Hockey Anyone?

My husband is a huge hockey fan...and the love of hockey has been passed down to my oldest son!  He spends most of his awake time practicing in his bedroom or the driveway.  I spend portions of my day sitting on his bed being the "cheerleader" for him.  His stuffed animals are the other team and of course his "team" (which consists of only him!) always wins!  I decided to create some fun activities that he can use and I can also use with my kinders!  The first is a pack that will help him practice his addition facts.  His Kindergarten teacher indicated that this is an area he could use some extra practice in.  Click the pic to get it!

I also want him to have a solid reading foundation.  So I made a fun sight word game to help him practice all of his words.  He goes to school in a different district than where I teach so his sight words are different than the ones I teach my kinders.  I made a set for both of the curriculums! 

Click here to get the set that goes with Scott Foresman Reading!

Click here to get the set that goes with Houghton Mifflin Reading!

I hope these activities can score a goal with your kiddos too!

Another Snow Day!! Wowza!

A couple of weeks ago I was commenting that I just wanted ONE snow day!  God does answer prayers...BIG TIME!  Tomorrow will be snow day number THREE!! 

I am linking up with Primary Possibilities for a fun linky! 

Listen: How do you get your students to listen?

Love: Do you have a secret love?

Learn: What do you want to learn more about?

Listen: I commented about this in a previous post.  I use two different sayings "Stop, Freeze, Eyes and Ears on Me, Please." and "1,2,3 Eyes on Me"  It gets the attention of the students and they immediately know that I have something to say.  Other times I will compliment a student that is listening and it is like a ripple effect.  Others start doing the same hoping that I will say their name next!  Gotta love how Kindergarteners want to please!

Love: Besides all these snow days?  With time off also comes movies!  I have been pulling out some of my favorites!  Have you watched Safe Haven yet?  I had forced my husband to go see it with me last weekend!  I LOVED it!  I want to go see it again!  I have to admit, I was a bit confused at first and wasn't connecting with the main character....but about halfway into the film I figured it out!  

  





Learn: As a new blogger, I want to learn more about getting my blog just the way I want it!  I have learned so much already but the more blogs I look at the more ideas I get!  My school has also been gradually working our way through the CHAMPS Classroom Management book by Randy Sprick.  It has some great ideas and each time we cover a chapter it gets me motivated to put on my super teacher cape and conquer the world!

Join in the fun at Primary Possibilities!

Toy Store Math Activities!

I am so excited about these activities I just created!  The graphics are so fun!  Kids all love toys and visiting the toy store, so I am sure they will love learning with these activities!  I plan to use these activities next week (yep, another snow day tomorrow!) to help reinforce the penny that we talked about earlier this week.  My students are still working on subtraction so the "How Much Did It Cost?" activity will be a great help!
Take a look at the activities included:

Such cute graphics! 

 Activity1:Counting the room using ten frames!  Students also get practice writing the cent sign. 

Activity 2: A fun Roll and Cover game using two dice! (Practicing addition!) 

Activity 3: Matching cards by using subtraction!  One card shows how many pennies were spent, another card shows much the toy cost, and the last card had the subtraction sentence.  I can also see using these cards to have my kiddos practice their subtraction stories!

Activity 4: Two worksheets that practice matching number to quanity. 

 Click here to get your activities!



My First Linky!

I am joining in my first linky!  I am not exactly sure what I am doing but I am so excited to figure this all out!  Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits is hosting a Hall Pass Linky! 

                          
So here I go!
Product: My favorite product that I have made is my Dental Health Unit!  I had so much fun teaching this unit!  My students loved the Uh-Oh! Cavity game so much, they even asked to play it during recess! 

I am also excited about my Sentence Scramble Pack!  I made a Sentence Scramble Freebie and it seemed to be doing really well, so I made a whole pack! Check it out!

Area: My favorite area in my classroom is my carpet area!  It is the place where my class gathers for calendar time, stories and working on the Promethean board!  I also love my rocking chair.  Last year my rocking chair was so uncomfy, but this year my mom made me some comfy cushions for it and it is perfect!  I wish I had a picture of it, but since I am snowed in on this snow day I will have to post a picture of the rocking chair later!  Here is a pic of my carpet...it's the best I have for now!



