FEBRUARY IDEAS GROUNDHOG'S DAY! With the winter we've had, I hope that the little groundhog does not see his shadow so that I can expect spring sooner rather than later! I write this as it's still snowing outside my window, but one can hope! Here's a cute, simple craft to do with kids. Take a pre-cut piece of construction paper (to fit the height of the toilet paper roll) and have the children draw the eyes (or use googly eyes or eye stickers), nose, and whiskers in the middle of it. Then, put some glue on the paper, roll the paper around the toilet paper roll, and use a piece of tape to secure it. Children drew ears on white construction paper with a brown/black marker, cut them out, and glued them to the inside of the roll. You could also take a flashlight and shine it on the groundhog to discuss shadows. Here's another fun Groundhog's Day activity to do with young children. You can grab it here for FREE at my store! Hopefully, despite what the groundhog says, spring will come early! With all the snow we've had, students have been doing a lot of GoNoodle (I've spoken about that site down below), but they also love to create their own Jackson Pollack design on the Smartboard. I'm hooking up with Lori Ross for Terrific Tech Tuesday to share a fun indoor activity to do on the smartboard. Click on her link to find more tech ideas. One of our favorite indoor recess activities is to create our own Jackson Pollack. Jackson Pollack was an American painter who became famous for his drip paintings. Click on the website for Jackson Pollack. Our art teacher taught my kinders about him, so they loved making their own creation. When you click on the link, there will be a white space to the right. Just click full-screen and let the fun begin. They can start to draw by touching the Smartboard. The slower they draw, the thicker the line, and the faster they draw, the thinner the line. Every time they pick up their finger, the color changes. My kids love it! Here's an example: Here is one of my favorite creative writing ideas to do for Dental Health. We usually read a story (click here for a list of books) about the Tooth Fairy and the kids write what they think she does with their teeth. From K-2, their ideas and drawing are great! If you'd like to do this activity, you can click here to grab the tooth template at my store for FREE! Just add a picture and some construction paper and you're done! Hopefully, you took advantage of Colgate's FREE classroom set of toothbrushes and books for your classroom. If not, scroll down below to sign up. Hopefully, it's not too late! Here's a cute craft we did for Dental Health Month. We decorated the front, and on the back, we wrote a dental health rule. Here's how we did it: PRESIDENT'S DAY February is a great time to introduce coins and practice counting money. My kids love to use task cards so I created these and they love them. There is also a reader so that they can learn all about the coins, who is on them, and how much they are worth. Included are also printables and a money booklet for each child to take home as a culminating activity. Check out this Money Unit here. Here's a perfect craft to go with President's Day. They turned out super cute. These are not my original idea but I do not know the origin of it- if it's you , let me know! We created these after we learned about the presidents and we use these to check for understanding. I asked a question about a president and students raise whichever president is the correct answer. For example, Who was the first president of the United States? Who was a lawyer? Here is this month's FREE Color by Number. HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! You can grab this Free Valentine's Day Picture by clicking here or visit my store. If your kids enjoy it, please let me know. Stay Tuned and Follow for More Ideas!
Grab these free February coloring pages for kids that you can easily download and print the PDFs for free. Print all four cute sheets!
