Muffin Tin Learning Games

I am so excited about my newest little packs Muffin Tin Learning Games {Letters & Sounds} & {Colors, Shapes, & Patterns}.  My girls at home have already been using them and I must say they LOVE them.  Daughter 2 wants to do them all the time, and Daughter 1 is begging me to get my "harder" packs done so she can play too!  :)  I've already got a long list of Muffin Tin games to make.  This is going to be an on-going center in my classroom this year.  We already do counting and sorting with muffin tins, but I wanted to have something deeper for it because the kiddos love it and it's hands-on which I LOVE!!  I do not have any recording sheets with these packets because I want it to be simply hands-on & FUN!  Ahhh!  Here are a few pics of my girls using them.  

Daughter 2 using the Letter Matching game.  

Daughter 1 using the beginning sounds game...

Here, she is using manipulatives from Lakeshore Learning's Sound Tubs.  These games are perfect for the mini manipulatives!  

I love these games because the muffin tins allow students to carry them easily from place to place without losing the pieces.  Also, if you like, students can leave their game as they finish allowing you to check it later in the day.  

Another great thing, is these are perfect for Intervention or small groups.  Once you introduce the game, the concept stays the same so it can become an independent station almost right away.  

Like I said before, I have a list of games to make so stay tuned.  Also, I will be showing how to store these games in a super cute way coming soon!  

What do you think?  

Blog Lovin'

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Okay, I'm doin' it!  Follow me on Bloglovin...pretty please.  :)  I cannot seem to keep up with this techy world...but I'm tryin!  

Go read KinderCraze blog post about Bloglovin.  She also has some links to tutorials on the what and how's of Bloglovin' in this post.  

Heaven knows I don't have time to put all that in this post!  

Cats, Buttons, & Colors Unit STILL on SALE!!!

I didn't realize that friends who follow by e-mail get e-mails a day late!  So...I've extended the sale on this unit until sometime tomorrow.  :) 

Click the picture below to check it out!  

Throwback Thursday

It's Throwback Thursday and I'm participating in Cara's Linky Party from TheFirstGradeParade.  I figured I would just start with something I do at the beginning of school...Colors with Brown Bear.  It's one of my favorite units of the year (I say that a lot)!  :)  Post is below.

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Originally Posted September 2, 2011

Oh my goodness y'all...this week was so much fun!  (and a little exhausting!)  My kinder kiddos are really starting to get in to our routine and finally settling in...

In the midst of continuing rules and procedures, we hit centers hard this week learning how to play our "roll and dot" games, "spinner games", and how to use bingo dotters.

I think our favorite game was the "Brown Bear Bowling" center...You can find this game in my Brown Bear Unit at TpT

Notice the mat...this made it easy for my kids to set up the pins once they knock them down...Hint...make the circles large enough so that if one pin falls over it won't knock them ALL over or else they will get "6" or "10" every time depending on how many pins you use.

Spin & Graph Brown Bear Colors

We practiced our sight words using this reader...I used this to teach my students how to use the word wall to find color words....they did so good!  Of course, we read it too!

My student teacher read Elmer for Rainbow Day today and they made a big patchwork Elmer...we used this activity to name the shape and color.

This was our first pocket chart center

We celebrated Rainbow Day by Reading the poem Rainbow Hair and then we made our own "Rainbow Hair" to wear!!  They LOVED it!

 Close-up of the Rainbow Hair...

We used Interactive Writing to fill in the color words on the Rainbow Hair poem

 We practiced pre-writing strokes using Rainbow Writing

 Our last few Brown Bear projects for our texture book...

Torn paper rainbows...this is one of my favorite projects to do at the beginning of each year.  

These go home in their K portfolios in May!

Every year on black day we read Miss Nelson is Missing by James Marshall...if you have never read it...It's a Must!  We made a Miss Viola Swamp.

 Then, we compared Miss Nelson's naughty class to Mrs. Lee's kind class...

Winner!

Congratulations Elizabeth #149 (eah73@hotmail.com)! Go to my STORE and pick out ANY 2 items you want!

I will be e-mailing you soon!  

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Attention CHEVRON Addicts & Flash Giveaway!

It has been FOREVER since my last blog post, but wow, May is crazy and with school getting out I've just been totally unmotivated.  That's okay isn't it?  We spent our first week out on vacation at Splash Resort in FL!  I had tons of fun with my babies and family!  

Yesterday after church we had to make a stop by Lowe's to pick up a few more things for our bathroom reno...and, guess what I found!  These adorable Chevron  baskets!  I've got to find somewhere to use these babies!  If you are doing Chevron in your classroom or if you need some cuteness for your home go grab them before they're gone.  They're a little pricey but they are fabric, NOT plastic.  :)

Finally, today is Maurice Sendak's (author of one of the best children's literature books ever Where the Wild Things Are) 85th birthday...so to celebrate I'll give away ANY ITEM from my TPT shop to one lucky winner.  Enter the rafflecopter below!  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

"Sale"ebration...TPT style!

Is your shopping cart loaded??  Mine will be as soon as tomorrow gets here!  Click the pic below to visit my store.  Don't forget to enter the code TAD13 for the extra percentage off!

Thanks Ashley Hughes for this adorable graphic!  

This is the perfect time to stock up for next school year...I plan to do a little of that myself!  Here are some of my back to school packets, plus I have a few more in my store if you are interested!  Just click the pic to go check it out!

Happy Shopping Y'all!!

Giveaway!

Jamie Mayas and I are doing a giveaway of our ocean units so hurry on over and enter now!  Ends in 16 hours!!  Click the pic below or the link above to enter!  :)

What Do Math and Masking Tape having in Common???

Y'all...we are doing this center in math stations this week and the kids are in love with it!!  Who knew masking tape could be so FUN!!  My best ideas come from either the shower or in the middle of the night (or a dream) and this one is no different.  I seriously hate bugs!!  All kinds; so I was having a hard time coming up with some cool, creative ideas, but I could see those sticky fly catchers that my maw-maw used to hang up in front of her house.  And, I thought, how fun (for kids anyway) to pull flies from them for subtraction.  This resulted in Shoo Fly Subtraction!!!  Check it out!  (This will be included in my Insect Unit...which isn't finished yet...)

Wishy Washy, Wishy Washy

I was asked to review Mrs. Wishy Washy and the Big Wash in exchange for a copy of the book...I love Mrs. Wishy-Washy's Farm by Joy Cowley so I thought it would be a great follow-up book to read with my students. It's an adorable little book. We all know that Mrs. Wishy-Washy's animals hate taking a bath. Well, in this book, it's no different. Mrs. Wishy-Washy has no water on the farm so she takes her animals to town to look for water. After searching through different places in town they end up at the car wash and the animals aren't exactly excited about it. In the end, they end up getting a treat from Mrs. Wishy Washy! Every year at farm day, our librarian dresses up as Mrs. Wishy-Washy and retells the story! The kids love it! So cute.  

Additionally, this cute little first reader is great for beginning readers.  The word count is on the back which makes it easy for teachers to implement appropriately during guided reading instruction.

Hameray Publishing Group is holding a Joy Cowley Classroom Giveaway for a nominated classroom. Your classroom could win a prize valued at over $400.00 Click HERE to go to the contest page. 

 Click HERE to visit the Hameray Pinterest page, HERE to visit their website, and HERE to visit their Facebook page.  If you're interested in owning your own Joy Cowley books you can use discount code ZJCC13 and recieve a 20% discount on purchases from Hameray Publishing.

Disclaimer:  All opinions are my own and this is not a compensated post.