Letter of the Week - Pp

P is for Piano
Here's what you need for this project:
- cardstock (2 black, white and red)
- black marker
- glue

Click here for free printable Upper Case Letter templates.

P is for Popcorn
Here's what you need for this project:
- cardstock (2 different colors)
- popcorn
- red marker
- glue

Click here for free printable Lower Case Letter templates.

Sight Words
This week's Sight Word is:
- play

Handwriting

Books
Here are some library books we reserved to go along with our theme:

1st Grade Valentine's Day Party

The last party of 1st Grade!  Part of me is relieved to not have to plan another party and part of me can't believe that Ava is almost done with 1st grade.  *tear*  The party was a big hit with the kids.  Here are the details.

BOOK

This book was pretty funny.  The kids really enjoyed it.  We always start off the parties with a book so that the parent volunteers have time to set up the room.  Normally the kids are so excited for the party they can hardly pay attention to the book, but this one totally held their attention.

CRAFT

The Tree of Love - this is what we were going for.  This is how Ava's turned out:

Cute, but not quite what we were going for.  If I had it to do over again, I'd probably find pre-cut hearts.  The kids had a hard time cutting out the hearts and the party was only an hour.  We had planned to have them write the names of people they loved on the hearts, but we ran out of time.  So...if you try to re-create this art project, I'd suggest that the kids first write the names of people they love on pre-cut hearts, then trace and cut out their arm and hand to make the tree trunk and branches, then glue everything onto the white card stock.  If there's time, they can decorate their picture with markers.

SNACK

The Valentine Floats were the highlight of the party for Ava.  We filled red cups with vanilla ice cream, then topped with Cherry 7Up.  We found the red spoons and heart straws at Dollar Tree.

GAMES

We played 3 Minute to Win It game using Smarties (because Brach's Candy Hearts have possible nut cross-contamination).  First, the kids tried to stack as many Smarties as they could in 1 minute, then they tried to use chopsticks to transfer the Smarties to a Dixie cup in 1 minute, then they used a straw to suck the Smarties into the Dixie cup in 1 minute.  The competition and concentration was intense.  By far the quietest moment of the party!

We also filled a jar with Sweetart Candy Hearts (no nut cross-contamination!  Thank you Wonka!!) and had the kids guess the number of candy hearts in the jar.  The kid who guessed closest got to keep the jar of hearts.  

I printed the file above on red paper.  Click here for a PDF version.

If you need more ideas for your party, check out my Pinterest board!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Letter of the Week - Oo

O is for Owl
Here's what you need for this project:
- cardstock (4 different colors)
- googly eyes
- glue

Click here for free printable Upper Case Letter templates.

O is for Octopus
Here's what you need for this project:
- cardstock (2 different colors)
- googly eyes
- Cheerios
- glue

Click here for free printable Lower Case Letter templates.

Sight Words
This week's Sight Word is:
- on


Handwriting

Books
Here are some library books we reserved to go along with our theme:

Valentine's Day Gift for Teachers

Ava wanted to give her teachers a special Valentine so I looked on Pinterest and found this cute idea!  Ghirardelli brownies are a favorite of ours.  You can find red spatulas at Dollar Tree and World Market.  The spatulas pictured above are from Sur La Table.  I made the card, posted it on red card stock and used red tulle to tie it all together.

Click here to download a PDF version of the image above.

Ava also added her Valentine's Day Bookmarks to the gifts.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Letter of the Week - Nn

N is for Night
Here's what you need for this project:
- cardstock (black, white and blue)
- star stickers (or a white crayon to draw stars)
- glue stick

Click here for free printable Upper Case Letter templates.

N is for Nest
Here's what you need for this project:
- cardstock (3 different colors, including brown)
- brown crinkle cut shredded paper
- brown yarn
- white felt
- images of birds to color
- glue
- markers

This was our favorite one yet!!!  It turned out so cute!  Sidney added another bird after I took this picture :)

Click here for free printable Lower Case Letter templates.

Sight Words
This week's Sight Word is:
- no
- now

Handwriting

Books
Here are some library books we reserved to go along with our theme: