Tooth Fairies, Teeth, & a Little Bit of Money

Have you ever wondered what the Tooth Fairy does with all those teeth?!?! We asked ourselves that same question and the kids came up with some pretty clever answers! First, we read a little book…

And for a little reader’s response, the kids wrote about what they thought the tooth fairies did with their teeth! And they made some cute little scrapbook tooth fairies to go along with their writing.

This is probably my favorite thing we’ve done to date! I LOVE how they turned out!

The kids did pretty much ALL of the work themselves. I showed them an example, but told them they could make their fairies look however they wanted. I cut out the heads, arms, & legs. I also cut out the star on the wand {using our die cuts}. I really wanted them to focus on the writing piece more than the art…but I LOVE how different they all came out!!!

The kids have been having *12 kinds of* fun using their “teeth” and mouth math mats for dental themed problem solving in our math journals. I know this is all shades of ridiculous, but I really love problem solving with the kids! I think it’s so neat for kids to talk about their problem solving strategies and see that even though they solve problems in different ways, they can still come up with the same answers!!

Graphic courtesy of Scrappin' Doodles

The mouth mats and problem solving prompts are included in my Dental Health Mini Unit on TpT.

We’re still truckin’ along with money, too.

This was one of the activities in my Coin Collection packet on TpT.

One of our word work activities was sorting /ee/ & /ea/ words. The kids loved it! I love hearing them when they find one of these vowel combos in their reading books…they get so dang excited!

Graphic courtesy of Scrappin' Doodles

This little activity is in my Dental Health Mini Unit, too. You can grab it at TpT if you’re still in the market for some tooth trouble ;)

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be learning about Patriotic Symbols, Presidents, & TEXAS {yee-haw!} in our social studies curriculum, so be on the lookout for LOTS of fun stuff!! In addition to all that greatness, we’ll be knee deep in Open House preparation and Deanna Jump’s America Unit is the inspiration for this year’s theme!! It couldn’t have come at a better time!! Stay tuned for lotsa fun stuff!! I’ll also be posting a March Madness Mega Pack of literacy, math, & science activities on TpT this weekend!! Get excited….HA!!!!

Stylin’…HA!

Shannon {from Langston’s Learners} and Brooke {from Primary Perspective} awarded me with the Stylish Blogger Award. Awww…thanks ladies!! Stylish?!?! I must have y’all fooled! HA!

Here are the rules for receiving this award:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Award 5 recently discovered great bloggers.
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award.

7 things about myself:

1. I'm addicted to reality TV. Top Chef, Jersey Shore, Hoarders, Teen Mom, Real Housewives...seriously addicted.

2. I was published in the Mailbox Magazine for a literacy/math idea. Kinda exciting!!

3. I get up at 5:15 Monday-Friday to work out at the gym BEFORE I go to school. UGH.

4. I passed out peanuts on a Southwest Airlines flight from Dallas to Houston one time. I was dressed as a cow. {Did I mention it was Halloween?!?!}

5. I've been in love with Jack Nicholson for as long as I can remember. Steven Tyler, too {you know I’m SO lovin’ American Idol this season!!!}

6. My most favorite song is “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay,” by Otis Redding.

7. My husband proposed to me in my classroom in 2003. I was teaching Kindergarten and he had me read a book to my kids. The last page was a typewritten note from husby himself. When I looked up from reading, he was down on one knee asking me to marry him!

Now to pass this fun little award on to five of my favorite bloggers…

1. Babbling Abby at The Inspired Apple

2. Deanna Jump at Mrs. Jump’s Class

3. Kathleen Pedersen at Growing Kinders

4. Michelle Oakes at Fabulous in First

5. Gladys at Teaching in High Heels

George Washington

We started learning a little about Presidents this week. Our unit on money was the PERFECT intro! Over the last few weeks, the kids have been learning all about coin identification & the Presidents on each…

First up, George Washington. We read the perfect little biography that kept the kids really engaged. They were fascinated by the fact that G. Dub didn’t go to school!! How in the world was that even possible?! We created a circle map and gathered tons of facts about our first President and then carried over our new learning into a little writing piece.

We were reviewing statement & question sentences {using the correct punctuation} so I had my kids write one telling sentence & one question sentence including facts we learned from our reading. I also had the kids make their own little George Washingtons using half a paper plate, flesh colored paint {orange & white paint mixed together ;)}, construction paper, & cotton balls. They turned out pretty dang cute and I was so proud of their writing!

It took NO time to cut out the hats {steps below} and the kids used construction paper to make the eyes, nose, & mouth. The art piece to this little project was really pretty quick!

For the hat…

Cut a 12x4 piece of blue construction paper

Fold in half {bring the left side over to the right}

Cut off the right side bottom corner {diagonally} and cut an upside-down triangle on the top.

Now open it up and VOILA! George Dubya’s hat :)

More President’s Day activities to come!!

How Many {Antonym} Feet Do We Meet?!

This week we’ve been working on antonyms and the kids are lovin’ it! We started by reading this book…

…and then we brainstormed a list of opposites. Surprisingly, some of my babies were having a hard time with the concept. So I had to explain to them, “If something is ______ it can’t be _______!!!” After a few go ‘rounds of that, I sent the kids off to trace their own feet and write a pair antonyms on either one!!

