1-2-3 Come Do Some Little Miss Muffet Activities With Me

Our spider unit is one of my students’ favorite October themes.

It’s a perfect time to plug in a few nursery rhymes like “Little Miss Muffet”.

My Y5s absolutely love doing hands-on craftivities to reinforce lessons; so I designed these quick, easy and fun craftivities to help students sequence and recite the nursery rhyme.

First up is a simple "flip the flap" craft.

There are 4 Little Miss Muffet “cover” options to choose from, along with their matching “backs”.

Pick your favorite or give children a choice.

As always, there are full color patterns so that teachers can quickly and easily make an example to share, as well as black & white options for students to color.

All of the packets include background information on the nursery rhyme, along with a colorful anchor chart poster of the poem, which you can use to introduce your lesson.

Afterwards, share your sample to help explain what you want your students to do. 

Children color and cut out the two squares then glue them back to back. Attach the "spider strip" with a piece of Scotch tape, that "hinges" it to the top, so that you can flip the strip from the back to the front.  

When everyone is done making their own, recite the rhyme as a whole group, using the manipulative.

Students begin the rhyme by showing the front square, where Miss Muffet is "eating her curds and whey".  When they get to the part, "...the spider sat down beside her", children flip the spider to the front. For the last stanza, "...and frightened Miss Muffet away!" they turn their square over to reveal a scared Miss Muffet fleeing.

For further reinforcement, have children pick a partner and take turns sharing their “flipper” with each other.

Next up is my newest creation "Instagame", inspired by "Instagram". 

I debuted this idea with my "First Day Jitters" literacy packet, and thought it would be wonderful for nursery rhymes as well.

I don't know about your kiddos, but mine are fascinated with taking pictures and anything trendy & current. 

Students color, cut & glue the “picture tiles” in the correct order, which helps practice the “sequencing & retelling a story” standards in a quick, easy and super-fun way.

So that you can assess comprehension, and the ability to sequence correctly, I’ve included a “mixed up” worksheet option, where the picture tiles are not in order, as well as an easier one, for younger kiddos, which is in the correct sequence.

There’s a cell phone option, as well as a larger tablet worksheet.  Pick your favorite, or give students a choice. 

Use your colorful copy as a whole group “Let’s Sequence” activity.

You can do this during and after you read the “Little Miss Muffet” nursery rhyme.

Simply print, laminate & trim, then pass the tiles out to your students.

While you’re reading the nursery rhyme, pause for the child holding that picture tile, to place it on the phone/tablet poster.

After you’ve read the rhyme, pass out the tiles to different students, and see if they can put the pictures in the correct order. Grab that “teachable moment” to reinforce ordinal numbers as well.

Use tape, magnet dots, or Velcro squares, to attach the pictures to the phone/tablet poster. From here, students can transition to completing a worksheet of their own. 

Since my storytelling wheels have been so popular, I decided to make them for nursery rhymes as well.

Children really enjoy "turning and learning", as the wheels are easy to put together. The pictures help prompt the student to retell the story, or in this case, recite the "Little Miss Muffet" nursery rhyme. 

For writing practice, and to check comprehension, have students complete the “If a spider sat down beside me…” writing prompt worksheet, then color it.

There’s a full color pattern, so you can quickly make an example to share, or do as a whole group activity with little ones. 

Finally, a "spider slider" is another craftivity that will help your students sequence and recite the rhyme.

There are two, “Little Miss Muffet” options, with their own matching sliders and poster-poems.

Pick your favorite, or give children a choice. 

I purposely designed Miss Muffet inside a rectangle for easy-peasy cutting. 

However, I think the slider looks better trimmed. Check out the samples on your left.

This cutting is a bit more complicated, but once I show my students via "monkey-see, monkey-do" directions, how to cut around Miss Muffet leaving a white border around her, they usually opt to cut her out.

Students color Miss Muffet, along with the story elements on the “slider strip” then cut & glue it together.

As children pull on the end of the strip, the various pictures go through the “window” on Little Miss Muffet’s dress.

