Zookeeper Measuring

Welcome to the Zoo!

I was trying to think of something fun for the kiddos to measure and dug these old Beanie Babies and stuffed animals out of my parents' garage. It was a huge hit!

We talked about zookeepers and that their job is to take care of animals. Then the students got to take their turn being a zookeeper.

Each student chose an animal to do their measuring report on. When they were done with their report, they were able to measure the other animals. We said that they were baby animals so we had to be very careful with them. The kiddos ate it up and were hilarious interacting with the toys!

Here is a look at one of the finished reports. You can snag it for free on my Grow and Enjoy TPT page!

Today we moved on to weight. The students made predictions about which animals they thought would be the lightest/heaviest. We then compared them in our pan balance.

I love that these activities kept the students engaged. They took their jobs very seriously! I knew those old Beanie Babies would come in handy someday. ;)

Guided Math Essentials

We will be back to school tomorrow for the first time since Valentine's Day! I headed up to the school and worked on getting organized today. This math tub is something I always keep right behind my group table. Inside are materials that I use to support typical guided math lessons or pull out when we have a couple of extra minutes.

Flashcards

I love picking up sets of flash cards from the Dollar Tree! We use the number flash cards for recognition, greater/less than, sequencing, and more. I let the kiddos use the same or different cards in pairs and they describe the attributes to each other. The shapes cards we mainly use for recognition and practicing drawing the shapes. The kiddos love the Disney math facts cards! If they get a fact correct, I let them keep it. They love seeing which characters they can collect.

 

Number Lines and Number Cards

I have number lines to 10 and 30 for differentiated groups. I have number cards up to 100 that I also use for differentiated groups. We use these for number recognition and sequencing. One of our favorite games is seeing how fast we can sequence the cards. Give each student 3-5 cards and tell them what the starting number is. The students then have to lay down the card that comes next in the sequence if they are holding it. Then, we shuffle them up and see if we can beat our time.

Go Fish Finger Pattern Cards

These are great for my kiddos still working on representing numbers and counting. You can use these as flash cards, to play Go Fish, or to play a matching game.

Spinner, Dice, Domino Patterns

We use these tools for a variety of lessons and games. A lot of them focus on counting and addition/subtraction stories. We spin the spinner and practice writing the number it lands on, counting out that many objects, or creating a number story with two numbers. We play similar games with the dice and dominoes. 

I forgot to take a picture of our strategy cards! They remind us of strategies that we can use to solve math problems.

We use many other types of manipulatives, but these are the ones I always make sure I have on hand. Please let me know if you have other suggestions!

DIY Sugar Scrub

I have officially been snowed in all week! I've been trying to come up with things to keep me occupied, so I had a little at home spa day. After a face mask, I whipped up this super easy and natural sugar scrub.

I typically use a sugar scrub from Ulta, but I am currently out and can't make it to the store in this storm. This DIY version is made out of things you probably already have at home. Plus, you can make a small batch in just 5 minutes.

Directions: Mix together 1 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 tsp. vanilla extract, and 1 tsp. honey.

That's it! Quick, easy, and natural.

This sugar scrub is gentle so its perfect for everyday use. And it smells great! If you are stuck inside like me, make this scrub for a little at home spa treatment.

February Birchbox

My February Birchbox came with 5 great sized samples. I still love getting my box each month and trying each of the samples. I am able to get multiple uses out of each sample and discover new products.

 

Here is what I thought of the samples this month:

Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner $16 

This eyeliner made me a convert to liquid! I was surprised at how easy it was to apply. Way more precise and closer to the lash line than regular eyeliner. I also love that it didn't smudge when I applied my eyeshadow. This was my favorite sample this month!

Marcelle Gentle Make-up Remover for Sensitive Eyes $15

I've been in desperate need of a make-up remover, so I was very excited to try this sample. My eyeshadow came off with just one swipe. The liquid eyeliner took a couple swipes, but came off gently. No stinging, redness, or irritation with this formula.

Juice Beauty Green Apple Cleansing Gel $26

I kind of felt like I was putting juice on my fave when I used this gel. It has a refreshing scent and I feel like it woke my skin up in the morning. Love that it uses natural ingredients as well. My skin was clean, but I felt like it might have been a little too intense for my skin type.

