November, Turkeys and FREEBIES, Oh My!

Oh how I LOVE this time of year.

Routines are in place, rotations are abounding, readers are blooming...

But most of all it leads to fun themed filled learning experiences. 

Let's talk Turkey!

Decorations:

My team and I turkey'fied' our hall this past week.

We each took a different color feather and had our kiddos trace their hands. 

We change out our picture each month and this month WE are in the Turkey's roasting pan! AH!

Math:

We've been putting our addition and subtraction knowledge together to make fact families. We created fact family turkeys. The numbers to make up the family are on the turkey's head and his tail feathers are actually the facts!

Here's a little extra practice we do with dominoes...

{Click on the picture to download the FREEBIE}

Phonics/Spelling:

To review blends I give each student 4 feathers and have them look through their books in their book boxes for words that have that  blend in them. They record the words on the feathers, I have them read me their words, they outline with marker and create a turkey with them!

{Find the FREE template here from Cara Carroll}

Writing:

Alliterations, or tongue twisters, are one of the most fun things to teach!

Kids love them and what they come up with is even better.

You really get to see how creative firsties can be!

To start this activity, we first brainstorm a list of "T" words.

 

Each students has to do the following:

1. Name their turkey with a "T" name

2. Give their turkey an action

Here is my example I share with the class:

Student work:

"Teddy the turkey threw the tiger at the teacher."

We obviously LOVE turkeys!

Ho, Ho, Ho...I'm ahead of the game!

Ho, Ho, Ho! It's almost that time of year and these new math center activities are filled with cheer! I could not be more excited to post my first unit for the month of December. I l.o.v.e the feeling of being just a little bit ahead of the game! I spent 7 hours (yes 7) today gathering ideas and putting them all together. I've found that the units I have bought in the past always seem to have an activity or 2 in them that I haven't taught yet, and therefore don't use with my kiddos.  So, I thought I would sell each activity independently and then also as a whole unit. That way you don't feel like you are wasting your money on things you won't use : ) 

Here are all 4 activities bundled into 1 Christmas themed math centers unit. Check it out in my TPT store or by clicking the picture below!

 

This holiday math center packet includes the following:

*Christmas Geometry--students will follow the directions to put shapes together to make either a reindeer or a Christmas tree.

 

  *Even or Odd present sort--students will sort the presents and place them under the Christmas tree labeled 'odd' or 'even'. #s 11-50 are included.

 

*Gingerbread Fact Families--students will choose 3 dominoes and record the 2 parts.  They will add the parts together to get the whole and record.  They will make the corresponding fact family. There is also a gingerbread template for them to generate their own numbers, record, and color/decorate.

 

*Santa's Shape Stumpers--students will read the shape clues on the Santa card and find the card with the shape that matches.



***Each activity comes with a recording sheet. ***

 

I'm off to enjoy just a little bit more football before the week begins. It would be the icing on the cake to a PERFECT football weekend if our hometown boys could pull off yet another win.

Our Aggies BTHO #1 ranked Alabama, WHOOP!

So, let's go Texans!

 

I will be giving one of the activities {of your choice} from my Ho, Ho, Ho! Holiday Math Centers to the first person who leaves me a comment!

 

I am SO thankful to have 5 days left before Thanksgiving break. Hope you have a gobblin' good week!

 



It's Thanksgiving on TPT!

November is here and in full swing! I'm rolling out my TPT store this week with a new literacy and social studies unit, "It's Thanksgiving!".  This unit includes some great resources to keep your kiddos busy for the next few days before Thanksgiving break.

 

 

It includes the following:

-Turkeys can/have/are organizer

- Children then vs. now Venn diagram

-Describing Pilgrims bubble map

-Describing Native Americans bubble map

-Making words with 'pilgrims'

-Making words with 'turkeys'

-Making singular nouns plural (with Thanksgiving words)

-Thanksgiving ABC order

-'If you give a pilgrim a pie....' creative writing activity to go along with If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

 

 

Take a little peek at what you get below!

 

This week we are reviewing addition, subtraction, and fact families. I made this cute little math activity for my firsties to work on one day this week. All you need is a set of dominos and this FREEBIE! Students will choose 3 dominos, add the 2 parts together to make the whole, record the 3 numbers and then write a fact family using those numbers. Easy peasy! Click on the picture to download this activity!

 

Since my birthday is tomorrow and I'm feeling a little generous, I'm going to be giving away my It's Thanksgiving! unit to the first 2 people who leave me a comment with their email telling me their favorite part about the Thanksgiving holidays!

Don't forget to check out my new TPT store! There are a few freebies on there too : )