ABC Summer Countdown Conclusion

Wow! The past few days has been busy! We had lots of end of the year things to take care of.

Last Monday was the Letter "R" in our Countdown.

We wore red to school.

We Returned our books that we used for guided reading back to the Resource Room. Our resource room is in the process of being cleaned and reorganized for next year. Sorry the picture doesn't do our room justice.
Last Tuesday we celebrated the letter "P" by playing hard on field day. This was an entire day devoted to play. Our coach does a wonderful job with this. I do not have any pictures of this day because I was not at school. I went with my 7th grade daughter on her field trip to Tigers for Tomorrow at Untamed Mountain in Attalla, AL.

Wednesday was the letter T". We wore Team shirts.

We worked as teammates to clean and prepare our room for Thursday. Thursday was our awards day and our parents took home the student's larger items from the classroom. I bought a new school shirt just for today and I love it. The back of my new shirt is pictured below:

Thursday was our end of the year program and awards ceremony. The students did a fabulous job! This was also our "U" day. I did not like saying we had "unwanted items' , but, I did. The students took home items we no longer needs. Our room looks so empty.

On Friday, I was out again. I went with my 5th grade daughter to Stone Mountain State Park in Georgia. However, I left the children with an video. I am sure the children enjoyed the treat.

Yesterday, we had to combine letters. Our school missed two days in late April due to the severe tornadoes that came through our area. We did not have to make the days up at the end. So, the end of the year countdown is a little off. We had the letters "W" and "X". My "Wonderful" students "eXchanged" autographs.

Today the letters "Y" and "Z" was the focus in our classroom. We wore "Yellow" and "Zoomed" out of here!"

Today was the students last day of school. Wow! This year flew by.

ABC Summer Countdown Update

I just wanted to let everyone know that I don't plan to post our ABC Summer Countdown activities until the weekend. This week is filled with the last minute end of year stuff. I will be out of my classroom for two days this week. I am going to me a mom on each of my two children's field trips. We also have Field Day and our Award Day this week. I hope each of you have a wonderful, productive work week.

ABC Summer Countdown "P" and "Q"

Yesterday was the letter "P" in our ABC Summer Countdown and we also had a field trip. We played at CHOM (Children's Hands On Museum) in Tuscaloosa. We also visited the Fire Station and had lunch at the park. We also played at the park. We had a blast on our field trip!

Today was our "Q" day. I am sure this was the children's least favorite day because today was "QUIET" Day. This was the day we finished all assessments. This was also the last lesson in our reading series! YEA!! We also practiced how to work really, really quiet so we would be ready for first grade.

Have a great weekend everyone!

ABC Summer Countdown "O"

Today was the letter "O" in our ABC Summer Countdown. I asked the students to wear orange.
Mrs. Walker came back again today and did an Octopus in the Ocean Activity.

We hung them in the hall. I think most teachers find it funny that we are hanging things in the hall with only 9 or 11 days remaining in our school year. We will just have lots to take down. I have not even begun to prepare my room for summer. I will have to pack and get ready to move classrooms soon.

ABC Summer Countdown "N"

Today was the letter "N". We reviewed our unit on nutrition and completed the extra activities we didn't have time for the first time.

We read a book

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Mrs. Walker came back and did an "Create Your Plate" activity with the children. Students had to chose different food items to make a healthy plate.

We finished by creating the food pyramid.

At the end of the day we had a healthy snack of apples and grapes thanks to our Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Grant.

I tell you, these last few days are rough! Between all the end of the year assessments, closing down the year and completing all other assignments. It seems like there is not enough time in the day! I hope the rest of my week and yours too is very productive!

ABC Summer Countdown "M"

Today was the letter "M" in our ABC Summer Countdown. Today M was for music!

We begin our day with Bibb County's own "Auntie Litter". She did a great presentation on how to recycle. The children loved her songs. I have added video featuring one of the songs from her presentation.

At the end of the day we practiced our music for our end of year program that we will preform next week. We sang many of our favorite songs from this year.

ABC Summer Countdown "L"

Today was a day of LOVE for our Mothers in our ABC Summer Countdown. We discussed all the different ways we show love. We wrote a list of all the things we love in our journal.


