Clipart Challenge

Several fabulous clipartists and bloggers have come together for an amazing Clipart Challenge hosted by Primary Possibilities!  Each blogger is featuring a clipartist and a product they made using that artist's images!  This is a great way to discover new clipart creators for your summer creations.   So keep reading and following the linky at the bottom to head on to the next post!  You may even pick up some freebies along the way!

I had the honor of creating a new product using clipart from Dancing Crayon Designs. 

 I was so excited when I saw their clipart and had a REALLY hard time deciding which ones to use because they were all so great!  Click on the following links to check out some of my favorites or click on the pic above to check out all their clipart!

Warm Fuzzies (these are ADORABLE!)

Background pack (On my wishlist!!)

Fun Frames (so many uses!)

Bean Seeds, Bean Sprouts and Seedlings (would be VERY useful for a plant unit!)

Monster Mail Stamps (cute, cute, cute!)

In the end I picked these two clipart packs to create this new (FREE) product for my classroom and for you all, of course!

Tally Marks

Bright Borders and Frames

I made 6 math games/centers using the clipart focusing on the skill counting 0-10.

Here are some images from the pack:

But hey, it's FREE so download it now for FREE and you can see and have it all for FREE!  

(Did I mention it's FREE?)

Click HERE to download it now!

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Numbers, Numbers Everywhere!

We're wrapping up our 1-10 Number Sense Unit.

Here are some of our favorite activities so far:

Our favorite number song:

Our favorite math bucket activity:

Click HERE for a free copy of the number cards.

Our favorite on-line number games:

If you missed the introduction to our Number Sense lessons visit the post by clicking here:  
http://inspiredbykindergarten.blogspot.com/2012/09/number-introduction-time-freebie-alert.html

Next week we take our Collection Boxes to the "next level!"  More on that soon. . . 

Subitizing? (Nope, it's not a post about Sub Plans!)

So my colleagues and I have been doing a fun domino activity for a few years now.  We flash the kids domino dots and they have to say the number as quickly as they can:

It's basically flashcards for counting.   

Speed is what we're trying for.  

I encourage speed by saying things like  "How fast can your math brain tell you the number!?"

Once they're good at the "simple" set of cards we move on to the "harder" cards:

Again, speed is the goal and VIOLA the kids are adding and they don't even know it!  Woo Hoo!  Plus, they are FAST!

Now, what we DIDN'T know (and one of my colleagues, Jill stumbled upon on YouTube) is that we are Subitizing!

Huh?  I mean. . . oh yeah, we knew that (ha- right!)

Subitizing (pronounced Soo-bitizing) is literally "instantly seeing how many." 

I am here to tell you people:  It works!!  

My kids are better adders and they actually SEE numbers in their head.  It's amazing!

Check out this YouTube vid my colleague found:

And this video which explains even more:

We used to use domino cards like these:

Super simple to make:  Cut out cardstock rectangles and use colored circle stickers.

Of course being kindergarten teachers we wanted it to be cuter (It's a sickness. . . we know!) If you want to see the "cuter" version click HERE.

You have to admit:  the dots are precious!

Thanks to Teaching 4 Real for the fun clipart freebie!

Do you Subitize?

Number Introduction Time! (Freebie alert!)

This week we'll start introducing #'s 1-10.  We take 2 days for each letter.

Day One:

1.  Read a story about the number being introduced.

2.  Smartboard File for discussing Number Sense.  Kids pick pictures representing the number and move them above the line.  Pictures not representing the number stay below the line:

Available on my TPT for $2.00 (click picture)

3.  Independent practice page:

Available on TPT for $2.00 (click picture)

4.  Math Centers for hands on practice and review of old skills.

Day Two:

1.  Review of Number Sense by completing top of this page together:

Download this file for FREE (click picture)

2.  Number writing practice on bottom of worksheet above.

Each number has a chant we say as we draw the number. I'm sure you've seen these (or version of) before:

1:  Straight line down.  One is fun.

2:  Around and back on the railroad track is two, two, two.

