Penguin Experiment and Super Bowl SALE!

Thursday was our first day back after an unplanned week long winter break....also known as snow/calamity/too cold days!  

I had to wrap up our penguin unit this week so I had to eliminate a couple activities since we only had 2 days this week instead of 5.  However, there was no way I could cancel our blubber experiment!  I told my kiddos they were going to see what it felt like to be a penguin and they were sooooo excited!  

It's so easy and provides such a clear understanding for your kiddos how blubber keeps penguins warm and able to live in such a cold, harsh environment.  

You just need Crisco, baggies, water, and 2 bowls.  I accidentally forgot the bowls so we used a couple tubs I had at school. 

I asked every kiddo which hand was warmer and if they could even feel the cold water through the 'blubber'.  None of them could and they were shocked!  It really showed them how penguins are able to survive!  

I missed our 100th Day of School yesterday because my mama had surgery on Tuesday and I was able to take her home from the hospital yesterday!  She was soooo ready to go home!  My student teacher did our 100th Day activities and said my kiddos loved them, but since I wasn't there I don't have any pictures this year!  

I wanted to let you know that I am having a Teachers Pay Teachers Sale this weekend to celebrate the Super Bowl!  While my hubby watches the game, I will be shopping!  :)

Click on the picture to go to my Teacher's Pay Teacher's Store!  Everything is 20% off and I just updated my Math Story Problems Pack so it's now more than double the size it was (20 pages to 50 pages) and the price is still the same until Monday!  

Have a great weekend watching football, funny commercials, and shopping!  I will be blogging tomorrow about all that I added to my story problem pack!  It's a steal right now if you ask me!  :)

100th Day of School Fun

Can you believe we've been in school for 100 days already?!?!  

Well, as of Friday we will have!  I wanted to share my Night Before 100th Day of School Pack with you!

You can have your kiddos bring in 100 things and have lots of fun sorting and counting them.  There is also a class book to make about the items your kiddos brought in or would bring in if they could.  

I always begin our fun by reading Natasha Wing's story The Night Before the 100th Day of School.  You can click the picture below to go purchase it.  My kiddos LOVE her books!  

Here is my Night Before 100th Day of School Pack!  We used it last year and will be using it again on Friday, although since we've had so many snow/cold days lately we won't be doing as much as I had originally planned.  That's how life goes!  

We will be counting 100 Fruit Loops and making necklaces too!  

What will you be doing for the 100th day of school?  Share some ideas and I'll choose 2 people to send my pack to for *free*!  :)

Everything You Need to Teach and Watch Penguins!

Almost two months!  I can not believe it has been almost 2 months since I blogged.  

I hang my head in shame....

I could give you a bunch of excuses about being busy and time just getting away from me, but I'll save them.  As fellow teachers I hope you understand and have some pity for me.  

I got my first student teacher this week and it has been great so far.  She is so eager to have her own classroom and is willing to help me with anything.  It has rejuvenated my teaching spirit....so much so that I just had to get back on here and blog.  

I don't think she's quite ready to accept how busy teaching life really is and how we don't always get to the things we want to even though we really, really want to.  She's refreshingly optimistic, even if a little naive!  :)

We have been spending a couple weeks on penguins and my kiddos are seriously penguin experts!!  Even my student teacher is impressed with how much they know about penguins.  

I want to share a couple packs that we have used and have been so helpful.  I also want to share some very fun and cute penguin videos and web cams.  

This will be more than you need for a 2-3 week unit on penguins.

First, we started with Erica's awesome penguin pack!  This pack is over 100 pages of penguin awesomeness.  Click on the picture for the link. 

This penguin fold and learn is so much fun for your kiddos too.  I used it last year and we will be making them again this week as we wrap up our penguin unit.  Click the picture for the link. 

You can find all of my Pinterest videos *here* if you want to see more, but I've posted a few for you.  

Erica's pack has an attribute chart in it with four types of penguins so I found these short little videos to help my kiddos see and understand the different species of penguins.   

Emperor Penguin Video:

Macaroni Penguin Video:

Adelie Penguin Video:

We have also been watching live penguin web cams.  They are: 

Monterey Bay Aquarium Penguin Cam

California Academy of Sciences Penguin Cam

They have certain hours they are available.  Other times they will play prerecorded videos.  You can even watch them feed the penguins.  Just a heads up, we did see penguins 'wrestling' this week if you know what I mean.  My kiddos thought they were 'playing' and 'trying to push each other off the rocks' and I wasn't about to tell them otherwise so use your discretion.  :)  

Thanks for letting me share our penguin fun with you!  My kiddos are very sad that we are ending our penguin unit this week.  I must say it is a great way to get through the winter blues in January.  

We will be ending our unit on Friday with a blubber experiment.  You can click *here* to read my post about it from last year.  I will share new pictures after we do it again this Friday.  

Hope you are staying warm wherever you are!  It has been crazy cold and snowy here!  We can have 2 more days off school, but then no more!  :)

TpT Cyber Monday and Tuesday Sale

I hope you still have some 'shopping' left in you!!  :)

It's almost time for TpT's Cyber Monday and Tuesday Sale!!

Here are some of my favorites from my TpT store that I want to share with you before your big shopping spree:

We have already started our Flat Stanley project for the year, but this is a great activity to help the long winter months go by a little quicker!  

This Snow Day Fun Pack is full of soooo much snow fun!  There are lots of fun skill review activities in here along with some nonfiction research too.  And you can end your snow day with some yummy snow cones!  

