Interactive Math center activity with fun Bumblebee Addition

Today I wanted to share another one of my interactive math center activity that I just put up for sale on TPT.  My Bumble Bee Addition center is a fun center that is great addition practice for students.  I usually use this center when I am working one on one or with a small group. 

I have students take turns and choose a strip.  I then have them read the equation and then answer with the sum.  They then place it on the Bumblebee that has the correct sum.

You can purchase this center from my store.  It is very simple to prep, just print out the pages (you can choose color or black and white) and cut out the strips and then if you want you can laminate both the Bumble bee pages and the strips but it not necessary.  You can also add velcro to the strips and the bee if you'd like.

I hope you enjoy them.

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I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more information about this please see our disclosure policy

Ladybug interactive short vowel center activity for kids

Today I wanted to share one of my interactive centers that I just put up for sale on TPT.  My Ladybug Short Vowel center activity  is a fun center that is great phonics practice for students learning about short vowels.  I usually use this center when I am working one on one or with a small group. 

I have students take turns and choose a pictured circle.  I then have them say what is drawn on the circle (eg. sun) and then place it on the ladybug that has the corresponding short vowel sound (eg. U).

You can purchase this center from my store.  It is very simple to prep, just print out the pages (you can choose color or black and white) and cut out the circles and then if you want you can laminate both the ladybug pages and the circles.  You can also add velcro to the circles if you'd like.

I hope you enjoy them.

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Clip art images of kids fishing for making teaching resources

Today I wanted to share a clip art set that I have had sitting on my laptop for some time...eeek!  I made these fishing images for teachers to use when making worksheets and printables and other teaching resources. The kids fishing in this set make me want to go out and get a rod.  You can download this set by clicking on the image which will take you to my TPT store.

This set includes:

• 10 color images
• 8 black and white images
• images for personal and commercial use
• all images are PNG and saved at 300 dpi.  Perfect for making units to sell on TPT.
• boys fishing, girls fishing, boy holding fish, girl holding fish, boy fishing on dock, girl sitting on dock

And because it is Sunday surprise, I am sharing one image for free.  Just click on the image to be taken to my Teachers Pay Teachers store where you can download the image for free.  (Teachers pay Teachers is free to join if you are not already a member).

Need more fishing clip art?  This set accompanies my fishing supplies clip art that has been selling quite well in my TPT store. Check it out at my store or read more about it on my fishing supplies post.  And as always please let me know if you can't find what you are looking for. 

Check back next Month for Sunday Surprise!

To see more of my clip art for sale, come on over to my store.  
or have a look at my posts about the following sets (click on the image to read more):

You can check out more of my clip art sets here on my page.

Please note, this post contains affiliate links which means I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.  For more information about this please see our disclosure policy.

Leprechaun tricks and pranks for kids on St. Patrick's day

Do you celebrate St. Patrick's day?  We do!  In fact every year a naughty little leprechaun visits us and plays tricks and pranks on us and causes all kinds of troubles!  Over the years our naughty little leprechaun has created quite the mess.  Every year he does something different but without fail, when we wake up St. Patrick's day morning we are greeted with all kinds of sneaky tricks!

In an attempt to entice our sneaky little friend we made the leprechaun some green cookies in hopes that he would behave and be nice to us.  

But he just ate our cookies and made a mess everywhere he went.

One year he put all the chairs on top of the tables!

He made green footprints and he stacked green cups on the coffee table.

He gathered all the green toys and made a big pile.

He even left green footprints on the toilet, made the toilet water green and made a toilet paper tower!

He tied our shoelaces together.

He left us green juice!

He wrote green messages all over the place.

He hid our shoes in the dryer.

He created an obstacle going down the stairs.

He even created a maze with green yarn.  We couldn't even walk around the living room without having to climb through this obstacle course.

But once we made it through all the obstacles we found his little pot of gold! 

 Hopefully he doesn't cause too much mischief this year!!


