Having fun with Dental Health and April Calendar Numbers Giveaway!

It's been way too long since my last post!  I wanted to catch you up on my dental health activities.  I know that it's a bit late, but I hope you can find a few ideas for next school year.

These are some of the books I read to the kids.  The book Why do I brush my teeth? Has many great activities that you can do with your students.  The book I Know Why I Brush My Teeth is about a boy who talks to his mother about dental health.  

We did an "egg"spiriment together.  I told the kids that the enamel on our teeth is similar to the shell on an egg.  They both help to protect what's beneath.  We put a boiled egg in a container with water and another egg in a container of cola.  The students kept an eye on the eggs for about a week to see if any changes occurred.  We discovered that the egg in the water did not change.  However, we did find some changes to the egg in the soda.  The shell turned brown and its shell became weaker.  You could rub off some of the egg shell.  This experiment really solidified the kids knowldege of how sugary drinks and food can break down the enamel on their teeth and lead to cavities and toothaches.

My students also learned about healthy and unhealthy foods for their teeth.  They worked in pairs to create a collage of food that were healthy (happy face) and unhealthy (sad face).  We glued the pictures onto a tooth shaped piece of paper.  

We graphed how many teeth each student lost.  I gave each of them a print out of a mouth.  They colored a tooth for each tooth they've lost so far.  

I bought vampire teeth in the month of October and saved it for dental health month.  I tried finding white teeth, but I had no luck.  We used cotton swabs as toothbrushes.  Each student had to demonstrate how to correctly brush their their teeth.  The students had so much fun practicing on these, especially because it was 3 dimensional.  The best part was that they got to keep their vampire teeth.  

Lastly, we worked on our dental health book.  If you would like a copy click HERE.  

It includes 5 Pages:

Front Cover

Egg Experiment

Healthy Foods For Your Teeth

Tools For Brushing

Healthy Smile

Click HERE to get these super cute April Calendar Numbers.  The first 5 people to leave a comment and follow my blog can get these for free.  All you have to do is leave me your email address in your comment and share how you are following me (Blog, TPT Store, Teachers Notebook)!

It Includes:

36 Number Cards with ABBC Pattern 

(Bunny, Rain Cloud, Rain Cloud, Umbrella)

Size of Cards: 2.5 X 2.5 inches

Print on White Cardstock and Laminate

Also includes cards for major April holidays and birthdays. 

Other Ideas for Calendar Cards:

*Use as number cards

*Use as patterning cards

*Use at math centers

*Use for flash cards, games, etc. 

Free Number flash Cards with Ten's Frames

I am so blessed to have such a great class this school year, however this past week was super challenging.  It seemed like all of my kiddos were already on break and moved at a snail's pace when doing their work (except when it was time to play, they can sure move fast then!).  I'm so glad winter break is finally here!  *sigh of relief*  This is wonderful!  Then REALITY sets in.  There's lots more to do!  It's my own doing though.  I absolutely LOVE teaching, but it also means work never ends and when I am on break it means I need to catch up on my own personal life and chores that have been neglected, hehe!

I wanted to share 3 craft projects that I did with my class this past week.

This santa project was inspired by Mrs. Lee Kindergarten.  I loved this project because each Santa came out completely different. 

We used white tempera paint to create this Santa Handprint Ornament.  Make sure the paint it THICK and not runny.  You can also use acrylic paint instead.  Paint on white paint onto each child's hand and have them hold the ornament like a ball, gently of course.  We then used permanent markers to add details to our snowman.  I've used window markers as well and they worked perfectly fine.  I usually buy my frosty ornaments from K-mart (Jaclyn Smith Brand).  

Here's the poem I usually include with this gift.  

These aren't just five snowmen

As anyone can see.

I made them with my hand

Which is a part of me.

Now each year when you trim the tree

You'll look back and recall

Christmas of 2012

When my hand was just this small!

We also learned the letter Ll and made a cute ladybug out of uppercase L. Check out my alphabet letter art  page on pinterest for more craft ideas.  

Lastly, in class we are learning our numbers 1-20.  I was getting tired of my handmade number flashcards and finally got around to making some on the computer.  These flash cards include numbers 0-40 with 10's frames beneath each number. I usually use these number cards for whole group or small group instruction. We use these for games, centers, flash cards, etc. There are many possibilities for these cards. All you have to do is print and laminate!  

They look like this:  

I wanted to share them with you!  Click any of the number cards above or click here to get them for free on my TPT page.  If you download them, would you kindly leave a rating and/or comment on my TPT or on my blog :)

Race to 10 & Race to 20 Tens Frame Dice Games

My kindergarteners are learning how to count and recognize numbers.  We just learned the number 10 last week.  I wanted my students to continue to practice their counting, so I created a Race to 10 and Race to 20 game to help motivate them to count.  They absolutely love dice games.

Here's how to play:  

Students play in pairs.  They take turns rolling a die and place the same amount of counters in the tens frame.  The first to fill their tens frames wins.

Click Here for Race to 10 Game

Click Here for Race to 20 game

Freebie: Math Apple Activities

Hi everyone!  Happy Columbus Day!  I just created some apple math activities and wanted to share.  Let me know what you think!

My kids are going to learn the number 0 tomorrow so I made a number poem flip book.  Fold the worksheet in half to make the book and cut along the dotted lines.

Click here  to get it!

I also love doing dice games with my kids!  Here is an apple dice game called RACE TO THE APPLE TREE.  Students play in pairs.  They take turns rolling a die and color the same amount of apples.  First student to get to the apple tree wins.  

Click here to get the Apple Tree game

Apple Print Counting Project and other Apple Activities!

I recently did a whole bunch of activities in my class using apples.  First we read a story called:  The Little Red House With No Doors And No Windows And A Star Inside.  I first heard about this story from my co-worker and thought it was adorable.  This story describes an apple.  I also found the story on The Virtual Vine .  We then cut the apple in half horizontally and we found a star inside.  Remember that when you cut the apple you have to cut it horizontally or you won't see the star.

We then proceeded to do some apple tasting.  We tasted different colored apples (red, green, yellow) and graphed the one we liked the best.  We also tasted apple sauce and apple juice.  We then graphed which way they liked apples best (apple fruit, apple juice, or apple sauce).  Most of my students enjoyed the apple juice!  My kids disliked the apple sauce because it looked like baby food.  

We also created apple prints to go along with our apple theme and integrated math into it by adding seeds to our prints.  The star shape didn't come out on our prints so after our initial print we then stamped a star shape on top of it.  We wrote numbers in the center of each apple and cut black construction paper to make the seeds.  The number of seeds on the print matched the number on the apple.  

Here's the final product: