Happy January! I have the NEW January Joke of the Day 2nd Edition for you today! I can’t believe we’re already through half of the school year and sharing the 2nd set of these daily jokes with you!

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January Joke of the Day 2nd Edition

Have you been following along each day as I share a different joke of the day on Facebook?

Since this is the second edition, there are all new jokes this month! You’ll find some silly animal jokes and a bunch of snowman and winter jokes this month. Each month, I also turn them into a printable so you can easily print them out and have the page handy all month to share with your class or family at home.

These jokes are a simple, fun way to connect with your students and make them laugh. This month we have fun jokes that are sure to make your little ones giggle and maybe get some eye rolls.

Share the jokes with your class during your morning meeting, getting ready to go to lunch, or when you are packing up for the day before you go home.

I made the joke of the day printable available to print in both color and black and white.

You can download the January Joke of the Day 2nd Edition printable by clicking the green box below.

In case you missed the first edition of the January Joke of the Day printable, you can find that here.

I hope your kiddos will enjoy this new set of jokes just as much as the first!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post January Joke of the Day 2nd Edition appeared first on Primary Playground.

It’s that time again! Today I’m sharing the January Joke Of The Day free printable with you. If you’ve been following along, I’ve been sharing a joke of the day for each month of the school year so far.

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Each day I share a digital version on my Facebook page and then just gather them all together into a January Joke Of The Day free printable for you too so you can easily share them with your students each day.

This month, you’ll find some fun winter and penguin themed jokes in the mix. You’re sure to get some giggles and some eye rolls too!

I’ve made the printable in both color and black and white for you. Share a joke with your students each day during your morning meeting, when you get from lunch or are leaving for the day.

Click the green box below to download the January Free Printable.

In case you missed any of the other months of jokes that I’ve shared, you can find them here. 

August Joke Of The Day

September Joke Of The Day

October Joke Of The Day

November Joke Of The Day

December Joke Of The Day

Make sure to come back next month to grab the February jokes!! See you next time!

Jenette

The post January Joke Of The Day appeared first on Primary Playground.

When I saw this adorable book, Ten Sparkly Snowflakes, I just knew it would be perfect to turn into a fun hands-on math craft. With this Ten Snowflakes Math Craft, we’re incorporating a hands-on activity and math to retell the book.

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I wanted the students to be able to make a fun math craft so I made this free printable. You can use it in a bunch of different ways.

Print it out and retell the story as a class. Have the snow on an anchor chart, and choose a student to come up and put the correct number snowflake in the sky and so on until the story is complete.

Or print it out in black and white and make it into a craft project for your kids. Use a piece of construction paper and have them cut out the snow scene and snowflakes and then glue them onto the paper. They can add additional details if they’d like.

Or draw a stick and give 10 students the snowflakes. As a class, read the book aloud and as their number is called, have the student stand up with their snowflake until the story is over.

Or you can laminate it and use it as a center for the students to practice counting and number sense one through ten.

These cute snowflakes make for such a fun and quick activity during this time of year. Let me know if you have any other ways you’re going to use them in your classroom!

Click the green box to download the free printable Ten Snowflakes Math Craft.

I hope your kiddos enjoy this fun activity!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Ten Snowflakes Math Craft appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Do you celebrate the 100th day of school with your class? Today’s we have a fun 100th Day Read-Aloud to share with you, Miss Mingo, and the 100th Day of School. by Jamie Harper. This is a new book and has quickly become one of my favorites!

Miss Mingo and her class are celebrating the 100th day of school. The class is made up of an assortment of animals that have brought all kinds of fun items to mark the day. Things range from 100 teddy bears to the number of feet a pelican dives, to the number of spots on each side of a giraffe.

Math becomes a part of the day when it is shown 100 can be reached with a combination of numbers such as two piles of fifty, or ten piles of ten. A highlight of the day is when the students put on their imagination hats to create something from the 100 items each of them is given.

