Five for Friday on Mothers' Day???

You know, I really love Doodle Bugs Teaching's Five for Friday, but I can never get it together to post by Friday!  I've decided better late than never, right?

We've been in full swing studying animals for the past few weeks, and it's been like Wild Kingdom in my classroom.  These tiny fellas showed up - painted lady butterfly larvae:The kids have been watching them grow, change, make the "famous J shape", form their chrysalis, and I'm hoping for adults next week!

Another tiny friend grew into an adult...he was no bigger than my thumbnail, and I'm not kidding!  We had to let him and his friends go home to their pond, which, of course is their natural habitat.

We also had a temporary visit from some rescued baby groundhogs.

1. That brings me to show you a new unit I made for life cycles:

It's available at my store on Teachers Pay Teachers, or you can just click and go on the picture.

2.  Here we are observing mini-ecosystems inside hula hoops.
Click on this photo to see the activity at my store.

I was TOTALLY inspired at Sunday School last week, where I saw these, and many, many more animals...having a field trip to our state's largest zoo Tuesday, I can't wait to make these to go with our study on animal classification and characteristics!

3.  

4.  I touched and fed a giraffe!!!  My favorite animal, ever, is the giraffe, and this guy was super-friendly, not at all shy, and A-MAZ-ING!  Then I saw a kangaroo, up closer than I ever have before...If you're studying animals, try out my Animal Mega Pack.  It includes all the activities above, and many more.

 5.  Finally, my students and I hand-painted these "grow kits" for Mothers' Day.  We also made the cutest poems on paper flower pots with paper flowers, but it was SO close to the end of the day, that I couldn't get a photo before the bell!
 

Before I go, I have to tell you about a fantastic give-away at Tori's Teacher Tips.  Click on her graphic to go enter...

Happy Mothers' Day!