Happy Easter... The Hunt is On!

Happy Easter Weekend, everyone! Today was crazy with our egg hunt! Well, if you can actually call it a hunt... we don't have a lot of trees or grass or other good places for hiding eggs. So, we just sort of throw them out for the kids to "vacuum" up!




But, here's a hunt that's really a hunt! Click below to check out my TpT store to hunt for my 5 favorite items that I've put on sale... 20% off!

Four day week...

Don't you just love a good four day week? Part of me has a love-hate relationship with them, though... of course I love having a Friday off! But, the rest of the week always feels a little rushed as we try to pack everything in!

This week we're starting our unit on measurement! I love teaching measurement to my kiddos and they always seem to have so much fun with it! This year, our school is placing a HUGE emphasis on vocabulary... today we focused on the terms "longer" and "shorter". Maria Menore's Shorter and Longer freebie was PERFECT to use for this! My kids did such an awesome job cutting their colored strips into two pieces and comparing them to see which was longer and shorter. When we were finished, they asked to do it again! That's the sign of a successful learning activity!

 



Check out my latest freebie on TPT!

 

Enjoy your week!

Hip Hip Hooray, It's the 100th Day!

The 100th Day at our school means 60 more days until the end of the school year. It's so hard to believe that it's a downhill slide from here!

I loved the 100th Day shirt I made on my embroidery machine...

We had a great time celebrating the number 100 today! We read some fun books, spent a lot of time counting, did some writing, and some crafts! We loved writing about ourselves when we're 100 years old!

And I just adored this little guy's picture!

We also made 100th Day Trains, with 10 Cheerios on each car.  Yes, it did seem like this project was never going to end!  But what awesome counting practice!

And the highlight of the day for the kids was the 100th Day Snack Mix!!  I put out 10 bowls filled with different snack items.  I think this year we did Cheerios, Fruit Loops, Kix, mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, M&M's, Skittles, Cocoa Puffs, peanuts, and raisins.  The kids came through the snack buffet and counted out 10 of each until they had a baggie of 100 pieces of snack!

The 100th Day is Coming!

I know that the 100th Day isn't an official holiday, but in my classroom, we treat it like one! I LOVE celebrating the 100th day with my kiddos! We always have so much fun counting, writing, playing games, and eating! :) The 100th Day Snack Mix is probably my kids' favorite part of the day, so I am definitely not leaving that out this year. We put up the door decoration before leaving on Friday afternoon. Hope it hasn't fallen over the weekend! :)

We will be counting and enjoying our 100th Day Snack Mix, making 100th Day Trains, seeing what we can do in 100 seconds, and writing about what we can eat 100 of! Click on the picture to grab that writing page FREE!

For more 100th Day ideas, check out my 100th Day Fun activity pack!

The first reader  to comment with their favorite way to celebrate the 100th Day can pick up my activity pack for free! (Leave your email address.) And don't forget the big Teachers Pay Teachers sale tomorrow!

Super Sunday Sale!

If anyone loves a good sale, I know teachers do! This Sunday is a BIG sale over at Teachers Pay Teachers... it's a Super Sale to go along with the big game! Many sellers will be discounting their stores 20%, plus Teachers Pay Teachers will knock off an additional 10% with the code SUPER at checkout!

Here's your chance to get some awesome stuff for February, as well as the remaining months of the year! Everything in my store will be 20% off, including my Valentine stuff!

And some of my newest products...

Hope to see you at the BIG sale!

Opposites!

When you were a kid, did your siblings or friends ever say, "Today is Opposite Day?!" We used to have Opposite Day all the time, and I remember it really annoying our mom! :) A few days ago we had Opposite Day in our classroom... Opposite Morning, really. It was so much fun!

We read Eric Carle's Opposites... what a cute book! It's simple, but the colorful illustrations really held my kids' attentions!

After reading, we talked about the opposites in the book and thought up some more of our own. Each child illustrated a card with a word I had written at the top. Then, they had to find their opposite partner and present their opposite pictures to the class. What a great way to practice the Common Core standard SL.K.6: Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.

After we finished our opposite cards, we put them on a poster!

Let's Talk Ten Frames!

Ten frames have become one of my favorite math tools in this classroom this year! I love how versatile they are and how they can be adapted to teach so many math skills... especially those in the Common Core!

We started using ten frames very early on in the school year to work on counting. Even before I explained to the kids what a ten frame is, we used them to lay out our manipulatives during counting practice. They started to see that there were ten boxes on their counting mat and, before long, they were able to recognize how many objects they had laid out without having to actually count!  Hello subitizing!

This year I also hung new number posters on the wall that have ten frames on them... I love having these posters up because the kids can refer to them anytime and they are able to see the ten frame formations for each number.

Now that we've moved into making number combinations, and will soon be working on addition, ten frames have become my best friend during math! We are using them in so many ways... our favorite this week has been a build-it game using two ten frames and number cards 0-20. My kiddos draw out 2 cards and build one number on the ten frame using one color unifix cubes, then add the second number onto the frame using a different color unifix cubes. Then, they see how many they have all together. They've caught on really well!

We are also loving Ten Frame Bingo!

If you need some ten frame activities to use in your classroom, check out my Ten Frame Fun pack!