New and Improved Blog + Valentine Sensory Bin

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DIY Muffin Tin Meal Kit

Heidi gave me the most fun and thoughtful gift for Christmas. A muffin tin meal kit! Don't know about muffin tin meals? Read about them here.

Take a look at what Heidi included in the kit.

The majority of the supplies are in this box which has 3 interlocking levels. The bottom level has an organizer that I may or may not keep. I haven't decided yet!

This drawer contains "everyday" supplies:
- silicone muffin liners
- small cookie cutters on a metal ring
- tiny cups for dips, etc.
- egg molds (I'm so excited about these!)
- fondant circle cutters
- food safe markers

She included one special event drawer too, focused on Halloween.
- Plastic cauldrons (so cute!)
- a BUNCH of really mini Halloween cookie cutters
- Pumpkin food picks

There are a few more included items (shown in the first photo) that didn't fit into the box.
- the six opening muffin tin (of course!)
- Wonder Sandwich Sealer and Decruster
- alphabet  and number cookie cutters (I love these!)
- A folder with meal ideas and technique directions.

She also made me a muffin tin meal planner and we're sharing the planning page with you today! You can download the page here and print out as many as you want for your own planning book, or just print them as you need them.

Here are a couple of meals I've thrown together recently for our color themed "Mommy School" (more on that later.) Having the tools on hand made it really easy to whip these up.

On the 12th Day of Christmas...

Sorry this one is a day late.  My roommates and I had "roommate Christmas" last night since we realized it was the last night we'd all be around for a while.

Anyway, here's a link to the 12th day of Christmas file.  It's a math game.  Each player needs their own tree and 2 dice.  Players roll the dice and find the sum.  The corresponding ornament is added to the tree.  The winner is the first player to completely decorate her tree.

You'll notice that 1 is already on the tree since you can't get a sum of 1 with two dice.  :)  The Santa counts as a "wild."  The player can put it on at any point when he rolls a number that's already on the tree.

Hopefully this will take up some time on our last 1/2 day before the break!  Thanks to those of you who've been 12 Daying with us.  I hope you're able to enjoy some fun and games with your littles during this magical season.  Merry Christmas!

On the 11th Day of Christmas...

How about 11 puzzle pieces?  This is another project where it's nice to have baggies or envelopes for the kids to keep their little pieces in.  Also, if you're doing this in class I'd recommend asking the kids to put their initials on the back of each piece.  It'll save a lot of hassle come clean-up time.

The file is here.

On the 10th Day of Christmas

"...my teacher gave to me 10 dots to link"

C'mon!  This doesn't even qualify as a rhyme!  Well, I guess "link" is closer than "connect" and do the kids really care anyway??

Probably not, so here are some little dot-to-dots.  Yes, there are technically 80 dots in all, but the page was too bare with just one on it.  You can get the file here.

I love the vintage-y look of the pictures.

I found these on-line years ago and have no idea of the source.  If you know, please pass the info on so I can give credit.

On the 9th Day of Christmas...

Who doesn't love tic-tac-toe?  Especially with penguins and snowmen?  C'mon you know you're gonna make yourself a set.  :)

The kidlets can make these without too much fuss.  It is helpful to have envelopes or baggies for the little pieces, though.

Get the files here.

Happy 3-in-a-rowing!

On the 8th Day of Christmas...

Today's gift is the world's tiniest coloring book!  At least that's what I tell my class.  They love showing off these when they're done. This is another craft where you have to do some step-by-step instructions.

The kiddos need scissors and a copy of this page.

The idea is to fold it into a tiny book.  These are easy-peasy when you've done a couple, but at first they're a little tricky.  Here's a diagram to walk you through it.

If you're like me and need a step-by-step model, here's a 1 minute video I found on Youtube.  

Just remind kids to only cut on the center dotted line.  It's actually easier to fold if you cut a teeny bit (like 1/4 inch) above the center line. 

And--voila--a teeny-tiny coloring book!

P.S. We did the 2nd day of Christmas today, and like I feared, reducing the maze to 1/2 sheet was a mistake.  A few were willing to give it a try, but  most took one look at the itty-bitty tree maze and decided it was impossible.  At least they enjoyed the other side!

On the 7th Day of Christmas...

Read about the 12 Days of Christmas booklet here.  

Today we have a little 7-page story that the kids can help illustrate.  We can call it shared reading for the day, right? 

It's two days before Christmas and Santa has lost his hat!  There's no time to get a new one, so he'll have to wear the one Frosty gave him.  But what that looks like is up to you!

This is pretty simple to put together.  Each kid needs a copy of the story.  Just cut, assemble, and staple.  I tried to leave a margin on the right side so no text/pictures gets stapled up.

You can get your storybook here.

On the 6th Day of Christmas...

Read about the 12 Days of Christmas booklet here.

