Math Monday--Easter Math!

 It's almost here! It's getting so close I can taste it!

 

SPRING BREAK!!!

 

 Just 4 more days...

 

To celebrate spring and the upcoming break and Easter and the end of our addition and subtraction unit (we really believe in celebrating!), we are doing some EGG-cellent math this week!

 

Sorry for the pun. I know it was terrible. I blame it on needing spring break! 

 

SO! Back to this week. For my first activity, I have a basket filled with these little guys...some addition and some subtraction.

 

The kids pull out an egg and record their problem and answer on this recording sheet... 

 

...that I found in this super awesome freebie!

Click {HERE}for the freebie

 

The kids loved it!!

 

 

My second activity is the Great Egg Race partner game!

 

One partner rolls 2 dice, adds the numbers, and colors that number on their egg. The other partner repeats. The first player to color all of their numbers wins!

 

I found this activity (and a lot of other great ones) from this freebie!

Click {HERE} for the freebie

 

In less egg-y activities, other students race the clock to sort addition facts...

 

...and subtraction facts.

 

The last group works on the computer.
If you need any great computer games, try Sheppard Software. The games are SO much fun and great for lots of levels of learners. My personal faves are

Fruit Splat
Math Man
and
Monkey Drive
These are also great if you have an interactive board.

 

That's All Folks! Have a HOPPY Easter!

 

I know. That was another terrible pun. I REALLY need spring break!

Pick 3 Linky Party

I love Pinterest. I love linky parties. I LOVE LOVE LOVE putting the two together! I'm linky up with Pawsitivly Teaching and Inspired Owl's Corner to bring you these adorable pins!

We are starting subtraction next week with a Pete the Cat mini-unit. This craft will be such a fun way to end our unit!

"Buttons come and buttons go..."
You're so wise, Pete!

 

 

 

My school really wants more student-led conferencing and goal-setting. Look at this Writing Goals chart! Isn't this such a super easy way for kindergartners to pick a goal and remember what they are working on!?

 



 

It's about that time of year when stations can get a little stale. These classroom books are the perfect way to spice up the writing station! Can't wait to use this!

 

 

That's all for me. Have a great day!

President's Day...FINALLY!!!

It's DONE! We have finally finished our President's Unit!!! With all of our "snow" days recently, this unit just kept draaaaaaaaagging out. But now it's done, and look how cute our Washingtons and Lincolns turned out!!



Disregard the random tree that my AWESOME room mom made.
But really...isn't is an amazing tree?

Let me back up. We started with Washington. We read a biography (which I told my kids they weren't supposed to learn about that until 1st grade, so they couldn't tell anyone that they learned it early...which means they'll tell EVERYBODY what they learned!! Sneaky, huh?).

 

 

Next we answered "W" questions about Washington on the lovely t-chart below.
     When was he born?
     Where did he live?
     What interesting things did he do while he was alive?

 

Then we wrote facts about Washington and made these adorable Washington crafts. The best part was that I cut out a few hats and heads on cardstock, and then my kids used those to trace and cut out their own pieces. No more having to trace and cut 23 pieces of everything to make a craft!!!!

 

Cutie patooties, right?!

  

After a few Washington days, we switched to Lincoln.

 

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

 

We read a Lincoln biography. I also found the book Looking at Lincoln which was kinda hilarious and kinda sarcastic, so I really enjoyed it.

 

 

 

We filled in the other side of our T-chart with the same "W" questions and then made these Lincoln writing crafts that I found from Amy Lemons. Are these not the cutest little guys with their super tall hats?

 



 

Finally, we looked back at our T-chart and compared good ol' George and Abe. How are they the same? Different? The kids came up with some great comparisons! My favorite? "Lincoln was called Honest Abe and Washington was called the Father of God." Ummmmm...oops and not quite!!



Math Monday--ADDITION

It's ADDITION time!!!!! I don't know why, but I just LOVE this unit!!

Our students come in with a wiiiiiiiddddde range of background knowledge, so we start with a pre-test (which will also be our post-test).

Click {HERE} to see the test we use, and then use it, tweak it, or ignore it!  =)

We do A LOT of concrete activities to start our unit. Even the kids who come in knowing a lot about addition don't necessarily understand what they're doing, so I like to start with lots of manipulatives.

