Our Halloweenie Day

Happy Halloween!!  Here is my cute make-up for my Vowel Bat costume!  Find out how to do the make-up HERE.  I ran around all day saving the world from words without vowels.  My kiddos were so cute as they stared back at me and my craziness!  The Grade 2's totally got it just like they did last year.  My one's did try though!  At one point during the day, one little girl exclaimed, "Miss N - look - a word without vowels!"  I looked only to discover TO -  hmmm - going to have to review the vowels - lol!  I saved it anyways!!

I found this Vowel Bat video on Mr. Harry's Kindergarten youtube channel.  I ADORE his collection of videos!  This is gold!!!

In the morning, we wrote spider cinquain poems that I got as a freebie from Amy Lemons!

It was perfect because we have been working on nouns, verbs, and adjectives!

In the afternoon we had a little costume parade for our Grade 4 buddies.

Then, we rotated through 4 centres!  I had a bazillion parent helpers who were all amazing!! We made spiders for our cinquaine poems.

We made Q-tip skeletons!!  One of my favourite crafts!  13 Q-tips, lots of glue and chalk for the skull - Voila!

Next, was Don't Eat Pete!!! A freebie from The Teacher's Wife!  We used chocolate bars instead of candy corn and the kids got to eat the chocolate bar that was on Pete.  SO MUCH FUN!  Afterwards they decorated Halloween goodie bags with stickers and felts.

Last, we had a spooky story listening centre!

We had treats and goodies afterwards.  One sweet mom made these precious owl cupcakes - Pinterest idea I am told!!

When I wasn't looking this friendly lil guy appeared in my classroom!  Hurrah!! Healthy treats!!!

The eye-ball cupcakes were a hit, too!

We even had Monster Mash punch!!  What a spread!

We had a SUCH a good time!!

Three Spooky Bats Songtivity/Chantivity Freebie

So the combination of Halloween looming up, learning about subtraction and an old camp song - Three Charcoal Buzzards resulted in my newest freebie!  Mix them altogether and you get Three Spooky Bats Songtivity!  Click on the picture below for your copy.

I taught the kids the song and they sang it like camp pros!  My crew - they love to sing!  They even added a bat hiss sound effect - batrific!  So I decided to make a little bat cave to help my kiddos practice subtraction and addition.  As they sing they song, they can write out each equation with cute foamy bats from the craft store to match.

Meanwhile, the hit of the week was a couple of science experiments.  My kids went batty over "Will the pumpkin float?" and "Will the Pumpkin Seeds Sink or Float?"  The excitement was through the roof! They couldn't believe that the pumpkin floated and they were so happy to be right about the seeds floating!!

Happy Halloween all!

Pumpkin Strip Jack-o-Lanterns - Easy Art in a Snap!

Today we made Pumpkin Strip Jack-o-Lanterns!  This is such an easy craft!  You will need 7 strips of orange construction paper, a strip of green, and a square of black.  If my kids want white I tell them to get some from the recycle bin as a way of being environmentally friendly.

 I love to encourage my kiddos to be creative with the face.  They turn out really interesting to look at... Sometimes the shape of the pumpkin even changes.  Check out the one at the top of the bulletin board! Soooo  cute!

Arrrgghh - I'm a pirate!!

This week I have been surviving on the wonderful packets of others!!  Here are few awesome packets I am using this week!!

We will do some Pumpkin writing with the help of this lovely little freebie from firstgradeblueskies!!

I can't wait for tomorrow for a couple of awesome pumpkin science experiments from this super amazing packet!!!  Happy Pumpkin week!!!

Who will be Boo'd? Linky Party

It is time to show some love and appreciation to other inspirational blogs!!  I am linking up with Cynthia over at 2nd Grade Pad to Boo!  some spooktacular blogs!!

The first is Tara West's Little Minds at Work!  I really love her TpT store.  Her graphics and printables are cute, crisp, and clear.  I'm loving her ideas!!

Corinna over at Teaching Fabulous Firsties has been really great to me in blog land!  I was apart of one of her give aways and she showed me some love!  Thanks Corinna!!  Also, she has some great freebies!  Check it out!!

Sandra over and Sandra's Savvy Teaching Tips was one of the first blogs I followed!  She shared some amazing art ideas and craftivities.  Also, she lives close to me - it is nice to know a fellow blogger is near!  Here is a link to one of my Halloween favourites!

Please go by and show them some love by following their blogs and TpT stores!!  Definitely worth a visit!!   Head over to 2nd Grade Pad for more details on how you can join in on the Boo!ing...

Equal Sign = LOVE

This year my squirrelly crew is ALWAYS ready for a party!!  They tell jokes and stories that would captivate audiences world wide, they are fierce competitors in any game, they dance like crazy!!  So I created these 8 math games to introduce/review/solidify the concept of the equal sign as a segue into addition and subtraction.  Needless to say, the ol' crew rocked out!

One of the favourites was the equal sign bracelet.  We discovered that it works as a little abacus as well!! Oh yeah!!  I think I have about 5 of my own now, made especially for me by my little party goers!!  Make it a little simpler by have only 5 beads on each side of the equal sign instead of 10.

You may want to save this little craftivity for February/Valentine's Day as a cute review and to teach about poetry:)  That is my plan!!

Click on the picture below and join in the PARTY!!!  Wahoo!

I Heard Mr. Turkey Say, "Gobble, gobble, gobble...time for a Thanksgiving freebie!" AND Currently

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving blogging friends!  I am excited to be traveling home this weekend to see the fam!  For the past five years I have been doing this super cute Thanksgiving craft with my kiddos and they eat it up, literally!!  Introducing...Apple Turkeys!!!

This craft is super easy to prepare - thanks to the amazing parents, colleagues, and helpers who helped provide apples, supervise, and peal carrots, etc.  You will need:

raisins for eyes

big marshmallows for the head

small marshmallows for the tail

toothpicks to attach everything

peeled carrots for the wings and waddle

(2 carrots were more than enough for my class of 24) - store peeled carrots in a container of cold water to keep them crisp

This lovely apple turkey is named Jewelry - precious!!!

Earlier that morning, we practiced singing my favourite Thanksgiving song, "I Heard Mr. Turkey Say..."   with actions and everything.  When the turkey hides, we hide our apples turkeys behind our backs.  After we made our turkeys, we sang our song for the parent volunteers - SO cute!  Click below for your freebie copy and couple of other cute activities!!

Thanks to Lita for the adorable free graphics!!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Lita-Lita

http://learninginspain.blogspot.com.es/

I began this week with a brainstorm about some of the gifts in our lives we are thankful for.  My kiddos were so sweet and came up with lots of good suggestions like family, strength, talents, and Jesus.  Each chose their favourite and printed it on a turkey feather.  Click on the picture below for your freebie turkey and feathers template!

Then, I posted it outside on our bulletin board.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!  

P.S.

Head over to Farley's blog and link up!!!