100 Fingers

As a busy mom and teacher I often wish for more hands.  In frustration, I've said many times to my family, "Look at me...how many hands do I have?"  I never knew just how much I used that phrase until our then three year old held up his hands and said to my husband, "Look at me...how many fingers do I have?"  Years later, when things get hectic, we hold up our hands and say with a smile, "How many fingers do I have?"  Each year when I make this 100 Fingers chart, I think about that story, and how much I could get done if I had 100 fingers!

100 Fingers

The 100 Fingers chart is a great visual for counting by 1's, 5's, and 10's.  I paint 1 hand of each student.  Once the paint is dry, we go back and label each finger as we count together.  We then add the labels for counting by 10's, and finally the labels for counting by 5's.  (Your chart can always have a different number of fingers, depending on the size of your class.  If I have an odd number of students, I also paint my hand.)

President's Day

I plan to use this printable to review what we have learned about George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Barack Obama.  Students will identify and label the names of the presidents, as well as write a sentence about each.

Click here to download for free.

Valentine's Day Art

Aluminum Foil Painting

Who can resist shiny paper and hearts, especially for Valentine's Day?  Exchange a piece of white paper with aluminum foil, and you have added instant pizzazz to any painting project.

The prep is easy.  

1.  Tear off a piece of foil and glue it to a 12 x 18 piece of construction paper.

2.  Trim the end off of the construction paper.  

3.  Provide tempera paint and small brushes.

4.  Let the oohs and aahs begin!  

This is one of those projects that we do just for fun during free centers.  However, you could easily put this in a literacy center to reinforce spelling or sight words.  I can already see their eyes light up, because they can't wait to paint those words!