Free and Frugal Earth Day Resources and Ideas

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Earth Day is April 22nd, how are you planning to celebrate this year? Some of the ways we are celebrating Earth Day is by making fun crafts like this coffee filter Earth, taking a trip to a local recycling center, volunteering to picking up litter in our local park and going to watch the newest Disney Nature film, Monkey Kingdom (which also included a craft project and free journal page).

If you need some more ideas to celebrate check out these 10 Earth Day freebies for kids:

1. Earth Day Sort - Help kids learn the difference between reducing, reusing, and recycling!
2. Happy Earth Day Writing Activity - Kids of all ages can reflect on ways their family, school, and themselves can help keep the Earth healthy. Also encourages handwriting practice!
3. Earth Day Coloring Pages - Creative kiddos can color the Earth with their colors of choice, or follow the color-by-code page to add critical thinking to art hour.
4. Earth Day Poof! Subtraction to 5 - This Earth Day themed game builds fluency with subtraction facts to 5. It can be played in a small group or as a partner game. It is a fun way to practice those facts!
5. Earth Day Word Search Freebie - Enjoy this Earth Day themed word search puzzle with 21 eco-friendly terms like atmosphere, compost, and recycle.
6. Earth Day Bookmarks - The perfect Earth Day treat for your students. Available in full-color and black-and-white.
7. Earth Day Survey and Graph - A fun and different way to practice graphing in your classroom while encouraging collaboration between students.
8. Spring Coloring Book - Let your little ones COLOR & SPELL Spring words.
9. Love the Earth Mystery Picture Graph - Students will love discovering the mystery picture by coloring in the correct squares on the alphanumeric grid using the coordinates given. This is a great addition to an Earth Day or recycling
10. April 2015 Journal - A month of free journaling for learners age 8 to 100! Read about important historic, artistic, and current events that happened during the month of April - including J. Robert Oppenheimer's birthday and Earth Day on April 22nd. Then develop vocabulary and critical thinking skills.
    

For even more great resources visit these  Earth Day learning resources.

Limited Time Learning Pack Freebie Ends Today

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Welcome December! As a thank you for being a Kathy's Cluttered Mind follower and subscriber I have a very special, limited time freebie for you. It expires today so HURRY!

This downloadable freebie includes 18 items that cover a range of topics & fun themes! If you are on the search for fun, interactive year-round learning resources, then you'll love this freebie bundle.

Downloads include:

• Educents Holiday Coloring Book
• Educents Spring Coloring Book
• Educents Subjects Coloring Book
• Educents Summer Coloring Book
• Educents Thanksgiving Coloring Book
• Frozen ABC pack
• I Spy Shapes
• Making 10
• Minecraft Addition
• Minecraft Multiplication Flash Cards
• Moo! 100 First Sight Words
• Noise Warning System
• Robert Munsch Author Study Lapbook
• Sight Words Rings
• Spring I Have Who Has?
• Spring Poems
• Tee Off Golf Centers
• Uno Probability                 

Just click on the orange download button below to snag this great freebie courtesy of Kathys Cluttered Mind and Educents!

Plus right now at Educents NEW subscribers can get a $10 credit in Edubucks, which can be put toward the purchase of ANYTHING on the site (with no minimums or catches). And through today (December 1st) use code Cluttered10Free to save 10% off + FREE Shipping, site wide!

I offer subscriber freebies like this from time to time so make sure you subscribe to our emails so you don't miss the next one! Thank you!

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More Amazing Homeschool Freebies

*This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for details.

Yesterday I shared about an amazing, limited time, subscriber only freebie. If you missed it check it out and sign up here. (If you subscribed yesterday look for your download link at the bottom of the email)

Then I stumbled upon several other amazing freebies that I just needed to tell you about. 

The first freebie is from my friends over Homeschool Giveaways. There are two parts to this amazing, limited time Black Friday-Cyber Monday freebie. Part one includes over $70 worth of some pretty awesome downloads, like the Birds of a Feather unit study that we reviewed last year. Once you download part one share your special link with your friends to get part 2 which contains over $90 worth of downloads.

The second freebie is also from Homeschool Giveaways. This one is for the  Draw Around The World Europe curriculum. Once you download the curriculum be sure to share your special link with your friends so you can get a 50% off coupon for the Draw Around the World USA curriculum.

The third freebie is from Educents. Actually they have a few great freebies like a holiday activity list, holiday number puzzle, snowman synonyms packet and more. Plus they are giving new subscribers a $10 in Edubucks (see below). 

