Cinco de Mayo Fun!

Ole'! It's almost May! Omigoodness! Did I say May!?! Does anyone else feel like this is a month that is absolutely jam-packed with activities on the school calendar? Plus, you have lots of stuff that you want to cover before the end of the year AND you feel like you have to be like a video game character to hold your kiddos attention because they are already slippin into summer mode!*! Whew! that wears me out just thinking about it! The good thing is there is so much going on that it is super-easy to plan "fun stuff" that keeps the kiddos engaged {and learning...shhh don't tell them that part!} To celebrate Cinco de Mayo, we are going to read this super-fun book, "Chicks & Salsa" by Aaron Reynolds, do a little salsa sampling/data collection & make this fun lil writing craftivity to go along with the book . {Did you notice how I have very carefully hidden a tasty little snack in this activity!?! Yum!}

The pattern & reproducibles are all included in my "What's Hatchin' Chick?" unit.

Just click HERE to chick check it out! {Ha! ha! I could help that lil funny! } Here's a couple more lil activities that I made for this festive week. Enjoy the freebies!



click to download freebie!



click to download freebie!

Ok amigo...grab the salsa & your sombrero.... let's celebrate.... MAY is here!!!!

Yummy Pizza Parts! {Fractions}

Oh my! pizza pie! I can't think of a better way to teach fractions than with pizza! Come on, you have to agree-it's always easier to teach a concept when there is food involved! Yum! Well my firsties have been working super hard on fractions & we ended our unit with these cutie pizza chefs & {of course} a pizza party! We were sooo lucky to have all of our pizzas donated by a generous parent {who just so happens to make the absolute best pizza in town!} If you would like a copy of this lil activity, just click the picture below & download from my TpT store. {Shhh....I will be giving this away as a FREEBIE for a few days!}

Be sure to leave me a little shout out-let me know what you think! We are less than 20 days away from summer break!!! {Not that I'm counting or anything!} :-)

Lil Garden Cuties & a Freebie!

Hey blogging friends! Just a little post to share some of the things that we've been working on this past week...PLANTS! Plants that grow up, down and around! Tops of plants-Bottoms of plants! My firsties really thought the idea of eating the root of a plant was hilarious! {I guess it does sound kinda funny!} Well, have you seen this book?

It's such a hoot! The silly rabbit tricks the lazy bear & gets all the "good parts" of the plants. It's a super-fun book for teaching about plants. After we read the story, we created a little chart to list where different foods grow-above the ground or below the ground.

We also just "planted" our bean seeds this week. {What I mean by "planted" is...planted in a ziploc bag with a wet paper towel!} We are patiently waiting for these "magic bean seeds" to sprout & keeping track of all this excitement in our "Bean Seed Observation Journals". One of my sweeties predicted that her bean seed was going to grow into a beautiful rose. You never know what you're gonna get when you plant a magic bean seed! Too cute!

And our week just wouldn't be complete without a cutie-patootie writing craftivity to go along with it. I had the students write about which part of the plant that they liked-Tops or Bottoms? Then we made these Lil Garden Cuties-only thing we're missing is a little mud!

If you would like to see more of the Lil Garden Cuties, just click the pic below!

And.....yep! here's the little FREEBIE that I promised. Just click the pic below to download your copy! Be sure to leave me a little shout-out & let me know what you think!

Only 27 MORE DAYS! {that was in my loud, squeeky, excited voice!} Are you counting down the days also???

And the WINNERS are...

Congratulations to the winners of our Easter Giveaway-Charlotte and Amber! They are the lucky winners of both of these great spring products. Just click on the pics below if you would like to check out these units!


Created by: Katie King-Queen of the First Grade Jungle





By: Christie Berlener-First Grade Fever

Thank you soooo much to everyone for playing along! We love our bloggin' friends!



It's an EASTER GIVEAWAY!

