Sounding Off….freebies and EMO.

I want to share a freebie with you about sound energy!  It’s a tried and true aims lesson from yesteryear.  I shared it last year, but this year when we got it out, it was so much fun I had to share it again just in case you missed it the first time around!  Students were given 12 eggs.  We shook one at a time and each student passed it around.  Then we put our heads together and voted on what we thought was inside the egg.  Students have picture cards to help them guess.  After the tables shared their vote, I revealed the sound maker inside the egg and oohs and aahs erupted every time!  It was fabulous.  I took way to many pictures because my class was so riveted with these eggs! 

 I mean seriously…look at the cuteness!!!!  I may have to blow this one up and frame it. 

 You can grab this activity Here and the worksheet that the kids did was straight out of the aims book lesson called Eggs full of Sound.  This baby is worth the prep.  It was a smash hit.

 Another freebie up on the blog tonight is a great short vowel review.  It’s called Flipping Over Vowels!  {I am always upside down I tell ya} Students flip over the cookies on the cookie sheet to reveal a different short vowel word.  zap turns into zip.  set turns into sit.  pin turns into pan….you get the idea…

 My kids LOVED this one.  They could read the words and truly work independently with success.  They loved it so much they had to make the recording sheet longer by writing on the back.  YES!  That’s success baby!

Remember last week when I showed how I sent home their little sight word stars  in their book bags?  Well these crazy kids have been working SO hard!  I am having to give out certificates and bump them up to the next level! This weekend I plan to add 2 more levels to my I’m a Sight Word Star Packet.  If you already have it you will soon get a free upgrade! 🙂 If you don’t have it but want it, you can find it here. 

 Finally, we started my Plenty of Pumpkins Unit today.  We began with a whole group review lesson on related facts. {fact family in disguise} I drew a fact o lantern on the board.

Then I explained that the eyes were the two parts and the mouth was the whole like a number bond.

We rolled a die to get our first eyeball and then another die to get our second eyeball.  We took those numbers and added them together to find our mouth…or big daddy…whole…whatever you like to call it.

{again…don’t judge this wasn’t my best art work!}

Then in small group we made the fact o lanterns you see below on the right and independently students made fact o lanterns in their journals.  

 The rest of the week is going to be more pumpkin goodness.  Each center activity has a journal activity to go right along with it!  There are 7 in all….{ha sounds like the ending of a story problem}

 Now I have to share some personal business.  Pardon my emo, but  my baby girl just became a teenager.  I may have cried her to sleep as I prayed with her on the last night of her 12th birthday.  I was the one in the fetal position this time sucking my thumb as she comforted me with her all knowing teenager wisdom….{or something like that}  In any case it took be by surprise!  As I prayed my voice became shaky.  I tried to play it off, but the weird cracking voice gave it all away.
Just look at this precious tiny infant baby….13 year old…