Tuesday, October 29, 2013

TONS of freebies for Target and Dollar Tree buys!....Holla for a Dolla! Halloween Edition

So I don't know about you, but I constantly pass the cute little games in the Dollar bins at Target and at Dollar Tree that I look at and say, " I could totally use those for my classroom." Then I buy them and don't know where to start!

Well look no further, I have taken tons of items from the Target Dollar Spot and Dollar Tree and turned them into math/literacy (mostly math) games with response sheets!

I'm cleverly calling this.....Holla for a Dolla!


If this is popular/useful, I will continue to make these games for seasons/holidays as they come!

The first item is those cute little erasers from the Target Dollar Spot! Get the following games here!


These guys have endless possibilities...but these are the few ideas that I came up with!

Candy Count: Choose a number card (0-20 provided), and then match that amount of candy corn erasers. A response sheet is included if wanted! 



Franken-Tower: Using your little erasers, have students make a tower as tall as they can without it falling over. Each time the tower falls, count how many erasers were used and record it.


Pumpkin Pick-Up: Play this game like you play jacks. Bounce a ball and pick up pumpkins in the same hand before you catch it. Record how many pumpkins you picked up and then write the two numbers that come next.


The Skeleton or the Pumpkin?: Grab your skeleton and pumpkin erasers. Record how many of each you have and then circle the bigger number. 


Next on my list is the table scatter from Target Dollar Spot! I saw orange pumpkins, red leaves, and brown leaves available, but I only got pumpkins and red leaves.


There are tons of ways to use these cute little counters, and you can get my ideas here!

Grab a Pumpkin and Grab a Leaf: In both of these games, students simply grab a handful of pumpkins/leaves and count how many they grabbed.



Hit the Magic Spot: In this two player game (pumpkins vs. leaves), each player takes their turn rolling 1 dice and covering that many spots on their side. The first person to reach the magic spot with that exact number wins!


Line Em' Up: Choose a leaf card (0-5) or (0-10) depending on your kids needs and fill the ten frame up with that many leaves. Then, fill the rest with pumpkins and create an equation for a combination of 5 or a combination of 10.



 
This table scatter is so fun! You can use it for so much more!
 
 
The next item is the spider rings from Target Dollar Spot! (And spider ice cube trays from the Target Dollar Spot!)
 
 
These guys can be used for EVERYTHING! Spider rings are fantastic :) But you can see my ideas here!
 
Spider Six: Students roll their dice. Then, they grab that many green spiders to match that number for the ice cube tray. They fill the rest up with the purple spiders and make an equation for a combination of 6. They color in the green/purple squares to match the numbers in their equation.


Dead Ringer: Students gently throw a handful of spiders in the air. They count how many landed on their feet (alive) and how many landed on their backs (dead) and make an equation. 

 
Webby Match: Students count the correct amount of spider rings to match the number on the webby card. Numbers 0-20 are included for easy differentiation.



 
These cute spider rings are perfect little counters for pretty much any counting activity you have!
 
Now on to the Dollar Tree purchases! Starting with...Dollar Tree Foam stickers!
 
 
These foam stickers are obviously super fun for art projects and decorating, but they can be used for more academic stuff too! You can get my ideas here!

Sticky Graph: Give students a baggie of stickers for them to sort. Then, create a graph with the stickers. Two graphs are included depending on the size of the stickers.


Scary Match: Give students a baggy of stickers for them to sort. Then, students count how many of each sticker they have and match to the number. For example, 2 witches on 2, 4 spiders on 4, etc.


Make a Pattern: Give students a bag of stickers. Have them choose a pattern card, and then make a pattern using that rule with their stickers.


 
Sticker Story: Give students a sticker. Then, have them write a story about it! (I left it neutral in case you want to use it for any other types of stickers!)
 

 I love how easy it is to use these stickers for other things!

The next item is the Night Creatures from the Dollar Tree! These little flies are a little gross, but my boys especially will like to use them!


You can get my ideas for these creepy crawlies here!

Hide-A-Bug: The students grab a handful of bugs. They count them and then cover a certain amount with a cup. Their goal is to try to figure out what number is on the cup using the other two numbers in their equation.


Shoo Fly: Students CAREFULLY throw a handful of bugs in the air. Then count how many are on their feet (alive) and on their backs (dead). Use these numbers to write an equation.


These were super creepy so I didn't think of too many games for these haha!

The next Dollar Tree item is the Halloween erasers! These puppies are so cute!!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz3m-hPevqXgNkt4R1JqOFE2Tmc/edit?usp=sharing

These erasers were perfect for all kinds of activities. Here are my ideas :)

Make A Pattern: Students choose a pattern card and complete the pattern. They could also extend it further.




Grab and Graph: Students grab a handful of erasers. Then, they count and graph it using the graph paper below.


Secret Story: Students grab a "secret eraser." Then, they write a story about the character they see.


I think this is my favorite buy! They are just so cute!

The last item are the Dollar Tree ice cube trays!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz3m-hPevqXgak96LU5qVDZpRHc/edit?usp=sharing

These cute little trays are perfect for making equations and counting! These are my ideas!

Crazy Eyes: Students choose a blue eye card. Then, they fill the cube tray with that many blue eyes. Finish filling the tray with the gold eyes. Then, write an equation to create a combination of 5 or 10.



 
Pumpkin Pumpkin: Put the 1-10 pumpkin numbers in the bottom of the ice cube tray. Then students fill the tray with the little pumpkins (from Target Dollar spot) to match the number.

Skelo-teen: Put the 11-20 skeleton numbers in the bottom of the ice cube tray. Then students fill the tray with the little skeletons (from Target Dollar spot) to match the number.

 
These by no means are the only ideas to use these Dollar Tree/Target Dollar Spot finds....but I feel like they are useful! Hopefully you can use them with your kiddos!
 
Have a great Halloween week with your students! Hopefully they aren't too crazy :)

Monday, October 28, 2013

Peek at my Halloween week! 10/28

Happy Halloween week! I love weeks like this because the kiddos are so excited to come to school each day and do all of the fun activities planned!

I'm linking up with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten, link up your visual plans with her and check out the plans of so many other awesome bloggers.


My 4-day week is jam-packed full of Halloween goodness.  We are so busy, that we honestly do not even have time for literacy/math stations this week...so I left them out of my plans. Our anchor text this week is There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Bat! We are going to be focusing on rhyming words during our mini lessons.




We are also going to be learning bat facts and making a little bat craftivity. I'm using the template from A Cupcake for the Teacher's Going Batty craftivity, but my babies are not at that writing stage yet!

We are also making tons of class books! My kiddos love reading these during our "we time," (partner reading/table reading), and I wanted to make a bunch this week since we are between writing units! I also really wanted to focus on illustrations so I leave lots of room for pictures!

We are making one about our Halloween costumes and practicing strong illustrations and stretchy snake words!



We are also making one about bat facts that is SUPER open-ended. This way my kiddos could state simply that " bats at black" or "bats fly" or could be as deep as "bats are nocturnal" or "bats are not birds."



Lastly, we are making a class book to go with our read aloud The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid Of Anything.


We are going to make a circle map of the things we are scared of, and then make our class book of things we are not afraid of. 




We are also making a pumpkin glyph. We have a beautiful new bulletin board outside of our classroom and I want to show our wonderful work to the school!

I will post some of our Halloween festivities later this week! Tomorrow, look for a post on ways to use those cute Dollar Tree and Target Dollar Spot buys!

Have a great week!
 
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