"Eggs"tra Equations Freebie

Could your little darlin's use some extra help with math facts? I thought so. This activity is perfect for practicing math facts, adding three addends, and more. All you need is an egg carton (and you're reusing now too!), buttons, and my PDF. I just covered my egg carton with some extra scrapbook paper I already had, but you don't have to do that. This activity can be played individually, with partners, or a small group. I hope it comes in handy for you and little darlin's.

How weird is that? The picture makes it looks like that is the outside of the carton. It's not, it's actually the inside -- REALLY! Put the buttons inside the carton, shake the carton, open it up and start adding. You can use only two buttons as well, the choice is yours!

Don't Eat Pete Valentine Style Freebie

Little darlin's LOVE this silly little game of "Don't Eat Pete." I made this one just in time for Valentine's Day. Enjoy! Click on picture below. If you are interested in more "Don't Eat Pete" games. You can find a Christmas version here.

Still Here and a Christmas Game Freebie

I'm still here. I'm still trying to balance my life with my new position and all. My husband was so on board with me making a change, but now that he sees how much work I do at home, I'm not sure if he's liking it all that well ;/ But I absolutely LOVE what I'm doing, and I am slowly finding my balance. 

So, let's move onto the FREEBIE! OK, so some of you might think this game is a little on the morbid side, but nevertheless, it's a fun game and the little darlin's will love to play it. I have no idea where this game originated, but it's been floating around my old school for a few years now. If any of you out there know its creator, please let me know so I may give credit where credit is due.

Students roll the dice and put the items on as directed in the rules. But, if they roll a six, everything comes off, including the tree, hence…burning Christmas tree! If you want this freebie, please click on the picture below.

Enjoy!

Such Good Intentions...And a Little Freebie

Yes, I had such good intentions of hooking up to the Teacher Week Blog Hop/Linky this week, but it is just not going to happen. 

If you've been following, you know I have made a job change for this year. I will not be in the classroom...well, at least not my own classroom. I am going to be teaching, mentoring, and evaluating intern teachers in my district. I have 8 altogether, plus when student teachers come into the schools, I'll be mentoring and evaluating them too, and also those teacher candidates that are doing their practicum. Though I am so excited for this new adventure and opportunity, it has been so weird for me not to be preparing for a new school year in my own classroom. I have actually missed it greatly. This has always been my most favorite time of the year. The classroom is exactly how you want it, it's still clean, everything is new, and my list could go on and on.

It's been a busy summer. My son got married in June (pictures will be coming), vacation to Seattle & British Colombia in July, and this month I've been busy with presentations for the district. 

Here's a little something that I came up with to give to my interns next Thursday, their first day of teaching. My fellow CFAs made all the clipboards (aren't they cute!) If you want to download it, click here. There is one for grades K-6.

                                         

Freebie - Planet Place Value

We have been working on Place Value for the past few weeks. The little darlin's are doing well with it. Expanded form is probably the toughest part of this unit, but they're beginning to understand that as well. I made this little game of "Five in a Row" where students have to get their number in all five forms (numeral, number word, tens and ones, expanded form and Base 10 Blocks). We're going to use it as a review before we test this week. 

We also did another activity to help solidify this concept. I distributed number cards from 0-9 throughout the class. Then I labeled an empty chair with TENS on a Post-It (yeah, I go all out!) and another chair with ONES. I then called out a 2-digit number and the students have to sit in the correct chair to model the number. THEY LOVED THIS! Anytime I can get the little darlin's moving around, I'm all over that.

What has worked for you while teaching Place Value?

Click on the picture above to get your freebie. Enjoy!

One Year Old and a Celebration Freebie

Thank you Melonheadz Illustrating for graphics!

One year ago today I started this little 'ol blog of mine. I have learned so much in the last 365 days, and my tech-savvy has improved slightly - through much trial and error, emphasis on the error! I love the friendships I have made through this blog, and I appreciate everything everyone has shared with me. I can't imagine teaching without having access to teaching blogs. You all have truly inspired and helped me tremendously!! 

The last few weeks of school before we went on break, we've been working super hard on how the equal sign is like a balance, and whatever is on one side of the equal sign, needs to equal the other side. So, I made a little "I Have, Who Has..." game that goes along with this concept. Click on the picture below to get your free copy of it. Enjoy!!

Don't Eat Pete Freebie

We are partying tomorrow. I made this Don't Eat Pete Game. The little darlin's just LOVE playing it. I love the Melonheadz clip art! Just click on the picture to get your free game. Enjoy!!

Popcorn Day Freebie

Hooray! Today was Popcorn Day. Everything we did today had to do with popcorn. We read about popcorn with The Popcorn Book, by Tomie dePaola. We did science experiments. We put popcorn kernels in a cup then covered them with water and made predictions about what we thought would happen. The kernels expand greatly. We heated kernels in a glass beaker and watched them pop (soooo cool!) We graphed our favorite taste of popcorn (caramel won!) We did several language arts activities as well. I created a few activities for today that I thought I'd share. Click on the picture above to get your free copy. Enjoy!

Another delightful book to use on popcorn day is this one.

Check This Out! and a Halloween Freebie!

