Zippin Down the Freebie Trail

{The blog hop is over so this item is no longer free

but it is available from my TeachersPayTeachers store!}

Welcome to your next freebie!  I hope you've gotten a lot of goodies along the way.  If you've missed any, you can go back to the beginning & start collecting again.  There are 27 participating blogs!  :)

The freebie I have for you is Easter themed but you could use it any time in the spring.  It's a Spill & Spell activity that you can use for Word Work, a writing center or reading skill practice.

Print the letter tiles, laminate them for longer use and put them in plastic eggs.  Mine are color coded for each of my 4 groups but otherwise the color doesn't matter.

{Store them as is when you're finished and you'll NEVER have to "set up" this activity again!!}  :)

It's differentiated into 4 levels so you can choose the one that's appropriate for your grade level...or do like I do and use all 4 sets to meet the needs of your diverse learners!  :)

{Levels 1 & 2 focus on CVC words and simple blending.}

Level 3 lets your students practice double vowels and silent e spelling patterns.  {When 2 vowels go walking, the first one does the talking!!}

Level 4 incorporates blends, longer words and gives them the option to make 2 words from each egg!

Click on any of the above pictures to get your download.  Then hop on down the bunny trail to your next freebie at SOS Supply.  Have a happy Easter!

Easter fun.

This little man had to go in to be fixed today.  :(

It left me lonely, but also completely free to do whatever needs to be done without worrying about what was laying around or on the floor!  {read: time to fix the living room!}  When we moved into our house last summer I wanted to bring in some color but hubs wasn't so sure about my bright choices.  I decided to tone it down a little...

...aaaaand have hated it ever since.  I am not a pastel person.  {gut instincts, ladies.  stick with 'em.}  So today while hubs was at work I went a shade darker than our kitchen/dining room and can sit happily again.  I love it!

Now for what you really came for.  ;)  I realized I never shared the fun activities we did last week on the day of our Spring Party and if you're in school this week, these are some great finds!

This jelly bean data sheet from Vickie at {Mrs. Plant's Press} is actually two pages but we combined to print them on one.

It has a graph, tally chart, asks for most and least and has a blank box for students to write any sentence about their data.  It was challenging, but in a good way!

Because I need to make a crown for every occasion {or just a random Thursday} we took this ancient coloring sheet and added numerals and number words.  The kids cut the bottom half of the egg {word} from a strip on the bottom and could color after the numbers were all matched up.

Ta-da!  Fabulous Easter crown...created during math.  :)

I don't have the original sheet to share, but you could use either of these to match numerals and number words, addition sentences and sums, capital and lowercase letters, etc.  Just print any Easter picture to add on!

{from printables4kids}

{from fambee.org}

This idea I can't take any credit for at all but I still had to share because it just ah-DOR-able.  {Don't you love fabulous student teachers who bring new ideas?  So refreshing!!}  I think the original idea came from Mailbox Magazine but {i heart crafty things} will walk you through it step by step.  This is so cute for a follow-up to hatching chicks.  I guess I'll have to do it next year!

Happy Easter friends!

chick {clue} writing.

You can't go the week before spring break without creating some sort of Easter egg can you?!  I certainly can't!

We dyed eggs this year using Kool-Aid {so much nicer to smell than vinegar!} thanks to Jen Renee.

And we made these cute little chickies with construction paper.  They're similar to the ones we made last year but I added a writing piece.  We've been talking about descriptive language and how it can be like a clue to explain what you're thinking of without really saying it directly so I figured we'd play a little guessing game with people walking by!

Instead of hanging writing and artwork together, I mixed them all up and hug it willy-nilly like.  So if you're looking for a particular child's chick, you'll just have to read their clues to find it!  ;)

 Tip: use a loofah to paint feather-esque prints.

Here's your copy!

P.S. I left with 18 babies today {ah!} but have a feeling there will only be 17 when I go in tomorrow.  Is it bad to pray for a quick release or healing for a chicken?!

{lovie snuggles}

Happy Tuesday Cool Chicks!  {yuk yuk yuk...}

how many days 'til spring break?!

How has your week been ladies?  Because mine has been like this...

Just replace the word "cabin" with "spring" and we've got it.  Don't hear me wrong, I am luh-ving 70 and 80 degree recesses but the warm weather paired with spring break beginning soon is a recipe for madness.

I saw this cute cute idea on Pinterest and think I may use it next week as we gear up for a break.  The picture links you to Teacher Treasures but I couldn't find it hiding in there.  {If you find the pattern, help a sister out!}

I figured it wouldn't be too difficult to make and my kids will love writing with a colored pencil.  And if you don't have any of these construction paper crayons that practically glow on black paper, make a note to go speak with your art teacher ASAP!

Instead of a poem about spring they could write about what they want to do this spring/summer, where they wish they were going on spring break, how the warm weather makes them feel {ooh!  I know!  energized!!!} or they could list things they observe outside in the warm weather...since they're writing on sunglasses after all.

Ok, and just because I love you {and this idea} this is how I plan to dye Easter eggs next week.  I won't even complain about the stains on my fingers because it WON'T smell like vinegar in my room!!

Eggs galore!

Today our egg babies are 10 days old and we compared how much they've grown since day 3.  Holy smokes have they changed in just one week!

We candled them last week and saw the beginning of the heart.  We'll candle them again this week and hope to see more of the embryo developing! 

Along with our incubator eggs, I love plastic eggs for whatever I can get my hands on.  I have quite a few ideas up my sleeve but here are two we're using this week:

We use Investigations as our math curriculum but I get tired of using the same old games {can I get an amen?!} so I always incorporate thematic things.  The lesson calls for making number combinations using tiles to help students see how one amount can be made multiple different days.  I figure...if we can do it with tiles...we can do it with eggs!

I bought these little eggs at Hobby Lobby and stuffed them inside larger plastic eggs with a number on each.  The students open the big egg, double check the amount {in case one is missing} then make 2 piles.  They record the combination on the recording sheet then do it again until they've shown four different ways to make the number.  Then they put the eggs back and get another one!

  I bought these foam sheets at Wal-Mart last year and use them for many math games.  They make dice quieter, eggs less likely to roll off the table and counters easier to pick up.  This is one of the best purchases I have ever made!

After the students complete four combinations of 4 different eggs they can color in the clip art {since I can't print in color at work.}  Today was the first day of using this game...and they love it!

Here's the recording sheet I made to go with it:

We're also using plastic eggs in literacy centers.

 I wrote word endings on the right side of the egg and beginning letters or blends on the left side.  When students twist the egg, they make new words. 

 I adapted a recording sheet created by Hadar from Outfitted & Inspired to meet the levels of all of my students.  You can see her original activity here...complete with adorable bunny baskets!

My lowest group is yellow so I wrote their words on yellow eggs, my highest group is green so I wrote their words on green eggs, etc.  All of the eggs are mixed together in an Easter basket but the sheets are clipped with colored paperclips so they know which one to use.  I also write a note at the top after checking it for the students to practice reading the words {now at their instructional level!} to parents or siblings for additional practice when they get home.