Bald Eagle Babies and a FREEBIE!

Have you met the other 'Mr. President' and 'The First Lady'? They are two bald eagles from Washington D.C., who have mated and now we get to watch their every move on this LIVE video feed.  Their first egg already hatched on March 16th  and hopefully, you'll be able watch the second egg hatch this weekend. 

 Click here to watch them live!

Your students will love seeing the eagles and the babies in real time!  Here's the first baby!

UPDATE:  Both babies are born and are doing well!

In honor of this event, feel free to grab this Color by Number FREEBIE. There are 2 levels (math problems/number recognition) for you to choose from. Grab your FREEBIE here!

Here's a completed one:

  Watching the bald eagles in their nest inspired this craftivity and the kids loved how it came out.   

We read this non-fiction book on Eagles and the children practiced taking notes. Each cloud contained an important fact that they had learned. 

             Grab the clouds for note-taking here.

Since my bald eagle drawing skills are not the best.... I was glad to find this directed drawing on a bald eagle.  A huge thanks to Kathy Barbro for her talented how-to directed drawing (as seen below). Click to visit her site. She has some amazing how-to drawings you'll be able to use. 

              
Afterwards, we cut it out, mounted it on construction paper and added our clouds. Some kids added some additional branches.
                  Here are some examples:

Since it's spring, if you're looking for some fun no prep language arts  and math activities feel free to check out my newest addition:

 It includes close readings, games and activities for math and language arts and much more!  It's perfect for second graders! 
Here's a preview of just some of the activities. 
Check it out HERE.

Also, if you haven't already checked out my previous post for some  EGG ideas and FREEBIES such as this one, click here! 

Happy Egg Hatching!

Springing Into Learning Blog Hop!

 I'm hooking up with Elementary Antics for this fabulous blog hop.  Grab some great ideas and goodies along the way!

The official start date to spring, March 20th is almost here! The weather is much warmer and the threat of snow is behind us (I hope!)  Don’t forget to ‘spring ahead’ and turn your clocks ahead this weekend!  

Below are some great ideas, a freebie, and a fabulous free virtual field trip!

Since Dr. Seuss’s Birthday was this month, I thought I’d share another activity we did.  If you didn’t get a chance to grab my Thing1 & Thing 2 activity, feel free to grab it as well.

This craftivity goes with Oh! The Places You’ll Go, which is one of my favorite books from Dr. Seuss.  

You can get this craftivity  here ! 

Your feedback is always appreciated!

I love this book because it takes on a deeper meaning no matter how old you are.  It also  looks great on a bulletin board!

After reading the book, the kids wrote about the people they would want to meet (or would have wanted to meet), places they would want to go, accomplishments they hope to achieve, and what they want to be when they grew up. They also had to justify their choices.

I was impressed with their choices of people that they’d want to meet as it ranged from Malala Yousafzai to Justin Bieber. The places they wanted to visit ranged from Italy to see their family to Disney World.  It was an eye opening activity. 

We decided to decorate the balloons with strips of tissue paper and the kids glued it down with a mixture of glue and water.  When it dried, they cut it out.  I also copied the balloon on card stock which made it more durable.  We stapled their book to a piece of brown construction paper for the basket and attached it with pipe cleaners and tape. 

Feel free to have the kids decorate their own balloons with crayons/markers or if you have another idea for decorating it, I’d love to hear it.

Here’s one way we did it but there is a NO prep version as well for those of you who prefer 'less mess' =)

Another way you can do it is use paint for the balloons and back them on construction paper and add a few clouds.

Here’s are the finished projects!

No Prep Version               Tissue paper        

                                       Paint

Next, if you're a Dr. Suess fan, you'll want to grab this free activity packet from Energy Star- it would be a great packet for Earth Day. It's aimed for k-2. You can sign up for your free workbooks here!

Mine just arrived- so excited!

With spring around the corner, my Word Families create a word center would make a great spring center - just print and go! 

This activity is differentiated for the different levels of learners for many possible word choices.  
You can grab it on sale here or enter to win one for FREE!  

Enter to win one FREE!

CONGRATS TO MARY L. for winning!

My last spring idea is this virtual field trip to an egg farm.  It's great when you can't get to a real farm and it''s live on March 14th.  The kids enjoy it and your class is able to submit questions ahead of time.  
It's free, but you do need to register. You can register at the link above!

An InLinkz Link-up

Dr. Seuss's Birthday! Thing 1 and Thing 2 Activities

Are you ever too old to enjoy a good book from Dr. Seuss?  No matter what your age is, you can always take away something from one of his books.  A favorite of mine is Oh, the Places You’ll Go!  We made these adorable books and hot air balloons to create goals for ourselves. It's perfect for all ages. You can grab it here and do it with your class! I've added a variety of pattered balloons for those who prefer no paint or glue.

 We used strips of tissue paper with a glue/water mix, but you can paint them or just use markers to color them in.

If you know me, I'm obsessed with creating fun/creative writing paper. This design comes from  my March Writing paper collection but you can download it for FREE here. 

Below is the writing paper and a simple project for the book, The Cat in the Hat.  Enjoy!  Our final projects are posted below.  We added Thing 1 or 2 (although they look exactly the same!) to the top of the paper.  You can get the tracers and everything you need from the download above. 

 I made the hair tracer on a manila folder for durability.

Our second graders made these...

and we helped our kindergarten buddies make these:

Here's a simple craft. First, cut out a small red rectangle. Have students trim the sides off the top two corners to create a shoulder effect. Cut a small square of blue tissue paper and make small cuts at the top and glue it on.  Make a circle tracer and add the words. Draw a face/add googly eyes and you're done!

Finish your day off with a fun treat!

Enjoy! 

 If you have these colors in your class and are looking for a decor pack to compliment it, check out 

Whimsical Decor HUGE EDITABLE Bundle, or feel free to check out the different individual packs 

or view them all here.

Grab your free READ banner too! CLICK HERE!

Editable labels:

Shape Posters: