Hometown Happy Teacher

Springing into Learning Blog Hop

March 11, 2016 No Comments

I am excited to link up with Elementary Antics for my very first blog hop. Together with 40 other bloggers we are Springing into Learning by sharing ideas and freebies for spring. I cannot wait to see all the wonderful and FREE spring product ideas!

Spring is my favorite season. I love that it is a sign of renewal, life, and growth. I can finally see that spring is upon us in Illinois. I see it in the daffodils that are growing alongside the ditches. I see it in the tulips that are poking their way up through the ground. I couldn’t be more ready for it!

My spring freebie is a math activity for counting coins.

I found a few different ways to use this printable. First, I cut up the answer key cards and had the students pull a card out of these (Dollar Tree) polka dot boxes and count out coins to match the card’s total. Then they put it all in these adorable felt eggs I found in the Target dollar bin and patiently waited for me to check their answers.

At another center I cut up the coin cards. Then I had students count the amount and log the totals on the recording sheet.

At the last center I used plastic coins and put them inside plastic eggs. The students had to count the amount of money in each egg and log it on the recording sheet.

My students really enjoyed these activities. I hope your students do too! You can find my spring activity on Teachers Pay Teachers in my store by clicking the link below.

How Much Money?

Thanks for checking out my spring idea! Be sure to visit the other bloggers who are participating in the Springing into Learning blog hop. I am positive you will find some amazing ideas.

ELA, grammar

Quotation Marks & Macaroni

March 10, 2016 No Comments

Who would have thought to learn quotations marks could be so much fun with a little macaroni and glue? Now it’s no secret that I absolutely love to use food in the classroom whenever I can. Who am I kidding… the kids enjoy it too! Since today was a gloomy and rainy day in Hometown Happy Illinois we were in need of something to brighten our day. So what did we do? We pulled out the macaroni noodles. (I keep the noodles stored in my classroom in a re-purposed Folgers can protecting them from small rodents.) Next, each student grabbed a bottle of glue and a handful of noodles and got down to work. The students used the noodles as quotation marks and glued them in the correct place within each sentence. It was a simple, effective, and engaging activity my students enjoyed.

Be sure to grab yourself a quotation macaroni FREEBIE below. Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy your macaroni quotation mark adventure.

quotation macaroni

Macaroni Grammar-TPT

Disclosure: Affiliate links posted on this website.

21st century classroom, science

Alaskan Animal Report FREEBIE!

March 8, 2016 No Comments

The Iditarod has started and so has our classroom study on it and all things Alaskan. Since Happy Hometown Illinois is pretty far from Alaska, none of my students are familiar with either topic. Therefore, we decided to take a closer look at Alaska and the Iditarod sled dog race.

The students decided they wanted to learn more about the animals that are native to Alaska… so we brainstormed a list of things we wanted to identify about each animal. From there I created an Alaskan animal research page and kid-friendly directions to the Alaska.gov website. My littles worked collaboratively in groups of two, with each group using an iPad. The animals the class chose from were a moose, eagle, wolf, walrus, seal, snowshoe hare, Arctic fox, and ptarmigan. However, there are so many more on the website if you want each of your students to research a different animal.

We are still working hard on these reports. When each group completes their research they will get a choice as to how they will present their report to the class. I can’t wait to see what my amazing 21st century learners will come up with.

What are some fun ways your students publish and present reports in your class? I would love to hear your ideas in the comments!

You can grab my Alaskan animal research report for FREE during the Iditarod 2016 by clicking the link below.

animal report pdf

Alaskan Animal Report-TPT freebie

I found an awesome teaching resource at Teaching in the Tongass TPT store (and it is on sale now!). It is loaded with lots of math and literacy lessons, a mushers biography study, and teacher tips. It was a ‘mush’ needed asset to our Iditarod study.

animal report

math

First Blog Post and a FREEBIE!

March 5, 2016 2 Comments

Today is the day! I am super excited about my first blog post. Since we are starting our chapter on money in Room #7, I wanted a fun activity for math centers. I have TONS of plastic eggs and wanted to put them to good use. I think my littles will love it! You can click the link below and grab this activity for free on TPT.

how much money png

TPT-How Much Money?

As you can see, I decided to use plastic coins in my center. Don’t worry… I have an idea for the task cards in this activity packet and they involve some cute felt eggs I purchased from Target.