Your Fantastic Elastic Brain!

This is an awesome read for the first day of school!

 

Your Fantastic Elastic Brain by JoAnn Deak, Ph.D is appropriate for kids K-3.

 

If you've ever read my blog before, you'll know that I am absolutely fascinated by the brain and how it works. This book explains how the brain works in kid-friendly language! 

It tells the specific parts of the brain and the specific jobs they have, and how each brain is different, which makes us all uniquely different. 

I particularly love the part that discusses things that kids have learned, such as playing soccer, that were hard at first, but with practice, got easier! They might have even made mistakes, but the mistakes helped them learn!

If that's all it was about, this book could be used any time of year. The reason this makes a great beginning-of-the-year book is because it tells the reader they can stretch their own brain! 

Who wouldn't want to stretch their brain? 

Isn't that our job as teachers? To stretch their brains?

(I refuse to believe that our job is to have the kiddos score well on tests!)

I feel it's our job as teachers to teach the children to be better learners,  and to stretch their brains as much as they can!  

That leads me to this fun resource, based on this awesome book.

It has some activities to let the children tell what's already in their brain, a chance to challenge their brains a bit more, and a few coloring pages to give them a chance to think about their brains! See the image or see HERE for the link to this fun resource! Enjoy! I Can Stretch My Brain!

Baseball Fun and Learning!

I'm so excited that baseball season is finally here! Baseball means spring! 

 After a tough winter, anything that means spring is OK by me! 

 

I've been doing a lot of baseball reading this week, in honor of the opening of baseball season. Here are some favorites: 

• H is for Homerun: a Baseball Alphabet
• My Baseball Book
• Goodnight Baseball
• Play Ball!
• The Lucky Baseball Bat
• Babe Ruth Saves Baseball
• The Berenstain Bears Go Out for the Team
• Baseball Ballerina
• Play Ball, Amelia Bedelia
• Pete the Cat: Play Ball

Baseball and April bring another opportunity: It's National Poetry Month! What a great opportunity to write Diamantes!

Why Diamantes?  Because they are shaped like diamonds!(Get it? baseball diamonds?)

Or check out this resource, with plenty of examples and options!

Speaking of shapes... a baseball diamond could be called a square or a rhombus, but did you realize home plate is shaped like a pentagon?

Have you noticed, when we connect learning to sports, all those little boys perk up?  (Many of the little girls do, too!)

I have a resource I'm VERY excited about called Baseball Geography! 

These are all task cards based on the locations of major league baseball teams! I had such a blast putting this together, and so far my students can't get enough! Plus, they're really getting to know the locations on the US maps!

Here are a couple of other baseball-themed games I've got:

Baseball Antonyms combines a couple of popular games with antonym practice. 

Plus, I have a couple of BINGO games with a baseball theme:

Home Run Two Digit Addition gives the children practice adding 2 two-digit numbers, along with a little strategy. 

 

Home Run Two Syllable Words is a similar BINGO game, but this one gives the children practice reading two-syllable words. 

The students LOVE these BINGO games! 

Come to think of it, they love any time I combine learning with sports!

And, of course, there's one more! A bundle of all of the baseball-themed activities:

How do you integrate sports into the learning process?

Thanksgiving Resources

Wow, Thanksgiving is practically upon us!  

Can you believe it? After that, Christmas, then another year! Life, please slow down?

 

Well, I want to spend the next 7 school days celebrating Thanksgiving. It's a great opportunity to "throw in" a little history, as well as enjoy the things for which we are grateful!

How do I squeeze all this in? Well, I always start with loads of books. Here's a collection of books I've loved. Some are fun, some are informational. I like to have a lot of books for each interest and each reading level so they all can enjoy them at independent reading time!

                                                            

Books are always a great start. Movies are another fun way to enjoy the holidays!

See the above image for a link to BrainPOP Jr's free Thanksgiving video! Don't you love BrainPOP?

Here are a couple of movies I've found on YouTube with a Thanksgiving theme. Feel free to preview them and choose what is right for your group!

HERE are some videos from Scholastic that have been filmed at Plimouth Plantation. These are definitely worth a watch!

I try to squeeze in the holidays in all the subjects. This resource has loads of math and literacy activities with the Thanksgiving theme I'll be using these all week!

Thanksgiving No Prep Activities

There are a few Thanksgiving-themed items in my November Science and Social Studies Printables!

There's an information mini-book about turkeys, complete with fun facts, vocabulary practice, comprehension questions, and a reflection page. (My kiddos LOVED this, especially the fun facts!)

 

This resource is also available as a stand-alone resource here:

or as part of this bundle:

Plus, there's a sorting activity, where the children have to decide if facts might have happened back in 1621, or if it couldn't have happened back then. Be prepared for giggles!

 

Here's a math game with a Turkey theme to practice those +9 facts. My kids LOVE this one!

Turkey Nines!

Here's a simpler, freebie version of the above game:

Turkey Nines Freebie!

I can't let Thanksgiving go by without a reference to football! When I was a kid, we always had a football game in the morning, and a turkey in the afternoon. (My dad was a football coach!)

Here are links to a couple of football games my kids love!

Football Game Board and Cards

Counting to 1,000, plus short and long vowels:

Here's a simpler, Dollar Deal version of the above set:

Football Game Board and Counting to 1,000 Cards

 

Here's is a favorite with my boys:  Football Past and Present Verbs! Yes, all these verbs have something to do with football!

 Want still more football learning? Try this bundle!

Happy Thanksgiving!

5 Resources for Earth Day

My Earth is pretty important to me! 

It's my home, and it's the home for my kids (both biological and students) and their children. If we make the effort, we can make our Earth and its resources last!

 

I plan to make the whole week all about protecting our Earth and its resources.  Here are some of my plans:

1.  Literature! I always use plenty of literature whenever I teach a concept.  Here are some great books that tell what happens if we don't take care of our Earth: (Click for an affiliate link to Amazon for more information about these books.)

• The Lorax
• The Wump World
• A River Ran Wild

     

Here are some more books to bring Earth Day awareness:

• Earth Day: An Alphabet Book
• The New 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Help Save the Earth 
• The Everything Kids' Environment Book

     

2. Resources! Here's what I'll be using next week to tie Earth Day into reading, writing and math in my second grade classroom: Earth Day No Prep

These Earth Day Math Story Problems are a favorite! 

 

The above resources as well as a few others are included in this bundle at a HUGE discount!  Earth Day Collection

3. Videos!  Speaking of Youtube, there is a wealth of information out there, and some of it is pretty good!  Here are a few I've found that are great for Earth Day:

4. Be a Role Model! If you want the kids to do what they can to protect our Earth, you need to show them how! Let them see you reduce, reuse, and recycle! I always warn my students not to use more than their share of paper, not to waste materials, and not to let the water run. They see me being careful about using paper. I even print on both sides whenever I can! If a paper has print on one side, I save it and put it upside down in my printer to use again. We have a recycling box in our class for paper, and save paper scraps, especially construction paper that can be used again on other projects! I also make a point to mention when I see a child being conservative with materials.

5. Dollar Deals! Here are a couple more Earth Day bargains!

Here's a Dollar Deal for students to write about their Earth Day plans: EarthDay Writing Paper

 

This Dollar Deal is a song to the tune of Take Me Out to the Ballgame! Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

 

Can you tell Earth Day is important to me? 

Happy Earth Week!