I added all the pairs to a big anchor chart…

The kids have also been working on their very own little antonym books! They’ve been keeping these in their book baskets and adding to them every time they have an “a-ha!” antonym moment :) They LOVE to read these to themselves and their friends during the Daily 5, and they’ve even been working on these when they have “extra” time {ha! Is there really such a thing?!?!}

Click the pic below for the little antonym book cover & pages :)



Graphic courtesy of Scrappin' Doodles

Candy Heart Math {& A Making Words Activity}

I know Valentine’s Day is over, but I like to extend my Valentine-ish activities throughout the month. After all, February is the month of LOVE, right?! Well, that’s what I’m goin’ with anyway. Candy hearts are my favorite February math manipulative and here are a couple of little math printables & activities for you!!

The first is a little candy heart graph. I know there are a GAJILLION of these floating around right now. I like to graph the number of letters in the conversation. I pass out a large conversation heart to each kiddo and have them count the number of letters on the heart. Then we create a big ol’ graph on a giant heart to show all the data. I’ll come back with a pic later this week!!

I also love this little candy heart probability activity. I placed a set of conversation hearts in a brown paper bag. I made 4 bags…one for each table. In each bag, I added a different assortment of colored hearts, but I made sure that there was A LOT of one particular color. For example, in one bag I put 12 pink, 2 purple, 1 white, 1 green, and 3 yellow hearts.

The kids had to reach inside the bag…without looking…and pull out a heart {10 different times}. On the corresponding sheet, the kids had to tally the color they pulled. If they pulled out a pink heart, they had to put a tally inside the heart labeled pink.

Throughout the activity, the kids were having awesome discussions. They talked about how they kept pulling out the same color over and over and then…on their own…started making predictions as to why that was happening. Sweet!! After each person at their table had a turn to pull 10 different hearts, I had the kids empty their bags so they could see what was inside and then they wrote about it.

Click on the pic to download the printables to go with these activities!!

Speaking of candy hearts, I found these darling little heart-shaped boxes at the Dollar Tree and snatched ‘em up. I knew they’d be perfect for something ;) I put these in our Word Work station for a little making words activity.

I labeled each with a different number and filled them with letter tiles to spell different popcorn words or chunk/digraph words. The kids had to open up the hearts, spill the tiles, and spell a word using those letters. After they spelled a new word, they had to write it in the matching heart on the corresponding sheet.

My favorite thing about these little boxes is that I can use them for ANYTHING!! I think I’ll put coins in them next week for a little hands-on money activity!!

Click the pic to download your copy of the recording sheet.

Our “Big Days” Catch-Up!

I got the sweetest email from a darling reader who wanted to know if I was okay because of my lack of blogging lately :) I’m a-ok, but my boys…well…they’re a different story. They both tested positive for type A flu last week and I was one busy momma! No time for anything other than snugglin’ the heck outta those kids. Even though the snuggles were sick induced, I’ll take what I can get! HA! I’m SO happy that they’re finally on the mend and back to normal!! I hope that’s the last of the sickies this season!!

Because I was tending to my mommy duties, our 100th day celebration didn’t exactly go as planned :) I have the most amazing team ever, so my sweet girls took my firsties last Thursday & Friday mid-afternoon so I could leave to be with my boys. I was at school for a total of 3 hours on Thursday {delayed start and left early}, and I was only at school for our field trip on Friday. Even though it was a short week, the kids still had a blast!!

We celebrated the 100th day on Thursday and started the day with some SMARTBoard fun. The kids L-O-V-E-D showing different ways to get to 100 {$1.00} with money & base 10 blocks!

We made our 100 day crowns {courtesy of The Virtual Vine} and glasses. You can find the crown printable HERE.

They got to wear their 100th day gear to the school-wide balloon launch the next day :) Probably my most favorite event of the school year!! It’s the dang prettiest thing…HUNDREDS of different colored balloons {a different color for each grade level} floating up, up, & away! Each balloon is tagged with the email address of our school counselor and a little message. SO…if anyone finds our balloons, they can email our counselor to let her know when & where they found it! SO dang cool!! Unfortunately, I had to miss it this year {BOO HOO} to take care of my boys :( This is the only pic I could get…

I also set out a 100 day chart that we added to during the day. I had the kids write words they’ve learned to spell this year inside the 100. We also wrote about 100 things we’ve learned in the first 100 days of school {around the 100}. Every time they thought of something different, I had them tell me what it was so that I could jot it down on our chart. They LOVED that!! Here’s the unfinished version…

That’s about ALL we had time for in the very brief 3 hours I was at school that day!!!

We celebrated our first field trip of the school year on Friday…BRAIN GYM!! SO fun! The kids loved it!!

After ANOTHER weekend of being stuck inside the house, I returned to school on Monday for our Valentine’s celebration. WHOA. Can anyone say CRAZY?! It was a wild day full of lots of fun activities. We started the day with a little Valentine Vocabulary activity and added several Valentine related words to a brainstorm chart. I’ll keep this up throughout the rest of the month for the kids to refer to when writing.

We had our party at the end of the day which was perfect. The kids decorated heart-shaped sugar cookies and played a few games of Bingo.

They also made these adorable “bags” for their Valentine’s!! My team has been making this for several years so I was happy to jump on board & do the same! The kids thought these were “so cool”!!

And I’d be lying if I said these little “teacher perks” weren’t a favorite part of my day :) I brought home my chocolates and bath bombs and took a long bath…*maybe* with a glass of wine…for a little R&R. After a week like this last one, it was just what I needed!!!