New Sketch for the Albertines

I am now on the last plate for the Albertine book for Solway and this chap is a Devonshire farmer complete with the straw to chew on. I have gone for a rather country bumpkin look with this fellow and I think I have got it. However Mrs PK thinks it looks like one of the Wurzels or maybe Worzel Gummidge but I dont see it. So here he is for you to decide who is right Mrs PK or Mr PK.

Devon Farmer 1938

Field Trip & Animal Unit

Last Tuesday was FINALLY the day that my second graders have been waiting for since December (and the day I had been having nightmares about since March!)…our field trip to the Atlanta Zoo and Georgia Aquarium. The trip was more than wonderful and their reactions were priceless! Definitely worth every. single. bit of the planning! Most of our students have never been outside of the state and many have never seen outside of our small town. So to be able to provide them with this type of learning experience was more rewarding for me as a teacher than for those sweet kiddos! 

Here are a few pictures from our day! (I so HATE that I can’t show you their facial expressions…adorbs!)

We began at the zoo and saw lots of animals that we had been learning about for weeks. Here are a few of my fave.

 

 

The weather was perfect and the animals were very active. From there, we headed to Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta to have lunch and walk to the Georgia Aquarium.

They about had a fit when they laid eyes on the aquarium!

We began our time at the aquarium with a behind the scenes look at the large exhibits that they would see later on. Umm…can I just say this was probably THE coolest thing that I have ever done on a field trip! My student teacher and I were just as amazed as the students were!

 

We were so super close to these Whale Sharks. They are way cooler above the water than through the glass!

We also got to see how they create the wave effects in one of the exhibits below.

Next was the 3-D movie! It was so cute to see the kiddos try to reach out and touch things! Definitely a favorite! Even if we did get a little wet!

As if the day could get any better, next we were on our way to the dolphin show! They seriously go ALL OUT during this musical/dolphin showdown!

 

Then finally, we were off to explore the exhibits…which included a beluga whale due any day with a 500 pound baby! Let’s just take a second and say a little prayer for this lady! Ha!

 

 

They even had scuba divers come and wave to the kids! Precious!

And this is what happened on the way home! I would say it was a great day! Isn’t that the sweetest thing you have ever seen??? Love this child!

If you are interested in any of the activities that we did during our animal unit prior to our trip, I have compiled everything into a 153 page unit…and it’s still growing! You can check it out below and pick it up at TPT!

Can’t wait for our next trip! Happy Sunday, sweet friends!

A Mountain of Walls

After spending most of this weekend either making a cottage, looking after three Maine Coon cats for the father in law or painting walls I find myself after watching Grimm rather glad the weekend in over. There will be most of the cottage in the next couple of days and the cats are cats, loving, big and killers to me, have a bad allergic reaction to cats fur I have finished three sets of 4Ground damageable walls. I am glad that the most of it is done just the bases to do and then finished. I have also got around to building my Austin K2 as well.

Snack: Frogs on a Log

It's time for a snack ~ with a froggie twist to it!

For the past few weeks, my storytime friends and I have been exploring frogs through learning activities, books, and crafts. And, of course, a part of that exploration just HAD to include snacks, didn't it?

Over the time period of a few weeks, we've enjoyed several different froggie snacks but the one I am sharing today was, by far, the most popular! It is our version of the well-known Ants on a Log ~ which we also enjoyed when we were pretending to be frogs. So fun! ;o)

Here's the classic version that inspired our new snack:



Ants on a Log made with celery, peanut butter, and raisins.
Yummy!

Ants on a Log are delicious and pretty healthy. They are perfect when you are a hungry frog!

But what if you aren't a frog? What if you are a very hungry alligator ~ or maybe just pretending to be a gator who likes to eat frogs? Especially after reading books like in these two silly ones:

and



If you are a hungry gator or pretending to be one, these colorful Frogs on a Log are just the snack for you! Delicious and easy to make, too!

