Fall Favorite Blog Hop!

I can't wait to check out all the fall fun that is happening in this blog hop!!

I really love the spooky fun that comes with Halloween.  Bats are one of my favorites! 

We've been working on the -at family.  What better time to break out the bats!  I found a witch's cauldron, or vat, and added some fun foam bats.  We named it our "Vat of -AT".

My daughter pulled each bat out of the vat.  She got to wear a pair of spooky reading eyes on her finger.  She pointed to and identified each letter of the word.

 Then, we broke out the Halloween slinkies.  We used the slinkies to stretch out the sounds in each word.  She slowly sounded out each sound of the word, as she stretched out the slinky.  It provides the kinesthetic movement along with stretching out the sounds: b-a-t

 After stretching out the word, we slam the slinky back together.  As the slinky is slammed back together, the child pronounces the word as a whole: "bat".  The student coordinates the kinesthetic movement of pushing the slinky back together, with blending the sounds into one word.  Using the slinky, seemed to really help my daughter understand the differences between segmenting and blending the sounds in a word.

 I made a "Vat of -AT" game to share with you!  Get it here.  It is only FREE for the Fall Favorite Blog Hop 10/25/14-10/27/14.  Scoop it up for free, while you can!

 It includes a "Vat of -AT" mat to use with the pictures, words, and beginning sounds.  You can use the game in different ways.  We put the picture cards below the mat and put all the beginning sound cards above the mat.

 Students will see the picture, say the word, and identify the beginning sound.

  We flipped over all the picture cards and then took turns flipping over the letter cards.  The player that flips over the letter will find the matching picture card.  If you find the picture that starts with the same sound, you can place the two cards in the "Vat of -AT".  After playing the game, students can use the cards to help fill out the recording worksheet.

 Students will write the beginning sound next to the matching picture.

In  the second version, we put the pictures under the mat and the words above the mat. 

 We flipped over all the picture cards and then took turns flipping over the word cards.  The player that flips over the word will find the matching picture card.  If you find a match, you can place the two cards in the "Vat of -AT".  After playing the game, students can use the cards to help fill out the recording worksheet.

Students will write the matching word next to the same picture.

Hope you had a great time at this stop on the blog hop!  Be sure to head over to Teaching Momster for some more fall fun!

Don't forget to enter the giveaway!!  Win $25 worth of products from my store!

 

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Pumpkin Mania!

I love fall!  The crispness in the air, the pumpkin patches, and cozy scarves.  I especially love watching your children explore the wonder of pumpkins.

 

In our house, baking soda and vinegar/lemon juice reactions are a huge draw.  The kids can NEVER get enough of the fizzing and exploding.  They love watching the differences in the reactions, as well, as playing in the goop.  I decided to add the wonder of fizz to the fun of pumpkins.  Such a hit!

 

We started out by mixing baking soda, food coloring, and a little bit of water in a bowl. 

We mixed until the consistency was firm and packed like a snowball.  This one needed a little more baking soda.  Notice that it is pretty watery.

We just kept adding baking soda, until we had the perfect pumpkins.  We made a batch of orange baking soda and green baking soda to make our pumpkin patch.

The kids had a ball shaping their pumpkins.  They used so much great mathematical and scientific language, while creating the pumpkins.  We discussed liquids, solids, larger, smaller, taller, shorter, and so much more.  It provides a gold mine of language opportunities.

We created our pumpkin patch in our homemade sensory table.  This is an awesome, portable table that is easy to transport and to store when not in use.  You can see the directions here.

The kids also talked about the life cycle of pumpkins.  You can see that they created pumpkins that are still green.  We were able to talk about how the pumpkins progress, as they grow.

Next, we got out the vinegar and lemon juice.  I had some fun ketchup and mustard squirters, so we filled them up with the liquid.  Yellow was lemon juice and red was vinegar.

Here is a reaction to the lemon juice.  The kids loved describing the bubbles that were produced.  You could definitely create a Venn diagram to chart the differences and similarities in the two reactions.

Here is a reaction to the vinegar.

As the exploration went on, they poured larger amounts of the liquids on the pumpkins to see a larger reaction.

Here they are pouring vinegar through a funnel into the middle of the pumpkin.

  I provided a variety of tools and the kids came up with their own experiments.  Ones that I had not even thought of trying. 

  This made for a huge set of bubbles and the fizzing even came back up through the funnel.

 I would definitely recommend trying your own pumpkin patch fizz!  Every step of this activity was enjoyable and created so many opportunities for cross-curriculum exploration.  I have so many ideas for the next time that we try this experiment!!

Even better is all the sensory fun!

We also tried played with my Pumpkins Interactive Play Dough Mats.  Great for differentiating needs in math!  Get your copy here.

We used the play dough mats in a variety of ways.  They used play dough to form the numeral and create pumpkins to match the same number on the mat.

 Here, we used pumpkin manipulatives and dry erase markers to do the same thing.  The student drew ten circles on the mat and then covered each with a pumpkin manipulative.  It allowed her to use one-to-one correspondence to match the numeral 10.

 There are cards included in the pack that have numerals, addition sentences, and ten frames.  Here, the student drew a card and represented the addition sentence with two colored sets of pumpkins.  Then, they used a dry erase marker to record the answer on the mat.  I use this as a partner game.  One partner draws a card and represents the equation or number of objects.  The other partner double checks their work.  Then, they switch.

 Here are a few of the fun printables that are included in this pack.  Students will read the numeral and draw the appropriate number of pumpkins on the hay stack.

 There are a bunch of differentiated worksheets that allow students to trace and fill in the numbers 1-10, depending on their ability.

 In "Hit The Hay", students count the pumpkins on the hay bales and write the matching numeral in the box.

 Look for more pumpkin activities in the next few days!!  I have some amazing games from Crayons, Cuties & Kindergarten that I can't wait to share!!

Markdown Monday!

I'm linking up with Kelly and Kim's Kindergarten Kreations for Markdown Monday!

 I have one of my Interactive Play Dough Mat packs for sale.  "Spiders" will be on sale for 50% off from 10/20 until 10/24! 

Check out Kelly and Kim's blog for more Monday Markdown deals!!

DIY Math Manipulative & Giveaway!

 

 A few exciting things happening!  I have my first post with The Primary Pack.  I'm so excited to share my new friend, "Greater Gator"!  Find out how to make your own math manipulative and puppet.
Scoop up a bunch of FREE chants and songs to go along with "Greater Gator".

 Check out a few ideas to use with Greater Gator!  I will be sharing a whole pack to use with "Greater Gator" soon!  Hope you enjoy it :)

While you are here, enter some amazing giveaways!!

 

 Prize Pack #1

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 Prize Pack #2- Win my Romp and Stompin' Letters Pack!

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 Prize Pack #3!

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Prize Pack #4!

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Prize Pack #5!

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Prize Pack #6

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