Sunday, August 4, 2013

VA is for Bloggers - Southern Hospitality Freebie Blog Hop


Welcome to Virginia!

 


 A lovely group of Virginia bloggers would like to help usher in the new school year by extending a bit of southern hospitality.  You can follow along the blog hop to visit 20+ Virginia teacher blogs for terrific teaching tips and fun freebies to help get your new school year off to a great start.

 I live in a RURAL portion of Virginia, folks.  This is what I have a quarter mile from my house:



and I can't say I am filled with a particular sense of "Awww, cute!" when I pass this fella by on my daily walk.  In fact, it makes me feel like I know why they were frightened when Dorothy fell into the pig pen in The Wizard of Oz.  Because those pigs were going to eat her.  I just know it.

And let me tell you I had this post written three days ago.  And it was great.  And it was funny.  And it was exactly what I wanted.  Then I came in to add a photo in an edit and somehow I deleted the WHOLE THING!  Yar!

At least my stuff is made up for you still though.

Virginia is not part of Common Core- but I think you will find the standard of having kiddos have command of their basic ten facts to be a universal one.  With that in mind, I created this Go Fish sort of game with another Virginia Standard in mind- the white-tailed deer.

Yeah.  For serious, peeps.  The Old Dominion determined that second graders needed to know the life cycle of the white-tailed deer to be proficient in the Living Systems domain.  Which I find slightly hilarious and fraught with irony that deer hunting is a major deal here.  So, it's sort of like let me teach you about this majestic creature so you can go out and shoot it.  But we press forward.

Even though we've been given this standard- we haven't been given a lot of information to help us teach it.  And I teach in an URBAN portion of Virginia the DOES NOT participate in hunting.  Like, at all.  Clearly, there is a lack of background knowledge when we get into this unit.  So, to help myself out- I've been starting to insert white-tailed deer into other parts of my curriculum to try to front-load the kids.

Enter -Tens Go Huntin'!



 What I've got for you here is a deck of cards.  Four each of the digits 0 - 10 as well as four wild cards.  Play as you would Go Fish. Great for pairs, but also will work for up to four.  Each player starts with five cards and asks another player for a card that would COMPLETE the necessary equation to equal ten.  So, if you have an eight, you need to ask Lizzy Lou for a two.  If she does not have it- this is when she gets to put on her best southern drawl and say "Go Huntin'!".  And, I seriously.cannot.wait. to get my city kids to say it just like that.  I might even get them to give a yuckle laugh afterwards.

I also made a combo list so you can spice it up for the kids who have the tens combos down, and also add in some information about the family dynamic of the deer.




A mother deer - doe, a deer, a female deer- generally has twins or triplets in early June.  Hence the Mama Mia! combinations. That's right, I just mashed Julie Andrews AND Abba- that's how ridiculous I am. You got to get ridiculous occasionally in your life.

If you would like this freebie card game:  Click the sleepy fawn:


***This card game has been added to our Tpt Store for a steal! The new link will take you there***




If you like this card game and find it useful can you drop me a line sometime and let me know?  It really helps when deciding whether to make this sort of thing with other content standards infused, as opposed to just lollipops and rainbows and whatnot.

And can I just let you Virginia lovers know that I have a special custom kids football pack that you might enjoy?



First three commenters (regardless of residence) that can say they bleed maroon and gold and leave an email address may receive it for free.  Otherwise- you may click the picture and find this handsome package modestly priced at our TpT store.

Now, I also understand that folks that do not bleed maroon and gold are stopping by to peek.  So tell you what- if you can guess my favorite team, then I'll set you up with a free pack of football kids in your favorite colors.  If more than one person guesses my team we'll do a drawing. Just leave a comment with your guess - and be a good sportsman! - and also a way to get back in touch with you if you win. Note I am not making you follow my blog or store to participate- but hey- if you want too...it's not like I'd not like that.

 I'll give you three hints:

1.  My favorite team is not based on anywhere I have lived in my life. Just on the fact that it was my boyfriend's favorite team and he's the only person that ever took the time to teach me what was actually happening in the game.
2. My team has not done, ummm, well, like, at all, for a couple of years now.  Even though they have had some dynamic players and have made some dynamic plays. 

3. Their name is based on an animal.

Winner picked the day after the hop ends on the 10th! Which would be the 11th- snarf. Good luck!

post signature


 The next stop on the hop is Carla at:






27 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh. You had me laughing out loud at this post. I have heard the second grade teachers at my school discussing the outlandish-ness of needing to know the deer's life cycle. They will SO appreciate this freebie!!

    I also feel like I shouldn't guess at your favorite team because I'm a part of the blog hop but I have a guess in mind and I can't wait to find out if I'm right!

    -Caitlyn
    Fourth Grade Lemonade

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  2. What a really great product! Thanks for tying in the Science standard. I can't wait to show this post to the 2nd grade teachers at my school.

    Christin
    Shifting Teacher K-2

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  3. Well, shucks! I totally missed out on this blog hop! That'll show me!

    So, as for your team, I'm going to guess the Chargers, as I remember some little factoid about their name being derived from the name of a horse the owner liked -- and they're the only team in the NFL that isn't directly named after an animal but has a connection. It's going to kill me to wait to find out if I'm right!

