Getting ready for Easter...Kinder-style!

Last week, the weather was so hot that we were all in short sleeves and flip flops!
This week...we were back in our winter coats and hats!
AHHHH!
I just pray that next weekend, for Easter, it's warm!  Which means NO winter coat, NO hats and NO boots (okay, no heavy winter boots, I still have my cute boots which I think are acceptable to wear).
I would love to do an Easter egg hunt outside this year!

On to what we did this week...it was all about getting ready for Easter.

Here is a picture of the Easter chick cards we made.
This is an adorable marble paint craft.  Mix up 3 different colours of paint and put a large marble in each one with a spoon.  On a piece of brown construction paper, I traced a large cross but told the students NOT to cut it out (only write their name).  They placed the paper facing down in a large basin and here comes the fun part...the students pick up the marble with the spoon and drop it into the basin.  Since the marble is covered in paint, students simply roll it around until the paint wears off.  Then they put it back into that colour and choose another.  Once all three colours are done, they take it out of the basin and let it dry. 
*Tip:  Once it's dry (let it sit overnight), put a heavy bin on top of the papers to flatten them out. 
Have the students cut out the cross, glue on the prayer, glue the cross to a yellow piece of construction paper and put glitter around.  Voila!
(I have received many compliments on these - this idea came from my teaching partner, Ms. Alves, a few years back).
LOVE it!


Here my students are playing the Find Those Eggs! game.
You can get your free copy here.

And, of course, we discussed Palm Sunday (which is tomorrow) and made our own palms.  Such a simple and easy craft and the kids did them all by themselves!
(Love that kind of craft!)

We read and talked about the different Easter symbols.  Here we are writing the words on our own in our Religion Journals.
I'll post more pics from our Easter centres this coming week.  You can find lots of Easter activities and ideas here in my Easter Literacy and Math Unit

It's currently on sale now - my way of saying Happy Easter!
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Community Helpers and a {freebie!}


This was such a busy week!
We came back from March Break so it felt much l-o-n-g-e-r (or maybe because we really did do so much fun stuff!)

Our Community Helpers unit wrapped up this week.  Many of the centre activities came from Julie Lee's At Your Service unit.  It is fantastic!  Some of the activities I supplemented with my own ideas.

It's so important for the kids to know their phone number so here we are writing it and practicing using the phone to "call home".
We coloured these strips with things that chefs/bakers make and then turned them into chef hats by attaching a plastic bag (forgot to take a picture of the finished hat!).  It was so cute!

The students sorted words into Trash or Treasure.  This is from Julie Lee's unit.
This is my favourite centre...the kids were "doctors".  They are making a Doctor's Bag.  We have been practicing our last names and how doctors refer to themselves by their last names.  The kiddies wrote that on the front of the bag
(Dr. ____'s Bag)
This month we have also been focusing on counting by 10's.  Here is a little freebie you can use as one of your math centers.  Click on the picture to download.
Clip art by DJ Inkers.


I have had many people e-mail me asking if I could create a Write the Room center for Sight Words that could be used year round.  I'm on it!  I'm hoping to have it ready in a couple of weeks!
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Bunnies, chicks and eggs...oh my! {freebie}

It all started 2 weeks ago...
I was grocery shopping with my three and a half year old  daughter which means that we must make our way to the Dollar Section in the middle of the store.
Good thing I did...I found the cutest little Easter egg tongs and small foam eggs!
That got me thinking....and creating....and I came up with this...
(Click on the picture for your free copy)
This is a *freebie* from my new unit,
Easter Literacy and Math Activities.
I kept on thinking and creating and it turned into a whole bunch of stuff!
I love putting fine motor activities out for my students to work with each week.  So I took those cute little multicoloured foam eggs and some plastic tweezers and created a centre.  Set the timer and see how many colored eggs your students can pick up.  Use this worksheet to record answers.  You can even have students pick up only a certain colour egg as well. I put the eggs in a shallow basket (another purchase from the Dollar Section that day!).
So much fun!
I'll be using this activity in my class in the next couple of weeks.
As for the rest of this week, my March Break has flown by!
I've convinced by husband to take tomorrow off so we will take the kiddies somewhere...not sure yet, but it'll be fun 'cause it's a day out!
So if you are thinking ahead and planning for Easter, you might want to check out my new unit,
I'll be preparing everything in it for my students this weekend.  Before we know it, Easter will be here!
It's full of bunnies, chicks, eggs and more!
{There is nothing religious in this package}....
I do have lots of crafts and activities that we do reflective of the religious theme and I will post those as we get closer to Easter as a freebie.

I'd love to give this unit away to the first 3 people to comment below telling me what they love most about Easter (for me, it's all about the chocolate eggs! YUM!)
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Teachers Taking Care of Teachers

I can't imagine losing everything, EVERYTHING, in a tornado!
Well, that's what happened a couple of weeks back in parts of the USA. 
I am joining other teachers around the world to help out those teachers who lost everything.
If you can help, join too!
Click on the heart to find out more!
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More Writing Centre posters...freebies!

I have had a lot of requests to make more Writing Centre posters.  If you missed that earlier post you can click here to read all about it!

I love putting these posters up at my Writing Centre and having the students use them to write simple sentences, words or lists.  They love it too!
Here are a few new ones for you to grab for free.
Please leave me a comment if you do!
Click on the picture below to download (all of them in one Zip file!)



