Big Bunny of a Sale!


My 2 TpT stores are ON SALE, this fabulous Easter weekend!You will find EVERYTHING in my store reduced!Click HERE To find my Teaching Resources store and
HERE to find my Graphics and Clipart StorePlease add a link to your store or blog if you are having a sale this weekend also.

Bee in a Tree!


Here are some photos of some "Bees in Trees" that my daughter and I made this morning to road test the new 'Print Cut'n'Paste' in our TpT store.


You can find it HERE


It would be lovely to decorate your room for Spring or to link with an 'ee' phonics review.

Peas and Carrots - An Addition Game

 
Are you crazy for carrots at the moment? I am ALL about the carrot for some reason, and what goes better with carrots than peas?!

Today, I teamed them up in this activity to bring a healthy influence to your Easter and maths activities this week!

You can click on the image above and download the printable-pieces for this cute little addition activity FREE.



This activity will help your students see addition as two parts making a whole number. It is possible to play this game without printing a thing! Just use green and orange counters/chips and any existing numeral cards that you have in your classroom.
 
 
This is how my recent carrot obsession started around a month ago. LOVE!
 

And yesterday, I saw these plates on sale for $3 on sale.

These ones were too nice to pass up, they have cute little frogs on them!

If you don't have any - don't worry - I have included a 'printable plate' template in the file.
 
Print the peas, carrots and numeral cards in the file. I want this game for numbers up to 20 - but you can modify it for different needs in your classroom - go up to 30, or down to 10. I laminated mine.
 
 
Put the peas and carrots into a container. Any will do, but I HAD to use my carrot basket!
 
 
Ask your student to take a small handful from the basket. If you don't think your students could do this without a fuss, get them to roll a dice or spin a spinner to determine the number to take.

The student then sorts the peas and carrots onto their plate.
 
 
Finds the total, and labels it with a numeral card.
 
The student can then record the number sum on their worksheet!
 
Easy - PEAsy! He he!
 
 
If you need a cute and simple paper craft for Easter, I just listed this in our store today!
 
 
And a new addition to our Printable Writing Books set
 
 
We have listed all our titles so far, in a BIG BUNDLE, as so many people asked us to bundle them. I will continue to add all the new titles to this bundle.
 

Egg Smash Game!



This post is both delicious and fun!

I have made a print-and-play game that you can use with your students in the days leading up to Easter to work on addition.

I would save this for a special day - here in Australia most schools in my town have an "Easter Hat Parade" or "Easter Bonnet Parade" as they were called when I was at school. This day often incorporates other fun festivities with families visiting the school and sometimes a visit from the Easter bunny! It is not a game I would play regularly in the classroom. It may or may not be suitable for your school and/or students, you will be the best judge of that!

For this game you will need to print two pages from the FREE download here:

A4 Version

US Letter Version

You will notice I have made it very plain. This is both good for easy printing, and it can also become a colouring-in activity for your students if you have time!

You also need to gather
  1. A counter/chip for each player
  2. Two standard six sided dice (or other dice to suit your students)
  3. A delicious (and hollow) Easter egg!
  4. A toy hammer - for some egg smashing!
Students put their counter on any PLAIN space on the game board. It does not matter where they start. The game has no beginning and no end. Students keep moving clockwise around the game board until all the egg has been eaten!


Students roll two dice and add the numbers. If you are playing with very young students, just use one die and work on number recognition.

The total of the two dice represents the number of spaces that the student must move his/her chip around the board.

If a student lands on a 'smash' square - he/she can take the hammer and smash the egg. They get one hit - you will need to go through some rules of safe smashing before you begin. But don't worry, your students are going to play by the rules to stay in the game!

Clearly at the beginning of the game, the pieces created by the smash are going to be quite large, but as time goes on, and more smashes are made, the pieces in the egg are going to get smaller. You may want to rest your egg in a container.


The foil wrapper will contain some of the pieces early on in the game....


When a student lands on an Easter Bunny square, he/she can take ANY ONE piece of the egg that has been smashed to eat! The only rule is that it is only one piece and has to be the first piece that they touch.


YUM! Students continue to play until all the egg has been eaten.




When you print out the pages, you will notice that I have included a bleed - this means that the pages will overlap. My printer leaves a margin around the edge - so I needed to trim ONE of the pages to the edge left by the printer (you will easily see this where the edge of the lines stop).

Draw a line...


Trim this ONE edge off so that it can be easily lined up with the lines on the 2nd page. Paste it down.


And you will have a jumbo sized game board! Have fun adding and smashing!

Frog Pond Emergent Number Game


This is a super easy and fun game for your emergent/perceptual number group.
It is great for counting and early addition/subtraction.

You just need a packet of toy frogs and a little blue dish. I buy about 6 packets of these little plastic dishes at the beginning of the school year. You can pick them up for $1 or $2 for a set of 6. They are very handy for maths games, art and craft activities and providing a place for cards and equipment in games and activities.


