Easter EGGstravaganza!

Hold on to your bonnet because this post is hoppin' with Easter fun! 

Our focus in shared reading this week was ABC order (we visited ABC order once before but some of my darlings struggled to catch on, so the short week was the perfect time to revisit this concept). We read a big book and, each day, the kids got to pick out any one word from each page we read to write on a sticky note. We had about 4 words each day that the kids put in ABC order. At the end of the week, we scrambled all the words we had picked out and rearranged them in ABC order:

(Their minds were blown with "bees" and "beetles"...by the time we figured out that we had to look all the way to the FOURTH letter to help us decide which word goes first, my room was full of "OOOOHHHH!!!!"s haha)

As a follow up to our whole group lesson, our Word Work centre allowed for extra independent practice of the morning's skill. The kids had to put a set of Easter vocabulary words in ABC order and then complete this worksheet:

(This activity is from my SPRING into Easter pack available on TpT)

During our writing block on Thursday, we read one of my favourite Easter books:

(Click the pic above to get your own copy of this adorable tale!)

It's about a darling little hen named Pauline who lays eggs that resemble whatever she happens to look at. Mrs. Pennywort, the farm's owner, discovers Pauline's unexplainable talent and senses an Easter goldmine! ...but when some of the beautiful eggs begin to hatch equally as colourful chicks, Mrs. Pennywort is not sure the "Easter lady" will be interested in the eggs anymore...

As a follow-up activity (credit due to my grade-partner-in-crime, Mrs. Montgomery!), the kids got to concentrate very hard, just like Pauline, and draw two eggs resembling something they spotted around our classroom:

 (Click the pic to download your FREE copy!)

Then they had to write about what inspired each of their designs:

"I zoomed in on my Strawberry (Shortcake) PJs. They have polkadots and strawberries on them. I found them on me!" ...it was PJ day on Thursday :) "Then I zoomed in on a tiger. I drew tiger print. I think it's cool." I assure you I do not keep tigers in my first grade classroom...along with PJ day, the kiddies were also allowed to bring stuffed animals to school and someone brought in a stuffed tiger.

Keeping the Easter theme hopping along, the kids got to make their own version of Faberge Eggs at our Art Centre this week. As an avid scrapbooker, I have sheets upon sheets of scrapbook paper in my craft room at home. I sacrificed a few dozen sheets to slice up for this collage activity:

1) Cut out an egg template on cardstock and cover the egg with scrapbook paper squares:

2) Once the glue is dry, trim the overhanging squares to even out your design:

3) VOILA! Easy peasy lemon squeezy :)

This next math activity was perfect to finish off our measurement unit and begin our 2D and 3D geometry unit. I traced a couple tangrams on paper: one long, skinng triangle; 4 equal triangles; 4 squares decreasing in size; and 4 circles decreasing in size. 

I traced the shapes randomly on a piece of paper so the kiddies had to:

1) cut out the shapes (fine motor)

2) sort the shapes (geometry)

3) and order the shapes from largest to smallest (measurement)

 Later in the week, just for fun, we made some Easter bunnies that we could feed our geometry carrots to:

(I just free-hand drew a bunny head, body, feet, and ears on cardboard as my template for this craftivity)

I love how creative my kiddies get with the activities I give them...

They are always adding their own personal touches...

Emotions...

Or simply just staying out-of-the-box altogether!...

(It's a pirate bunny...duh!)

 As you can see, my main bulletin board is now overflowing with their brilliant Easter creations. So, we moved on to the windows!!!

 I got this darling sun catcher idea from my trusty Pinterest boards. It's super easy and fun. All I did was trace and cut egg shapes into paper plates, cut strips of tissue paper, and glued the tissue paper along the sides of the egg:

Once you flip it over, it looks like this:

Mine is super boring. But leave it to my firsties to go to town with the crayons! They all turned out so pretty...

Last but not least, what's Easter without CHOCOLATE?! I just googled "easter basket template" and printed off the template for these adorable baskets:

(Click the pic above to link to the template I used)

At the end of our PJ day on Thursday, we had a popcorn party and watched Hop:

(Click the pic if you would like to own Hop!)

I had never seen it before yesterday. It is actually SO cute and funny.

Have a Happy Hoppin' Easter!!!