A Look At Last Week --freebie included!

We had fun last week catching up on Groundhog's Day and making Valentine crafts. I wasn't able to link up for Five For Friday so I thought I'd just share a bit of what we did last week and maybe include a freebie for you! 

We started our week of with Groundhog's day. Unfortunately due to the crazy weather the week before, it was only a short, quick lesson. We made Groundhog's hats and read weekly readers and even watched a video. That was about it. Short and sweet. 

During math, we are working on addition and subtraction and I wanted my kiddos to understand what those terms mean. We've done this quite a bit with cubes or counters but this time I wanted them to use a "mat" to help them "see" that adding means to put together and subtraction means to take away. We also use these boxes to help "decompose" numbers.
 

As you can see in the pictures, I gave each student a work mat. Simple to make, just draw a line down one side and divide it up. 

In the top picture, students were told to put two counters in ONE box and then put two counters in the other box. 

Once I saw that each student did that, then they were to bring the counters in both boxes down, which put them all together in the large rectangle. So we talked about how 2 and 2 make 4 in all. 

We continued with a few more problems.

 We continued with more problems in this picture.


Once we were ready to "break" or decompose numbers. So I had them turn the paper upside down, so the large rectangle was at the top and the two boxes were at the bottom.

They were told to put a certain amount of cubes in the large rectangle...such as 5. Then they had to "break" that 5 apart and put so many cubes in one of the boxes and the rest of the cubes in the other box. So one student might have put 2 in one box and 3 in the other. So 5 can be 2 and 3.

Does this make sense?

I didn't have pictures of them doing this part. 


During the week we also worked in our new small groups. After DIBELS testing was complete, I rearranged my students by their TRC levels. My lowest group is still working on beginning sounds and print concepts. So we had fun practicing beginning sounds with a set of puzzles from my Beginning Sounds Bundle pack.  

And we had fun creating some Valentine crafts. You can grab this freebie over on my FB page under Fan Freebies.

We've been also working on sequencing/retelling stories but this post is long enough so I'll be back this week with our activity using a flow map and Goldilocks and the Three Bears!

Currently February

February? Love teaching during this month! What's one of your most favorite things this month to teach?

It's time to link up----well past time---like I'm a couple of days late but betta late than neva right? :)

 

Listening---Bath Crashers. I have like two baths they can crash. Anytime. Send them my way you if know them! :) Totally wish I could have this done!

Loving---The snow is GONE! Here in eastern NC we are hardly equipped to deal with ice and snow. So last week shut.us.down.quickly. I was able to finally go back to work today after only going ONE day last week....

Thinking---I could totally take a quick nap right now. But probably not a good idea at almost 9 pm. Right??

Wanting---What do they put in Girl Scout cookies that make it where you HAVE to eat more than one? Like at a time. In one sitting. Like 2-3 peanut butter patties are gone. Likethat.

Needing---To finish paperwork. It never ends does it? Oh, well. It can wait. Again. 

2 Truths & 1 Fib---I get up at 5 am every day to work out. NOT HARDLY. I'm up at 6 every day (b/c the dog wakes me up rightontime!) And then I get ready for work. I WISH I did that.

Yes I've hit two deer with the same car. I drove what we affectionately called "the tank" senior year of HS and most of college. Hit two deer. It was tough.

And I did just read an entire book earlier. Granted it wasn't that long. But I started and finished it tonight.

If you haven't heard---a group of us are having blog hop. Great freebies and you can enter to win an item from EACH of our stores.

   

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 

Fill Your Heart With Freebies Blog Hop

Day 4 of no school. Cabin fever has set in. Roads are clearing, ice is melting and it's supposed to be 63 degrees for Sunday (then drop 20 the next day). Roll call---Who else is ready for spring/summer???

Well February is here. This month is one of my most favorite months to teach, but also the busiest!! With Valentine's Day, President's Day, Groundhog day, Black History Month, Dental Health Month, the 100th day.......how in the world do we fit it all in???

So in order to help you out--a great bunch of gals got together (& they included me! :) for a little freebie blog hop with an awesome prize at the end!!

 

I hope that you can find some awesome freebies to use this month and follow our blogs along the way in order to win an item from our stores.


I'm offering up a Winter CVC Hide & Find. I love using these with the kiddos. It's a great review (especially to see who can/can't read these words with the strategies we've posted), but it's also a great time-filler as well.

I have a pocket chart hanging on my easel at school and I fold it or unfold it depending on my needs. I place these cards in there. Here is a picture of my Apple Hide and Find from September.
The students had to read the word in order to check behind the card to see if Johnny was hiding. If so, play again. If he is not, then turn the card over (as seen in picture) and continue.

So I'm offering up a Winter CVC Hide & Find for you!  Click on the picture to take you to the freebie.

You'll find the next stop on the hop at Brittany's blog--Lovely Literacy and More. 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Oh, and if you visit Teacher's Notebook---make sure you check out their HUGE sale this weekend!! 10% off anything you buy--NO PROMO CODE needed. Many sellers are offering their entire store on sale along with the extra 10% that you'll get from TN.

I'm having a HUGE sale over there----40% off of everything + the 10% that Teacher's Notebook is offering. 

