Sunday Savings: Thanksgiving Edition!


Hi friends! I'm super-excited to link up with All Things Apple in 2nd for this week's Sunday Circular. I have some brand-new Thanksgiving products to share with you!


My Turkey Trouble Math Tubs are 20% off this week! These centers cover addition and subtraction strategies (doubles, double +1, 10 partners), number stories, place value and <,>,=.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Turkey-Trouble-November-Math-Tubs-CCSS-TEKS-Aligned-1532359

My kiddos have been using these tubs for the past week

  

I also have 2 brand new products that are 50% today! I'm so excited to use them this week! (Click on the links below to see them in my TPT store.)

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Even-and-Odd-Turkeys-Thanksgiving-Fun-1545244

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Turkey-Talk-Addition-QR-Scavenger-Hunt-1545693

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Turkey-Talk-Addition-QR-Scavenger-Hunt-1545693

Thanks so much! I hope you have a GREAT week!






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Holidays Around the Blog: Winter Wonderland


http://mrslabrasciano.blogspot.com/

Back in December, Ashley and I had visions of sugarplums of starting our teacher blog. I really wanted to blog about my absolute FAVORITE winter holiday craftivity and bulletin board display, but sadly, there was no blog. Sooooo... when I saw this Holidays Around the Blog Linky Party from Mrs. Labrasciano, I just had to link up!
I give you... Winter Wonderland. (Sorry the lightning in our hallway is terrible.)


We turned this into a math/social studies lesson. For the social studies part, we discussed what you would find in a community: businesses, homes, parks. schools, etc. We discussed different holidays that people celebrate in the winter, and we listed activities that people do in the winter/holiday time (not easy since we live in Texas, but they came up with some good ones.)

 Here they are sledding, skiing, making snow angels, and singing Christmas carols.
Those snow angels kill me. So darn CUTE!
Yes, these are pics of my kiddos. They brought in "winter" outerwear one day because it's not that cold here. They chose the activities they wanted to do, and I had them pose and then printed out small pics.
They turned out so sweet. I just cut out little pieces of construction paper for the sleds and skis.
 Next we have our ice skaters, snowman builders, and our shoppers.
(That's my co-teacher and me having a blast as we leave the candy shop!)
For the ice skaters, I printed out little ice skate clip art.
 And, of course, we had to have a snowball fight!
 Finally we have some kids skiing and choosing Christmas tress. If you live in Texas, you KNOW we had to have our favorite grocery store: HEB! And seriously, how precious is that church?



Okay, so now to HOW. We started by brainstorming the buildings that we would need in our community, and then I gave the kids measurements for each building. This is the math part. It worked out perfectly because we were right in the middle of our measurement unit.

 This is the fire station. You can see the measurements and the ruler because this is serious business! The kids had to sketch their idea before they were able to start with the  construction paper.
I also told them everything needed to be cut out. I mean...it's cuter, right? Plus, once it was all finished they were able to use my SUPER-SPECIAL oil pastels to add details like Christmas lights or Hanukah menorahs in the window. This is quite the privilege (because they are smeary and you must be very mature to use them), so they were super-excited about this part!
 I kept having to say, "Less is more, people. LESS IS MORE."
Sorry I don't have a pic of that part, but you can see the details in the final product pics.


There you have it! So fun! The key is making sure to incorporate the holiday traditions of all of your students. It is truly one of my absolute favorite projects. Thanks for stopping in!
 Let me know if you have any questions about this project.

Head back to Mrs. Labrasciano to check out the rest of the blogs!


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Pumpkins and Bats and Spiders...Oh MY!





Oh how I LOVE October! I love that the weather is beginning to cool (for us that means temps in the 80s.) I love that my little firsties are starting figure out routines and build independence. And I love that we can start focusing our learning around some favorite nonfiction topics. For us, that means we get to learn all about pumpkins, bats and spiders!

I linked up with Kacey from Doodle Bugs Teaching for her Five for Friday Linky Party. I thought I'd share five of our fave October-related activities!


We started out the month learning all about pumpkins and then moved on to bats and spiders. I began each week with an anchor chart. I like to review their "schema" (prior knowledge), and we record that on the charts. Then, as we read and learn new facts, we add those to the chart. The kids LOVE using sticky notes for their facts!


For our hallway bulletin board, we combined a little art and writing. I always try to have some kind of writing on our bulletin board, and this project from the fab Reagan Tunstall fit the bill. They turned out AMAZING!