New Educents subscribers can get a $10 credit in Edubucks, which can be put toward the purchase of ANYTHING on the site (with no minimums or catches)

The Wild World Around Us - 2 FREE Journal Pages And A Giveaway

*This post contains affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for details.

We had tons of fun with the Poppins Book Nook blog series last year and we will be continuing that fun all throughout 2014. This month's theme was, "Where in the World?" Keep reading to learn more about the books we read, fun crafts we made and be sure to grab your 2 FREE journal pages too. There is also a giveaway is at the end of the post!

Books:
We read two fabulous books for this months theme.

The first book we read was, What's Where In The World. I was searching for the perfect book for this months theme and stumble across this one online. I immediately fell in love with it and then became disappointed when I found out that none of the libraries in our system carried it. I then checked the local bookstores because surely they would have it! Nope disappointed yet again. Finally after a little bit of research I discovered that it was a newer publication and that it was only published in the UK. Since I fell in the love with the book I did some searching on Amazon and found a used copy of it...so I splurged!

This book is fabulous and one I highly recommend for your homes library. It is one that you will read over and over again. This visual encyclopedia takes a unique tour of Earth and explores what's where in this world of ours. The book contains 75 full color maps showing you things like the world's talles buildings, longest rivers, most dangerous earthquake spots and more. There are diverse topics in six chapters on Geography, Nature, People, History, Arts & Entertainment and Science & Technology.

The second book we read was, Where In the Wild. I found this book at the library while looking for a poetry book for our April homeschool book club meeting. It just so happened that it went along great with this book club too! Next month is National Poetry Month...did you know that?

This award winning book was tons of fun. The book has beautiful photographs of 10 camouflaged creatures each in their natural surroundings. On each page is a fun, playful poem that offers clues about each animal;s identity and whereabouts. If you think you've spotted the creature, simply lift the flap to find out if you are correct. On the inside of the flap is tons of fascinating information about each animal so that you can learn how camouflage serves both hunter and hunted. Why do fawns have spots during their first year of life? How did killdeer birds get their name? What makes a crab spider so good at ambushing its prey?

Journal Pages:
I made two journal pages to go along with our reading! I hope you enjoy them.

Here is the What's Where In The World Journal Page. This was made to compliment the book though it may work for other books that are similar. Download your copy here or click the picture below.

Here is the Poetry Journal Page that we used with Where In The Wild. This journal page can be used with or without any book! And it's great for National Poetry Month in April! Download your copy here or click the picture below.

Craft Projects: 

Here are two fun projects we did to go along with each of our books. The first is one that I have seen several times while surfing Pinterest and the other is one that Gwyn yet again came up with all on her own.

Play Dough Earth
To go along with What's Where In The World we made our own planet play dough Earth's which also included the various layers as well. This is also a great Earth Day project for April!

Materials:
-Play dough - blue, green, brown, yellow, orange, red
-Dental floss

FreeBEE Friday Link Up - FREE Dr. Seuss Resources

*This post contains affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for details.

Welcome to a New Year of FreeBEEs. Every Friday I will share a great list of educational FreeBEE resources. PLUS...there's the added bonus of this being a monthly link up...where you can showcase your freebie posts or discover more amazing freebies from my blogging friends. The blogger link up will start on the first Friday of every month and end on the first day of the following month. Each month there will be a new link up. Link up anything that is educational and FREE including GIVEAWAYS!

I know...this post is up a little later than it normally is, but it is still Friday! We are crazy for Dr. Seuss. So crazy that even our homeschool room has a Dr. Seuss theme. this In celebration of Dr. Seuss's birthday which is March 2nd I thought it would be fun to share some Dr. Seuss resources! Be sure to check out ALL our Dr. Seuss posts for more fun ideas and free resources.

Dr. Seuss FreeBEEs:
-Biography journal page - use to learn about Dr. Seuss
-Goldfish Graphing
-Seussville has loads of printables, lesson plans and more
-One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish counting game from Mama Miss
-Truffala tree math games and counting with Yertle the Turtle from Inspiration Laboratories
-Dr. Seuss cut it out pack from This Reading Momma

-Ten Apples on Top activity ideas from School Time Snippets
-Grinch activity guide from Lemon Lime Adventures
-Silly phonics game for beginning readers from Learn Play Imagine
-PBS Kids Cat in the Hat activities, games and more
-My LOVE to Read On! Seuss inspired reading glyph & art activity (55 cents)
-Activity Village has lots of great Dr. Seuss resources
-Dr. Seuss author study from Scholastic
-Dr. Seuss unit from 2 Teaching Mommies
-Homeschool Share has lots of great Dr. Seuss printables

Dr. Seuss Crafts and Food:

-One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish craft.
-Truffala tree craft.

