Leprechauns on the Loose!

Today was our last day before Spring Break so we had a little fun.  I set up clues around the school for us to go on a St. Patrick's Day scavenger hunt looking for the leprechauns and their pot of gold.  When we first got back to the classroom, this clue was on the door:

I know it's hard to read... pretty much it says that the pot of gold has been stolen and we need to help track down the leprechauns.  They went to where we eat breakfast and lunch.  I must say, I am not much of an actress, but my six year olds sure believed my acting today!  I was "shocked" to see this clue on the door, and they jumped right on board and were anxious to head to the cafeteria and find the leprechauns.  First, we quickly made hats for our hunt.

The students each were given a paper to draw their conclusions about where each clue was telling us to go.

We followed the clues to the cafeteria, the gym, the office, the library, and finally back to the classroom where we found the pot of gold on my chair!  {Gold = Chocolate Gold Coins from the dollar section in Target}  Here are pictures of a couple clues and the pot of gold:

We then wrote about our fun in our journals.  My kids LoVeD it!  At this point, I'm thinking we'll move on to something else but my students could not give up on finding the leprechauns.  One little girl said "Oh my goodness, that cabinet door was not opened when we left.  The leprechauns must be in there!  There are too small to see so they  must be hiding."

Another student says "Maybe they will come out if we clap", so the ENTIRE class bursts into applause.  It was hilarious, and every single kid was on board.  Not a single party pooper!  I'll spare you the details, but this continued on for the rest of the school day.  At the end of the day, one of my students said this was the BEST day ever.

When I created this scavenger hunt, I thought it would be fun, but the kids enjoyed it even more than I anticipated.  I have it available {with lots of additional activities included as well} in English and Spanish on my TpT store if you would like to try it out.  If you do, I would love to see pictures and hear your stories :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day... a little early!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

We had a blast this week celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday.  Most of what we did were ideas I got from pinterest, so I am not able to take credit for several of these awesome ideas {the pockets, the graphing, and the green eggs and ham snack}.  I'm so grateful for the world of pinterest, blogging, and teachers pay teachers because teachers are able to share their awesome ideas and I love to use them :).

On Monday, we read "There's a Wocket in my Pocket" and focused on rhyming words.  The kids made these cute little pockets and named their creature inside by coming up with a word that rhymed with pocket.  This little girl put a mocket in her pocket, and below that is the Spanish version of the activity.

On Wednesday we read "The Cat in the Hat".  We drew some conclusions about the cat on an anchor chart.  Then, the students make the cat and wrote several conclusions on their paper. {For this activity, I just gave them paper and a face and hat tracer}.

We also did "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" goldfish graphing that day.  The students sorted the goldfish, collected their data using tally marks, and completed a graph.

On Friday we ate read "Green Eggs & Ham" and ate a fun little snack.  We also made a class book:  "Do you like green eggs and _______?"  The students had to come up with a side to their green eggs and two rhyming words {an animal and a place}.  This little girl wrote:  Do you like green eggs and pizza?  You could eat them with a cat, You could eat them on a mat!  Here is a picture of an English page and a Spanish page from our book:

At the end of the day on Friday, one of my coworkers brought me this cute cupcake that a parent had brought.  Just what I needed on a Friday afternoon!  The perfect ending to a fun Dr. Seuss Week :)