The illustrations in the book are so bright and fun. The 100th day of school has become a day to celebrate and to have a good time, while also sneaking in lots of learning as a part of the celebration. This book captures all the glee of the party, along with the educational fun that goes on along with it.

For our snack today, we’ll be making an edible 100!

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Snack Idea

ingredients – each student will need

1/3 of a pretzel rod – I cut each pretzel rod into thirds

2 cookies with a hole in the center -we used Girl Scout Somoa cookies (a mom has to help her daughter out by buying a few boxes right lol)

assemble

The students can make their own 100 using the food they’ve been given. The pretzel rod will be the 1 and the 2 cookies will be the zeros. You could also use mini donuts for the zeros. Another option if you want to make it healthier you could use a baby carrot as the one and 2 sliced cucumbers as the zeros.

Free Printable

While your students are enjoying their 100th-day snack, I made a free printable for them to work on. They will get to draw in 10 items in each of the boxes to create 100. Similar to the 100th Day read-aloud, when they made 10 piles of shells to create 100.

You can download the free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

If you’re looking for another fun activity to go along with the 100th Day read-aloud we’ve shared, we have the 100th Day Color By Code. You can grab it for FREE here.

And your students will have a great time with this 100th-day scavenger hunt too! You can see the digital version here. Or grab the printable version here.

And you can never go wrong with bingo! A perfect addition to your 100th-day celebration! You can grab the 100th-day bingo here.

Do you have any other fun activities you like to do with your class to help celebrate the 100th day of school? Share with us below!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Idea 100th Day Read-Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

A couple of weeks ago I found these cute winter mini erasers at Target and knew I have to make a fun activity to use with them. So today we have a Free Printable Winter Spin and Graph for you!

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This Free Printable Winter Spin and Graph is a fun hands-on activity to teach your little learners about graphing. This activity is perfect for math workshop, in small groups, or even as an independent whole group activity to introduce graphing and recording data. It is super easy to get ready! You can choose to have the kiddos use mini erasers or if you don’t have any, don’t worry! Simply have them color in a box to do the graphing.

the prep

All you need for each child is:

• a copy of the printable (below)
• a pencil
• a paperclip
• winter erasers or a crayon to mark

to play

The students will use a pencil and paperclip to create a makeshift spinner. Put the tip of the pencil in the paperclip, give it a flick, and see where it lands! They always love this part!

Once they land on a winter picture, they color or mark a square above that winter picture with an x. Have them play until one column reaches the top. That winter picture is then declared “the winner!”

You can download the Free Printable Winter Spin and Graph by clicking the green box below.

For more hands-on winter math fun, we practice counting to twenty with our Polar Bear Counting Mats. 

And practice making ten with our Winter Ten Frame Task Cards. 

What are your favorite ways to use mini erasers with your students?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Winter Spin and Graph appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

We love reading books about snowmen in January! We’ve already read and shared a literacy snack idea for Sneezy the Snowman and There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow. This week we’re adding another build a snowman read-aloud and we’ll be reading All you Need for a Snowman by Alice Schertle.

In this book, the kids build a snowman saying all you really need…. and it just kept building upon one another. It’s a great way to start them thinking about any other thing they may create or plan. All you really need is……imagination.

This activity works well with

For our Literacy Snack Build A Snowman snack idea to go along with the book, we’ll be building our own snowmen!

ingredients

each student will need

2 pretzel sticks

2 chocolate chips

3 large marshmallows

1 candy corn cut in half – I took candy corn and cut off the bottom yellow part. (Mine were from Target and only 2 colors, orange and yellow) Then I took the remaining orange part and cut that in half so it will give you 2 noses per candy corn.

Snack idea

To make the snowmen, have the students start with the head. Have them push the 2 chocolate chips into the marshmallow as the eyes. Then push the candy corn into the marshmallow as his nose.

Next, have the students push the 2 pretzel sticks into another marshmallow as the arms. They can then build/stack their snowman, and enjoy!

