It's a Zoo in here!

Holy smokies friends! What a whirlwind these past few weeks have been. I know I always say that, but this time...I really mean it. I got pulled a few weeks ago to give TCAPS to some of our flex and special ed groups. So, I had to prep sub notes for the ENTIRE week. Yes, that's right people - the whole week. Do you know how insane-o that is? Who am I kidding?  You're teachers, sure you do. I seriously do not take off unless it's blood or guts because prepping for a sub is a LOT of work. Shew, nonetheless, I survived and so did my sub! ha Bless her.  

Anyways, after reading aloud several tests, allowing extended time, and repeat questions - I'm convinced I would lose if I ever competed on "Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader?" Am I?  Um - NO! ha Some of those questions are TOUGH. And I tested a variety of grades, too. I am sending prayers up for all of the students taking state tests right now and the teachers scrambling to get in all of the material. I never remember them being so difficult. If all else fails - pick C! Right? Anyways...while I was out, my sub taught my zoo unit. I was super bummed I wasn't able to teach it, but snagged some photos of the fun. Once again, I bought DeAnna's unit and loved it. That woman is a teacher prodigy. For real.

Of course we made alligator pie. Yummy! The kinders loved it.

We sequenced the steps afterwards and my students recorded the answers.

One of the skills tested on our kinder report card is "delivering an oral report to answer a research question."  Students had to present their project on a zoo animal of their choice during our zoo week.  Their projects were AMAZING! I used a rubric to grade their presentations and was literally speechless over some of the words they used. A few of my kiddos even passed out circus peanuts and animals crackers for students to enjoy while they spoke about their poster. Ohmiword! Can we say PRESH!?

We had fun doing our chit chats and learning all about giraffes!

Their fact sheets and giraffes turned out great!

I loved this for teaching mental images. The illustrations were awesome and right on target. Please look at the hair standing up on that kid's head. HA!

That's all the photos I had time to grab. :( I wish I could have gotten more, my students did a TON of stuff. Off to work on report cards and the mound of paperwork I have to finish up.  It's our last week! Whoo hoo. Hope everyone has a great Monday!