Items filtered by date: September 2012

I've Got Your Number! Election Math

When I’m doing a themed unit like the election, I like to cover all of my subjects, so I whipped together a Math Election Packet for you.

This 40-page packet has a nice variety of activities.

Including:

• Counting by 1's
• Skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5s and 10's
• Traceable number cards, with covers to make Itty Bitty booklets
• Trace and write number activities for all the different counting +
• "What's Missing?" worksheets too.
• Addition and subtraction activities with picture manipulatives,
• Greater and less than activities with picture manipulatives
• Traceable number cards for these activities,
• and even a page of online research activities directly related to the current election.

Teachers/parents can give this information to younger students, and assign the research aspect of it, as a fun online assignment for older students.

I’ve included a blank number template for students or adults to fill in additional numbers greater than 50 for more difficult addition and subtraction equations.

Students can sequence these as well as make equations with them. Pair up children and have them play “Speed” games to see who can solve problems the quickest, or sequence a set of numbers the fastest.

You can also use the manipulatives to make patterns, or have students design a shape (circle, triangle, rectangle, square) with them.

Click on the link to view/download Election Number Fun Packet.

For more election lessons, activities, and fun, click on the link and you'll go to the main election section where you'll find election ballots, election buttons, election booklets, etc. Simply scroll down and click on whatever you want to download.  It's all FREE-always!

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“He who asks a question may feel foolish for a moment, but he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.” –Chinese Proverb

Ideas For Your Halloween Party Day!

Are you looking for some ideas for your Halloween party that are quick, easy and fun, yet cover some standards?

Well, you’ve come to the right place!  I have two Halloween packets chock full of frightfully delightful fun Halloween “craftivities” and things to keep your little ones occupied in interesting and educational ways.

The 81-page Halloween Mini Unit has several simple “craftivities” + skill sheets, 24 games to play at your Halloween party + arts and crafts ideas, complete with patterns and directions, with some full-color pictures, like the one of this pop-up Popsicle puppet, made out of a toilet paper tube, entitled: “Peek-a-Boo!”

Click on the link to view/download the Halloween Mini Unit.

Halloween Art Projects and Activities is a 43-page packet to help continue your howling great time.

There's a little bit of everything here with pumpkin, ghost and skeleton themes: songs, lots of ghostly art projects, + Numb Skulls, a game to fine-tune your addition and subtraction skills.

Your students will have fun shaking their Halloween bottles filled with glitter and a dice.  The directions of how to make one are included.

They can also make a Halloween ABC book or turn it into a game.  Plus they can make a creepy haunted house counting book!

Teachers/parents can make spooky pencils as party favors for their children. Simply top a pencil with a styrofoam ball and tie a Kleenex and piece of tulle over it. Dot on two eyes and wahla! You're done.  I made 20 in about 15 minutes!

The last activity is "Magic Pumpkin Play-dough". Give each of your students a little "lumpkin" to make a pumpkin!

I've included a master to make a page of stickers to put on snack baggies + a directional poem to include that explains the magical fun they'll have when they squeeze the little yellow ball and suddenly it turns orange because of the 2 drops of red food coloring you've hidden in the middle.

Click on the link to view/download Halloween Art Projects and Activities.

I hope you have a simply Spook-tacular time on Halloween!

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“When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this-you haven’t.” –Thomas Edison

Election Fun: Show Me Your Card!

A Voter Registration I. D. is a fun way for students to practice writing their name and address.

It's also a good way to assess how they are listening and following directions, as they fill out pertinent information that they should know, on an "important" form.

To make the Voter Registration I.D. more realistic, have students glue their school photograph in the box provided.  If you don't have one, they can draw a self-portrait.

Teacher's sign the template on the teacher blank space, before they run off copies.  So that students can make up their own, refer to your signature, when you are explaining what a signature is to your students.

Have children show you their Voter Registration I.D. before they vote in your mock election.

To show them how important their I.D is, if they've forgotten it, when they come up to vote, send them back to their desk to get it, before they can cast their vote.

Afterwards, you might even want to have a discussion whether they think a voter I.D. is important, and discuss how voters verify who they are in real state and national elections, before they can vote.

Click on the link to view/download the student Voter Registration I.D. Card.

Thank you for visiting today. Do you have an election activity you could share with us? I'd enjoy hearing from you. diane@teachwithme.com or post a comment here.

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"The wisest mind has something yet to learn." -George Santayana

I Spy A Letter!

My Y5's really enjoyed playing games.  It was a hands-on fun way to get all sorts of life-skills and standards covered in a short amount of time.

