End Of The Year Memories

Aloha sweet friends!  Have you checked your calendar lately?  Can you believe what it says?  How did this happen so fast?!!

It's already time to start wrapping up the school year and plan those last few weeks to keep your class busy, but happy.

I love putting together memory books  for my class.  I told myself I was going to be better about taking and keeping pictures.  Taking the pictures is easy. It's the printing that can be a pain.

I have been using Costco to help me with this.  I just upload my pictures and they will print them for me for only $0.13 each!  Plus they store all of your pictures for you in case you need to print them again.

So the next few weeks gives me time to go through my pictures and print what I need.  I also make sure that I take a picture with each student to add to their memory books.

I created this last year and it is available in my TpT store as a freebie.  I simply copy and bind them for each student. 

Not sure you want an Aloha theme?  Well my sweet friends here at the Primary Chalkboard have tons of choices for you.  Click on any picture to get more info.

Is your head spinning with all of these options?!  Maybe you want to try more than one.  Well we can help!!

I wish I could enter!!  Who couldn't use a gift card for the upcoming sale?  Just click on the picture to take you to yesterday's post for a chance to win!!

TpT Gift Card Giveaway

You know that we love you, right?

You know that we love TpT, right?

You know that we love to save money, right?

You know that we love to give stuff away, right?

Clear as day?

Wonderful!!!

Have you heard about TpT's upcoming sitewide sale?

You know...the one where you can get up to 28% off?

(Do NOT forget to enter the promo code TPTXO!!)

Well, the Chalkies wanna help you save MORRRRRE money!

Here's the deal...

Yep.

THREE winners! $35 each!!!!
Hurry, though...the 'copter closes soon!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Celebrate Mother's Day in your Classroom with the Chalkies!!!



Hi All!!!

It's Latoya from Flying into First!!!

MOMS are the BEST!!!!

As Mother's Day approaches we want to give you some ways to celebrate Mothers in a big way.  It is very nice to help your kiddos to make projects, cards, etc. for their moms.  I stress to my students that they do not have to go out and buy an expensive gift.  They can give a handmade gift that comes from the heart.

Check out these Mother's Day FREEBIES!!!

Here is a free class book that I made that you can make with your kiddos to help them organize their thoughts.  They will tell one reason of why they love their mom.  They can then use that sentence to write a nice message on a handmade card.  Click the pic to download for FREE!!!

Check out our wonderful Lisa's blog post over at Growing Firsties which includes a Mother's day FREEBIE!!!  Lets just say your class mommies will be enjoying breakfast in bed!!!  Click the pic to check it out!!



Here are some fabulous Mother's Day products from some of our Chalkie authors!!!

Our fabulous Karen Jones of Mrs. Jones's Kindergarten has a fabulous craftivity that you can check out!!!  Your class moms would love this!



Check out these cool flip flap cards from our fantastic Anna over at Simply Skilled in Second.

They are so neat!!

Our great Katie of Teacher to the Core has a packet that will make mommies feel like super heroes!!  Check it out below!!

You can check out some more cute craftivities from Jessica over at First Grade Nest.  Students will get to show off their great writing too!!!

Here is my Mother's Day packet that you can check out by clicking below!!!

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Here is a pic of me and my mommy from long ago lol!!!

Before you go....share with us what you do in your classroom for Mother's Day!!!!!



Cinco de Mayo Classroom Fun!

Hi, friends! Casey here from Second Grade Math Maniac! Cinco de Mayo is coming up on Monday! I am excited to share some fun activities that I will be using in my classroom next week.

We are celebrating Cinco de Mayo as a tie in to our cultural explorations in Social Studies.


First on the agenda is a Cinco de Mayo Flip Flap Book from Simply Skilled in Second. This is my first Flip Flap Book and it was SUPER easy to put together. Anna has a great video here.

In math, we will complete my Cinco de Mayo Spin & Graph activity. The cute little monkey is from Victoria Moore. He is from her Cinco de Monkey Craftivity & Unit. She has a fun writing activity that goes with him, but since I do not teach ELA I placed him atop a line plot.

Also in Vicky's unit is this super cute Vocabulary book. We are currently studying Maps & Globes in Social Studies. This will be a great tie in for us to learn about the culture in one of the locations we have studied.

Check out these fun Cinco de Mayo products and more from other contributors to The Primary Chalkboard. Click on the images below to visit our TPT stores.

     

Feliz Jueves, amigos!

Bubble Science

Friends~It's Monica Schroeder from The Schroeder Page.  I am really excited to be blogging over here at The Primary Chalkboard!  Today I am going to share something super fun and science-ie with you. 

As the end of the school year approaches, this is one of my go to lessons to keep my kiddos engaged and loving learning.  

I start by simply creating a KWL with my students.  This is a great way to tap into prior knowledge and allow students to generate questions about this seemingly familiar topic.

I then break my students into partners and pass out some bubble facts.  This is a perfect way to help them answer their questions and also learn some quick facts. 

We then read this book called POP! A Book About Bubbles by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley.  

It is an easy read but it is packed full of tips on how bubbles are formed.  

This is my go to video!  It always sucks them into the magical world of bubbles. 

It is from the Discovery Channel on Soap Bubble Science. 

Give the picture a click to check it out!

We then participate in some super fun bubble science experiments that connect with our solids, liquids, and gases science goal.  

Check out a few experiments below:

Click the video below to see my son experimenting with blowing bubbles on our table at home.  

I was truly not sure this would work but it did and was totally awesome!

My kiddos loved this experiment and it is great for predicting.  I start by asking my students if they blew a bubble through a cookie cutter, would it make a different shape?  

I then present them with several cookie cutters and small trays of my favorite solutions. 

Click the picture above to download a FREE copy of my recording sheet for this experiment. 

This is only the beginning! You can touch on surface tension or even head into creative writing with bubbles. 

Here are some other fun ideas:

*Bubblegum Blowing Contest

*Pass out wedding bubbles as learning souvenirs.

*Use mini compass rings to track the direction of bubbles.

You can check out more of my Bubble Science by clicking below or give my blog button a click to read about how my class raised praying mantises and more!  

Anchor Chart ROUND UP!

Hey everyone! Karen here from Mrs. Jones's Kindergarten! 

The year seems to be winding down for many of us (okay I still have over 40 days left... but let's not get picky), so I thought I would do a little anchor chart recap from the year!

Now first, let's be honest. If you are OCD like me, you have a love/hate relationship with anchor charts. Hate when you have to do the hurryletmedrawthisrealquick one when you are with your class of sweeties  {Because when you are sitting in front of 21 five year olds, you have about 3.5 seconds to draw something semi-normal looking} and LOVE when you can then revisit said anchor chart AFTERSCHOOL and make it all presentable and post-worthy. Right? Or am I the only crazy that does this?

Anywhoo, here are some of my favorites from my classroom this year!

Let's start by taking it back to the beginning... September writer's workshop!

Remember fall? Ahh....

Learning how to read is serious business!

(...And I KNOW, I KNOW... "Independent" is spelled wrong! I did fix it! This is what happens when a teacher has ADD! :) )

Our writer's workshop unit showed that little people have BIG opinions!

Who knew that one letter could sound so different?

Setting goals and kicking their butts!

As we wind down the year... we become authors of non-fiction books ...our definite fav!

...And work on digraphs and blends in phonics! Word.

I hope you enjoyed some of my favorites from the year! {And tell me you are an anchor chart OCD'er too?!}

xoxo

karen