You can get as creative with these as you want, we just wanted to keep it simple so even the youngest could make them. But feel free to add buttons using mini chocolate chips, a piece of licorice ropes pulled apart to add as a scarf and you can even make a hat using a Nilla Wafter as the bottom and put an unwrapped mini Recees Cup on top to make a hat!

Build A Snowman Read Aloud Free Printable

I made a free printable for your little learners to work on while they are enjoying their snacks. They will get to draw a picture of a snowman, adding in everything that he needs just like in the book. It’s fun to see how different everyone’s are at the end!

You can download the Literacy Snack Build A Snowman free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

If you’re looking to continue the topic of building a snowman, we have some fun activities that are perfect for you!

Our How To Build A Snowman Sequencing Activities is a fun way to incorporate many different learning standards. In this pack, the students are learning writing, sequencing, retelling, life skills, and much more. It’s a great hands-on activity to get the students excited to learn.  Click here to check it out now.

Here are some of our other favorite snowmen activities!

Do you have any other fun activities you like to do with snowmen? Let us know below!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Build A Snowman appeared first on Primary Playground.

Do you need a fun way for your little learners to practice their ten frames? Grab some mini erasers and they can practice their countings and numbers with these Free Printable Penguin Ten Frame Cards.

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getting started

The set up is super easy for this activity. Simply download and print the Free Printable Penguin Ten Frame Cards by clicking the green download box at the bottom of this post. Cut them out and laminating the cards is suggested for durability.

We use mini erasers for this activity. These penguins pictures are from a couple of years ago, but I have seen a new winter pack this year that includes snowflakes, penguins, and polar bears which would be perfect to use too! If you don’t have mini erasers, small pom pom balls work well too. You can store them in a sandwich size bag or we like to use clear plastic 4X6 photo cases too.

to play

These Penguin Ten Frame Cards are a fun addition to your math center for the kids to work on counting, one to one correspondence, and even decomposing numbers. Each card has the number and the number word for recognition. Have the students fill in the correct number of squares for the penguin that match the number on the card.

Click the green box below to download the Penguin Ten Frame Cards from my TeachersPayTeachers store for FREE.

If you’re looking for another fun winter counting activity, you might like our Polar Bear Counting Mats too!

I hope your kiddos enjoy this fun hands-on way of practicing their numbers and counting!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Penguin Ten Frame Cards appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Do you celebrate the 100th day of school with your class? Today I’m sharing a fun activity you can add to your special day, a Free 100th Day Celebration Color By Code page.

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Reading The Night Before the 100th Day of School by Natasha Wing is a must! Such a fun story for the 100th day!

Another fun read-aloud to go along with the day is Miss Mingo and the 100th Day of School. I have created a literacy snack and free printable to go along with the book too. You can find out more here.

As part of celebrating 100 days of school, we like to do activities that revolve around counting to 100, by both 1’s and 10’s. I’ve created a fun 100th Day Celebration Color By Code activity that will allow your student to practice numbers counting by 10 to fill out the picture.

The first time the students do this activity, I always encourage them to color the crayons first so they can easily see which color the number needs to be.

To do the color by code number, the students will carefully color the picture one area at a time using the matching color for the number. The students will continue coloring the numbers until the entire picture has been completed. They will then be able to see their hidden picture!

You can download the Free 100th Day Celebration Color By Code from my TeachersPayTeachers store below.

If your students enjoyed this free printable color by code numbers, they’ll love these winter-themed color by code sight words. There are 50 pages that include the pre-primer Dolch words. Or primer words here.

We even have CVC word color by codes too!

What are some fun things you do to celebrate the 100th day with your class?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Free 100th Day Celebration Color By Code appeared first on Primary Playground.

There’s a good chance that you have a pretty good collection of teacher mugs. You may even have enough to open your own coffee shop by now. Some people love receiving fun mugs and others don’t even drink coffee or tea and have no clue what to do with them. I’m sharing a bunch of different ways to use your teacher mug collection.

