Weekly Math Tubs

Ten Frame Toss Up
The students matched the ten frame card (bus) to the numeral card (school).  There is a recording sheet to dole them accountable but I didn't use it this time around.


You can find this activity in this pack, Back to School Activities by the Printable Princess.

Subitizing Pumpkins
Student matched the numeral card with the ten frame.

You can find this activity in this pack, Subitizing Pumpkin by Patty Rutenbar.

Ten Little Pumpkins
The students counted mini pumpkin erasers (from Target) onto the mats to match the numerals.

You can find this activity in this pack, Pumpkin Sorting Fun by Kroger's Kindergarten.

Frankie Roll and Cover
The students roll two dice and cover up that number with a Frankenstein head eraser (from Target).

You can download this FREEBIE here!

Colorful Cats Counting
Students spin and then build the number using cat erasers (from Target).

You can download this FREEBIE here!

Weekly Math Tubs (with Freebies)

The last year was a rough year for me in all parts of my life.  Part of that was letting this blog go.  I am hopeful to start blogging what I am doing in my room more. 

So to jump in, I wanted to share my math tubs with you for this week.  Each week I have 5 math tubs that rotate to each table on different days.  We start our day with math so this gets us going as son as the bell rings.  I try to vary what is in the tubs as far as skills go.  The beginning of the year is a lot of counting practice.

Here is what my kids did this week:

How Many Spiders?

My students counted spider rings (Dollar Tree) onto the the X's and then used dry erase markers to write the numeral to match the amount.

You can find this activity in this pack, Halloween Math by A Special Kind of Class.

Missing Ghosts
My students used dry erase markers to write the number that is missing in the sequence.

You can find this activity in this pack, Halloween Math by A Special Kind of Class.

Pumpkins on the Fence
My students used pumpkin erasers (Target Dollar Spot) to count out onto the mats.  You could easily do orange playdough balls or pompoms as well.

You can find this activity in this pack, Halloween Math by A Special Kind of Class.

Colorful Cats Spin and Graph
My students used cat head erasers (Target Dollar Spot) to spin and create a graph.  The spinners I use can be found here.

You can download this FREEBIE here.

Frankie Ten Frame
My students used Frankenstein erasers (Target Dollar Spot) to spin and then count that many Frankensteins.  The spinners I use can be found here.

You can download this FREEBIE here.

I hope your kids love these games as much as mine do!!

Cubby Storage

As I enter my 13th year of teaching, I am finding myself more limited by restrictions as to what I can and can't do.  Many of the "fun" things I have done in the past are no longer fit our daily lesson expectations.  This has left me feeling less creativity and excited about my teaching.  That in turn made me feel like I had nothing worthwhile to blog about.  I realize that maybe if I strive to find the things I can still do, it will bring my enthusiasm back.  Blogging about my ideas will help me look for those things.

So without further ado, I thought I would shown some Dollar Tree and Target finds for organization.  I have these cubby spaces above my students coat hooks.  In the past, I had cheap plastic tubs from Walmart in these but they only went partially up for height.  I wanted the nice collapsible cloth containers but at $5 a pop, there was no way that was happening with 26 cubbies to fill.

While browsing at Dollar Tree, I found these in the Spring that are finally full size.  At only $1, this was definitely my sign!  When I got mine they only had blue, orange, green, and pink (and some tan and grey).  So I stocked up on those colors.  Now they appear to have more colors....online at least!

Then I needed a way to label them because I am very OCD and can't handle it to NOT be labeled.  I tried my normal labels and taping them on.  Fortunately they kept falling off.  I thought about pinning them on but didn't love that idea.  When perusing the "Dollar Spot" at Target, I found these mini clothespin chalkboard tags.  It took me a couple of tries at a couple of Targets to find enough but I was finally successful. (I added the UPC in case that helps you track them down.)

Using a Silver Sharpie, I added the names to the chalkboards and viola!  I am happy with how my new cubby area looks and it was much cheaper than it would have been in the past!

Teaching Kindness

There has been so much going on.  I now have a 3rd grader and and Kindergartener!  Where has time gone.  Between dance, piano, taekwondo, Girls on the Run, and other activities we have been beyond busy.

With everything going on, we wanted to bring our kiddos back to thinking about others.  After some thinking and a LOT of googling, I found this great idea over at TeachMama.  It is a 25 day countdown about the true meaning of the holiday.

I am giving my kiddos the same challenge of the day.  I remind them about their challenge if I see them during the day.  They tape it to their desk at school to remind themselves.  At dinner, we are talking about what all of us did to meet that challenge and think about others for the day.  They are LOVING this!

