Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

It's always wonderful to catch up with family and friends!

 We woke up early on Black Friday and did a little shopping...

some presents and some fleece for our trip to Antarctica!

Found some cute mini erasers in the Target Dollar Bins!

Our students will love using them while playing 

Penguin Make a Ten!

Get this FREEBIE by clicking HERE!

Penguin Make A Ten is available in our TPT store for FREE!

5 Weeks to Antarctica!

Yikes! My big trip is only 5 weeks away...I haven't done much to prepare yet and it's not like I can buy what I forget when I get there!  My husband and I did make sure we have enough sea sick meds...I think that might be the most important thing to bring!  The crossing to Antarctica is sometimes called "The Drake Lake" and sometimes not!!  Hopefully our seas will be calm and our animal sightings plentiful!

This weekend we are heading out to Palm Desert for a family visit.  We'll definitely be stopping at the Outlets for some holiday and trip shopping!  Are any of you done with your shopping yet?

As soon as I return from Antarctica we will be starting our fabulous Habitats unit. We will be exploring five habitats: The Polar Regions, The Desert, The Rainforest, The Grasslands, and The Ocean.  We will kick off with The Polar Regions.  Here are some cute photos to give you an idea of some of the activities included in our cross-curricular unit.  If you would like to add The Polar Regions to your curriculum, click here to go to our TPT store.

Have a great weekend!

Count Down to Antarctica!

Join me as I count down the days until I leave for Antarctica!   
My husband and I are passionate travelers and have had Antarctica on our "list" for a long time! I am so excited to finally be going to my seventh continent! 

For those who are not done with your holiday shopping...we depart on Christmas Day so this is a count down for you as well!

In honor of my once in a lifetime trip, I have a Penguin Power Roll and Color Freebie for you and your kiddos! Click here to get this freebie from our TPT store. This past week our first graders have been working on the "doubles" in math! They will love having another math game to play on Monday! I've included two other versions so you can differentiate based on the needs of your students - one focuses on "counting on" and the other is simply counting from 1 to 6.

Please check back for more Penguin Fun!
Erica

It's Turkey Time in TK

Oh my goodness…I can’t believe it is already November. My classroom has had a quick turnover just like the department stores, except I refuse to skip Thanksgiving. I sent home the witches, ghosts, and bats with parents when they came to school to celebrate Halloween with us. Little did they know that I had an ulterior motive…they had to find all of their own child’s artwork, take it down, and pack it up to go home with them. Genius of me I might say. It saved me so much time climbing up on the desks and sorting them into cubbies. My classroom was ready and the turkeys were flying in the very next day.  

My partners and I have created so many wonderful activities for November that it is hard to pick which one to do with my kiddos. One of my favorites is the 3D Pilgrims and Native Americans. They look so cute on a bulletin board and the students love the writing portion.  They come up with funniest things that we should eat instead of turkey.  This year’s classic was, “Save a turkey. Eat fried worms.” When I asked the little boy how he came up with that suggestion, he told me his older brother was reading the book, How to Eat Fried Worms. 

These cute craftivities can be purchased at our TPT store. It comes with many other activities including an informational text about the voyage of the Mayflower. Too advanced for my TKers to read by themselves, but I made a copy and read it to my class and then put it in our class library.

Yesterday, I  decided to make hanging turkeys with my whole class.  AGHHH! I don’t know what I was thinking, but BIG MISTAKE! I guess art with 20 four and five year olds and just me was a little too much to take on. They had a tough time getting their paper feathers to stick to the body. I suggested holding it down and counting to 30. Think again…some of us are still learning to count to 10.  As I picked the turkeys up to hang in the room, feathers were falling out everywhere. Our turkeys look more like plucked chickens, but the kids love them.  I can’t wait to see how our Turkey Math Craft goes next week.

November Math Turkey Craftivity