Five for Friday...YES I know it's Monday!

I'm so sorry I'm a few days late! Busy weekend and then I was under the weather yesterday. I wanted to share some of the fun activities we did last week, so here I am...Friday on Monday!

We celebrated International Peace Day with week of activities. Among these was recess time with sidewalk chalk. We left some peace graffiti on the basketball court at the public park that is adjacent to the school. The kids had a blast (and love sidewalk chalk!) and they did a beautiful job! People in the community won't be able to miss these messages! We had some fun taking pictures, too!

We have 10 classes of special needs students at our school. I think it's SO important for typical students to interact with students in these classes. It teaches them acceptance, patience, kindness, responsibility, leadership, and eliminates bullying. I choose these students as our book buddies and today was our first meeting. A little girl in my class has a brother in one of the classes and she shared his needs. She said, "He's blind, can't talk, and can't walk, but he can hear better than most people. He's my brother." It was so sweet! ♥ My kids were thrilled to work with these special students. We just spent time playing for the first day. Next week my kids will be assigned to specific students and they will actually work with them for 30 minutes once per week in a program called Silver Pals. I'm so proud that my kids will be leaders and role models!

My kids were SUPER excited to receive letters from their new California pen pals. 

A third grade class in Fresno wrote us letters and it was our turn to respond. We brainstormed a list of ideas that might be included in the letter. The students made sure to answer their questions. I was able to slip in a little geography, too with a quick map study. We decided to include a map and mark where they live compared to where they live.

I wanted the kids to have a special place to keep their pen pal letters, so we made these paper bag portfolios. (I purchased these plain paper bags at Sam's Club a few years back...200 for $20. It was a great deal and, if they still carry them, perfect to split with a colleague. I'm sure your local grocery store would give you a class set, but they usually have writing on them.)

To make the portfolios, cut off three sides of the bag about halfway down. Leave an entire large panel on the bag. Fold that panel into the triangle to create an envelope look.

I used Velcro to close the flap and the students decorated the outside. These make cute writing portfolios, too!!

We enjoyed the book Enemy Pie (Reading Rainbow book) on Tumblebooks.

If you are not familiar with Tumblebooks, it's an online animated library. Your school would have to subscribe, but it is well worth it!

After we listened to the story, we talked about friendship and the qualities of a good friend, then created Recipes for Friendship Pie. We brainstormed recipe words like cup, tablespoon, teaspoon, dash, mix, stir, blend. I even showed them real recipes to give them guidance on how to write a recipe. It was a perfect writing activity for celebrating peace and visiting our new book buddies!

If you would like a copy of the Friendship Pie template, please click HERE.

Get some more fantastic Freebies here:

Hope you enjoyed this glimpse into my week! Check back later this week for my review of a product from Rachel, The Tattooed Teacher.