Before I do though I wanted to share a little story with you. A few years ago, my son had a gifted teacher he went to twice a day for reading and math. He had her for a couple of years and was really close to her as there was only a handful of kids in his class with her. He knew her well and asked to get her a coffee mug one year for Christmas, she drank coffee in her classroom throughout the day. (had a coffee maker in her classroom) She loved the mug he gave her and used it every day in the classroom.

The next school year, he had her again for the same classes, but sadly passed away in September just after school started. When her room was being cleaned out his homeroom teacher knew the mug had been special to both his teacher and him and she gave it back to my son to keep as a special memory of her. It now sits on our hutch in our home with some fake succulents in as a special memory of her for him. So you just never know how special a mug can be as a gift.

The students absolutely love seeing you use the mugs they have give you, wether you use it for your morning coffee, or put pencils in it on your desk. It’s very special for them to see you using it.

15+ Ways To Use Your Teacher Mug Collection

• Use the mugs to hold water for watercolor painting. The mugs are nice and heavy so they won’t tip over and spill.
• Use them to hold writing utensils, pencils, pens, markers, scissors, etc.
• Collect the Christmas mugs and create a gift for your students. Fill them with popcorn and a candy cane or with a package of hot chocolate and a candy cane for them to take home.
• Add some soil and succulents or fake ones to a few mugs and place them throughout your classroom.
• Have a mug exchange in your classroom. Wrap the mugs, play a game, have the students open the mugs and enjoy some hot cocoa.

• Save the mugs for when you retire. Use them as centerpieces for your tables and then raffle them off.
• Keep the Christmas ones to set out at your home during the holidays for guests to use. Relatives and friends love getting to choose a fun mug to drink from.
• Save them for when you teach the letter T. Have a tea party, dress fancy and serve tea in them.
• Save Christmas mugs until you have a class set to serve your class hot cocoa during the winter months or a Polar Express day. Keep them for the next year after washing or send them home as a gift to your students.

• Use the mugs to plant flowers in during your plant unit.
• Break them into pieces and make stepping stone mosaics with your class.
• Use them to hold paintbrushes near your sink.
• Donate them to a high school or local flower design class.
• Suggest to your school’s student council or NJHS to collect mugs in November. Add a hot cocoa packet and candy cane and wrap them up in a decorated bag and deliver them to a senior living center.

• Donate them to a local diner or coffee shop that uses fun random mugs for their customers.
• Pass them onto your parents, sibling or friends that can use them at their vacation home/cabin.
• Use them as a gift idea for college students you may know. Print off some fun recipes that can be made in a mug like cakes, mac, and cheese, etc. and tie them to the mug.

Do you have any other fun ways that you like to use your coffee mug collection? Or maybe have a special story to share? Share with us in the comments below!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post 15+ Ways To Use Your Teacher Mug Collection appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

The Lunar  New Year is quickly approaching, so I wanted to find a fun read-aloud for the day. This week for our literacy snack idea, we’ll be reading, The  Runaway Wok, by Ying Chang Compestine.

This is a remake of the traditional Danish folktale, The Talking Pot.

“When a boy goes to the market to buy food and comes home with an old wok instead, his parents wonder what they’ll eat for dinner. But then the wok rolls out of the poor family’s house with a skippity-hoppity-ho! and returns from the rich man’s home with a feast in tow!”

The Lunar New Year emphasizes sharing. Families and friends gather from far and near to share a New Year’s Eve feast and to wish each other a prosperous and happy new year.

The most significant dish during the Lunar New Year for children is the festive stir-fried rice. Parents urge their children to eat it so so that they will get along in the new year. So for our literacy snack this week, we’ll be having festive stir-fried rice!