As with the wheel, the slider packet also has a writing prompt:  “I like / don’t like spiders because…” Students complete the prompt then color their worksheet.

I’ve also included a graphing extension as a follow-up for this activity.

Today's featured FREEBIE also has a spider theme.  "Spin A Spider" is a fun way to help students practice 2D shapes.

The packet includes a game as well as a "trace and write" emergent reader booklet.

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by.

The temperatures have once again cooled, so the crisp fall air is calling me.  Time to go crunch some leaves. Invigorating!

"Most people see what is, and never see what can be." -Albert Einstein

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1-2-3 Come Do An Itsy Bitsy-Eensy Weensy Nursery Rhyme Craft With Me

Do you teach your students “The Itsy Bitsy-Eensy Weensy Spider” nursery rhyme song? This is one of my students’ all time favorites.

The “finger plays” that I teach to go along with the song, are also a super-fun way to strengthen finger muscles and improve dexterity.

As another way to do that, I designed the aluminum foil, “spider & spout” craft, which is made out of an empty paper towel tube.

You can simply make one for yourself to introduce the rhyme, then put in a center, or do the craftivity as a whole group.

If your students are like mine, they will really enjoy making their own, and practicing the nursery rhyme using their “spider spout”. 

A note home at the beginning of the year, to "Please save empty paper towel tubes." will ensure you have enough.  Being an avid recycler, I personally save all sorts of things like this, with help from my family, so I always have a supply of "whatever" on hand.

So that teachers can quickly & easily make an example to share, patterns come in both color, as well as black and white for students.

Each child's will be a bit different, as there are 10, cute spider graphics to choose from, as well as 6 kinds of rain clouds, along with 4 different sun circles.

I set this up as an independent center; students come up and choose their “pieces & parts” then go back to their desks to complete.

Using a glue dot, or a piece of Scotch tape, attach the spider to the front of a cloth ponytail holder, and the rain cloud to the back. The sun is hinged at the top with a piece of Scotch tape.

As a whole group, slowly say each verse, as children manipulate the pieces to match what’s going on in the nursery rhyme.

Afterwards, partner kiddos up so they can take turns practicing once more. (Fun to do with a reading buddy too.)

As children become adept at moving the pieces easily and smoothly, repeat the rhyme one last time; going from super-slow to super-fast. 

Today's featured FREEBIE is a sweet "keepsake" craftivity. As a mom, I absolutely loved when my children would bring an art project home that was extra special. 

With that in mind, as a teacher, I tried to do one of these "paper love" crafts each month.

A personal favorite, is this butterfly; the wings are traced from the child's shoe. 

The paper heart says: "I made this card especially for you. The butterfly's wings were traced from my shoe."  A pipe cleaner and folded thorax, add 3D pizzazz.

This is a quick, easy & fun activity for spring, or use for a Mother's Day or Father's Day card.  There are templates for all 3 in the packet. 

Well that's it for today. The sky is threatening rain, so it's a good day to cut, color & play!

Crafting is one of my favorite things to do. 

Wishing you a happy & carefree day.

Poster: "I'm a craftaholic on the road to recovery. Just kidding; I'm on the road to a craft store." -Unknown

1-2-3 Come Do Some Nursery Rhyme Activities With Me

I plug in nursery rhymes whenever I can, so during our winter “mitten theme” my young fives enjoy learning “The Three Little Kittens”.

Since my storytelling wheels have been so popular, I decided to make “Rhyme Time” poetry wheels, to help practice the “retelling & sequencing” a story standards, using favorite nursery rhymes.

Each packet contains background information on the nursery rhyme, along with a colorful anchor chart poster of the poem.

I’ve included a BW version for students, to help practice reading and whatever other skills you are working on.

For example, using this “worksheet” beginning readers can circle rhyming words, color words, number words, or other sight words.

Reinforce spelling by having children underline “silent e” words; 1, 2 or 3 syllable words; vowels, or long and short vowels etc.

