Fun in the Box #12...

This is what the kids found in their box today:

I put lots of random items in the box and a paper folded in half with 4 flaps cut. They each had to secretly pick 4. On top of each flap they had to write 3 adjectives that described the 4 different items they had chosen. Underneath the flap they drew a picture of their item. Lastly, they took turns reading each other their 3 adjectives to see if they could guess what they chose. Then they lifted the flap to show the picture to see if they were right!

They did well and had fun. We also practiced labeling our adjectives with our chant "What kind? Which one? Hooooooowwwww many?"

Fun (Almost) in the Box #11...

Today the kids found this Little People house on their school table. Today's lesson was prepositions. I remember being taught in school they were anything a mouse could do to a house. So, ours became anything this bird could do to this little house. They worked together and Jackson recorded all the prepositions they found. I did have to give some hints and tell them to think of opposites. They really found a lot.

Then I showed them a list of all the prepositions. Jackson read them and Ashton highlighted the ones they found.

I was impressed by how many they found and hope this helps them remember what a preposition is!

Dollar Store Centers #7...

Grammar is not my favorite subject to tach, so making games out of it has made it more fun for all of us. We began reviewing the different ways to make plurals. This was great review for my 3rd grader, and I'll eventually use it to teach this skill to my 1st grader.

The die cut theme was party stuff though I haven't managed to come up with a clever name yet:)

I wrote the singular version of the noun so Jackson had to figure out how they would be made plural.

Here was his final sort with the choices of: stay the same, add s, add -es, change the y to i and add -es, or whole new word.

He only missed 1 I think. I am always amazed at how these simple games show you how they can quickly get a concept that they could easily trip up on if writing them or working on a workbook (although we do follow up with those as well).

Now if I could only come up with a clever name....

Fun in the Box #7...

Mommy really needed to get out of the house one morning that was beautiful outside. Our workbox solution: a noun walk.

In their boxes they found a page divided into person, place, or thing categories and away we went walking and observing.

Our noun walk ended at the neighborhood park- lots of nouns there! This was really a good learning activity because we had a good conversation about should a house or a park be a place or thing? Hmmm, always good to get them thinking!

Dollar Store Centers #3...

We are all about nouns over here this week. This is too basic review for my 3rd grader and new info for my 1st grader though she has picked it up quickly. We are focusing on the noun categories of person, place or thing right now. This time I went a little over my $1 budget to about $1.33. The folder to store it in was about 20 cents:)

I bought big bulletin board decorations which had different diecuts like the balloon, party hat and present I used. There were about 15 included for a dollar. I used 3 so that put me a few cents over a dollar, oh well!

Last, I bought smaller diecut presents. These were 35 for a dollar I believe.

So, for a little over a dollar my darling daughter got to have a "Noun Party".

I wrote the categories on the big diecuts, and she then had to match the nouns written on the little presents to the appropriate category. I tried to make the nouns things you would see at a party because I am all about sticking to a theme!

I can't express enough how simple these things all are, but how much she truly enjoys them. I never hear a complaint when she opens a workbox and finds a center I made, and that in itself is worth much more than a dollar!