Owl Moon, Fall Leaves, and Pumpkin Writing

Hello teachers and blog followers! Wow, last week flew by so quickly, and I was definitely not planning on posting this so late. This will need to be quick, because I need to get some rest before the week begins tomorrow morning. 

This week, we had a lot of fun with some more fall activities. Every year, I love reading Owl Moon to the kids. I know that it is kind of a winter book, but I love how the owls look in my classroom for fall. Anyway, they have a version on YouTube, which is great because it really engages the students, and you don't even have to have the book. After they "watched" the book, we transitioned into a directed draw activity. First we used pencil, and then we traced with crayons. Students used their watercolors for the brown owl, and then I mixed some blue tempura paint with water for the background. I think they turned out really cute!

I really like my classroom to be decorated for each season, so we made fall leaves this week. I cut up a bunch of tissue paper, and my students stuck it onto a leaf made of brown construction paper. My room feels like a fall forest!

This week, we started learning about the writing process. By Friday, my students were finally working on their rough drafts. Sometimes they got restless and just want to skip all of the steps, but I reminded them how important it is to organize all of their thoughts and ideas beforehand.

Finally, just wanted to post some pics from this weekend. It is nice to have a restful weekend after going so hard during the week. On Saturday, my husband Jarek and I got to go to Julian, a cute little town about an hour east of San Diego. We bought freshly picked apples and ate delicious apple pie. Today, we went to a festival in Little Italy, a section of San Diego. These chalk artists were incredibly talented!

Hope you all have a great start to your week!