-Pink Ink Yink drink from School Time Snippites

-Thing 1 and Thing 2 handprint craft from 123 Homeschool 4 Me
-Dr. Seuss hats (super easy) and Horton Hears a Who mask from Mamas Like Me
-Thing 1 and Thing 2 puppets from Creative Family Fun
-Jello Seuss stackers and Oobleck recipe from Preschool Powol Packets

Fieldtrips:
Head to Lakeshore Learning tomorrow for some fun.

Pinterest Board:
For even more ideas head over to my Dr. Seuss Pinterest Board.




Dr. Seuss Deal:
If you love Dr. Seuss as much as we do then you are always on the search for a great deal on Dr. Seuss books. Right now you can get 5 books for $5.95. This deal only lasts until next week, so HURRY! The package includes: - The Cat in the Hat, Mr. Brown Can Moo, Ten Apples On Top, Go Dog Go! & The Tooth Book - FREE Dr. Seuss Parent Guide - Free Shipping

Why should you join Dr. Seuss & His Friends book club?
With the Dr. Seuss and His Friends book club you will receive 3 new books each month. Dr. Seuss books are a great way to create lasting memories with the same classic stories you loved as a child. And what child doesn't love the wacky and wonderful characters from the Dr. Seuss books?

With the membership you can:
Conveniently control your membership online.
- Adjust your shipping interval
- View account history

Preview upcoming packages Risk free. Cancel anytime.
• No purchase commitment
• High quality, hard covered editions.
• Convenience of home delivery for less than $5 per book.
• 100% Satisfaction Guarantee.

Note: This offer is a monthly book club. Customers will automatically be charged and sent additional books each month.

I hope you find these resources useful. If you ever have any questions feel free to leave me a comment or email me. Also be sure to follow my Facebook Page where I post FreeBEEs daily.

If you have homeschool FreeBEEs to share

please link up at the bottom of this post!

You can copy the button from my right sidebar to share

somewhere on your blog.

Link up: FreeBEE Fridays with Kathy's Cluttered Mind.

Remember when it comes to FREE resources the internet and a good search engine are your best friend. Oh and a library card!

*Don't miss a single FreeBEE... Subscribe to Kathys Cluttered Mind*

  
Linking up with 3 Boys and a Dog

Free Martin Luther King Jr. Resources And FreeBEE Friday Link Up

*This post contains affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for details.

Welcome to FreeBEE Friday. Every Friday I will share a great list of educational FreeBEE resources. PLUS...there's the added bonus of this being a monthly link up...where you can showcase your freebie posts or discover more amazing freebies from my blogging friends. The blogger link up will start on the first Friday of every month and end on the first day of the following month. Each month there will be a new link up. Link up anything that is educational and FREE including GIVEAWAYS!

Martin Luther King FreeBEEs:
Monday is Martin Luther King Day...it is also Gwyn's 8th birthday! We live in Atlanta so learning about Martin Luther King's life and accomplishments and the impact he had on the civil rights movement is important to us. Every January we take a day or two to learn more about him!

I would like to encourage you and your children to get out and participate in a service project this month. If you live in Georgia be sure to check the Pebble Tossers website for some community service projects. Also be sure to check out the post I wrote last year with some volunteering ideas.

Worksheets, Crafts, Unit Studies, Lapbooks and More:
-Daria Music has a MLK song and video, MLK learning pack and coloring pages
-Martin Luther King word search puzzle
-Martin Luther King printable literacy pack from Meet Penny
-MLK worksheets and other great resources from Mama's Learning Corner
-This MLK Express Lapbook from A Journey Through Learning is also not free but it's only $1.00 and actually a resource we are using for MLK day

-Snag some great resources including posters, audios, videos, bookmarks, fact sheets and more at the Corporation for National and Community Service website
-Cute craft ideas and a "I Can Dream Like Dr. King" printable at Welcome to Room 36
-The American Dream notebooking page
-Thriving Third Graders has a free printable to use with older kids to help with details and sequencing

