Martin, Mittens, and the Mega-Flu

Happy three-day-weekend folks!  Lindsay here . . .

Happy Martin Luther King Day/Weekend!!  

Ahhhhh . . . aren't holiday weekends THE BEST?!  Everyone here at the Messner household has been thoroughly enjoying the past two days at home in our PJ's. 

Don't judge. 

I EARNED my right to spend AT LEAST two days in pajamas . . .  Let me tell you about my TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO-GOOD, VERY BAD week last week . . .

It all started a week ago Friday.  It had been a long week and I was SO looking forward to putting Baby Jack to bed so momma (me) could have herself a delicious glass of wine . . . And then, IT happened.

Projectile vomit. All over me. And him. And his ENTIRE room.

It was gross. 

Needless to say poor Jack spent the whole weekend sick with the flu and throwing up, and Mr. Messyhair and myself spent the whole weekend giving him snuggles and watching Sesame Street with him.

Then on Monday, it was my turn.

Horrible stomach pain, hours spent in the bathroom, nausea for days . . . it was really awful.  (Sidenote: Mr. Messyhair got sick with the megaflu as well -  he merely threw up once and was done!  Not fair!)

Sooooooo as if a sick baby, sick mommy, and sick daddy weren't enough, when I went back to school this past week I came to discover that I would be getting three more new students - in addition to the two new students I had gotten the previous week! 

Holy Pencilboxes, Batman!  That makes 5 new students in two weeks, for a grand total of 30 kindergarteners! 

Then, throw in a few more relapse fits of vomiting on mommy in public followed up with an acute ear infection (for Jack), and that was my week! 

The good news is that after some serious prayer and counting of my blessings, I feel much better.  I'm blessed to have a wonderful (sick) family and beautiful students that I love to teach.  All THIRTY of them! ;)

Anyway, that's enough about pajamas and vomiting . . .

We have been busy little bees in Room 17 this month.  First we have been having fun with my Mittens & Marshmallows centers . . .

My kiddos especially loved the digraph sort and number before & after practice.  

You can check out my whole unit on TPT - just click on the image below!

We also had fun learning all about Martin Luther King Jr. over the past few weeks.  We did a super fun "egg-speriment" and freebie worksheet from Ffion Thomas you can get HERE.  My kiddos had such great predictions about what they thought the brown egg was going to look like when we cracked it open - imagine their surprise to see both eggs were the same on the inside!

And finally, I created a few little vocabulary cards to use as reference for my kiddos during our study of Martin that I thought I would share with y'all. :)  My chitlens felt oh-so-grown-up using big words like "harmony" in our discussions!

(Click on the Martin below to download file)

Well, that's it for now.  Hope you all enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend today.  In your pajamas of course! :)  I'm off to get in a few more snuggles with that sick baby of mine!

Lindsay

Art projects up the WAZOO! :) And a FREEBIE (of course!)

Happy Saturday, Peeps!! Kerri here...
I woke up to the sound of rain this morning!! I know, I know, you East, South, Northwest, etc. Coasters say whoopidy doo, right? Well, here in So. Cal, we haven't had ANY rain since the beginning of December! AND, since it is Saturday and I don't have to worry about RAINY DAY SCHEDULE, I love it!!


I finally got pictures of the Jan Brett "Three Snow Bears" project we did this week, and our Martin Luther King, Jr. Art! Here we go...

We filled out the story map together, because this is the first time I introduced them to this type of Story Map. You can get your own copy of this here! The igloo I found on Jan Brett's website and I shrunk it down to half the size. Click here for the igloo.


We also made our Martins this week. When I taught Kinder, I always did the TLC art Martin, and he came out Fantastic! Last year, we step drew him, also great, so this year I thought I would combine the two and make a "Mixed media" project (how you like those arty words, huh??) Here they are...

We wrote the poem that I posted about here. It is actually a song, so I taught it to them first, and then we wrote it. You can also grab the writing paper from that post and save it for next year!


Looking ahead to next week, we will be making these fun little Chinese New Year Dragons made totally  from die cut shapes. These are oldies but goodies! I created these in 2001, so maybe you could call them "vintage??" HA!!

The poem glued to the top is for Kindergarten, but my Firsties will be copying the poem in their very best printing! Click here for some writing paper to use...

We also found out that our little blog was nominated as a "Most Fascinating Teaching Blog" in 2011!!

WOW! What an honor! We feel so blessed to be a part of such a wonderful community of dedicated ladies and gentlemen who are passionate about children!! YAY for Teaching! Can I get a whoot whoot??
Have a great weekend, Peeps!!

WInter Words Photos, TPT SALE, and some Writing FREEBIES!!

Hi Peeps!! Happy Saturday! Kerri here...
Geaux Saints! I just had to say it. Actually, I am NOT a football girl, but my husband's whole family is from New Orleans and he was born there, so by marriage I am a Saints fan, I guess. He and his dad are busily watching the game as I write this! Too many turnovers, Saints!! (WOW! I just impressed myself with my football lingo! HA!)


I finally got around to taking pictures of my kids doing their Winter Words Writing Books, which they do every Friday as a Lit Center. We are working superdy hard on being more descriptive when we write, and I am quite proud of how their writing is coming along, AND they really SUPER love this center! Check out their work...

You can pick yours up by clicking on the picture below, and what the HEY, why don't we just say that I am throwing a MLK, Jr. Weekend SALE!! Everything on sale until Tuesday!!...

You can also get this little number...

AND this one...

I also have some writing paper FREEBIES for you! Snowman, Penguin, and Martin Luther King, Jr. themed. We will be making our Martin Art project this week, and also copying this song/poem onto the writing paper in our "very best printing!" to go with it. Our music teacher teaches the kids a really sweet song called "Sing About Martin" (have you heard it?) and we are going to use these words as our poem:

Sing about Martin,

Sing about caring,

Sing about peace,

All around the world.

Sing about Martin,

Sing about loving,

Sing about peace,

All around the world.

Click on the pictures below to download your writing papers...

Enjoy your 3 day weekend!! I know I'm gonna, fo' shizzle!!