Five for Fraturday and a Freebie!

It...is...MAY!  Hooray!  Not to mention we are also in the 20's on our countdown to summer break.  The sun is shining...it is supposed to be gorgeous - a high of 70!  It is Saturday and I am spending time with my boys.  My favorite farmers market opens for the season today.  We are going to the first annual Food Truck Carnival in my town tomorrow.  I am one happy lady right now!

As usual, I am joining the "Five for Friday" linky party hosted by Kacey over at Doodle Bugs Teaching a little late.

I will start with my big, exciting news!  I have been commuting (minimally 30 minutes each trip) for the last six years.  To be blunt, I hate my commute.  I am a busy body, so sitting on my rear end in the car for at least 60 minutes each weekday seems like such a waste of time to me!  So one of my goals for this year was to find a position closer to home.

 (This is not the greatest picture - sorry - but this is a close up of the goals I have framed and sitting on my dresser.)

I am SO HAPPY to say that I was offered a position in my hometown!  Not only that, but I was offered my first choice (there were a handful of elementary positions open).  The school in which I will be working is 3 minutes from our garage to the parking lot.  Woo hoooooooo!  More than that, I have been told nothing but wonderful things about the school district, my new school, my future principal, the staff, the students, etc.  My interactions with them so far have proven this all to be true.  I will be switching from Kindergarten to First Grade and I am so thrilled for the change.  Life is good.

With all that being said, I am going to miss many of my cuties (and colleagues).  Here is a note one of my buddies wrote at home and brought to school.  <3

(Unger is a tricky last name for Kinders!  LOL)

My Kindergarten teammate and I were supposed to be given a sub this week, so we could get some PALS testing done.  When I write sub plans, I try to keep things simple, so I decided to have the sub do this fun directed drawing from First Grade Blue Skies.

Unfortunately, no sub showed up.  *sigh*  (Though, I am not sure why I thought one would as they usually don't.  Is this the case in your school district, too!?)  Anyway, I decided to still do the directed drawing with my kiddos.

We also read the nonfiction book, "Let's Look at Spring" by Sarah Shuette.  Of course, Mrs. Unger won't let her kids JUST draw, so I created a sheet with a sentence frame for them to complete.

"My bird is (adjective) and (adjective)."

It is nothing fancy, but if you would like to use it alongside the directed drawing from First Grade Blue Skies, you can snag it for free HERE!

My Friday nights have been looking a lot like this...

 ...and this!  I have been finding myself book shopping a lot more again, now that the weather is warming up.  Such an addicting hobby and collection, LOL!

We are wrapping up 2D shapes and moving on to 3D shapes (though the two go hand-in-hand).  I decided we should do something fun before the transition, so I took out this book - love it!

Then, just like the square in the book, my kiddos were given a square (we used scrapbook paper) and they could do anything they wanted with it (cut it, crumple it, rip it, punch holes it it, color it, whatever) in order to make it into something new.

Of course I forgot to take pictures of my students' completed work (though they are now hanging beautifully on our hallway bulletin board), but here is the example I created while giving directions.

(Don't ask - it is all I could come up with off the top of my head.)

Well, I hope you all enjoy your weekend!  I know I will.  Thanks for stopping by!  :)