Our first activity is WHOOSH CLOUDS. The kids put blocks in the first small cloud, put blocks in the second small cloud, and then WHOOSH them into the big cloud at the bottom!

 

 

 

I just drew my whoosh clouds, but you can click {HERE} for whoosh clouds already made!

 

 

 

After that, I have to admit that I copied, borrowed, and stole my addition ideas from Mrs. Ricca's Kindergarten. Her ideas are genius, and you should TOTALLY check them out!!!! She combines literacy with her math and LOTS of concrete activities. Oh yeah, she has lots of FREEBIES, too!

 

Here's one of her ideas. Read If You Were a Plus Sign and then let students make a class book with their own addition stories.

 

 

Of course there is always the over achiever...   =)

So that's our addition intro. LOTS of concrete!

Don't put your credit cards away yet! Another day of TPT sales is here!

This is the life! We're on Day 2 of a "snow" day. I think after last year's Snow Jam, Atlanta is being EXTRA cautious not to repeat that traffic nightmare. The result? I'm watching Friends on Netflix and spending waaaaaaay too much money at the TPT sale!



Thanks Ladybug's Teacher Files for this great button!

It's here! It's here! It's FINALLY here! My credit card and I have been waiting for this TPT sale ALL WEEK!!! Here are some of my personal faves that are super discounted today. I use these in my classroom ALL. THE. TIME!

Short Vowel Bundle

Individually: $15

Bundled: $7.50

Sale: $6:00

TPT Discount: $5.40

  

Why I love it: TONS of picture cards for students to sort and match

 

Sight Word Pack

Everyday Price: $3.00

Sale: $2.40

TPT Discount: $2.16

 

Why I love it: I can teach my students the activities included, and then they can apply it again and again to each new list of sight words they have. Makes this station SMOOTH sailing!

 

 

Phonics Station Bundle

Individually: $4.50

Bundled: $3.00

Sale: $2.40

TPT Discount: $2.16

 

 Why I love it: I've always used Saxon Phonics and always wished for more review activities to go along with it. These packs give those extra activities and they're differentiated! The letters are introduced in the same order Saxon introduces them. 12 consonants are already included, and the others are coming soon!

 

Shape Spectacular

Everyday Price: $2.00

Sale: $1.60

TPT Discount: $1.44

 

Why I love it: There are SO many different kinds of activities that it keeps my students excited throughout our entire shapes unit.

So...what did I get??

Well, I finally took the plunge and got Deedee Wills poetry pack for the entire year.

 

I also got several of Reagan Tunstall's phonics review packs.

 

And some super cute clip art from AlefClipArt!

I hope you keep finding some great deals today!

May the TPT odds be ever in your favor!

Five for Friday, 100th Day Style!

February is such a crazy-busy month! We've been talking about Valentines, black history, dental health, and presidents! Phew! We've also had the 100th day of school, so I'm gonna Five-For-Friday about that (do you like how I made that a verb??)

Happy 100th Day!!!!

We had a great time celebrating the 100th day. We started the day counting to 100 with Jack Hartmann. This is my students' FAVORITE counting video...it gets them moving!

After lunch, I gave students their 100th Day ticket. This has several activities they can choose to do, and when they finish each one, we check it off the ticket. Click {HERE} to download the ticket I used, and then edit it to fit your own activities.

We used this AMAZING freebie to help us. It's got over 150,000 downloads on TPT, so you've probably already seen it  =)

 

The freebie has a great mat for making fruit loop necklaces. My kids make 10 groups of 10 fruit loops (all fruit loops in one group are the same color) and then string them on their necklace.

 

The freebie pack also has a writing sheet for what they would buy with $100. A jeep, a house, a diamond necklace...I need to find out where these kids shop!!

 One of my favorite activities was "What can I build with 100 cups?" The kids made some really neat cup creations!

 

My school is working on becoming a STEM school, so we had an engineering challenge to end the day. The kids had to build a boat out of aluminum foil, popsicle sticks, and straws that would float with 100 "penguins" (AKA paper clips).

 

 

When they finished, the kids tested their boats to see if they would float. Most of them had success!

 

 

 

What's your favorite 100th day activity?