Saturday Stray Linky Party: Mother's Day, Context Clues, Missing Addends, & a Freebie!

I decided to link up with Ashley over at The Weekly Sprinkle.  This post is basically just a hodge podge of craziness over the past week. Is it me or are the kids ready for summer? I hate that EOY testing has to happen right when the kids are about ready to bust.  I feel that it is important to try to do fun theme activities or science projects during this time especially.  The kids can get worn out pretty quickly by all that testing, so we have been doing A LOT of Go Noodle and we have an amazing plant unit we will be doing next week. 

If you want to link up with this post visit Mrs. Evan's at the Weekly Sprinkle and join in!

1. Marvelous Mother’s

Now that I am a mother myself I really enjoy Mother’s Day gift making!  Last year we made these ADORABLE necklace pendants.  I got so many compliments on them from the moms that I decided to do them again.  They are really easy to make and take little time.  Not to mention they are so very personal.  What mom doesn’t want to wear their child’s artwork around their neck? You can see the blog post on how to make these here.

2. Best Book - Big Words

One of my new favorite picture books is Big Words for Little People.   How have I never read or seen this book before?  I love when I stumble across a great picture book that can be used for so many different things.  I used this book for inference skills, context clues, vocabulary and much more.  Here is a quick peak at the anchor chart we made to go with the read.  I got his fantastic idea from Made in the Shade in Second Grade.  She has tons of great ideas for inferencing.  I love their blog! 

3. Getting Math Ready!

This week in math was a review week before our testing next week.  I took this time to really hit some of the skills that I wished we had more time to focus on (missing addends, time to the half hour, and place value).  We did a fun little partner activity called Bears in the Cave.  I love this game and remember it from when I was kid.  You could use teddy bear counter, gummy bears, Teddy Grahams, etc.  I chose gummy bears because I LOVE THEM and I knew the kids would enjoy a little candy surprise.

The kids took turns counting out a sum, writing it in the box and hiding some of the bears in the cave.  The object of the game it have the partner guess the bears in the cave to solve the problem. For example, 7 + ? = 12.  This is a great activity to reinforce counting on.  My kiddos punch the # they know (into their hand) and count until the reach the sum.  This was a bug hit and you can snag this freebie here.

4. Is It Summer Yet?

I think because the weather is getting warmer I am already in summer mode.  I have already been thinking of things that need to get accomplished and have already busted out the popsicles at that house.  I have to share this cute picture of my little girl Nora.  She had her first popsicles today and I think we may be in trouble.  She loves them regardless of the awful mess they leave behind. 

With summer on the mind I decided to make a cute little writing craft to do with my kids next week.  You can snag your freebie of this activity by liking my Facebook Page and sharing the post about this freebie.  I am pretty excited to here what my kids have to share not to mention I might even buy some ice cream to have while we share.

Well that about sums up some of the odds and ends from my week.  Hopefully you can head over to The Weekly Sprinkle and join in on the Link.  I love seeing what others are doing too. Enjoy the last couple weeks.  We are in the home stretch! Happy Teaching!