Day three of spring break! Another relaxing lazy day! I cannot wait to be relaxing in the new house! At this time next week I will be blogging from the balcony of our new home! I know you’re just as excited as I am! hehe
So, we all know that sometimes the world is…well…just…dumb. Well, in case we had forgotten, our friendly Wal-Mart stores have reminded us. And no, this isn’t the typical 4,678 people in line and 2 registers open (which I have decided is official Wal-Mart company policy)…this is Sharpie related. If you’ve read my blog much you know I am a Sharpie hoarder “Hi, I’m Greg and I have a problem.” It’s OK I admit it. But I ain’t fixing it! Anyways, I needed a black Sharpie (living with a friend…everything in storage means I don’t have my supplies…) so I was checking out with my plastic eggs, Zip-Loc bags, Coke Zero, Big Red and Sharpies (total teacher trip to Wal-Mart!) and BAM she asked for ID. Um, really? Yep. You must be 18 to buy Sharpies. For real. That my friends is a sad commentary on our world.
Today I am sharing two very simple and very cheap centers that my monsters LOVE! These kindergarten smorgasboard centers are common core aligned, are hands on, fun and engaging. And can probably be made with things you already have lying around!
The first center is an Easter math center! You need plastic eggs (these were $1.50 for 48 at Wallyworld!), a sharpie and a recording sheet.
Write numbers 0-10 on the top half and bottom half of the eggs. You can differentiate this center by using only one color of eggs for adding 0-5 and another color for 5-10 and another color for 10-20. I chose to have a set that is 0-10 for everyone. I will also have a set that is 0-5 for my monsters who need more practice with the lower numbers.
Here is how the center works:
Students snap together the top and bottom of the egg. This generates the number sentence. BAM! Students then record their number sentence and answer on the recording sheet. In this example, “Bob” used dots to help him add. This is just another example of differentiation! Some students will not need dots and that is GREAT!
Click the picture to get your free recording sheet!
The next center is another simple and cheap but very engaging center. This center helps students practice sight words!
You will need pom poms, empty water bottles and sight words written or typed on small slips of paper.
I have a pom pom crisis. They are multiplying and slowly trying to take over my classroom!
To make the bottles, I placed a couple of words in the bottle, then some pom poms. I repeated this until I had 10 words in each bottle. Be careful not to fill the bottles too full with pom poms because then there isn’t room for stuff to move! Seal the bottle with some hot glue under the lid and BAM! A very quiet sight word center. (I have rice bottles for letter ID and I’ve seen this center with popcorn but the pom poms are quiet! We love quiet!)
Students simply shake the bottle, find a word, read the word and record the word. To make it more fun I allow the monsters to use markers to write their words!
Click on the picture to get your free recording sheet!
While sitting on my bottom all day I realized I had never created anything that used mustaches. Well, I simply could not let that stand. So I created this to use in my classroom during our big addition and subtraction push for the last 9 weeks of school!
I will give one away tonight! Just leave a comment and let me know…goatee or no goatee??? HMMM (Leave your email) and I will pick a winner tomorrow!
And don’t forget about NINJA BUNNIES! I’ve been hearing that kids are loving the ninja bunnies!
