Ss is for Snowman

This theme was so much fun!  Lots of snowman themed activities and the letter s.  Here's a look at what we did:

Snowman Color Sort

For this snowman color sort activity we used pompoms, a clothes pin, a tea strainer spoon and the snowman color sorting mat (included in the download below).  I gave Isla both a clothes pin and a tea strainer spoon for picking up the pompoms and she mostly used the spoon.  I liked that both options were good for building fine motor skills, and using them made it more fun!  She practiced naming each color and played this for quite a while! 

Dot the Letter Ss

Once again Isla LOVED dotting the letters!  This activity was great for recognizing the letters and practicing saying the letter's sound.  "When you find an s, say it's sound!"   

Stamp the Letter

I looked ALL OVER for my snowflake stamp, and it's still nowhere to be found :(.  Any who, Isla didn't notice or care what the stamp was.  She was just happy to stamp!  

Q-tip Painting the Letter S

For this we used washable Crayola paint.  She loved it!  This was the first time she ever really got to paint.  The idea of painting the letters was abandoned after about 8 seconds, but she had a great time!

Snowman Sensory Play

When I found this idea on Pinterest I thought,  'How PERFECT!  Isla will love it!  It will be so fun!'.  So... you see the picture above?  That's as much that little had ever touched the "snow".  She absolutely refused to give it a go.  I had to really convince her to even do that much, lol!  But if you're interested in giving it a try, you can check out the link and how to HERE.  

Snowman Puzzles

Isla had a fun time putting these puzzles together.  I've included two more (not pictured) in this week's Ss is for Snowman FREEBIE.  You can download all of the freebies you see in the pictures above by clicking HERE.  The fun didn't stop there though, check out our snowman snacks and meals below!

Snowman Snack

I made this snack using banana for the bodies, pretzels for the arms, raisins for the eyes and buttons, and carrots for the noses.  

Snowman Pizza

Just looking at this pizza makes me want another one!  I rolled out a can of crescent rolls and cut out the snowman shape (adding the cut off pieces back into the snowman).  Then I spread tomato sauce all over and sprinkled it with Italian seasoning.  Next I added shredded mozzarella cheese.  I used olives for the eyes, mouth and buttons.  The nose and scarf are orange, yellow and red bell peppers.  Super yummy!

Snowman Pancakes

Our week wouldn't have been complete without these snowman pancakes.  I free handed the snowman shape on the griddle.  The eyes, mouth and buttons are raisins.  The nose is a slice of strawberry.  The snow is banana and the scarf is a slice of bacon.  I made the bacon bend like a scarf while it was fresh out of the oven and pliable.  We topped this off with some organic maple syrup from Trader Joe's.  I don't know about you, but using organic maple syrup somehow made me feel much better about the sugar that's in it! Haha!  I've seen lots of snowman pancakes that use whipped cream and chocolate chips (which sounds delish!), but I wanted to do a version with less sugar.   

I hope these ideas and printables will help you in your home or classroom.  Do you have any snowman activities you like to do with toddlers?  I'd love to hear about it! 

     

M is for Martin

Today I was searching for my snowflake stamp when I found my beloved MLK Jr. stamp!  It HAD to be used today.  So I made this little MLK Jr. themed letter m page for my daughter.  We are all about learning the alphabet these days!  Hearing her say "Martin! /m/-/m/-/m/!" totally melted my heart.  She loved stamping Martins inside of the m.  If you don't have a stamp like this, (because really, how many people have MLK Jr. stamps lying around?)I would use scrap pieces of paper and glue them onto the m.  You could also pick a color to reinforce your color of the week.  You can grab this letter m freebie by clicking HERE.    

Graphics from Creative Clips and A Sketchy Guy.

We also talked about who Dr. King was and read the book Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport.  I love this book because it has a simple message and nice illustrations.  I paraphrased the book for my daughter and she enjoyed it! 

If you are a K-2 teacher you may also like my Martin Luther King Jr. NO PREP Pack.  You can find this in my TpT store by clicking HERE.

