Tens and Ones - Puzzles and A FREEBIE!

• CCSS.Math.Content.K.NBT.A.1 Compose and decompose numbers from 11 to 19 into ten ones and some further ones, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record each composition or decomposition by a drawing or equation (such as 18 = 10 + 8); understand that these numbers are composed of ten ones and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, or nine ones.

These standards are soooo wordy.  Sheesh.  Anyway, kindergarteners at my school are all working on ^ that standard.  All about tens and ones.  They need PRACTICE, PRACTICE, AND MORE PRACTICE on this standard.  Since we have done a lot of activities about tens and ones, I wanted something that was a bit of an overview for this standard.  I decided to create some number puzzles.

This is a set of puzzles for the numbers 10 through 20. Each puzzle consists of five pieces. The middle piece is the number. Then around the middle piece are four different pieces, each representing the number in a different way: ten frames, ten sticks and ones, 10 + whatever number, and then tally marks.  I am really excited to use this with my kids at school!  I think they are going to love them.  If you're interested in the pack yourself, it is only $1.50 at my TpT store.  Click the picture above to check them out.

Like I said, we have done A LOT OF tens and ones activities:  we have done manipulatives, we have done cut and paste, and I just wanted a plain, old worksheet that would help me assess and see who really understands this concept. So, I created this and decided to offer it as a FREEBIE as well.  :)  

Click on the picture to grab your freebie!  If you download it, please leave me some feedback.  I really appreciate your thoughts and opinions on my stuff.  

Happy Friday!  Have a great weekend!

Valentine's Day Giveaway!

Remember the Valentine's Day Giveaway I was telling you about before?  IT IS NOW LIVE!  It's my very first giveaway, and Kelsea over at Teacher Gems did a FANTASTIC JOB of putting all of it together.  There is something for all elementary teachers and even some middle school teachers - EVERY GRADE K TO 8!   There are 3 Valentine's themed prize packs in this giveaway. The first prize pack includes products for grades K-2 (21 prizes valued at $75). The second prize pack includes 21 products for grades 3-5 (valued at about $60). The third prize pack includes 22 products for grades 6-8 along with some clip art and a $10 winner's choice item (over $65 in prizes).  

Head over to Kelsea's page to enter any or all of the giveaways!  Good luck!  (Although, I am actually planning on entering myself.....hey, I can't help it, there's a lot of really good stuff in there.)  

Oh, and the winners will be announced on February 5th!  Can't wait.  :)


What are you doing still reading this?!  Go enter!

Sequential Writing

The common core standards for writing in kindergarten everything are pretty in tense.  First of all, they are super wordy, so it always takes me at least two reads to understand the standard.  You'd think if  they expect us to keep all of these standards in our heads as we teach every day, they would want them to be simpler and a little more to the point.  But, I guess they want to be absolutely sure everyone understands the standard the same way....I get it.  It is just annoying a little bit frustrating.

Anyway, I am trying to make sure I hit all of the writing common core standards right now, and I feel like my students are lacking in W.K.3.  And I know you all probably have it memorized, but just in case you forgot a few words, here it is:

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.K.3 Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened.

Basically, it's sequential writing (and, yes, adding detail to each event).  I looked around for some organizers that I liked for kindergarten and couldn't really find much, so I made some of my own.  I think they turned out pretty good and I am excited to use them with my kinders in the next couple of weeks.  Want to see????  Well, I am not smart enough to paste pictures of the organizers themselves, so you are going to have to venture over to my TpT store to check out the actual pages...I can only post the picture of the cover.  I know, convenient, right?

Click the picture to head over to my store to check out the organizers.  I hope you find them helpful.  I'll let you know how they go. 

Our 10,000th Day Without Outside Recess...

Okay, okay, so it hasn't been 10,000 days since we've had recess (especially since yesterday was the 100th day of school...), but it SURE FEELS LIKE IT.  My kids are way out of whack, and I think they are going a little stir crazy.  I am thinking that tomorrow we will get to go back outside - HOORAY!!! It will be cold, but it will be totally worth it!

I thought today might be an appropriate day to share some of my favorite brain break stuff that helps get all of the wiggles and ants in the pants out...at least temporarily.  I use my projector almost every day for at least one brain break, and I rely on YouTube a lot.  Here is a list of my FAVORITE BRAIN BREAKS!

Numbers in the Teens is a catchy song that my kids love to sing along with and wiggle with.  Plus, it's a sneaky way to get kids to remember to put the 1 FIRST when they write their teen numbers.  It really does help!

Harry Kindergarten's I Can Count to 100 is a great sing along that I let the kids stand up to sing/dance to as they count.  Even though most of my kids have no problem counting to 100, this is still a great brain break song and it allows those kids who cannot yet count to 100 practice without being singled out.

MY KIDS LOOOOOOOOVVVVVVEEEEEE THIS SONG!  Honestly, they love all of the just dance videos, but for some reason this is like their all-time favorite.  It is so catchy....it does tend to get stuck in my head, but it doesn't bother me...I kinda like it, but let's just keep that on the DL. ;)

The Hamster Song is another goodie that they always love. It is cute and fun - half of my kids are convinced the song is in another language though...

I also really like silent follow the leader (mostly because it gives me a few moments where literally NO ONE IS TALKING - I mean, how often does that happen?).  This is when the kids spread out and do what I do.  The only rule?  NO TALKING.  I like to do all kinds of different things.  Raise my hands, spin around, jumping jacks, act like I'm riding a roller coaster, turning myself (and everyone else) into teapots, and patting my head while rubbing my belly and then SWITCHING!  :)  My kids are getting really good at that....too bad that's not something we test...  I would show major growth.  

