Items filtered by date: March 2012

Crawling With Creativity!

Is anyone still doing caterpillar stuff?  Even if you’ve completed your studies, I bet you’re still assessing and need a moment of sanity.

Why not plug in anyone of these independent activities for your kiddo’s to work on? Your students can make their own hungry caterpillar by simply coloring the template.

I made mine out of construction paper.  You can run the master off on red construction paper and students can cut eyes out of yellow and green scraps if you want to make them that way.

Cut a hole for the mouth, Scotch tape a small Baggie to the back and you’re all set to feed this hungry boy all sorts of traceable cards.

I went crazy making traceable number cards from 1-30, skip counted numbers by 2’s, 3’s, 5’s and 10’s, upper and lowercase letters, all 14 adjectives used in the book, the days of the week, the months in the year, + covers so that students can make Itty Bitty booklets to match all of the categories!

There's also cards for everything that the caterpillar ate, including black and white cards so students can color their own little My Itty Bitty Very Hungry Caterpillar book which includes the rest of the story telling cards as well.

Use word cards from other packets (such as the Dolch, CVC, Shapes, or Color word card packets) and feed to review even more concepts!

Decide which cards you want your students to work on and run those off.  Make all the sets for yourself, so that you can play “Flash Review” to nail all of those standards.

To make things even more fun, while reviewing whatever concept you want to work on, play “I Have, Who Has?” with your students. i.e., I have 3 who has 6?

I’ve also included several What’s Missing? worksheets for upper and lowercase letters, as well as all of the skip counted numbers + a blank template so you can program your own skill sheets.

Students can also color a pattern on their caterpillar or play the Caterpillar Creeps dice game and review the life cycle of a butterfly.  I’ve included traceable life cycle cards as well. Use them as a fun way to "review-read and feed!"

Click on the link to view/download this 50-page fun-filled packet. Very Hungry Caterpillar Activities.Feel free to PIN anything you feel might help someone.

50 pages. A variety of activities that reinforce basic report card standards with a caterpillar theme.

Growing With Glyphs!

I LOVE glyphs and so do my students.  Here’s one celebrating those May flowers that the April showers supposedly brought in.

They are a wonderful way to whole group assess listening and following directions and because I have a “hard copy” of that, I can actually show something to parents to “prove” their child IS or ISN’T meeting that standard.

When done, the glyphs are adorable and provide a wonderful bulletin board or hallway decoration.

You can have students share them with their classmates so everyone gets to know a bit more about each other, or have them try to figure out who did which glyph through the process of elimination and give a prize to the student who has the most correct.

Click on the link for the flower glyph.

If you’d like to do another spring glyph, I also made a butterfly glyph.

Click on the link for the butterfly glyph.

Hope you can meander on over tomorrow for more creative "stuff".

I'm never sure what I'll be whipping together as I have so much fun designing new things every day. 

If there's something you're in need of and tired of searching the web for, just shoot me an e-mail and I'll see what I can do. diane@teachwithme.com I so enjoy hearing from my readers, or feel free to leave a commet here.

You can PIN anything you think parents or teachers might enjoy as well. 

Happy "Glyphing".

4 pages. Glyphs are a great way to whole group assess listening and following directions. They make wonderful bulletin boards or hallway decorations and are an interesting way to find out more about your students. If you need another spring glyph, be sur

Spring Into The Garden and Reinforce Color and Number Words

In My Garden is another easy reader that’s great for your writing center or Daily 5 activities too.  Once students get used to these little booklets they feel empowered and it builds their self-esteem as well as their skills.

This booklet reinforces number and color words and touches on a little science as it involves insects, which can lead to a discussion of what might go on in a garden.

I’ve included 2 graphing extensions to nail that core standard as well.

Besides the graphing extensions, the booklet also offers a variety of other discussion opportunities

All of the things in the garden are seen doing something.  Do they all do the same thing?

The last page asks students how high they can count to.  Which student in your class can count the highest?  How high is that?

When everyone has completed their booklet, read it as a whole group to reinforce concepts of print and so students can take it home and enjoy sharing it with their families.

