Reborn Activity and You CAN Win It!

TGIS. . . . yup that's my new mantra. Can you figure it out?

Thank God It's Summer.

I feel so FREE!

I can now create and recreate as I feel like it. I know that time flies and I don't want to feel pressured at the end of the summer to do something, I have started already to get cracking!

My time is FREE now!

I (like many of you) have found some of my original projects are lacking luster and pizazz! So what could be more fun than to fancy them up! Today I'm going to highlight one of my first projects. It's still an important one, but I've changed the backgrounds and added another element to the activity.

This is a practice on adding with and without regrouping. 

The coolish clipart is from Corinna Gandara at Surfing Through Second. It's called All American Reds (even though it's the yellow stars!) And it's a free download, so git cher butt over there to pick this up. Don't forget to leave her some lovin' since she is giving this to you for free!

The colorful stars are from Creative Clips at the Creative Chalkboard. The striped stars are free also. The link for the polka dotted stars is here and they are free too. Don't you just love all these cute graphics. I am a big fan of both of these girls. I hope you are too and if you're not, check them out and you just may become one of their followers too. And as always if you grab something from them, don't forget to leave some feedback. 

(It's amazing the number of people who will download something for free and not leave one little word. As a seller we can see how many downloads we have, plus how many have left comments. I see it this way.... they gave it to me for free, the least I can do is say how much I like it!)

If you would like to have this set of Addition cards, please leave me your email address and tell me if you are followers of either of these girls, or both. On Tuesday I will pick two random names to award these to for free! I see a theme going on here. . . FREE!

Patty

Labor Day Monarch Search! And Math Game

How is your Labor day going? If you are sitting at your computer, then maybe it isn't going so well!! Get away from here!
No, No NO! Don't go. . .read my blog then you can go!

Someone recently asked what I did on my Labor Day weekend. It usually revolves around getting the last minute things ready for school.

But the most important thing that has happened every year for the last few years is that I collect Monarch caterpillars. In Michigan you can find them all summer long eating on Milk Weed plants. But I wait until this weekend and make a trip back to my mom and dad's farm. They live in a little town called Lennon near Flint, and have a railroad tracks behind their farm. It's loaded with milk weed plants. I take my nieces with me and teach them how to search gently for these critters and how to stay away from the poison ivy!

It wasn't long before we found this guy!

We kept looking and found 6 total! It was a very exciting search!

Life cycles used to be a 2nd grade objective, but now it belongs to 1st. This is one activity I hated to give up! I decided that if I could get my specimens for free, then I could find some time to do a review for these 2nd graders. They (and me too!) find it so interesting to watch the whole process.

Here's some more.

Do you know what that is in the bottom of the jar? Yup! It's poop! Caterpillar poop has a special name. . . it's called Frass! And take one guess as to what color it is?  . . . .

Do you give up?

It's green! Yes it is! Just smear it on paper and you'll see. .  Then go wash your hands!

The ONLY thing that monarch caterpillars eat is milkweed and it's only green, so their poop is only green! This is a great fact that the kids love to remember and share with their families. . .

especially at the dinner table!!!

This little guy died. . . so now I have only 5.

I put this one in my hand so I could move him/her onto some fresh milkweed, and he goes into this fetal position to play dead. . . . but wait!!!

 In just a few seconds, he starts moving around again. . . searching for more green stuff!

Look at the holes in the leaves where they have been eating. Hungry Howies!

This will be their home for the next couple weeks.

I cover the jar with some left over tulle from my kids' weddings and wa la!

We are set to watch them change!

My kids can use this as an intro to our science program, as writing topics, as discussion topics, as measuring their growth, and also as watching them very closely!

Now if you are still with me. . . I have to share something I grabbed from Live Laugh and Love to Learn. 

I saw on her blog a game similar to Boggle, but using numbers instead. If you click on this link and scroll down near the bottom you'll see her game called Add It Up.

I created my own Add It Up game and this is what it looks like.

I'm in the process of making a recording sheet for them to put their problems of adding two or three numbers, but I'm having trouble with excel! Stay tuned. When I get it to work, I'll repost this.

I used my Cricut to make the letters and numbers for this.

 I put them up with clear push pins so I can change them up from time to time.

My kids will use this board when they give those dreaded words we all hear:

 "I'm done! What can I do now?"

I also made a Boggle Board with letters.

I used our Ellison die cut Lollipop letters for the letters and my Cricut for the title.

I'm so excited to have this back up for that Just In Case time!

Ok, now, I'm going to go get some work done on my classroom. . . See ya!

And for all my Michigan friends and others who will see their kids for the first time tomorrow, I wish you a wonderful year with lots of fun while growing and the ability to not let the beauricratic red tape get in your way of doing what you know is best!

Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate everyone who comes to visit. Leave me a message and I'll be sure to check out your blog too!

Patty