Here's what you need:

Supplies Needed:

Graham crackers

Nutella

Mint M&M's

Plate

Knife

A hungry gator or two (LOL)

Directions:

***Break graham crackers into fourths and spread them with the Nutella.

***Add M&M's ~ The cool thing is that they are three different shades of green! Each log can look different by varying the number of "frogs" and the shades of green, too.

***Enjoy your Frogs on a Log!

FAIR WARNING: I am not a gator but these Frogs on a Log are addicting! LOL! How could they not be? For one thing, I love Nutella!

But it is so much more than that!

I had never seen the Mint M&M's before. But, when we went searching for our "frog" item, I knew as soon as I saw them that they would be perfect "frogs". I love that they are three different shades of green. :o) My storytime friends loved that, too. And they thought they were beyond delicious. I had more little ones ask for seconds than I have ever had with any storytime snack. Even my shy friends were brave enough to ask for another one. What a surprise!

In the interest of full disclosure, I have actually bought two more bags of the Mint M&M's!

But I did not eat them ALL myself. I shared with family and friends. :o)

I hope you have fun making Ants on a Log or Frogs on a Log with your child/ren. If you do make the Frogs on a Log, I would enjoy hearing from you. I'd love to know if you and your child/ren enjoyed them as much as we did.

Thanks for stopping by Storytime ABC'S! Please consider sharing us with your family and friends.

I would also love for you to leave a comment or two. I enjoy "meeting" new friends and talking about family fun!

Have a lovely weekend! And, as always,

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!

I Hate Scenery

Okay thats a general statement and I really dont hate scenery at all but having three packs of wall from 4Ground and rendered and painted the plastered parts of the wall its now brick time. I am bloody hating the time it is taking to paint the bricks and I am other about a third of the way through them. Still I need the wall for Partizan and it not that much that really needs doing just takes forever.

But happiness turned up today as a Thatched Cottage and Bared Wire barricades from 4Ground came in the post. I havent started on the cottage but I thought that I would  make up one of the barricades and I think is looks okay. Now I need to throw a lick of paint on it and rust the wire and its done. Here is a picture of it for you to make your own minds up about it.

You can see in the background an experiment on wheatfields and I think that I have the right colour now.

Flannel Friday: The Wide-Mouthed BullFrog

Here is my contribution for Flannel Friday this week.


It is one of my all-time favorite Frog stories. I have presented it in lots of different ways over the years ~ and now I can present it as a Flannel Story! Yay!

It is:

The Wide-Mouthed Bullfrog

Here's our lively little Bullfrog as he hop, hop, hops along.

This story can be found in many different versions and formats because it has been around for a very long time! Personally, I use many different techniques when telling this story. Each time I tell it, I try to choose the one that best suits my audience.

The book that I use most often is this pop-up version by Keith Faulkner:

See any resemblance between my felt guy and this big mouth guy?
;o)

When I storytell, I use Keith Faulkner's version of The Wide-Mouthed Frog but I always say "Bullfrog". It is the way I first learned the story and it has stuck with me! :o)

Here is a quick re-cap of the story:

The Wide-Mouthed Bullfrog loves hopping around and visiting with the animals that he encounters along the way, like:

"a blue-feathered bird"

and

"a furry brown mouse".

With each new encounter, the Wide-Mouthed Bullfrog shares that he is indeed "a wide-mouthed (bull)frog and (I) eat flies" and then he asks, "What do you eat?"

Of course, the bird and mouse eat simple, harmless things like "wriggly worms and slugs" and "crunchy seeds and juicy berries". 

BUT, this really is not a simple, harmless tale!

Because... 


Who should the Wide-Mouthed Bullfrog meet next? 

(Cue suspenseful music!)

Aaaaahh! 

It's a big green alligator!

Isn't he cool in all is 3D awesomeness?

And do you know what alligators like to eat?!??!!???!!!

 You guessed it!

They like to eat "delicious wide-mouthed (bull)frogs"!!! 

Watch out for those sharp, white teeth, our little froggie friend!

But no need to worry! Our little froggie friend is pretty intelligent! He quickly sizes up the situation ~ he puckers his lips and makes his mouth as small as possible and says...

"Ooooh. You don't see many of them around, do you?"