I designed "I Spy A Letter." with those concepts in mind, as they will help teach: Common Core State Standards:RF.K1d, L.1.1a

I Spy A Letter is a very versatile packet. Although the picture shows lowercase letter samples, the packet also works on recognizing and practicing uppercase letters in an interesting way as well.

Your students will enjoy becoming ABCDe-tives as they spy letters and then trace them.

They will also like making a slider. Sliders are simply the upper and lowercase letters of the alphabet, listed vertically on two separate strips of paper.  Students slide their strip through two slits that make a viewing "window".

You can use this packet for table top worksheets, Speed games, or even as an interesting and less stressful assessment tool.

I've also included traceable upper and lowercase letter flashcards with a cover, so students can make Itty Bitty booklets, a tip sheet of what else you can do with the traceable cards, + "kaboom" bomb cards to make games even more fun.

There's an upper and lowercase  trace and write worksheet; an upper and lowercase "I Spy!" tracing game sheet, that can double as an assessment tool; + the "craftivity" upper & lowercase letter slider for girls and 1 for boys. 

These too can be a fun "I Spy!" game, or used as an assessment tool.  Finally, I've also designed an ABCDe-tective certificate of praise.

Click on the link to view/download the "I Spy A Letter" Packet.

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Do you have an alphabet activity you could share with us? I'd enjoy hearing from you. diane@teachwithme.com or post a comment here.

"Worlds can be found by a child and an adult bending down and looking together under the grass stems or at the skittering crabs in a tidal pool." -Anonymous

Here's a Word Family TRICK For Helping Teach Common Core, That's A Real TREAT!

Your students will enjoy making this quick and easy Halloween treat bag “craftivity,” that’s perfect for Daily 5 “word work,” as they practice the –ick and –eat Word Families.

You'll be covering the Phonological Awareness Common Core State Standards: RF.K2a, RF.K2c and RF.K2e

Run off my template with the adorable Laura Strickland trick or treaters on it.

You can use the treat bag just as it is, or you can cut off the top of a brown paper lunch bag, so that it fits on the back of this treat bag, and glue it on.

It's a little trickier to manipulate the strips, but then it's truly a functional bag for doing other things with, which I'll explain later.

Help children SLIT the top & bottom dashed lines of the squares. Insert letter strips, so students can make new words.

There will be a few giggles as they say “Wick or wheat”, “Sick or seat” "Chick or cheat" and “Kick or heat.” etc.

I’ve also included, traceable word flashcards + covers so students can practice the words in yet another way, and make Itty Bitty booklets.

When they have finished cutting & tracing their word cards, they can drop them in the bag when they are done.  Students write their name on the side of the bag. You can punch holes and put in real yarn for handles if you want a more 3-D effect.

After everyone has completed their bag, call on students to pull their strips to make the various sentences. Children read them in unison.

Make sure the last one they read is “Trick or Treat!” Drop a piece of candy corn, or a sticker, or special treat in their bag, for their great effort!

You can also play “I Have; Who Has?” with the word cards.  Make a copy of the word cards and do not cut them out. Post these pages on the board.

Make another copy and laminate them.  Cut these out.  Put them in your Trick or Treat bag and have students choose cards ‘til they are all gone.

You read an –ick card and ask for an -eat card on the list. The –eat child reads their card. Both children say their “–ick or –eat!” sentence together. Those cards go in the bag. Play continues ‘til all of the cards are gone.

Click on the link to view/download the –ick or –eat Word Family Treat Bag.

Thanks for visiting today.

10 pages. Common Core State Standards: RF.K2a, RF.K2c, RF.K2e A fun way to review -ick and -eat words! Students make this "craftivity" and pull the letter sliders through the treat bag windows, to reveal humorous new ways to say "Trick or treat!"

Comparing and Contrasting The Election With Venn Diagrams

Another fun way to plug in the election is through Venn diagrams. Venn diagrams are a great way for students to collect, analyze and compare data. They are a quick visual representation, that children grasp easily.

When completed, they make a nice election bulletin board or hallway display, and can be hung back-to-back from the ceiling.

Although there are Venn diagrams included in this packet for the 2012 election, there are also plenty of blank and neutral Election Venn diagrams, (14 total), so this packet will be able to be used for future election activities.

Click on the link to view/download Election Venn Diagrams.

If you're looking for some Election voting badges for your students, I just finished 8 different designs. Click on the link to view/download them.

If you've missed the other election activities I've blogged about, simply scroll down.  If you're looking for more Election-themed lessons, click on the link.  This will take you to an entire section of Election items and packets.  Scroll down to choose which ones you want to download.

I'm not done designing election stuff, so be sure and pop by next week for some math and time related activities.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything you think others might find useful.

"Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get." -Dale Carnegie