A Fishy Competition: Subtraction Fun Friday Freebie

So my little muffins needed some FUN and a subtraction review.  It was Thursday and my music class run by a wonderful parent volunteer got CANCELLED!  SUPER TEACHER to the rescue!!  I also had to impress my student teacher who was there for her practicum.  Talk about PRESSURE!  So, on the spot, I came up with A Fishy Competition!  "Imagine.." I said in a mysterious voice, "that you are a terribly hungry pelican..." - we had been working on using fancy words in our writing for the last two weeks - "and across on another peer" I continued, "is another terribly hungry pelican..." DUN, DUN, DUN!! "and what do pelicans like to eat?" "FISH!" they all cried!  Then I demonstrated with a partner how to play A Fishy Competition!

I had already set out 10 rainbow goldfish crackers in the "ocean" (a small paper plate with a piece of felt hot glued to the middle for sound proofing when rolling dice).  In partners, each took a turns rolling two foam dice and subtracting to find out how many fish to eat, and then subtracting again to show how many fishies were eaten.  Yummy!  The game ended when all fishes were in little pelican tummies.

My little pelicans loved this game!!  It definitely helped to review their subtractions skills in a fun way!  I did have to remind them to always begin each subtraction equation with the bigger number!  When I got home I created this little freebie for you!  Click on the picture below to get your copy.  Print it out and laminate it.  Have students use erasable markers to record their subtraction problems!

Also, be sure to check out my little packet I CAN!  It would go along nicely with the peliCAN theme:)

Also, check out Pelican and Pelican't by Hans Wilhelm.  So CUTE!

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!