Free Winter and Holiday Themed Math Games- {Multiplication and Prime and Composite}

Hey there!

I don't know what it is about the holidays.  Maybe it's the adorable clipart.  That's probably it since I'm OBSESSED with cute clipart and background papers.  I probably have more holiday clipart than I can ever use.

Nah...I can use it all!!  ;O)  I probably need more, right?

Anyway, I think the clipart motivates me to create things.  I tend to be more creative during the holidays.

The kids love themed games as well, but let's be honest.  You can give them two dice, tell them to roll, multiply the two numbers, call it a game, and they're thrilled!!  Don't you just love that!?!

But, I have all this clipart that I need to do something with so, of course we make games.

Here's a game that Stacia made for practicing multiplication.  It's a FREEBIE in our TpT Store so go grab it up!!

This Minty Multiplication Game is much like BINGO!  You have the kids work in pairs or trios so they each get a different board.

They can roll two dice, multiply and cover the product or they can use these cute peppermint number cards, flip two, multiply, and cover their number.  The first player in the group with four in a row wins!  It's a simple as that!  

Fourth graders still get excited about BINGO (or games that are similar)!!!  This is a great way for students to review their multiplication facts!

I also made a FREE game to review prime and composite since it seems that my students have totally forgotten what prime and composite are (eeeeeeek!)!

Basically, if you roll and move and land on a composite number, you are fine.  But if you roll, move your spaces, and land on a prime number, you have to go back 2 spaces.  It's just fun practice, right?  Very simple!!

Finally, I made a FREE fun practice sheet for 2-digit by 2-digit multiplication!  It really was fun to make.  Hopefully my students will have just as much fun completing it (somehow, I think they'll like the games better!)

So, this is how we try to make math seasonal and fun...and incoporate really cute clipart!  Hopefully you'll be able to use one of these freebies!!  If you do, kindly leave us feedback as a thank you!

Oh, and don't forget to go check out the other link ups to Jivey's Workshop Wednesday, where everyone is sharing tips about making math fun for the holidays!

Amanda

Winter and Christmas Interactive Notebook Activities and Flip Books Winners- Plus an Everyone Wins Giveaway!

Hey there!

As promised, we have some winners to share from our Pin it to Win it Giveaway!

Everyone pretty much pinned both back to back so if you commented twice I counted that as one since I figured you'd prefer to win both since you pinned both!  Check your inboxes ladies!!  And thank you for playing!

Here is what our ladies won tonight!

Also, don't forget about the Scavenger Hunt Giveaway that is going on right now where EVERYONE wins!!

We are very excited to be a stop on a Scavenger Hunt Giveaway where EVERYONE wins!  We are just one stop to the scavenger hunt!  If you want to learn how to be a part of this scavenger hunt, head over to I'm Lovin' Lit to get all of the details and begin the hunt!  (It will make more sense, I promise!)

For our part of the hunt, please follow our blog through bloglovin (click the link below):

And/or, follow our TpT Store:

Here is what we have donated to the giveaway!

I made these Bright Christmas Papers just for you!!  There are 48 different digital background papers in this pack (not all are shown here).  I hope that you are able to use them for your own TpT products and that they bring joy to you!!

Here's what you can win from Prize Pack B:

Good luck on your hunt!!  Thanks for stopping in!!  :O)

Winter Planning Giveaway- Everyone Wins!! {Stop B-5}

Hi there!

We are very excited to be a stop on a Scavenger Hunt Giveaway where EVERYONE wins!  We are just one stop to the scavenger hunt!  If you want to learn how to be a part of this scavenger hunt, head over to I'm Lovin' Lit to get all of the details and begin the hunt!  (It will make more sense, I promise!)

For our part of the hunt, please follow our blog through bloglovin (click the link below):

And/or, follow our TpT Store:

Here is what we have donated to the giveaway!

I made these Bright Christmas Papers just for you!!  There are 48 different digital background papers in this pack (not all are shown here).  I hope that you are able to use them for your own TpT products and that they bring joy to you!!

Here's what you can win from Prize Pack B:

Here are a couple of products that we just uploaded to our store in case you'd like to check them out!  They can be used for ANY Christmas or Winter text!!  The kids love them (and I'm not gonna lie- so do I!!)!

Good luck on your hunt!!  Thanks for stopping in!!  :O)

The Wild Christmas Reindeer Mentor Text with Activities

Happy Sunday and Happy December!

I can't believe that the holidays are right around the corner!!! This is my favorite time of the year, and I am excited to share a fun Language Arts mentor text with you that can be used across different grade levels. :)

You know that I LOVE author Jan Brett, and her book The Wild Christmas Reindeer is one of my favorites for the holidays!

Amazon.com description from Publisher's Weekly: "Little Teeka's attempts to train Santa's reindeer for their Christmas ride meet with disaster until she realizes that she needs to work with the animals in a new way. "Tomorrow," she says, "no yelling, no screaming, and no bossing, I promise," and with her patient teaching, on Christmas Eve the "wild reindeer rise up together and carry the sleigh off into the night." Brett's characteristic, richly detailed borders depict the activity at Santa's workshop as each day brings Teeka closer to Christmas. As with The Mitten , Brett makes use of Ukranian motifs--colorful embroidered costumes, festive garlands, carvings and cunning toys decorate every page. The reindeer themselves--sporting names like Lichen, Tundra and Bramble--provide most of the comic action in this sweet Christmas fantasy that shows Brett at her best."

I love to read this book around the holidays because it has such a touching message. The little girl in the story learns that patience and love are what are most important. She also learns that nothing can be accomplished by yelling and being bossy- good things for our students to remember especially around this crazy time of year! ;)

I usually spend a few days working with this book. I start out working on making predictions and inferring as I read the story aloud to my students. 

We also fill in a vocabulary chart as we come to unknown words in the story- depending on the age of the students, I sometimes have students use context clues to determine the meanings or we use the dictionary.

Then, I will read the book a second time and focus in on other skills such as fact and opinion and theme. 

In addition to reading skills, I also incorporate writing and grammar skills with this text. I have the students search for amazing adjectives and vivacious verbs in the story, and we work on writing skills such as "show, don't tell." Jan Brett's illustrations are so detailed and brilliant that they lend themselves perfectly with writing lessons about adding description to our writing. 

I also have my students do a short creative writing piece to accompany the text. I tell the students to pretend that Santa invited them aboard his sleigh to ride with him and the reindeer on Christmas Eve. The students write a short imaginative narrative about their adventure. We try to pull in what we learned about "show, don't tell" earlier in the week. 

I have created a unit aligned with Common Core standards to use with this text. It is available in our TPT store if you would like to check it out.  :)

Also, Amanda created some Interactive Notebook Activities and Flipbooks that can be used for ANY Christmas or Winter text, including The Wild Christmas Reindeer!!  These are very similar to our Halloween and Thanksgiving IN activities that we have previously posted about!

Here are some pages from the Christmas pack:

And here are some pages from the Winter pack!

You can see more in the preview files in our TpT store.  We also BUNDLED the two notebook activity packs so you can get both and when you do, you save $2.00.  :O)

Have a great Sunday!

-Stacia

Please Link Up!

Next week's linky- Math

How to use a mentor text...

Hey there!!

We are guest posting today over at All Things Upper Elementary!

Go over and check out our post about how to use a mentor text.  There may be some freebies over there that you haven't grabbed from our TpT store yet!  :O)