Number of the Day - Updated & An Update!

Hi Everyone,

It really has been forever since we have last blogged.  Sometimes life gets in the way and you just can't do everything that you would like to do, and something has to give.  Fortunately we are back and we are updating our older products and in the process of creating new products (especially Canadian based)!  This has been so exciting for us coming up with fresh and new ideas that we hope you will find useful for your classroom.

For a quick personal update - we both have made grade changes and now we are teaching kindergarten and grade one!  This has provided us with many opportunities to come up with new and creative ideas to suit the new grade levels we teach.

Most recently our Number of the Day product has been updated (so if you have purchased it already please re-download).  Included are four different versions of Number of the Day that you can use with younger learners.  These versions have been tried and tested in my kindergarten classroom with success!  These versions also allow for differentiation for many different learners. My goal in updating this product was to allow you to find the best Number of the Day that suits you and your learners' needs.  We hope that you love the additions and find them useful in your classroom.

If feels so good to be back blogging again!

Favourite Find This Summer!

Favourite Find This Summer!

One of my favourite things to do is to peruse through the children’s books at the local bookstore. I am happy to find a comfy spot (or not so comfy spot) as usually I end up sitting on the floor, while reading through a stack of books. This absolutely is a favourite hobby of mine. It’s even better when it includes coffee and Lauren’s company.
This summer, I came across the most adorable and perfect book, Ralph Tells A Story, by Abby Hanlon. I can’t wait to read this book to my new batch of grade 2’s in September. I hope they will find it as inspiring as I did and can’t wait to see what stories they will tell as they become independent writers.

~Jeanine :)

Spring Art & Homemade Water Colour Test

Well here it is everybody!  I finally completed my homemade marker water colour test with our spring art that we did this past week.  Let's start from the beginning.  For my spring art this year I had my students draw their spring flower with pencil on 90 weight water colour paper (I cut it in half).  They then coloured their flower with oil pastels.  When this was done students painted over their flowers with water colours.  Before the paint dried we put coarse salt all over the paper which gives the background quite a neat looking texture.

 

I then decided to try the same art with my homemade water colour markers.  I have to admit I didn't think it was really going to look all that great, but I have to say that I am pretty impressed with the results. It is a bit lighter then I would have preferred but I believe that if I soak more markers in one jar maybe the colour might get more vibrant.  That will be an experiment for another day! FYI the coarse salt also seemed to work its magic on the marker water colour.   See the pictures below for the results:

     
             Water Colour Paint Used                                      Homemade Marker Water Colour Used

Happy spring!

Lauren :)

Pinterest Tested - Water Colours!

A sweet colleague of mine was recently visiting my classroom and noticed my students throwing out our dried out markers.  She told me to stop immediately.  She said that she read on Pinterest that you could make water colours very easily out of dried out markers and water.  Well since I am so frugal and love Pinterest I thought I NEED to try this.  I immediately hit up the sight and found the link.  I was a bit skeptical at first but my goodness gracious we made water colours!!!  And we are now addicted to making marker water colours!!

Here is the original link I found: http://amanda0480.blogspot.ca/2011/05/recycling-old-and-crusty.html

All I did was use one marker and I stuck it in a small amount of water in a baby food jar.  I left it for about 4 days and when the kids and I tried it out they worked like a charm!  The colours aren't as deep as food colouring or actual water colours but for the frugal teacher this is a pin win!  I am heading to Michaels this weekend to get some good quality water colour paper and will post pictures of our marker water colours this week!

Lauren :)

Day of Pink!

Hi Everyone!!!

It feels so good to be back!  Seriously, long time no blog :(.  On another note, tomorrow our school is celebrating the Red Cross Day of Pink.  If you have never heard of this day please read the excerpt following this blog post.  In response to the Day of Pink I wanted to create a bulletin board that celebrated what makes us special.  I used the book The Best Part of Me by Wendy Ewald as a springboard for a writing activity.  Students were asked to choose their favourite part about themselves - it could be absolutely whatever they wanted.  They then had to write about it.  Check out their sweet work below.

