Pete the Cat Themed Easter Celebration

Thursday was our last day of school this week. A four day weekend was planned on the school calendar, but we had to make up a bad weather day. So we made the best of it with a Pete the Cat: Big Easter Adventure themed day.

We began our day with a read aloud. 

 We work while we play so...

These are a few of the answers that the kiddies got to put under the document camera and read to the class. They love getting to see their work projected onto the screen.
ABOVE: Yes, because it's respectful and it is nice.
BELOW: There will be no eggs to find. And the Easter Bunny will be sad.

BELOW: The kids are going to not believe (in the Easter Bunny).

BELOW: Yes, it's how you make BFFS. (he he)

In the story, Pete paints Easter eggs, so we did too. First, we drew designs or pictures with crayons. 

This little gal said she drew the bunny for her little brother in Pre-K. What a sweetie!

Then, we dipped them in warm water, vinegar, and food color. 

The yellow eggs are my favorite. So bright. So spring. 

We did a little writing after that. How to Color Easter Eggs. I failed to take a picture.

After a break for recess and lunch, we created Pete using pattern blocks. Then, we traced our pattern or blocks to make a craftivity. The template can be found here. It can be used with any Pete book. We added bunny ears because, in Big Easter Adventure, Pete wears bunny ears. 

Finally, it was time for an egg hunt and our Spring Party. It was a fun day, but an exhausting day. I'm so happy for a three day weekend. Plus, next week is more state testing and I get diplaced from my room for two days  to a portable with no desks or chairs. It's going to be interesting!

Still up in the air about your Earth Day plans? Please consider this:

There's an interactive mini book, CLOSEer Reading Passage with vocab and post reading questions, writing prompts, recycling flip book, some fun stuff and a stained glass Earth craft template (the craft is not pictured here). 

Go ahead, link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching. 

Enjoy the long weekend!

Five for Friday: Favorite Pins {April @ School}

How do you organize your Pinterest Boards? When I first started pinning I was too general. For example, I think I had a board called "Stuff for School". Ha! Pinning newbie. Next, I got a little more specific and created some subject area boards like "Math Yo!" and "Bulletin Boards". But theeeen, I happened upon a teacher pinner who organized her boards by month. LIGHT BULB! So I started doing that because I was sure this was a genius idea. So now, I just check out my "(Insert month here) @ School" board to see what I thought was a groovy idea when I first ran across it. And that brings me to Five for Friday: Favorite Pins for April :-)

But first, you can still Pin It to Win It! and get my Pete the Cat Easter: CLOSEer Reading, Writing Prompts, and More Packet. Read about it in this post. And, I just added Pete the Cat: Pattern Block Activity to TpT this evening. The activity and craft would be an excellent supplement to the Easter packet. 

Now, about those pins...

I pinned this awesome volcano craft from A Day in First Grade. This blog is awesome! My new fave, for sure. The kiddos spayed a mix of paint and water out of water guns onto their volcanoes. We are not studying volcanoes, BUT we are studying poetry. Maybe this can be a Friday craftivity if we write a poem about volcanoes. I know my firsties would L-O-V-E it.

I love books and I really love it, when someone compiles lists of books for school. This comes from Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas.

And, I just found this foil and sharpie egg on there too!

I don't know what it is about these bunnies...but I love them! Maybe it's the brightly colored stripes. A lil Easter painting, anyone? This pin is from Learning in Spain.

We're currently studying plants, not insects. But if we were... This pin is from Annie Moffat. 

Say it with me, "AWWWW..."

It looks like I pinned lots of crafts for April. But other months include pins for other stuff too, like science experiments, teacher made resources, ideas from teacher blogs. 

You can check out my Pinterest Boards at http://www.pinterest.com/kasandrateach/.

How did teachers keep up with anything before Pinterest???

Your turn. Link up!

Pete-the-Cat-like Pattern Block Activity

Easter is just around the corner! Can you believe how this year has just flown by?

On holidays I like to stray a little from the district scope & sequence. Nix that. I did not officially say that. What I meant to say is I teach first grade skills and concepts, but I like to put a holiday spin on them. Where I teach,  first grade is discouraged from teaching thematically. We leave that to the Kinder teachers. But I'm going to supplement my plans with a little Easter fun from Pete the Cat: Big Easter Adventure by Kimberly and James Dean. 

 I created this packet for my firsties: 

You can find the packet here. Or, you can Pin It to Win It and maybe get it for FREE! Here's how:

1. Pin the cover of the packet on Pinterest. 

2. Leave a comment including your email address and the link to the Pin.

I've never hosted a Pin It to Win It, so I have no idea how many teachers will enter, but I'll randomly choose one person for every five pinners and send you the packet. Contest closes Sunday, April 13th at noon (central time). 

Wanna incorporate a little math and a craftivity with your Pete the Cat: Big Easter Adventure? 

Check out this Pete the Cat made from pattern blocks. 

 Students can accomplish this several ways:

1. Freely construct a cat out of pattern blocks.
2. Use a pattern/tracer and fill in blocks.
3. Guided activity. 

First, design the face of a cat on blue construction paper using pattern blocks. Then, trace the cat. 

Next, trace the eyes on orange construction paper and the nose on white construction paper. Then cut out the face, eyes, and nose. Arrange the pieces to look like Pete the Cat, then glue the pieces.

To make this craft more Big Easter Adventure-like, draw bunny ears, cut them out and glue to them behind the cat's ears. That what my class is going to do. This craft would be an excellent along side one of the writing prompts in my packet. 

Need the tracer? I'll upload one to TpT later this week. 

You can have your kiddos build the cat on the tracer, then trace it to make the craftivity. 

I'll be back later this week with the link to the tracer and a fabulous suggestion for Easter egg hunts at school! Don't forget to check back.