Booking Across the USA: Pennsylvania

I am excited to be a part of the second Booking Across the USA project. I am representing Pennsylvania. Thank you to Jodie from Growing Book By Book for initiating this project. How cool is it to get a glimpse into each state and also walk away with tons of activities to use when learning about the states. You can check out all of the participating blogs by going to the landing page on Jodie’s blog HERE.  You can also enter to win a set of all the books used by the bloggers for this project.

For this project, Blue Apple Books graciously donated books to all the participants to use as a guide for our project. Since, Pennsylvania is located in the Northeastern part of the United States, I received the Northeast book.



Pennsylvania is known as “The Keystone State.” Our capital is Harrisburg. One very important city in Pennsylvania is Philadelphia. It was in Philly, short for Philadelphia, that the Declaration of Independence was signed, where Besty Ross made the first American flag, and where the first public zoo was located.

While reading the book page about Pennsylvania, and looking at the pictures, I was curious as to why The Slinky Factory was listed. Come to find out, Pennsylvania is the home of the Slinky Factory that actually made the very first slinky. I was so amazed at this and couldn’t believe that I learned something about our state that I didn’t know. I have been to Hollidaysburg, where the Slinky Factory is located, and never once knew this about the town. One can never be too old to keep learning.
I created a small pack that you can use when learning about Pennsylvania. You can check it out by clicking on the picture below. In this pack you will find 2 graphic organizers to help you teach/learn about Pennsylvania, 2 fact sheets that lists various important facts about the state, and an interactive notebook activity that focuses on all of the very important landmarks in the state.



Thanks so much for stopping by and catching a glimpse into Pennsylvania. I hope this freebie activity pack is useful for you when teaching/learning about Pennsylvania.  I would love to have you follow along with more for more exciting adventures in teaching. You can follow FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM (@mynotsoelementarylife), BLOGLOVIN, and PINTEREST.

An InLinkz Link-up

Show Me the Money and an Oriental Trading Review

I have had the opportunity to work with Oriental Trading Company and review some of their materials, which I was able to get using a gift card that they sent me. I want to thank Oriental Trading for being patient with me as certain life events, (being pregnant, extremely sick, and having a baby) have kept me from getting this post out sooner.

The materials I requested were all shipped out in a timely manner and arrived in perfect condition.

 

I ordered a Dr. Suess hat, red and white striped popcorn buckets, a coin and bill set, and a set of clear colored counters/markers.

 

I cannot wait to wear this hat next year during Seuss week. It fits perfectly.

   

These counters/markers will come in handy for during math time in order to help my students with their counting. I will also be using them as marker chips for games such as bingo, which we often play to review various skills.

 

These coins and bills came in handy when we were working on our money unit.

Students were able to use them as a manipulative to complete their coin centers.

 

Money puzzles. Students had to match up the coin, number form, and written form of the coin value. Using the coins from Oriental Trading, students were able to physically see the coins and determine which puzzle parts went together.

 

Students matched various coin amounts to the number form and then recorded the value on the recording sheet. Using the coin manipulatives, students then made the coin amount on their own. As an extension activity, they could then try to make the same amount in various ways.

 

Students also completed cut and paste activities to practice matching coins to the written form and number form. They also played a game and had to write the written form of the coin that they spun.

Having the coins from Oriental Trading allowed for the students to have hands on practice using the coins and helped the visual learner be able to complete the activities easier.

I am grateful to Oriental Trading for giving me the opportunity to try out some of their products. The opinions on this post are all my own.

A Look At The End of the Year

I wanted to take a second and share some of my end of the year resources that I like to use to close out the school year.

It is always a nice keepsake to create a memory book for the school year. I have memory books available in my TPT store for Kindergarten, First, and Second grades. Some of the pages in the book can be used throughout the year to document important memories, but the majority of the book can be used as a culminating activity for the school year.

These memory books include a colored cover page as well as a black and white cover page so that you can choose what works best for your classroom. I like to allow the students to color the pages in themselves so it is more personal for each student…not to mention you save your ink.

These are just some of the pages you will find in the memory book that students can complete.

 

These memory books include the following pages:

Cover page is included as both a colored and b&w version
This Is Our School
This Is Me At The Beginning of The Year
This Is Me At The End of The Year
All About Me
These Are A Few of My Favorite Things
What A Friend I Have In You
Favorite Things: Animal, Color, Book, Food
A Trip To Remember
When I Grow Up
Light bulb Moments
My Favorite Thing I Learned
For A Special Teacher
For A Special Student
Our Class Picture
Autographs

I updated this pack to include more general cover pages so you will be able to use this pack year after year. If you have previously bought any of these three packs, please be sure to go to your purchases and redownload to get the updates.

I also love to use my beach ball craftivity pack to help students get ready for summer.

The beach ball is assembled into a book format with writing templates inside for students to answer.

 

There are a couple activity pages for students to complete included in this pack in addition to all the templates and writing prompts to complete the craft.

I hope that someone may benefit from these resources. You can check any of them out by clicking on any of the pictures in this post. :)