Ant and Graduation Art

Yesterday we made these cute graduation kids. I originally got this idea last year from PeaceLoveKindergarten and you can grab the writing paper from my old post HERE. The kids just LOVE the addition of the real tassle!

Cool eye color!

He told me his short hair wouldn't show. TRUE!

Love the curls!

She made braids like her real hair!

We just finished learning about ants and read Hey Little Ant.

 I decided to make a little more detailed version of an idea I saw on  PeaceLoveKindergarten. I emailed them to find out how they would feel about me sharing my templates but I haven't heard back yet.

1.5 more days. Between baseball playoffs and report cards I am seriously behind in my blog reading. 

Is it weird that I am looking forward to summer so I can reconnect with you bloggers??

Metamorphosis Chorus

I hope you all had a terrific 3 day weekend! My son was in a tournament so mine was full of baseball, baseball, and more baseball!

We have been studying insects for 6 weeks. As a culminating activity of our insect unit we put on an event called the Metamorphosis Chorus. We perform 14 songs and poems in front of our parents.

The week before the big day, the students create their own special insect shirt.
1. One of our talented teammates does directed drawings with the kids of Eric Carle inspired insects.
2. The students pick their favorite drawing and parent volunteers trace their pencil lines with black sharpie.
3. Their drawing is taped on a a piece of cardboard and inserted into the shirt. The shirt is pulled tight (so black lines show through) and taped in the back.
4. Students use fabric markers to color in their design and puffy paint to outline, using the black lines as a guide.

Don't they turn out great?

I tried to get a shot of all 120 kids (4 classes) during the performance.

Here is my wild bunch. Don't they look angelic? HA!

 2.5 days to go!

Alphabet Songs

I just learned about Have Fun Teaching's alphabet songs and videos from Rowdy in Room 300. How did I not know about these before?

These would be terrific to use as a review in the beginning of first grade. The songs are catchy and I love that the videos include tracing the letter correctly in the air. I can't believe how many students form their letters incorrectly these days!!!! I am envisioning making up some motions to act out as we dance.

They also have counting and sight word videos! I was looking for a way to spice up our counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's practice!


And if you are a fellow blogger you can win a FREE Alphabet Videos download. You can learn about this giveaway by visiting Have Fun Teaching.

I need earplugs and FREEBIES!

Peeps, I have THE L-O-U-D-E-S-T class on the planet.

Since we finished our math series, we are rotating through some of our favorite games to review a variety of skills.

Bowling 10 Frames: A Number Sense Game

Place-Value Go Fish

Sweet Shop: A Coin Game

The Great Shape Race: A Plane and Solid Geometric Shape Game

Time Traveler

Puppy Patterns: A Spatial (Dot) Pattern Game

Prehistoric Place-Value

Counting Cows: 3 Skip Counting Games

Go Fish For Doubles *FREE*

Math Facts to use with Chutes and Ladders *FREE* click on the picture

And the favorite-Pet Shop *FREE*

I am seriously considering bringing in some ear plugs to get me through the remaining math periods but at least the kids are having fun while they learn.  Hope you enjoy the freebies. You can visit my TpT shop if you are interested in the others.


4.5 days and I am blogging instead of completing report cards. Bad teacher.

Border Tip

I have a quick tip for you today. Are you happy with how you store your bulletin board border? Wouldn't you like it to stay straight and be easy to access? Here is what I do:

All you need is a long closet, binder clips and these 3M Command hooks.

What do you think? Works great for me.