Groundhog Day is Coming!

Now that February is upon us, be sure to check out my

that is 25% off until February 1st!  It is jam packed with 30 'print and go' activities for all February holidays, themes and winter fun!

Today I started prepping for our Groundhog week of fun!

Our 'burrows' are ready!

 I cut part of the top of the bag off and then 'rolled' it down to look like the entrance to a burrow!
All the number, ten frame and sun/cloud cards are in the burrow.
I made number lines and put the sun/cloud on the 10 to help those students that need a visual cue.

Students will reach into the burrow, pull out the cards and sort!  I have a recording sheet for my more advanced kinders to fill out, as well!

They are going to have so much fun with this math center they will have NO idea they are actually working, practicing and learning!!! 

Leave me a blog post comment on what you think the groundhog will do this year and you could win this set for yourself!  I will choose a winner on Sunday evening!

Until next post,

Mother Nature Provided Us A Treat, Learning and Fun...Making SNOW Cream is SNOW much fun!!!

It was back to school today after a snow day!  I got into my classroom to find that a snow drift was over my window...how could I use all of this snow to my advantage??!!!

Hmmm...

SNOW CREAM!!!

Thanks to a stumble upon the recipe last night, I 'stocked' up on the ingredients I would need and was hoping to find that outside my classroom's back door would be fresh, 'chocolate chip & lemon syrup' free powdery snow...and I did!

This is the 'scene' outside my back door (that drift on the left- yes- it is OVER my classroom window)!  No need to store our milk needed for the recipe in the fridge- it was only 10 degrees outside today!  I stuck the bottle right in the snow and got the bowl filled with 12 cups of snow!

I was SO excited...I couldn't wait for them to come in and share what we would be doing for snack today!

We met in our meeting area and I told them...

TODAY WE ARE MAKING 'SNOW CREAM'- ICE CREAM MADE FROM SNOW!!

Immediately I hear 'NOW, THIS is the BEST DAY ever!'  We hadn't even made it yet!

We completed our math lesson and math centers and then it was snack time!!

Time to bring in the ingredients!

I tripled the recipe...so we had 12 cups of snow, 1.5c of milk, 3/4c of sugar and 3/4T vanilla!

First you mix the sugar and vanilla into the snow.

Then you add the milk and keep stirring until you get a 'soft ice cream like' consistency...which was just enough for EVERYONE to get their turn to 'churn' it!  We did have to add a tad more milk than what the recipe called for to get it to be 'just right!'

It was ready for taste testing!!!

I scooped it out into individual cups...

We added some sprinkles...

MMMmmmmmmm!!!! (I wish you could really see his eyes/expression as he ate this!!)

I have to say...it REALLY was the BEST ice cream I have ever had!  It tastes more like vanilla 'ice milk' (might be because I used skim milk rather than 2% or whole) but it was out-of-this-world delicious!!

So we took a vote to see...and to no surprise...

It was unanimous!  EVERYONE loved snow ice cream!!!

BUT that wasn't the only fun we had with the snow today!! 

How could I pass up a lesson temperature and water/ice?!!

So I filled 3 cups with snow at varying levels

And we made predictions as to which would melt the fastest...

And then we began tracking and recording what we saw happening!

This was after 10 minutes inside...

This is after 40 minutes inside...

After 1 hour inside cup 1 had completely turned to water...

After and hour and a half cup 2 was all water...

And after nearly 2 hours cup 3 had melted!

We talked about why it happened that way (cup 1 had the least amount of snow, cup 3 had the most) and then we did a 'reverse' experiment...

We put them BACK OUT in the snow/cold! 

I had them predict what would happen...

'they will freeze'

'cup 1 will freeze the quickest'

'cup 3 will take the longest'

After about 30 min outside cup 1 had froze and after about 2 hours all 3 were frozen solid...

And again we discussed WHY?

Cup 1 froze the fastest because it had the littlest water.

We also got into discussions about temperature at which water freezes, how the snow FILLED the cup, but the water/ice did not, etc!  They were so intrigued...my room was filled with 'excitement buzz' and 'chatter' all day long...but I didn't mind it at all!  Winter comes but once a year!

They are predicting more snow this weekend and early next week...looks like Mother Nature will be filling our bellies, minds and my planbook!

I sent each of my kids home with the recipe today because many of them tried to 'save' a bit to show their families!  Since it was so simple and did not really require a lot of ingredients, I figured maybe families would want to give it a whirl!  Here is the recipe 'card' for you, as well as the adorable penguin graphic we used on both graphs today!  It is from Scrappin Doodles and can be downloaded for free from her TPT store! The recipe comes in both English and Spanish since a majority of my students come from Spanish speaking homes.

If you are lucky enough to live/teach where you can make snow cream and decide to try it out, I would LOVE to hear all about it!

Now I am off to prep some Groundhog goodies for next week...we'll have to wait and see what HE decides winter should do!

Until next post,

Winter Sports Ordinal Numbers Freebie!

A highly televised Winter Sporting Event will be here soon!

It will be on TV for 2 weeks- and our students are sure to be talking all about it!

