The Connett Connection

We had a pretty light week this week.  My daughter decided to try out the magnet blocks her brother got for Christmas.  They both had fun making shapes, cars, pizzas and trains.  I let them play half the morning with them. My daughter showed me this creation and said, "This is a shape mommy, but I don't know what it is called." We talked about the letter D a little with my 2 year old and made this "D for Dot" craft.   They both loved dotting the q-tip on their letter D paper ! This new activity was by far the highlight of our evening on Wednesday.  I printed a few of these road mat sight words for my daughter drive her little cars on.  She said each letter as she drove the car then said the word as she finished driving on each word. My daughter asked my as I was typing up the " One Hundred Activities for the 100th Day of School " post when she was going to get to celebrate... well we do a number worksheet every morning to practice...

So as we go through each day of school, I want to make sure my daughter still knows and understands her numbers 1-30.  We are reviewing each morning with a number of the day. For the number of the day activity, she gets to write the number, the number name and add that many stickers to her little poster.  She then gets to hang the poster by herself to create her own number wall. Here is a picture of what she has done so far: I forgot to have her do day four and she reminded me later that day that she "did not do her number paper to hang up." The best thing about this activity?!  It's free! (Well you have to buy the materials but the idea is completely free!)  We have all these things around the house all the time, plus it helps us use the hoard of stickers we seem to accumulate! If you are teaching your kids about numbers, below are some good resources to reinforce that learning! Learn and recognize the different number representations for the nu...

Today marked the first day of Kindergarten.  We took it easy, only doing an activity every so often.  I'm trying to establish a routine so my daughter knows what to expect.  She thrives when there is a routine and I do too. We began by doing some calendar work.  She is still trying to learn her days of the week and months of the year. We then did some review work on the white board.  We are starting over with numbers to make sure she still remembers them all.  I also added a weather component this year since we did not do that during Pre-K.  She enjoyed looking out the window and drawing her own picture! I had looked at a variety of Kindergarten math curricula but most of them she already knew 90% of what was being taught since I taught her all of the number concepts and shapes in Pre-K.  The one I finally settled with, though loosely, was Eureka Math.  It is a free online curriculum.  I am using it as an outline for what...

So, I've finished planning the first 100 days of school for my daughter's kindergarten!  In the process I created number of the day pages for her to complete each day until the 100th day. Each page features a find the number section, a trace and write the number and number name section, a draw it with base ten blocks and a tally mark section.  By the time she is done with these sheets, I expect her to know how to count and recognize the numbers 1 all the way to 100! Here is a clearer sample of what the pages look like.  My daughter has already said she wants to do these sheets.  She loves the circle and find activities, so I knew I had to include it in these sheets. To get your copy of these sheets, click HERE !   MORE WAYS TO CONNECT Teachers Pay Teachers Store Boom Store Facebook Page Hands on Activities and Crafts for Kids Facebook Group Instagram Pinterest Youtube Subscribe below to our email list for the latest blog posts, products, sales and f...

I have learned a great deal over the last few days on selling and presenting my products.  I'm going to go through all my posted products and update them. I will be updating the following items: Product Covers -- I learned some tips to making better covers, so I will be going through the products and making the covers more "standoutish" and giving them all a similar look so my store looks more uniform.  I will also be adding my store logo to my cover pages.  This is called branding, and I'm told it is important so people can quickly recognize who made the product. Copyright -- I learned that placing a copyright text in my document can help several ways. One, it can help buyers remember where the product came from if others ask since all they have to do is look at the page.  Two, if someone copies your work as is, your copyright is there and it is easier to report.  I was told that one should put their copyright on each page of their document, so this will ...

My daughter loves the "Dab A" whatever sheets.  When she sees one in her packet of school work she gets excited and asks to do those first.  I have just finished a new packet of these sheets just for the numbers 1-20. My daughter loves using her colored counters to mark the right spaces and comes to get me right away when she is finished.  She always has a huge smile on her face when she shows me her finished paper. Each page features five numbers that are color coded for easy instructions. Some pages simply focus on finding the numbers.  Other pages focus recognizing base ten blocks, tally marks, place value, ten frames, dice and number words.  There are several ways you can use these sheets: 1.  Use dab it markers to actually dab the right color on the number. 2.  Use crayons or markers to color the appropriate color. 3.  Laminate pages and use colored counters to cover the spots with the appropriate color. To get your copy of the...

