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Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Easter Egg Hunt Learning Games

So I was set on doing an Easter egg hunt for my firsties, but everything has to be to the TEKS. So I had to come up with an idea for making an Easter egg hunt educational, then boom, it hit me!!


I created three egg hunt style games. The first one is with compound words. I made exactly enough eggs for each student to get one. Each egg had part of a compound word. 


I had them find their egg, open it, and read the compound word part. Then, they had to find the person who had the other part of the compound word. My kiddos loved this.

The next activity was a phonetic one. Were were working on aw/au sounds. So I put aw/au words in eggs. Once the kids found their egg and read the word, they had to go and stand under the correct sign. So they basically had to sort themselves.
 

The next activity was for math.


We were working on related facts, so I filled each egg with one fact which is part of a fact family. I created 2 addition and 2 subtraction for each family. I filled enough eggs for each kid to grab one per round.


 
 
I hung the fact family signs along the wall.  Then my students each picked one egg, opened it, and read it. After reading their fact they had to go and stand under their fact's family! There ended up being 4 students under each fact.


My kiddos had a blast! Instead of filling the eggs up with goodies, I turned them into games. At the end I gave each student a goody bag filled with pencils, erasers, bubbles, and of course candy!!

I hope you guys enjoyed this fun Easter idea. This could even be used in workstations as well! 

You can grab your game templates at my TPT Store!!






Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Christmas Around the World Unit





I created this Christmas Around the World Set as part of our celebrations and traditions unit. My students have enjoyed learning about the different ways that holidays are celebrated. It was originally supposed to go in our Social Studies Interactive Journal, but I thought it would be awesome to create a book out of it.
 
Here are pictures of what is included:
 
 
 
 
 
 






 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 






This set also includes the information that goes under each flap, a Venn diagram, and an interactive assessment.

If you would like to purchase this set you can grab yours here.


Until next time,

Eat, drink, and be merry!!!





















Handprint SnowmenTealight Candle Holder- Christmas Craft


 

I just love this time of year. I have so many fun and festive activities for my students to do. This is one of the crafts that my students create to give as a gift to their parents. I took the idea of the snowman hand print on an ornament and combined it with the tea light candle holder that is made out of a baby food jar, and combined them. 
Materials Needed:
Blue Tissue Paper- cut into small pieces
2 Part Elmer's Glue mixed with 1 Part Water
White Paint
Ribbon
Black, Red, and Orange Sharpie Markers
White Paper Bags
Glitter
Snowman Poem
Snowman Poem
This isn't just a snowman
as anyone can see,
I made it with my hand
which is a part of me.
Every year I'm growing,
and I'll be grown someday.
But these five tiny
snowmen will never melt away!
 
Directions:
 
1. Apply glue/water mixture over the entire jar, except for rim.
2. Apply tissue paper over the glue and cover all empty spaces.
3. Gently apply another layer of glue over the tissue paper, and allow to dry.
4. Once, the glue is dried, have students put their handprint using the white paint, and allow to dry.
5. Decorate your snowmen using the Sharpie markers.
6. Finally, you can add some pretty ribbon, along with a poem inside.
 
I had each student decorate a paper bag to put their gift in.

 

 




Well, I hope you guys use this idea with your kiddos, I know they'll love it,  and parents will love it too!!!
 
Until next time,
 
Eat, drink, and be merry!!!

Monday, December 1, 2014

Science Station: Properties of Matter

In science we've been focusing on properties of matter. So I came up with some activities to go along with their Science Interactive Notebooks. I love, love, love my Science Station. I have so many activities to go with my units; The kids can't get enough. This is one of their favorite stations to visit!!!
 
Here I used a veggie tray with a label in each compartment. I had my students sort through the items and place them in a slot based on the properties of matter asked for.


This is what it looked like after my students were done with it. Of course, I had to tidy it up for my snapshot. ;P
 
I use this classifying activity to go with my Properties of Matter pages in my Science Interactive Notebook.
 
They can use this page to fill in their information from the Science Station Properties of Matter Sort.

I let them use this page for a scavenger hunt either outside or around the classroom. My kids love the scavenger hunts we have!!!

This is an I Spy game, where I give students specific properties of matter that they will look for. This is just an extra activity to enforce the concept.  


Along with that activity I have trays that I use for sorting and classifying.
 

Here I have them sorting rough and smooth items.
 

Here is the finished sort.
 

Here I have them sorting round and not round.


Here is the finished sort
 
Well, I hope you guys like these simple, yet effective activities for your science station!
 
Until next time.....
 
Eat, Drink, and Be Merry!!


Thanksgiving Interactive Notebook

Okay, so I have been MIA with all of the chaos of work, kids, etc... But I'm back! You guys know how it is when you don't even want to see a computer. I've been so exhausted with everything! I literally feel like the walking dead sometimes. Uuugghhh!

So I know Thanksgiving has passed, but I still wanted to share what we did, just incase anyone needed ideas for next year.

 If you'd like to purchase my Social Studies Interactive Notebook- Thanksgiving Unit just click here or click the pic below.

So my students have Social Studies Journals for all of their interactive notebook activities. Sometimes I'll have them complete an activity or two on a piece of construction paper if I want to display it.


http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Thanksgiving-Unit-Interactive-Notebook-1415794
 
Here are the Indian and Pilgrim description flaps. We read some books and watched some videos about Thanksgiving. Then, as a group we came up with some answers for each flap.

 
After we discussed the Pilgrims and Indians, I had the little bambinos complete this Interactive Venn Diagram. It was a great way for them to compare and contrast the two.
 
 
 It was perfect time to incorporate past and present into this unit. So we compared the differences in technology, clothes, etc... After we had our discussion we completed this cute sort, and I had a daily grade for my grade book, YEAH!!! :D

 We also made this cute pie flap. The kids colored it and wrote a menu for their Thanksgiving Feast. My kiddos came up with some pretty yummy stuff!

 I also had them complete these activities:

People they spend Thanksgiving with...

and Food they eat on Thanksgiving.
 I couldn't complete this unit without a Thanksgiving Foldable book. The kids loved coloring and reading these to each other.

 
If you like this unit you can grab your at my TPT Store.

 I am going to post some pictures soon of some finished products, but until then....

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry!!!

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

ELA Focus Wall

Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse

So this week we were working on Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes. We did some really cute activities to go with the story. You can grab your set at my TPT Store.

I created this Lilly template and used it for a writing activity. Here I had my students write about their favorite part of the story.
 
I used the same template and had my kiddos fill in the rest of her body.

Look at my girl going to town with her Lilly pic!!


In my set I also have Lilly's Purple Purse. I've include several reading activities to go inside to help build their literacy skills. My students loved bringing this lovable character to life!
 
Parts of a Book

Story Variants
 
Mental Image

Making Predictions

Story Retell

Characters

Sensory Language

Well, there you have it. If your looking for something new to add to your Kevin Henkes Unit, then this is a great resource to add to your lessons! You can grab yours here.