The Positively Polka Dotted Teacher: Five for FRIDAY (Actually on a FRIDAY!!)

Yay! I was able to get the post done ON FRIDAY! Wahoo!

Here is my weekly adventure:

Who doesn't love them some Johnny Appleseed?

This week we ditched the science curriculum and dove into a Johnny Appleseed thematic unit. You can purchase that unit here. We watched the Johnny Appleseed video on Brainpopjr.com. I also showed my kiddos a Johnny Appleseed PowerPoint

downloaded from Smart Exchange. We talked about the life cycle and parts of an apple. On the last day of our unit we sampled three different kinds of apples: honey crisp, red delicious, and granny. We created a bar graph and graphed our favorite apples.

The kids LOVED it!

It has been a great activity filled week learning about the wonderful Johnny Appleseed.

Johnny Appleseed writing craft.

Some of them look a little frightening but for the most part they turned out cute!

apple life cycle

Author and Illustrator Carolyn Mueller

Our school was able to have the opportunity to have Carolyn Mueller come to our school to give a presentation. Mueller is a zoo keeper at the St. Louis Zoo. She has written a few stories including Bubbles the Dwarf Zebu and Lily a True Story of Courage in the Joplin Tornado.

My students were so excited to listen and watch her presentation about her job and her books. She explained the four main necessities animals need: food, water, shelter, and entertainment.

The students were so excited they could hardly contain themselves. The best part of the presentation was yet to come...

Mueller decided to show our kids a mama llama giving birth to her child. It was a video and it was AWESOME. All you see is a baby llama plopping out behind the mama and being dropped on it's head.

One of my students says, "Whoa, that just fell out of her butt!". My principal about died from a case of embarrassment.

Absolutely hilarious. It couldn't have been any more epic.

However, I decided to purchase two of the books. Lily a True Story of Courage in the Joplin Tornado is a special book to people like me who live near the Joplin area. We all remember the day of the tornado, and it's great to see something positive brought out of something so catastrophic.

New books! Bubbles the Dwarf Zebu and Lily a True Story of Courage in the Joplin Tornado

*You can learn more about Carolyn Mueller and her beautiful books on her website.

How about them ROYALS?

Now, do I watch Royals baseball all the time?

Heck no. I really don't like baseball...

However, the Royals (my home team) made it to post season! The last time they made it to the post season was 29 years ago...

The Royals played the Oakland A's in an epic match where the Royals would get behind and then find themselves rallying to stay in the ball game. The game nearly lasted five hours. They played twelve innings. And they pulled off an incredible WIN.

They are advancing to the series!

That's a big deal and something to celebrate!

Making pasta sauce using home grown tomatoes!

It's a miracle.

I didn't kill a plant. I actually was able to grow my OWN tomatoes.Who knew that such a simple thing such as gardening could be so fulfilling?

My future hubby and I decided to make pasta sauce using our tomatoes. We sauteed garlic, onions, and basil. Then we chopped the tomatoes and added them to the pan full of deliciousness. Then, my future hubby did something AWFUL. He added heavy cream and butter... Does he realize I can't say NO and that this will not be good for my thighs?

But oh my...it was AMAZING.

Cosmic Kids Yoga

Cosmic Kids Yoga is simply AMAZING.

I let my students do an episode of Cosmic Kids Yoga every Friday morning. Fridays are always a little hectic and this helps us start our day off calmly.

The lady in the video walks the kids through a story while involving them in many yoga poses. The lady has a British accent and she always looks up to the sun and says, "Hello Sun!". The students repeat it and they say it with an accent. It's adorable and the kids enjoy the activity.