Halfway already!  Christmas really is creeping up.  One of my kids today said "Only 20 more days."  My heart started racing.  So much to do!!!

Anyway, today's fun-ness are some word searches for your little ones.  You can get the file here.
I realize that three 6-word wordsearches is 18 words, but the page looked so naked with only 6 words that I had to fill it out a bit.  The kids have never complained.  :)

I limited the diagonal words to only one per puzzle (I think).  Hopefully that means the kiddos can finish without taking too much of the day.

On the 5th Day of Christmas...

Read about the 12 Days of Christmas booklet here.  

...My teacher gave to me a 5-pointed star that's bendy."

Gah!  Who writes this stuff??

Seriously, though, I've tweaked this for years and that's the best I came up with.  Probably the reason I didn't choose "poet" as a career option.  :)

When you're doing today's gift with the littles, it takes some explaining.  We're going to be making a pop-out star.  Here's Martha Stewart's glittery version:

 This isn't quite that elaborate.  For ours, each kid needs a copy of the paper, scissors, and crayons or whatever else you want them to decorate with.

Whenever you're doing paper folding with young children, I think it's easiest to have an example already done and another one you can model the steps with.  In my class it would sound something like this.

"Everybody cut out the star on the black, dotted line.  Hold it up when you're done."

I don't move on until I can see everyone has completed that step.  I try to station myself next to the one or two kids that struggle when it comes to cutting/folding activities.  There's always at least 1!

Once all the stars are cut, I point out the line that runs from the top point down to the bottom middle.
"Everybody fold on that line.  If you've got it, check to see if a neighbor needs help.  When you're finished hold it up."

After all of the stars are folded on the line, I have them fold it on the same line, but fold the star closed this time so you can't see the markings.  Eventually we'll be creating mountain and valley folds, but it's just easier for them if all the lines are folded both ways first. 

When all the lines are folded (and a few are probably mangled now), I point out how some of the lines are dotted and some are solid.  The dotted lines need to be pushed out like mountains.  The solid lines need to be pushed down like valleys.  It might take them a second or two to get the hang of it.

And there you go!  A pointy star ready to be decorated!  And time for teacher to take some Tylenol. 

Get the star paper here.

On the 4th Day of Christmas...

Read about the 12 Days of Christmas booklet here.  

Teacher thinks she's a comedian!

Today we're making a riddle-filled flap book.

For this activity, each student needs a copy of the main page.

Students should cut around the outside dotted line.  That will leave them with a large rectangle.  Fold the paper in half on the thick black line.  Then cut each of the short dotted lines.

Everyone also needs a copy of the answers.  There are 2 sets to a page.  You know, fewer copies to make, right?

 Have the kiddos cut out the answers and try to match them to the correct riddle.  I tried to find riddles that 1-2 graders would have enough schema to understand.  Mine seem to do okay with these, so I think they'll tickle most kids' funny bones.

The pictures are glued underneath the flap, so make sure to stress not to cut the flaps while the paper is still folded.  Of course, no matter how many times you remind them not to you'll still have one that does it anyway.  Best to keep an extra copy on hand.

The pages can be found here.

On the 3rd Day of Christmas..

Read about the 12 Days of Christmas booklet here.  

We have 3 round circles.

Well, that doesn't sound too exciting.

Unless, of course, you get to use the circles to make your very own SNOWMAN BOOKMARK!

It certainly doesn't get more exciting than that. 

Students can cut out and arrange the circles and then use the props to decorate their new snow friend or draw their own accessories.

I'm kind of partial to the fez/bowtie combo, but maybe you have to be a Doctor Who fan to know how cool that is.  :)

Almost forgot-- the link is here.

On the 2nd Day of Christmas...

Read about the 12 Days of Christmas booklet here.

Today we have 2 mazes.  Fun for everyone!

You can download them here.

This year, in an attempt to save paper, we reduced these to 1/2 sheets.  It worked okay the the square maze, but I'm afraid it made the tree maze too tiny for 7-year-olds to navigate.  Oh well!  I guess we'll find out for sure next week!

On the 1st Day of Christmas...

Read about the 12 Days of Christmas booklet here. 

I think this googledocs thing is working.  Let me know if it's really not.

Here's what my kiddos get on the 1st Day of Christmas (12 school days before vacation).  It's a doorknob hanger to color and cut out.  Sometimes they have to take it home to finish, but most of them get it done since this is a quick one.

You can download it here.

Please ignore the terrible rhyming, but do come back tomorrow for Day 2. 

12 Days of Fun (and a tiny bit of learning!)

My first blog post from my new computer!  The old laptop C-R-A-S-H-E-D so I had to get this new guy.  Merry Christmas to me!  You forget how much you rely on technology until it leaves you stranded.  I'm just glad my files weren't lost.  Phew!