We then showed our LOVE for Mom by getting our things ready to take home for Mother's Day. In a zip lock bag students took home the following:

Finger painting picture:

"I like to help my mom...." Writing

Silhouette

Mother's Day Coupon Book

ABC Summer Countdown "K"

Today in our ABC Summer Countdown was the letter "K".

We discussed how we are kind to others. Children then wrote how they are kind in their journals.

Mrs. Walker came back today. She is a life saver with all the crafts. The children made kites using contruction paper, glue and yarn.

Wow! They look really good hanging above the board.

ABC Summer Countdown "J"

Yesterday we focused on the letter "J" for our ABC Summer Countdown. This was also our day for the DIBELS Assessment so we did not have much time today scheduled for our countdown. We did jumping jacks.

We also had juice for a snack.

ABC Summer Countdown "I"

On Tuesday May 3 we celebrated the letter "I" in our ABC Summer Countdown. I was so excited about today because I had planned for us to be illustrators. I took construction paper and covered the cover of Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg. I was going to read the story without showing the children the pictures and without using the word "ant" or "ants". After reading the story the children were to illustrate what they thought the story was about.

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This was going great, UNTIL, I said the word "ants". Oh well, I guess next year I will even cover the words before the lesson. We still illustrated the story and I thought it turned out pretty good.

We also read the story Ice Cream by Eilsha Cooper.

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We had ice cream sandwiches for snack.

ABC Summer Countdown "H"

On Monday May 2 we arrived back at school after the devastating tornado nightmare that came through Alabama.

We picked back up our countdown with the letter "H". Today was our "Hawaiian Hula Day". Children were given leis when they came in. We discussed the state of Hawaii and found it on the map.

We went outside and had a Hula Hoop Contest.

We had pineapple for snack.

ABC Summer Countdown "G"

Wednedsay, April 27 was our "G" Day in our ABC summer countdown. The students were asked to wear somthing green to school. We planned to visit the garden that the Extended Day Program is growing. We also planned to use gloves to pick up garbage around our school. However, our day did not go as planned.

Central Alabama awoke to severe storms coming through our area with high winds. Due to the weather our school system delayed opening by 2 hours. I was able to teach reading before lunch. Then we dismissed school early due to the severe weather that was expected Wednesday night. Our state suffered a massive loss Wednesday night. Our thoughts and prayers go out to each and everyone affected by the tornado outbreak.

Our ABC Summer Countdown will contine when school is reopened.

ABC Summer Countdown "F"

Today was the Letter F in our ABC Summer Countdown.

We read Fancy Nancy Books by Jane O'Connor and Robin Preiss-Glasser. We then talked about Fancy Words.
Mrs. Walker came back today and we fingerpainted flowers on painted plywood donated by Will's mom. These paintings were AWESOME!! Our paintings our not finished just yet. We are going to decoupage a poem on the paintings. These paintings will be our Mother's Day presents.

In today's journal we drew and labeled items that began with the letter F.

When the students went to library class today, Ms. Wiggins, our media specialist read Just Plain Fancy by Patricia Polacco to the students.

We had fruit today for snack. Most children brought in bananas, applesauce or fruit juice. Two children brought in a different fruit--cantaloupe and pineapple. I love how creative some of the children and parents are getting in our ABC summer countdown.

ABC Summer Countdown "E"

Monday we continued our ABC Summer countdown with the letter "E". We began our day by reading An Extraordinary Egg by Leo Lionni.Mrs. Walker, our art teacher, came in and helped us make elephants from paper plates.

We also wrote the letter E on envelopes.

At the end of the day we did exercise activities. The students did great! Our physical education teacher, "Coach", taught the children simple exercises that they learned as part of a routine during their PE class. The children did jumping jacks, twisted like a washing machine, and moved like a surfer.

ABC Summer Countdown "D"

Today in our countdown was the letter "D". We had a full day planned without any extra countdown activities. We did not have many D activities today because of our school's annual Easter Egg Hunt. Each child had to bring a bag to the hunt to hold their eggs. We decorated our bag with Dots since today was "D" day.

We used the shaving cream from the landforms activity to write the letter D and simple words.We also had a wonderful snack today! Krisy Kreme Doughnuts YUM!!!