Bright Ideas For Teachers Blog Hop!

Today I'm joining my bloggy friends in sharing with you bright ideas for the classroom!

Since we've missed so much school I've had trouble getting back into the swing of things. It's February and I was looking for some inspiration, I was walking through the dollar tree (the best place to go when you need classroom inspiration LOL!!) when I spotted these...

The cupcake holders came in packs of 2 for $1, and the heart gems are 50 per pack for $1. I didn't know what I would make yet but I knew they would be something I could use so I grabbed them up. This week as I was planning for independent centers I came up with a few ideas for using my fabulous finds!

With a sharpie I wrote numbers on the heart gems, random numbers 1-20. I placed them in one of the cupcake holders. Students will shake up the cupcake, open it up and take out a handful of hearts. Then they will use the number to find landmarks (minimum, maximum, mean, median, mode, and range). This is a skill we always need to practice, and it will give them a hands on novel way to mix up their routine!

I wrote double digit numbers on more gems, placed them in a cupcake container, and created a multi-digit multiplication center. Students will again shake up the cupcake, open and choose two hearts. They will multiply the two numbers. Simple yet fun!

For out word work center I wrote letters on the gems to spell out Valentine, students will use the gems to come up with as many words as they can. They love doing these types of word work activities, I think they will be excited to use the gems in this months center. We usually just cut the letter boxes out of paper!

For my younger students I wrote sight words on the gems. They will use them to play a partner game. They will shake up the cupcake, open it, and choose a gem, read the word and both students will write it. They will take turns choosing words and reading them. We will eventually get to graphing how many times each word is chosen too!

Here they are inside the cupcakes ready to go! Can't wait to share them with my students tomorrow!!

There you have it, easy peasy versatile valentine centers for less than $2 each!!

Looking for more bright ideas? Head on over to Lori's blog ! She's sharing about Gallery walks, you won't want to miss it!