I'm also working hard to finish my "How Does Your Garden Grow?" new unit just in time for spring!  I have a few more activities and pictures to add but I must say, this is definitely my favourite unit I have created!  So much fun!
Stay tuned!


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It's Literacy Centre Time!

Yippee!
I am officially on March Break!
That means one WHOLE week off!

I am planning to get a little work done, though!
I'd like to finish up my Spring Literacy and Math Unit
I started and I'm going to fit in a little time to do some special requests...Write the Room Easter and Write the Room Year Long Sight Words.

In the mean time, I am hoping to answer a few questions about my Literacy and Math Centres...so here goes!

If you missed my post last year on my Literacy Centre job board, in which I have included the link to get your free copy of my centre cards, you can see that post by clicking on the picture.  I believe that I explained how my rotations work on that post but please let me know if you have any questions.
(Note: This picture is from my teaching partner's class from  last year when I was on my maternity leave.  I will update this soon with a picture from my class)
Here's a few of my Literacy Centres.  Some are permanently placed around the room and changed every 2 weeks (Pocket Chart, Sand Search, Imagination Board, Writing Centre, Felt Board).  Others are housed in bins and put out at tables for the kids to work on.
Here are the kids working on retelling The Very Hungry Caterpillar at the felt board.  This set is from Lakeshore...and it's amazing!
This is my Imagination Board...it's also from Lakeshore.  It's a double-sided magnetic white board.  On one side I have the students match sounds, opposites, etc. and on the other they are creating pictures using the large magnetic shapes.
Here at the Poems bin the students can use wikki sticks to circle or underline letters/words that they know.  These are poems/songs that we have been working on for a few weeks.
This is the Word Work bin.  Students are using magnifying glasses to search for hidden objects in "I Spy ABC" books.
This is the Write the Room Centre.  My students are using the Community Helpers Write the Room activity found in my TpT store as we are learning all about Community Helpers.  Students get a clipboard and search the room for the hidden theme words and record them on the worksheet.
Here is the Magnetic Letters centre.  I like to put out the sight words we are focusing on for the month and some other activity (this one is simply matching the lower case letters and/or matching upper case to lower case).
In case you missed my earlier post, you can get your free alphabet strips here.
This is a picture of my pocket chart.  This week the students are sorting lower case letters into three categories: short, tall and long.  A little challenging!
 This is my Playdough Centre.  I have the students put out the bin at a table. I don't have a room that is large enough to have a permanent table set up for playdough...wish I did!  There are lots of cookie cutters and tools for the students.  I also have them use my Playdough Mats to practice "rolling" the letter formation and spelling simple words.
Here is the Listening Centre.  My colleague a few years ago showed me this trick...store your book(s) in a plastic magazine file that attaches to the wall.  So simple and easy and the books don't get destroyed!  I also label my CD player with #1 and #2 so that the students know which buttons to press to start and stop the CD.  There is a gold sticker on the volume knob too!
My Computer Center.  We started learning how to log in on our own - the students are really getting it!  Yah!  I keep their log in names and passwords in the blue basket.
The Games bin is probably one of the most popular centres.  All of the students love playing games.  This game is one I recently bought through the Scholastic book order.  The kids have to make CVC words on the bees.  Cute!
This is the Writing Centre.  The top picture shows the table and paper bin.  The bottom picture shows a large red container where students keep their Writing Centre books and any themed paper.
If you would like a free copy of the themed posters, be sure to check out a previous post of mine here.
I will be making more of these posters during my week off!
More freebies to come!

I also have a few other centres that I don't have pictures of...puzzles, blocks, house, puppets and sand.  These centres don't change that much throughout the year.

Phew!  That was a l-o-n-g post!  I was hoping to show you a few of my math centres but I guess it will have to wait until later on this weekend.

Before I go....I "met" such a sweet teacher-blogger recently.  Lori has a new blog, Teaching With Love and Laughter, which is adorable!
Lori has TONNES of pictures (her classroom is so cute!) and freebies too!
Be sure to visit and follow Lori's blog.  Tell her I sent you! :)
Happy Friday (night!).
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CAN you SEE a PATTERN?

There is something about this time of year that I love...
could it be that this is only a 4 day week and then it's March Break (aka ONE WHOLE WEEK OFF! Whoo hoo!).

Or maybe it's because I know spring is almost here!

What really does it for me is how much my kiddies have learned this year!  I have to tell you...they have all improved so much!  I am so proud of them!

This past week we ventured into more complicated patterns.  Turns out this was a piece of cake for many! 
I had my students complete this worksheet last week. 
At first I thought it was going to be a bit challenging.
But we have been practicing our patterns using all kinds of manipulatives...coloured squares, dominoes, shapes.
So when it came down to this worksheet it was a no brainer for many!  Yippee!
Click on the picture to download your own copy.
This week we are starting our Community Helpers unit.
It will take us to March Break and through to the end of March when we return.  This is one of my favourite units to teach.  I am putting up my Community Helpers Write the Room activity tomorrow.  Pictures to follow!
In the mean time, I *finally* finished my Spring Write the Room activity!  Sorry to all of you who have been e-mailing me asking me when it will be ready!
If you would like a copy I will be giving it away to the first 3 people who leave a comment below.
Enjoy the week!
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