My parents recently celebrated their 40th Wedding Anniversary! Our color scheme was red (ruby anniversary) and white. We had a surprise party for them at our house. We invited family members and friends of the family. My brother gave a toast to our parents after dinner. What fun!
We had appetizers to start, dinner was served after the parents arrived, and finally desserts were passed around: red velvet cupcakes with buttercream frosting/ pink heart decor, raspberry-filled white cupcakes with buttercream frosting/ chocolate hearts decor, parents had their own red velvet cake with buttercream frosting.
Each guest received a party favor bag that contained a white "Congrats" horn to sound when the parents walked in the door, and a 70's song mix CD.
Each guest also "thumb printed" a leaf on a tree, which was framed and given to our parents to hang in their house.
Tables and chairs were set up for guests.
A special tree branch centerpiece displayed pictures of Mom and Dad over the years.
To go along with our First Grade, Unit 4: Winds of Change of the Common Core Standards, I developed this unit, "The Mystery in Munchkinland," allowing my students to become detectives during the story/ views of media clips from "The Wizard of Oz." The unit started by introducing this story scene to the detectives. The main standard wants students to identify the feelings and senses of characters in a story. Therefore, I focused on teaching students adjectives through the actions and feelings of the characters in this story. Included in the unit are role-play cards, in which student "Lead Detectives" ask questions of characters that witnessed this scene: Dorothy, Toto, Glinda, Mayor, Munchkin Boy, Wicked Witch of the West. Students worked in their detective booklets noting the senses used and feelings felt by the characters interviewed.
We colored pasta and wrote about how we would feel if we could go over the rainbow. Using the Role-play cards, some students acted as Lead Detectives and other students played the parts of characters who witnessed this scene. As questions were asked of the characters about the senses and feelings they had, Detectives wrote the responses in their " The Mystery in Munchkinland" booklets to help draw conclusions to this case. Students were also engaged in activities such as: writing about how hearts have feelings; creating and wearing a medal of courage, just like the Cowardly Lion; and writing about the feelings of their favorite character over the course of the story. As a final assessment, the students took "A Wiz" of a Quiz over words that describe the characters from the story. This unit is available at my TPT store. There is also a free download of a game that helps reinforce adjectives-it is a great addition to this unit! Senses and feelings and fun, oh my!