There are full color patterns to use for an independent center, as well as a sample to share, plus a black and white pattern, so students can make their own.

When everyone is done with their “Rhyme Time Story Wheel”, take a moment to retell the rhyme as a whole group, by turning the wheels.

To reinforce the lesson further, encourage students to “show & share” their wheels with their family, retelling the rhyme once again. Can anyone recite it?

I also have my students pick a partner and take turns sharing their wheels with each other. Sometimes we do this with our older, reading buddies.
This is a quick, easy & fun way to check comprehension too.

Since the wheel is cut into 6 equal parts, if you’re studying fractions, be sure and take a teachable moment to review that vocabulary and information as well. 

Another interesting way I teach "The 3 Little Kittens" nursery rhyme is with a "slider" craftivity.  This is a different option for practicing the "sequencing" and "retelling" a story standards. 

If you like both, simply use one as a center, and the other for an in-class, whole-group activity, or fun homework assignment.   

There are 2 outside slider options to choose from.  Pick your favorite or give children a choice.

Students color the story elements on the “slider strip” then cut and glue it together.

As they pull on the end of the “slider-strip” the various pictures go through the “window”, so that children can take turns retelling the nursery rhyme to a partner or reading buddy, then take their craftivity home to share with their family, once again practicing these standards.

I introduce the lesson by reading the colorful, poster-poem (anchor chart) then share my completed "slider craft” with my students.

I’ve also included a BW version of the poem for students, so you can use it as a worksheet.

So that you can quickly, and easily make an example, I’ve included a full-color slider pattern.

After I read the nursery rhyme, we recite it together, using the picture prompts on my slider.
I have them guess which element of the rhyme they think comes next, before I pull the picture through the “window”.

“Rhyme Time Sliders” are also an easy & interesting way to assess comprehension. 

Since March is just around the corner, today's featured FREEBIE is a collection of sheep-themed nursery rhymes, which my Y5s enjoy learning during our lion-lamb theme in March.  I hope you find them useful too.  

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for popping in. The sun is valiantly shining, despite some windblown clouds that threaten to cover the warm rays.

Maybe I'll get a bit of yard work done today...or not!  So many options and not enough energy.   Wishing you a fun-filled day.

"The most important part of education is proper training in the nursery." -Plato

1-2-3 Come Do Some Halloween Craftivities With Me

When parents would ask "When does your Halloween party start?" I'd answer with a big smile, "When the children get here, and it lasts all day!"  The day before, I'd let my students know that we'd be doing all of our math, reading, writing and center activities as usual, but they'd all have a Halloween theme, so we could "party" all day.

They were then pleased and happy about this, and I wasn't constantly being asked: "When does the party start?" which interrupted everyone's focus.  They also remained calm, on-task and weren't all fidgety waiting.

In the 10 years I taught Y5's this day was never a crazy day, instead, it was one of my personal favorites, because I had lots of volunteers eager to help out.  We proceeded as normal, with only part of our lights on, to add just the right amount of ambiance.  (This also seemed to relax my students.)

They wrote with their "spooky pencil pal" which was quick and super -inexpensive to make. (Directions in the Halloween packet.)

In the afternoon, our snack time would be extra special (cider, fruit, veggies, with some sweets & treats, which parents provided) and to practice and review a variety of standards, we'd play educational games.

I think one of the Y5's favorite parts of the day, were the super-fun centers.  Parents would come in to help, so I could plug in a few more craftivities.  What took me a bit of time to design and set up, they usually completed in just a few minutes, but that was OK as we had much to accomplish. They were enjoying themselves and learning at the same time.

I share my party day ideas in a Halloween packet, but wanted to dream up a few new ones, as this was one of the first units I did, way before I had all of the cool software programs, fonts, and clip art that I use now, but perhaps you'll find a few things you and your kiddos will enjoy.  

These cute dangling ghosts are a quick, easy and fun little something to do on Halloween party day, or as a nice activity to transition to after reading some Halloween-themed stories.

