Summer Bucket List Linky Party

Yay. My summer vacation is almost here. 6 more days. I'm so excited So I'm joining the Summer Bucket List linky party. Here are the things I want to do before my summer kicks the bucket. Have you noticed how 10 weeks just fly by during the summer and draaaaaag during the school year?

1.  Learn to use my Cricut.  I mean REALLY use it. This has been on my list for the last two summers so hopefully this year it happens. I've been looking at my cartridges and saw all kinds of craftivities and decorations I could have made for my classroom. 

2.  Learn how to really use Word or Powerpoint or Pages so I can create my own classroom materials. 

3.  Make a fake cake out of paper mache boxes. I have had this idea for over a year. I have the boxes and the paint, I just need to sit down and DO IT.

4.  Sew. I want to make an overnite bag out of some cute polka dot oilcloth I bought a few months ago.

5.  Go through my Pinterest boards and see what I can start making for next year.

That's it. In between working on these projects, I will be laying around watching TV, seeing some movies, reading and getting together with friends.

What's on your summer bucket list? Click on the picture above and link up your list.

Open House

I love Open House. It's my favorite event. My school is pretty low key about Open House but I like to have fun with it. This year it was so late, we only have 9 days left of school (yay) and 1st grade about did me in, so we only did a few projects.

We've been studying all about plants and insects, one of my favorite themes because they go so well together.

We made this foldable flower book by Linda Kamp. I loved it but it was a lot of work. This kiddo did a great job on his. The hardest part was gluing the petals around the yellow center. They had to be evenly spaced and there were no guidelines. I will have to fix that.

We planted lima beans. But only half sprouted. I gave each child 3 beans, I figured one was bound to sprout. I guess some of us don't have green thumbs. We also did the sprout houses and those didn't sprout either. Hmmm....gardening is not our talent, hah hah.

Anyway, after we planted our lima beans, we wrote about the sequence of planting and used Hadar's cute little Garden Buddies. Loved the way they came out. You can see who is still having a little difficulty with fine motor skills. The blackline where they did their writing came from 1st Grade Hip Hip Hoorays' packet about plants.

This little garden buddy seems to have a 'Johnny Appleseed' thing going on with his hat. Not sure what happened to his hand or top of the shovel. There's always casualties when you do these types of projects.

This last one I did at the last minute. As in that afternoon and 45 minutes before the parents came in, I was painting branches on the bulletin board paper. Somehow it always gets done.

 This is a great way to see who understood how to write the time. They wrote about their favorite time of the day. Lots of them like recess, of course. 

We also made an insect book. We wrote interesting facts about several different insects and drew pictures to illustrate those facts. I didn't take any pictures of the booklets but we used this insect unit and butterfly life cycle packet here.The kids really enjoyed making this booklet. I tried leaving out some of the insects because of time, but they wanted to write about all of them. How could I turn down that enthusiasm?? lol! Anyway, the kiddos enjoyed sharing their projects with the parents and the parents loved their work. A successful night.

Currently

It's time for Farley's Currently. Link up here and join the fun.

Yesterday I was loving the warm weather. Today, not so much. Probably because it went from "warm" to "hot". I'm not too crazy about hot weather. And, yes, I did mention Vegas this summer, but there are pools involved. And cold drinks. And poolside service. So then you don't feel the heat so much. Until you have to leave Vegas.