Maybe you are planning a unit to teach them about the different events?

What a perfect opportunity to weave in a lesson about ordinal numbers and/or ordering numbers!

My ordinal number games have been a hit in my classroom, that I made this Winter Sports theme version as a freebie exclusively for my blog fans!

Just click on the picture above and it will open in Google Docs.  Download, print, laminate and play!  It takes little to no prep but will be a 'fan favorite'!  You are sure to be a 'gold medal teacher' in your students eyes after playing this!

I have our sets (mitten, cookie jar and gumball) in our early finishers basket and it is the first 'go-to' for my kinders- many are choosing to play this as their 'free choice' activity too!  AND- it has helped us build partnerships and taking turns!

When we begin discussions about Winter Sports, this one will come on out!  I have it all set and ready to go!

And you can too....On your mark, get set....DOWNLOAD!!

Enjoy this freebie- comments left below are greatly appreciated and help me guide my future posts and freebies!

Till the next post,

Snow Day Catch Up! Writing Fun, Winter Centers and A Freebie for All!

Snow Day!!!  We got BLASTED with a storm yesterday.  This was the view from my classroom window just 1 hour into the storm!  A normal 20 min ride home was 1.5 hours!  So today is 'catch-up' and relax day!

My kinders are on the road to writing paradise!  It is finally time to break out and use 'The Author's Chair!'

My kinders LOVE when they get to sit in this chair!  I made it about 5 years ago and it is definitely one of the prized possessions of my classroom!  The power this little chair cover has is amazing!  It slips right over any chair back (like a pillowcase) but we mainly use it over my chair- the thrill of sitting in the teacher's chair is like no other!

And as we are writing more, it is time to work on spacing!  I have tried '2 finger space'- but my lefties have such a hard time with that!  'Space men' are so expensive to replace each year because magically they disappear faster than a plate of cookies!  So this idea came out of pure desperation!

Tongue depressor size popsicle sticks!!! 

I got a set of colored sticks, but I was thinking even with the 'plain' ones and the 'washi tape' craze we could make some fun ones this year!  It's the perfect amount of space needed for kinder writing...and SO inexpensive!!

So this week my kinders tried out our clipping and recording math center for more/less!

The students each had a set of 12 cards.  It was a mix of counting winter clothing objects, ID-ing numbers and reading a ten frame.  They would record the card number, count the 2 sides and write which had more/less and then would spin.  If it landed on 'more' they would clip the side with more- and then the same if they landed on 'less.'  I challenged some of my kids to also then mark/dot on the recording sheet to show which side they landed on/clipped.  

You can find the whole pack here, as well as a Valentine version:

My kids LOVE doing all types of 'clipping' activities- and this new one was no different!  If you haven't tried using clothespins for center activities, be sure to try out my winter syllables FREEBIE!

So what other fun centers are we working with this week?

Number Puzzles....but without starting at one this week!  I found my kids had no problem ordering numbers when they began at 1, but when I gave them a number other than 1, it was challenging!

But after we practiced a bit with laminated copies, it was time to try on their own...and they got it!

Want to try it with your kids?  

Here is a set of 3 'arctic animals themed' colored puzzles, a black and white set (with the numbers in order and a set with the numbers mixed up) and a blank template to guide students as they glue...for FREE!!!!

Print the colored sets on cardstock (I like to mark the back with a colored line across the whole paper so that I can easily find which piece belongs to which set when the pieces 'accidentally' get mixed up!) and then laminate.  Cut on the lines and place in a ziploc bag.  Place at a center and have students practice number ordering!  When they are ready, offer the black & white version (pick which works best for your students) for them to cut, order, glue and color!

And if they LOVE them, check out my new Valentine set!  I have them programmed with numbers 0-20 and also have blank editable puzzles so that you can program them to meet what your students are working on/need more practice!  

Speaking of animals...we are working with one of my favorite winter books this week....The Mitten  by Jan Brett!!!  We combined 'ordering numbers'/ordinal numbers with literacy and interactive writing to sequence the animals in the story!  

And then worked on 'reading' the names to match pictures of the animals!

Hopefully we can return to school soon so we can read a simpler version of the book and climb in the HUGE mitten!

We also tracked those famous animals around the room this week to record sight words and write CVC words!  We are also using Differentiation Station's 'Count the Room' mitten freebie!

If you are working on the same, or talking about winter clothing, feel free to use this poem I wrote to teach my kinders about winter clothes!  It goes to the tune of '10 Little Indians!'

WARNING:  It is catchy and will stay in your head all day...and night!!!

Phew...it feels so good to be caught up!  

Be sure to visit Teaching With Nancy for the Friday Freebie Link Up for more wonderful freebies!

And be on the lookout this weekend for my Valentine Roll, Say, Keep Numbers 1-20 for FREE in the Facebook Free-For-All Facebook Hop!

Here's just a little peek at all that you will score for free!

You can start the hop right on my Facebook page!

Be sure to 'like' my page so that you can get all the updates and notifications!

Hope you all stay warm and cozy!

Till next post!