Click on the link to view/download In My Garden

You may also want to teach or read the nursery rhyme Mary How Does Your Garden Grow? I never had enough time for my nursery rhyme unit at the end ot the year, so I tried to plug in nursery rhymes throughout the year, whenever they seemed to fit with other themes.

Click on the link to view/download this  nursery rhyme. (2 anchor chart-posters)

I hope your day is filled with sunshine and flowers and that you can flutter on over tomorrow for some more tips.

Examining Seeds

I revamped this idea from one that was posted on Pinterest where a creative teacher had her students draw some seeds. 

I've since lost the link so if you know who this is, please shoot me an e-mail so I can link up to her and give credit.

As much as I like little ones making their own illustrations, I wanted to add more seeds and didn't want this to be labor intensive with the addition of the writing process as well.

In the past, my Y5's covered all of these seeds throughout the year, so springtime is a wonderful point to compare and contrast them all as a great review.

Students read the sentence, trace the main word, write it, and then color the object that it comes from.

If you want to add more pizzazz to the booklets, you can have students glue the matching seeds to the pages.

For a few dollars, you can buy popcorn, sunflower and pumpkin seeds in bulk and all you need is a few apples and a slice of watermelon and you’re set for the rest of the seeds.

Comparing and contrasting the seeds makes a great discussion as well.  I’ve also provided a graphing extension to nail that standard too.

When everyone has completed their booklet, read it as a whole group to reinforce concepts of print.

I know your students will enjoy taking it home and sharing it with their families.

This booklet is a terrific way to plug in a little science, especially with all the seeds being planted in gardens right now. 

My Seed Book makes a nice addition to your Daily 5 activities as well.

Click on the link to view/download My Seed Booklet

Do you have a seed activity you’d care to share?  I’d enjoy hearing from you. diane@teachwithme.com OR…feel free to leave a comment here, especially if you use one of my ideas.

Feel free to PIN anything you think will be helpful to parents or teachers.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you can pop by for more fun tomorrow.

Did you know that I added over 50 new items to the cart this month?  Wow!

For more fun in the garden, scroll down for article #2 In My Garden, my newest Count and Color booklet.

Making Adjectives Awesome

Do you need something fresh to go over adjectives with your students or something easy for them to work on independently while you do assessing?  You’ve come to the right place.

Since spring has finally sprung, tis the season for caterpillars and butterflies.  I hope your kiddos will enjoy butterfly and caterpillar adjectives.

It’s a nice way to build vocabulary and work on those describing words that will enhance their writing and nail that core standard.

Students color their caterpillar and butterfly, trace the adjectives, add a few of their own, cut them out, sort them to whatever sheet they feel is appropriate, and glue them down.

I’ve included an FYI about how some adjectives are sometimes words that can be used as verbs and adverbs and provide teachable moments, as well as a reminder bookmark of what an adjective is.

This makes a fun writing center or Daily 5 activity.  Click on the link to view/download butterfly caterpillar adjective worksheets.

You may also want to download my new grammar posters to use as anchor charts.  Grammar poster-anchor charts

Thanks for visiting.  Feel free to PIN anything that you feel might be helpful to teachers and parents.

 "What a teacher doesn't say...is a telling part of what a student hears." -Maurice Natanson

Fluttering By With Another Butterfly Activity

If you’re looking for something to assess your students’ ability to show spatial directions that will give you a “hard” copy, I’ve got just the thing.

My Butterfly and the 3D Shapes, is an easy reader, that will not only help you with spatial directions, but review those tough 3 dimensional shapes in a fun way too.

Students trace the word and shape and then cut out butterflies and glue them to the appropriate position on the page.

Click on the link to view/download My Butterfly and the 3D Shapes booklet.

This makes a nice Daily 5 activity too.

When everyone has completed their booklet, read it together as a whole group to reinforce concepts of print. 

You have my permission to PIN anything you think other teachers may find helpful. Enjoy and be sure and flit on over tomorrow for more fun tips.

"Education can not be conferred.  Whether in school or out, learning is a do-it-yourself proposition." -Wheeler McMillen