Here's a peek into our February Activities and Units! Be sure to look through for freebies! My kids LOVE learning about Ruby Bridges, because she was their age when her story unfolded. Here are a few videos. First is a read-aloud of The Story of Ruby Bridges. Next is an interview with Ruby Bridges as an adult. The quality is a little poor, but the questions and responses are great. Here are some activities we do while learning about Ruby Bridges! First we read about Ruby Bridges with this non-fiction teacher read-aloud and an emergent reader for the kids. After learning about Ruby, we complete these activities! You can find all of these activities and more by clicking this picture! If you didn't cover MLK in January, you can learn about him in February. Here are some of the activities we enjoy! These activities can be found by clicking the image below. Grab these freebies for Goundhog Day! This one has 3 cute literacy activities that work for whole group or small group! Click the image below to grab them! This one from Eberhart's Explorers has lots of great activities that I like to use whole group! Click the image below to grab them! I give glowsticks for Valentine's Day because, #1... the kids LOVE them, #2... They are CHEAP at the Dollar Tree, and #3... It's a nice change from candy and I have had allergies in the past. Grab these cute little tags from The Teacher Wife by Clicking Here! We make these sweet and simple Valentine's bags from Mrs. Ricca's Kindergarten For parent gifts, we make adorable torn paper mosaics like this. SO easy! Just grab some different colors of paper and set your kiddos loose! They will tear off small pieces and glue them into the heart. Perfect for fine motor and independent... win-win! Grab one of the templates to make your own by clicking HERE!! And of course I love any excuse to use candy conversation hearts around valentine's day! These pattern mats from my friend Michelle are perfect for an independent station! Click the picture to download and leave her some feedback on TPT as she is just beginning her store! :) Valentine week is important to me for another HUGE reason! If you've been following my story for long, then you know my daughter is kinda sorta a major miracle baby! She was born with a condition called HLHS, which is essentially half a heart. She has since had 3 open heart surgeries, 3 cardiac arrests, 10 long months in the ICU, two runs on complete life support through ECMO, and a heart transplant. She is now 18 months old and doing well, all things considered. The week of February 7 - February 14 is CHD Awareness week! CHD stands for Congenital Heart Defect and 1 in 100 babies is born with some form of CHD. Learn more here! Here is my miracle baby when she was very sick and pictures a picture since she has recovered from her heart transplant! I made this fun Valentine's Day freebie in honor of my daughter and it includes a page to spread CHD awareness! Grab it up and tell someone you know about CHD! Get this freebie by clicking below! This will be a fun experiment for students to see the effects of a cavity. Grabbed this idea from Fun Fabulous First. Just poke a hole in the apple to signify a cavity and give it some time to start decomposing. Re-assess the apple at the end of the week and discuss what happened over time with the cavity. I whipped up a quick little sheet for students to use to record their observations. Grab it below! Love this idea from The Moffatt Girls! Great hands on practice at flossing! We learn about what helps teeth stay healthy and what causes harm, then complete this sort and the kids search through magazines and grocery ads to cut/paste onto their own templates. We read several dental health books, and then the kids get their own mini reader! We learn this poem then create the writing craftivity. It's perfect for a hallway display! The tooth fairy sends out an ad looking for assistants and the kids apply for the job, then complete a math task that she leaves! They search the room for teeth pics numbered 1-50 and put them in order on ten frames! Ending Digraph Sort CVC Write and Wipe. For added fun, throw some dollar tree toothbrushes in to erase the dry erase marker writing from the teeth! Use marshmallows or white dry beans for a subtraction manipulative! Kids race to fill their mouth with marshmallow teeth in this comparing numbers game! They each draw a number, compare the values, and the person with the higher value gets to put one of their teeth on the mouth template! Then they get to eat their marshmallows at the end. SO FUN! You can grab all these activities by clicking the picture below! That wraps things up for our February. We also spend a couple of days for Presidents Day. So much to do in February... tough to fit it all in! Hope you all have a great month!
Classifying the animals can be a tricky business - the scientists call it the taxonomy. So let's do some sorting and learn how to group them with the Animal Classification and Sorting Printable Activity. The amazing
Should you visit Sicily in the winter? We traveled to Sicily in February. Here's what we discovered about the climate and culture in the off season.
Discover the best warm places to visit in February in the USA, from the sandy shores of Maui to the desert landscapes of Texas.
Sharing activity inspired by Should I Share My Ice Cream by Mo Willems! Perfect for homeschool, classrooms, or family fun. Includes a free printable!
We all love pretty papers right? You wouldn't be a papercrafter without it. Well take a look at this very pretty Flight & Airy Desig...
Looking for a fun, Monster Theme for Preschool? These Play-Based Math and Literacy Centers and crafts are a huge hit with the kids.