Word Wall Maracas!

We've been working hard this year learning important sight words! Reagan loves to read and loves showing off how many sight words he knows....what kinder kid doesn't?Yep! They all do....and that is exactly why I love the "kinder age".....

Here is our home word wall. We use the word wall at home the same as we use it in the classroom... It's a great way to extend the home/school connection and really drives home the point that those word wall words really ARE the most important words in the world!

Reagan is always in full control of HIS word wall. He puts up every single word and boy oh boy! Do not let anyone try to move them! He just won't have any of that! He's so protective of his words.

We do lots of activities to go with our word wall. We play snap & clap, flashlight, mystery word, etc. We still do alot of the same activities I did when I was in the classroom. You can read about those activities HERE. 

I used to have a set of plastic maracas that we'd use in the classroom. I had enough where all my students could have 1 maraca. We'd shake our maracas as we'd chant our word wall words. 

Like - Like  

L-I-K-E

Like

cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha

like, like, like, like, like, like

l-i-k-e, like, l-i-k-e, like, l-i-k-e, like, l-i-k-e, like, l-i-k-e, like, l-i-k-e, like

This was always a class favorite for word wall!

So, I decided to make it apart of our word wall routine at home....but I left my maracas in my old classroom. We had to make some....

Here's what we used:

Take a normal sized plastic Easter egg (not a large one).... Open it and fill with rice or beans or beads. We didn't have any beans so we filled some with rice, some with beads, and some with both --which was Reagan's idea. Different items make different sounds so it was fun to discuss those different sounds.

Yes, even Bailey got involved in the fun! She's such a kinder at heart! <3 See those beautiful Jamberry's?

 Close the Easter egg up and place 2 plastic spoons on either side of the egg... (don't ya just love Bailey's "cool" face? She'd hate to know I posted this... hehehe)

Then we used masking tape to hold it all together. Bailey wasn't the only one that wanted to ham it up!

Then, it was decoration time! Now, I will tell you that it would have been MUCH better for use to use colored Sharpies. Hindsight is always 20/20. The washable markers didn't show very bright on the masking tape. :( Oh well! Live and learn and we still had a great time with it. But, FYI - if you make these, have some colored Sharpies on hand.

Our finished maracas! 

Reagan was so proud of his homemade maracas and he now LOVES using them for word wall time! Look at that happy smile! :) <3

Reagan Reading

I'm so proud of Reagan! He is such a super sweet and smart boy. Yes - he takes after his mom. :)

Kids grow so quickly and I get so sad when I think about him being grown. :( So, I love capturing all those precious growing moments. Reagan loves Starfall and he loves reading! He is obsessed with showing me just how good he is.....and of course, as mom, I am always ready and willing to listen to him!

Disclaimer: Reagan is usually shirtless.....Anytime we go anywhere he comes home and yanks off his shirt... So, you will see him shirtless alot! :) hehehe.... Boys will be boys!


We set up a little computer in a nook in the living room for the kids to use. Jaden and Jordan are using Time4Reading in their homeschool program so we needed another computer set up.

Reagan was so excited to go to Starfall - like most 5 year olds! He fell in love with the nursery rhyme, Fuzzy Wuzzy. It's not one I'd ever done with him before so it was new and he loved it.... He played it over and over! You'll notice he was intent (and a little distracted) by making the mouse highlight each word......but a great way to see he definitely has one-to-one matching down!

Here he is reading it! 

He even grabbed his IPOD and recorded the rhyme so he could carry it around with him... hehe :) I wonder if Starfall has an IPOD app? I need to check that out! I checked it out. Starfall does have an app for that! We bought it for $2.99 - not too shabby! :)

Click HERE to check it out!

Bear-y Yummy Words (Freebie)

Here is a real quick freebie for you. I love bears and we do a bear unit each January. There's just something about bears that kids love!

Hehe - here's my son Jaden. He's 11, but when he saw me pull out the box of Cookie Crisp, he was a VERY willing helper! Hhmmmm..... mental note -- how could I use this darn cereal to bribe him in other ways..... :) Cute kid, huh? :)

This is a Dolch sight word game. It includes both pre-primer and primer words. It's a super simple game. Each player gets a bear character with a cookie jar. The object of the game is to earn cookies for your cookie jar. I have printed cookies for this if you can't use food in the classroom, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE using the tiny mini cookies (even Cookie Crisp cereal works really well)!
Your students can eat the cookies they earn or you can even have them put them in a baggie and take them home for an afternoon snack!

Click HERE to grab this freebie!!

I hope you like it!!!

Snow Puffy Paint

I'm so thankful my little Reagan is feeling much better. So, today we made snow paint! This is another WAY simple activity to do in celebration of winter. Not only did Reagan love making snowflakes and snowmen using the puffy paint, the whole rest of my crew loved it as well....yes - even the big kids! By the time we were done my kitchen was plum full of kids... :) If this can hold to attention of big mean teenagers, that is something special! It made my momma heart proud... :)

This paint is really cool! It looks like a super light frosting, but it dried puffy. Reagan was so tempted to try it since it really looked like frosting, but he didn't... :) Here he is smelling it because we included some peppermint extract in it....YUM!