I had these finished before we left on vacation but just did not have time to get them up in my shop.  Between packing and taking care of three kids, it just did not happen. Well, now that we are home, I got them all spruced up and got them posted! Above is an example of one of the clip strip sheets for addition.  Simply print out on card stock and laminate for durability.  Then use a sharpy to label numbers 1-10 on clothes pins (you will need 2 sets of clothes pins per set of 16 cards). Students will clip the clothes pin with the correct sum on top of the problem (see below). The number clip strips are for numbers 1-10.  One set of these clip strips include matching the numbers to themselves in number form and the other set of strips show the numbers as dice, tally marks, base ten blocks and ten frames. The addition clip strips are available in color and in black and white! To get your copy of the addition clip strips, click HERE ! To get your cop...

So today started out like any other.  I got up, changed the baby, fed the baby and laid him on his play mat.  I then got breakfast for the older two, chocolate chip waffles, their favorite breakfast in the world.  I then opened the curtain on the back window then reached for my vacuum which has been camped out by that particular window for a few days now and proceeded to vacuum up the 10 or so flies that had congregated there during the night. You see, the last few days we have been battling a fly infestation.  Until this morning, I had no idea where Ms. Momma Fly laid all her eggs as I hadn't seen any of her babies crawling around anywhere.  Well, after getting the kids breakfast I look over at the kitchen and thought, I really need to sweep!  But then also had a thought, I just swept yesterday and we haven't eaten in there since!  Well, I got up to sweep up what ever crumbs some magic crumb fairy had left there only to discover it was all maggots.....

I have just updated my number card packet to include tally mark cards and base ten cards! Click HERE to get your updated copy today!

This set currently includes the numbers 1-99. Each number is represented by the number itself, the number name, the expanded form and the tens and ones for that number. This set was created to help further my daughter's understanding of numbers 1-100. The cards in this set were created smaller so that it did not take up so much paper to print out. Print each page on card stock and laminate if desired for durability. Ideas for this set: Sort the different cards for Standard Form, Expanded Form and Word Form. Match the different sets together. Recreate a large 100s chart using each of the different forms. Place a set of cards in order from least to greatest. You can use all of one type or mix the types for an extra challenge. Sort cards for even and odd numbers. Use two cards to determine greater than, less than or equal to. As time permits, I plan to add cards with tally marks and base 10 blocks as well. To get your own copy of the number cards  click ---...

Here is my final (so far) of outlined materials.  I already have all the letter outlines up and available in my store.  You can read the post about my letter outlines HERE . This product includes one full paged outline for each number, starting at 0 and going all the way up to 20.  Suggested Activities: Color the number for a simple number recognition activity.  Look through magazines or other printed material and cut and past examples of the numbers. Draw objects inside the number to practice counting to that number. Place stickers inside the number to practice counting to that number. Use as playdoh mats. Trace the numbers with fingers. Use as building mats, like placing blocks to create the number shape. To get your own copy of the number outlines, click HERE !

I want my daughter to fully understand numbers, especially those up to 100.  I plan to teach her how to count to 100 and several other number concepts during her kindergarten year.  I may be over estimating her abilities, but I can address that if a problem arises during the school year. In the mean-time, I have created 2 number of the day pages that reflect all the number concepts I want her to learn by the end of kindergarten and master by the end of her first grade year. The two sheets cover the following concepts Even and Odd Students will circle whether the number is even or odd. Base Ten Blocks  Students will draw base ten blocks to represent the number. Hundred Chart Students will fill in the portion of the number chart around the number of the day. Tally It! Students will represent the number with tally marks. Before and After Students will write the numbers that come before and after the chosen number. Expanded For...