52 card pickup? Not in this classroom!

Hey yall!

 

It's time for another round of Bright Ideas. My favorite time of the month!

 

 

Now, I know that we're all blissfully enjoying summer break.

But.....school is right around the corner! At least, it is for me.

 

So even though you might not quite be ready for all the back-to-school yet, its coming your way...ready or not!

 

When I was organizing my classroom for summer and packing up all my belongings, I ran across the decks of cards that we used this year. Cards can be such great learning tools, but can also be a pest to keep organized.

 

This year, I tried something a little different and it worked like a charm!

This is one of those oh-so-simple, why-didn't-I-think-of-this-years-ago ideas.

 

 

For each deck of cards, I used a different color Sharpie and made a little dot on the cards. Then I used the same color Sharpie to dot the bag they came in. Anytime the cards got mixed up, my kiddos could easily sort them out and put them in the right bag.

 

I think this year, I'll try to find some soap containers from the dollar store to store them in. I hear these little guys hold a deck of cards perfectly! And I could easily match the color of the Sharpie to the color of the container :)

 

 

To see more of my teaching ideas, please check out my FB page or follow me on IG @teacherytidbits.

 

Check out these links below for some more bright ideas!

An InLinkz Link-up



Georgia Bloggers Blog Hop {and Giveaway!}

Hey yall!

My sweet Georgia bloggy buddies and I have teamed up to bring you a fun little hop/giveaway!

Let me start by telling you a bit about my city.

I'm in Augusta. As you can see from the map below, Augusta is a border town.

We're just a hop, skip, and a stone's throw away from South Carolina.

In fact, the neighboring town in South Carolina is called North Augusta and that is where my sweet hubby is from :)

Augusta is also home to the most prestigious golf tournament every year.

The Masters, anyone?

Every year in April, the world's greatest golfers {along with thousands of adoring fans and even some celebrities} swarm our city for a week. Our local school systems use that week as our Spring Break as well.

Most people use that week to rent out their house and get out of town.

I, however, love nothing more than sticking around to take part in all the fun :)

I've even worked at the tournament while in college {I actually waited on Phil Mickelson at the clubhouse!}.

Although growing up I always complained about how there is nothing to do around here, I honestly love this town and have no desire to move. The few years I spent in Atlanta really helped me to realize that Augusta is my home and always will be.

Okay, enough about this great city, on to the freebie!

My freebie is something I made for a coworker of mine who teaches kindergarten. She wanted some golf-themed centers to use with her kiddos before Masters week. Hope you can use them!

Click on the picture below to snag the freebie.

Be sure to check out all the other Georgia bloggers to get your sweet freebies!

And don't forget to enter the giveaway....there are some awesome prizes!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

An InLinkz Link-up



Seuss Rewind {freebie!}

Hey yall!

 

This has been a whirlwind of a month and I have been such a slacker!

I've been meaning to post about our Seuss-week for ages now, but time is really slipping away!

 

So let's just rewind for a second :)

 

Seuss week is my absolute favorite week to teach. I love planning all the fun activities, but we can never seem to fit it all in! I'm thinking next year, we'll make it more like a week and a half :)

 

Here are just a few of the fun activities we did that week:

 

I told them their goal was to read at least 24 books by the end of the week. We used these punch cards from Crayonbox Learning. Their prize was a cute Seuss-themed pencil :)

 

We went to the media center to listen to a story from the media specialist. She read "If I Ran the Circus."

 

 

They talked all about imagination and using it to create their own animals. Then they used modeling clay to bring their animals to life!

 

 

 

The teachers on my hall decided to all dress up to read to classes. We rocked it!

 

 

We read "Barthlomew and the Oobleck," then made our very own oobleck.

 

 

We read "Green Eggs and Ham." So, of course, we had to try them for ourselves!

It was unanimous.....green eggs and ham are tasty!

 

 

We also made these yummy "Cat in the Hat" snacks.

 

 

 

We read tons and tons of books, then gathered data on our favorite Dr. Seuss book.

"Green Eggs and Ham" was a class favorite!

 

This printable came from Lindsay over at Teacher Bits and Bobs.
I snagged it up a couple of years ago before the big Seuss to-do, so it's not available anymore :/

We also read "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish," then sorted and graphed rainbow goldfish crackers. Notice the food theme???

 

I forgot to snap a picture, but we used my printable below.

Click the picture to snag your copy!

 

 

We also wrote about our favorite Dr. Seuss book, made a birthday cake craftivity for the great Dr., illustrated our own ABC book using fun Seuss characters, and watched "Horton Hears a Who."

 

Even though Read Across America Week is long over, hopefully you can take some ideas away for next year!

 

Happy Saturday, friends!



All in the Family

Hey yall! Happy hump day!

My kiddos have started learning about a tricky little thing called fact families.

Anyone else's kiddos struggle with these???

 

I wanted to make it fun and interesting for them, so I started out by introducing them to the Fact Family.

