October Fun!

Happy fall ya'll!! Mother nature was very punctual this year, because the weather outside feels GREAT! Too bad it won't stay that way for long! In celebration of the first day of my most favorite season, I have some finds and freebies to share with you today!

I've been gearing up to get my class ready for our next unit....Creepy Creatures! Since we can't officially "celebrate" Halloween, I try to find other ways to make the season fun. Throughout the next few weeks, my class and I will be learning ALL about pumpkins, spiders, bats, and owls! 

To prepare myself for one of my most favorite units of the year, I stopped by the Target dollar section and Dollar Tree, and boy did I find some treasures!

As soon as I saw all these creepy creatures, I just knew I had to snag them and find a way to sneak them into my math tubs for next week. I'm currently tying up the loose ends on my newest TPT unit, but until it's ready to be posted, I thought I'd share a few of the math activities with you as freebies.

Both math activities you'll find in this little packet use the manipulatives you see above, or the ones I provided for you to print! Both activities focus on addition {since that's the concept my sweeties are currently studying}. In the first activity, students use the ice cube 10s frame OR the one provided on the paper to make a sum of 10. Students roll the dice, place that many orange (or black) spiders on the 10s frame and then add the other color until they make 10. When finished, the students record their number sentences on the recording sheet. I have provided two different recording sheets for you to use, depending on if you use ice cube trays or the 10s frame provided for you on the page. I have also added some spider manipulatives in case you don't have any of your own!

Here's a look at the recording sheets:

Here's the sheet to use if you don't have ice cube trays of your own:

The next activity I created using the Target Dollar Section stickers (or any creepy creature stickers you can find). Students will place the stickers on the recording sheet and make a matching story problem.

To download your own copies of the activities you see above, just click the picture below!

I hope that these activities help you in your classroom this month!! Please check back soon, as I will be uploading more creepy creatures activities in my newest unit...

Have a great Sunday!

Happy Teaching!!

Let's Catch Up!

Hi, sweet friends! Long time, no see! I am so happy to be back to share a few updates on my classroom  this school year. 

I don't know about you but, back to school was pretty much a whirlwind for me. I traveled to Europe and returned a short 3 days before the kiddos were to arrive { What was I thinking?!}. Before leaving for my trip I had my classroom all ready to go, but when I got back I was offered a new classroom with a Smartboard! So, what's a girl to do?

Naturally, I picked the room with the Smartboard (duh!) and pulled a last minute switch-a-roo....with the help of my loved ones, of course. So tonight I have a few classroom snapshots for you. Unfortunately, I can't say that every.single.thing in my classroom is just how I want it to be, but it's pretty darn close. I feel like I am never 100 percent satisfied no matter what I do, but I gotta tell ya I am really liking the set up so far. I know things will change and be added as the year progresses, but I'm glad to have a good start. 

Am I the only one who feels this way?

As far as classroom decor goes, I typically like warmer color schemes and very little clutter. I am *somewhat* of a  freak for organization and labeling (just don't open my cabinets). That being said, I {shamefully} have not finished labeling everything in my classroom. Thanks to a sweet parent of one of my students, I was able to get this great cubby system to organize all of our math tubs and manipulatives. I actually have two cubbies side by side, with the manipulatives spanning the top 6 cubbies and math/ dessert tubs occupying the bottom two rows. 

Since I teach K/1 gifted, a WHOLE lot of differentiation goes on in my little classroom....which means I also need a WHOLE lot of storage for all these center activities. It took a while, but I finally figured out a way to keep it all straight (for me and the kids). My higher students use the blue baskets as math tubs and my lower students use the green baskets. Of course, no one knows which group they are in, they just know what color math tub they are to use. The dessert tubs are in the purples containers to the right. I keep a folder in each tub with the recording sheets that correspond to each activity. The students know which math tub they are to complete on each day, and they are responsible for getting the necessary supplies from the tubs. I typically make 4 different math tub activities per week for each group of students (that's 8 in all) and I usually set out 3-4 dessert tubs each week.

 Needless to say, my "Sunday Fundays" consist of wine, Breaking Bad, and my laminating machine :)

The top baskets house our extra materials (glue, pencils, scissors, markers, etc.) and I use the three tier paper caddy to hold loose-leaf paper, construction paper, and blank writer's workshop papers. 

On another note, our school-wide back to school theme this year was "Wild Wild West". It was so much fun to get the whole school dressed up and excited to start of the school year! To celebrate the fun, my students and I read How I Spent My Summer Vacation by Mark Teague, wrote about our own summer vacations, and finished up with a cute little cowboy/ cowgirl craftivity. It was a rootin' tootin' good time!

For the faces I simply used paper plates. I made a template for the hat and bandanna that I will be uploading as a freebie in the very near future. 

I can't wait to share more updates on my classroom with you, friends. 

In the mean time, enjoy your week!

 Happy Monday!