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Ingredients

eggs

salt

green onions

olive oil

garlic

frozen green  peas

bell  pepper

cooked rice

raisins

soy sauce

Assemble

This will be a snack that you make ahead of time at home and bring in to share with the class. The recipe for the festive stir-fried rice is in the back of  The Runaway Wok book. Requesting it from the library is a great option in case you don’t have the book.  It’s a simple recipe and makes the perfect amount for your class to try some. I used quick rice that I made in the microwave, using  2 cups of dry rice.

It’s a great opportunity to have the students try a dish that they may otherwise be hesitant to do so. A lot of them are surprised at how much they liked it!

Free Printable

While they are tasting their festive stir-fried rice,  I made a free printable for them to work on.  They get to draw in the circles the 3 things that the wok took from the rich family to give to the poor family.

You can download the free printable from my teacherspayteachers store below.

Do you have any other fun activities that you do for the Lunar New Year?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Idea Lunar New Year appeared first on Primary Playground.

Winter brings so many fun things to learn about. We’ve been talking a lot about the weather lately, so this week’s book ties into our learning about snow. We don’t get snow where we live, so it’s always a fun treat to learn about snow and snowmen for our kids. For this week’s Literacy Snack Idea Snowman, we’re reading, “There Was A Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow!’ by Lucille Colandro.

“This time, the old lady is swallowing everything from snow to a pipe, some coal, a hat, and more! With rollicking, rhyming text, and funny illustrations, this lively version will appeal to young readers with every turn of the page. And this time, there’s a surprise at the end no reader will be able to guess!”

The surprise at the end is, of course, a snowman! So that’s what we will be making for our snack this week.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

ingredients

each student will need

1 mini-size bagel

a tablespoon of whipped cream cheese

2 pretzel sticks

6 chocolate chips

1 baby carrot

and 3 M&M’s or Skittles

Assemble

You’ll want to make sure all of your bagels are pre-sliced for the students. They may need a bit of help spreading the cream cheese on the bagels, so I usually just walk around from table to table helping with this step. After the cream cheese is on our snowman, the students get to add all of his details. I used the chocolate chips as his eyes and his mouth. The baby carrot for his nose. The pretzel sticks for his arms and the M&M’s for his buttons. Let the kids be creative and let them add them all as they like to build their snowmen.

Free Printable

While the students are enjoying their snowman snack, I made a free printable for them to work on. They get to remember back to the book and color in all the funny things that the old lady swallowed in order to make a snowman.

You can download the Literacy Snack Idea Snowman free printable from my teacherspayteachers store below.

If you’re looking for more snowman ideas to use during this time, the students love this snowman activities pack. It has everything from labeling a snowman to writing about how to build a snowman.

Or these snowman ten frame task cards are a fun addition to your math centers.

And our snowman real and nonsense word sort is fun for literacy centers or small group work.

What are some of your favorite snowman activities to do this time of year?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Idea Snowman appeared first on Primary Playground.

Mmm, who doesn’t like a plate full of fresh-baked cookies? For this week’s literacy snack idea cookies, we’re reading, The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins and combining it with our math lesson.

This is a great read-aloud picture book about friendship, sharing, and cookies that can also be used to introduce basic math concepts to young children.

For our snack this week, we are of course having a plate full of cookies to share with the class!

These resources from Primary Playground work well with this article.

Ingredients

I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies to bring in and share with the class for this week’s snack. If you’re running short on time, no problem! Grab a couple of boxes from the bakery at the grocery store or even a couple packages of Chips Ahoy cookies and put them on a plate!

While passing out the cookies, we talked about sharing with others and counted how many cookies we had to start with and how many we shared with the class.

While the students are enjoying their cookies, I made a free printable for them to work on. They get to work on their math, counting skills. They get to draw in the correct number of cookies in each box for the number shown.

You can download the Literacy Snack Idea Cookies free printable from my teacherspayteachers store below.

Do you have any other fun ways to incorporate math and reading at the same time?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Idea Cookies appeared first on Primary Playground.

for your shopping convenience, there are amazon affiliate links provided in this blog post.

