Penguin Day, 100th Day & Val Day Student Gift!

So a few of my teammates & I decided at the last minute to dress up like penguins….I know what you’re thinking. Anyway, I ordered a penguin costume from Amazon & thought a miracle would happen & it would come the next day….um. no. So I went to Walmart with a vision of what I wanted to do but knew it needed to be done by the next day. At Walmart I found an over-sized hooded sweatshirt for about $5! Yes, $5! Love Walmart but have never purchased an article of clothing there. I could NOT believe how cheap!!!! I also bought a REALLY hideous pair of fuzzy slippers in the kids section that JUST fit my little mexican feet. They had a huge-a** massive pink bow on the back that I was ready to cut off before I even checked out. They were black…they were fuzzy….they worked.

I had to bribe the hubs & my BFF to help me. After a few cold ones and watching me in a state of panic at 8 pm….they gave in & helped. Here is my friend on the top right gluing the white felt down. I tried really hard to make this old lady at Joann’s sew it for me since I don’t know how to sew…she didn’t even offer! She showed me where the fabric tac was. I even tried throwing in the teacher card & still…not even an offer. My mom is in California so I didn’t have my back-up around to help me :o( Since I insisted on being a Rockhopper I bought out all the yellow boas & feathers & went nutso with them. First we glued on the boa & then came the feathers….LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of feathers. My husband had to stop me because I was ready to look like a chicken instead of a penguin. Take a look at those feet! My aide sewed on the penguins!!! They were kinda flipping from side to side as I walked so I ended up hot gluing their little butts to the slippers.

I had some fabulous moms make the kids the penguin cookies. They used two Oreos, mini M&M’s & orange peels. The kids also ate fish (goldfish crackers), ocean water (blue juice). They also ate Swedish fish, peppermint patties, ice cream sandwiches & penguin shaped crackers.

Of course I have to have an ocean blue tablecloth with black & white napkins & plates.

Top left: Here are my little Rockhoppers hopping down the hall back into class. We had all the first graders rotate through our rooms for various penguin activities. Top middle: iceberg hopscotch. We wrote numbers by 10s on one game and by 5s on the other. They had to throw a fish shaped beanbag on an iceberg & then hop. They really had fun with this. Top right: They made Rockhopper headbands for another center.

Top left: Here is a top view of the hat that was penguintastic! Top right: she was having a hot flash so the penguin costume was off after the 2nd rotation. They put the students in a circle & played pass the penguin. When the students were out they got to eat a goldfish cracker snack. Left center: the students brought in “Don’t break the Ice” & various other penguin games. They played when they were done with a center. Bottom right: This was a version of musical chairs with icebergs & we made them waddle.

We had all the students come dressed in black & white….some moms really got into it :o) Below the students were put into groups to do some research. I had them come up with at least 10 questions to try & stump the other groups. Whatever group won received a penguin chapter book. They really got into this. I didn’t even know the answers to some of their questions….Sssh!

Now onto our 2013 100th day. If you didn’t see my previous post check it out here.
Every year I have my students wear something to represent 100. I show them previous students and what they did to get their wheels turning. I always tell them I don’t want to know what they did…I want to be surprised. I love the creativity. I can tell some of these moms are definitely on Pinterest!

After we did morning work all related to 100th day…we needed some movement. I timed them for 100 seconds doing jumping jacks, running in place, hopping…then they were tired & all wanted a drink because they were ready to die! Top middle: Guess who had to wish them Happy 100th??? Big B sent us an email….lol. Of course I had to come up with a cute photo op. Did you see the Christmas photos I did? If not, check them out here! Each student will get 3 pics each once I get to Meier to print.

I had my 100th day freebie cover on the smartboard when they arrived. Top right: my aide is reading them some 100th day books while I was trying to hide grade. Left middle: They each brought in a bag of 100 items with 3 provided clues..this was one of their favorite activities! Right middle: 100th day snack…but of course. Left bottom: I was playing race to 100 with J. Right bottom: one of my freebies.  Did I mention it was a freebie??? Did I mention that some ignorant person gave me a bad rating on this FREEBIE because I stated it was 8 pages & there was only 4. REALLY????? OUT OF OVER 7700 people who are the ONE person to say something negative???? Congratulations you D-bag! Go make it yourself! Vent. over. Thank you for listening. I did have my PG filter on btw.

The pages on the left are from one of the 100th day units I purchased from Hip, Hip Hooray! I.love.her. If you are out there Michelle, leave me a comment. Top right is mine…you know the one that the D-bag gave me a bad rating because I left a credit page for the hard working graphic artists…SHAME.ON.ME! Bottom right is a 100th day flippy book from Christina Bainbridge. from Bunting, Books and Bainbridge..love her & all her flippy books.

So here is a brand new product I created. My kids are O.B.S.E.S.S.E.D with coupons…I wonder why. Anyway, I made a coupon book for them this year for Val Day. I made 10 different ones but also included a replica of each coupon that is editable to fit your classroom needs. I printed all of the coupons included which are:
No Morning Work
Read to the Class
Show and Tell
Journal Share
Write a Love Note
Classroom Helper
Sweet Treat
Sit by a Friend
No Homework
Extra Reading Time

I also added 10 additional ones that we came up with together which are:
Double fuzzy day (They get double fuzzies for a whole day)
Time Keeper (sets the timer & carries it around during Daily 5 or any timed activity)
Hug Mrs. Dillard (don’t think I am horrible…if they didn’t need a coupon I would have one hanging on each limb…not kidding)
Choose 1st for indoor recess (they fight over certain games)
Be Mrs. Dillard’s Spy (don’t asked me but one of their favorite reward coupons is teacher spy)
Bring a Game From Home (board game or any kind of card game to play during indoor recess)
Choose 1st for Daily 5
Extra Classroom Job (they LOVE helping so I give them an extra job since they all have at least one)
Borrow a fuzzy friend (they are obsessed with my stuffed animals in the library…they get to hold onto one of my animals for the day)
Choose Daily 5 Word Work (they get to choose what we do for word work that day)

I placed all the coupons on a table. They got to choose 5 coupons each. This was a tough decision but I only let them pick 5 each. They were not happy with me when I limited them. I will keep the extras & hand them out when they raise their clip…Sssh they don’t know that yet. I copied them on white…well because we ran out of hot pink, red & pale pink. I actually think they turned out super cute since they got to make it their own.

I will allow them to give me one coupon/day but it has to be BY THE BELL. That means get here, get to business. I will only take one each of certain ones. If someone beats them to it then they have to wait. This should get us through February.

I will be making a parent coupon book for my students to give to their parent’s as gifts. I will put about 10 different things (clean my room, feed the dog, no arguing, etc) and I will also leave some blank for them to fill out themselves.

The first 5 to leave me a comment with their EMAIL will get the coupons for FREE!

FEEL FREE TO PIN AWAY!