Five for Friday

Happy Friday friends!! We have made it to the weekend AND next week is a 4 day week! I am sure ready for a three day weekend. Let's kick this weekend off by linking up with Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday!

 Our week started off with some Halloween fun! Each year my husband and I have a contest for who comes up with the best pumpkin design. And when I say "comes up with," I really mean finds, usually on Pinterest. Anyway, this year, like most years :) I nominated myself the winner! (Mine was the minion and of course the kiddos voted for my minion. I mean you really have to know your audience...)

I know that we all dreaded Halloween this year because it was on a Monday. But, my kiddos weren't too off the charts. We aren't allowed to dress-up or celebrate at school which probably helps to keep them calmer. We spent our day learning about pumpkins. We also did a STEM activity where they had to build pumpkin towers. I could not find the gummy pumpkins, probably because I waited until Sunday evening to look, so we had to settle for the candy corn kind. It still worked and they had fun AND practiced their engineering skills so it was a win-win.

Of course, no Halloween talk would be complete without a picture of my own kiddos. They are really into Toy Story this year so they really wanted to be Woody and Jessie. Next week, we are going to Disney on Ice and Toy Story is going to be in the show, so they get to wear their costumes again. That's how I justify the price because, boy, those costumes can be spendy!

Okay, teacher truth: I don't really like the beginning of the year. I like the middle and the end when we are in routines and we know what to expect and we can really get the ball rolling and learn and grow. FINALLY, we are starting to get there. We are starting our differentiated centers this week. This is only the third year I have tried differentiated centers, so I am still working on the best ways to teach them the responsibility of completing their center. I love when they all get up and running and the kiddos can manage themselves. That's my favorite time of the year!

This week, I blogged about the easiest way I differentiate in my classroom. I use leveled passages and it has seriously upped the engagement and feeling of success in my classroom. Click the picture or click HERE to read about how I do it!

Also, you can click HERE or on the picture below to check out some of our November themed leveled passages. They are SO great when you have multiple levels of readers in your primary classroom!

I hope you have a great weekend and a great 4 day week!