I am also doing this in the classroom.  I am introducing the challenge of the day in the morning and we are talking about them at the end of the day to see how we did.  I am hoping this gets us all thinking a little more about other people around us.

I highly recommend heading over to TeachMama to grab this FREEBIE to enjoy with your students!

So what have you done for someone else today??

Currently September

So it's not technically September here but I've been reading the Currently linky for a long time so I thought I might as well try it out.  I am linking up with Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade.

Listening....to a thunderstorm.  It came on really fast and has been going on for over an hour now.  I do love the sound of rain.

Loving...an extra day at home.  That's right.  I will actually get to sleep on a Sunday without having a million things running through my head that I need to worry about for the next day.  Plus I get to hang out with my own kids for an extra day and with them you never know what will happen.

Thinking...about the lesson plans I should be doing rather than this : )

Wanting...my hubby to be back home.  He's off in Minnesota at a Rennaisance Faire.  He's a pirate in a band.  Yep, it's for real.

Needing...motivation to do the lesson plans that I am avoiding.  Including sub plans for Tuesday.  Yep, sub plans...after a three day weekend...in Kindergarten...on day 14 of school.  Thankfully I have an awesome sub to leave them with while I do a math training.

3 trips...Ireland, Australia, Africa...no real reasons behind any of them.  Just places I haven't been and seem like they would be neat to visit and say I have seen.

So that's me currently.  Hop over to Farley's to see what everyone else is up to.  And hopefully I will be back soon!

First Day of School

It's that stressful time of year.  Tomorrow is our first day back.  I get to meet everyone and run around like crazy all.day.long.  But it is so worth it.

I don't know about you but we will be reading Pete the Cat Rocking in My School Shoes and watching the video.  We will also go on a scavenger hunt around our school to get to know where everything is that is Pete the Cat theme. 

With all of our Pete the Cat fun, I was so excited to find this freebie from Live Love Laugh Kindergarten.  It has a cute first day certificate and a hat for the kids to make!  I LOVE IT!!  Please go check it out.  You won't be disappointed!

Hopefully I will be back to share some more soon!  Enjoy your first days!

Book Talk Tuesday

So it's been a long time.  Hopefully I will get better about sharing on here this year.

Have you seen the link up over at Mrs. Jump's Class?  I LOVE finding new books so I have been watching this link up all summer.

I wanted to share one my favorite books to use.

Chalk by Bill Thomson is an amazing wordless picture book.  The quick version of the story is that a group of children find a bag of chalk at a playground.  When they start to draw with it, their chalk drawings become real.  It is a lot of fun until someone draws a dinosaur.  Then they get creative on how to get rid of it.  I enjoy talking about how these kids were really using their imaginations and problem solving skills.

The illustrations are breathtaking.  I use this book a lot when we do our in depth illustration study.  I love to show how Bill Thomson made the pictures look as real as possible.  

We talk about all of the details that are included in the picture (the background, the weather, etc.)  

I also LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the emotions shown through the pictures in this book.

If you have never seen this book, you should check it out.  You will not be disappointed.

What are your favorite children's books?

A Look Back

My "little" girl turned 6 today.  Of course, it was a fun filled birthday weekend!

It's hard to believe she started out like this...

2 months early and terrifying us for 2 weeks while having to be in the NICU.

In honor of my beautiful baby girl, I'm going to share one of her favorite things I ever made up for her during "Mommy school" when we was little.  In my first blogging adventure that did not last long : )  

It was the simplest color matching game ever that I made.  It was a classic moment of looking at something and realizing what I could do with it.  In the years since I've seen them pop up on blogs and Pinterest and it makes me smile to remember my little cutie that tested it out soooo long ago.

http://learningwithbella.blogspot.com/2009/08/pringle-can-pipe-cleaner-color-sort.html

Feel free to hop over and see the simple idea and my then tiny tot  : )

*Thanks for indulging my family side : )

Focus on Alphabet Centers Part 2

I wanted to highlight some other alphabet centers that my kiddos have been using.  Please click over to the original idea to check out their tips!

Alphabet Spoons

from Golden Gang Kindergarten

Pattern Block Alphabet
from Confessions of  a Homeschooler

Tactile Letters that I picked up at a random little outlet/thrift store

Sandy Letters Game I made up
Put letters (could use foam, magnet, tiles, whatever) in a sand pail.  The students scoop, say the letters they get, and then color them in on their recording sheet.  Unfortunately I can't post the recording sheet due to the fonts terms of use.   : (  But you can easily make your own!

