The 2014 Winter Olympics will be starting on February 6th and will be held in Sochi, Russia.  I am SO excited to watch them!  I think the winter Olympics have some very interesting sports that I would never get a chance to watch otherwise (like bobsledding, luge, and curling).  And, of course, hockey.  (Did you know that 7 of my Pittsburgh Penguins will be representing their home countries in the Olympics this year?)

There are a ton of free (yay!) activities you can try at home to learn about and celebrate the Olympics.  Here are just a few that I have collected:

Olympic torch treats 

(Make with store-bought cake ice cream cones and Cheetos)

Olympic ring pizza

(You could use whatever toppings you like, but these are bleu cheese, olives, pepperoni, pineapple, and avocado)

Gold medal cookies

(Golden Oreo cookies and Fruit by the Foot)

Paper towel roll Olympic torch

Laurel Leaf crown

I was able to request all of these books from the library for free.  Don't forget to check out the non-fiction section, where you can find many, many books about individual sports and athletes.

G is for Gold Medal

Olympig!

Tacky and the Winter Games

The Winter Olympics

Geronimo Stilton Saves the Olympics (#10)

Magic Tree House: Hour of the Olympics

World Flags Matching Game

Snowboarder XS

Winter Games

Time For Kids
Information about different winter Olympic sports.

Olympics Fun Facts

Winter Olympics Facts
Over 100 pages of printable activities!

As our school administration likes to tell us, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a day ON, not a day off.  Our children are so fortunate to live in a society that, while definitely not perfect, has come such a long way since Dr. King's time.  Dr. King's message of acceptance and compassion is an important one to revisit and stretches far beyond the civil rights movement. 

Here are some resources you can use to learn more about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Reading Rockets website (one of my favorites for reading resources!) has a fantastic list of books to read on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  From biographies of Dr. King and Ruby Bridges to stories of people striving to improve their communities, there are books here for a variety of interests and ages.

Click HERE to go to the list.

I've said it before and I'll say it again:  You can find the best resources on the Teachers Pay Teachers website, and many of them are absolutely FREE!  (You will need to sign up for a free account to download files.)

Here is the link to all of the FREE Martin Luther King Day resources.  You can filter the results by rating, grade level, etc.

A few of my favorite free resources:

Martin Luther King Jr. Poster Activity FREEBIE

Martin Luther King Jr. Vocabulary Cards Freebie

Martin Luther King Jr. Facts and Opinions (Freebie)

Martin Luther King Day MLK Foldable Pack *Freebie*

If you live in the Pittsburgh area, there are a couple of activities you can do for FREE on Monday, January 20th:

The Carnegie Science Center is offering free admission and free parking to everybody on the 20th.  It seems that they are even throwing in an Omnimax movie!

The Pittsburgh Glass Center on Penn Ave. will have free glass blowing demonstrations on Monday.  They are also offering several mini workshops for a small fee.


The Schenley Park Ice Rink (in Oakland) has free ice skating from 1pm - 4 pm on Monday.  They will also have educational activities and art projects available.

You can see a more complete list of activities in this Post-Gazette article.

Welcome back to school!  I hope you had a fun winter break.  I hope you aren't buried in snow today!

In honor of the snowstorm, I decided to round up a few books about snow that you can read online totally for FREE.

http://www.wegivebooks.org/collections/featured

The snow-themed books they have here are:
The Mitten by Jan Brett
The Hat by Jan Brett
The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
Snowmen at Night by Mark and Caralyn Buehner

One of the crafts I love to make in winter are paper snowflakes.  They are pretty, but boy do they make a mess!  Luckily, I found a cool website where you can make virtual snowflakes.  They're much easier to cut and are mess-free.

http://www.thekidzpage.com/freekidsgames/games/snowflake-maker/

I hope to see you all at our RAMP session on Monday, January 6th at 3:00!