Free Digi Frames!!

Check out my new digi frames over at TPT.  They're free!

 

"NEW" Bright Colored Digital Backgrounds!

Hi everyone,
Wanted to share my "new" bright colored digital backgrounds with you all!  They're on sale tonight for $1.60.  I'm super excited about learning how to make my own frames, backgrounds and clipart!  It might be a while before I get any clipart posted.  Still experimenting!  

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

Kyp

Spring Cleaning Sale!

Hi y'all!  It's spring cleaning time and time to clean out your wish list or grab some of the wonderful items you've been checking out.  I'm having a spring cleaning sale this weekend.  Saturday and Sunday.  Stop by and get 20% off most items my TPT store.

Happy Spring Cleaning! 

 

Share some of your great buys in the comments below!

**Thanks to Krista of Creative Clips for the great sale button.**

Math from Kindergals!

How exciting to be invited to guest blog! This is my first time so I had a hard time deciding what to post. I was asked to post about math, so I got to thinking what is the one thing that I get asked about the most. So here goes a math post on workjobs….

 

 

The follow up posts are on my blog. Here is where you can find them and the freebee:

Work job directions and record keeping

Post two

Post three

Post four

Thank you to Kyp for asking me to be a guest blogger here on Mrs. McLaren's Little Super Heroes. I love this blog!

When I was brainstorming a topic to write about, I was trying to think of something really incredible to and amazing to share. However, my mind kept returning to a simple and effective activity I did with my 2nd graders last week. We are working on opinion writing right now. I was not really interested in writing prompts such as "What is your opinion on...cats?" BORING! That is not my style AT ALL! So instead, we did the following:

Step 1: Play the movie "UP" from 11:19 - 20:16. This is a short nine minute section where Mr. Fredrickson is living alone after his wife dies. The neighborhood around his house has been turned into massive development. He loses his cool when a construction truck knocks over his mailbox and he hits someone with his cane. Right away, "Shady Oaks Retirement Village" is the suggestion for where Mr. Fredrickson should go.

Step 2: Ask your students if they think Mr. Fredrickson should move to Shady Oaks retirement village where he can have someone take care of him, make friends his age, and not be a danger to others, OR if he should continue to live his life on his own. A big part of opinion writing is providing reasons so I gave the students the following worksheet to record their three main reasons for their opinion:

Step 3: Let the kids discuss and debate. I was amazed by some of the philosophical insights from some of my students! One actually said "It is better to be dead than bored" and another responded, "it is better to be bored than dead". I now know which one is more likely to send me away in thirty years :)

Step 4: To practice letter writing skills, the students wrote a letter to Shady Oaks saying if they should go pick up Mr. Fredrickson or if they should leave him alone

This was a fun activity that really helped the students identify their strongest REASONS for an opinion. As faithful readers of Kyp's blog, you can download this opinion writing freebie here. It is a google doc, so no registration needed. Enjoy!

Alyssha Swanson is a 2nd grade teacher at an American School in Spain. She loves looking at teaching through a fresh lens and sharing ideas that are worth sharing. You can visit her Teaching and Tapas Blog or at her Facebook fan page. Check her out!

SomeBUNNY Loves Your Blog Linky!

SomeBUNNY Loves Your Blog Linky!

  Spring Break is just around the corner!  Yeah!  I love my little people, but I can always tell when we all need a little bit of a break from one and another!  Thursday is the big day!  Headed a little southwest for a few days to visit my dad and his wife!  I'm so excited!

Christina Bainbridge over at "Bunting, Books and Bainbridge" is having a little linky party to share blogs you love!!

  I'd like to let Cara from "The First Grade Parade" know that SomeBUNNY loves her blog! She is probably one of the first blogs I started following over a year ago.  She shares so many wonderful ideas which you can take back to your classroom and use right away!  Whenever I'm in need of something, her blog is one of the first places I look!  Thank you Cara for all of your ideas!! You've made me a better teacher by sharing!

Check out Cara's blog and let her know that someBUNNY loves her!

