I am so excited to share a resource by Kaci Hoffer called ALL ABOUT POLAR BEARS! Kaci and I were matched together by Jessica of MrsStanfordsClass.blogspot.com
Jessica sponsors a product swap where 2 teachers share a resource and do a review of each one. I was super excited to receive Kaci's ALL ABOUT POLAR BEARS resource! My kids loved, loved it and they are STILL excited about it!
Before we started the POLAR BEAR unit, though, Kaci also sent me this FIND THE ELVES game to try before we left for Christmas break. There are 2 little elves hidden behind the word cards and the kids take turns reading the word and then seeing if the elf is hidden behind the word. They had so much fun with it; especially since elves were so popular this year in my class! I especially like how Kaci levels the high frequency words that she uses. I have so many different reading levels in my class so this made it easy to differentiate and it made everyone feel like they were doing the same activity.
During Christmas break, I used my time to print and laminate Kaci's cute, cute math and literacy games. Here is a picture of my kitchen table preparing for those first weeks back...
When we returned to school, the POLAR BEAR unit was so timely because we start the year with our Winter science unit and then slide right into our polar unit. For our first reading group, the kids did a FIND THE POLAR BEAR sight word hunt that is really similar to the elf game. This was such a great way to begin reading groups again because my kiddos knew how to play it. We played it in reading group and now it is in one of my word work centers. It is THE MOST popular choice; so popular I had to make rules for how, when, and who can play it!
I told my kiddos that my friend, Mrs. Hoffer, had made a few games that she wanted us to try, so every time I brought out a polar bear game, they said "Is this a Mrs. Hoffer game?" And, of course, I said "Yes!" There is just so much in this resource! I still haven't gotten through it!
This ESL game was a super hit with my kiddos! I hid the polar bears around the classroom and the kids had to find them and then write the word on their recording sheet. After doing that, they colored the polar bear on their recording sheet to match the colored circle on the polar bear that was hiding in the room. Here are a few places that the polar bears were hiding.... Can you find them???
The POLAR BEAR unit was also a PERFECT way to introduce measurement this week. In this math game, the kids measure different sizes of icebergs and then write their results and the color of the dot on their iceberg on a recording sheet. Kaci included a measuring stick, but since we use Unifix cubes for so many areas of our math, my kinders used Unifix cubes instead. They loved this game; they kept saying "This is so much fun!"
Another math game that involved those cute polar bears was SLIPPERY NUMBERS. Each polar bear had a tens frame on it and a colored dot. The kids picked a polar bear, read the tens frame number, wrote the number on their recording sheet, and then colored the polar bear the correct color. Super, super fun!
Here is Kaci's blog. Make sure that hop on over there to visit her AND read the product review that she wrote about MY product!
Kaci has offered to donate her BRAND NEW Valentine sight word game as a giveaway and I am adding my I Am a Healthy Kid Health and Nutrition pack. If you hop over to Kaci's blog, you will have a double chance to win! My giveaway will end on Wednesday, January 16 at 10:00 p.m. CST.
Make sure that you hop on over to Jessica's blog to read about all the other awesome product swaps!!