It starts tomorrow and runs through Monday!! (PS--they are also having HUGE gift card giveaways too....)

I just uploaded a new Beginning Sounds Bundle Pack.....what a labor of love this has been this week. It'll be on sale as well! Over 90 pages of beginning sound fun!

 

And my best seller is on sale as well (or grab the bundle for extra savings).

 

Teacher's Notebook site will be down tonight starting at 9 pm in order to gear up for this HUGE sale!!! But head over now and wishlist some stuff. You can't beat the savings!!

Snow/Ice--Over it! Huge Sale Today ONLY & Arctic animals

I have seriously been a horrible blogger lately. Sorry about that friends! As we all know, the weather has been crazy, insane, and up and down everywhere the past couple of weeks. So because of that, it's been crazy busy here! :)

*All hands raised if you feel crazy too!!** LOL

In between two-hour delays due to freezing temps to getting out two hours early and it's 60 degrees (b/c it might snow that night) to now sitting here snowed/iced in since Tuesday-----this gal is OVER IT!  and thank goodness that my DIBELS testing was finished last week. A lot of friends of mine haven't finished their testing because of all of the craziness.

I haven't taken a lot of pictures b/c well...we haven't been at school long enough to take anything new! :)

I have/had all of those awesome plans to do this week with Arctic animals but oh well.....so I'll share some awesome videos and websites with you that maybe YOU can use in your classroom if you are working on Arctic/Polar animals as well!

San Diego Zoo is almost always my go to when I'm teaching about various animals in the classroom. These photos are from San Diego Zoo. Link is below.
                                              
                            

                              http://kids.sandiegozoo.org/animals/mammals/arctic-fox

Also, the Creature Features section over at National Geographic for Kids is amazing!

 

Here's the link for Walruses.

Here's the link for Harp Seals. 

  

Here are a few videos I saved to my school playlist to use as well! (We are able to FINALLY access YouTube at school and it's great for stuff like that!)

This has to be my favorite!!!










Oh and TODAY ONLY!!!!!

                                                                   GO HERE


And if you are a fan of my FB page and you like and share my status that shows this sale, you can be entered to win my NEW pack that I'll have finished and up tonight!!

MLK Writing Activity

Today started off with NO internet at school---which means NO benchmark assessments could be done...ugh.
Then due to the threat of inclement weather, we dismissed 2 hours early. It finally started snowing at 8 pm!

And it's still snowing. We have a two-hour delay tomorrow, we shall see if that will change or stay. Crazy North Carolina weather (it was 59 degrees at 1:00 pm today!!!) and now it's snowing.

But while we were at school we did get to do a MLK directed drawing from Mrs. Miner's Monkey Business. 


                                 


We did these last year too but only did the pictures. This year we added sentences. Turned out so cute.

 A princess....she finally finished after the picture was taken.

 a police officer

 doctor

 

 

Martin Luther King freebie

For those of you that will teach about MLK, Jr. on Tuesday (if you are off tomorrow) and need a quick activity, I created one today that is easy--just print and go.

Of course, while we are learning about MLK, Jr., we talk a lot about what his dream was. I talk to the kiddos I work with and explain that I wouldn't be able to be their teacher wayyy back when or even now if things had not changed because of leaders like MLK, Jr. (They are shocked about this...)

So we begin to discuss what his dream was and how things have changed and what else could change. I always ask the kiddos what their dreams might be because even in kindergarten they have one!

I thought about how some of my kiddos who struggle with writing could show their dream and of course that's to draw a picture. I created this little freebie for you that will allow for each student to depict their thoughts and dreams in writing or drawing. 

Click on the picture above to grab it up for free!


And don't forget that tomorrow is the LAST day for the Snowball Fight Facebook Hop!!! If you haven't logged onto FB this weekend you need to because there are TONS of freebies for free from some amazing bloggers!!

 

Go to Mrs. Thigpen's Kindergarten Facebook page here. 

You can't access this hop through the Ipad!!

Snowball Fight Facebook Hop---Freebies Galore!!

Don't miss the BIGGEST Snowball Fight of the Year!!

22 of your favorite bloggers have teamed up to bring you a...

Our forts are built...
the snowballs are packed & stacked...
and we're about to BLAST you with FREEBIES!!

So lace up your boots, pull on your mittens,
and get ready to load up on 'SNOW' much good stuff!!

Hop on over to to the Mrs. Thigpen's Kindergarten facebook page to pick up my freebie!

Look for this tab on every facebook page to find the next FREEBIE.
(The picture on my FB page will not look like this because of technical difficulties---it says FREEBIE HOP and looks like a gear)
 

Note: You will not be able to access the freebies from an iPad.  

Click the image below to download a copy of the clickable map to find your way to all the 'snow forts'!

The Snowball Fight begins at 10 am CST on Saturday, January 18th.  

But don't delay because the snowballs melt at 10 pm CST on Monday, January 20th!!

We hope you have fun on the hop and find lots of fun freebies that you and your kiddos will love!

Make sure to follow our blogs too so you'll never miss a FREEBIE!  

Thanks for joining our Snowball Fight!!

Thanks Amy over at Happy Teacher Heaven for setting all of this up!!!