Dr. Seuss on the Loose

Dr. Seuss will definitely be on the loose in my class this week.  We will be doing Seuss-tastic things all week. I can't wait to try out some of the new ideas I've found in other blogs I've been stalking!  One of my favorite things is what we do for Read Across America day. I will be sharing that later this week.

I'm starting the week off with a rhyming game I created just for this week with who else but....The Cat in the Hat!  Maybe it is something you can use too.

I hope everyone enjoys A Sensational Seuss week!

Click here to download The Cat in the Hat game.

Pot of Words

I am working on some word work activities for a staff development on Monday morning.  A friend just shared a cute word game that was based on a Christmas theme on someone else's blog.  I revamped it for St. Patrick's Day.

Just add a spinner to the pot of gold, add letter cards or tiles, cut out cards, and you are good to go! 

Students choose a card, make the word on the card, spin the spinner, and make a new word.  They can record the new words they make on their own pot of gold recording sheet.

Click here to download Pot of Words.

I also included a recording sheet.

George Washington Portraits

I'm going in late today after an appointment.  I just couldn't wait to post our George Washington chalk portraits.  I stole this idea from one of our Art teachers because it was way too CUTE to pass up.  It was actually super easy too!   We all LOVED our first experience with chalk!

We started with a picture of a portrait of George Washington, added colored chalk, and WA LAA!!

This was my sample to demonstrate how to draw a portrait!

These were done by my budding artists!

 

Here's a Pot of Gold

This is a game I created last year to practice counting money.  We will be using it again next week.  Just thought I would share!

Click here to download Pot of Gold.

Things That are Green

We play a lot of Bingo in my class. I create Bingo games for lots of language arts skills. It is a great way to increase word recognition and vocabulary.  We use cereal for markers on our cards to cover the spaces. At the end of the game, we eat our game markers and that way everyone is a winner! I created this new Bingo game just for St. Patrick's Day.

Click here to download Things That are Green Bingo Game.

Click here to download the Calling Cards for the Bingo game.

My Favorite Places...

I was taking pictures around school today and decided to take some in my own room and share them with you.  These are some of my favorite places in my classroom.  The first place is the back wall with our Book Nook in the middle.  The Book Nook is the tall bookcase where we store out book boxes for independent reading. On each side of that I have several bookcases that contain all my books. My books are sorted by themes.  On the wall behind is my growing word wall.

The next place is my bookcase by the door that contains books that are sorted by DRA levels.  Students trade out books each day and take them home to read at night for homework.  Each student has a star on their basket.  They all know their reading level and know the year end goal.  As they progress through the levels, they move their star.

Another favorite place is my calendar area.  My students sit on the carpet in front of the board each morning as we work our way across the board.  I include math and phonic/language skills each day in our calendar morning routine.  The bookcases at the bottom of the board contain books that go with the current theme we are working with.

THANKS for letting me share my classroom!

Just in time...

Here's a new Valentine's Day Game. We're practicing adding 3 digit numbers.  I'm trying out a new gameboard this week. We'll be playing tomorrow.  Let me know what you think...

Click here to download the Valentine's Day Game.

Valentine Holders

These are the Valentine holders that we made to collect our Valentines in next week.  We sponge painted the paper plates, stapled them together to make a pocket, and added the other parts. Then we hung them on the side of our desks. I've been making these for years.  Aren't they the cutest bears ever?

Valentine's Math Game

We have been playing an Add Ten game that I found on another GREAT blog.  It's not our usual board game but my students love it!  So I piggybacked off it and made one for "Valentine's Season".  I created it to practice Doubles +1.

All you need is the gameboard, a die, and two color counters.  I used the two-sided foam counters that are in my math manipulative kits.  One side is yellow and the other is red. We play in partners so one person is yellow and the other is red.

Here's how to play....One student rolls the die, doubles the number and adds 1.  Then uses a counter to cover one of those spaces on the game board.  If someone's answer is covered, that person loses the turn. Play continues until all spaces are covered.  Whoever has the most counters on the game board is the winner.  However, everyone wins because they are practicing a skill and don't even know it!

Click here to download this Doubles +1 game.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is fast approaching.  Tomorrow we are painting our bear Valentine holders. We love to paint! I will post pictures when they are completed.  It's also time to send home a list of names for Valentines.  I always have the students do something with the names.  This is the syllable sort we are doing.  The names have been changed to protect the innocent...

Sample Valentine's List Syllable Sort

Click here to dowload a blank Valentine's List Syllable Sort

Compound Words

Here is another compound word game that I created this week. I'm trying out one of the new fonts I got for FREE from  http://www.kevinandamanda.com/fonts/.  If you haven't checked it out yet, you need to.  My students love playing these Roll and Read games!

Click here to download Roll, Read...Keep Game.