One of the kinder classes at my school created this bulletin board, and I am absolutely obsessed with it! First, The Biggest Pumpkin Ever is one of my favorite Halloween books, and this idea is just too precious! Each kiddo created their own part of the pumpkin. It turned out so cute!
Since we were exploring so much nonfiction text, I thought it was a good time to introduce nonfiction text features. **Quick tip- When I do my monthly book order, I try and find nonfiction or thematic books for 100 points or less. I order 6 copies to use with my reading groups. I love tying their reading to our monthly themes!**

We have been studying spiders, so I focused our text feature learning around spider books. We first did a quick "noticing chart." I didn't snap a pic of this one. On day 2, I prepped by copying examples from a few spider books and magazines. I read through the texts, and as the kids noticed features, I glued them to the anchor chart.


I then passed out 2-3 spider books to each table group. (I basically cleaned out our school library.) I gave them a checklist to use while they searched for features in the books. They worked with partners and had so much fun! I loved hearing their discussions.


You can grab the recording sheet here!
 (Fonts by Cara Carroll and Kimberly Geswein and border by Krista Wallden.)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/k7vf4om2ngfqr3s/nonfiction%20features%20PNG.png?dl=0
One of my team's favorite Halloween projects is jack-o-lanterns! We have the kiddos bring in their own jars. This year, I had one volunteer for each table. We were able to knock it out in 45 minutes! Prep is KEY, so I had tables ready to go while the kids were at specials. Each table had butcher paper for easy clean-up. The eyes, noses and mouths were cut my parents ahead of time and kept in separate baggies. Each child had their own brush and the table shared the tissue paper and the glue/water mixture. (It's just a 1/2&1/2 mixture.)


I demonstrated the process ahead of time and showed them how to add a little glue/water to one section and press down you tissue paper.


This is the final product! I also mod-podge it after it's all said and done and send it home with a tealight candle.


Finally, we have been teaching partners of 10, and Ashley and I created some SPOOKTACULAR TEN math activities. This bundle includes games, printables, and interactive journal pages! You can grab it for FREE on our facebook page!
(The freebie tab is on the side. You cannot access it from a mobile device.)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/we-heart-1st/239169369590507


Don't forget to enter our 1500 IG Follower Giveaway! You can win over 25 awesome products from some of our blogging buddies!!

Thanks for checking in! Head on back to Doodle Bugs to check out the other blogs that linked up!



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Monday Made-It (and a FREEBIE!)


Hi there! I'm linking up with the fab Tara of 4th Grade Frolics for this month's Monday Made It! I have a  few "made-its" that I've been saving up... but it looks like I may have deleted some of the how-to parts. I am CONSTANTLY running out of memory on my stinkin' i-phone, so I guess I got a little carried away with deleting pics to free up space. I'll try and explain as we go.


Looking to add something new to your word work? Kids LOVE anything seasonal. Why not use Halloween erasers (or other manipulatives) on your play-doh mats? For this month, I simply printed my play-doh mats on orange cardstock and replaced our play-doh with these Halloween erasers from the Target Dollar Spot. The kids will love it! Looking for sight word mats? You can grab mine for FREE from my TPT store. (Be sure to leave some feedback while there!) :)

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sight-Word-Play-Doh-Mats-1497519


My kiddos this year are super-talkative, so a few weeks ago I had to pull out the big guns: Quiet Monsters. I had pics of the creation process, but those were deleted. To make these sweeties, I hot-glued googly eyes and foam hearts (the feet) to the little fuzzies. Voila! You have a quiet monster.

These babies arrived mysteriously to our front office with a  letter to my class stating that they'd like to live with us. Sadly, their little ears are super-sensitive, so we have to work quietly. In the mornings, as the kids come in, I pass out a quiet monster to those who are working quietly on their morning journals. If they are not following directions regarding noise level throughout the day, they can lose their quiet monster. Simple, yet effective!



Finally, I just had to show my little chair project! Everyone on my team has these super-cute chairs. I just can't bring myself to spend the money on a chair for my classroom, but I just couldn't take this ugly maroon chair ANYMORE! I found some fabric that I'd used to cover a table a few years ago and went to work. This was the easiest DIY project I've ever done.

For the top, I just pressed the fabric into the back using a flathead screwdriver. This was the hardest part, but a little muscle was all it took. For the bottom, I just pulled the fabric tight and stapled to the bottom. Easy-peasy! This chair is SO.MUCH.BETTER.

That's it for now! Let me know what you think, and head back to 4th Grade Frolics to check out some more made-its!


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