Bringing Back Some Old Favorite Activities

It might be a NEW YEAR, but I'm bringing back a few of activities that I had completely forgot about.

Over the holiday break I was going through some old files trying to PURGE the pile and I came across some old games I used a long time ago.  They were ragged and I threw them out.

WHAT!!!!!

Then I realized that the game pieces were trash, but the concept was a WINNER!

Old fashioned memory cards and letter tiles need to be added to my stations STAT!

I found a cute packet on TPT for New Years and SNAP....  it had letter tiles!  We had the best time moving the tiles around and trying to make as many words as we could!  It was a great way to celebrate our first day of 2017 together!

I loved to walk around and watch how each of them organized their paper letter tiles differently.  Some of them lined up the vowels and then lined up the consonants. Some of them had them in random rows or just in a pile.  This little one spelled out Happy New Year and then pulled tiles out to try and make a word.  Then she put them right back into their original place.  When I asked her about it, she said well I already found three words just by organizing them into Happy New Year!  I love listening to them explain the whys and hows of their methods of doing things. It really makes me understand their thinking so much better.  

Another good old game we have brought back was MEMORY MATCH!  How did I ever forget this one?  I have no idea!

We have been studying geometric shapes and are struggling to recognize some of them.  A pentagon is a tough one!  Not to mention if a hexagon is thrown into the mix.

The words are on the blue cards and the pictures on the green cards.  The kids pick one blue card and try to match it with a green.  It they make a match, they keep the pair.  If they don't, it goes back into the game.

We played in groups and had the best time trying to remember where the different cards were. Not only did we practice identifying the shapes, but we had a great lesson on the strategies to help you win. Did I mention that we had two lose a turn cards and two put one pair back into the game cards?  This helped make the game last a little longer so they could work on their strategies to remember which cards were where.

I hope everyone is enjoying 2017 with their kiddos!

Happy Teaching!

Welcome in 2017!

I can't believe that it is 2017!

I spent New Years with my youngest son (he isn't little - he's in 8th grade) playing Uno and eating way too much food.  As we sat playing cards I tried to memorize each and every minute because I know that soon he will want to spend holidays like that with friends.  We talked about all of the amazing things that 2016 has brought us and even some of our disappointing moments.

I have no idea where I saw this idea, but instead of making a bunch of resolutions you pick a word to define the year.

He was able to pick his word quickly....  domination.  I quickly reminded him that domination doesn't just happen on the football field, but perhaps we can say that domination means doing better at everything.  Like in the classroom....  dominating the material.  He didn't love my idea, but he did get a good laugh.

For me it was a little bit harder.  I ended up picking organization.  Really?  I don't mean getting things clean and orderly, well it wouldn't hurt if I got somethings in better order.  I mean it more for my life. Organizing my time and efforts better.  Organizing my priorities and only keeping things I truly need in my organization.

Another big announcement for 2017 is the launch of our new collaborative blog!  Several months ago I had the opportunity to join in with a terrific group of educators that wanted to share what was working in their classrooms with other teachers.  This has been months in the making and I can't believe the friendships that I have built with people that I have actually never meet in person.

So without anymore chatter from me....

To celebrate our launch we have a giveaway posted on the blog today and will be doing TPT dollar deals on January 2-3.  Just search TPT for #NewYearNewBeginnings and score some bargains to start of the year off right!

We go back to school tomorrow!  HOLY COW!  Those 2 weeks went FAST!

We have teacher work day, so I'm hoping to get a lot of things ready to make 2017 the best year ever!

Happy Teaching!