 

 

We discussed how the Fact Family are kind of snobby and only like to be with themselves. They don't like to let anyone else into their house.

We talked about how, since Daddy is the biggest, he will always be the biggest number. Mommy will be the middle number and Baby will be the smallest number.

 

We practiced a ton with these family cards that I made. Click on the picture below to snag them!

 

 

 

After lots and lots of practice on fact families, they are finally starting to get it! They really connect with the daddy, mommy, and baby {or doggy}.

 

But then we decided that they needed a house to live in!

So, naturally, we made them some!

 

 

They turned out so cute! I love how they are all just a little bit different :)

We didn't use any patterns, just kinda winged it, but it worked out great!

 

So...how do you teach your kiddos about fact families?





Last Minute Christmas!

Hey yall!

 

We are 6 days away from Christmas vacation....I think I can, I think I can.

We'll be spending this week and next immersed in all things holiday! We'll be using activities from my two newest packs: Holiday How To Writing and Eat, Drink, and Be Merry Math Centers.

 

 

This sweet little pack includes 6 different holiday how-to writing organizers and writing paper, including:

*how to build a snowman

*how to wrap a present

*how to decorate a tree

*how to catch an elf

*how to eat a gingerbread cookie

*how to make hot cocoa

 

Each writing includes a graphic organizer and four choices of writing sheets.

 

 

This holiday pack includes 9 math centers and 1 whole class activity. It meets 9 different standards!

*Place Value Stockings (1.NBT.2)
*Ornament Ordering (1.NBT.1)
*Elf Statements (1.NBT.3)
*Tens of Penguins (1.NBT.5)
*Frosty Time (1.MD.3)
*Santa Scoot (1.OA.6)
*Gifts of Measurement (1.MD.2)
*Reindeer Games (1.OA.6)
*Snowmen Graphing (1.MD.4)
*Candy Cane Tens (1.NBT.6)

 



 

Since its so last minute, you can snag this pack for 50% off until Friday! Click on the pictures above to grab your copy.

 

Now, I'm off to wrap some presents :)

 

6 more days, people!



Do you love a good freebie...or 50?

Hey yall! Happy Friday!

 

I thought this week was going to take forever, but it has actually gone by pretty quickly. This girl is sooo ready for the weekend, baby!

 

How am I going to spend my Friday night, you ask? Downloading freebies!

 

Have you heard about the Winter Holidays EBook? It is FULL of freebies that are geared towards 1st and 2nd grade....over 50 of them! And you just might find one from me in there as well :)

 

Click on the pic to download the ebook.

 

 

And today is also the kickoff of a fun Facebook Frenzy that I'm apart of! Myself and 21 other first grade bloggers have put together a fun hop that is chock full of holiday/winter goodness!

 

 

Start the hop at my FB page and snag my freebie! I'm offering my Polar Express Unit...for free yall!

Then just continue the hop by clicking on the snowman.

 

If you get lost, here's the map to help you find your way :) Click on the picture to open the PDF...it has all the links you'll need!

 

 

 

Happy hopping, friends!

Nice to Meet You, Mr. Appleseed

Hey yall! Happy Friday!

 

We have had a fun and exciting week learning all about folktales. We learned about Paul Bunyan, John Henry, and everyone's favorite....Johnny Appleseed! I love that our state Social Studies standards include these fun folktales, especially since Mr. Appleseed is so much fun to learn about!

 

We started out by reading this book

 

 

and watching the Brain Pop Jr. video on Johnny.

 

We taste tested 4 different kinds of apples and graphed our favorites.

 

 

 

Granny Smith was the winner, but I was totally pulling for the Golden Delicious....yum!

 

We made applesauce and wrote about the process.

 

 

 

 

 

Best. Applesauce. Ever.

 

We brainstormed some facts and then wrote about Johnny.

 

 

 

 

All of the above activities (including the recipe for the world's best applesauce!) came from Katie's (Teacher to the Core) Apples and Appleseed unit.

 

 

 Seriously, one of my favorite purchases this year! Talk about integration!!!

 

After learning all about him, Mr. Appleseed himself came to visit and read us a story!

 

 

 

 

They were over the moon excited....just look at those faces!!! Everyone wanted a hug...and one sly girl went in for a kiss on the cheek! My sweet hubby is so supportive and such a good sport about these kinds of things. You might remember, he dressed up as a leprechaun for my kiddos last year!

 

The funniest part was hearing all the questions my littles had for him...and he had no problem playing along!

 

Student: Did you plant an apple tree in my backyard?

Hubs: Maybe...is your house the one with the black roof?

Student: Yeah! And a fence!

Hubs: Yep...I was there!

 

My teaching buddies and I were rolling! Another student asked him about his pet wolf (which one of our stories talked about) and he told them it was tied up outside. Ha!

 

It was probably one of the most fun we've had this year. What did yall do to celebrate?