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!

Five for Friday with FREEBIES for Presidents' Day and Mardi Gras

Whew!  Made it through Valentine's Day.  We had a great time at school with different Valentine's themed learning activities and of course our little party.  The kids are always so excited to hand out their cards and to receive cards from their friends.  It is so fun to sit back and watch.
This Five for Friday I'd like share a couple user friendly Valentine activities we did and some freebies that I'll be using next week to celebrate Presidents' Day and Mardi Gras.

Number 1

We made Valentine bags in class to collect our cards.  This year we made mice out of hearts.  They were crazy simple to make and turned out really cute.  My firsties loved seeing the hearts transform into mice.

Number 2

Always a favorite, we graphed candy message hearts.  This year we also used them for patterns.  My kids adore working with candy.  It makes math time feel like playtime.

If you would like a FREE copy of the activities above, click on the picture.  If you would like to read more about some of the other activities we did for Valentine's Day this year, you can click here.

Number 3

As you know, Presidents' Day is this week one of the activities will be doing is a shared research project about George Washington.  We will research information about him and create a class bubble map.  After we create the bubble map will make the craftivity pictured below.
If you would like a copy of of my George Washington {A FREE Writing Craftivity}, click on the picture.

Number 4

Mardi Gras falls on February 17th 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 some ;) of the traditions involved with this holiday.

We'll have 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 either of these activities to use with your students, click on the pictures.

Number 5

I have some news that I'm sure is only exciting to me, but I'll share anyway.  I hit 1,000 followers on Teachers Pay Teachers!  I really try not to pay to much attention to numbers because they can be a bit discouraging (in many areas of life).  But 1,000 feels like a number for a little celebration.  

As a token of my appreciation for this happy milestone, my my entire store will be on sale for the next 3 days.  Enjoy!

Thank you for stopping by and thanks once again to Doodle Bugs Teaching for hosting Five for Friday.  Happy Valentine's Day!

Countdown to Valentine's Day

Believe me, I am not complaining when I say this year is flying by.  It seems like we just got back from winter break and now it's almost Valentine's Day.  I am fond of any holiday we get to celebrate at school.  I am looking forward to fitting in a few special Valentine learning activities with my firsties.
I started getting a things ready Friday afternoon before I left for a super busy weekend.  First I pulled out some of my Valentine read alouds and Valentine books for my listening station.  I'm a big fan of Gail Gibbons' Valentine's Day Is . . .  (for nonfiction account of Valentine's Day traditions).  I also love Love Splat by Rob Scotton.

I also got out the activities I made for partner work to see if I need to make more copies of anything.  I made these math and literacy activities last year as part of a free Valentine themed packet Cupid's Helper.
One of the activities students will do is the Valentine's Day Spelling Challenge.  Students will use the letters in the words Valentine's Day to spell and record as many words as they can.

We will also get a little review with initial blends with the Love Letters center.  Students will sort pictures according to if they begin with an L blend or an R blend.  (I made the cards so that they would fit these adorable Target dollar spot mailboxes, but you certainly do not have to have the mailboxes to do the activity.)
After sorting the cards students will complete the accompanying recording sheet.

As for math, we will do some  skip counting with these Cupcake Counting cards.  Students will order the cards skip counting by 2's to 100.  When they are finished, they will complete a recording sheet.

Another math goodie that is part of the Cupid's Helper packet is Monsters Love Math.  With this center, students practice determining the missing sign on basic addition and subtraction problems.  And yes, there is a recording sheet.

All four of these activities are in my Cupid's Helper packet.  You can have a FREE copy of it by clicking on the picture below.

If you are looking for additional Valentine themed centers, be sure to stop by my store to check out my Classroom Cupids math and literacy center packets.  Each packet has 10 centers for the month of February.

The sight word center pictured below is one of my favorites and is from Classroom Cupids {10 Literacy Centers for February} and you can have it for FREE by clicking on the picture.

In addition to all this Valentine themed, skill specific work, students will also make these Valentine Kid Glyphs.  I'm all about using glyphs with my students.  Students get to produce a fun art project for display.  They also get practice with listening, as well as data collection and analysis.

If you would like more information about my Valentine Kid Glyph, you can click on the picture below.

Well, I'm sure I have plenty more to get together before the big day, but at least I have a few things lined up.  Hope your Valentine's week goes well.  Thanks so much for stopping by.
Best.

Love Is in the Air: Ideas & Freebies for Valentine's Day

It's only a couple of more days until Valentine's Day and I'm the final prep phase for the big day.  I have a few new activities planned, as well as some old favorites.

To begin with, we are working a bit with initial blends this week.  The new phonics program we are using this year seemed to (in my humble opinion) slide right past blends.  So, my class is spending more time with them over the next couple of weeks.
I made a Valentine's themed L blends and R blends sorting center to go along with these adorable mailboxes I scooped up at Target's dollar spot.

This center is part of a free packet I just put together called Cupid's Helper.  If you would like to use this activities with your students and do not have the mailboxes, no worries.  I included a couple of sorting mats to use instead.

Another literacy activity we'll be doing is Valentine's Day Spelling Challenge.  Students have to build as many words as they can using the letters in Valentine's Day and then write them on their recording sheet.  My students will work with a partner on this activity.

I started writing down the words I could make with Valentine's Day and there are a ton.  I'm curious to see how my first grade friends do with this challenge.

As part of our math time students will review skip counting by 2's.  The number cards in Cupcake Counting fit perfectly into some heart shaped tins I also found at the dollar spot.

Before moving on to the final center in this packet, I want to share about a wonderful book that I picked up a few weeks ago, that we will be reading on Valentine's Day.  It is Love Monster by Rachel Bright.

Monster lives in a world of cute, fluffy things which makes finding love very difficult for him.  He searches and searches and in the end . . .   Well, you'll just have to get your own copy to find out.

It's a sweet story, with fantastic illustrations.  We'll be making our own Monsters.  I think the boys will really enjoy a Valentine's craft that is not overly "girly."

Monster was also the inspiration for the final center in Cupid's Helper.  In Monsters Love Math, students will sort the missing sign equations according to if they are adding or subtracting equations.  We have not practiced this skill in a while, so it should be a good review.

If you would like any of the centers featured above, they are all together in my FREE Cupid's Helper packet.  These centers are my Valentine to all you sweet and hard working teachers.  I hope you enjoy.

I also want to thank my little helper.  A  sat down with me and worked out all of these centers.  She is my #1 quality control inspector and my favorite Valentine.