February Fun and Freebies!

Here's a peek into our February Activities and Units! Be sure to look through for freebies! 

My kids LOVE learning about Ruby Bridges, because she was their age when her story unfolded.  

Here are a few videos.  First is a read-aloud of The Story of Ruby Bridges. 

Next is an interview with Ruby Bridges as an adult.  The quality is a little poor, but the questions and responses are great. 

Here are some activities we do while learning about Ruby Bridges! 

First we read about Ruby Bridges with this non-fiction teacher read-aloud and an emergent reader for the kids. 

 After learning about Ruby, we complete these activities! 

You can find all of these activities and more by clicking this picture! 

If you didn't cover MLK in January, you can learn about him in February.  Here are some of the activities we enjoy! 

These activities can be found by clicking the image below. 

Grab these freebies for Goundhog Day! 

This one has 3 cute literacy activities that work for whole group or small group!

Click the image below to grab them! 

This one from Eberhart's Explorers has lots of great activities that I like to use whole group!

Click the image below to grab them!

I give glowsticks for Valentine's Day because, #1... the kids LOVE them, #2... They are CHEAP at the Dollar Tree, and #3... It's a nice change from candy and I have had allergies in the past. 

Grab these cute little tags from The Teacher Wife by Clicking Here!

We make these sweet and simple Valentine's bags from Mrs. Ricca's Kindergarten

For parent gifts, we make adorable torn paper mosaics like this. SO easy! Just grab some different colors of paper and set your kiddos loose! They will tear off small pieces and glue them into the heart. Perfect for fine motor and independent... win-win!

Grab one of the templates to make your own by clicking HERE!! 

And of course I love any excuse to use candy conversation hearts around valentine's day! These pattern mats from my friend Michelle are perfect for an independent station! Click the picture to download and leave her some feedback on TPT as she is just beginning her store! :) 

Valentine week is important to me for another HUGE reason!  If you've been following my story for long, then you know my daughter is kinda sorta a major miracle baby!  She was born with a condition called HLHS, which is essentially half a heart.  She has since had 3 open heart surgeries, 3 cardiac arrests, 10 long months in the ICU, two runs on complete life support through ECMO, and a heart transplant.  She is now 18 months old and doing well, all things considered.  The week of February 7 - February 14 is CHD Awareness week!  CHD stands for Congenital Heart Defect and 1 in 100 babies is born with some form of CHD.  Learn more here! 

Here is my miracle baby when she was very sick and pictures a picture since she has recovered from her heart transplant! 

I made this fun Valentine's Day freebie in honor of my daughter and it includes a page to spread CHD awareness!  Grab it up and tell someone you know about CHD! 

Get this freebie by clicking below!

This will be a fun experiment for students to see the effects of a cavity. Grabbed this idea from Fun Fabulous First.  Just poke a hole in the apple to signify a cavity and give it some time to start decomposing.  Re-assess the apple at the end of the week and discuss what happened over time with the cavity. 

I whipped up a quick little sheet for students to use to record their observations. Grab it below! 

Love this idea from The Moffatt Girls! Great hands on practice at flossing!

We learn about what helps teeth stay healthy and what causes harm, then complete this sort and the kids search through magazines and grocery ads to cut/paste onto their own templates.

We read several dental health books, and then the kids get their own mini reader!

We learn this poem then create the writing craftivity.  It's perfect for a hallway display!

The tooth fairy sends out an ad looking for assistants and the kids apply for the job, then complete a math task that she leaves! They search the room for teeth pics numbered 1-50 and put them in order on ten frames!

Ending Digraph Sort

CVC Write and Wipe.  For added fun, throw some dollar tree toothbrushes in to erase the dry erase marker writing from the teeth! 

Use marshmallows or white dry beans for a subtraction manipulative! 

Kids race to fill their mouth with marshmallow teeth in this comparing numbers game! They each draw a number, compare the values, and the person with the higher value gets to put one of their teeth on the mouth template!  Then they get to eat their marshmallows at the end. SO FUN! 

You can grab all these activities by clicking the picture below! 

That wraps things up for our February.  We also spend a couple of days for Presidents Day.  So much to do in February... tough to fit it all in!  Hope you all have a great month!