Can you believe Christmas is already here?  It seems like school just started for the year.  Hard to believe it's almost halfway over.  If you're like me, once Thanksgiving is over it's just a mad rush to January.  There are so many fun books and writing activities and math games.  I need an extra hour each day just to fit the Christmas stuff in!  One thing my grade-level team has done for many years is the 12 Days of Christmas.

The kids are all given a booklet like this one:

There's a page for each of the 12 days.  The idea is to give a little number sense refresher everyday.  You can download it here. (I'm giving Googledocs another try.  Let me know if it works.  Fingers crossed!!)

Here's a breakdown of each different box.  I'll use the 3rd day as an example.

1. Write the number word. [three]
2. odd or even?  [odd]
3. Write an addition equation and two subtraction equations that all equal the day's  number. [2+1=3, 10-7=3, 100-97=3]
4.  Draw the hour hand on the clock. [3 o'clock]
5.  Draw tally marks. [ III --how do you make tally marks in this font???]
6. How many more days until the 12th day of Christmas? [9]
7. Draw a coin combination. [3 pennies]
8. Write a story problem where the answer is the day's number.  [I had 8 pencils.  I gave some to my friend.  Now I have 5.  How many pencils did I give to my friend?  3]

Nothing too terribly difficult, but it's a good little practice.

What you can't tell from this photo is at the top of the page is a prompt, "On the ____ day of Christmas my teacher gave to me ___________."

When my team first started doing this, we actually gave them something everyday!  1 pencil, 2 erasers...11 M&Ms, 12 pieces of popcorn.

It got tricky to manage and pricey.  One year I had a boy with diabetes so we switched to non food items (12 minutes of recess).  But I slowly started adding in different things.  Now I have 12 printable activities that we do.  And I'll be sharing one of those activities each day for the next 12 days.  So check back tomorrow for the 1st Day of Christmas!

ETA: How to make the booklet!  It's pretty straightforward, but in case you're curious here's the how-to.  For each booklet you need a paper for the cover and 3 white sheets.  Print the cover out.  Print the number of the day page on the front and back of each white sheet.  That'll give you 12 days worth.  Fold in half and staple.  Voila!

November Writing

After last week's INSANITY (Halloween, torrential rain = inside recess, power outage, field trip) it was a relief to get back to normal today.  It gave us the first real chance to try out the November writing prompts.  I gathered a bunch of journal ideas from the internet and wrote each one on a leaf.  I put them all in a pumpkin and the kids could pick one if they wanted.

I found leaves and pumpkin at Roberts Craft for 75% off!!  Score!  Writing on the leaves was a bit tricky.  I tried markers first, but they bled too much.  I ended up using my favorite Muji pen and it turned out great.  I imagine any gel pen would work as well.

Here are the prompts I thought would appeal to my 2nd graders.  They're not my original ideas, but I didn't think to pay attention to my sources while I was collecting them.

• Write a letter to a fall tree.  Try to convince the tree not to drop its leaves.
• What will you do during Thanksgiving break?
• Write a recipe for cooking a turkey.
• What if you found a magical pumpkin patch?
• What if Thanksgiving were in the summer?
• If your Thanksgiving turkey burned, what would you eat?
• Imagine you'll turn into a pumpkin at midnight tonight.  Write about all the things you'd like to do before you turn into a pumpkin.
• Once upon a time there was a turkey who never...
• Tell about your favorite thing about autumn.
• Imagine the school voted you principal.  What would you do?  What changes would you make?
• Write about an autumn day.  What would you do?  Tell about the colors, smells, tastes, and sounds.
• Would a turkey make a good pet?  Why or why not?
• If you could have whatever you wanted for Thanksgiving dinner, what would you have?
• Write a story about a squirrel getting ready for winter.

I also got the new lists posted, as well.  This still isn't nearly as popular a choice as journals and letter writing are.  In fact, I think maybe 2 kids chose it all of October.  For now, at least, I'm going to keep offering it.

You can download a copy of the file here.  The clip art is from Lettering Delights.

My goal is to get December's writing taken care of this week.  Maybe I can get on top of this little project!!

Halloween Roundup & New Freebie Game

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Toddler Time: Busy Bag Exchange Part 3 (& Freebie!)

Our ever popular busy bag posts, along with all new content, are now available exclusively at our new and improved blog. You can read this post HERE. We would love if you could update your bookmarks, google readers, and pinterest pins to our new blog address. See you there!

Toddler Time: Busy Bag Series Part 2

 This post, along with all our old posts and all new content, are now available exclusively at our new and improved blog. Youcan read this post HERE. We would love if you could update your bookmarks, google readers, and pinterest pins to our new blog address. And you can always join us on facebook. See you on the new blog!

Toddler Time: Hosting a Busy Bag Exchange

 This post, along with all our old posts and all new content, are now available exclusively at our new and improved blog. You can read this post HERE. We would love if you could update your bookmarks, google readers, and pinterest pins to our new blog address. And you can always join us on facebook. See you on the new blog!