I was "pinspired" by a Family Magazine holiday craft photo.  They did not provide a pattern, so I made up my own.

Cutting on a spiral provides wonderful scissor cutting practice, which helps strengthen little finger muscles. 

There's an easy ghost pattern with no arms for younger students, and to help out your left handed kiddo's, I've included flipped patterns for them.

Older students can write on the spiral and complete one of these prompts: "Things that are creepy to me are . . ." or "Things that I'm a bit afraid of are . . ."

As you can see by the photo, these look awesome dangling from the ceiling, where they'll twirl and swirl. 

Click on the link to view/download the Spooky Spirals Halloween ghost writing prompt craftivity.

Another Halloween craft that I found several versions of on Pinterest, was a photo of a child in a pumpkin. 

These too, did not offer a pattern, so I provide one in my Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater craftivity packet. 

There's a blank pumpkin, one that says: "Happy Halloween from your little pumpkin" as well as one with the nursery rhyme written on it that I revamped.

"Teacher, teacher pumpkin eater.  Had a student couldn't reach her.  Put _________ in a pumpkin shell and there she taught her very well." (Female and male options.)  I've included a poster of the original Nursery Rhyme. 

Midnight Magic, is also a quick, easy and fun little ghost craftivity, perfect for Halloween party day because it's super-simple and has that "Oh Wow!" factor.  

This art is called crayon resist, as the wax in the crayons resist the watercolors. I've taken a picture of the 3 steps of how it looks.

Using a white crayon, (press hard) trace the simple ghost pattern onto squares of white paper.  Children will not see the ghost 'til they "wash" their paper with the "magical colors of midnight".  To their utter delight, a ghost will appear as they are painting. 

Although an all-black wash is effective, I think the ones where children used purple, blue and black turned out better.  I did a ghost, but any simple shape (pumpkins, candy corn, or bat) would do.

I've also done these with children's names.   Click on the link to view/download the Midnight Magic Halloween watercolor craftivity.

In the Halloween Crayon Resist packet, I've included 5 coloring pages for kiddos to choose from, along with directions of how to set things up. 

Finally, another quick painting craftivity, is Alphie Andy the candy corn alphabet cup. I used styrofoam cups, orange and yellow acrylic paint and a black ink pen to make these fun "I Spy a Letter!" game "twirlers".

Students can add a face to the top white section, or leave it plain. First graders can write their own letters on the top of the cups, but I'd do this for younger kiddos.  (I did a class set while watching TV.  Takes a minute or two per cup.)

It's not at all difficult, but little ones have a tendency to write large, so they won't be able to fit all of the letters around the rim.   When you make yours, look at my photo.  Letters need to be close, with a small space.

Remember the cup is upside down when you write the letters on the rim.  Add a second cup so you have a sturdier surface to write on.

You can keep this simple and just make cups with the uppercase letters on them, or "double up" and add an additional cup with the lowercase letters.  This way, you can review more than one standard.  When you call out a letter, students twirl their uppercase letter cup til their arrow lines up with that letter; then they twirl the lowercase letter cup, so that letter matches up with the uppercase one.

Students literally take 2 minutes to paint a yellow and orange stripe on their cup. (Make sure they write their name on the bottom.) Set aside to dry. Add an arrow, insert cup(s) and play "I Spy!"  It's a quick, easy and fun way to whole group assess.  Children hold up their cup when they've found the correct letter and have the arrow pointing to it.  Click on the link to view/download Alphie Andy, the Candy Corn Alphabet Assessment Cup craft.

That's it for today.  Thanks for visiting. Have to go check my apple-crisp bars.  The cinnamon scent is wafting through the house and smells delicious.  Wishing you a warm-fuzzy kind of day.    

"Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done." -- Louis D. Brandeis

It's Time To Mouse Around

As I’ve stated in other articles, I try to plug in a nursery rhyme whenever it seems to fit in with whatever else I’m doing, so at the start of learning about telling time, it just seems appropriate to read Hickory Dickory Dock to children.