This week we’ve been working on our hibernation unit so I have a Literacy Snack Hibernate Read-Aloud to share with you. One of my favorite books to read during this unit is  Bear Snores On, by Karma Wilson. Bear books are always a favorite with the kids and it ties in nicely.

“One by one, a whole host of different animals and birds find their way out of the cold and into Bear’s cave to warm up. But even after the tea has been brewed and the corn has been popped, Bear just snores on!
See what happens when he finally wakes up and finds his cave full of uninvited guests — all of them having a party without him!”

For this week’s snack, the students are making their own caves with Bear inside!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

ingredients

Each student will need

1 full-size graham cracker

a tablespoon or 2 of shredded coconut

1 teddy graham bear snack

assemble

To assemble the cave, have the students break their graham crackers in half. Lean them against each other forming the cave. Have the students sprinkle their shredded coconut as the snow in front of the cave Last, they can put their bear inside of the cave to hibernate.

free printable

After the students have made their cave, I created a printable for them to work on sequencing from the book. They will number the boxes in the order they happened in the story and then color the pictures.

Click the green box below to download the Literacy Snack Hibernate Read-Aloud free printable from my TeachersPayTeahers store.

Hope your students enjoying making their bear cave snacks!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Hibernate Read-Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Since much of the country is covered in snow right now, I thought it was a perfect time to bring out one of my favorite snowflake read aloud this week for our Literacy Snack. This week we’re learning about snowflakes and reading, Snowflake Bentley, by Jacqueline Briggs Martin.

It’s a beautiful biography that tells the true story of a boy who was mesmerized by snowflakes. He made it his life’s passion to study and take pictures of snowflakes.

For our snack this week, we are making our very own snowflakes.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Ingredients

1 large marshmallow

a handful of small marshmallows – approx 20 small marshmallows

To Assemble

Give each of the students their marshmallows. Have them create their very own snowflake using the marshmallows. The best part is that they will all be different, just like real snowflakes.

It’s wonderful fine motor practice for the students as they create their very own snowflake.

Free Printable

After they have made their snowflake out of marshmallows, I made a free printable for them to continue to be creative by this time drawing what they think a snowflake looks like to go with the snowflake read aloud. 

You can download the free printable below from my TeachersPayTeachers store. 

I hope your students enjoy their snowflake snack!

See you next time!

Jenette

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The post Literacy Snack Idea Snowflake Read Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

Citrus is a huge part of living in Arizona. In fact, it was part of Arizona’s core economy back when we became a state. Known as the 5 C’s, copper, cattle, cotton, citrus, and climate. Many residents have citrus trees in their yards and near where we live, there are many citrus orchards still today.  With this being said, I really wanted to incorporate this into a literacy snack for our students.

For this week’s Literacy Snack Idea, we’re reading, An Orange in January, by Dianna Hutts Aston. It’s a great book that shows the lifecycle of an orange and how it gets to the store for you to enjoy.

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Snack Idea

There’s not too much to this snack this week, but after we have read the book, the students get to enjoy a cutie orange of their own. I choose cuties because they are easy enough for the students to peel them on their own and have no seeds.

I brought in a bunch of pieces of citrus that I had gathered from my own neighbors. We had oranges, lemons, and grapefruits. The students got to feel and smell them.

Literacy Snack Oranges Read-Aloud Free Printable

While the students are enjoying their juicy oranges, I created a free printable for them to work on. They will get to write and draw about what their favorite part about an orange is.

Click the green box below to download the Literacy Snack Oranges Read-Aloud free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store.

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Oranges Read-Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Happy New Year friends! I hope you’re well-rested from the break and glad to be back! For our first Literacy Snack for the new year, we’re reading a snowy read-aloud, The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats.

It’s a wonderful book that captures the adventures of a little boy on a snowy day in the city. My favorite part of the book is when he puts the snowball in his pocket and comes to find it has melted away. I just knew we needed to have snowballs for our snack this week.