Tell your small group of students that 6 frogs (or another number) are in the pond today...


Tell them to close their eyes. Flip the pond and leave 2 (or another number) out on top of the dish.


Ask the students to work out how many frogs are still in the pond.

Some students will need help to count, or may require a number line/chart to assist. ENCOURAGE strategies such as counting-on and counting-back.


If you like, you can get your students to discuss the frogs after each round of the game and record their findings on this worksheet. You can download it for free from google drive!


I told you it was simple! But I promise your little learners will love it!



Carrot Crunch


I found these super cute mini carrot containers today, and HAD to do something with them!

Pop two dice inside - instant dice shaker!

Instead of rolling two dice, students can shake these and see what numbers are on display.


You can download 'Carrot Crunch' for free at TeacherspayTeachers HERE




Your students will add two dice numbers and cover the answer on their game board. The mini carrot container is optional!

You can play it in three levels to challenge different abilities in your classroom
  1. Add two dotted dice (students that need to see dots/objects to add)
  2. Add one numeral dice with a dotted dice, add the dots to the numeral, encourage counting from the numeral (students that are ready to learn 'counting-on')
  3. Add two numeral dice (Students that are using advanced strategies for adding)

Keep the pieces together in a tub ready for your math groups.


Here is the packet of carrot containers I found at the dollar shop.

Talking to Parents

Firstly a HUGE welcome and thank you to my new followers, I have seen many people start following us in the last few weeks. I appreciate each and every one of  you.

This post has been motivated by quite a few conversations I have had in the last month, with my 'parent' hat on. The conversations I have had are private, but I can tell you that they focused on how teachers speak to parents and how information is delivered.

It is always insightful for me to be a part of these conversations as I can get a glimpse of life on the other side of the classroom door.

I realise that this information, for most of my followers and friends in the teacher-blogging world, will not be needed or new. It is nothing earth-shatteringly new. It is basic and practical. I am hoping however, that if a new teacher stumbles upon this post, it may help them in future conversations with parents...

Talking to parents can be difficult. Sometimes you do it on the run, at the classroom door, after a long day with two duties and no lunch break. You have 20+ children to think about. Life in the classroom is very busy. Sometime we forget that we need to be sensitive and think about how our information is received by others. I always have a million things on my mind at work. It's part of the job. It NEVER ends. So, I like to set up frameworks in my mind to deal with the many situations that arise.

I like to think about the information I give parents in a 3 step structure.

I make sure I include the following steps when I am talking to parents. I don't read it out like a list, but in  my mind I am mentally checking each part as I include it.

1. Describing behaviour I see and can observe (e.g. I have noticed that your child is having difficulty writing his name)
2. Describing first what I AM DOING in the classroom to address what I have noticed (e.g. I have modified all our worksheets to include a dotted name for him to trace)
3. Suggesting how the parent could help at home (e.g. It would really help if you could spend a few minutes each night practising - just talking about the letters in his name and writing them in water on the tiles in the bathroom when it is bath time will help).

 
This framework has always helped to make sure that the parent understands that I am aware of her child's needs, that I have started to work towards helping and that I need them to help in the process. I find it really helps to explain what I am doing as a teacher. It is not beneficial to have a parent walk away from the school feeling that their child is struggling and that they are alone in the problem.
 
I would love to hear your ideas about feedback and conversations to parents (and carers) as well!


Find the GOLD

To help with your March planning, I have made a St Patrick's Day Shake Up resource.

It's free for being one of my most treasured blog readers!


This file includes 5 print-and-play number games. They will help your students with numbers, counting, addition and subtraction.

All you need to add is an egg carton for each one and some counters/chips/plastic gold coins. To prepare them - you need glue and scissors.


Glue the cover label on top of a clean empty egg carton.


Cut and glue your numbers inside the carton.


To play - place a counter (a gold coin to go with the St Paddy's theme) inside the carton. And shake baby shake!

Your students will need to use the number that the counter lands on, in a range of activities (depending on the instruction on the top label of the game).

Grab it from Google Drive HERE

Order Apples Up On Top!


Make addition and counting fun for students with "Apples on Top" Play Dough Mats!

Laminate these easy-prep mats to provide a motivating learning experience for your students with an 'apples' theme.

As well as using play dough, you could also use dry erase markers or tokens/chips to play with these game boards!

Students roll play dough balls to make additional apples to machete total written on each card. They can put them 'up on top'!

This activity is encouraging many dough skills that will help your students five motor strength.

This packet includes 47 mats and range from totals between 2 and 10.

We have lots of fun activity mats to use with play dough, equipment and dry erase markers - check them out in our TpT store HERE

Speaking of 'apples on top' - you may also like this fun worksheet for your little mathematicians. They can cut and paste the apples in order from largest to smallest.


Find it in Google Drive: Apple Ordering Worksheet 

Hop through our blog to find lots more apple ideas, activities, resources, games and printables!