Fill Your Heart With Freebies Blog Hop

We are looking forward to Valentine's Day and wanted to share a little love!  Join us in a quick

Fill Your Heart With Freebies Blog Hop.  Yeah!!!

Click on the picture below to download these Love Bugs: Time activity pages.  I have included time pages for hour and half-hour.

If you are interested, these are part of a larger unit

Love Bugs: Time, Money & Measurement 

Have fun hopping along.  Next up is Granny Goes to School!

Happy Early Valentine's Day!!!

We are also having a grand prize giveaway!  You will win an item of your choice from each of our stores.  That is 10 awesome new products!  Have fun!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Becoming a Penguin

Oh my word ...... last week was probably my favorite week of the year so far!!  We learned all about PENGUINS!  Tacky has to my favorite "odd" bird to have around.  We did a little mini-research project about our favorite penguins, made a cute little penguin for the wall, waddled like a penguin with an egg on our feet, became a penguin in icy cold water, and finally made and edible penguin. SUPER FUN!!!

Becoming a Penguin

After talking about how penguins can swim in that super cold water without freezing, we decided to try it out.  On one hand we put a cotton glove (feather & blubber) and a purple latex free glove (the oil on their feathers).  This was our penguin hand.  Ready, set, freeze!!!  It was so fun to feel each hand when we pulled off the gloves.  One hand was warm, and the other one was freezing.  They just giggled and giggled.

Waddling Like a Penguin

Making an Edible Penguin - YUMMY!!

Swiss cake rolls, orange gummy slices, chocolate thin mints, M&Ms, large marshmallow slices, and icing for glue. 

They are going to ask - "How do we get the stuff to stick on?"  I love the look on their faces when I tell them glue.  "EEEEWWW  Mrs. Rucker!  We don't want to eat glue."   What if our glue was made of icing???  "YUM!!!"

What a week, but talk about some real life learning in action!

And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds-livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds." And it was so.  And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind.  And God saw that it was good.  Genesis 1: 24-25

Happy New Year

Oh my word, has it really been a month since my last post!  Shame on me.  December just FLEW by.

Here are some awesome pictures of our Christmas party at school.  We had some wonderful parents who planned a 3 hour party for us.....WOW!!!!  The kids had a blast.  We did a craft, had a snowball fight in the classroom, and even decorated cookies.  

Have a Happy New Year!  See you next year!

"Anyone who is joined to Christ is a new being; the old is gone, the new has come." 2 Corinthians 5:17

Cyber Monday & Tuesday Sale

It's that time again!!! YEAH!  The annual Cyber Sale on TpT.  Everything in my store will be 28% off.  Check out some of these great classroom resources.

       

Crossword Puzzle Phonics Fun       Large Letter Flashcards

       

Trace, Say, Glue & Write     Symmetry, Whole, Half & Parts

       

Trace, Count, Glue and Write    High Frequency Phrase Cards

Click on any of the classroom resources above to find my store!

Happy Shopping!!

Letters - Trace, Say, Glue and Write

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends!!  I love having 5 days off!  We packed up and headed to my mom and dad's house.  It's always great to go home for a few days.  I love you mom and dad!!  :)

I am sooooo excited to show you the phonics pack I just finished - Trace, Say, Glue and Write!  My daughter is in kindergarten, and when I was making this she couldn't wait for me to finish the "Kk" page.  She told me she got an N on her progress report because she was having trouble printing the lowercase "k" correctly, and she needed the "Kk" page to practice.  Soooo, this pack was kid approved, even before it was finished!!! She sat down beside me working on the pages before I even had it finished. lol

I created a page for each letter in the alphabet and then several pages with multiple letters for review.  I wanted a little something extra for when I introduce the letters and sounds.  This is great for independent practice or center work.   Plus, my kiddos love using their highlighter, and I let them use it on the trace part.  Then they find and glue on the pictures that begin with the correct sound, find and glue on the matching letters (I used various fonts), and finally write the uppercase and lowercase letter 5 times each.  Here is an example of the "Bb" page.  Download the preview file to check it out.

A couple weeks ago, I finished Trace, Count, Glue and Write.  It is the same idea but includes numbers, counting, ten frames and number words.  I am working on Trace, Read, Glue and Write with CVC, CVCC, CCVC, and high frequency words.  It will be finished soon!! :)

Also, remember, the HUGE 2013 Cyber Monday sale is coming up!  All of my products will be 28% off.  Check it out for some super great savings.  Click on the picture below to find my TpT store.

"Enter the temple gates with Thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise." Psalm 100:4

FREEBIE!!! Thanksgiving Count, Roll, and Graph

I just finished my lesson plans for next week and make this fun little freebie!!  Thanksgiving Count, Roll, and Graph.  Click on the picture below.

Enjoy!!

"Give thanks with a grateful heart."

Creative Writing - There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pumpkin

After reading the story There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves, I thought it would be fun to make our own story for Thanksgiving.   There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pumpkin!

With the help of a great teaching partner, we came up with several things for our old lady to swallow!  The kids had so much fun trying to figure out what she was going to make at the end.

Using the creative writing story page, I put one item at a time up on the front board and the kids wrote it down on their paper.  Then they cut out their own little part and fed it to their old lady.  EXCITING!!  They giggled every time.  Before I showed them what she was going to cough up, I let them guess.  Yep, they figured it out.  A pumpkin pie! 

We practiced retelling our new story with a partner, so we were ready to show our parents when we got home.  I think some of them did it several times!!! 

We also painted a paper plate pumpkin pie and put pumpkin pie spice on it for the finishing touch!! Yummy!  It smelled so good in my room.  

Click on the picture below to download the creative writing page freebie from this Old Lady pack.  (writing page only).

Click on the picture below to find this complete Old Lady Creative Writing and Story Telling resource at my TpT store (creative writing page and graphics).

I hope you are having a great year!

"Let us come before him with thanksgiving. Let us sing him song songs of praise. For the Lord is great God, the great King above all gods." Psalm 95: 2-3

Symmetry Fun

Have you ever wanted to tape up your kiddos??? Okay, not really, but what if you used it as a teaching lesson?  You can be sure your students will never forget the lesson.

People are great examples of symmetry, so I tape up my kids.  And believe it or not, they LOVE it!! We talk about what symmetrical means - both side are the same, and we even have a little chant, "Symmetrical Same."  (We put our hands together above our heads and say "symmetrical" then in front of us palms out and we say "same.")  One day the kids really got into the "same" and they told me I was not symmetrical because I had a watch on one wrist.  Yep, they were correct.

We also got to do some other fun activities with symmetry like paint and build symmetrical shapes.  When we build our shapes, the kids like to make one side and then trade with a partner to see if their partner can finish the shape and make it symmetrical on both sides.

I put together this great activity set that includes cut and paste printables, activity pages and whole group lesson ideas for Symmetry, Whole, Half and Parts.  Click on the picture below to find it at my TpT store.

Included Pages/Activities:

Whole, Half, Part - Identify & Draw a Line

Whole, Half, Part - Count the Parts and Write

Whole, Half, Part - Sort

Whole, Half, Part - Are They Equal

Whole, Half, Part - Whole Group Pizza Set

Symmetry - Whole Group Activity Idea

Symmetry - Draw a Line

Symmetry - Sort

Symmetry - Shape Building

Symmetry - Color or Paint Printable Pages

I hope you get a chance to try this in your own classroom!! :)

"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever."  Hebrews 13:8