Help prevent the Summer Slide

Summer is right around the corner, its time to come up with a game plan before those kids are ruling the roost and calling all the shots this summer. Its hard to compete with electronics and video games when it comes to summer time, but if you want to prevent the dreaded summer slide you need to do a little skills review this summer. This summer beat those boredom blues with some fun math activities your kids are sure to love.

0

Halloween Math games

I hit the jackpot in my Target dollar section this month. Such cute Halloween items, I just had to create some math fun with all of this cuteness. Here are a couple of easy to prepare math games you can use with your students. I adapted them for multiplication but you could easily do addition, subtraction or whatever skill your students might need to review.

0

Go buggy for Math this summer!

Go buggy for math this summer with some quick math review. I found these paint chip strips at Oriental Trading. They are so versatile and you get a ton in the box. They make the best flash cards, number practice, fact family practice the possibilities are endless.

Celebrate Spring with the Very Hungry Caterpillar

Looking for some activities that correspond with Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar, well look no further we have a little bit of everything for you. We have rounded up some great classroom ideas for you! To see more please check out our Pinterest Board.

 1. Who doesn't love recycled art? These egg carton caterpillars are adorable! This would make a good center station or Friday craft project. Pair with a  writing activity on adjectives and have students write down 4 sentences that incorporate words that describe their caterpillar.

2.Eric Carle's Party Cups are adorable! Fill hem up with some fruity Trix cereal (the kind in fruit shapes) and this becomes a great counting/graphing/sorting activity

3. Create a Rainbow sensory station  this is a great addition to any primary classroom, hide items from the book like a lollipop (plastic of course) a watermelon slice, a butterfly...send kids on a sensory scavenger hunt. Hide letters in the rice and provide students with the vocabulary cards from the Hungry Caterpillar Kit and try to find the letters to spell the words.

4. Butterfly snacks...a great way to offer a healthy treat in a creative way, just add your favorite healthy snack from the story ( apples, strawberries etc) into a ziploc bag, attach a clothespin and twist colorful pipe cleaners around the top for antennae.

 5.Caterpillar cupcakes, Have students make these using rolled fondant ( you can purchase this already made at walmart, add a little food coloring (gel) to color and have them wear gloves to roll their segments of the hungry caterpillar, slightly wet the ends of the fondant to get them to connect together. Sprinkles are great for the antennae and large circular candy dots are perfect for the eyes

6. Celebrate your teacher with a teacher appreciation gift. Pair the fruit with a copy of Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar  this will be a tasty treat she will be sure to treasure.

7.Balloon Print Caterpillars This would make a great art center, use a balloon dipped in green and red paint to create a Hungry Caterpillar. Add die cuts of the foods from the story to the top ( this will also help teach sequencing for your young ones)...be sure to have a hole punch out so your students can punch a hole in each food before applying it to their paper.

This kit contains colorful resources that bring the Very Hungry Caterpillar to life. Literacy, Writing, Math and Science activities that help teach about the life cycle of a butterfly, setting, character, and sequencing, days of the week, addition, basic writing skills and much much more! Set up centers in seconds and have your students work through activities on the life cycle. Use the bulletin board resources and pennant banners to create a custom display that will have everyone thinking spring!

The pennants included in this kit are great for the classroom There are black and white polka dotted letters that are included, just cut out the letters you need and attach them to your pennants. With so many colors you can really mix and match them to coincide with any theme. You can either attach the letters and laminate as one piece or keep the pennants and letters laminated separately so you can mix and match. These store great in a clear plastic page protector inside a binder. Once assembled just hole punch the corners and run some 1 inch grosgrain ribbon through and you are ready to cheer up your hallway, bulletin boards, wall or door.

We hope you enjoy the FREEBIE below!

This is one of my favorite coloring pages for the story!

Be sure to check out our previous post on The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Kit created with images used from Clipart Corner

0

Monster Valentine's Day Holder

Many of you are looking for ideas for your Valentine's card exchange, So I wanted to share one of my faves. I just love everything about these Monster Valentine's Card holders. They are perfect for a Valentine's Card exchange, and super fun to make. When I taught first grade I struggled to come up with a fun card holder year after year, they either fell off of the back of the chair or the students struggled to fill them and Valentine's ended up everywhere!

This Holder is made from the new Paper towel holders from Kleenex....

If you haven't tried them they are quite fabulous. We found ours at Target and emptied the box (saving them of course to use in our bathroom.)

They are tall and sturdy and the prefect size for a Valentine's Card holder. The opening is great for little hands to drop their Valentines Cards in and they sit perfectly on a desk without falling over or needing to be tied down.

To decorate the one below we used felt pieces from our local craft store.

 I cut the large hearts and my little one glued them down and added the stickers.

For the classroom the expense of felt might not be practical so substituting construction paper is just fine. In our Primary Valentine's Day Activity Pack you can get the templates and directions to make these with your class.

For any of you last minute planners out there (....like me) Take a look at our FREEBIE Candy Hearts Math activity. We hope you enjoy your Valentine's Day with your students!

Click HERE for the FREEBIE

 

0