Fiesta Fun: Ideas for Cinco de Mayo and a FREE Math Mini Book

Hola!  It's Amber from School Is a Happy Place.  I'd like to share a few ideas for Cinco de Mayo learning in the primary classroom.
One quick and cute activity to use with your young learners is to make a paper sombrero.  To make them, I sketched a quick one out and copied it on construction paper.  The kids decorated them and attached them to sentence strips that fit around their heads.  You can even have them write their spelling words (or something of the sort) on the back, if you want your project to serve double duty.

Here are a couple of books I'll be using for read aloud:  Cinco de Mouse-O! by Judy Cox and Chicks and Salsa by Aaron Reynolds.

Both of these books are really fun for this time of year and provide jumping off points for some discussion of Cinco de Mayo and some Mexican traditions.

I love working with word problems using holiday themed math mini books.  Next week, we'll use our Cinco de Mayo math mini book.  This mini book reviews calendar skills, time, graphing, double digit addition/subtraction, fractions, and more.
You can have a FREE copy of Celebrate Cinco de Mayo:  A Math Mini Book by clicking on the picture below.

Tuesday will be May 5th.  I hope I've started your wheels turning about how you can fit a little Cinco de Mayo learning into your class.
Thanks for stopping by.
Adios.

Who is Ready for Mother's Day?

Hi there!  It's Tania from My Second Sense.  I just blogged about my Mother's Day project over here.

Come and check it out {Pin it to Win it Included}!

But...

if you are looking for something free. You can find these coupons in my store.  Feedback is very much appreciated :)

 Did you see the amount of downloads versus the feedback left? #crying 

I have a few other ideas here (my Pinterest Board) . I have not tried them, but they have been saved them for future reference :) 

I hope you find the best and most perfect project for you and your student's moms.

Thanks for stopping by,

A Few Spring Freebies

Hey guys and dolls, how's it going? We all seem to be winding
down, and reaching the end of our curriculums, but we still
have a few weeks of schooling left!

For me, I know that I want to keep our schedule pretty much
the same: small groups, center time, etc. I'm not ready to just
start with the worksheet/busy work time.

I want to make sure that I'm still going over important concepts,
getting them ready to go to first grade! I want to share some
freebie centers/intervention materials that I am going to be
using for the next few weeks. Click on the pictures below
for your copy!

The first freebie can be used for a math center, or small group,
it is great for practicing subitizing.

At my school, we still do DIBELS (ugh!). Even though testing 

is over for this school year, we are currently going over long 

vowels, and I don't want my littles to forget about short vowels, 

so we're trying to practice it all!

I hope these freebies are helpful to you as we are counting down the hours!!

Super Word Problems Freebie

Hey everyone! It's Heather from Second Grade Perks. My class has been working on word problems this week. We have the basic one step problems down but struggle with two step and unknowns. I made this super hero freebie to share with you.

It uses three digit numbers with regrouping and has problems involving two-step and unknowns. I use this one of two ways with my class. The first way is I put the color version on the overhead and solve together or on white boards.

The other way we used this was I let the class work in groups. I gave each group a black and white version to glue to the top of a piece of construction paper. They solved and checked their work. Then I had them come to the projector and explain to the class how they got their answer and how they checked it.

It includes 8 word problems in color and black and white. Click on any of the pictures to grab this freebie.

Happy Saturday!

Place Value Art

Happy Friday! It's Lizz, from Learning with Lizz, sharing one of my favorite place value activities!

I love integrating art with math! Our place value unit was brought to life when students used paper base ten units to create the first letter of their names.

Take a look...

You can use this FREEBIE to use in your classroom! I hope you enjoy!

Earth Day

Hi Everyone!

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful Earth Day! It has been very busy in our classroom, with a Waste-Free Lunch and some great writing activities!!!