Well, I hope wherever you are it is warming up to and you will have OUTDOOR RECESS tomorrow!  If not, maybe you can use some of my favorite brain breaks to give you your kids a mental break!  Happy hump day! 

100th Day and Preparing for Valentine's Day

Hip, hip, hooray!  We made it to 100th day!  Wow, I cannot believe it has already been 100 days.   And to be honest, we've had so many two hour delays lately....it seems funny to call it the 100th day.  Anyway, today was a BLAST!  My kids had so much fun showing off their 100 collections, making a 100th day snack, and creating a 100th day crown.  My 100th day ideas are not MY ideas...they are a collection of favorite activities I have found from others throughout the past couple of years.  I will do my best to show you my favorite activities and give credit where credit is due!

The 100th day crown came from Fran Kramer at Kindergarten Crayons.  She has great ideas for the 100th day of school, but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE making this crown with my kids.  This is my second year to use it, and they just turn out so darn cute.  I wish I would have taken some pictures of my kids today but my room was total choas  a little crazy at the end of the day...  Anyway, here are Fran's crowns.

Aren't they ADORABLE?!!!  They truly are.  :)  Click the picture above to head over to her blog and get your own copy.

The 100th day snack came from Little Miss Kindergarten.  She has an adorable, free printable that is perfect for letting students mix their own 100th day snack.  I personally have the kids fill it out first, and we count to 100 by tens.  I then give each of my students has their own Ziploc bag.  The students rotate (teacher directed) to each table where there are two bowls of different snacks and count out ten of each snack.  (Oh, yeah, and this is after A LOT of rules and procedures...and a lot of reminders not to lick your fingers...) After the students are done, they EAT their 100 items!  :)  The kids LOVE getting to make their own snack.  So fun!

Click the picture above to go to Little Miss Kindergarten's TpT page and grab a copy for yourself!

I also used a few printables from Mrs. Jones' Creation Station's 100th Day of School Pack.  We would have done more, but that two hour delay really got in the way.  Anyway, you should check out her pack - it's great!

Click the picture above to check out her pack.  I promise, you won't be disappointed!  :)

Okay, with all of these two hour delays and STILL HAVING TO BE AT WORK AT THE SAME TIME, I have been planning pretty far ahead.  I am getting my stuff ready for Valentine's Day.  One of the standards we are working on right now is CCSS.Math.Content.K.NBT.A.1....you know, the one's about tens and ones?  

If you don't know, this is what it actually says:

 Compose and decompose numbers from 11 to 19 into ten ones and some further ones, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record each composition or decomposition by a drawing or equation (such as 18 = 10 + 8); understand that these numbers are composed of ten ones and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, or nine ones.

Man, that's soooo wordy.  Anyway, I wanted to create a Valentine's themed center for my kids to work on tens and ones....so in my extra two hours of prep this morning, that's what I did!

Here it is....there are 22 pages and it's only $1.00.  If you're interested, hop over to my TpT store and check it out.  If you download it, please leave me some feedback.  I really value your opinions - they help me get better!  Thanks!

Click on the picture to check it out.  While you're there, you might want to checkout my freebies page...I have spent TONS of time updating them.  Have a great evening!

My FIRST Giveaway

Holy moly, I am participating in my first giveaway!  I am so nervous excited about it!  Luckily, someone else is having the giveaway (I have NO idea how to even go about having a giveaway yet).  :)  Kelsea over at Teacher Gems is heading up the giveaway, and, man, does she have some GREAT products to give away.   It is a Valentine's Day giveaway, and there is something for every grade from K to 8!  There one pack for 6-8, one pack for 3-5, and one pack for us younger grades, K-2.  And each pack is ENORMOUS.  They are each filled with wonderful, festive materials that are perfect for this time of year.  Want to see what's in the pack?  Click here to check out all three packs!

I am giving away my Conversation Hearts Word Family Sort, which I will be using the next couple of weeks as a center in my own classroom.  Please check it out on TpT.  :)  

The giveaway will be held from January 31st until February 4th.   The winner will be announced on February 5th.  I hope you all enjoy the giveaway, and GOOD LUCK!  :) 

Brrr!

We have already had two, two hour delays for this week...and we are going to have another one tomorrow!  All because of the cold weather.  The wind chill was nearly -20 degrees today!  Holy cow, it was cold.  It was the kind of cold where you go outside and it takes your breath away.  I felt so bad for my little kinders waiting for the buses, even if it was a couple of hours later.  The wind chill was still way below freezing.  All these two hour delays are adding up though...I'm afraid we are going to start forgetting things!  And next week is supposed to be just as cold....ANDDDDDDDD it's still January.  I think this winter is going to be a rough one.  

Actually, my kinders are doing really well.  I am surprised with how they are sounding out words, learning their sight words, really writing sentences and sort-of stories, and starting to do addition.  Bottom line:  I'm impressed with my class this year.  :)  They are just so smart. :D

I am doing a lot of spiraling in my centers this year, and it is really paying off.  So although we hit patterns pretty hard at the beginning of the year, I am planning on going back and having them do some independent practice as a center (they will only do it once - my centers are set up so that they only do one center per day for a total of five math centers throughout the week).  We do large group instruction and independent practice as well, as part of our curriculum.  

Anyway, I decided to spruce up my pattern cut and paste activities and reload them on TpT.  If you purchased my old set, please go download the new one.  You will get a few more cut and paste activities.  I am planning on just doing the review one since we are all pretty good at patterns, but there are six pages to choose from.  :) 

Click here to check them out.  

If you download, please leave some feedback to help me out!  Thanks so much!  Enjoy!