Five for Friday! 4.11.14

Happy Friday! Man alive, we made it another week and the weather in Wisconsin was just plain old gorgeous this week! Thank the lord!!!  :) Excited today to be linking up Doodle Bugs Teaching for the weekly linky 'Five for Friday!'

This was my last full week of school before my maternity leave starts.  Based on my 2 hour long doctor appointment today I'm just going to be happy to make it through next week's 4 day week.  Cross your fingers for me.  Here's my fab 5 for the week! Enjoy!

We started our geometry unit this week and the first part of the unit was on angles. The kids did a really great job with them, however we did need some practice.  So we used straws and the edges of our books to practice making angles.  They had a blast!  We are all experts now!.

I've posted a few times on our end of the year pioneer simulation lately and we are well on our way!!! We started our diary's this week to help us write about our journey along the way.  The first entries were due today, and we started to share, but didn't get them done.  I will have to share a few next week in a post. They were awesome! Here are a few of their diary covers that were created.  (All of the names that you see are their fake pioneer names.!)

In order to also keep track of our journey, we also make timelines to track different experiences along the trail.  We left for Oregon in early May.  Our first timeline is of the experience that we had when we left our homes to all meet up at Fort Independence.  Each time they do a timeline they answer the same questions and the color a picture of something that has happened.  We focus on land-forms that they pass by, a quote that someone in their wagon would say about something that has happened, something that they have seen, something that they have done and lastly how they are feeling.  The first one was fun to do and the kids really got into it! 

We are just all about the pioneers this week.... and the last thing that I want to share about it is that we really did add up all of the kids points that they've been earning to leave Fort Independence and head out on the trail.  We are just about at our first stop, which will be Prairie Wells.  Along the way we had a 'fate' though, which delayed us quite a bit.  The pioneers were starting to run out of water already because it had been really dry.  They had to get out their packing lists and make sure that the packed 2 or 3 water barrels.  If they did then their wagon was ok.  If they packed only 1 they were delayed 200 points and had to do a mini-research project for homework to get that cleared away.  If they didn't pack any then they caused their wagon to lose energy.  They are now worried each time I ring the bell in my classroom to tell them something that has happened to them!

On a personal note this week, my husband and I got our maternity photos done in Lake Geneva.  I wanted to share a few of my favorites with you!  Have a happy weekend all!

Photo credit: Whitesand Images

Photo credit: Whitesand Images

Photo credit: Whitesand Images