Two More Days of Thanksgiving Activities: Reading Response, Addition Practice, Writing and Tons More!

I discounted my Thanksgiving Literacy and Math Unit on TpT. It's on SALE just until Thanksgiving! There are just a couple days left until Thanksgiving, and you will for sure get your money's worth! And if you're already on Thanksgiving Break, you will be all set for next year. Click on the picture for the link!



 

There are several quick-to-prep (or NO prep!) activities that meet rigorous Common Core Standards, and your students will love them!

Watch for my Cyber Monday sale on TpT next week! How can the holidays be coming so quickly?!

Happy Monday, Teachers!

Thanksgiving Literacy and Math: Reading Response, Interactive Journals, Graphing, and more!

First of all, I'm happy for those of you who have next week off. I'm not gonna lie, though... I'm a little jealous, too. Yesterday I told a friend, "I'd rather add three days to the end of the year than work next week!" But y'all know I'll be changing that story come May!

I spent some time updating my Thanksgiving: Math and Literacy for Primary Grades pack that is available on TpT. It's even more full of seasonal goodness! It's a cornucopia of Common Core activities!



 

The unit now includes several activities that you can just print and use. Immediately. No prep required. I've included activities to support Informational Reading and Literature standards. Simply print, read the book, and your kiddos will be good to go. And think. And work. And write.

Check the library or your own collections. These are some of the Thanksgiving books for which I've included lessons aligned with CCSS.







 

 

Thanksgiving at the Tappletons has a couple of different versions of illustrations, but they all have the same hilarious story!





 



I've been using Interactive Journals with my students for a couple of years now. This year, last year, and the year before, that is. At first, I was very, very careful about what I wanted to include. Everything that was added met my own, self-imposed, ridiculously strict criteria. Now, though, I include a much wider variety of activities, skills, formats, etc. I love looking back to see how much we've accomplished and how much my students' skills have improved. I've adopted the attitude that I can make almost anything into an appropriate entry for students' interactive journals. Last week, students added information about what life was like on the Mayflower. We read, and read, and discussed, and made a chart of important words/ideas, and then the students did their own writing. Did I mention that this year's class absolutely goes nuts for any kind of writing?! They love it!

I added some activities for Interactive Journals when I updated this pack. Check out the preview!

To my friends on vacation--- enjoy! You KNOW how fast it will fly by, and I hope you can savor every moment. For the rest of us--- our time is coming! Just a few more days until the long weekend!

 

It Rained Today

This is big news in our dry, little corner of the world!

Oh. My. OMG.

I can't make this stuff up, you know. Kids were asking me, "Is it raining?"...while we were walking down our open hallways with rain blowing on everyone. I kid you not. I heard that question today. AT LEAST 8 TIMES.

And later, when it was Choice Time, this is how my darlings chose to entertain themselves. Seriously.



So we will be doing some writing about rain tomorrow! I've got to seize this opportunity while I can! Most of the time, our weather is sunny and beautiful. Our calendar graph is a joke! Sunny, sunny, sunny, sunny, sunny... I know. Sad story!

Thanksgiving: Math And Literacy with Pumpkins, Bump, Turkeys, Number Sequencing and More!

Finally.



It is jam-packed with Common Core activities.



 

Like check out these featherless turkeys! Mix the turkeys and the feathers, and then students have to build each word with turkey feathers. Omg. They giggle! It's so cute to watch them adding feathers to the turkeys that it makes me giggle!



 

These word cards are included, too. Make multiple copies for memory games or use single sets for alphabetizing or writing activities... it just depends on what your students need!



 

I love these number sequencing puzzles and so do my students. This is a pretty challenging activity for many of my kinders. They can count and identify numbers, but putting together into a puzzle makes it a different kind of challenge. No matter--- it's great practice and they love to see what picture they've made!

And for my first graders, and for students who are ready... counting by tens!



 

There are twelve--- TWELVE--- of these number puzzles in this unit!

Thanksgiving will be here before we know it! I have to work through Wednesday the 27th, but I'll be doing so many fun Thanksgiving things with my kiddos that it will go by quickly!

Have a great week, Teacher Friends!

 

 

Thanksgiving Unit On The Way ... And A Beanie Baby Reading Strategies Giveaway!

