Sugar Plus Spice: March 2011

Monday, March 28, 2011

Quick April Fools Day post

Well, I haven't had much computer time lately but did finally finish an April Fools activity. It's in jpeg format until I figure out my PDF software issues. I made April Fools addition cards last year, so this year I made subtraction cards.

You can download both games HERE.

♥Nicole

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Thank you

For the prayers and thoughts. My mom is out of the hospital, and her issues are being managed. She has a long road ahead but I am relieved she's okay. Just taking it day by day.

♥Nicole

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Please say a prayer...

...for my mother. She is in the hospital and is being treated for quite a few health concerns. Her name is Georgette, and she could use prayers and good thoughts. So could I, I need my mom.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

We had a little St. Pats Day get-together yesterday with a couple friends. We did some crafts...

made some snacks...

and prepared our Leprechaun Traps...

We kept the trap simple this year. "Sugar" decided that since the leprechaun usually leaves behind chocolate coins, we should leave chocolate for him, too. So we left him some M&M's and a shamrock.

Today the kiddos discovered that even though we didn't catch the sneaky little leprechaun, he once again left behind some chocolate gold coins!

♥Nicole

Sunday, March 13, 2011

"Discudry"

This is what "Spice" (my three year old) calls the space shuttle "Discovery" :-) We have been closely following Nasa for the past couple weeks. We watched as they prepared the Discovery shuttle for the recent mission, and watched the launch live. We've explored the Nasa sight and learned so much! Every day Discovery was in space Nasa.gov posted a video recap of the mission that took place the day before. Spice insisted on watching the launch 2 or 3 times a day, and I held my breath in anticipation every time even though I knew how it turned out!

The Discovery shuttle has an amazing history and after watching it land safely on earth for the last time, we decided to make it a goal that we see Discovery up close in the next couple years when it will be at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum.

Also, Nasa's Twitter page is great! It gives up to the minute information and lot of great links.

Here are some cool things we found:

Fly Your Face in Space!

Our faces will be in space! I used pictures of my kids with their names but they thought it was funny that I put a picture of Buzz for me instead. Of course, I didn't realize that there was not a step to confirm, lol. So my name is going to space with a picture of Buzz! Here is the link to get your face in space for the next launch in April. https://faceinspace.nasa.gov/index.aspx

Buzz Lightyear went to space for 15 months!

Ok, my kids think he's still on the International Space Station because when they play the "To Infinity & Beyond" Buzz game from Nasa and complete the missions, you see video footage of him floating through the Space Station. One of the missions allows you to see how different toys work in space--so cool! This and many more games and activities that I haven't even checked out yet are here: http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/index.html

See how astronauts eat, sleep, and play!

Tons of good info on Nasa's website! This link will link you to lots of cool interactive pages, including the interactive food tray pictured above:

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/k-4/features/F_Web_Site_About_Space_Food.html

More inforamation on food, sleep, and play can be found here: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/living/index.html

The educator and students areas of Nasa.gov has so many interesting pictures, information, and games. We find something new every day.

We are so sad that the Space Shuttle program is ending, but are excited to see the next launch of Endeavor on April 19th!

♥Nicole

St. Pats day learning activities from last year...

include:
2 ordinal number activities
a counting by 5's game
shape match game
more/less than game
beginning/ending sound game
rhyming game, in color and a low-ink version

To download these, click HERE

Also, 2 positional words books, Where is the Leprechaun? and Where is the Shamrock?

These can be found HERE

Enjoy :-)

♥Nicole

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Last of new St. Pat's Day activities!

Here are the last 2 things I made. The skill for the first game is money! Counting change. I kept it pretty simple, but flexible in the way you can use it :-) I made it in black & white, and in color. I also made some blank so you can add your own change amounts. You could also use real (or pretend) money instead of the pictures of coins I included.

To get all the variations, click HERE

And the last game is an addition game that can be made into a file folder game. The addition equations are on the gold coins, and they slide into the pots that are marked with the answers. I also made a version that has the pots on black & white (coins are still in color).

To get it, click HERE

Happy Learning!

♥Nicole

More St. Pat's Day goodies!

Here's post #2 of my St. Pat's Day activities..

First up is a simple color match game for the younger kiddos:

To download it, click HERE

And next is a Shamrock dice roll game. The kiddos can roll the dice and add the numbers, then graph it on the worksheet. Sugar likes to race her dad to see who can color in a whole row first!

To download, click HERE

Have fun!

♥Nicole

Finally!

I have been working on some St. Patricks Day activities for a few weeks now, but my computer started to crash. So I spent days backing up to avoid what happened during my last crash (lost everything). It was a success, and my new computer is up and running. Now I need to get adjusted to some new programs, but at least I was able to use a junky laptop to finish these things on my old programs :-)

So here they are:

First up is a sight word review activity. We use Hooked on Phonics for our reading program, so these are from their list of "helper words". For every word that is read correctly, a coin is added to the pot. One sheet will be needed for each player.