Rainforest Math Centers

Last week we learned about the rainforest. Here are our math centers.

Monkey Addition- 

The students fed the monkey's "bananas." They were actually craft foam that I cut on the Ellison press.

Blue Morpho Butterfly-

Yes, I know this isn't math but I had to fit this in and it's an easy independent activity. The kids covered the butterfly with blue tissue squares and I hung them on the window.

Macaw Subtraction-

The students used feathers (construction paper) on the Macaw.

Measuring Rainforest Trees-

The students used unifix cubes to measure trees and then they measured with paper clips.

Order Frogs by 5's-

The students cut out frogs that had numbers on them and then but them in order by 5's.

-Stephanie

Classroom Organization

Growing Kinders is hosting a LINKY party!

Organization is one of my LOVES! If I couldn't be a teacher, I would be a professional organizer. Here are a few things that I want to share that might help you to organize your classroom.

Spaces and Places- An awesome book all about organizing your classroom. Debbie Diller has tons of great pictures in this book and lots of awesome ideas about how to use your space.

Lakeshore Organizer- I just had to have this! At the beginning of each week I pack each bucket full of the supplies needed for each day. Everything I need for my day fits into these buckets!

IKEA Buckets- I use these buckets for everything. They are cheap inexpensive. I bought them all for $1.50 but now they are 2 bucks. I take a picture of the contents of the bucket and wow! The materials all end up where they need to be without any question!

Color- I have become a bit OCD when it comes to baskets and bins. I am in the process of replacing many of my bins so that they are all matchy-matchy. Don't you just love the blue!?! I have gotten these most recent blue containers at the Dollar Tree.

Toolboxes- We call these our tool boxes. I ordered them through a teacher catalog. They were pretty expensive but an excellent investment. This is the third year in a row that I have used them and they are still as nice as when I first bought them.

***Update- One of my readers helped to locate these toolboxes. Go to Overstock.com to find them.


You can also find them at Ebay.

Cuteness- To make things cuter, I have recently started using ribbon and scrapbook paper. Check out my cute reading baskets :)

Guided Reading- To prepare for guided reading, I store all of my materials in the same area. I bought these shelves at Sauders Outlet for $5 each! I have a basket for each group and store all of my small group materials below on the shelves (p.s.- notice the blue again).


-Stephanie

Little Helper

I am working on planning my ocean unit. Apparently my dog Sandy wants to help :)

-Stephanie

Rainforest Activities

For the past 2 weeks we have been studying the rainforest and all of the cool animals that live there. We have turned our classroom into a rainforest and have created lots of animals. Here are a few of our projects.

Tree Frog

 The kids colored the frog and then added a tongue with bugs and wrote a math fact on the back.

Cool Crocodiles 

A teacher friend of mine was inspired by Mrs. Jump and created this crocodile. Check out the sharp teeth!

We also made snakes, toucans, and blue morpho butterflies. Here is our rainforest of vines. I bought brown and green fabric from JoAnn's and twisted it to make vines. 

Rainforest Pop-Up Book

The students were all given a piece of green paper that was already cut. They were instructed to write about their favorite rainforest animal. Then, they created a background and their animal to go on the center cut. I then glued all of these pages together to make a class pop-up book.

-Stephanie

Coin Math Centers

Last week our math centers were all money. 

Sorting Money

Students sort money by value. Click here to download Money Mat.

Money Subtraction

Students used pennies as manipulatives for subtraction. 

Roll to 100

Roll and Graph Money

Students roll a dice that has different coins. They graph their roll until one gets to the top. I used coin stickers that I found at the teacher store to make the dice.

-Stephanie

Lucy Calkins Library Pack Giveaway

Michelle, over at Fabulous in first, is having an awesome giveaway! If you use the Lucy Calkins Writing Series, you need to check this out! Even if you don't, hey, it's 10 free books!

-Stephanie

Smitten Mintons Giveaway!

Check out this great giveaway at The Smitten Mintons...a $25 gift card to Target. Who couldn't use that :)

-Stephanie