Signal: The signal I use the most is "Stop, Freeze, Eyes and Ears on me, Please!"  My room becomes very quiet when they hear this signal.  This way I can let them know of any changes or announcements that I may have.  I also use "1,2,3 Eyes on Me".  Though these aren't the most original or clever solutions, they work for me! 

Sanity: I love the days that I have a few extra minutes to grab a sweet tea on my way to work.  Sweet tea gives me the boost of sugar that I need to get my energy going!  Also, whenever I am having one of "those" days the easiest way for me to catch a breath is to throw in a book on CD!  I have a shelf of them in my room and I can just grab one off and it gives me a couple of minutes to regroup while the kiddos are engaged!  Youtube videos of fun songs (Harry's Kindergarten has some of my favorites!) also give me a minute to get that extra breath in!

That completes my Hall Pass! 

Piggy Bank Freebie!

This week I started a unit on coin recognition and Presidents.  These two just go hand in hand so well.  We discuss a president and learn about the coin that he is on and then spend some time talking about the value of the coin.  My students are still needing some practice with addition and subtraction so I wanted a way to tie in money and using the plus/minus signs.  I made this cute piggy bank to solve the problem!
                                         
Students rolled a cube that was labeled with either plus or minus amounts.  They then added or subtracted pennies from their piggy.  The first students to get 20 pennies on their bank was the winner!  The students had a great time and hearing them use the words "plus", "minus" and "cents" was so wonderful!  Here is a pic of one of the groups playing!

You can grab the freebie by clicking on the link below!

Tomorrow we have a snow day! Yippee!  I am hoping to spend some time working on many of the projects I have started for TeachersPayTeachers but just need to put the finishing touches on.  Of course, I will also spend some time cuddling with my boys and drinking hot cocoa! 



I Get Paid To Do This?

The past couple of days have been so enjoyable!  The kind of days that when I leave the building, I find myself asking "I get paid to do this?" Yep, being a Kindergarten teacher is fun!  We have finished up our dental health unit and I was so excited to see them learning!  Today students made words out of big and little toothbrushes and smile cutouts.  It was neat to see the way they formed the letters!  Here are a few pictures I was able to get:

 "Hot"

 I knew "mom" would be a popular word...so sweet! 

"Toy" and "Tom"

They did a great job!  If you would like to pick up my dental health unit that includes this activity click here.

Students also worked on sorting attribute blocks.  Yesterday they helped me think of the ways we could sort the blocks and then today they sorted them in small groups.  Here are a few pics!

 Sorting by Shape

 Sorting by Thickness

My attribute block sorting mats are available here.  

Next week is packed full of Valentine activities!  I can't even fit in all of the things I want to do.  Trying to decide which ones really target the skills I want my students to work on and having to set the others aside is so hard!  There just isn't enough hours in my half-day kindergarten!  

Valentine Activities Complete!

I just added my Valentine activities to TeachersPayTeachers.  Next week will be a busy week with an inservice day, an assembly and of course the big Valentine Party!  I created some fun activites to go with all the fun!  Here are a few of the activities included in my unit:
 

A fun gameboard that can be used with a dice or spinner.  I have included some simple addition cards (with sums up to five) for my students to use with the game board.

 

Valentine's Day just isn't complete without those heart shaped cookies!  This activity works on addition, ten frames and tally marks.  It includes 10 cookie sheets and four cookies to go with each one! Yummy!

And then there is the always popular candy conversation hearts!  This activity has students estimating and counting!  I have included some hearts that can be cut out and glued on if you want the sugar free option!

All of these activities plus more are in my unit!  Click here to get yours!

I have also included a freebie for you!  After my groundhog digit activity (here) I decided to make a similar activity for Valentine's Day!  Click on the picture below to get your freebie!

I love being able to take the same activity and differentiate it for all my students' learning needs!