Fun Freebie Game!

Hey everyone! The snow and cold continues over here... I.MISS.SUMMER! How about you!?

I wanted to share a fun little freebie game called KABOOM! to play with your little ones! It's great practice for sight words, CVC & CVCe words. I made these phrases and copied them on cardstock. Then laminated them so they would last. Once they were cut out I put them in a colorful cup. I made these specific phrases, but got the idea for this cute game on Teacher Tipster. I obviously made mine into a reading game, and you don't need to put the phrases on the sticks because you will have laminated them! If you'd like to use the game click HERE!

 Let me know how it goes in your classroom! :)

Valentine Math Stations!!!

I don't know about you, but I am SNOWED IN! Looking out the window I feel like I'm in a snow globe! It seems to be cold and snowy everywhere these days! I hope you're staying warm & getting ready for February... Can you believe January is almost over!? Time needs to SLOW.DOWN.
I've been hard at work over here and I am SO excited about my Valentine Math Stations. I've been thinking about them for a few weeks now and I finally finished the stations that I envisioned. There are 10 differentiated stations that can be used over & over again to meet the CCSS! They are fun and have SUPER CUTE clipart from Creative Clips.
I am currently on maternity leave so I am unable to put them to good use right now, but I hope some of you can use them! Stay warm! Click HERE if you're interested!

Force & Motion

Force & Motion is one of my favorite units to teach in science! It is just too.much.fun! Just finished updating a Force & Motion pack that I've used with my second graders! It's very hands-on and then asks the students to respond after completing the activity. This always help them make sense of what they've done. Plus! They are explaining their scientific thoughts in writing!
I set these up in centers when I have parent volunteers to help out. It's a little chaotic, but the kids always have a GREAT time. Otherwise you can do them as whole class but in small groups.They especially like the marshmallow launch. Here's how you can make some launchers!
Just take a paper party cup, cut out the bottom. Then take a balloon and tie the bottom in a not. Now cut off part of the top (rounded part) and you stretch the balloon to fit onto the bottom of the party cup (I used angry bird cups for fun). Tada! Marshmallow launcher! You drop the marshmallow in the cup and pull on the knotted part & release to launch it. I've used big and mini marshmallows for this, but the big marshmallows seem to work better.
For the center put a piece of tape on the floor so they all stand behind it then I put a tape measure (or laminated paper with measurement) down on the floor so they can see the distance they launched easily. I tried to have them measure on their own one year and it just didn't work out very well because some of those marshmallows can really travel! :) They have a lot of fun with this one. I thought you could do this outside as well and then have a big group discussion or write about how the force changed the motion. I hope you have fun with this idea!
If you're interested in some other force & motions centers with response sheets check it out at my TPT store. Do you have any fun force & motion activities? Please share!

Freebie Math Station with Cookies!

Hey all! I have been hard at work on my activities! I just started updating my activities so I could share them with people and I really hope you find it useful. It's a really fun math station that can be done over and over. The task cards are open ended so the students can make the practice different each time! It's also set up so a student can work at his/her own level. Plus it's hands-on! My kids loved this. You need these cards, cookie sheets (I got mine really cheap from one of my favorite places the Dollar Tree), and magnetic numbers and symbols. I know Learning Resources sells a set of numbers with symbols.
The pic below was taken before I had the cute cookie themed cards but you can at least see the basic  idea from the pic. Then you can check out my product HERE! If you aren't registered with TPT then you can download the activity HERE. Let me know how it goes when you use it! :)

Student Direction Sheet Above & Task Cards Below Clipart by Creative Clips

I Have a Blog!?

For the past year I've thought to myself, "Hey, it would be neat to have a blog." After seeing all the FABULOUS teacher blogs out there I then thought, "These blogs are AMAZING! Theses teachers are AWESOME! I wonder if I could be that awesome too..."

More months passed and that little thought kept popping back up in my mind... "Could I write a blog and try & sell the activities I create on TPT?"

So I started to look into it, and there are A TON of helpful people out there including my sweet friend Erin at mommymcblog.com, but the more I read the more confused I became. Who knew there were so many clipart rules, and license requirements. 

Cue nail biting, deep, nervous thoughts, and new respect for those teachers already doing this...

Then 2014 came around and I thought, "What's the worst that could happen?"

 Cue thoughts abut copyright, use of clipart, finding time to post, tech issues etc...

But the new year is a time to try to something new so I took the plunge and here I am with a  blog all my own. I plan to put the activities I complete on here and some fun adventures that I have with my second graders. So I hope you'll come back and read about my teaching adventures.

Until next time...

~Kelly