Five for Friday...uh Saturday

In a perfect world, I would have posted my five for Friday yesterday. Unfortunately, exhaustion hit yesterday evening by the time I finally got to sit down at like 11:00. I decided my bed needed my company.

I have loved linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for the Five for Friday linky. Now for my five fabulous events from this last week...

1. Teacher Appreciation Week

Our PTA spoiled us this week with breakfast one morning, a great bbq lunch another day, a candy bar, and tons of other little things. They also came up with themes for each day like sticky note day and soda day. My kids obviously realize my favorite drink is Dr. Pepper because I got a bunch of them. This pile is mostly from one kid who to be honest is a HANDFUL. It makes me feel good that all the extra time and attention I give him is appreciated so much by him and his family.

 

2. Louisiana Purchase Lapbooks

My students have been working on these lapbooks to finish up our study of the Louisiana Purchase. They are turning out really cute, but I way UNDERESTIMATED the time it would take for us to get them done. I'll probably do a post with more pics and details on these in the future.

 

3. My school's 65th Birthday Party

I posted last week the cute decorations my students were making for our birthday celebration. The final displays turned out really good.

One of my co-teachers and I went a little crazy decorating our hallway. I think it turned out really cute.

Our students also picked a piece of artwork they had made to display as well. I have some awesome artists.

4. Focus Questions

I got an idea from my Student Teaching Mentor Teacher recently. (Yes, I have taught for seven years but still value my mentor teacher.) She started this year teaching her Social Studies using Focus Questions with each lesson. I loved the idea and decided to give it a try with my Westward Expansion Unit.

Each day I had the students copy down the two to four questions I wanted them to focus on during the lesson. At the end of the lesson I would go over the questions with the students to make sure they all had the correct answer. Yesterday, we had a Westward Expansion Focus Question Quiz. The students had to use only their brains for the first five minutes of the quiz. They were then allowed to use their Focus Questions and Lapbook for the rest of the time to finish the quiz. Overall, the scores were great. They loved that they got to "cheat" off themselves.

5. Lunch with my fiancé

I had a training one morning this week and decided to take the rest of the day off as a recharge day. Considering I have been gone a total of three days this year, I really needed it. My fiancé surprised me by taking the day off too! We went to lunch at an awesome burger place neither of us had been to since we were kids. It was a blast from the past, and the burger we shared was HUGE!

Hope your week was as fabulous as mine!