 

It`s a quick post tonight!  I am off to paint my nails pink to go all out for Day of Pink tomorrow.  I can't wait to see the whole school in their Day of Pink 2013 shirts!  It is going to be a fantastic day full of meaningful activities.

 

   

 

 

 

I will be back soon, I promise!  I am going to document my poetry writing adventures with my students on here very soon.

Lauren :)

Red Cross Day of Pink

April 10, 2013

 

Wear the Shirt. Be the Difference.

The Canadian Red Cross Day of Pink is an initiative that provides students, staff and the larger community with the opportunity to discuss the impact of bullying and to learn how they can use their power to help create a safe and respectful school environment. On April 10, 2013, students, staff and community members wear pink shirts in solidarity to show that they are taking a stand against bullying.

How did it get started?
It started in 2007 when two high school students in Nova Scotia took a stand against bullying in their school. The students asked all of their peers to wear pink to school after they heard a male classmate had been bullied for wearing a pink shirt. To continue the momentum, the Canadian Red Cross Day of Pink campaign brings together schools and communities to wear the shirt and stand together against bullying.

Christmas Concert Hoopla, Elf on the Shelf and Winter Math!

Hello Everyone!!!

I don't know about you all but it is so crazy around our school.  We are in full Christmas force.  Our Christmas concert is next week and we have been busy preparing decorations for the concert as well as practicing our songs that we are singing.  I have to say though I just love this time of the year.  The building feels like a different place - LOVING the Christmas spirit.

My class created shaving cream/glue snowman for our concert.  We are performing Melton the Warm-Hearted Snowman and the little snowmen they created couldn't be cuter.  I found this fantastic idea at this blog!

Guess who arrived from the north pole this week?  Buddy our Elf on the Shelf!! The kids are super excited to see where he is going to be hiding each day.  They are convinced that he sometimes moves his eyes and legs.  This is the first year I have ever done Elf on the Shelf with my kids and so far it has been so much fun!  To see the joy on their faces when we opened our present from the north pole was priceless.  As is the enthusiasm each morning to see who can find Buddy first!

I also have created a Winter Math product that I think you will really love.  It includes a lot of useful printables for this time of the year with a wintery theme:

1) Greater Than/Less Than - 2 pages
2) Odd and Even Numbers - 2 pages
3) Snowman Measurement - 2 pages (one in inches, one in centimetres)
4) Count and Graph - 1 page
5) Ordering Numbers - 2 pages
6) Skip-counting - 2 pages
7) Winter Patterns - 2 pages (one page is the answer key)
8) Winter Addition - 3 pages (3 different strategies)
9) Winter Subtraction - 2 pages (2 different strategies)
10) Equality and Inequality - 1 page
11) Winter Symmetry - 1 page
12) Ten Frames - 6 pages (3 different themes, one colored page, one black and white page)
13) My Winter Problem Solving Booklet - (13 winter word problems included. All problems vary between change, compare, equalize and combine word problems).

 

You can check it out at our Teachers Pay Teachers or Teachers Notebook shop!

Lauren :)

Remembrance Day Sweetness

I know that this post is a little late, but it is just too sweet not to share.  For Remembrance Day my classroom really focused on peace and what peace means to each of us.  Using Todd Parr's The Peace Book and pages from our Remembrance Day product these are some of the sweet creations that my little ones came up with:

(Love the peace blanket!)

(Peace is having a nap, keeping the roads clean, being kind, saying sorry)

 

Also, just a reminder that all of our products in our TPT shop are on sale for Cyber Monday and bonus Tuesday.  Use the promo code CMT12 at checkout to get an extra 8% off our discounted products!  As well, our Teacher`s Notebook products are 25% off until tomorrow.  You also get an extra 10% off at TN at checkout!

Happy shopping friends!

Lauren :)