Happy New Year! 
Let's get the New Year started with a FREEBIE!

These daily math, literacy, and writing activity sheets were made, with the common core standards in mind, to be independent practice sheets for students to do as morning work, homework, at a center, or for use in any other way you would see fit!
If you like it, you might be interested in the full pack, which includes enough pages for the entire month of January! Each week follows the same format so that students can work independently after the first day of instruction.

This resource is also available in a Common Curriculum Everyday Bundle.

Hoping 2016 brings amazing things your way!
-Til next time
         

Happy New Year!
Did you make a resolution? I did - My goal is to blog more often this year. In fact, I already have a ton of exciting things already in the works! 

Well, as it's almost time for school to start back, I wanted to share this New Years activity pack with you. 
It's packed full of tons of New Years fun!
Here's what's included:
-New Years Emergent Reader 
with Resolutions Writing Prompt
-2 Beginning Sound Activity Pages
-2 Short Vowels Activity Pages
-2 End Sounds Activity Pages
-County by 2s
-2 Rhyming Sounds Pages
-Measuring (Tallest)
-Color Words Activity
-Missing Numbers
-Syllable Practice
-3 Piece Cut/Paste Puzzles
-Tens Frames Practice
What's YOUR New Years resolution? I'd love to hear it!

-Til next time
       

It's Polar Habitat time! 
One of my favorite themes to incorporate in the classroom.
To get you started, I have this FREE quick-print Polar themed Color-by-Number just for you!
There's also information inside the download about how you can get your hands on even MORE Polar Habitat fun.

Need more FREE resources? How about these Penguin Poetry pages...

What else can you do to bring your Polar Unit to life?
Do you need more art ideas?
This Polar Bear Print is a favorite of mine, 

Or what about these cute egg carton penguins from KiwiCrate...
Cute, Cute, Cute!

Don't forget fun games for your classroom:
I ordered this game from MPMSchoolSupplies.com to go along with our Polar Animals unit. This game offers a fun way for students to develop logical thinking skills and spatial reasoning abilities. Plus, let's admit it, it's just downright adorable! 

The back of the box gives an example of what the game and pieces looks like: 

The blue tray was quite a bit smaller than I was expecting, but then I realized that if it were larger, then the pieces would have to be larger and that might make it more difficult for students to use.

Five penguin ice floes are included of various shapes. The penguins slide up and down on the pieces, causing the pieces to take a new form. This alone take the game to a whole new level!

Did I mention already how CUTE the penguins are? Ok, just checking!

 A Challenge Book is included for kids to use. It offers Starter, Junior, Expert, and Master challenges. As well as...answer keys! (Phew, thank goodness, haha!)

Students must work to put the penguins in the matching places on the blue game tray.

Directions are included in the front inside cover of the Challenge Book:

This is what Starter challenges looks like:

Here are some Junior challenges:

And a sample of Expert challenges:

And finally, some of the Master challenges:

Thank goodness for Answer Keys! {wink!}

 My kids wanted to instantly start with the Master challenges, but quickly learned they needed to start with the Starter ones first. This is my son, who is going into 2nd grade, attempting to solve some of the Starter challenges. He didn't realize at first that the penguin his right hand is touching, slides up and down the ice floe, creating a new shape for the piece.

 It took him a good fifteen minutes before figuring out the first Starter challenge! Even my husband took a stab at helping him out. (Were we just making this more complicated than it needed to be? Or do we as a family just need more practice on our logical thinking skills, lol!)

I loved watching him think as he worked. It's actually a lot harder than you may think! Take a try yourself, you might be surprised!

I very highly recommend this game! It's a ton of fun and will be a great surprise to pull out during our Polar Animals unit. I'm thinking the kids can do it at indoor recess as well.

You can find Penguins on Ice and other games like it under the Critical Thinking Games tab at MPM School Supplies.



Wishing you tons of Polar Winter Fun!
~Til next time
           

Calling all Illinois Kinder Teachers! 
I'll be presenting a session at the SDE December conference...will you be there? 
I'd love to know ahead of time if you're planning on being there so that we can meet! 
As you can see, I'll be giving a presentation on enhancing science instruction in your classroom. My focus or goal is to equip you with resources that will help you feel confident  and excited about teaching the NGSS standard concepts...giving you an opportunity to relax and have just as much fun with the activities as your students are!

So let me know if you plan on being there. I look forward to meeting some new Kinder-teaching friends!

Til next time,
   

Get ready for Halloween and nocturnal animals with bat themed activities for preschool, kindergarten, and first grade kids! A free printable is included! You'll find book suggestions, math and literacy resources. Crafts, and videos, and more! #halloween #halloweencrafts #halloweenactivities #nocturnalanimals #bats #kindergarten #firstgrade #preschool #holiday #literacy
Every time I think of bats,
I think of an old Sesame Street clip
that had the Count singing
about bats.
Know which one I'm talking about?
Ha! And now YOU are going to be singing it for the rest of the day!

