Living Life Through Instagram {Freebie}

First, I want to let everyone in Oklahoma know how much they are prayed for and thought of by me and many others! I can't even imagine the devestation and heartbreak they are going through!

I've been a little absent from this blog lately thanks to this sweet baby cutting her first tooth...

Poor thing has been miserable and pretty much the only relief she got this weekend was being outside with a frozen washcloth in her mouth!
It's been crazy with all things end of the year {field trips, cumulative records, testing, field days, you know what I'm talking about!}, but I have managed to snap some pics for Instagram here and there to document what we've been doing. If you're not on Instagram yet, go get an account...best thing ever!

My kids love playing our Teamin' Up game to practice fluency. It's a super easy and super quick way to work on fluency. Give a few kids the big answer cards and everyone else an equation and they 'team' up according to their answer. This is in my Fun with Fluency pack that I updated this weekend. If you already have it, make sure to go download to get your new activities!

  Speaking of fluency, my kids are loving these quick review pages I've been using as morning work. They love being detectives and are so happy when they find all the equations!

Yesterday, we planted our grass heads and it was scorching outside {I'm pretty sure they had fun although they look a little miserable!}. I hope we get to see our grass before the end of the year!

 We've also been working on our memory books. In the chaos of the end of the year, I love seeing the kids work on these and reflect on the year. Makes me happy/proud/sad all at the same time. These are in my Looking Back pack that I also updated, so be sure to get the new version if you already purchased :).

Last, I posted this poem last year that I will give to my kids at our awards day again this year. It's one my first grade teacher gave me and I still have my ditto copy from way back when! Click the picture below if you'd like to use it for your kiddos.

I'm pretty sure the rest of our week is going to be crazy since our school has field days for the next 3 days!! I'll be cramming in some FAIR testing and assessments in between and hopefully finishing our memory books.
Make sure to check out #teachertalktuesday on Instagram and go check out Michelle's tutorial this week over at Apples and ABCs. Also, a little shout out to my friend Tessa for getting me a Pin it button on all my pics {I'm super technologically challenged!}. If you're on the look for a blog design, be sure to check her out!!

Plants {In Pictures}

I can't believe how quickly the end of the year is flying by!! I have all kinds of lists with things I/we still need to do and there are only 11 days of school left! Everything is so hectic this time of year, but we've been squeezing in some fun this week when we can learning all about plants.

First, we talked about seeds and brainstormed all the things we could think of that come from seeds...

Then, we planted bean seeds in bags and put them in our little greenhouses {I've done this every year I've taught and originally got the idea from Little Giraffes - love her stuff!}

We read lots of stories about plants and made a little impromptu tree map...

We also talked about the life cycle of a plant and how it grows and made a big organizer together then each student made their own {from Caitlin's awesome Plant unit}...

This afternoon, we talked about the parts of a flower and labeled our big class flower. Then, each kiddo made their own flower diagram with labels...these cute cupcake liners came from Wal-Mart (the cake decorating aisle)...

Just for fun, we made these big flowers to hang from our ceiling. Does anyone else have a space problem? We literally have no where other than the floor for things to dry...

In math, we're working really hard on subtraction. Usually it's super easy for my kids, but this year it's giving us trouble. We've been using seeds to help us! You can get the subtraction page along with others here {Freebie! :) }

We've also been using some of my Spring centers during workshops...

Now I'm off to start getting copies made for our awards day! I'm using Reagan's candy awards  again this year and can't wait for the kids to see them!

Five For Friday

Hallelujah!! It's Friday! I think this might have been one of the longest weeks of the school year!!
I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday again this week...

We went on one of our favorite field trips this week...the play at our local junior college. We got to see Alice in Wonderland and it was sooo good! We walk on this trip and on the way back, the local pediatrician passed out lemonade to all our kids...such a nice treat!

Today we read Mister Seahorse and then made this cute project my friend Deeanna created to go with it. We talked about where each daddy fish kept the eggs, then used lentils as our eggs to display and sequence the story.

We've been working hard all week on our addition and subtraction fluency to 5 and we're getting much better. Today, we played a partner game with our flashcards to help us practice even more. I love the look on my little sweetie's face in the second picture!! These are part of my new fluency pack.

I am ashamed to show this picture!! Is anyone else feeling the end of the year chaos? I had about 5 different things going on today and my little side table is evidence!! I'm afraid it will only get worse before the end of the year!

Last, I want to wish all of you a very Happy Mother's Day!! Whether you have children of your own or not, you are all mothers in some capacity as we have these sweeties almost as much as their moms. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

Now, head over to Doodle Bugs to see everyone else's Five for Friday!

Mother's Day Mania {Freebie}

First, I want to say thank you so much to everyone who purchased something during the TpT Teacher Appreciation Sale!! I am still amazed that other teachers are able to use the things I make and I truly appreciate you spending your very hard earned money in my store. I hope you all have felt appreciated this week.

Is it just me, or did Mother's Day kind of creep up pretty quickly this year? I've known for a while what we were going to do for our moms, but realized Monday that we better get on the ball!
First, we read a Gilbert story, Mother You're the Best, but Sister You're a Pest and talked about what Mother's Day is. Then, we made a little chart with words we can use to describe our mom as well as things our mom does.

Then, we wrote cards for our mom. The kids really tried hard on their writing and they turned out really cute.

We also made our moms a little "Breakfast in Bed" {kindergarten style}. This is an idea I got from Little Giraffes and the kids love to do it! We put a honey bun, granola bar, and juice box in a bag with a pretty napkin then decorate the outside with our picture and a poem. These always turn out so cute!

Last, what Mother's Day would be complete without a handprint? We very quickly did these today and attached a cute little poem that I have had for years, but have no idea where it originated. If you happen to know, can you tell me so I can give credit? :)

If you're still needing to get something together for your moms this year,or if you want to save for next year,  you can get both of the poems above and the card here in google docs.
That's it for today...what are you doing for Mother's Day in your classroom?

Math and Ocean Randomness

Happy Teacher Appreciation Day! I hope all of you are feeling loved by your students and by the people you work with. My kiddos have been extra sweet this week and I got a huge supply of chocolate from one of the sweet girls on my team today, which I think I'll need these last few days!

We're still deep in our ocean learning and this week we've been reading Big Al and The Rainbow Fish. Today we compared the two stories and made venn diagrams {that I forgot to take a picture of!} and then I let the kids be a little creative and use paper and beads to make their own rainbow fish. They loved getting to use the beads!

In math, we've been using our fish and shark to compare numbers. The kids love this game {we call it Hungry Shark}. Two kids are fish and one is the shark. The shark has to decide which fish to eat based on the greater number, then we all write the inequality on our marker boards. You can get the cards for it here on google docs.

Speaking of math, we're working hard to master our facts to 5, which is still a little tricky for some of us. To help, I made a new pack that has centers, games, fluency activity sheets, fluency checks, and flashcards. We used some today and the kids were so proud of themselves!

You can get these activities in my new pack by clicking the picture below. I had a brainstorm for another game to add to it at lunch today, so it will be updated hopefully by the weekend. {Go ahead and grab it now while it's on sale!}

Don't forget the big sale at TpT today and tomorrow...I'll be clearing my wishlist as soon as I make it home from Wal-Mart {why did I wait until the last minute to get Mother's Day stuff??}. :)