A little bit of Easter fun!

Easter is coming, but before we left on spring break, we made these fun baskets.

I found them on Pinterest and the pin led me to FAB DIY:

They were super easy to make and every time those cotton balls and googly eyes went on they took on a personality all their own.

They really were easy!  We filled them with grass and of course...Peeps!

Then I had tons of fun making these!! 

True confessions....I did not make these in my Kinder classroom, I did not make these in my Second Grade classroom, I made these with my grandchildren ages 3, 7, and 8.  Plus one for the baby.  My good friend makes these in 4th grade and asked that I NOT  make them with my students, but she gave me her recipe and let me borrow her molds if I promised to let them stay as a 4th grade project.  They were super easy....much easier than I expected.  They can be messy if you are trying them with a classroom of younger students.  Be prepared for sugar spills. 

I thought I would need more water or glue or spray in the molds, or something more than 2 cups of sugar and 2 teaspoons of water.  But no....it all worked perfectly.  Add the water and the food coloring (go darker, because the color will fade as it dries), mix together with the tips of your fingers (not your whole hand like my one grandson).  Press into the mold, coming to the top and leaving a large dent in the center.  Let dry 24 hours, wiggle free.

Carve a hole in the end or the side (I did this over the sink for easy clean-up).  Add creatures and grass (green coconut might be better, but we didn't have any).  "Glue" together with frosting.  Use decorating tips for fancy frosting designs and other small add-ons for decorations.   Ta-Da!!

From my house to yours...Happy Easter!

Five for Friday...Easter

I work with the best Kindergarten Team ev-er!!  They are amazing ladies.  Some days I don't know who has more fun...us or the kiddos.  Many afternoons will find us chatting, planning, discussing kids and concerns, life and such for an extra hour or more.  One day I looked up and it was, Oh My Gosh!  It is a quarter to five.  How did that happen?

I'm feeling lucky that I live in a school district that lets us have an Easter Egg Hunt.  That is just what we did today.  We asked each kid to bring in one dozen (of course some forgot....some brought extra...and we had some extra too).  100 kids x 12 eggs = a boatload of eggs.

I was really proud of my little kinders for following the rules and only taking 12 eggs until everyone had found 12.  They counted...put extras back on the ground....helped friends get to 12...and then when everyone ready, they went and found all the extras.  No one complained about what was in their eggs....or not getting a particular kind of egg (we talked a bunch about that before we went out).  I really was proud of them.

Before the day began I made a little treat for all my peeps.  I enjoy working with the entire staff at my school!  They are the best.  When I saw this from Bunting Books and Brainbridge,  I knew I had to make it for Friday morning.  They turned out pretty cute and my "peeps" loved them.

And what did I send home with my little kinders?  These cute little cups, a pencil, and a few goodies (some sweet, some not).

What else did we do today?  A little sorting and graphing with AIMS (yes...I have had this for-ev-er in my files too).  Thanks to Fran Kramer at Kindergarten Crayons for suggesting putting the jellybeans in plastic eggs instead of boring little cups (I also think that helped some of my students who were sad they were not getting the eggs they brought back and afraid they would not get any to take home).

We also applied to be the Easter Bunny's assistant (a freebie from Rulin' the Roost to go with the book by Jan Thomas, The Easter Bunny's Assistant)  with our reading buddies and watched a little Beatrix Potter. 

This Five for Friday is all about today...FRIDAY!!  Seems like we did so much just today, plus the beginning of the week was stressful and sad (but that is a tale for another day).  I am on spring break and my hubby is off too...so I plan on having some fun and getting some Grandma-loves.  I am linking up with Doddle Bugs Teaching!  So Fun!

Missing Addend....Egg Hunt Style

We are getting ready for to a quick trip to Easter this year.

With Easter coming early...I didn't want to miss out on a chance for an Easter Egg hunt.  Do you get to do that in your school?  We still do, so to go along with that I created an egg hunt for missing addends.  Is there a better object for hiding  this time of year that little eggs you can find everywhere....or anything better to hide them in than a basket?

Searching for eggs that are hiding is a great way to practice addition, subtraction, composing and decomposing numbers.  My kiddos are really good within 5, but they still need practice with larger numbers.  Some still just guess, but most are ready to find a way to figure out the right number hiding.  Some are so good they are already fluent up through 10.  The great thing about this activity is that I can easily differentiate by only giving as many objects (in this case eggs) as my students can use and still be successful.  I made a math talk card to help them with their thinking, and a recording sheet to keep track of their games.  I left space for adding subtraction and equal signs (or addition and equal signs) for when your kiddos are ready.

 

Just click on the picture above to grab them.