Busy Bee Birthday Bash!

In case you didn't know, my twin sister and I had a birthday yesterday... and I'm celebrating that and 250+ followers with a giveaway!

1 grand prize winner will win a $29 Amazon gift card (yes, that's our age!)

29 winners will each win ANY product in my Teacher's Pay Teacher's store!

To win, you can do any of the following and (leave a separate comment for each)

• Become a follower of the Miss B, Busy Bee Blog
• Comment on the blog, telling me what item you'd want from my TPT store if you win (include an email address so I can send it to you!)
• Follow my boards on Pinterest
• Pin my blog logo to Pinterest
• Pin the giveaway logo to your Pinterest board
• Pin one of your favorite posts onto Pinterest (unlimited entries)
• Follow me on Facebook 
• Leave a comment on Facebook
• Follow by email
• Add my blog to your blogroll
• Blog about this giveaway and include a linkback!

Good luck! Winners will be chosen via Random.org by 12pm EST on Monday, March 13 and announced on Tuesday, March 14.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

We had a great time on Read Across America Day. I got my students Dr. Seuss hats from Staples and we made mustache sticks to celebrate the release of The Lorax. The kids colored them, cut them out, and glued them to an orange popsicle stick.

 

We did goldfish graphing in honor of One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish!

 

We watched the cartoon version movie of the book at the end of the day. Some of the kids said they were going to see the new movie this weekend.

 

They wore the hats and red shirts while our superintendent, Dr. O'Malley, read Oh, the Things You Can Do That Are Good for You! by Tische Rabe.

Kids enjoyed playing games on the Seussville website...

and singing "Dr. Seuss, We Love You" in music class!

It got the kids super geared up for MY birthday on Monday! Come back and read tomorrow's post for some exciting birthday news! :)

Check out my Pinterest board for more Read Across America / Dr. Seuss ideas!

Just in Time, Abraham Lincoln!

I know it's kind of late to be posting about Presidents' Day, but things have been crazy between conferences, report cards, and getting ready for Read Across America Day and our author's visit from Patricia Polacco. It's about two months away, but I wanted to get my students ready for her visit, so I killed two birds with one stone. Last week I read them Just in Time, Abraham Lincoln! This week they will be reading some of her other books in literature circles.

If you're looking for comprehension questions, check this freebie out! It has 15 comprehension questions and one open-ended essay.

In addition to all sorts of other President-themed activities, we visited http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents to learn about and write 3 facts about two presidents each. Two presidents x 22 students = 44 presidential fact pages! We also wrote about three things we'd like to accomplish if we were President or one thing we'd accomplish and three things we'd do to accomplish it. We decided that it would be a pretty tough job!

We also took the White House virtual tour.

I showed students pictures from my visits to the Washington area a few years ago.

Can you name the following monuments, statues, and buildings?

Ford's Theater, where Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth

(closed for repairs when I was there)

The House Where Lincoln Died

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery

Eternal flame and graves of JFK and his widow, Jackie

Visit the White House National Park if you're in the Washington, DC area!

Virtual Field Trip to Ellis Island

I just got an email from Scholastic telling me that they are holding a LIVE virtual field trip to Ellis Island

on Thursday, March 29 from 1:00-1:35 pm ET. My class is definitely participating and I hope you can too!

 If you can't wait until then or want more information, check out their lesson plans or activities for kids.

You can also take their virtual picture tour.

Imagine yourself as an immigrant. My first two classes immigrated from South America. Many of my current students and their parents came to the US from Asia.  I have encouraged them to enter the "Dear Homeland" Letter Writing contest for a chance to win a trip to Ellis Island and to share their experiences.