***Update...Due to a seller bundling my items and offering them for sale via another web site, I am no longer offering this item for free. I'm sorry! I hope you understand.***

I get soooo many requests for different hundreds chart activities and while you can't even begin to imagine how many I've attempted, it's harder to make things look cute using squares than you'd think. If I could make things a little more curved from time to time, it would make things much easier. However, I'm trying to keep the hundreds chart authentic to go along with the chart we use in our classroom.

While I would love to be able to make something to fit everyone's needs for each theme you have, I just can't always seem to make it work. I'm a people pleaser, so not being able to do something when someone asks me makes me feel bad. I don't want to let anyone down. Is anyone else like this? :)

Here's something I came up with for Columbus Day if you can use it. If your kids won't be in school on Columbus Day, consider printing it to send home with them for something fun to do with their families over their extended weekend.

I hope you like it! Click on the picture below to purchase this item for only $1 in my TpT store!

I cannot believe that Columbus Day is already right around the corner, which also means, Parent-Teacher Conferences are coming soon! I don't know about all of you, but this school year seems like it's just flying by! We have been knee-deep in team planning, tons of professional development and we just found out it's our year to rewrite curriculum. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to up my Coke and Dr. Pepper drinking to 5 cans a day to make it through the next few weeks.

Today, I carved out time to work on a Columbus Day mini unit. On the actual Columbus Day holiday, our local Fire Department is coming for Fire Safety Week and I won't be able to do a lot of these activities with my kiddos this year. However, I hope that some of you will have more time than we do.


I just created a Columbus Day Mini Math and Literacy Unit and posted it on TpT. It's filled with activities that cover Math and ELA Common Core State Standards, as well as, several Social Studies expectations. The unit is 48 pages long and should go well with most of the books that you will be reading to your students. Click on the picture above or any of the pictures below to take you to the unit on TpT!


Columbus Day Mini Math and Literacy Unit includes:

• Pages 2-3: We Celebrate Columbus Day Song (Color and Black/White) (Freebie) 
• Pages 4-9: We Celebrate Columbus Day Pocket Chart Song and Pictures 
• Pages 10-15: Would you like to be an explorer? Graph, Headers, and Analyzing Class Results Response Sheet(Color and Black/White) 
• Pages 16-19: Number Slit Book (Numbers 1-5) 
• Pages 20-26: Ten Frame, Base Ten Block and Number Match Up 1-10 
• Pages 27-31: Syllable Sort and Self-Check Sheet 
• Pages 32-34: Skip Counting by 10's 
• Pages 35-36: What Comes Next? 
• Pages 27-42: Write the Room Picture Cards and Response Sheet 
• Pages 43-45: Pattern Cards 
• Pages 46-47: Spin and Graph

I finally listed my unit There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves. Take a peek at it on TpT! It is only $3 and includes enough resources for two days worth of activities. This was the first Old Lady book I've done with my class this year and they absolutely loved the spinner/graphing activity. It was so wonderful to see them engaged and having conversations about whose turn it was and getting excited when it was their turn. :) I love lessons like that!
 
Click on any of the pictures below to take you to TpT! 

Exploring Magnets is one of my favorite units to teach in Science! This year, we've been working really hard to integrate Social Studies and Science into all our Math and ELA Common Core Standards.

So, for my formal observation I decided to center my lesson around using our five senses to explore magnets. My kids had explored magnets the day before, used them around the room, made observations, watched iron shavings being pulled across paper and all those other fun things you get to do with magnets.

I thought the kiddos would have been a little less excited on the second day, but did I ever underestimate my kiddos! We read the book Magnets Push, Magnets Pull and used bar magnets to use our five senses with the magnets. Although they were totally engaged in the lesson, the majority of them were talking over each other to answer my questions. Yikes! :) I haven't gotten to have a conversation about the observation with my Principal yet, but hopefully, it wasn't too crazy!

Here's a copy of the resources I created in case you'd like to use them, too! Just click on the picture to download your freebies from Google Docs. The first two pages are student response sheets (color and black/white). I used the color version with our projector. The other pages are signs for a large anchor chart with student responses.
 Here are a few other magnet ideas I found.

Songs:
Magnet Song 
Magnets Rock

Lessons:
5 Day Lesson Teaching About Magnets in Kindergarten

Free Printable Magnet Sort


Books: