Last Minute Foxy Valentine Bag Freebie

Please forgive me sweet teacher friends.  It's been a LLLOOONNNGGG time since I've had a chance to share anything here at School Is a Happy Place.
Long story short, I moved schools (very last minute) and changed grade levels.  I'll save the details for another time.  Needless to say, change is a lot of work and much more consuming than I would have ever imagined.
But, today I carved out a little time to share a quick and easy Valentine's Day craft that your students will really enjoy.

It's My Foxy Valentine Bag.  Students make these bags to keep all of the cards and goodies they receive at our class Valentine exchange.
To make these cutie bags, I start by copying the various sized hearts onto colored paper (red or pink for Valentine's Day).  Students cut the pieces and assemble them.

It's really pretty fun to let students guess what they're going to make before showing them the sample.  
After students assemble their fox, they will glue it on their bag.  I print name tags for each student as well.
When the glue dries, the Valentine bags are ready to go.
If your students are like mine, they will love this project.

You can click here for a free pattern for this project.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a happy Valentine's Day.

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Five for Friday: Freebies for February

Where did January go?  It is unbelievable how quickly the first month of this year came and went.
Before February gets in full swing, I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share some favorite February freebies I'll be using over the next few weeks.
Let's get started...

Groundhog Day Freebies

We'll make these simple and cute prediction groundhogs.  Students can predict whether or not they think the groundhog will see his shadow by adding a sun or a snowflake in the groundhog's hand.  You could also pair this little craftivity with a writing prompt instead of the sun or snowflake.

Click on the picture for a FREE copy of this craftivity.

After Mr. Groundhog makes his prediction, we'll be tracking the weather for the next six weeks with My Groundhog Weather Tracker.  Students will record the groundhog's prediction and the daily weather.  At the conclusion of the sixth week, students will compile their data and analyze it to determine if the groundhog's prediction was true.

You can have a FREE copy of My Groundhog Weather Tracker, by clicking on the picture below.

Super Bowl Freebie

 We'll make my Super Bowl Friend craftivity sometime this week before the big game.  Students will predict which team they think will win.  The helmet colors will reflect their predictions blue/orange for Denver and blue/black for Carolina.  Students will either write about their predictions or they will practice writing their spelling words on the football themed recording sheet.

If you would like a FREE copy of my Super Bowl Friends Craftivity, you can click on the picture below.

Valentine's Day Freebies

Another activity we'll be using in February is my sight word center, You've Got Mail.  Students have to crack the secret code and match it to the correct sight word.  After matching all the cards, the students will complete the recording sheet.  This fun little center is from my Classroom Cupids  {10 Literacy Centers for February}, available at my tpt store.  You can click here for more details.

If you would like a FREE copy of You've Got Mail, click on the picture below.

Another freebie you may want to snag is my message heart graph and pattern printables.
These activities are always a favorite.  Students will sort (by color) and graph candy message hearts.  They will also use the message hearts to create various patterns.
My kids adore working with candy.  It makes math time feel like playtime.

If you would like a FREE copy of message hearts printables, click on the pictures.  

Presidents Day Freebie

In my class, we usually take time in February to do some shared research about George Washington.  After we learn some important facts and details about his life, we create a class bubble map about him.  The bubble map will us with the writing for the craftivity pictured below.

If you would like a FREE copy of of my George Washington {A FREE Writing Craftivity}, click on the picture.

Mardi Gras Freebies

Mardi Gras falls on February 9th this year.  Most of my students do not know what Mardi Gras is.  So I like to do a little something in class for my kids to learn about the traditions involved with this holiday.

We'll have read some books, have some kings cake, and make these Mardi Gras Kids spelling art projects to display in the hall.

We will also do some Mardi Gras themed word problems in math using my Mardi Gras Math {A FREE Math Mini Book}.

If you would like to have a FREE copy of either of these activities to use with your students, click on the pictures.

February has so many fun learning opportunities.  I hope some of these freebies will be useful to you as you start planning for next month.
Thank you for stopping by and thanks to Doodle Bugs Teaching for hosting Five for Friday.

Have a great weekend!

Authors We Love: Ezra Jack Keats

We've made it through the week back from spring break and now we're on the countdown to the end of the year . . . craziness.  I was so happy that our author study of Ezra Jack Keats fell this week.  Since I love, love, love, Ezra Jack Keats, I had a little bright spot returning from break.

Here are a few of the activities and resources I used as part of our learning with Ezra Jack Keats . . .

Early in the week we watched a Brain Pop Jr. biography about Keats.  There was also a companion episode about collage that we watched as well.  For the rest of the week my young learners were all about spotting collage and other special elements in Keats' illustrations.

Of course we read as many Ezra Jack Keats books as we could.  We primarily focused on the Peter books.  They offer so many opportunities for comprehension discussion and character comparisons.

After reading all about Peter, we made a super quick and easy graph showing our favorite Peter books.  I gave students a "Willie" to color and cut.  I arranged our Peter books on our white board tray.  Students placed their Willies above their favorite books.
This year, Peter's Chair was our class favorite.

We did a little Willie themed addition and subtraction review.  I made a few versions of Best Dishes Willie, focusing on mixed addition and subtraction and three digit adding.  One version includes touch numbers for students that need a review of that strategy.

If you would like a FREE copy of these printables, click on one of the pictures below.