Polar Animals and the Letter Ii

With the start of the new year, I made a promise to myself that I would get more organized about the educational (and fun!) activities that I do with my daughter every week.  AND I'm going to blog about it!  I'm all about themes, and because it's January I decided to start with polar animals.  It's always been one of my favorite units to teach my students about!  I also decided to focus on one letter a week.  My daughter's name is Isla, so we started with the letter Ii.

This was our first attempt at using Do-A-Dot markers.  It was a BIG hit!  She loved finding all of the letters in the igloo.  Each time she did a dot I prompted her to say the sound for i.  You can download this page and a few others we did this week by clicking HERE. (We also did the included penguin page and polar bear puzzles, but I forgot to take pictures of those in action.  I laminated both of those pages and printed the polar bear puzzles on card stock for durability.)

This is one of the other letter i pages I made.  I laminated it so we could use it over and over again.  The markers we used are Crayola Washable Dry Erase Markers.  They aren't stinky like Expo markers and they are WASHABLE!  I modeled how to write the capital and lowercase i, then let her practice on her own - she felt like such a big girl :).  This was a quick activity but she asked to do it every day!

Penguin clip art from Creative Clips,

I made this color sorting game with things I had around the house.  The wood baskets are from a Melissa and Doug play food set my daughter got for Christmas.  I'm so glad I didn't toss them!  The blocks are a Melissa and Doug Wooden Blocks set.  I printed out the penguins(sticking with the polar animals theme), laminated them and taped them to the baskets.  This is a game I kept out all week and she kept going back to it.  I also had her practice naming the colors and shapes as she sorted them.

This idea came from No Time for Flash Cards and I couldn't wait to try it.  It was so easy to prep!  I used a blue paper bin from the Target Dollar Spot.  I filled the bin with a few inches of water and then put a small bowl in it(for the ocean) and filled the bowl with potatoes so it wouldn't float.  Then I placed it in the freezer overnight.  When I took it out the next day the bowl was stuck in the ice, so I filled the bowl with some lukewarm water and let it sit for a few minutes until the ice around it melted enough for the bowl to come out.  I added a little water to the ocean for the animals to swim in.  The ocean was her favorite part of the activity.  All of the animals went swimming!  She also liked breaking off small pieces of ice as they melted away from the ocean and eating it(so I'm really glad I cleaned the bin before hand!).  We added a couple ice cubes for "ice bergs" and she loved that as well.  You can see in one corner of the bin the ice was raised and the animals were able to slide down it.  I don't know how that happened or I would recreate it because she also had a lot of fun with that part.  We talked about the names of the animals and their colors, how some animals live on land and others in the water,  and talked about cold vs. hot.  The animals are from the Toob Penguins and Artic sets(which are crazy expensive on Amazon today so I didn't include a link).  Did you know they sell Toob Animals at Michaels Craft Stores?  You can use a coupon and get them 40-50% off!  

SNACKS.  So while I was searching Pinterest for polar animal ideas, I came across these cute snack ideas.  How could I resist?  The polar bears were SO easy and quick to make - she loved them!  The penguin sandwich (from Disney) took more time, but when my daughter saw her lunch she GAVE IT A HUG! Literally, she hugged her plate - lol!  Made the time it took to make it all worth it.  The penguin cup was a gift from her aunt last year(from Target).

That's a little bit about our week.  I took more pictures of our letter Ii activities, but can't find them so I will be better about where I put them for my next post!  It you'd like to see more polar animal ideas you can check out my January Pinterest board by clicking HERE.

Coming up next....the letter s, as in s is for snowman!  Check back next week to read all about it!



   
 
  

Presidents Day FREEBIE

Just a quick post to share this George and Barack freebie with you.  Click on the picture to download!

 Clip art from Pink Cat Studio, KPM Doodles and Scrappin Doodles.

BTW If you are still prepping for Valentine's Day, you should check out my long vowel review activity pack!

Groundhog Day Songs FREEBIE

It's almost Groundhog Day!  I've put together some cute Groundhog Day songs I've enjoyed teaching my students over the years and wanted to share them with you.  Each song is in color and black/white.  I figured you can use the color versions for projecting on an interactive whiteboard and the black/white versions for students to have their own copy.  Click on the picture below to grab them! Thanks for stopping by!!!

