Testing, Mother's Day, and Gifts Oh My!

Well it has been two crazy weeks for us.  We had state testing, had to get ready for Mother's Day, and celebrated my student teachers last day.  So here are some pictures of what we have been up to.

To get ready for state testing, we created a "Let it Show" book.  We played the song from Frozen and decided that our theme would be Let it Show.... a little play on words, but it worked!  We made books and copied bunches and bunches of these charts I made.  I wrote one on every standard that was suppose to be on the test.  The kids took the books home to study and I made up some little quizzes to go with them.  Kids that earned at least an 80% on them got a treat!  It was a huge success!

To motivate us to work hard during testing we had an Earn your way to an Ice Cream PARTY!  I divided the picture into 8 sections and each time they worked hard and showed effort, they colored in a spot.  It was amazing how excited they were.  I found the ice cream picture online.  Just google ice cream picture and pick one out.  I am happy to report that every child enjoyed a BIG HUGE ice cream treat after testing was over.

Mother's Day was here before I knew it.  We made one of my favorite presents to send home for mom. We made flowers and on each stem the kiddos wrote a reason they loved their mom.  We wrapped them up like flowers from the florist and wrote the note in CURSIVE!  Yes, we have conquered cursive.  I have to admit that teaching cursive to third graders is so much easier than when they are in second grade!

Last week we had to say good-bye to our student teacher.  His time with us went so fast.  I searched online for the best gift and I decided that a little bit of everything would be nice.  So I made a tub full of recess toys, pens, sticky notes, folders, games, chalk, and anything else I could think of.  It looked so cute all arranged on my kitchen table.  I wish I would have taken a picture before it took a ride in the car, but I didn't even think of it.  I really think he liked it and I know he will get lots and lots of use out of everything.

My last two pictures are of new ideas....

Paint in old glue bottles, well that is just genius!  I don't know why I haven't ever thought of that!  We made two projects using the paint in a bottle and it works like a charm.  No puddles of paint and barely any on their clothes!  This is a winner!

I love to do a project at the end of the year.  This year I decided to do a 50 state project.  The kids love learning all about the states and it isn't in our standards, so the end of the year is perfect.  I found these great books at Michael's Craft Store....  only a $1. They had lots of different titles and subjects!  You never know what you are going to find.

That's about it for tonight!  I only have 8 1/2 days until summer!  I can't believe how fast it has gone!

Enjoy those last few weeks!

Happy Teaching!

Tracy