And he leaps into the pond with a ...

Thank goodness he was a smart and quick frog!

I love this story and so do the children and their grownups ~ no matter HOW I tell it!

As I mentioned before, I use different techniques at different times.

For example, with the alligator in particular, I sometimes use the pop-up picture in the book. He is so well-illustrated that it is fun to surprise my storytime friends with his snapping white teeth when I open the book at just the right moment.

Other times, I use only my arms and hands to form the jaws of the alligator. When I do this, I encourage my storytime friends to also make their own "alligator" with their arms and hands. Snapping them open and closed. This works out well when I have a surprise storytelling session and don't have the opportunity to prepare too much ahead of time.

I also sometimes use our green alligator puppet:

Watch out for his sharp, white teeth!

I would like to mention one more version of The Wide-Mouthed Bullfrog that I occasionally use for my storytimes ~ it is a musical version!

We have a local music educator, Maryann "Mar." Harmon, who is also a children's songwriter. She has a song on one of her CDs that is based on Keith Faulkner's book. You will find a downloadable link to the song here.

It is a fun, easily remembered song version of
The Wide-Mouthed Bullfrog.
Great for adding a little music to your storytime!

For one of my storytimes this past week, I used my new flannel set with the above song. It was fun!


Oh, in case you missed it, the mouth on the frog is interchangeable!

I place the small mouth on first and then the wide-mouth over it.
When it is time, I remove the wide-mouth to reveal the small one.

My storytime groups have had a ton of fun with Frogs these past few weeks! 


So much fun, in fact, that I still have lots more Frog ideas to share on my Frog ABC'S Blog Hop. I hope you will take a look at the Blog Hop while you are visiting my blog today. And please feel free to link up any Frog ideas that you have enjoyed with your child/ren!

Here are a few ideas that are coming soon to a blog near you:

Froggie Crafts

Wide-Mouth Bullfrog Story Craft with interchangeable mouths

Fly-eating Frog Hat

Froggie Snacks:

Frogs on a Log ~ simple, delicious, and fun!

I hope you have a HOPPING-ly fun weekend! And, as always,

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!

Flannel Friday information for this week:

I am the host for this week's Flannel Friday Round-Up. It is my very first time to host and I am having lots of fun today! You will find the FFUP here when it is posted.

Round up archives and host schedule is at So Tomorrow.

Visually scan all the Flannel Friday posts at Pinterest.

Talk about storytime and flannelboards at the Flannel Friday Facebook Page.

Follow Flannel Friday on Twitter with the #flannelfriday hashtag. (You don’t have to be on Twitter to check this out.)

And, last but not least, if you’re a contributor, there is an awesome blog button from Melissa and you can grab it from the right hand menu at Mel’s Desk!

Teacher Talk in Hotlanta {Atlanta}

I have been so extremely jealous reading everyone’s posts about blogger meet-ups! I swear…it is so lonely here in South Carolina! So when I got an email from Cheryl Saoud {Primary Graffiti} about a meet-up in Georgia, you can imagine my excitement! I couldn’t wait to meet some of these ladies that have been my blogging heroes for a good minute! :)

We met up on Saturday and let me just say, it was like a group of school girls chatting it up for hours! I swear we could have stayed there all weekend gabbing on and on….and on!

We traveled to the Cheesecake Factory in style! I mean what else did you expect?!? Ha!

 

Can you imagine the conversations that we had?!? Definite teacher talk at its finest!

Here is a little group shot! These ladies are seriously just as sweet in person as they are on their amazing blogs! You must check them out! You’ll love them as much as I do!

The group:

Cheryl of Primary Graffiti

Dana from 3rd Grade Gridiron

Ashley from The Polka Dot Patch

Jenaya from Lesson Plan Diva

Deanna from Mrs. Jump’s Class

Erica from Erica Bohrer’s First Grade

Anna Brantley from Crazy for First Grade

 

Such a wonderful weekend! I can’t wait for another meet-up!

Ahhh….it’s almost FRIDAY! Can you sense my excitement? TGIF!!!!