Spring has Sprung and Games are Fun Blog Hop!

I'm so excited after a few months "off" from creating stuff and blogging...I got my creative juices flowing to join 19 of my "bloggy" friends to bring you this great blog hop!

You will learn about a game, get a freebie and even enter to win a prize! YAY!

So I literally just finished my spring conferences (like just 2 hours ago) and boy I'm tired but I'm so excited to share my freebie game with you...YES free!  Yesterday we had a work day, which I love and hate, fortunately I have all of my report cards done so I got to do some lesson planning. I'm pleased to say that my week after spring break is planned and even the week after...no stressing ;) So in  reviewing what standards we are to teach (sometimes I wonder if we'll make it through!) I got inspired by the thought of spring and Krista Wallden's so cute clipart.  I came up with this little freebie. It's a game that practices a bit of number sense and place value. 

In this game students need 2 sets of number cards, a stack of butterfly cards and a stack of ladybug cards. Use 4 different colors of cardstock (2 colors for player 1 and 2 colors for player 2). You decide which cards (butterfly or ladybug) are the tens and which are the ones. 

Students build a number by drawing one card of each color and then record it on their sheet.

They write the number and then the number in expanded form. Next one student spins the spinner, you can use a pencil and a paperclip, the spinner will land on "more" or "less" this determines the winner. 

For example, in the picture above player 1 wins the round because "less" was spun and they had the smaller number. They then write a greater than/less than sentence. The students tally their wins on the bottom.

You can get this freebie from my TPT store!

Click the picture!

Now time for giveaway... Win the rest of my Spring into...Fun! Spring Centers. It includes place value, 3 addend addition, ten more and 10 less just to name a few, its about a $5 value! GOOD LUCK :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now little bunny hop over to my friend's blog to find more freebies and giveaways!

WE SURVIVED!

What a week! Picture day, end of the quarter, report cards and oh can't forget HALLOWEEN! 

We started out the week with a little math center fun from my fall fun for firsties unit.

In this activity the students have to write numbers to make each number sentence true, tougher than it looks! You check out this little unit here.

Next we worked on nouns and we wrote down as many nouns as we could that could be found in our classroom and then we wrote a big list.

(Don't mind the 1st grade spelling...we're working on it!)

We also did some writing about bats, which we had studied for the last two weeks. Here some students were writing facts during work on writing.

And finally a little Halloween fun freebie I know it's late for Halloween this year but maybe next year or really anytime!

Spider True or False Addition Fact Sort {Freebie}

I was fortunate enough that I did not have to teach the day after Halloween because of teacher work day, so for all of you who did, you are awesome!

Have a great weekend :)

Back to School fun and a freebie!

So I'm fully back in the swing of school, I've been to school about 4 days now (3 days this week) and I have sooo much to do! I mean I should show you a picture of what my classroom looks like but I'm super embarrassed about it's present state. There is stuff everywhere, the floors are covered as are my desk and reading table. I don't have any student desks or table yet, I'm still hoping to get tables for my first graders (fingers crossed!). {the freebie is down at the bottom, but keep reading ;)}

So aside from my classroom I've been busy working on documents and stuff for back-to-school including my teacher binder and a whole year of reading calendars.

I made 2 types of calendar a 2-page and 1 page version

I think my student info page is quite cute.

 I will print the student info sheet and put this parent communication form on the back to keep myself organized!

 I created 2 covers and coordinating dividers pages, but I can't decide which I like best :( What do you think, I really like them both!

Check out my teacher binder at my TpT store (both covers/dividers coordinate with my classroom decor pack too!

Chevron & Bright Bunting Teacher Binder

NOW for a freebie! So this summer I spent some time with some other first grade teachers and we were discussing homework and reading.  We had all tried different things in the past but I loved the idea of a reading calendar.  In our area, our first grade students are given "reading buddies", a stuffed animal puppy, that they keep at school and read to every day.  It's totally awesome and the kids just love their little puppies. As a way to increase reading at home, the first graders have a reading calendar with a goal to reach each month and when the calendar is turned in they earn "prizes" to go with their puppy.  Well since I can't get every one in america puppies for their first graders I thought I would at least share my reading calendar that I made! Aren't they cute!

If you would like to change the minutes goal just white it out and write in your goal, a calendar for each month Sept-June! Click the link!

Reading Calendar! Please leave a comment for me below and tell me what you think! Thanks

Ok well I'm going to take a break from computing now but I'll be back at it tomorrow. Enjoy the freebie!

UPDATE 7/13/16-I've made Reading Calendars for every year the past few years and you can get the NEWEST CALENDARS for the 2016-2017 School Year!! Get them here!

Erika