So here is what you need. You probably can find the stuff you need between your house and school.......yeah you know you steal stuff from home for these type things!

Materials:
Elmer's Glue
Shaving Cream
Iridescent Glitter (optional) - if you want it to be glittery
Peppermint Extract (optional) - if you want it to smell yummy
Construction Paper
Paint Brushes - although my daughter discovered that a spoon actually works better
Bowl

How To Make It: 
Mix equal parts of white glue and shaving cream. We didn't measure anything. We just mixed it until it was well mixed. It won't really feel puffy. It gets puffy as it dries which is COOL and your kids will be super surprised! We used a whole 7oz. bottle of glue and probably 2 cups of shaving cream. Then, we mixed in glitter and a wee bit of peppermint extract. Reagan loved mixing it, but he did kind of slop it. You may want to do the mixing or put it in a bigger bowl. He was crazy with the mixing, but he had such a good time. He felt like he was helping me bake something... :)

That's it! Then, simply use the mixture as paint... We painted snowmen, snowflakes, and even our names!

We used construction paper to make the pieces for the snowman. It sticks right to the paint - no extra glue needed!

Look at that smile on Reagan's face! Even big sister, Bailey had to get in on the action!

 I had Reagan cut the pieces for the snowman himself. He had to think about what color made sense and he free cut the pieces. I think sometimes we get too caught up in things looking "cute" instead of the process that kiddos go through in making them. I wanted him to do his own thinking about how to make the snowman's nose, hat, boots, and buttons.... He noticed that this nose was too big, but he liked it! The paint is puffy but doesn't really weigh the paper down and it doesn't run....so don't worry!!

The finished products! 

Real Snow.....(well almost)

I wanted to show you a real simple activity I did with Reagan today....before he came down sick. :(

I've told you before that my little 5 year old, Reagan, is in love with snow.... he remembers when it snowed here last year and has been not-so-patiently waiting for it to return. I found this idea for making fake snow at Growing a Jeweled Rose. It looked simple enough and we've used shaving cream paint before (and loved it) so we decided to give this a shot!

This is probably the simplest thing to make. It literally takes 2 ingredients! baking soda and shaving cream. We had both of these already at the house so we were ready to get going and didn't spend a dime on it!

 You just mix the 2 together! I used a 1 lb box of baking soda. I used maybe 3/4 of a can of shaving cream. I didn't measure anything. We just mix until it felt right. This was also a great way for me to talk to Reagan about what was happening.... when the mixture got too wet, Reagan would figure out we needed more dry (baking soda)....if it was too dry and turning to powder, we'd use more wet (shaving cream).

See - you can see in his eyes, he was starting to feel bad. :(

 But, look at his intensity. He was sooo "into" this snow!

 Ah...yes! A snowball!!! He worked so hard figuring out how big he could make the snowball.

He was so proud of his snowball!

Here - he was working on making double snowballs at the same time. He quickly realized that you need 2 hands to make a really good snowball - to pack it down.....

We loved the naturally cold feeling of this "snow".... YES! It really IS cold! It's also so silky smooth so it's a great sensory activity. Reagan loved the texture... HECK! I LOVED the texture and found myself constantly playing with it.... Reagan played this all afternoon.

This would be a great fun activity to do in the classroom after reading The Snowy Day or The Mitten. 

Here's the only sad thing.......... shortly after Reagan started running a fever... :( Look at my sick baby....:(

The Mitten (Giveaway)

Hi Friends! So.....how are you enjoying winter? heheheh - don't slap me... It was a joke, really.. :) Here in Texas it's been pretty cold and miserable, but I know nothing compared to the majority of the country. I can't even fathom temperatures and windchills in the negatives!!!

Snow really is a beautiful weather event (if you are safe at home of course). We don't get nearly enough here. Reagan keeps asking when it's going to snow......

So I think it's a perfect time for me to show you my "The Mitten" unit and host a giveaway. Do you totally love the Jan Brett book, The Mitten? It's one of my absolute favorites and is always a big hit in the classroom. It's about this boy who loses a mitten. Then, a series of animals squeeze into the mitten to keep out of the cold weather. In the end, all the animals burst out of the mitten.....which is by then stretched WAY out of shape.... hehehe --- it's funny and a great way for kids to connect with this wonderful season. :)


The Mitten




Here are some sneak peeks into this unit.....
This is an activity for measuring area -- using snowballs! (yes they are actually cotton balls, but the kiddos love use them and pretending they are snowballs)....

 These pieces are wonderful! I have kids make retelling headbands by gluing the pieces in sequential order on a long sentence strip. Easy peasy headband.....kids can wear it home and them tell the story to their families!

Sorting cvc - real and nonsense words....then record them!

Here is a great phonemic awareness activity - Sound Spotting...where do you hear that sound?

And an emergent reader that matches the book (but at an easier level). It prints as a double book which makes it easier to print for your class! :)

Now - could you use this unit? I hope so!

Check it out here:

Well you have a chance to win it!! I made it beyond easy. I am just asking you to follow me on TpT and Facebook to enter this giveaway - that's it!!! So.....what are you waiting for???? ENTER!! :)

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