I thought that I would share the letter that I sent home to my class ... We talked a great deal about reducing waste. I brought some examples from home, and watched some great videos on waste and recycling. My students were really proud of their lunch boxes today ... Lots of Tupperware .. minimal wrappings...The parents in my classroom really tried their best! Why not plan Waste-Free lunches everyday? Food for thought!!

Happy Earth Day!!!

Buzzing into Spring Giveaway!!

Happy Saturday sweet friends!

The girls from Primary Powers have teamed up to bring you a super fun, springy giveaway!

3 lucky winners will win a bundle with all of these fabulous goodies!

Good luck!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Math About Me!

Hi, everyone! It's Jaime from Bright Concepts 4 Teachers.

Open House is this week and I am so excited for my students to show off all that they have learned so far this school year. I wanted to share a project I had my kids do (with some guidance from their parents) for our big event! I call it MATH ABOUT ME. Each child gets a foam poster board and finds pictures of himself or herself. They decorate the board with the pictures and items that represent their personality. Next, they write captions using NUMBERS about their life. For example, one child took a picture of all 57 books they had in their bedroom. Another child smiled in a picture to show 8 teeth had already fallen out. The kids get very creative with the things they can show with numbers in their life. 

Here are a couple sample posters.

This student showed the number of letters in his name, the time he gets on the bus, his age, the number of people in his family, how many books he has, his house number, and so much more!

This student used numbers to show his birthday, the number of people in his family, his age, and the number of Legos he owns.

I always look forward to how the kids are going to represent themselves on their posters. The parents and kids also love looking at the different posters at Open House. It gives them an opportunity to learn more about one another. If you would like the project directions and a copy of the letter I send home, just click HERE for your FREE copy.

I make sure to tell all the kids that the questions are just suggestions of ideas they can use. They don't have to answer all the questions. They can create their own questions and make it meaningful to them. I hope you guys have fun with this project and look forward to seeing what your students create. Enjoy!

Mother's Day is on its way!

I have a special reason why I wanted to post about Mother's Day today.  Yesterday I announced on my blog that my husband and I are expecting our 3rd child this October.  We are very excited and so are my two daughters!  I shared some pictures on how we decided to reveal the big news to them.  Such great memories!!!  

I saw this cute quote and wanted to share!  I guess my heart will be walking around all over the place =)

I also found this top ten list (I'm a sucker for a top ten list about anything) and it made me think of my own mom and how I can only hope to be as wonderful to my own kids as she was to us.  

So in honor of this next step in my life, I wanted to take some time to talk about Mother's Day and share some of what I do in my classroom for this special holiday.   I made this little pack last year and I just LOVED how it all came out with my kids.  They had so much fun making these things for their moms (or for some of them grandmas, aunts, or whomever) and I had a lot of moms share how much they loved reading them.  

This pack includes this craftivity where the flowers flip up for students to write.

       

The pictures are a little blurry so here is what my kiddos wrote:

I love you because...

*We make Tie Dye together

*You take me to Denny's

*You cuddle with me

*You love me no matter what

There is also a flower shaped gift book with 3 different versions.

*After I go to bed my mom always tweets on Facebook.

*My mom loves when I change my sister.

*My mom does not like to do laundry.

*My mom is the best at cleaning.

*The best thing my mom cooks is bacon - Yay!  (Haha!)

*My mom loves when I give her breakfast in bed.

*My mom spends lots of time texting.

*My mom does not like when I spill my drink in the car.

*My mom's favorite thing to do on the weekend is to sit around the house.

And finally, there are some printables included too.

I love my mom more than I love...

*video games (that's saying a lot for some kids)

*my toys, because my mom gave birth to me.

*cousin Amy because she doesn't let me do anything.

*cookies because I love my mom and cookies, but I love my mom more.  

You can find this pack in my TpT Store by clicking HERE.  

It is also bundled together with my Father's Day pack

In this money saving bundle:

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have fun creating Mother's Day gifts with your students.  My oldest daughter is in kindergarten this year and I cannot wait to see what she comes home with this year.