Pumpkin Party- Success!!!

Our Pumpkin Party was a HUGE success today thanks to some AMAZING volunteers!!!!

The kids moved around to six stations throughout the afternoon and had a BLAST! 

Here they are...

Estimation Station 

Pumpkin Measurement 

Odd or Even Seeds

Make 20 card game

Sink or Float

Look at how excited they are!!!! They were so surprised the pumpkin floated!!!

and Pumpkin Bowling

You can pick up my Pumpkin Party Pack at TPT here. It's on sale for only $1 until tomorrow! You can always stock up for next year!!! It includes station signs, directions to each activity (for the kids or volunteers), and recording sheets for each activity! 

I would also LOVE to give it away to three of my wonderful bloggy friends! Just leave me a comment and let me know what you're going to be for Halloween. :) I will choose three friends in the morning with the random number generator! 

Happy Halloween and best of luck with your kiddies ninjas and witches tomorrow!  

And my thoughts are with all of those on the east coast...wishing that you and your families are safe and sound after Sandy!

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Get Your Pumpkin Party On!

Happy weekend everyone!!!!!

Abby is getting ready for our Pumpkin Party!!!

My Pumpkin Party Pack is on sale for $1!!!! If you're still trying to plan how to keep your sugar-crazed, custume wearing, much too energetic kiddos busy a celebration for next week, hop on over and check it out!!!! You can read more about it (and pick up a freebie!) HERE! 

Have a wonderful weekend!!!! Yipeeeee!!!! 

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Going Batty and a Freebie!!!

I always feel a little batty on Mondays...so today was a PERFECT day to start our unit on bats!

When the kids came into the classroom this morning, they each had one of these in their table caddy...

There was information on the back of each card about their type of bat, and they were the "experts" today on their species of bat.

Tomorrow I'll rotate the bats so all of the tables will get a chance to be experts on each type of bat... Although this one did have one of my little friends {almost} crying.... 

I know, scary, right...? :-/ I may have to take that one out of the mix...Wasn't really thinking with that one...

And, to get them really hyped up this morning, Party City was having a sale on balloons, so there were bat balloons all over our classroom....

(Not so educational, but really fun :) 

We also used WallWisher this afternoon to start a KWL-ish thingy. Have you used WallWisher???!!! I wanted to know what they know about bats.... 

To make this a little easier, we used our iPads and a QR code to get us to our Wall (which eliminated my little ones having to type in the URL to get them to WallWisher and saved me a big old headache...) 

Once they got there, they posted everything they know about bats on the "wall" with "stickies". 

Very interesting, and not so bad for our first time!

(This was our first time using WallWisher, and it was a little if-y at first, but we finally got the hang of it. But just for the record, there were tears and lots of frustration while we were learning how to make this work for us...).

At our end of the day circle, we played I Have, Who Has with "bossy e" words (that's our spelling focus this week). You can click the picture to grab it!!!

Hope you had a batty day! (But not too batty!!!) :) 

I'll be back soon to share more about our bat unit!!!!

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FREE Apps for Word Work & A Freebie

Happy weekend everyone!!!! I love the weekends!!!! Why do they go soooo fast, though!?!?!

In my class we've been working on a (modified) version of Daily 5 (and I'll post more about how it's working out later)! I wanted to share some Word Work apps with you that can be used if you have a device, or your kiddos have them! And they're all free! Just click the pictures to take you to the app!

Build a Word Express

This app allows kids to create simple words, all within the same word family. I like it because it uses sounds boxes according to sounds, not letters, it sounds out the words as you build them, differentiates between vowels, and consonants, and gives immediate feedback. It has three modes: learn, practice, and test. 

Spelling City

We all know and love Spelling City! And if you have a subscription, you can create your own word lists on here for your kiddos. Without a subscription, there are some various word lists that the kids can use that are pretty good! There are six different modes on this app: Spelling Test, HangMouse, Teach Me, Match It Sentences, WhichWord Sentences?, and Sentence Unscramble. 