We also created some Ezra Jack Keats inspired artwork.  Students used construction paper, crayons, and glue to make their cityscapes.  They had so much fun making them.
My classes have made this project for a few years and I love how they turn out.

We had a great week with Ezra Jack Keats.  Now I think my kids love his work as much as I do.  Planning class activities around favorites is a perfect way to keep the weeks leading up to the end of the school year fun, engaging, and productive.

I'll leave you will a few pics from our spring break.  We took a trip to Disney World.  We had a magical (and exhausting time).  After this winter, it was such a blessing to go somewhere warm and sunny.  It was exactly what we needed. :)

Just a Pinch of Grinch

Just unloading some pics from this week and wow, these past five days have been busy.  Christmas programs, parties, crafts, assessments, the flu, presents, special books, class visitors, and lots of repeating myself.  The week before winter break is crazy, but of course lots of fun.

Some of our time was devoted to the mean one, Mr. Grinch.  Most of my students know the Grinch, so they were super excited when I had "Grinchy Activities" up on our class agenda.  We started the day with a read aloud of How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  Then we moved straight to our craft.

Our Grinches were inspired by a Glyph Girls' project I pinned a few years ago.  I love how they turned out.  The kids loved making them and were totally cracked up when they realized their Grinches would not be wearing any pants.
We did these first because I wanted to pop them up around the room to Grinch-it up a bit before our other activities.

After finishing our Grinches, we moved on to a little literacy scoot game I put together.  I placed a Grinch word card at every desk, face down.  Students had to read the word on the card and determine if it has a long vowel sound or a short vowel sound.  Then they wrote their answers on a recording sheet.  When I gave the signal, everyone scooted to the next seat.
Since we just wrapped up the basic vowel, consonant, silent e pattern for all long vowel sounds, this activity was a perfect informal assessment.

We broke up the morning with a yummy pinspired snack one of my dear moms sent in.  The kids were really happy to get a treat.  (Maybe next year I'll let them put their Grinch treats together on their own.)

For math we got moving again with a write the room fact review.  I put addition and subtraction facts around the room.  (Some of my kids need lots more practice solving addition and subtraction facts when they are mixed.)  Just like in scoot, students started at one card, solved the problem, recorded their answers, and then moved when I signaled.
Since it was the week before winter break and my kids were a little more lively than usual, I built in another element of movement besides moving from card to card.  I printed a set of "Max cards" to help get out some of the wiggles.
The Max cards have various exercises on them.  "Do 4 squats."  "Do a plank and count to 12."  "Do 10 jumping jacks."  (You get the picture.)  After about for or five equations I would announce that it was time for a Max card and then I'd read the exercise.
The kids loved, loved, loved the Max cards.  It was something just a little different in our routine and it worked great.

Another activity with Grinch was an entry into our Elf journal, Diary of an Elf.  The kids wrote about what they thought was going on between the Grinch and our class elf.  They wrapped up their entries by telling what they thought might happen that evening, when it was time for our elf to return to the North Pole.  I got some very interesting responses.

We ended our Grinchy learning by watching the classic cartoon version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  After spending much of the day learning with Grinch, my sweet students were extra interested in watching the story unfold on screen.
Our time with Grinch was just what we needed this week, a high level of engagement with a beloved character and plenty of chances to move around.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your well deserved break.

Keeping It Groovy with Pete the Cat Saves Christmas

We are down to one week before winter break.  Not that I'm counting (wink, wink).  Like most of you, I am trying to fit in every fun bit of learning that I possibly can before we wrap things up for the year.  One book I knew I wanted to hit during these last few days was Pete the Cat Saves Christmas.
I'm in love with the Pete books (especially the first four).  I'll pounce on any opportunity to use them in class.
One of the ways we extended Pete the Cat Saves Christmas was to make these super cute Santa Pete crafts to decorate our room.

Our Petes turned out awesome.  They are so colorful.  They really make our space festive.  The kids were so excited to make them.

If you would like to make this project with your class, you can click on the picture below.  

In math we used the Pete the Cat Saves Christmas theme to practice place value, with a write the room activity that we used two different ways over two days.
On the first day the students simply went around the room and wrote each number from each card on their recording sheets.  After all of the numbers were recorded, they grabbed a highlighter and headed back to their seats.  Then, with the whole group, I told them to "highlight the number in the tens place" or "highlight the number in the ones place."  It was a simple activity that made my young learners really have to think about the place values of the digits.
On the second day, students went around to each card and drew the base ten counters to represent each number.  This variation provided some much needed practice with place value and number representations.  Since it was a write the room activity, the kids had a good time because they could get up and move, move, move.

This activity could also be used for a round of scoot.  It could also be prepped in a tote and made into a math center.  If you would like to check it out and try it out with your own students, you can click on the picture below for a FREE copy.

A literacy activity that we fit in this week was a color word review match up.  I printed enough cards for each pair of partners to get their own set of cards, so that we could complete this task whole group.

This review worked really well and hopefully helped build more confidence in my young readers.  

You can also have this Pete inspired literacy center for FREE by clicking on the picture below.

We had such a good time learning with Pete the Cat this week.  This time of year can be a challenge to keep everyone focused on learning.  Pete is a a great way to grab your students attention and keep them engaged.

The FREEBIES in this post are my little Christmas gifts to my sweet readers that stop by to check out School Is a Happy Place.  I really appreciate your visits so much.

Have a groovy week.  ;)