FINALMENTE! Another Spanish Game: Lucha de Bolas de Nieve. PLAF!

Brrr! It's too cold outside to have a snowball fight... why not have an indoor one?! 

 I am excited to offer my Snowball Fight Sight Word Game in Spanish. This 33 page game offers 133 Spanish sight words. Smart Tarts will have so much fun trying to beat their opponents that they won't realize just how much they are learning with this educational game!

Here is a description of the game & center: It's time for a SNOWBALL FIGHT! This game has a winter twist on the classic game, "WAR!" Students take turns flipping over cards and reading them the fastest.  The player that reads their sight word first collects all cards turned over in that round.  If the "Lucha de Bolas de Nieve" cards are turned over at the same time, players turn over another card & the player that reads the next card fastest gets all cards including the "Lucha de Bolas de Nieve" cards. The player to collect all players' cards WINS!

Also included is a version to be played at the "Teacher Table."  

This Spanish game is actually a "beefed up" version of the English one.   It includes a "Center Sheet" for student accountability & a "Parent Communication Sheet" to communicate with parents how their child is doing on reading sight words.  Both of these communication sheets are are offered in both Spanish & English.  I also added a "Data Tracker" that you can take with you to RTI meetings, Parent/Teacher Conferences & to use to provide you with valuable information on the Smart Tarts in your classroom.

For: PreK, Kindergarten, First and Second Grade.

This game should definitely be a BLAST in your class! PLAF!

Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?

This week we are learning about the Northern & Southern Hemispheres.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE science.  I am a bit of a geek freak nerd ah hem guru? NO, fan when it comes to science!  This post is specifically centered on the Northern Hemisphere, or even more specific, The North Pole and polar bears. 

Did you know???? {source Wikipedia}

• At the North Pole all directions point south!
• The N.P. lies amid the Arctic Ocean, which is made up of constantly shifting ice.
• This shifting ice makes it impractical to construct a permanent research center.
• In the summer the sun is continuously above the horizon.
• In the winter the sun is continuously below the horizon.
• No time zone has been assigned to the North Pole.
• The N.P. is significantly warmer than the South Pole. -45 degrees compared to the S.P.'s -128.6 degrees {lowest ever recorded in Fahrenheit}
• There is NO ACTUAL LAND on the North Pole ... Just a lot of Arctic ice.
• No country currently owns the North Pole.
• Animals found on the N.P. include: Polar Bears {they are not found on the South Pole}, seals, zoo plankton, whales, walruses & migratory birds such as the Arctic tern, Snow goose & puffin.

Speaking of animal life on the North Pole, we are focusing our study on one specific animal ... Polar Bears.

 We love this book:

Check out this adorable video of a mama polar bear and her cubs emerging from their den.  I can't wait to show this to the kids! {By BBCWorldwide}

A bear hunting a seal .... Does the seal get away???  You will have to watch to find out! {By BBCOne}

I LOVE EXPERIMENTS!  My kiddos LOVE this one.  This is a great tutorial for the "Blubber Glove" By Steve Spangler Science

We are going to make these SUPER CUTE polar bears on Friday, and I am SOOOOO excited!  Photo and tutorial by Sally at Fairy Dust Teaching.  If you haven't checked out her blog, YOU NEED TO!

THANKS Sally for letting me share this!

 

We will also be filling out this little fact sheet to accompany our artwork:

YOU CAN GET IT TOO!  Just click either link:

TPT or TN

 

Give me a ROAR if you have a comment or question!!

 

It's time for an {indoor} SNOWBALL FIGHT! SPLAT!

It has been ANOTHER LONG labor of {scatterbrained} love creating these Snowball Fight Centers {and I'm still not done!}  I thought it would be fun to create a game on the classic game WAR!  This game {so far} is literacy based... letters, sight words and sentences... {again, so far! HA!} 

I had fun drawing the mitten and snowball graphics and finding "just the right" digital papers when creating this game.  It's amazing just how long each step to the creation process takes!! 

