Lucky Charms Meets the Common Core (Freebie)

With the new common core standards in math, I decided that the classic Lucky Charms graph that I've been using for years needed a bit of a makeover. So, I incorporated ten frames and addition to touch upon both Counting & Cardinality and Operations & Algebraic Thinking.  I think the kids will have a blast with it while unknowingly stretching their brains a little.

If you're up for a wee bit o' fun, just grab a copy below, stop at the store for a box of Lucky Charms and have a great St. Patrick's Day!

P is for Love??? (Freebie)

    This post is a bit of a personal story, but if you read through to the end, I promise there's a really cute freebie for you!

    Some women become friends when they meet at the gym, or when they discover a shared passion for coffee, or when they find a like mind at a book club meeting. My friend Susan and I however, bonded over something a little less cultured - we bonded over a couple of weenies (figuratively, not literally). After college, we were dating two creeps young men who were friends and the four of us often did things together. When those silly boys showed their true colors as complete weenies, we left them behind and have been BFFs ever since. Over the years, we’ve been through a lot together. We’ve celebrated things like new houses, new jobs, happy biopsy results and milestone birthdays. (Although our 30th birthday extravaganza in Scotland is still a little fuzzy because we met our goal of 30 pubs in the week we were there!)  We’ve also cried together through things like broken engagements, health scares, and the loss of loved ones. Susan (whom I annoyingly call QZ) is like a sister to me, and my parents even consider her their fourth daughter.  I know that she unwaveringly has my back, and likewise, there is nothing I wouldn’t do for her.
     QZ has five dogs. Five big dogs. Five really, really big dogs. Great Danes and Mastiffs and mutts, oh my!  (Some people say that she is one dog away from being The Crazy Dog Lady, I tend to think she's already there.) Their names all start with the letter P (Pumpkin, Petunia, Phoebe, Peroguey and Phawn), and they are her joy. They are her heart. She loves them with the fierceness that you would expect of any mother. She’s happy when they’re happy, she dances when they dance (and they do dance), and she hurts when they hurt.  She would give anything she has to keep her “P”s happy and healthy.

The 5 Ps and their pile o' love.

     A few weeks ago, QZ found out that Peroguey has cancer and needs chemotherapy. Peroguey has recently started her treatment and is being a real trooper. She's getting a lot of love from the other Ps and my fingers are crossed that she'll come through it all with her tail wagging.

Named Rogue when she was adopted, she became Peroguey so she could be a "P.".

     Imagining the worry and stress that this is causing QZ, along with some family issues she's dealing with right now, not to mention the insane expense of it all had me wondering what I could do to help QZ and the sweet, sweet Ps.  Well, I came up with a plan. It's not much, but I hope that it helps a little.

     First, because I've been thinking of her a lot, I  made a set of Peroguey-inspired pattern block cards. My class has been obsessed with pattern blocks lately, so I think they'll love them. (You can grab a free set by clicking on the picture down below.)  The next part of the plan is to donate all of the proceeds from my pattern block sets to Peroguey's treatments. They've been pretty popular on TPT so I'm hoping to help make a little dent in the ridiculous vet bill. If you grab the dog set and like it, I'm hoping you'll check out some of the other ones, too.

P is for puppy. P is for Peroguey. P is for love . . .

Other sets that you might like:

          

          

Have a great week!