If your kiddos are getting the winter blues you might just need some new behavior rewards and this pack has 16 *free* rewards that will make your kiddos happy and save you money!  

 This December pack will you help you during these last few weeks before Christmas break!  Included is a cute Christmas present writing I do with my kiddos every year and they look adorable in the hallway! 

This January pack is full of New Year's Resolution activities along with a cute hat writing to hang up in the hallway!

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving break and are ready to get back to your kiddos!  We traveled out of state to visit with family and had a great time!  I do have a mild case of the Sunday Night Blues, but only 3 more weeks until Christmas Break!  :)

I hope you enjoy all the Christmas fun in the next few weeks.  

I love this time of year!!  :)

So Much Thanksgiving Fun!

We are officially on Thanksgiving Break!  

It feels like Christmas Break with all the snow we have gotten today and are supposed to keep getting until tomorrow...it is a winter wonderland out there and it's b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l.

I wanted to share some of the Thanksgiving fun we have had in the last couple of weeks. We ended it all today with a fabulous Thanksgiving feast.  We (the Pilgrims) invited another class (the Native Americans) to come to our classroom and join us for our feast.  We ate turkey, pumpkin pie in a cup, and made our own butter.  Yum!  

My favorite Thanksgiving Day activity this year was these adorable Thanksgiving bracelets.  We ended up turning them into necklaces because it was easier for my kiddos, but it really helped them remember the Thanksgiving story and many of them wore them again today for our feast.  

The greatest news is that this is a FREEBIE!  If you're already done with school for the week, this is a must save for next year.  It was a huge hit with my kiddos!  Click on the picture to go download! 

She also included a book to go with the story.  This was great for my kiddos to work on while I helped tie the necklaces.  

We also played Thanksgiving Math games during our Daily 4 math time.  My kiddos LOVE playing Bump and this month they practiced counting by 5's with this adorable game board. This is a FREEBIE on Lory's blog and she has counting by 10's and 100's too!  

We also practiced ABC order with this cute FREEBIE:

We made these cute little turkeys and hung them up in the hallway.  We wrote 3 things we were thankful for to put underneath.  This pack isn't a freebie, but it's totally worth it!  

We used my own Night Before Thanksgiving Activity Pack for morning work and some review activities.  It's on sale for the rest of the week if you want to grab it for next year!  

Well, I am off to relax.  I am on Thanksgiving Break and I am going to enjoy it!  Happy Thanksgiving!  Hope you all enjoy your holiday with your family and friends!  

Lots of fun SCOOT freebies!

Last week was nothing short of c.r.a.z.y.  

We had conferences Thursday evening until 9 pm, I met with my principal for my pre-conference after filling out almost 10 pages of information, took a 4 hour online violence training course, had 2 meetings for a couple of my kiddos, had morning duty for 20 minutes each morning before the bell rang, and had to make sure the house was clean because we had company over Friday night!  

Phew...I'm tired just thinking about it again!  

I was observed yesterday morning and it went really well, but I always get so nervous so I'm very glad it's over!  

We have been working really hard on double digit addition and subtraction.  My kiddos are doing pretty well at addition and subtraction individually, but when they are mixed up they often struggle- especially with double digits!  

We have been practicing during our small groups and playing some games on our iPad, Smart Board, and we played Scoot!  

I have found that my kiddos LOVE Scoot!  It's pretty easy if you've never played before.  The kiddos take their answer sheet and pencil and rotate around the room and answer a question that is on each desk.  This year my kiddos can just walk around the outside of our desks so they're pretty much moving in a circle which has been way easier for them that what we tried last year!!  

It gets them up and moving which really helps my kiddos who have trouble focusing.  I say 3-2-1 and they say SCOOT!  

Here is a freebie you can use with flashcards or make your own math facts to put on kiddos' desks:

Here is a doubles fact Scoot freebie:

I am working on making a double digit math fact Scoot game to share with you too!  I highly recommend playing Scoot with your kiddos if you haven't before.  It's a great way to keep them involved and still practice important skills.  

Here are some other math Scoot games:

You can create any Scoot game with Amy's template!!  

This Scoot game is a great way to practice number sense!  

This Scoot game will help your kiddos understand whether math equations are true or false!  

Hope you can enjoy some of these freebies and enjoy a game of Scoot!  We love it!  :)

Now I need to get ready for my post observation conference.  This new teacher evaluation process is crazy!!  I am so hoping it goes well!  :)

November Currently

I can't believe it's already November!  Go visit Farley for the November Currently!  

Listening- Trust Me, I'm a Game Show Host is so funny!  I can't believe some of the lies they come up with!  

Loving- We went shopping last night and today and I got some really cute new Christmas decorations. 

Thinking- I can't wait to put all of them out, but Hubby says I have to wait!  :)

Wanting- I saw a new Vera pattern that I LOVE so I think I need a new bag now!  

Needing- I need to start my Christmas shopping.  Technically I've already started because I have bought a couple things, but I still have a lot to buy.  I don't want to let Christmas sneak up on me this year! 

Yummy Pin:

 Here is the link: http://cookiesandcups.com/krispie-treat-christmas-tree/img_5895/ or you can click on the picture.  

I love krispie treats and they're not as loaded with calories as other holiday goodies.  Even as a non-cooking wife I could TOTALLY make this!!  :)

Now go sign up with your own Currently!  You even have an extra hour tonight to do it!  :)