There is never a dull moment.....

I am sorry to those of you who really love Mondays. I am not a huge Monday fan because it always seems like something strange happens on them. Today, may just win the Oscar for Weirdest event. Why?

My morning walk to the office for sign-in was disturbed by our lead janitor staring up at a corner with a look of sheer terror on his face. Nestled ever so snugly into the corner was a tiny black bat. He had no clue how it got in the building, or better yet, how to get the bat out of the building before the students arrived. I guess Mr. Bat didn't get the memo about Halloween being in October or he is just as sick of the ice as the rest of us. 

I'm not sure who they called or how they got the bat out, but it was gone when I went down the hallway later this morning. 

Has anyone else had a little critter break into their building?

Luck of the Freebies

It's President's Day! I am taking advantage of my day off by searching for new St. Patrick's day goodies to use next month. Hopefully, you will also find one or two of these packets to be useful.

Articulation

1. Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato Articulation Companion
2. Spring Speech Companion- word lists for /S, R, L, SH, CH, J, TH/

Comprehension

1. The Lucky Leaping Leprechaun- Adapted Book with wh-questions
2. Luck Leprechaun's Listening Comprehension
3. The Old Lady who Swallowed a Clover- activities you can use with the book

Language

1. St. Patrick's Day Sentence and Paragraph Scrambles
2. Shamrock Absurdities 
3. Fact or Opinion

Crafts

1. Worth More Than Gold

Go for the gold.

I know that it's a little early to be talking about March, but somehow I just couldn't wait any longer to share one of my favorite crafts for St. Patrick's Day. 

The top hat can be used for pretty much any goal that you need to work on with your students. I initially used this craft to focus on parts of speech. My example contains adjectives for MacKenzie O'Shamrock from The Luckiest Leprechaun story. If you notice, I left off his actual name so my paper so that my students would have to guess who my card was about. 

For my older students, I had them write their adjectives into sentences that described their object.

You could also adapt the craft into a mobile by hanging the gold pieces on pieces of thread rather than placing everything on a sheet of construction paper.

I also included a tiny bonus to this craft packet--- idiom cards and a short vocabulary game!

Grab your copy of the Irish Hat Craft here.

While everyone else is seeing hearts......

I am working on the differences between facts and opinions with my younger crowd. We have spent the past week working on the basic definitions of a fact and an opinion. We've sampled popcorn, looked at Frozen pictures, and even stuffed animals to help us understand the difference between the two words. (The popcorn, while fun, was not the most effective teaching tool.)

We are slowly moving towards sorting and writing activities. Since I seem to have an abundance of Frozen experts, I am kicking off the sorting activities with a quick activity that focuses on Anna, Elsa, and Olaf. 

Next, comes the fun of making sure that we can carry our new-found skills over to something that is not covered in pretty snowflakes.

The sorting pages give several examples to help remind students of what they are looking for in each statement.

I also kept the statements on these cards shorter than my previous Fall and Christmas editions since this activity is aimed at lower grade levels.

You can grab your copy of Fact or Opinion: Boot Camp here.