Candy Heart Math and Happy Anniversary to Us!

Hello friends!  Lindsay here . . .

Yeesh.  Next week is a busy one.  100th Day. Valentine's Day. President's Week Kindergarten performance.  Need I go on?  There is just TOO MUCH fun stuff that I want to do with my kidlets for the month of February and it seems like there are just not enough hours in the day to squeeze in all of the fun!

Last week I did Deanna Jump's Candy Heart Probability activity and it was SO fun.  The kids were so funny when they kept drawing the same color over and over from their bag!  Then they had such great reflections as to why that happened once they examined the contents of their bag.  I highly recommend you try it!

Another fun candy heart activity I do every year in centers around Valentine's Day is our Candy Heart Graph.  I am giving you this FREEBIE for you to enjoy!  You can laminate the colored sorting mat, and then have your kids count each color, graph each color, and then practice their addition!  Math + candy = Good times!!

(Click on the heart to download)

One more thing . . .

Have any of you every forgotten an anniversary?  I am USUALLY really, really good with remembering important dates, birthdays, etc., but last month one got away from me.  Last month was mine and Kerri's 6th anniversary. Sigh . . . Where has the time gone?  It seems like only yesterday that I was her lowly student teacher who she was ordering around and sending to get her coffee all the time.  Wait a minute, that was last week! (Just kidding!)

Anyway, yay for the Dynamic Duo of Bordelon-Messner!  Even though we are fiercely competitive when it comes to the cuteness of our classroom art projects, and even though I sometimes drive her crazy with my fear of change and she drives me crazy with her Scotch tape obsession . . . and even though she was often WAAAAAY too eager to "help" when one of my kinders earned the right to slime me each year after our Jogathon Fundraiser (umm . . . that poor kid didn't even get to hold the bucket!) . . .

. . . Kerri is the best and I truly am inspired by her on a daily basis for the amazing, creative teacher and wonderful mommy that she is every single day.  You rock Mrs. B!!

Alright, alright . . . enough of all that mushy stuff.  Hope you enjoy today's FREEBIE and have a very Happy Thursday tomorrow!

Lindsay

Penguins, Punxsutawney, and Printables for my Peeps!

Hi Friends! Kerri here...
I'm gonna keep it short and sweet, cause man, I am T to the I to the R to the E...you get the picture! 


We had a busy week this week. We made our Jan Brett project on Golidilocks and the Three Bears-sorry, no pics this time. :(  , learned about penguin habitats, and made our Dragon art (love!). 


My student teacher taught the kidlets to draw and label an Emperor Penguin's habitat, and man oh man, they were CUTE!! I decided to live on the edge and have them draw ONLY in sharpie (I know, playing with fire, right??) because we didn't have time for pencil AND sharpie, and they really rose to the occasion!! 


Of course I had to preface the lesson with, "YOU NEED TO LOOK, LISTEN, AND LEARN. DO NOT ASK QUESTIONS, DO NOT MAKE COMMENTS, AND DO NOT ASK IF YOU CAN ADD DETAILS UNTIL THE END, GOT IT??? (Imagine my most serious face ever)... 
Maybe sharpie only be our new "strategy", they like it when I make things our "new strategy"...we sound so sophisticated when we use the word "strategy" instead of "we were in a hurry."

I just heart first grade art so darn much!! It is so authentic and real!! And my kids LOVE to label! They would label the whole everything if I let them!


Up next week, good ole Punxsutawney Phil! Here he is...

If you want the dimensions, let me know and I will post them this weekend. Too tired now.


This year we are going to add a little bit of writing and glue it on the grass. We will probably write about whether or not he saw his shadow. Click on the groundhog for your own copy of the paper...it's cute, I promise!

Sooo....last year, when I started blog stalking, I came across this post from Cara Carroll, and OF COURSE, I ran out immediately to the Dollar Tree to get my own heart boxes. Unfortunately, I got there the day after Valentine's day and ALL the heart boxes were put away. Wah, wah, wah, wah! 


Well, this year, I happened upon a Dollar Tree on the way to have lunch have some samples at Costco with my hubs (I joke, half the stuff we can't eat cause we're veggie heads, but I could eat their pizza ALL the live long day!!) and I dragged him in there so fast!! Drum roll please!!

I GOT MY HEART BOXES!!! I was GIDDY with glee when I saw them (my husband thought I was a NUTTER!!) but I got my durn heart boxes, BABY!! Whoot whoot!! 
So, of course I will be doing her super cute spelling scramble AND I made this little heart addition and subtraction diddy to use with them as well. I will put 2 numbers in each box and my little darlings will either have to add or subtract the numbers, depending on the number on the worksheet. 
Done and Done! Click on the heart for your copy, and for goodness sakes, girls, don't wait until the day after V-Day to try and buy them!!

Note to self...Sharpie paint pens MAY look pretty when you first write the numbers on the boxes, but the ink rubs off after about 30 minutes!! Dagnabit!! I rue the day I bought THAT paint pen!


And, thanks for buying my little February words writing packet! You guys are so sweet! I am excited to introduce it next week!

I know I said it would be short, but obviously I have a blogging problem. I'm off to watch Gold Rush Alaska, snuggle under my blankie, and PROBABLY fall asleep on the couch until all hours of the morning. I CAN'T WAIT!!
XOXO Kerri