Easter Activities

I Know About Sea Turtles: Research Fun!

This week we finished up our research projects on sea turtles.



 

My first grader loves learning facts about animals, so he really got into putting this portfolio together. We read about sea turtles, answered questions, filled out a KWL chart, labeled a turtle, compared sea turtles to tortoises with a Venn diagram, learned about the life cycle, distinguished between facts and opinions, created a turtle poem, and made our own picture using a directed drawing!

 

 

Here are a couple of fun crafts I found to go along with our study:

 

Sea Turtle Paper Bowl craft by Sun Scholars

 

This one is so easy and uses a paper plate and dot markers...which you know I love!

 

 

For a fun and healthy snack, try these cute grape and kiwi turtles! (Found on Meet the Dubiens)

 

The pack we used for this project can be found HERE on TpT.

 

 

And here are some of the fun books we checked out from the library to go along with our unit study!

 

 

Five for Friday

 

 

1. I just got a new blog design this week! I love everything about it. A big shout out to Parker from PJ's Design Laboratory for creating it for me!

 

2. Getting back into the groove of school was a little tough after Spring Break, but we managed alright! :-) Thankfully we had a couple of really gorgeous days, so we were able to spend a lot of time outside.

 

 

3. For St. Patrick's Day, we did this cute directed drawing from Jennifer @ First Grade Blue Skies. You can grab it for free on her blog here! My kids are always so silly, so they had to have his tongue sticking out!

 

 

4. I spent a lot of time this week on Pinterest, looking for homeschool room ideas. I haven't spent alot of time or money setting up a room for us, because we are always in transition! We are moving again in August, and we plan on being in one place for awhile, so I'm ready to spend a little money to get a nice room set up that we can enjoy having school in!

 



 

5. I posted a new product this week! I wanted to create a resource that I could use with my daughter as she is learning to write, so I came up with this "Think, Draw, Write" packet. There are over 50 pages with a picture and a prompt for the students to think about, then draw their response and write a sentence about it. You can check it out HERE and download a free one to try in the preview!

Happy Friday everyone!!

Spring Break 2015

Even though we didn't take a big trip this year for Spring Break, we are having fun relaxing and doing things close to home!

We went to a trampoline park for the first time, and the kids loved it!

 

We were able to spend a few days with my parents and sister's family,  who live a couple of hours away.



We made a visit to the children's museum, and they had a great traveling exhibit called, "The Magic School Bus Kicks Up a Storm," all about weather.

We've also just hung around the house, watching T.V. and doing a little painting! These paint with water pages from Melissa & Doug are so great for toddlers! She gets to paint, but I don't have to worry about the mess!

And today is our 10th wedding anniversary! I'm so thankful for my husband and all he does for our family. We'll be going out tonight to celebrate!

March 2015 Currently

I'm linking up with Farley from Oh Boy Fourth Grade for this month's Currently!

 

*I love that my middle girls (4 and 3) are old enough to be entertained by crafty things. They sat at the table and glued spangles to paper for about half an hour this afternoon!

 



*I am loving my coffee these days! I have 2-3 cups in the morning, and usually one in the afternoon. Then sometimes I'll have a cup of decaf at night.

*Ok, seriously. We have nicknamed my 18 month old "the beast." I love her, but she is into e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. I cannot seem to babyproof my house enough. I have got to figure out some way to tame her :-)

*I feel like we've got in a rut with homeschooling. I'm wanting to change things up and bit make it a little more fun for the kids, but I lack motivation at this point.

*I NEED this weather to clear up and get dry! We had one fun snow day, but other than that it has just been cold and wet! The kids are cooped up inside all day and we are all going a bit crazy!

*So we don't have any travel plans for Spring Break, which means we will basically just be at home like always, but without any sort of school structure. I'm thinking a visit to the zoo and children's museum will be in order.

100th Day of School Fun

Well, today in Texas many schools are closed due to freezing weather and icy roads. But since we don't have to leave the house for school, we got to finally celebrate our 100th day of school!  We started off by playing this fun game using dice. First we guessed how many rolls it would take to get to 100. Then we rolled a die and colored in that many squares on the hundreds chart until we got to 100.

 

 

 

We had a fun snack of 10 different foods so we practiced counting by 10s along the way.

 

 

 

The kids drew pictures of themselves at 100 years old.

 

 

 

Then we used an app called Aging Booth on the iPad to see what they would really look like at 100. So funny....and slightly creepy!

 

 

We also guessed how many times we could do different activities in 100 seconds. We shot baskets, did jumping jacks, and wrote our name.

 

I put the pages we used today as a free download in my blog store. You can grab them HERE!

 

 

 

Another fun activity is completing a Hundreds Chart Mystery Picture. Here are a few freebies that you can find in my store!

 

 

 

 

Deep in the Heart of Texas Blog Hop

Welcome to the "Deep in the Heart of Texas" blog hop!  Over 40 Texas teacher bloggers have joined together to share what we love about our state as well as ideas and freebies that we love.  You will also have the opportunity to enter to win TpT products and/or TpT gift certificates by entering using the rafflecopters included in each post.  Down at the bottom, you will see all of the blogs participating in the hop.  Just click and you will be taken to their posts.  We hope you love what you find.  Happy Valentine's Day!

 

If you're new to my blog, I'm Lauren from Mrs. Thompson's Treasures! I grew up in Garland, Texas and have also spent some years overseas, but I am currently living in Waco! I homeschool our kids (ages 7, 4, 3, and 1) and most days I am just trying to keep everyone alive and myself sane!

 

I have only lived in Waco for about 3 years now, but I certainly do love it! It has everything you would find in a big city, but with a sweet hometown feel! Here are some of my favorite things in Waco:

 

Dr. Pepper Museum

 

Built in 1906 - this was the first building dedicated to bottling Dr. Pepper!

 

 

People come from miles around to enjoy this family owned and operated BBQ restaurant!

 

 

Chip & JoJo!! I love their HGTV show Fixer Upper that takes place in Waco, and their shop, Magnolia, is only a mile down the road from my house!

 

 

 

I love activities that are educational, but also fun and engaging for students. Some of my favorite things to make are mystery pictures that help students practice different skills. I created some fun ones using dot markers that kids AND teachers love! I have sets for practicing numbers, letters, and sight words!

 

 

 

 

I have a set of free Dot Marker Mystery Pictures for you to try out with your students! If you don't have dot markers, you can use regular markers or crayons to color in the circles!

 

 

 

 

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