Saturday trip to school and a SALE!

 I headed into school for a few hours today.  With all these snow days, my list of things to get done is a mile long!  I had some prep work to do for our upcoming 100th Day (still a couple of weeks away) and Valentine's Day.

I wanted to make a sample of the glyph from my 100th day pack...I'm excited to have 24 of these hanging in my classroom soon!

I also had to get a few things copied and cut out, ready to be colored in this week.  The numbered balloons are for a 100th Day scavenger hunt and the other balloon cards will be used for addition practice during our next round of math stations.

Oh, and I changed out the bulletin board in our reading corner.  We'll become digraph detectives and add lots of words to this board in the coming weeks!

As much as I love a lazy Saturday, it always feels soooooo good to cross some things off the to-do list at school.  Now I can relax and enjoy the rest of my weekend!

I'm sure you've heard about the awesome sale that TPT is throwing tomorrow (Sunday)!  Everything in my shop will be 20% off both tomorrow AND Monday!  If you use the promo code SUPER tomorrow, you'll get an extra 10% off!  I know that every teacher LOVES a sale!

(Adorable button design by Ashley Hughes)

Here are a few things from my shop that you might be interested in checking out...

Click here to head to TPT.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

And happy shopping ! :)

Indoor Snowball Fight!

Oh. my! 

The indoor snowball fight was such a huge success!  We didn't get around to it yesterday (the kids had been out of school for 5 days and we ALL needed some time to ease back into things!), but I made sure to make time for it this morning because I knew that my littles would love it!  It turned out to be a great day for it because it was rainy (yes, warm enough for rain....crazy weather!) and the kids were inside all day.  This was a super fun way to get some energy out and some awesome math review in!

I pretty much only had to say the words "snowball fight" and every boy in my class 1)was completely engaged and 2)thought I was the coolest teacher ever.  

I modeled how we'd be using the unifix cubes to build our addition sentences once our snowball fight was complete, then set the ground rules for throwing snowballs.  No throwing at faces, no running, no screaming (please, pleeeeease no screaming!). Basically, be as responsible and respectful as 5 or 6 year olds can be while you hurl wads of paper at each other!

No doubt I was the most enticing target during the snowball fight.  One student got me, and then they all ganged up on me!  It was actually super, super fun!

After the snowball fight, each student grabbed a snowball and brought it back to their seat.  We opened them and began building our cube towers at the same time!  I have never seen the entire class so excited about addition!  It was awesome!

We grabbed clipboards and headed to the carpet to fill out our recording sheet.  Every student had a chance to share their addition sentence and the cube tower they built.  We worked as a group to figure out the answers for those few who didn't quite get it.  It was an awesome formative assessment!

 I posted this page as a freebie a couple of days ago.  Head over here to grab it.

Bless this sweet little guy.  His pages are filled in upside down 99% of the time.  BUT...his addition sentences look perfect!

And, oh.....isn't there always that one sweet child that you think is keeping up and then you finish and realize that his page looks like this???  

Keeps us humble as teachers!!!  Ha!

A successful snowball fight  (only indoor snowball fights allowed at school, kindies!!!) to keep our day exciting and learning fun!

You totally should try it!

I crossed my fingers!!

Well, I crossed my fingers that the 100th Day of School wouldn't fall on Valentine's Day and....it worked!  We are home on yet ANOTHER snow day today!  I guess today would actually be considered an ICE day.  We had freezing rain last night which led to a messy, dangerous morning commute.

I actually told my hubby (he's off today too) that I am beginning to miss teaching with all these days at home, but I won't complain about them even for a second because they mean extra snuggle time with my own babies!

ANYWAY....I'm spreading a little love again today!  

I'm sure you've read about the super fun idea of indoor learning-style snowball fights on several teaching blogs this winter.  I read about it on Nicole's blog, and she got the idea from Kristin at "A Teeny Tiny Teacher". 

I have it in my plans for tomorrow since we just finished up our addition chapter last week.  Before we dive into subtraction, I thought that my students would LOVE this activity!  I plan to have addition sentences inside the snowballs (ex. 3+5=___).  We'll toss the snowballs, then each grab one off the floor.  Each student will build their equation using unifix cubes to figure out the answers, and then everyone will share their equation with the class.  We'll record them on this recording page (copied back to back).

 

I included 24 spaces because I have 24 students.  Hopefully that will work for you too, if you're interested!  Click here to grab a copy for yourself if you'd like!

Happy Monday!

100th Day pack.....finally!

Whew!  I know I'm a tad late with this (some people are already posting about their 100th day fun!!), but my 100th day pack is finally finished, so I posted it to TPT yesterday.  

The pack includes writing prompts, math activities and games, signs for a 100th day scavenger hunt, and a 100th day glyph with analysis sheets and display headings.