BeeKind Conditioner $27

Another product that uses natural ingredients! I love when I don't have to put parabens and chemical on my hair or skin. This conditioner has a great subtle lemon scent and felt light on my fine hair. Plus, it is made with sustainable packaging and the brand donates a portion of proceeds to support honeybee research at the University of California. I typically wouldn't spend this much on a conditioner, but BeeKind is a company doing great things!

Supergoop Daily Correct SPF 35 CC Cream $32

This was my least favorite sample this month. I didn't think that it blended well and it felt cakey not long after application. It looks ok in the pictures below, but I didn't really like the finish when you looked closer. I'll be sticking to my Dr. Jart cream. 

Even though I've been snowed in for a week now, it was a great chance to try out these products. The no filter pictures below were taken after using each of these products.

Check out Birchbox yourself using my referral link:

https://www.birchbox.com/invite/growandenjoy

Stay warm!

Harry Potter Marathon

Here in Kentucky we have about a foot of snow, so I have been out of school all week. Right now it doesn't look like we will be going back anytime soon with more snow on it's way this weekend.

While I did bring home some work, I finished most of it on our first snow day. I decided to use the snow day yesterday to mark "Harry Potter Marathon" off of my bucket list. Harry Potter has been my favorite book series since I was in elementary school and I went to the movie premieres. The last one actually came out on my 18th birthday. This was my first time watching all of the movies straight through in one day.

I started at 7:20 in the morning and finished the final movie at 1:50 this morning. By the end it was definitely a struggle to stay awake. But I was surprised that after all of these years, I still found new things in the movies. 

I am happy to mark this one off of my bucket list! Now to figure out what to do with the rest of my snow days...

Valentine's Day Party

Happy Valentine's Day! We had a fun filled day full of festivities. We started with a Valentine Graphing activity using boxes of conversation hearts.

Then we made Valentines. These were super easy for my kinders! I printed out the sentiment and heart outline onto card stock. We used pink and red construction paper to make the mosaic on the heart. 

And of course we had plenty of treats! I've never seen so much sugar in one place! We had a milk and cookies party.

My Valentines blessed me with plenty of treats too. They are too sweet! Hope you have a great Valentine's Day! 

DIY Valentine's Box

I wanted to share this quick project I made tonight using Carta Bella paper, my Silhouette Portrait, and a Sonic drink carrier.

I have been saving this drink carrier and knew it would be perfect for Valentine's Day. It was easy to decorate and just the right size for holding all my treats.

Here is a look at the front and side. The papers you see are from the Carta Bella Devoted collection. I found those on clearance a while back. My name, the heart stamp, and the hearts on the side were cut from card stock using my Silhouette.

This is what the back looks like. I used an adhesive tape runner to glue everything onto the cardboard. 

This project would be great for kids' last minute boxes this week! 

100th Day of School

It's hard to believe that yesterday was our 100th day of school. We had so much fun celebrating being 100 days smarter :)

During calendar we have been counting scoops of ice cream each day to get to 100. On the 100th day the kiddos got to make their own giant ice cream cone. We counted by tens and drew ten sprinkles on each scoop. My kinders' cutting skills need some work, but they loved building the ice cream cone!

You can download a free ice cream template from Michaela Almeida.

Then we colored an owl picture and compared it to the picture the students colored on the first day of school. It was so funny to see their faces when they saw the difference. Several of them couldn't even write their name on their paper at the beginning of the year. It was an easy way for them to see some of the progress they have made.

During writing time, we completed this freebie from Two Pink Peas in a Pod. My favorite answers was definitely, " If I had $100 I would buy a scratch off ticket." My student said those were fun ;)

Finally, we made our 100th day snack. I set out 10 cups with 10 different ingredients. The students counted out 10 from each cup to make a snack with 100 items. We had raisins, Cheerios, rice chex, chocolate chips, mini vanilla wafers, goldfish crackers, Cheeze-Itz, marshmallows, M&M's, and pretzel sticks.

Each student went home with a mini 100 Grand bar and a "I'm 100 days smarter" sticker. I have to say, this has been one of my favorite days of the year so far. Only 71 left to go!