    Oh, and THANK THE FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER for this freebie because my kiddos haven't a clue about the white-tailed deer. Like. At all. I'm not even sure some of them knew what I deer was this year. Aye.

    Sarah
    There's No Place Like Second Grade

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  4. Wow. No more commenting while exhausted, "what I deer was"? Geez Louise!

    Sarah
    There's No Place Like Second Grade

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  5. Wow...feeling bad about following you! This post was hilarious! I love the game too. As a reading specialist, I probably would use it, but I downloaded anyway because I think knowing the names of deer or is it dear?? ;) is/are important! LOL! Thanks for sharing! Enjoyed reading your redone post.
    Carla
    Comprehension Connection

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  6. Great freebie! I cannot begin to tell you how much I agree with having standards but having little information on how to teach them. As they increase the rigor of our standards, I feel like we are walking around with question marks over our heads. Just when I think I've got it down, they change it again. So even though we don't have common core, we have common complaints...lol! It looks like you are really tackling that challenge by creating adorable resources. Glad to blog hop with you!

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  7. Hah hah :) Know what you mean by no information on white-tailed deer! I had to create my own!!!

    Actually, I teach where they DO hunt the deer, so many already know the anatomy of the deer and enjoy learning about it (go figure). Venison is a big deal around here and feeds families for the winter, so I guess I know why it's a standard.

    So sad - no frogs, but we have deer in 2nd grade! LOL I will enjoy using your freebie and my lil' hunters will LOVE it! Thanks so much for sharing!

    :) Chrissy
    Adventures In Second Grade

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  8. You are hilarious and I am so glad that I found you! I'm new to the state so I will definitely be back. :)

    http://teachlove-ncalderbank.blogspot.com/

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  9. Thanks so much! I love that you are incorporating science standards into our parts of the curriculum.
    Mechele
    Barrow's Hodgepodge

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  10. I love, love, love the deer cards. They are absolutely perfect for my class this fall. I am converting my classroom into a forest and teaching the first grade content through forest activities in order to help my urban students learn about the outdoors. I am guessing your team is the Bears! Thanks for your great deer cards.
    Maria
    First Grade Carousel

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  11. Your post made me chuckle! Thanks for the game, even though Ohio isn't required to learn about deer, we have a lot of them! My students also need practice in basic facts.

    Mary
    Teaching Special Kids

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  12. I'm with Sarah Plum. I'm going to guess the Chargers but mainly because I'm from San Diego and I love the Chargers! That would be AWESOME if they were your favorite team too! :)

    cheryllhoff@yahoo.com

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  13. I'm from the country part of VA - and my 3rd graders are going to L-O-V-E this as a fun game to play for "free-cess"(That's what I call inside recess on rainy days - free time in the room!) I am your newest follower and a fellow VA blogger!

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  14. Also - my guess would be.....the Chicago Bears? That was always my Aunt's favorite team - so I'm going to guess that one for her :)

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  15. Thanks for a great freebie! My students will dig the deer. How did I miss your blog?! I'm a new follower!

    Hokie Teach

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  16. Cute freebie. Thanks for sharing! As far as a football team, my guess would be my favorite team- Da Bears!!!!! (Chicago sports gal all the way, even if they do stink for the most part more often than I would like to say ::)
    Shar W

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  17. I would like to continue my post- did I miss the part about bleeding maroon and gold- I bleed maroon and gold through my favorite niece's high school :)
    (close enough???)

    Shar W.

    jandcangelscents@sbcglobal.net

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  18. I love maroon and gold that's my current school's colors. tomika.altman@gmail.com

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  19. Oops I left off I bleed maroon and gold. tomika.altman@gmail.com

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  20. I am going to guess a college team the Gators and for NFL the Chicago Bears. Thank you so much for the Tens Go Hunting. This is very cute!

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  21. I didn't realize the second graders had to know about the life cycle of a white-tailed deer. Shows what I know after being out of the classroom for two years! Our students could probably teach this unit to your students! The boys and some girls take a day off during deer season to hunt in these parts of VA! And it is an excused absence!!!!

    Not sure about your favorite football team, and I know very little about it, so I am not going to guess.

    Fun freebie!
    Andrea
    Reading Toward the Stars

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  22. Thanks for the freebie. And by the way, there are TOO many animal NFL teams. I thought I had a good choice in mind but when I went to go check out and see if I was missing some... it opened up a can of worms. My first instinct was either the Dolphins or the Bengals but with the other ones I just got plain confused and gave up... sorry I am more of a baseball fan instead. I am a VA blogger too, check me out sometime.:)
    Kinders on the Block

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  23. You are hysterical!! I agree that the pigs looked like they could've eaten Dorothy. And my rural kids would gladly come teach yours all about hunting (except it would be a bit of a drive). We had a Thanksgiving feast one year, and I had multiple boys volunteer to kill a turkey and bring it in! (Btw, once you've had wild turkey, you won't want the store-bought anymore). Love your freebie!

    Don't Let the Teacher Stay Up Late
    Follow me on Bloglovin!

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  24. Ok I'm going to guess!!! Eagles??? Kind of being hopeful since I was born in Philly.

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  25. Thank you for this cute game! I'm enjoying my way through VA as I follow this blog hop!
    ღ Diane
    schoolhousetreasures

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