Rear-view Sunset

So I was feeling a little artsy and decided I wanted a nice sunset picture. Problem was the sunset was behind us /: Lucky for me I wasn't driving and the rear-view mirror could see the sunset perfectly. My husband thought I was a little cuckoo trying to take pictures through a dirty window but man oh man did this one come out nice! Gotta love those Eastern Shore sunsets (:

-Crazy S

Play Ball!

We have had wonderful weather here this week which means it's time to leave those TVs inside and step into some wonderful fresh air. I guess it's freshness depends on where you live and maybe yours isn't so fresh but either way sunlight is always good (:  I brought a bunch of school things home this summer and among them I found this fun number ball that reminds me of a beach ball. I decided it was time to make a game. Math Baseball is what I like to call it and it's not only easy but it lets your child review their addition or multiplication facts in a fun way. Granted it only goes up to 6 + 6 or 6 x 6 but practice is practice nonetheless. So here's the scoop. Tape a paper plate onto a t-ball set like so:

Then place a number ball or a beach ball with numbers written on it like this:

First, the batter calls out the number they are hitting. Then, the other person calls out the number their right thumb touches when they catch or grab the ball. After that, the batter adds or multiplies the two numbers together. If the batter gets the answer right, they can run to first base. If the batter gets the answer wrong, then it counts as an out. The next person comes up to bat and does the same thing again. Pretty easy huh? I hope your kiddos get to go outside and practice their facts with this fun game! Let me know what you think of the game or if your kids enjoyed playing it. Have fun and go outside!!! 

-Crazy S

Easy Word Hunt

Earlier today my mind was hooked on pirates and I remembered a fun item I made for my students this year. As you may have seen I have a one year old boy and with that comes a lot of trash. Not just stinky diapers (which is of course a given!) but savable, reusable trash too. The closet pack rat in me forced me to save a lot of things that most moms would have thrown away. Most of which included baby food containers. I have tons of glass and plastic containers that I saved because there was a little piece of me that knew I would somehow be able to use them later. Now while later may not come for a few years, I almost always use things that I bought and saved for a rainy day. This year I decided to use some of the plastic baby food containers and snap tops (something I had bought for a different crafty adventure but never finished) to make these fun Word Hunt boxes.

 To make the boxes all I did was write all of their spelling words for the week on different snap tops (you could use anything small that you can write on) and then fill the box with the snaps and dry macaroni. 

I hot glued the top shut and placed a label on the top. I used these as a center activity for the students or as something for them to take back to their desks and work on independently. They would take a box and the small word hunt sheet of paper and twist and turn the box to find and write all of their spelling words. 

They had a blast "hunting" for the hidden words. This was super quick and easy to make and it gave the students some fun practice reading and writing their spelling words. The word hunt sheet that I used is down below if you would like to use it. Let me know what you think!

Free Word Hunt Sheet

Kite Genius

A few years ago I went to the beach with a few friends and to my surprise one of them set up this bad boy. Flying a kite with a fishing pole, Genius. All he did was "bait" the hook with the kite and then close the hook (to keep the kite from flying away). He let the line out and stuck the pole in the sand.When it was time to leave he simply reeled the kite in and violah, easy kite flying! Pretty smart huh? Try it out the next time you go to the beach! If you love this idea, please tell me about it in the comments section (: Hope you're having a fun summer!

-Crazy S