When looking into the background of this nursery rhyme, I discovered that it was indeed intended to teach about counting.

Who knows, maybe that led to the possibility of a little bit of time telling thrown in, as the reason why numbers were so important.

Hickory, dickory, and doc, is believed by some to mean,  8,9,10.  How we got to one and why a mouse is running around the clock, remains a mystery, but makes a wonderful writing prompt.

In my packet, Hickory Dickory Clock, I’ve included 2 such writing prompts that turn into what could be hilarious class books: Hickory Dickory Dock: Who Else Went Up The Clock and Why? Helps students use their imaginations and work on verb skills.

I’ve written an extension of the poem to help jumpstart their imaginations, as well as review all 12 numbers, where a duck waddles up the clock at 3, followed by a rabbit who hops up at ten only to do it over again, culminating with my favorite, the cow, who of course jumps over the clock at noon, hoping to later jump over the moon.

A trace and write the verbs worksheet is also included.

The other class book is entitled: Why Did The Mouse Run Up the Clock? Did he have a secret meeting with his girlfriend; was there a piece of cheese hidden up there; was he running away from the cat?  Your students will have fun solving the mystery on their page and illustrating it.

There’s an anchor chart poster of the modern version of the rhyme, as well as one of the 1901 Mother Goose version that uses the intro line “Hickety Dickety…”

Also included are two “craftivities” and a spinner game, which help reinforce telling analog time as well as digital time.

Hickory Dickory Dock Clock Game:

Hickory Dickory Dock Glue the Numbers on Your Clock, is a spinner game that is played with 2 to 4 players.

Students twirl the spinner. Whatever number they land on, they snip & glue to their clock and trace the digital time on the pendulum area.

The first child to complete all 12 numbers is the winner and receives a mouse for the top of his clock as well as a mini-certificate.

The rest of the children glue their numbers on their clock to earn their mouse sticker as well.

Teachers can have students add a brad and paperclips for clock hands to make this game into a “working” clock to whole-group assess the students, if they want to take this one step farther, or stop there and make the paper plate mouse clock.

Paper Plate "Mousin' Around" Clock:

Here students cut out their clock face and glue it to a colored paper plate.  I used multi-colored Halloween plates that I got on sale and then ran off the mice on neon green construction paper for a nice pizzazzy complimentary color.

Pre-cut small strips of black paper. Students will snip these into a point and glue one to the back of their mouse.  If you want the ears to be 3-D have them cut on the lines and bend back.  This will help them move the mouse to the different times, as they can gently tug on an ear.

Poke a hole through the mouse, add a brad and fasten it to the back of the plate.

Whole group assess to the hour, by calling on students to give you a time.  Children move the mouse’s tail to show that time and then hold up their clock.

Cat Got Your Tail? Time to the hour mouse slider:

Finally, “Time to Pull the Mouse’s Tail” also reviews time by the hour.

Students glue their two "clock tail” strips together and make hands to show the time from 1 to 12.

Teachers cut slits with an Exacto knife in their mouse and slip their “clock tail” into the mouse.

Using glue dots, I’ve added wiggle eyes and a small pom-pom nose for that extra touch of pizzazz.

The teacher calls on quiet students to call out a time.  Children slide the mouse’s “tail” to reveal that time and hold up their mouse.

Play continues ‘til all 12 times have been shown.

I’ve also included traceable word flashcards for analog as well as digital times + covers to make an Itty Bitty booklet.

A sample of each one of the activities makes a sweet bulletin board: "Time to see what's up in ____________'s classroom!" or... Hickory Dickory Dock What's Going On On Our Side Of The Block?

Click on the link to view/download the  Hickory Dickory Clock Packet

I hope this idea comes just in TIME to be a nice fill-in for whatever you’re doing right now.

I’d enjoy hearing about how you use it. diane@teachwithme.com

Feel free to PIN away if you find anything on my site worth sharing!

"Don't put a question mark, where a period should be." -Unknown