Now on to a cute story that is still alphabet center related.  I wanted to make a set of alphabet mats that have circles on them to change out easily.  Like using cheerios, little cookies, daubers and more.  I put one circle on the top of the A and had to go do something else.  I came back to this.

My almost 6 year old did the A (notice the little "v"s in the outline from using command v incorrectly). My 3 year old did the a (using the command v a little too well).  I think my daughter will be ready to help me in a few years!

Hope you found some ideas you can use and please so the original posts so love!

TpT 2 Day Sale

Just wanted to make sure everyone knows that TpT is having a big sale today and tomorrow.  Make sure you enter the code BTS13 at the end to get the additional amount off.  Most stores are participating so happy shopping!

Focus on Alphabet Centers Part 1

This year we are going to start our day in Literacy Centers.  At the beginning of the year that will consist of alphabet centers.  I thought I would share what mine are looking like for now and show you where to find some of them.  Please excuse the pictures; I took them quickly to give you the idea while I was filling them!

Clothespin Uppercase/Lowercase Match

from Growing in PreK

Animated Literacy Uppercase/Lowercase Memory Game

from me (sorry I can't share because of the graphics)

Letter Geoboards

from Making Learning Fun

Highway Letters

from Making Learning Fun

I used these little cars from Dollar Tree because they are so little they require the kids to use their fine motor more than normal sized cars.

Please visit the sites linked to check out the activities.  They have some other great ideas too!

I will show some more of my alphabet centers next time!

Hope you find something you can use!!

Cutest Computer Tables EVER!

So normally the only faces you see on my blog are of my own little ones.  Have I got a treat for you!  My hubby is making his blog debut today!  

I don't know about you but I can never have enough space in my little room.  The one thing that has driven me crazy from last year was my computer table.  I had this big table for three laptops.  It stuck out too far.  It was old and well plain ugly.

After some sweet talking (actually less than I thought it would take), hubby agreed to make me some little tables for my laptops.  I wanted them to sit on pillows on the floor to use them and wanted to be able to move the tables anywhere around the room if needed.  I was thinking something very simple but he had a whole other plan.  Boy am I glad he did.  His were much cuter!!

Lots of sawing....

measuring...

drilling and screwing...

 

and sanding (hey even the kids "helped")

I ended up with this!

And here they are in all of their glory!  I put some shelf liner on top of them to keep the computers from sliding.

Now I do have to admit.  I thought I still had black paint from my great paint in but alas was out so we settled with this gray color left over from my daughters room.  Eventually these will be getting repainted black.

What can I say...I am the luckiest girl ever!

Carson Dellosa Thinking Mats (Review and Giveaway)

Carson Dellosa sent a set of Thinking Mats geared toward Common Core for me to try out.  I don't know about you but I don't get to order very much through school.  And I am beyond picky when it comes to what I spend my money on.

I was pleasantly surprised when these arrived.  The kit consists of 15 different mats and the cards to go with them.  They are all made of a thick, glossy cardstock type paper (no need for laminating!).  The cards are perforated so no cutting involved.  The mats and cards are all conveniently color coded so clean up is easy!

For Counting and Cardinality, the mats work on recognizing numerals, writing numerals, one to one correspondence counting and greater than/less than.  (K.CC.A3, K.CC.B4, K.CC.B5, K.CC.C6)

For Operations and Algebraic Thinking, the mats work on addition, ways to make a number, and subtraction. (K.OA.A1, K.OA.A2, K.OA.A3, K.OA.A5)

For Number and Operations in Base Ten, the mats work on building in ten frames and having extra ones. (K.NBT.A1)

For Measurement and Data, the mats work on measuring with nonstandard units and sorting/classifying. (K.MD.A1, K.MD.B3)

For Geometry, the mats work on positions, sorting by attributes, and 2D/3D shapes.  (K.G.A1, K.G.A2, K.G.B4)

Honestly, my own kids were with me when we came home and found it on the porch.  They were so excited!  Now they ask to "do math" every night.  Trust me that is weird coming out a 3 year olds mouth!

I seriously can't wait to get these into my room with my new kiddos.  They are going to love them!

You can check this kit out over at Carson Dellosa here and watch a video about them here.

Some awesome news...Carson Dellosa is giving one of my reader a set of Thinking Mats!  You can choose the grade level.  This giveaway is only open to US Residents and obviously the winner will need to provide their mailing address.

Good luck!!

*I was given the product in return for an honest review.  The ideas expressed are my own!

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