Summer, Summer, Summertime! Time to sit back and....grab some Freebies :)

Hi guys! Jessica here from Pride and Primary. I'm excited to be back blogging on the Punchbowl today. Can you believe it's already April? Honestly, where has this school year gone? 

We've only got 35 days left. 

Of school. 

35. 

That's it. 

*mini heart attack**

And moving on. 

So I thought I would share some of the end of the year things I do in my classroom. I know that many of you don't get out until June, but I'm thinking that will be here before we know it. No time like the present to get things ready and organized. And give you some freebies!

This is the countdown we use! Everyday, we change the number. I've 24 students in my class and once we get to 25 days left, I let the students start keeping the countdown. I put the blank background in a page protector/dry erase board and hang it up. 

Click {HERE} for a copy!

This has to be my favorite. I have 10 envelopes and 10 slips inside. The slips are very simple things that can be done each of the last 10 days of school. 

Extra Recess Day

Move your Seat Day

Movie Day!

Ink Pen Day!

Markers Day!

Hat Day!

Stuffed Animal Day!

Aloha Day!

Shoes Off Day!

Lunch with a Friend Day!

I open a new envelope at the start of each day. It's so simple and the kids LOVE it! Movie Day and Aloha Day are usually our very last two days. Most of the end of year stuff is done (and a lot already go on vacation) so we spend an entire day watching movies and doing other fun stuff. Aloha Day is our end of the year party. We always have a luau! 

Click {HERE} for the pre-made slips.

And here is my newest summer creation. It's a Summer Fun Finder Flap Book. 

I am offering this flap book EXCLUSIVELY to readers of The Primary Punchbowl :) I will eventually upload it to my TpT Store but I want you to have first dibs. 

The Word List is editable. 

The family fun list is editable (not the QR Code). 

All of the summer sites are editable - change out the QR Codes or delete them and just add what you want!

Two bingo boards - one road trip (not editable)

Summer Bingo is editable

Coloring page and brag tags (not editable)

But you can delete my brag tags and add your own or change this flap altogether. 

All of the labels on the flaps can bee changed, too, as well as the fonts. All you have to do is print it out, copy it double sided, stagger it, and fold it over. Staple it and it's done!

Easy Peasy! <-- Click to download! (it's a ZIP file, save to your computer and unzip)

Here is a super quick video showing how to put it together: 

Another one of my favorite end of the year activities is one that my principal gives to us. We always have an end of the year party that's themed. Last year it was Academy Awards. The year before it was Fabulous Fruit.

We got to walk the red carpet last year. So fun! I can't wait til this year!

That's all I have this time! I really do hope the end of the school year is fabulous for you and I hope I've given you some doable ideas! 

Have a great April!

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Sounds of Spring

Hooray!  Spring is just around the corner!  I'm sure those of you who have had to brave the cold and snow are excited for warmer days.  Here in Northern California, we are finally getting some much needed rain.  I absolutely love spring time in the classroom.  My Kinders have routines and procedures down, they are so much more capable, and we really get to enjoy some exciting themes during this time of year.

Teaching the seasons is a big deal in Kindergarten.  This can be a challenging task where we live (especially trying to really explain winter!).  Luckily, there are some amazing resources out there to help us out.

One of my absolute favorite resources in the classroom is BrainpopJr.  We are lucky enough to have a school site subscription and I use it all the time!  This video helps to explain the season of spring in a very kid appropriate way.

There are some beautiful and super fun books for spring.  Here are some of my personal favs:

    

Last year, I picked up Everything Spring by Jill Esbaum from Scholastic.  It is a National Geographic Kids book and is an amazing combination of real photographs and poetic language.  

After reading the book, we brainstorm a list of spring sounds.  I love what the kids come up with each year.

After our brainstorm, each child writes and illustrates a page for our class book.

"Spring sounds like baby birds chirping for worms.  It is soothing."

Want to try this with your class?  You can grab the writing page and cover for a class book in my TpT shop for FREE!  Just click the image below.

What are some of your favorite activities for spring?

Happy Spring!

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Candy Hearts Science Lab

Happy Valentine's week, friends!  It's Elisabeth from Literacy and Lattes here to share a some of the Valentine's fun that will be happening in my classroom this week.  You're probably already planning on sorting candy hearts, right?  Keep the fun going with these little science labs. 

You'll need candy hearts, 4 cups, vinegar, salt, baking soda, water and a spoon for mixing. 

Fill one cup with water and a tablespoon-ish of salt.  One with water and about a tablespoon of vinegar and another with water and tablespoon of baking soda.  The fourth cup is filled with only water. 

Add a candy heart to each of the cups.  We decided to make sure we used the same color in each for the "most accurate" results. Little scientists are very serious about making sure their research is carried out appropriately!  ;)  Don't forget to write your hypothesis and predict what will happen to each of the hearts. 

Let your hearts soak for about 15 - 20 minutes and observe what happens. 

Right away you can see some good bubble action as the air makes it's way out of the candy. 

While we wait, we wanted to answer the age old question: Do the different colors of candy hearts actually taste different?



We did a very scientific blind taste test.  Cover your eyes and hold out your hand so your partner can give you a candy heart.  Eat it and guess the color.  Then you partner confirms the actual color.  You can find this taste test freebie here. 

Revisit your hearts and document your results. 

I actually got different results using two different brands of candy hearts, which was surprising. 

With Necco Sweathearts pictured here, all four hearts basically dissolved and turned the water blue.  In the salt water cup, you could see little pieces of the red words floating at the top of the water, along with the little cluster of dissolved sugar.  

salt water                                                 vinegar water

water                                                   baking soda water

After we looked at and compared the four cups, we scooped out the hearts and compared them to the control (un-soaked heart).

Using a different brand of candy hearts (I have no idea which kind since I didn't save the bag) at school, we got some different results.  

 

Salt water dissolved some, the heart in vinegar water didn't even change the color of the water...

and baking soda water was floating!!  I'd love to tell you I understand the difference between the two kinds of hearts, but I have no idea!

You can grab my lab booklet here. 

I hope you have a "wicked cool" Valentine's Day with your kiddos! 



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Do You Want to Build a Snowman? Practicing Place Value!

Hi friends! Jessica here from Pride and Primary! I hope everyone is having a fantastic start to the year. It has been so relaxing for me and I've been able to get a lot of things mapped out and ready for the year. 2016 is going to be amazing!

Have you seen this little gem floating around Social Media? It's so inspiring and I just love to give a shout out to all my fabulous punchies and fellow teachers out there!

Today I just wanted to share a simple little activity I created for my kiddos to kind of sum up our unit on place value and regrouping. Plus it's super adorable!

I needed a review activity for our Numbers to 120 unit and I needed to update the hallway because I am neither confirming nor denying that there may or may not have still had Christmas themed stuff out there. (Maybe, who can tell right?) So I made this! 

With this activity the kids can create a snowman by choosing a two or three snowball snowman, a scarf, and two or three buttons. Each addition has a value of tens or ones. They add them all together and show the total value of their snowman! 

I've included a recording page and a page to hang in the hallway with the snowman. 

Click HERE to grab this! 

I also created a QR code scavenger hunt scoot for early finishers to begin once they finished with this little activity. It was a review of all the topics we learned in the unit. 

I know you just love my photography skills. I'm the next Ansel Adams. 

Recording Page 

This one is more Annie Leibovitz, right? 

I tape the cards all over the room in different areas. 

They scan the codes, read the clue, and then they have to go off and find the answer! And NO the cards aren't in order! 

Please check it out HERE and let me know what you think! 

I hope everyone has a fabulous February!

Happy Teaching!

Jessica

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