Here are some Bat related activities for you littles this week. Use them in the classroom, or send them home for them to enjoy on Saturday (Halloween) morning.
This set of emergent readers... 
...includes 3 different levels so that you can differentiate with your littles.
Get ready for Halloween and nocturnal animals with bat themed activities for preschool, kindergarten, and first grade kids! A free printable is included! You'll find book suggestions, math and literacy resources. Crafts, and videos, and more! #halloween #halloweencrafts #halloweenactivities #nocturnalanimals #bats #kindergarten #firstgrade #preschool #holiday #literacy
Check out some of the pages included in this resource:


If you're wanting some quick, simple crafts to do, here are two that don't require too many extra supplies. They are quick and easy for a last minute center or party idea.
My kids had a blast putting these together and hanging them around the room.
Get ready for Halloween and nocturnal animals with bat themed activities for preschool, kindergarten, and first grade kids! A free printable is included! You'll find book suggestions, math and literacy resources. Crafts, and videos, and more! #halloween #halloweencrafts #halloweenactivities #nocturnalanimals #bats #kindergarten #firstgrade #preschool #holiday #literacy
If you're looking for a quick break to clean up from a craft or center time, put on this quick informational video about bats. I know it says Discovery Girls...but if you don't mention it, I guarantee your boys will be so interested that they won't even notice...or mind! 

The next activity is a FREEBIE and includes five sample sheets of a larger resource. The reason I'm adding it in with bat resources is that some of the pages have bat graphics on them. 
Get ready for Halloween and nocturnal animals with bat themed activities for preschool, kindergarten, and first grade kids! A free printable is included! You'll find book suggestions, math and literacy resources. Crafts, and videos, and more! #halloween #halloweencrafts #halloweenactivities #nocturnalanimals #bats #kindergarten #firstgrade #preschool #holiday #literacy
So you can be reviewing various math and reading concepts, while still sticking to your bats theme!

These are some of my favorite fictional books about bats. Get ready for Halloween and nocturnal animals with bat themed activities for preschool, kindergarten, and first grade kids! A free printable is included! You'll find book suggestions, math and literacy resources. Crafts, and videos, and more! #halloween #halloweencrafts #halloweenactivities #nocturnalanimals #bats #kindergarten #firstgrade #preschool #holiday #literacy
There are some great resources that go with the Swallowing Bat Lady story. I posted about them a few Halloweens agos. You can read about it here. There are some additional bat crafts, snacks, and activities on that post as well!


Til next time,

Thanksgiving is almost here! This quick print pack of activities for preschool, kindergarten, or first grade kids is a perfect addition to the other ideas, crafts, and resources you have planned for your students. Practice math, phonics, & literacy. #thanksgiving #printables #activities #kindergarten #math #literacy #phonics #preschool #turkey #pilgrims
November is almost upon us! 
I know, I know...Halloween is still a few days away...
but I'm thinking ahead on your behalf 
(and maybe I could sense your 
Friday-Halloween Party-Full Moon 
anxiety from here).

I've put together some activities that
will have you relaxing (and recouping?) this weekend instead of fretting about the new week.

This November Quick Prints pack... 
Thanksgiving is almost here! This quick print pack of activities for preschool, kindergarten, or first grade kids is a perfect addition to the other ideas, crafts, and resources you have planned for your students. Practice math, phonics, & literacy. #thanksgiving #printables #activities #kindergarten #math #literacy #phonics #preschool #turkey #pilgrims
...has 45 print outs for you to use in centers, as morning work, homework or even for your sub tub. It includes a wide variety of activities including skip counting, measuring, rhyming, short vowel practice, patterns, ABC order, and so much more. 

Here are a few thumbnails from this pack: 


Another favorite for this month is the
It's packed with 25 Common Core aligned math and literacy practice. They are set up so that you can review/teach/go over the skills on Monday, and the students will then be able to work independently Tuesday-Friday. 

Here are a few thumbnails from this pack:



You can get BOTH of these sets combined in one large DOUBLE PACK for a discounted price.

Print these out this week...before the Halloween party...so that your mind can sigh come Friday afternoon, knowing that you have a wealth of activities for the kids to do come November. 

~Til next time


I've got something up my sleeve...
{wink}
Something just for you!

But to find out what the surprise is, you'll have to download this new, fun, FREE, Color-by-Number activity to use with your winter or Polar habitat theme. 
The surprise is revealed in the download!

As I always tell my kiddos, "Sneaky, sneaky, Mrs. Castle!
Gotta keep you on your toes!"


~Til next time

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