We ended up having 18 chicks this year, which is a record for me! We put some eggs in the incubator a few days later, so we still may have a few more hatch this week. So for now, it is so-long with my most favorite unit of the year. We are moving on to more great things!

My two chicks holding the classroom chicks!

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A First Sign of Life and a Wrap up of Chick Ideas

It all started with a little bit of chirping today and several hours later, a few tiny cracks in the egg! A wonderful sign that indeed there is a precious life inside these fragile eggs.  I could have stayed all night to watch if anything emerges. Hopefully we will see more tomorrow!

As posted earlier, I loved the project ideas from the book entitled Chicks and Salsa by Aaron Reynolds that I purchased from First Grade Fever. Here are the fiesta chicks that we made - the students LOVED eating chips and salsa!!


Tuesdays are "Tasty Tuesdays" in our classroom! We try to have the students cook up a little something delicious. Of course when we say "cooking" we mean treats that can be made without an oven. We usually have a short recipe for the students to follow. The Mailbox has a great recipe book! Take a look at our yummy edible chicks!

This may be the cutest craft ever!! It was found in a Mailbox a long time ago -



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A Look Ahead at the Week

So it's back to work tomorrow after having 12 days off! I am of course very reluctant to leave my two sweethearts even though I know that they are ready to get back in their own routines of pre-k and day care. It has been a great vacation of hanging out at home and playing outside with neighbor friends.

For me, I was able to spend lots of time this vacation working in my classroom organizing and planning (something my husband does not understand!) I could actually cry tears of joy with the excitement I feel about many of the new ideas I found on blogs over these past 12 days.

One of the ideas that I am most excited to implement is one that I purchased from TpT From The Pond

We have a young girl who is on the spectrum who often gets upset during transitions. She is also very limited verbally and does not communicate with us how she is feeling. I am thrilled with hope that this will help her communicate with us. I have printed and laminated all of the feelings posters as well as as an individual feelings pocket chart for each child (will take pictures soon). Every child can keep track of their own feelings. Not only with this help students who may need help understanding their emotions and communicating them, it may also help students to understand how others are feeling. Sooo ecstatic about this!!!

This week if all goes as planned, we will have our baby chicks hatch!! Also found on TpT, a fabulous unit by Christie at First Grade Fever. So creative!!

I am super excited to read Chicks and Salsa by Aaron Reynolds and work on the activities in this unit. A great way to bring our students back to school after having so many days off! I am looking forward to posting pictures after we complete the activities!!

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Another Great Blog and A Giveaway!!

Marie has an awesome blog called It's a Jungle Out There! She is offering a Giveaway Contest! Check out her blog for a chance to win and some great new ideas - she is very crafty!!



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21 Days and Counting!!

As part of my favorite farm unit comes the hoping for baby chicks! The eggs have been carefully placed in the classroom incubator and the countdown has begun. This year due to the timing of April break, we placed them in the incubator before vacation. So the students had a few days to monitor them and make sure the temperature was regulated before leaving. We will have about a week with them when we return before they hatch!!

This year we are using A Chick Hatching Observation Journal by Krisitn Young. She has a great blog - Little Miss Glamour Goes to Kindergarten. It is perfect for our chick unit!

If you are reading this and have hatched chicks in your classroom, then surely you understand the emotional piece that goes along with it and the fear that they will not hatch. Please send me some positive thoughts that they will hatch!

Also, if you have any great ways to candle the eggs, I would LOVE to hear them! I understand the whole flashlight idea, but I have been doing this for 8 years and it never works great for me.

The countdown begins!

In Anticipation of Our Hatch

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I Have Been Tagged!

 Tangelia from Buggy in Kindergarten just tagged me! She has great ideas on her blog that you should check out if you haven't already! I had to look at her blog to see how to play along so here it goes...

Here Are The Rules:



1. Post these rules

2. Answer the 10 questions that the tagger posted for you

3. Create 10 questions of your own to ask the people that you're about to tag

4. Tag 10 people and link them with your post (and let them know they've been tagged)

 Here are Tangelia's Questions

1. What grade do you teach? This is my 13th year teaching kindergarten!

2. What classroom item could you not live without? Zip-loc bags! I know that it sounds silly, but I use them for EVERYTHING!! They are essential for organizing, storing, sending things home with students, oh so many uses!

3. What is your favorite thing about teaching? As a co-teacher in an inclusion classroom, my favorite thing is to see when all students are accepting of each other and their individual differences. It is such a great moment when you see them looking out for each other and being each other's cheerleaders!

4. What advice do you have for someone who is trying to become a teacher? Because of budget cuts, it is now even more than ever more difficult to get a teaching job. I think one of the best things new teachers can do is to obtain degrees in a variety of areas to make them more qualified or suitable to teach more than one area.

5. If you one day woke up and decided that you didn't want to teach anymore, what career field would you want to take on? I am a bit obsessed with real estate (not sure why). If the market was better and I was looking for a new career, I would definitely go into real estate!

6. What do you like to do when you are not teaching? Spending time with my kids, being outside, following teacher blogs!

7. What is your favorite TV show? Such a toss-up! I may be the last reality TV buff  standing and I shouldn't admit that I LOVE the Bachelor! (Did I really just post that?) I also am addicted to House Hunters!

8. What is your favorite restaurant? What do you eat there? Panchos - it is a Mexican restaurant. I love chimichangas!!

9. If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go? Figi - the water looks amazing!

10. What is your favorite blog? Why? Mrs. Willis Kindergarten - I just love her postings and that they are correlated to the Common Core Standards - she has so many wonderful ideas as do all the blogs I follow!

It will take me a bit to pass on the rest of this ... Right now I need to get ready for the Easter Bunny!!

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Just Found a Great Pig Unit!

Liz from Stickers, Scissors and Smiles has a great Pig unit that coincides with If You Give A Pig A Pancake, by Laura Numeroff. She is currently having a giveaway - check out her blog!

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