Five for Friday (linky party for April 24)

Today I'm joining in once again with Doodle Bugs Teaching's Five For Friday linky party :)

My week started off FANTASTICALLY when I opened the weekly TpT newsletter and saw this:

Needless to say I was *pumped* to see my most popular freebie featured in the newsletter for the first time! Here's a sample of the super simple but skill-packed math craftivity:

If you don't already own it, go download my Name in a Ten Frame freebie, and don't forget to check out the newsletter to grab 9 other awesome freebies as well!!

We are quickly outgrowing our little house and are most likely making the move to a bigger space later this summer! ...A bigger house, but a much smaller backyard. Which means I have recently been obsessed with pinning ideas of how to create a cute little backyard oasis:

(You can check out more of my outdoor pins on my "Going Green" board!)

So far these have been some of my fav ideas:

(all of the pics above + their sources can be found on my board)

We are still waiting for the arrival of baby and I've been off work for over a week now...bored. out of. my mind. Seriously, where is this desperate "nesting instinct" they talk about?! 

Well anyways, being home has actually made me quite productive work-wise and I was finally able to put my Healthy Eating Unit together as a resource to share with others in my little store!

These are all of the activities that I have used in the past when teaching all about nutrition and food groups, along with some newly-added posters, worksheets, and more!

I just uploaded it last week and already I'm pleasantly surprised with how many teachers are finding it helpful! Here's a closer look at everything in the pack if you're curious :)

(And if you're interested in reading a detailed description of everything included, click HERE)

So, like I said,  I've only been off work for a few days and already I'm missing my little firsties. It's seriously crazy how one day I was looking forward to being off and finally taking some time to relax, and the next I'm just dying to get back to my classroom! I'm so grateful for all this love:

And finally, since I am no longer spending my days in a classroom, I thought I'd share a little tour of where my recent days have been spent: in the teeny tiny nursery!

And if it wasn't yet obvious that this nursery was decorated by a first grade teacher....

I'm not kidding, deciding which books to display first on these shelves actually took longer than the time it took to put together the rest of the room! I have WAY too many to choose from, but these will do for now. Seriously though, what teacher is not obsessed with children's books?! 

 And that's that! Thanks for stopping by and reading my very random 5!

If you'd like to join in on the Friday fun, head on over to DBT to link up and have a wonderful weekend :)

Our Probability Unit: worksheets, activities, lessons, and assessment

Hi all! If you follow me on Instagram then you probably saw what I posted this morning:

So needless to say I won't be in the classroom today and, according to the doctor (but not me yet!), for the rest of the week. But I will still share what my firsties will be up to anyways :)

Last week I introduced a new math unit on probability. We began by discussing some new math words that we will be using frequently throughout this short little unit: likely, unlikely, certain, and impossible. 

Before school one day, I printed and cut out a whole bunch of simple scenarios. At the beginning of each lesson over the next few days we discussed and sorted the scenarios according to their likelihood:

The "impossible" scenarios were by far the biggest hit with my firsties :P

To practice our understanding of these 4 new math words, we created our own probability flip books that featured events that were likely to occur, unlikely, certain, and impossible:

This flip book is part of my Probability Pack

To make these books all I did was print off the first page for each student and staple it with 3 other blank pages (you can use as many or as little blank pages as you'd like depending on how many scenarios you want your kiddies to come up with). Then the students cut along the 3 dotted lined to make their flip books. 

Today, the kids are going to learn about spinners. I created a SMARTboard file for the supply teacher to use while introducing this concept. It simply features a spinner with 3 different-sized sections (similar to the one on the paper below) with several questions to discuss about likelihood. The kids then get to make their own spinners!

This activity is also part of my Probability Pack

The kids will: 1. Decorate each spinner section 2. Create a spinner using a paperclip and brad 3. choose three sections of their spinner and copy the pattern into each of the three blank boxes 4. Answer the questions 5. Spin their spinner 10 times and record the results on a graph (second page not pictured)

Although I won't be there, the kids will continue learning about probability throughout the week and will work through the rest of the practice pages in my Probability Pack. Here's an overview of what else they will be doing (and exactly what else is included in the pack if you're interested!):

I also have a random FREEBIE for you!👇 

And even if you're not into sweet little Color Monster (😆) I'd love for you to join anyways because saving you time and sending you occasional (FREE) teacher treats is my favourite!!

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Built with Kit

And before I go make some hot water with lemon and honey, I'd like to congratulate Jena who was the winner of my Student Awards giveaway! Congrats Jena :)

3D Solids, a Tower Challenge, & End of Year Awards GIVEAWAY!

Whether you're happy about it or not...Happy Monday, everyone! 

Since I didn't get a chance to blog at the end of last week, I'll share a short little snippet of what we were up to (plus stay tuned for a GIVEAWAY at the end!).

We began our 3D Geometry unit in math by recalling what we already know about 3D solids and by looking at various solid manipulatives to help us fill in this anchor chart:

At the end of the week, we had a bit of time left after a short lesson so we had a "just for fun" (but not really!!) challenge: which table group can build the tallest free-standing structure. 

The kids thought this was great because they got to "play" with snap cubes and build an awesome tower. But throughout the process, we talked about what features make a sturdy tower, based on what we had learned about 3D solids thus far (not to mention it ties in perfectly with our Materials, Objects, & Structures unit in science!).

FLASHBACK! Earlier in the week we sat in a circle at the carpet with about eight 3D solids. The goal was to build the tallest possible tower so we had to figure out which 3D solids would work well for stacking and which ones would not. i.e. a cube works well because it has flat faces, but a sphere would not because it is round. And a cone can stack but it has to be on the top. etc. Anyways, we ended up deciding that the biggest (and flattest) solids worked best on the bottom of the tower because a wider base made our tower more sturdy. The kids obviously transferred what they had learned to this challenge because I kept hearing things like, "we need a more solid base!" Too stinkin' cute.

After the towers were built, we of course performed "the earthquake test" (aka "the table shaking test") to see if each tower was free-standing and sturdy, and then we measured to see which tower was ultimately the tallest. 

All towers passed the earthquake test and we had a tie between two groups for the tallest tower.

But we didn't focus so much on who won the challenge; We examined each tower and discussed why it worked well and if any improvements could be made. ...Anyways, gotta love it when spontaneous activities work out! #teacherimprov #success ;)

And of course I can't let you go without a FREEBIE!👇 

(plus many more where that came from 😉)

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Built with Kit

NOW I'm excited to share that I spent all last week working on a new pack that is *finally* complete...and better yet, you can enter today for a chance to WIN THIS PACK! 

It includes 44 certificates and 43 medals that are a perfect addition to an end-of-year gift for your kiddies. But I also created them with the intention of using throughout the school year since many of the awards are meant to encourage students, give recognition to hard workers, and build a positive and supportive classroom community.

I have also included some "teacher suggestions" along with detailed instructions:

 

At the end of the year you can choose the awards yourself or even have your students vote on who should receive which award. Either way, your kids will grin from ear to ear when they receive these fun and colourful (and EASY!) certificates and medals. 

To get a detailed look at exactly what's included, click HERE.

So without further adieu, here's how you can enter to win this entire pack!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The winner will be announced next Friday, April 10th. Thanks for entering and GOOD LUCK!