National Park Service MLK Historic Site

-Take a virtual fieldtrip of MLKs birthplace (which is in Atlanta by the way). Be sure to look around the website while you are there because there are lots of other helpful MLK resources
-National Geographic Kids has a nice collection of photographs of Dr. King
-My Mailbox has a Martin Luther King Jr printable booklet
-Martin Luther King Jr poster activity
-Dr. King Color By Number
-MLK Timeline
-9 page packet from Mamas Learning Corner

-There are several great MLK crafts posted on The Classroom Creative

Videos:
-PBS has about 30 FREE shows you can watch about black history
-History.com has several great MLK videos
-Check out my Black History YouTube Channel comprised of several videos in one easy place (I am always adding to it so be sure to subscribe


eBooks/Audio Books:
-MLK A,B,Cs Kindle eBook (double check price before placing order)

-His Dream, Our Stories (Enhanced Edition): The Legacy of the March on Washington [Kindle Edition with Audio/Video]
-Read Dreams A Story About Martin Luther King Jr for FREEthis week at memetales

I hope you find these resources useful. If you ever have any questions feel free to leave me a comment or email me. Also be sure to follow my Facebook Page where I post FreeBEEs daily.

If you have homeschool FreeBEEs to share

please link up at the bottom of this post!

You can copy the button from my right sidebar to share

somewhere on your blog.

Link up: FreeBEE Fridays with Kathy's Cluttered Mind.

Remember when it comes to FREE resources the internet and a good search engine are your best friend. Oh and a library card!

*Don't miss a single FreeBEE... Subscribe to Kathys Cluttered Mind*

  
Linking up with 3 Boys and a Dog

Outstanding Olympic Resources For 2014

*This post contains affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for details.

Image(s): FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When  I was young I had the opportunity to meet Barney Ewell. He won a gold and two silver medals in the 1948 Olympics. He was an amazing person and I am so happy to have known him. He was an alumni of the high school I attended, J.P. McCaskey and he attended many local events in Lancaster, PA where I grew up. As a teenager I volunteered at Conestoga View nursing home where he was a resident so I had the privilege of speaking with him from time to time and learning more about his amazing life.

In 1998 when I visited  Australia I got to visit and swim in the Sydney Olympic pool and learn about the 2000 Olympic site and games. And today our family lives 30 minutes North of Atlanta, where the 1996 Summer Olympics were hosted. The Atlanta History Center has an entire exhibit all about the history of the Olympics and Centennial Olympic Park is absolutely amazing!

So needless to say our family is a huge fan of both the Summer and Winter Olympics. This year the Olympics are being hosted in the largest country in the World, Russia. The Olympics will be held in the city of Sochi, on the Black Sea.

If you are just as excited about the Olympics as we are, then you are also on the search for some amazing resources....

Here is a list to get you started:
1) Unit Studies by Amanda Bennett has an amazing Winter Games 2014 unit study.

2) Southern Hodgepodge has a great Olympic art lesson that you MUST check out.

3) Enchanted Homeschooling Mom is offering a FREE Winter Olympic pack. Find the FREE download link at the very bottom of the page.

4) CurrClick has lots of great inexpensive resources for the Winter Olympics. There is a Math Literacy & Activity mini unit. A fabulous Olympic unit study. A lapbook by Knowledge Box Central. And even a Founders Academy Live Winter Olympic History class.

  

 

5) A Journey Through Learning has a great $1 Winter Olympic lapbook and unit study. You can even dive into the Ancient Olympics while you are at it too.

6) I Can Teach My Child has some great Olympic activities on her blog. But if you also subscribe to her email list you will get a fabulous "Olympic Activities for Kids" ebook.

7) Don't forget about the Apps. Here is a great Android App called 2014 Sochi Winter Games which helps you easy follow along with all of the competitions and stats. And also a dedicated Olympic Browser App.

8) There are also a few great eBooks about the Olympics: The Octopi Have Their Olympics, My Olympic Sochi Travel Guide.

9) TIME for Kids has lots of fabulous articles for kids on the Sochi Winter Olympics.

Image credit TIME for Kids

10) Activity Village has some great Olympic printables including coloring pages, word searches and more. And Teachers Pay Teachers also has lots of great Olympic resources. Forever For Always No Matter What has a terrific FREE Olympics activity pack.

11) Don't forget to have some crafting fun. Check out these macaroni medals, torn paper torches, Olympic dot rings, Olympic wreath crown. You can also even have your very own Olympic games at home too, here are some great ideas for Olympic family games (using cups and straws).  And here are some of the Olympic crafts we did a couple years ago.