Pick up the game at either store:

 Here are the basics:

It’s time for a SNOWBALL FIGHT! Bring the outdoors indoors with this fun take on the classic game WAR! Kids will have a blast reading faster than their friends in this all out reading battle! If the "SNOWBALL FIGHT!" cards are turned over at the same time the BIG BATTLE is on! This game is sure to be a favorite during your center time! :)

 



 

Bonus Items Included: Snowball Letter Line {a resource for new or struggling letter learners} in the letter game download.

 Parent Communication Documents {accompanies the sight word centers download.}

A little friendly competition can always be a good way to challenge kiddos to learn more, don't ya think?!

Sing a song of winter...

Winter is definitely here... even in Texas.  I thought it would be fun to post some winter videos for the "Smart Tarts" in your class to view. 

 I am a HUGE proponent of music, art and FUN in the classroom.  So many times, the "higher ups," "powers that be," and {dare I even say} educators forget that education and fun CAN and SHOULD go hand in hand. I want to see my kids eyes light up when they gain a new bit of knowledge and shine even brighter when they use that new bit in their life.  I want them to shiver with excitement waiting for an upcoming lesson and gaze back fondly on lessons we've had in the past.  I refuse to have students in my classroom that are drooling from boredom and mundane lessons.  They deserve better.  OKAY, I'm off my soapbox {for NOW! Ha!} 

 

I hope these videos will engage and excite your students while learning about winter {and other seasons.} 

 

First Snow in the Woods {animals getting ready for winter}

 

Winter Song: All about winter's attributes. Lyrics available.

 

I love Super Simple Songs!

{If you haven't seen their version of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, you should totally check it out! It's a tear jerker, though!}

 

Winter Song by Ronan Keating 
The creator used his song and added different winter scenes:

 

Snowball Fight {a song for letters and sounds} I love Harry Kindergarten!

 

Two more from Harry Kindergarten's YouTube Channel.
These are for all of the seasons:

 

This one is a little sad about a snowman melting,
 BUT winter will come again!

 

Here's to having a winter FUNderland in YOUR classroom! :)

Grinches and Elfs and Celebrations {PLUS FREEBIES}... OH MY!

The last couple of days have been extremely CRAZY creative ones in the classroom. It has been such a fun experience getting to loop from kindergarten to first grade with my fun and hilarious class, but that's another story...

This week we did a couple of very hands-on activities that the kids really sunk their teeth into and their scissors... it looked like Edward Scissorhands had been in our classroom!  The first activity we conquered was a "Winter Celebrations" Book.  {I will give a BONUS ITEM to the first person that comments with the error on one of these page examples...}  See pics below:


  The next project was a Grinchy affair!  I AM ABSOLUTELY IN LOVE WITH THIS PROJECT!!!!  THEY TURNED OUT SO CUTE! Ok, I'm done screaming... We created The Grinch from construction paper {no they didn't have a template, but I do give them visuals for each step, which I can share with blogland if there is enough interest} and played {what I called} "The Grinchy Grinch Game" 

Students counted the teeth by different values/points: For example, how many total points if each tooth was valued at 1, 2, 5 or 10 points.  They thought it was too cool to beat The Grinch and I thought it was cool that they thought it was cool, so there was a lot of coolness going on!

  

 
I LOVE how they are all so unique, individualized AND self-differentiated.

LAST, but not least.  We read, "The Littlest Elf" by Brandi Dougherty

The kiddos were then inspired to write their own elfkin tale and create an elf unique to them ... name and all.

  NOW FOR THE FREEBIES!  Enjoy... maybe not until next year.
Click on the one that you would like to "grab!"
Winter Celebrations     The Grinchy Grinch Game      Elf Writing

THANKS for stopping by and visiting.  Tell me how you enjoy your freebies {and remember, the first one to find an error on the winter celebrations book and comment about it will get a BONUS item}! :)