We also have a naughty leprechaun that comes to my classroom.  In my St. Patrick's day thematic unit plan you will find ways to engage your students as they get riddles and messages from a leprechaun, build traps, create wanted posters, a class book and much more!

Want to trap a leprechaun??  Check out this handy kit, which comes with a handy book on how to make a trap.




I may get commissions made from purchases through links in this post. For more information about this please see our disclosure policy

Need some great books for your unit?  Check out these great reads!

I may get commissions based on purchases made through links on this site. For more information please see my disclosure page.

How to make a paper mache love bird for Valentine's day

Paper Mache we have all heard of it but are you brave enough to have your students or kids use it?  Paper mache is the process where you take a glue mixture made from water and flour or white glue and dip newspapers or paper towels in it and construct your sculpture.  Sounds very scary now doesn't it!  But it really is not.  It's actually very simple and works great for kids crafts.  The hardest part is deciding what you are going to make!

For this project we decided to make Valentine Love Birds.  Aren't they cute!  These were made by my own kiddos (5 years old).

Supplies needed:

• newspaper or paper towel
• cardboard
• masking tape
• flour (1 cup)
• water (2 cups)
• salt (1tsp)

To begin you need to deign your base or basic shape.  There are many ways you can do this.  Some people use balloons and some use newspaper or cardboard.  To make our love birds, I decided to use newspaper.  We scrunched the paper into balls and then taped two balls on top of each other.  We also added a beak, made by folding a cardboard rectangle in half and then we taped it on as well.

Next you need to cut up strips of newspaper or paper towel and prepare your glue mixture.  There are many different paper mache recipes.  Some use white glue, some use rubbing alcohol, some use flour, some use salt, and the list goes on....  For our love birds I decided to use 1 cup of flour, 2 cups of water and a tsp of salt.

What you are left with is a nice goopy, globby, drippy concoction.  This next step is defineately the fun part.  You take the newspaper strips (or paper towel) one at a time and dip them into the mixture and then simply wrap them around your base.  You keep doing this until you have about 3 layers and your entire base is covered.   Some kids will not like touching the mixture and won't add enough layers and others will get right into it and have a drippy, soggy, blob.  Just keep reminding them to add one layer at a time and to cover the whole area.  The great thing about paper mache is that it is forgiving when it is wet.  Simply pull off layers or add layers until you get your desired result.  Then you have to let it dry.  It will take at least overnight.

When it is dry, take a little sand paper and give it a quick sanding, just to take off all the left over flour globs and give it a smooth finish.

Lastly you get to paint it!  Now you might want to give it a quick layer of white paint first as a primer coat before you get into the colored paint but that is up to you.

 

And voila!  After adding some feathers our love birds were done just it time for Valentine's Day! 

This post is part of the Ultimate Guide to 50 Craft Materials Linky, Coordinated by Craftulate.  50 different bloggers each presented an ultimate guide to different crafting materials.  To see the list of all 50 Craft Materials and the corresponding blog posts and linky head on over to Craftulate.

If you have any posts that show off your paper mache ideas and projects please link them up below.

I may get commission from purchases made through links on this page. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.

Display your kids summer collections on a Nature Table

Last week on the weekly kids co-op I noticed that Buggy and Buddy had linked up their Summer Nature table.  I love the idea and think it would be a fabulous idea to display your kids summer collections on a Nature table.  Currently my daughter stashes her found items in her pockets, jewelry box or in any bag or purse she can find.  This can make it quite tricky when it is laundry day as I have washed and dried numerous rocks, twigs, and other collections, lol!  

 

In my classroom, my students are always bringing me dandelion "flowers", special rocks and leaves.  I have them put them in a "science observation area" where we collect seasonal items and include a few magnifying glasses.  Why have I never thought of doing it at home??  Do you use a nature table at home or in your classroom?

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I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more information about this please see our disclosure policy