3d shapes

Hi guys!

Is it a full moon or what?! Today sure did feel like it in my class! Maybe it's the cold weather?! Our high for the last few days has been in the 30's. Brrrrrrr!

We've been working on 3D shapes the last week in math and I wanted to share with you a few things we did. Before introducing anything new I like to pose questions to my students to guide them in their thinking. It's all about higher order thinking, people! 

I put my students in groups and gave them a sorting board (construction paper with a line drawn down the middle ;) and told them they needed to sort the food in any way, as long as there were only 2 groups and they could justify how they sorted it to the class. BOY is this controversial! I have got some leaders in my class, and no one who wants to follow. lol!

{sorted by white/ not-white}

{this group....I LOVE their thinking! sorted by "hard" and "soft"}

and.. of course I forgot to take a picture once I revealed to them how I wanted them to sort their foods...but we sorted 3D v. 2D. You get the picture, right?!

After introducing the shapes and singing LOTS of Harry Kindergarten's 3D Shapes song I took my kids on a 3D shape hunt {accompanied by magnifying glasses and all!} around the school. When we got back we made a little anchor chart:

 

 We also made the flap books and put them in our interactive notebooks:

If you want to snag this freebie up, click here! 

I hope you enjoy!

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Crafting in the classroom...life hack!

So, I love crafting in my classroom just as much as the next teacher but I always end up with a million models that I make year after year and then eventually I laminate and file away to use as an example for the next year.

Then I had a light bulb moment (and excuse me if you have been doing this for years! lol!) Rather than re-make a new example every year, if I had all the pieces ready so I could still go step by step and not have to re-cut the pieces every year it would make life SO much easier!

Maybe you're one of those super-duper-prepared teachers that I  really would like to be and all your pieces are cut out and waiting for you in a nice bag. I'm not. I pre-plan, don't get me wrong. But let's be honest here. I usually end up modeling and making my sample at the same time.

So, as I was walking the room and monitoring my students walking around with scissors in my hand cutting the pieces this week while we made these TLC penguins I was really trying to think of a better way to go about this!

The most readily available thing that I could think of was Velcro! Don't you love the stuff?! So, after cutting all my pieces out I just placed Velcro on the back of each little piece. This way I can model, go step by step, and help students more easily. Plus, when we go to make the penguin next year- it will all be ready for me!

 Another tip- Target's Up&Up brand gallon sized bags are PERFECT for holding materials like this. You can fit copy paper in there and zip them up all the way! Amazing!

{I just had to show off Ella's writing with this project. So proud of her writing!}

So, are there any especially amazing life hacks that I need to know about that are invaluable in your classroom?! Please share!!

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Thinking February?

Happy Monday, y'all!

I'm home AGAIN with another sick little one... my kids were SO well until right before Christmas, and that's when it all went out the window. Both Ella and Luke have had the stomach bug in the last 3 days...I'm just hoping the hubs and I don't catch it!

So, since I've been home I have been looking ahead to February. Somehow it's sneaking up on us! Only 2 more weeks and then it will be February, and then it will practically be Spring break and before we know it, summer! Who else feels this way?! 

I have some fun things up my sleeve for February and I'm excited to add this new little pack into the mix.

 

This is a fun sight word spin and write. After your students write all the words, they can go back and rainbow write to reinforce the writing skills! 

 Syllable stamp- color the correct amount of stamps for each syllable

 And what kid doesn't like a stamp sheet?!

 Cut and paste CVC words

Decomposing to 10

 Addition and subtraction

And you don't think I would leave you without a freebie from this pack did you?!

Click on the picture below to snag it up! 

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Snow?

Happy first-day-back-to-school! At least for all us that aren't snowed out! I'm lucky because our first day back after Christmas break is always a teacher prep day. The administrators are realistic..they know that we would not be prepared AT ALL to teach right after break. Are you with me?! I pretty much shoved a whole bunch of stuff in the closet, made sure everything was unplugged and said Sayonara 'till next year!

So with all this SNOWpocalypse stuff that is going on everywhere but here... I figured we'd get into the groove tomorrow in math with a little snowball fight! We've all been in those workshops where they make you write {whatever it is} on a piece of paper, crumple it up, and throw it and then find someone elses, etc. I did this with my kids last year after reading Jill's post and they seriously were BEGGING me to have a snowball fight up until May!

We're hitting numbers 15-20 hard after the break, so I just wrote down numbers in the teens so we can practice building sets, comparing, and one more/ one less. I made a recording sheet to go with them {we probably won't use it until the second time we have the snowball fight}.

 

{Click on the page below to snag up the freebie page!} 

{fonts from Kimberly Geswein and graphics from Melonheadz Illustrating}

I'd love to hear if you snag it up! 

Have a fabulous Tuesday...if you're not snowed in again! ;)

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Happy New Year!

Hiiiii!

Happy New Year! 

I've taken a few fabulous little weeks off to focus on my family. The holidays were fabulous and fun-filled and we're ready to go back to life-as-usual now. :) 

I'm having a little New Year's Day sale for the day and I posted a new product for January!

Included in the packet are 40 printable pages of Math and Literacy Activities- all with Common Core Standards printed on each page!

Click on the last snowman to snag a freebie from this packet!

To see the packet on TpT click HERE.

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