Snow Much Fun!

We are having so much fun with SNOW in our little California classroom!  I grew up in San Francisco and I remember being fascinated with snow as a child.  My sweet class is too!  I suppose if we had to deal with the realities of severe winter weather it might not seem so special, but it is a fun topic to come back to after our winter break.  We are reading great stories, and enjoying our winter snow theme as we work on teen numbers, cvc words, and color words among other things.

Yes, that's right, those are paper snowballs!  We are using paper snow balls for reading and writing cvc words and matching teen numbers with ten frames and base ten blocks.  My kiddos are LOVING it!  The pictures above are from a center activity where students had to choose a snowball,  say the picture word, and write the word on the snowball recording sheet.  The recording sheets came from my Print and Go! Winter Math and Literacy (NO PREP).  You can get that in my TpT store.  This is what the recording sheet looks like:

My Print and Go! Winter pack includes sheets just like this for sight words and numbers too!  We will be using them all winter long.  I am so glad the kids had fun with this activity.  These are the two products I made for our snowballs.  Just print and crumple up the papers into "snowballs".  Then you are ready for lots of winter classroom fun. 

The other  super fun thing we do with the paper snowballs is have snow ball fights!  Yes, that's right, and they are lots of fun.  A snowball fight takes about ten minutes and it is a fun learning game for your whole class.  You need to start with an even number of kiddos and the same number of matching snowballs.  You could use cvc picture and matching words or numeral and matching ten frames, etc.  I split my class into two even groups sitting across from each other on our big rug.  I pass out the snowballs so each student has one.  These are the rules I give for snowball fights in my classroom:

1. When we have a snowball fight are we really having a fight?  No, it is really a fun game.
2. Wait to throw your snowball until I say GO.
3. You may not throw your snowball hard.  Do a gentle toss.
4. You may not throw your snowball directly at a person.  Just toss it in the air.
5. You can only throw the snowball one time.
6. Once everyone has tossed the snowballs, calmly and carefully pick one up.
7. Unfold your snowball and try to find a classmate that matches your number, word, etc.
8. Once you find your match, sit down in a circle so we can all see your number, word etc.

When everyone is sitting, we quickly go around the circle and partners share the word, number, or other concept they had.  My kiddos are begging me to do this activity every day!  You can easily make your own snow balls for your class with sight words, addition or subtraction problems with an answer, or other concepts.  There are lots of possibilities.  These activities do use some white copy paper, but I would easily trade a ream of  paper for all the fun my kiddos are having.  I hope you will give it a try with your class.

We also did sweet snow art for our January calendars.  We just used sponge stamps with white paint and white glitter.  White glitter is the perfect addition to make any white painting look like sparkly snow.  You can get the monthly Calendars for Number Writing in my TpT store.  We do one every month for number writing and pattern practice.

Yesterday we read Snowballs by Lois Ehlert and my kids made lists of all the "good stuff" they would use to make a snowman.  You can get this snowman list paper for FREE in my TpT store.  Just click on the link or the photo above and it will take you to get it.

We have also been working on color words and my sweeties have been making an emergent reader to go into their book boxes.  I will try to add some photos when they are all done.  You can get the cute mitten book here: Colorful Mittens Emergent Reader.

I hope you have some winter fun in your classroom this year!  Stay warm.
Happy teaching!

Print and Go! Christmas

Hi there and happy holidays!!!  I hope you are feeling "fat and happy" after a great Thanksgiving  celebration with your family and friends.  My Thanksgiving was absolutely perfect.  The meal was  wonderful and everything tasted soooo good.  My heart was happy to be with my family and to see my sweet niece who returned from the University of Utah for the holiday.  Yippee!

I try to stay away from shameless self promotion on my blog, but alas, this post is just that.  You can also grab a cool FREEBIE at the end.  I have made these sheets for my sweet students to practice some of the knew knowledge from our classroom.  We are working a lot on CVC words, addition, teen numbers, and sight words.  This new Print and Go! packet has sheets for all those skills and more.  I hope it helps you during this busy season. 

I also hope the kiddos in your class LOVE them too!  I absolutely adore my class this year.  They are such cuties.  Lucky me!  I was so grateful when parents told me many of my students love to color and feel excited and motivated to do homework this year (that's what I use these Print and Go! sheets for in my classroom).  I always hope my sheets are fun for young kids.

 I was so glad that I had some time on the day before Thanksgiving to finish them.  I love some of the cute graphics.  I tried to make the sheets represent the secular aspects of Christmas so that they can be used in anyone's classroom.

 You can get Print and Go! Christmas for your class right here: (just click on the cover image below)

And you can go get your freebie on TpT here: (just click on either image below)

Thanks so much for stopping by to grab your freebie.  Follow me on TpT for exclusive follower freebies and early bird discounts.
Happy holidays!
Happy teaching!

Crazy about Owls!

I have been a little cray about owls lately.  I don't do a full unit on them, but my class have had a few little owl projects lately.  I wanted to do something different for our November calendars this year.  I am sooooooo tired of turkeys!  I have been seeing so many fun owl images lately, that I wanted to do owls.  I think the kiddos did a super job!

I used my handy dandy Cricut machine to cut the body templates.  I also made circles of various sizes, flower, and star shapes to create the eyes.  The kids used oil pastels to draw the branches and moons.  They also embellished the owls with buttons and feathers.  Aren't they cute?

 If you are a scrapbook maker, you probably already know about Cricut machines or may even have one.  I was given one as a gift many years ago by a very generous parent.  I LOVE it and use it multiple times every year. It is a computerized die cut machine with multiple settings and options. You need cartridges that are programed with different shapes.  There are lots available.  The most useful cartridge is included with the machine.  It makes getting creative with both art projects and making center activities and games so much more doable.

  

I just have to show you one more cutie patootie owl calendar...

 

If you would like the Calendars for Number Writing product, you can get it at my TpT shop (just click on the image below):

It has calendars with three variations for differentiation, for every month of the year.   It helps my sweeties practice number writing regularly and gives them an opportunity to see the patterns in number order.  Families enjoy the art work.  It makes a great reference at home for counting, count downs, patterns, and other learning.

I also made a fun little owl product to help my kids practice number bond concepts using dominoes.  I had my sweet students do this on the morning of Halloween.  It was still learning, but I have a group who enjoy coloring, so it was fun to make some colorful fall owls.  They did a great job!

Did I already say they did a great job?

You can get this at my Teachers Pay Teachers shop too!  These color, cut, sort activities can come in very handy throughout the school year.    There are lots of versions included so it is easy to differentiate.  They are great for when you have a sub, or anytime you want some fun practice.  They are perfect for interactive notebooks or math journals too!  You can click on the image below to go get it!

Are you as crazy about owls as I am?  Hope these ideas and resources help you have fun in your classroom while saving your ink and most importantly your time!

Happy Teaching!