If you haven't been following Lisa from Learning is Something to Treasure, you need to start following her. Her blog is a lot of fun to read and she has some great ideas. She does a Friday Blogger review each week. I happened to be this week's featured blogger. Go check it out here. 

In class we just finished up shapes in math and adjectives in grammar, so I integrated the two into a fun art and writing activity. Click on the picture below to download for FREE!

A Classroom Update and Some Freebies

So we have been working really hard on Daily 5 in our classroom. And it is up and running. Can I just say, that I. LOVE. DAILY. 5!!! To think that I suffered through the last 10 years doing busy centers (for me and the students), makes me cringe. I wish I would have found Daily 5 much sooner. Oh, well, that's the way the pencil writes, I guess! Daily 5 has been a true blessing. There is little to no management issues, the students love the different rotations and looking on the board each day, to see what they'll be doing. I've had to monitor and adjust D5 for it to work in my class, but nonetheless, it works. If you are thinking about doing it, DO IT!!  In our class, the students do 3 rotations every day. One of those rotations is "Read to Self." I've added Guided Reading onto my board as well. We do 3 twenty-minute sessions. We do our "Work on Writing" rotation as a class. This group of students absolutely LOVE to write! That makes me so excited and happy. Below are the pictures I use for our D5 board. You can click on the picture if you're interested in downloading.

Something else we've been working on in our classroom is Geometric Shapes. I created a little Shapes Concentration/Memory Game. My team member used it yesterday in her class and absolutely loved it because the students have to match the shape word with a real-life picture of the shape. If you'd like a copy, please click on the picture below.

ABC Noun Book Freebie

In case you couldn't have guessed, we've been learning a lot about nouns the past couple of weeks. Here is an ABC Book of Nouns for you to download for FREE! Just click on the picture below. Enjoy!!

My Water Book Freebie!

So tomorrow we begin our Water Unit. I thought it might be good if the little darlin's had a book to make to go along with the unit. So here's how it's going to go. We'll read the books listed in the freebie and as we learn new vocabulary, we will list it in the Alpha Box. We will learn the water cycle, and create a water cycle bracelet to go along with it (Thank you, Pinterest!) We will experiment with objects that sink and float and document our findings. We will learn about the three different forms of water and draw and write about it.  We will learn about how we use water and draw and write about it. We will also write a fictional writing about how a day would be without water. Please download, by clicking on the picture below. Enjoy!!

Person, Place, Thing, or Animal Game Freebie

This week in our literacy block, we are learning about nouns and the different kinds of nouns there are. So I decided it might be fun to make a little game out of it for the little darlin's. You may download for free by clicking on the picture. Enjoy!

Doubles

I don't know about you, but I'm a visual learner. Whenever I can see a picture of something, or see how something is done, it sure makes a whole lotta sense for this old brain. So, in a couple of weeks we will be teaching some addition strategies, so I thought it might be a good idea to make some visuals for my little darlin's. Hence, below you can find my doubles pictures for teaching the doubles strategy for math. Students will be able to see the doubles theory much easier with a 6-pack of Coke, than just plain old

3 + 3 = 6. Anywho, if you'd like them please download for free! Just click on one of the pictures below.

Art Studio & Surfer Girl Word Sort Freebie!

So yesterday I started teaching our district's Art Studio. It's a class that has 2 different sessions (younger & older elementary). The objective of this class is to have students explore all the different art mediums, and to learn the elements of art. And so we began with this book:

Those of you not familiar with this book, it is an autobiography of Tomie dePaola and his first experience with an art teacher/lesson. The idea in the book, is for students to be able to create their art how they want, and not have to follow step-by-step instructions.

Here's what the kiddos came up with...

This was done at the sketching station.

They collaged their own sketch books.

We also read The Dot and the students created a mural stamping dots.

At the watercoloring station, they learned different techniques of watercolor.

Now for the Freebie! I've been searching and searching for just the right clip art because I had this Surfer Girl idea. I couldn't find it, until yesterday while on Pinterest, someone pinned My Cute Graphics free clip art, and voila!! Click on the picture below to download.

Enjoy!

All About Lilly Mini Unit Freebie!

I've been debating about opening a Teachers Pay Teachers store. Any of you out there that can shed some light on the subject, I would appreciate any words of advice. Until then, here is another freebie I've been working on. I absolutely love the Lilly character from Kevin Henkes' books. She is so sassy and full of spunk. How can you not love her. You can download the unit by clicking on the first picture below.

Easter Bunny Acrostic Poem and Craftivity Freebie, Updated

When I was about the same age as my students, I learned how to draw a bunny. I was so excited, because I was not an artistic student. So, I used the same simple drawing to create this craftivity. Unfortunately my scanner at home is not cooperating, so you will have to wait for the pattern until tomorrow when I can use one that works:( You can probably figure it out on your own, if you need it before tomorrow (think basic shapes, and you're good) -- super easy, peasy, just how I like things!!
You can, however download the bunny acrostic document. Just click on the picture.
Happy Easter and/or Spring everyone!!
I was able to scan the pattern pieces today 4-3-12. Sorry for the delay!

Subject/Verb Agreement Easter Eggs

We are working on subject and verb agreement this week. Here's a little activity or center you can do with the little darlin's.

Enjoy!