Hooked on Words

This is just like Boggle! Find and make words! It's super fun!!!

Chicktionary 

Kids are given a set of letters, and have to see how many words they can make out of those letters. And there's one word that can be made using all of the letters. (It reminds me of Making Words!) 

Simplex Spelling 

This app gives kids practice spelling words (again, with the paid version you can import your own word lists for the kids). It reads a word, has the kid spell it, and uses sound boxes for "hints". I like it because it gives immediate feedback and gives lots of support. 

I'm loving using our iPads because it's SO much less prep for me!!! AND less mess for the kiddies!!! A win-win! :)

You can download a free Word Work recording sheet by clicking the picture below. I try to hold the kids accountable by having them complete something, or even at least having them fill out their "favorite" word they created or worked on during this station. 

I think soon I am going to teach them how to take a screen shot of their work on their iPad, then email it to me or put it in their Dropbox. That way, I'll know what they were working on, it holds them accountable, and it eliminates the need for them to write words on their piece of paper and just focuses them to work with words the entire time! :) 

All of these apps I mentioned can be upgraded for $$$, but the free ones are working for us right now! Are there any word work apps you use in your classroom??? Please share! :-)

Also, if you're planning on a having a Halloween party, or even a Fall celebration, in your class, head on over to check out my Pumpkin Party Pack here!!!

Happy weekend!!! 

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Pumpkin Party Pack & A Freebie

Happy Sunday everyone!

I am so excited to share my new unit with you! Check it out!!!

Click the picture to take you to TPT! 

I wanted to plan a "Pumpkin Party" for my class...and I searched high and low for recording sheets to go with all of the fun pumpkin activities you can do...

Pumpkin Measurement

Pumpkin Bowling 

Pumpkin Estimation Station

Sink or Float?

Make 20 game

and Odd or Even Seeds? 

But I couldn't find any. So I created them. :-) The more I worked on this project the more excited I became! All of the activities are aligned with 2nd grade Common Core math standards. And even though they're aligned with 2nd grade, they could easily be adapted to fit any grade level. 

I'm planning on spending an afternoon allowing the kids to move from station to station in small groups of 4-5 kids. I am hoping to get a parent volunteer to help at each station to explain directions, keep kids on track, and answer questions.

The pack includes a label for each station, directions for students and/or volunteers, a list of materials for each activity, recording sheets for each activity in color, gray scale, and black & white (you choose!), a parent volunteer request form, and a list of all of the Common Core standards that are addressed with each activity. 

Here is the Make 20 game for you as a freebie! Just click the picture! :-) 

Have a wonderful Sunday!!!

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October Currently

Happy October!!!

Here's what I'm up to these days..

As always, thank you for hosting, Farley!!!

I need to get back into the swing of teaching and blogging! I haven't been so good lately...  

I'll be back soon with some fun Halloween ideas. :-) 

Hope you all are doing great and enjoying your weekend!!!!!!

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Pencils Shmencils

So sorry I've been M.I.A. lately!!! Dealing with some stuff...you know the deal. :-)

I wanted to share one of the smartest things I've done this year.... to save me some serious wasted time!!!!

I HATE sharpening pencils. I love my new Classroom Friendly Pencil Sharpener, but hate taking the time to stand there and sharpen when I have a bazillion other things I should be doing; like going home to put on my jammies grading papers...

So... I had parents sign up to take home pencils. I sell them on the fact that it's something the kids can do to learn responsibility! And it keeps their kids busy for 20 minutes while they watch Dancing with the Stars...! 

They sign up for one night per week, and I send home the pencils and a pencil sharpener (NOT my new Classroom Friendly one!!! Because nobody gets to touch that except me!!!) 

Then the kids come in the morning with a big smile and all of the sharpened pencils and I didn't waste ANY time! 

You can use this form if you'd like! 

Super cute frame by Teaching in a Small Town

And don't worry...the red squiggly lines aren't on the Google Doc!!!

Maybe this can help you...?
How do keep pencils sharpened in your classroom???

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