WooHoo! "Hoppy Days" are here! Easter break is finally here & it's time for a GIVEAWAY! Oh, I'm super excited about this one! I'm teamin' up with the fabulous Katie King {aka: Queen of the First Grade Jungle} to giveaway 2 great spring products: "Growin' Things-A Unit on Plants" & "Spring Literacy & Math Centers." Giveaway has ended-Thanks for playing along!

We've made it super easy -this is all you have to do to enter:

Entry #1-FOLLOW our BLOGS

First Grade Fever & Queen of the First Grade Jungle

AND

Entry #2- FOLLOW us on TpT!!!

Click to follow First Grade Fever on TpT!

Click to follow Katie King-Queen of the First Grade Jungle on TpT!

 Okay! It's that easy-Just leave your comments below telling us that you do both!

Two lucky winners will get BOTH products!

Contest ends Easter Sunday at 7pm!!! (central time)

Contest has ended-thanks!

Ready...Set...Get HOPPIN!

Hoppy Easter everyone!

Are you feeling like THIS?!??

Do you feel like this right now??? OMigoodness, I sure do! Our super early spring weather has caused a severe case of "spring fever"! I'm still keepin' my firsties attention but I feel like I have to do cartwheels & backflips to keep one step ahead of them...Whew!!! By the way, this is one of my kiddos "Big Chickens" from my Big Chickens Writing Craftivity-this one is a real HOOT! I've had more teachers walk by this chicken in our hallway and say, "I feel just like that!" {I think its the eyes! lol}  Well, I'm super excited that tomorrow is our last day before our "Spring Break" {actually its a 4-day weekend but I like to say Spring Break because its sounds better!} We are also having a "Staff Snack Day" tomorrow which ALWAYS makes the day better! I have found soooo many yummy looking recipes on Pinterest {yell if you LOVE Pinterest...AHHHHHH!} Well, I couldn't decide which recipe to make, so I made 2! Check these out....delish-lookin', huh?


Jalapeno Popper Dip!

Pickle Wrap Dip!

I love those Pickle Wrap things & have been looking for a good excuse to try this dip. And that Jalapeno Popper dip...well, just LOOK at it!!! {Can you tell I'm a snacker?}

This is the little chart of adjectives that we came up with this week to describe that silly Splat the Cat.

The kiddos are doing a great job of using describing words in their writing-yeahhh! And have you seen Babbling Abby's "Pop Rockin' Descriptive Writing" packet? This is filled with great activities-I just couldn't resist buying it! Super cute-thanks Abby!

I just love the Pop-Rocks & check out what I just found at the Dollar Store...yep the Dollar Store!!!

It's Pop-Rocks...Easter Bunny style!!!

So we're gonna adapt Abby's great activity just a little so we can use our "Hoppin Poppin Dip"! Yummy fun! Can't wait!!!

So just remember the tip of the day... "Everything seems better when we add a lil snack to it!" {Oh boy! I better go do some Jillian to make up for all that snackin that will be goin on tomorrow! lol} Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend!

Easter Splat & a Chick Update

Are your kiddos "Splat Fans"? My firsties just love that silly little cat! This week we will be reading "Splat the Cat-Where's the Easter Bunny?"  & doing lot of fun Easter Splat activities. I don't know if its the look on Splat's face or what, but that is the cutest little critter I've ever seen! I just want to squeeze him! 

Since we have been working on describing words, I created a lil reproducible book of adjectives that we will be working on this week.

We also we will be finishing up our readers response writing craftivity for a cute lil hallway display.

If you would like to check out more of my Easter Splat mini-unit, just click the pic below.

And a final little update on our "HATCH"....11 out of the 12 eggs hatched!

Awww! They're so cute!

The class LOVES those cute little peepers and really wanted to keep them forever. BUT....let me just tell you-those little cuties are BIG STINKERS!!! By Friday morning, it smelled like a barnyard in our hallway! Whew!!!! There was a lot of Fabreeze spritzin' going on that day! Needless to say, I love the egg-hatching project, but I also loved seeing them go to their new home!!! {I'm hoping that our tadpoles won't be nearly as smelly!} Looking forward to a 4-day week AND a 4-day weekend! WoooHOO!!!