Click over to TPT here to check it out for yourself if you are still looking for some things to add to your 100th day fun!

Because of our snow days last week, our 100th day is on Valentine's Day!  BAD timing!  Needless to say, we won't be celebrating both on the same day, so if we don't have any snow days between now and then, we'll push back our 100th day festivities until after Valentine's Day.  It's waaaaay more fun, though, to be able to celebrate on the ACTUAL 100th day, so I have one more reason to cross my fingers for another big snowstorm!

One of my favorite activities to do on the 100th day of school is to make a class book using this page.

The kiddos think it is the FUNNIEST thing to think about what they might look like at 100 years old - white or gray hair, big bellies, facial hair or bald heads for the boys, walkers or canes, wrinkles....cracks them up!  One year I had a little guy draw a headstone with his name on it and R.I.P.  Ha!  I saved it and had it posted behind my desk for years because it just made me SMILE!

I always laminate the pages and make them into a class book when they are finished.  Then, every student gets a chance to take it home for a night to share with their families.  These things are way too adorable to keep all to myself!  They LOVE showing off their work!!

It's included in my 100th day pack, but if you'd like it, you can snag it here for free!

Has your 100th day already come and gone?  Does it fall on Valentine's Day like mine?

Five for Friday link-up!

I'm linking up with Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching for her fun "Five for Friday" link-up to share five randoms from my week!

1. I got this great idea from my blogging buddy Nicole last weekend.  Since we had school on MLKJ day on Monday, I made time for it.  I'm so thankful that I did, because the finished products turned out great and were an awesome way to discuss the beauty of ALL skin colors with my Kindies!

 I am the color of vanilla ice cream.

 I am the color of sand.

I am the color of butterscotch.

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2. My almost-four-year-old is very into writing words lately.  She asks me for the sounds of words all the time!  While I was making dinner the other night, she wrote this list of farm animals...and a few of her own words too.

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3. So HAPPY that a new season of one of my favorites started this week (although I was SAD to see the all-star season end last week).  LOVE Project Runway and Thursday nights!

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4. Two snow days this week means that this is the view from our back windows.

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5. THIS is what I'll be doing this weekend.  My son counted -- 102 things to cut out to prepare for literacy stations next week.  If you need me, I'll be up to my ears in laminating film!!

Happy weekend!!

Snow Day Freebie!

I'm enjoying another snow day today.  This one was completely unexpected (but still equally appreciated!).  The hubs wasn't quite as lucky today -- his district still had school, which meant that my son was off to school for the day as well.  

I enjoyed a fun mommy-daughter morning at (where else???) my classroom!  I wasn't prepared for this snow day and there were a few things that I wanted to grab.  You know how it goes, though, when you have time in your classroom without your students....the list is a mile long!  Fortunately, Rowan looooves playing in my classroom, so she enjoyed a few hours there with me.  We both loved it.  BUT....girlfriend can make a MESS in no time.

Ta-da!  "Mom!  I made a picnic!" 

What??!?  We have to clean it up????  Ha!

After we left my school, I dropped her off at pre-school so that I could meet up with my son for lunch.  What a treat to get to hang out with him and his Kindergarten friends for a while as they ate today!

Anyway...I did a fun snowflake addition craftivity with my students last week that I have been meaning to post about.  We are working hard on addition, and I wanted to see if the students could apply what we've been learning to create and write out their own number sentences.

In an effort to spread a little snow day love, click here to grab this activity for yourself!

I included "___and___is___." OR "___+___=___" for those of you who would rather have your students fill in the addition sentence.

I hope that you can use this sometime in the next few weeks!

Happy {almost} Friday!!

Snow Day!

I got the best call this morning at a little after 6:00....school closed due to "inclement weather".  Music to a teacher's ears!  I love my kindies, but with the windchill down near -20 (!) today, I was happy to stay inside!  My hubby's district (which is where my son attends school too) was also closed, so we got an unexpected family day.  I loved every second!

One of the best things about having my hubby home on snow days???  He'll take the kids outside so that I can stay in and bake cookies!  Ha!  It was COLD outside, but that didn't stop my kids from wanting to play in the first real snow of the year.  They didn't last long, but they loved it!

I snuck some quick photos from the deck, then back inside I went!

Between laundry, cleaning, games, books, and a movie with the kids this afternoon, I finally had time today to get my Valentine's Day write the room activity posted to TPT.

I'm also allllllllmost finished with a fun 100th Day pack.  Hopefully I'll be able to post about that in the next couple of days!  Our 100th day isn't until the week of Valentine's Day, but I know lots of schools have it before that.  When is your 100th day?

I'd love to give away this new write the room activity!  Leave a comment and I'll choose one winner tomorrow (Wednesday) evening!