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Ingredients

Powdered donut holes – I did 4 per student

That’s it, just donut holes but oh boy, we had a fantastic time talking all about snowballs and playing in the snow etc to go along with our snowy read aloud.  There were some pretty great stories considering we just came back from break.

Free Printable

While they’re eating their snowball snack, I made a free printable for them to work on. They get to draw a picture of their favorite thing to do in the snow.

Click the green box below to download the free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store.

We also got to watch the video of the story on amazon. If you have a prime membership you can watch it for free here. Have you seen it?

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And if you are looking for another fun snowball activity to go along with the book, we have a fun math center for you! The students just love using cotton balls to help them practice counting with these Snowball Counting Mats. Click here to check them out now.

We also have a bunch of fun winter snowball Minute to Win it ideas in this post here. So much fun!

What are some of your other favorite snowy read alouds to share with your class?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Idea Snowy + Free Printable appeared first on Primary Playground.

Here are my tips for A New Year – Taking Back Your Time.

• Get rid of the fluff. You don’t have to have the best bulletin boards that get changed out each month. Create a beautiful base, my personal choice is a wood grain background with a black and white polka dot border. It can easily be used all year long. Use clipboards or hang a couple of wires with clips attached to display the student’s work. It’s a super easy way to change up your board.
• I do this next one at home as well as at work. Spend 3-5 minutes tidying up and putting things where they belong.
• Sit down and actually take your lunch. You’ll be more productive the rest of the day if you take that much-needed break. Talk to colleagues about other things besides school.

• Stay focused while at work and try not to stop and talk too much. It makes a huge difference in how much you can get done!
• Scale back on the homework.
• Choose one night a week to stay late and prep for the next week. For the rest of the week, leave right after school.
• If it isn’t a vital piece of paper, toss/recycle it.
• Use your parent volunteers! They are a huge asset to you in helping you get things done from cutting, copying, reading groups, etc. You can find more information about this in my Parent Volunteer Pack. 

• Lastly, do something for yourself. Personally, I make sure to get a monthly massage. It helps me tremendously. For you, it may be getting a pedicure or buying a new top. Find something you like and put it in your monthly schedule.

This is one of my favorite sayings and is so true.

Hopefully, you’ve got a few new ideas to get the year started. Remember, every day is a new start!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post A New Year – Taking Back Your Time appeared first on Primary Playground.

Happy Wednesday! It’s finally starting to feel like a little like winter here in Arizona, so I thought a snowman read aloud would be a perfect book to read this week. For this weeks’ Literacy Snack Idea, we’re reading, Sneezy the Snowman, by Maureen Wright.

“B-R-R-R-R! AH-CHOO! Sneezy the Snowman is cold, cold, cold. To warm-up, he drinks cocoa, sits in a hot tub, stands near a warm fire–and melts! But the children know just what to do to build him up again–and make him feel “just right”. ” The students love when  Sneezy attempts to warm himself with some silly results.

THIS RESOURCE WORKS WELL WITH

At the end of the book, Sneezy enjoys an ice cream cone when he’s feeling just right, so for our snack this week we’re having ice cream cones!

Snack Idea 

ingredients

ice cream flavor of your choice, I did peppermint to go with the holiday season.

ice cream cones

Give each student a scoop of ice cream in their cone. It’s a little silly and unexpected for the students being so chilly outside and that makes it so much more fun!

Free Printable

After they’re done with their cones, I made a fun worksheet for them to work on. They will recall the order of when the things happened in the story. I leave the book up front in case they need to go back and reference it.

If you’re looking for a little more snowman fun after reading the book, your students will love playing this Snowman Bingo! Click here to check it out now.

And you might like this other snowman read aloud snack idea that goes along with There Was An Old Lady Whoe Swallowed Some Snow. Click here to check it out now.

I hope your students love having an unexpected ice cream cone treat just like Sneezy the Snowman did in this snowman read aloud! See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Idea Snowman appeared first on Primary Playground.