Fun With the Farm - and Countdown to Baby Charlie!

Hi folks!  It's me . . . Lindsay.

I know, you all probably thought my kindergarteners ate me alive or something, since its been  over a month TOO LONG since I last blogged.

All I can say is that I am wiped out.

I have a sweet lil class of kiddos this year, but having 4, 5 and 6 year olds all in the same class, PLUS a new Language Arts and math series to teach AND being 8 and a half months pregnant really, really stinks.  I feel like I just sweat and repeat myself. All. Day. Long.

But I have found in my last seven years of teaching kindergarten that typically the first six week or so are hellish  pretty darn hard . . . And then . . . you begin to see the light!  Your kiddos start picking up on all of the routines, no one is laying on the floor letting you know that they have decided to quit kindergarten (true story) OR laying outside of the classroom with one shoe off taking a nap (another true story . . .).

In fact, my little chitlens are starting to rock - we've started centers, they are keeping track of all of their finished and unfinished work in their work folders, and they've already filled up the "Warm Fuzzy Jar" with all their hard work!  Life is good in Room 17!  (Aside from all that pregnancy sweating  . . .)

One of my FAVORITE things I have been doing with my chitlens the past few weeks is working through our Farm Unit!  I used my Farm Friends {Math and Literacy Centers To Make You Go Hog Wild!} as a starting point and it has been a blast!

(click on image below to link to description in my TPT store)

 

(And here is a closer look at what's included . . .)

 

One of my kiddos' favorite activities was the Feedin' Time ABC Order.  Using an alphabet strip, my lil smarties practiced the order of the letters in the alphabet (along with their letter recognition!) to record what letters come before and after the letter on each card in the center.  They were SO proud of themselves and they were ALL able to complete this activity successfully!

 

 
Another favorite was Cluck, Cluck Count 1-2-3.  My kiddos practiced counting and their concepts of print skills by sorting the farm words according to the number of letters in each word! (And look at that fabulous printing - makes my teacher heart proud!)

In addition to our fun farm centers, we also made barns for our end-of-the-year art book!  Click on the image below for a link to the file with all of the directions and measurements.

Totally adorable, right???

 

 

 Our fun farm unit culminated with a field trip to the pumpkin patch last Friday.  Unfortunately the day before I was having some MAJOR contractions and the doctor told me to take it easy (baby needs to cook for a few more weeks!)  . . . so no field trip for Mrs. Messyhair.  Boo!

My kids, of course, LOVED it!  The bus ride, the petting zoo, the tractor ride AND getting to pick their own pumpkin to bring home.  So. Much. Fun.

(Note: I did manage to get enough energy to take my own lil guy to the pumpkin patch over the weekend, however.  He had fun holding (and throwing??) the pumpkins . . . but in the end the only thing he wanted to bring home was a lovely rock collection that he had accumulated.  And so we did.)

 

 

 

So that's all that I have to share tonight . . . I'm off to go start sewing lil Jack's superhero Halloween costume (pictures to come) and then, of course, have my nightly slice of pumpkin pie.  That's right. I said nightly.  I'm pretty sure it helps with the growth and development of the baby.  Right??

 

Speaking of baby, here is a picture of the little one who is on the way.  At my last appointment the ultrasound tech used the 4-D wand and I got to see my little guy's sweet face.  I can already tell he looks JUST LIKE DAD!! 

 



                         

 

And . . . . we finally picked a name - Charlie!  We can't wait to our newest addition . . . just as soon as mommy is all done prepping for her maternity leave, of course!! :)

 

Hope you all have a great night! 

 

Lindsay