12) Also be sure to check out my 2012 Olympic blog post which has lots of additional resources that could be used for this years Winter Olympics too! And also my Olympic craft blog post.

And for your viewing pleasure be sure to check out my YouTube Olympic channel.

Also be sure to head over to Schoolhouse Review Crew Blog to find more amazing Olympic resources.

Be sure to browse through all of our other Top 10 Posts!

Are you planning on learning about the 2014 Olympics with your kids?

Linking up with: List Tuesday, Top Ten Tuesday, Ben and Me

Sunflower Education - Bulletin Board In A Book Review

*This post contains affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for details.

Sunflower Education is a Texas based publisher creating who creates educational based materials for teachers, parents and students. Currently they offer a variety of fun science, social studies and language arts materials available.

A moms review:

For the last week we have been having tons of fun with Geography using A Bulletin Board In A Book Oceans and A Bulletin Board In A Book Continents. And for language arts we have been using the A Bulletin Board In A Book Story Elements. All three of these paperback books are colorful and packed with amazing information which make learning fun, engaging and exciting. These books are great for children in 1st grade and above, however my 6 year old son did great with them too!

Now we don't have room for a bulletin board in our tiny schoolroom so we utilized these books a little differently, but they still worked wonderfully. Before I explain how we utilized them let me tell you a little about each book.

A Bulletin Board In A Book Series:
Story Elements:
Story Elements contains 20 colorful posters, 7 graphic organizers and 7 activity sheets. This book will teach the 6 story elements: plot, character, setting, conflict, resolution and theme. With the help of bright, colorful posters children will learn all the essential information on each element. To help them reinforce what they learned children can fill in the fun, engaging activity sheets and graphic organizers.

Oceans:
Oceans contains 12 colorful posters, maps and fun facts and 6 activity sheets. This book will teach children all about our Worlds Oceans: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern and Arctic. They will learn geography, scientific facts as well as some history and math too! The bright, colorful posters feature accurate maps, essential facts (how big? how far? how deep?) and fun "Did You Know?" facts! The activity sheets will help emphasize your child's understanding of shapes, sizes, location and basic facts about Oceans.

Continents:
Continents contains 17 colorful posters, maps and fun facts and 8 activity sheets. This book will teach children about the 7 Continents: Australia, Europe, South American, North America, Asia, Africa and Antarctica. They will learn geography, scientific facts along with history and math too! The detailed, bright and colorful posters feature accurate maps, amazing facts (how big?, how far?, who's there?) and fun "did You Know? facts" The activity sheets will help reinforce shapes, sizes, location and basic facts about the Continents.

Everything you need is included in each of the, A Bulletin Board In A Book, books...well except the bulletin board. In the front of each book is a "Table of Contents" followed by a "To The Teacher" page. The "To The Teacher" page contains 3 simple steps for utilizing the books as well as the worksheet answers. In the Continents and Oceans books there are also poster placement illustrations. These books make teaching Continents, Oceans and Story Elements quick and easy! The activity sheets are all fabulous. They concentrate on, teach and reinforce the topic being taught! Children will be engaged and will learn lots of essential, quick facts!

Here is how we utilized the book in our homeschool environment:
First I carefully cut all of the pages out of the book (you could also copy them if you choose). Next we laid out them out on the floor using the recommended layout suggestion in the books.

For the Continents and Oceans books I had the children explore the posters a little on their own then we discussed each of them together. After we read the posters we played a fun game using a Lego boat my son made, did some quizzing and discussed measurements (area, length and depth). Then we filled in the "Remember" posters and practiced memorizing the Continents/Oceans by making up a mnemonic devices like, "Panda And Iguana Sing Along," (Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern, Arctic).

Next we filled out the activity sheets. I let the children have access to the posters to fill them out. Since I plan to use the activity sheets again I used our nifty page protectors and wipe off markers to preserve them.

For the Story Elements we did things a little differently. We discussed the story elements filled in the activity sheets. Then we read a story and the children had to identify each of the story's elements. Lastly we read another book and this time I had the children complete the story element organizers!

Gwyn (7 yrs old) and Rowyns (6 yrs old) review:

Check out the video that the kids made. They would love it if you give them a thumbs up or leave them a comment!

Links to follow:

-Sunflower Education Website
-Sunflower Education Facebook 
-Sunflower Twitter page

Where to buy:
You can purchase each of these amazing, A Bulletin Board In A Book, books on Amazon for around $10.00-$11.00.