First of all. Happy THREE day weekend. Three days! Okay, so it did fly by... but I got a ton done! I spent some much needed, relaxing time with my husband and kids. So. Good. But besides that, I got tons of errands taken care of! My car was so filthy, I was embarrassed to drive it. Black cars just look awful when they're dirty. So I checked that off my list. I gathered some items at Target and JoAnn's and Michael's. I went to the grocery store, picked up clothes at the cleaners,  and bought my ridiculous-but-I-love-it-so-I-don't-care-how-much-it-costs shampoo. I washed, dried and folded tons of laundry. I had two lovely coffee dates with my husband, one fabulous coffee date with my friend Teacher Nina, and went to my wildly fun book club meeting. And if all that wasn't enough, we also squeezed in a Saturday night dinner with my fake sister and her husband. Haha! It's amazing how rejuvenating a few hours of laughing can be!

Did I mention I also finished some sewing projects? And watched hours of Mad Men? I'm tellin' ya, it felt like more than three days and I'm so grateful for the time off of work!

Well, speaking of work... I did a little of that, too. My Thanksgiving Unit is nearly complete, and y'all will be the first to know. I'll be giving away a copy of it this week, so check back.

But since I know you love giveaways...

My two Beanie Baby units are both best sellers on Teachers Pay Teachers, and if you don't have a copy yet, you should have one! Here's you chance to win one!

One unit focuses on Decoding Strategies...



And the other focuses on Comprehension Strategies.



Both include posters, bookmarks, and strategy cards.

And one of these little beauties could be yours before the end of the week!

I'll be randomly choosing two winners from my group of followers and two winners from comments posted this week. So I'll be giving away four sets total. If your name is chosen, you'll get to choose which unit you want. If you're a follower and you leave a comment, you could win twice and get them both!

Leave your comment and become a follower before this Thursday, November 14 at 6:00 pm Pacific Time to get your chance! Be sure to leave your email address in your comment so I can let you know if you win!

Have a great week and check back soon! Because I'm in one of those moods: I'll be giving away a copy of my Thanksgiving Unit just as soon as it's finished, too!

 

Fall Unit: Turkeys, Mayflower, Thanksgiving and More Pumpkins!

I'm working on fall-themed math and literacy units. There are just not enough hours in the day! Most days, I leave school thinking, "Wow! I got so much done! How productive!" But then on my way home, I think of five million other things that I want/need to take care of... And of course, I don't just get home and go right to work. Darn that dinner that needs to be made and the clothes that need to be washed!

But I did manage to get one fun activity ready to share. This is Pumpkin Bump.



The game is for two players. (Today, though, a group of three students played together. They never made it to a point where someone "won," but they had a great time and practiced adding in the meantime!)

A pair of students shares one game board, but each needs 10 Unifix cubes (or other game markers.) Color is BIG for the six-year-old set, so I always let them choose their own colors. Object of the game? The first player to place all their cubes on the board is the winner.

Roll two dice and add those numbers. Cover a matching number space with your marker. If your partner is already on that number, you can bump your partner’s color and take their space! If you bump your partner, they take back their marker and have a chance to use it again. If you roll a number that you have already covered, you can stack another marker on top of it! Any space with two markers stacked on top of each other, is locked and that space can’t be bumped.

The player to use all of their markers first is the winner!

My kids love this game. The bumping part is a ton of fun for them! I also have a version with three dice.

Addition Practice with Double Double Dice Dice and a FREEBIE!

My kiddos are practicing addition. I try to find lots of cool ways for them to practice, because let's be real... worksheets with problem after problem after problem are boring!

I think these dice came from the Dollar Tree years ago. There is one big, transparent die with a smaller die inside. I've used them for a variety of purposes, but they are AWESOME for addition. I made up a student page to go with them, and yes, I was in a goofy mood! My students love to say "Double Double Dice Dice" and laugh hysterically as they write their names two times! Silly!



The children roll one die, record the inside and outside numbers and then add. It couldn't be simpler. I usually copy this page on both sides of the paper so that they can play with the dice more!

I keep this in my math choice area. Students will practice adding over and over just to use the dice again. And there's nothing wrong with that! MUCH more fun than flashcards or a tedious worksheet!

Get your copy of this fun resource here: Double Double Dice Dice

Happy weekend, everyone! We survived Halloween AND the day after!