Saturday, October 8, 2011

Pumpkin Roll and Trace

So I love Fall...and thought I'd create a simple Fall math center. I don't know about your kiddos, but my kiddos still need TONS of practice with number formation and number identification. At this point, our math tubs have included six-sided dice, but I thought the students would get a kick out of using the dice with numbers up to 20. Here's a Pumpkin Roll and Trace activity with numbers 1-20. We're taking Sydney and Landon to get pumpkins tomorrow so pumpkins have been on my mind! Enjoy your Sunday...it's supposed to be beautiful here!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

I forgot that this was stress-relieving...

Wow! I am finishing my third week back from maternity leave and feel like I can barely catch my breath! Now I know how everyone else has felt since the beginning of the school year...overwhelmed! I am still adjusting to my larger class size and have really struggled to find a behavior system that has been effective. I am beginning the "clip chart" next week from The Polka Dot Patch. I've used a red, yellow, green system in the past, but am excited about the concept of moving up OR down. I'll let you know how it goes! It also involves classroom BINGO where students can earn rewards when everyone is following directions. I use SMART COOKIES right now, but am willing to try one more positive behavior idea!

I have a super simple freebie that I use in my classroom for our Bucket Filler system. When students are caught filling the bucket of someone else (student, teacher, etc.) I fill out this card and put it in our classroom bucket. At the end of each week, I draw some bucket filler cards and let them sit in rocking chairs for the AM or PM. Enjoy! Bucket Filler Cards

Oh and one last random addition...my baby girl turns TWO at the end of this month. Naturally, I was feverishly making her birthday cards today during my conference period- ha! We're doing a dog theme because she LOVES Clifford, Mac, T-Bone, and Cleo and anything puppy-related! So...you know when you have an idea in your mind about how you want something to look?! Well, I had that problem. I came up with a little rhyme and thought I could just add it to a template. But, of course, could not find a template that worked. Enter: DIY Birthday invites. Anywho, I found some scrapbook paper at Meijer last night that I thought could work. I drew a bone and traced it on different colors of plain paper and then added my little "doggy" rhyme! Voila! Birthday invites! There are 4 different versions...pics aren't the greatest because I took them with my phone. I'm happy with how they turned out for now though! Have a SUPER weekend everyone!