"100 Blogger Celebration"

Yeehaw!  Are you ready to celebrate?!  First, I'd like to thank all of my followers!  Without you this little celebration would not have been possible!  Second, I'd like to thank all of the sweet people who donated!  You are some of the most inspirational people I know in your faith and in the field of education!!  This little giveaway will be live for the next 7 days!  So, please send your friends over to entry!  Please make sure to leave a comment with your email address, so when the giveaway is over I will have a way of contacting you lucky winners!!  Oh, oh, I forgot! These sweet friends have also donated their time to share ideas and tips with you over the next several weeks right here on my blog!  Yeah!  Up this week will be Alyssha of "Teaching and Tapas" and Kim Adsit of "Kindergals"! Can't wait! 

April Calendar Set!!

Hi, I just uploaded a little freebie for April over at my TPT store. 

Included are: 4 calendar headers and pieces, 2 editable newsletters, and 2 different book tally sheets.

Happy Spring Sweet Friends!!

In celebration of spring I'm having a little sale over at TPT.  I can't wait for the flowers to bloom, the weather to warm up and to hear little ones outside playing!!  So, if you're excited about spring hop on over to my shop and check out the sale!!

Happy Spring!

Whoo! Woo!

Hey ya all, I'm one follower away from 100!!  I'm super excited!  I've invited some very special people to guest blog for me over the next few weeks!  I'm also going to be hosting a "100 Follower Giveaway" with donations from many of your favorites!! Check back on Sunday for more details!!  Happy Blogging!!

Splat the Cat Where is the Easter Bunny?

 Oh, we had so much fun today making our Splats and doing the little writing activity. This is from a pack by Christie over at First Grade Fever. It reinforced our study of characters, setting, fiction, nonfiction and retelling all in one little craftivity!! 

Who could ask for more! Thanks Christie!

Happy Easter Splat!!  A look at our wall!

 

A couple closeups of the writing portion.  Our eggs were just a bit too big, so our legs are just peeking out!

First 2 bunnies are by Kole and Konnor.

Kole - Splat the Cat was trying to find the Easter Bunny.  He looked everywhere.

Konnor - Splat the Cat was looking for the Easter Bunny.

 Next 2 bunnies are by Nat and Olivia.

Nat - He left him a giant egg.  He looked in his toy car.  He looked in the bathroom. He looked in the shed.
Olivia - He could not find the Easter Bunny.  He was on his head silly cat.

"Growing Firsties"

My sweet friend, Lisa over at "Growing Firsties" is celebrating "500 Followers" with a fantastic giveaway!  You might want to hop over to her blog to check out all of the wonderful prizes!!  Just click the picture below is pop into Lisa's blog!  Have fun and good luck everyone!

Spring Giveaway!

Heather over at Heather's Heart is hosting a spring giveaway. Click on the picture below to be taken to Heather's blog to enter! Good luck everyone and happy spring!

Little Popcorn Scientists!!

So, today the little people were popcorn scientists! It was a quite "yummy" experiment.

Our popcorn experiment results!

The first step of our experiment was to "smell" our popcorn.  The little people came up with all kinds of adjectives to describe their popcorn by smell.  Some of their choices were:  good and buttery.  They all agreed that when it pops it sounds "poppy".

Next, the little people checked out how the popcorn felt.  They thought the it felt bumpy, squishy and soft.  When looking at their popcorn the decided it looked white, yellow, bumpy, light and like little clouds.

Tasting was our favorite part of the experiment!!  It was yummy, delicious, crunchy, salty and some even thought it tasted sweet!  What a fun way to experiment using our 5 senses!

We Love Our 5 Senses!!

This week the little people and I are studying the "5 Senses"!  We're having a lot of fun listening to and guessing sounds we hear on a tape, reading lots and lots of books about our senses.  Even our Math Talk this week is all about our senses!  We're also singing songs, doing taste tests, smelling smells and tomorrow we're doing a little writing activity all about popcorn!  Watch for them tomorrow evening!  Today we did a labeling activity Cara Carroll shared on her blog.  Below are some of our adorable little friends! 

Here's a picture of our "We Love Our Senses" wall!  You can't quite see all of them.  But they are just adorable!!