3:  Around a tree, around a tree, that's the way you make a 3.

4:  Down and over and down once more, that's the way you make a 4.

5:  Down and around and a hat on top, man alive you've made a 5.

6:  Down and a loop, a 6 rolls a hoop.

7:  Across the sky and down from heaven, that's the way you make a 7.

8:  Make an S and do not wait, go back up and close the gate.

9:  A balloon and a line, that's the way you  make a 9.

3.  Math Centers for hands on practice and review of old skills!

Don't forgot to check out more freebies on Teaching Blog Addict!

Right and Left

I LOVE teaching left and right!  

 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

. . . deep breath. . . sigh. . . .

Above is a pic of one of the activities we worked on.   The small cards are numbers and tell the kids how many counters to put on the hand.

We've also been singing Harry Kindergarten's Left and Right Robot song.  

Over and over and over and over. . . .

We've been twisting away with Patty Shukla!

We've also been jammin' out to the Hokey Pokey and rocking out to Mother Gooney Bird by Dr. Jean.

Of course we had our Smelly sticks out too!

I need a machine that has 2 buttons:

When I push button one it will say, "You have fabulous behavior, show me your right hand for a Smelly Reward!"

Button two will say "You have fabulous behavior, show me your left hand for a Smelly Reward!"

Anyone have that for sale in their TPT store??

Seriously though, whoever thought up Smelly Rewards is a GENIUS!  Thank you from the bottom of my <3 !

youTube Tuesday (and blog swap countdown)

I'm in summer mode.  Yesterday I read a whole book and tomorrow I'm going to the water park with my kids.  It's hard to find things to blog about and I'm sure you all don't want to see pics of me in a swim suit. . .yikes!

So, above is one of my kinders FAV videos.  They sing it all the time.  You know how that is. . .

Another great source for YouTube Vids for your classroom is the pinterest board:

 Kid Friendly Songs and Videos from YouTube.  

If you're not following it yet, what are you waiting for? :)

One more thing before you go:

I am so excited for the upcoming Top Teachers' Blog Swap and Hop!  Come back Saturday to check out who's posting for me. . .you will not be disappointed!  I will be also be guest posting on a different blog.  You know we'll all put a LOT of extra effort into it when it's for someone else. . . we're teachers, that's just the way we roll!  And of course extra effort for us mean freebies, sales and our BEST ideas for you!

Building Numbers 10-30 (Freebie!)

         

         

Next week we are working on Building numbers 10-30.  One of our activities will be "Number Detectives." I've included the directions for the activity in the free download.  Click here for your copy.  

By the way....13 days left for me!  Woo Hoo!

Zero the Hero TPT Packet

Starting on things for next year...a little crazy but making these Zero the Hero books was on my mind and decided to do it and get it over with!  Plus, Scrappin Doodle had these adorable super hero graphics that I couldn't pass up!

Every 10 days of school we will get a reproducible book as part of our celebration.  There are 10 books in this pack plus a few math center activities. Click on the picture above to check it out!

Sorting Noodles...cheap, cheap, cheap!

This is an oldie but a goodie. I buy noodles (yep noodles) of all shapes and sizes and dye them using rubbing alcohol and food coloring. Cheap and easy! Throw them all into one container and have kids sort them by color, shape or size. You can specify how you want them to sort or you can let them decide how they want to sort. I throw in a little bit of fine motor skills by having them sort the noodles using a tweezers (I got the tweezers in the pictures from Lakeshore.)

To dye the noodles:

Put about a Tbsp. of rubbing alcohol and as many drops of food coloring as you want into a baggie(the more food coloring you use the darker the color). Let it sit in the baggie for about 10 minutes, flip the bag over and let it sit for another 10 minutes. Spread the noodles out onto wax paper and allow time to dry (usually at least an hour). The coloring will bleed through the wax paper onto your counter so I usually put a few layers or newspaper under the wax paper.

This method also works for coloring clothespins, craft sticks, etc.

Mrs. Larremore (creator of ChalkTalk....awesome blog) is having a linky party. Check out her page for more fun math ideas!