary throughout the books (which may or may not be directly plant related).

Vocabulary Sheet from A Plant Named Spot

At the end of the unit, most students worked on story retelling by using story maps and other visuals that they had created.

My favorite books included:
Kindergarten & First Grade: Growing Vegetable Soup, Planting a Rainbow
First-Third Grade: The Tiny Seed, A Plant Named Spot
Second-Third Grade: From Seed to Plant
Fourth-Fifth Grade: The Empty Pot

Unfortunately, I did not get to use Jack's Garden with any students this year (and also did not get to The Gardener--not pictured). Hopefully next year I can incorporate these books.

April's theme... Bugs

Our family crest

Have you ever seen a picture that so perfectly fits your family, that you would like to make it into your family crest--large banners, flags, and notepads displaying you in all your "glory"?

I now have.

And I've created a banner for all the world to see what the Super Family is all about:

Chocolate

and

Pain

(not necessarily in that order)

(all photo credit given to Chocolate & Vicodin)