End of Year Autograph FREEBIE

Here is a fun and EASY activity and keepsake I wanted to share with you.  A dear teacher friend introduced me to this activity years ago.  The kids love it!  Here's how it goes:
1. Have a 3x5 class photo you've taken during the year printed for each student.  I go to Walmart and it's only a few dollars.
2. Print a class set of this freebie and give each student a copy to put on their desk.
3. Students walk around from desk to desk with their favorite colored crayon or marker and autograph each paper.  Tell the students not to write in the middle rectangle because a picture will go there and their name will be covered if they do (There is ALWAYS someone who does this despite the warning! Grrrr).
4. Collect the papers, glue picture in the middle(or have students glue it), laminate and give back to students as a special keepsake.
That's it!

I have added pages for K-5. Click on the picture to download!

I've had students come back years later and show me they still have these! Enjoy and have a great rest of the school year :)
 

A School Secretary FREEBIE

Do you love your school secretary? I do!  She is the BEST.  A few weeks ago I got an email request from a teacher who's school secretary is having a baby. She asked if I would mind doing a "Our Secretary is Having a Baby" version of my freebie "My Teacher is Having a Baby".  I'm always happy to fulfill requests and luckily she caught me at the perfect time.  I had checked my email first thing in the morning and was able to whip it up and email it to her before my daughter woke up!  So, I thought there must be other people out there who could also use the secretary version and wanted to share it with you. Click on the picture below to get your copy :).

My Teacher is Having a Baby ~ FREEBIE

A friend told me when you go past your due date and haven't had your baby, it's like this: You wait months and months for Christmas to come, but when it does but you don't get any presents.  She was RIGHT!!!  While I'm sitting at home anxiously awaiting the arrival of our first baby, I put together this little freebie to share with you.  It has fun activities for your class to make predictions about a new addition to your family, and for students to write about how to take care of a baby.  I included versions for families who are adopting (infants and older children).  I hope you can use it or know someone who can.  I can't wait to see what my class has predicted and their advice on how to take care of a baby!

October Ten Frames ~ FREEBIE

I know I should be working on other things....but I'm having so much fun with October things I put together this freebie to share with you.  In math we have been using a lot of ten frames.  I find that if you spice things up even a little bit with something fun (like graphics the kids will love) they have a spiked interest in doing it.  And want to do it over and over again :)  So friends, head on over to my Tpt store for your free download! Please don't forget to leave feedback after your download ~ happy thoughts make my day :)

Click on the picture to get this FREE download!

Easter Bunny Writing

Here is a picture of the chart I made to use with my latest FREEBIE.  Writing About the Easter Bunny on Tpt. I like to use sticky notes with my charts so I can use them again.

Writing About the Easter Bunny FREEBIE

This week my students can't stop talking about the Easter Bunny.  I love hearing all about it! It's so fun!!! So I'm sharing what I used today for students to write their little hearts out - all about the Easter Bunny.  Visit my Tpt store to download! Click HERE

Here are some student samples:

I had students draw a picture of the Easter Bunny to put above their writing.  On the left I plan to add a picture I took of each student today.  I had them wear bunny ears while holding an Easter basket and some carrots.  The pictures are SO CUTE. :)

Alice in Wonderland Math Graphing FREEBIE

Last week the students in our district saw a Children's Musical Performance of Alice in Wonderland put on by Sol Treasures.  All of the students who participated in the play did an AMAZING job!  It was so fun to watch all the familiar faces and former students on stage. To continue the Alice in Wonderland theme (and fun), I created a math graphing activity with Alice in Wonderland characters.  My students had a great time with the activity.  Click on the link below to go to my Tpt store and download - FREE!


Click this link to download FREE Alice in Wonderland Math Graphing Activity

   Here is a student and classroom sample:

My students' favorite part of the activity was gathering their data.  They sure do love to talk :) - with language frames of course!

"Eggcellent" Spring Freebie - by First Upon a Time

Hooray for spring!!! I can't wait to do fun spring time activities this week with my 1st graders.  My friend and colleague Mr. Jones over at First Upon a Time just posted a most "Eggcellent" activity.  

First Upon a TimeClick on the link to visit his blog and follow the link to his Tpt store to download.