1-2-3 Come Do Some Snowflake Alphabet Activities With Me    

Because my Y5s need to review letters throughout the year, I thought it would be fun to design some snowflake-themed alphabet activities; thus this snowflake letter craft was born.

It's very versatile, as younger kiddos can simply snip & glue their initial.

For added pizzazz have children glue their school photograph inside the small snowflake and write their name on the larger one, then arrange and glue them to their letter craft. 

If your kiddos have lockers, laminate and display there.

I've also included 3 writing prompt worksheet options for older children.

Choose which one is most appropriate for your students, or give them a choice.They attach the worksheet to their initial. 

One option practices the vocabulary associated with letters. "Cc is for Cody and cat, crayon, clown, circle, crown & car."

So that the letter "pops" out, have children choose 2 colors to write their words.

For added pizzazz have them draw and color a picture of one of the words. 

Another writing prompt option, "I am unique like a snowflake!" helps students get to know a bit more about their classmates.

I find that children really enjoy sharing about themselves, so filling in the blanks on this worksheet (favorite color, food, animal etc.) is an especially fun activity for them.  When everyone is done, have them "show & share" their completed project.  

The 3rd writing prompt option, is also a fill-in-the-blank worksheet which revolves around their letter and name, and practices counting.  

Since all of the worksheets are so different, you could easily stretch this activity over several days doing all 3 prompts.

Completed projects make interesting & awesome wintry bulletin boards too.

I've included a "Letters are 'snow' much fun!" poster for the center of your display.

Teachers can also assign a letter to each student then hang the completed alphabet cards up as a winter border, or use them as large flashcards. 

These could also be collected, collated and made into a class-made, wintry alphabet book.

Introduce the craftivity with my snowflake “Hush!” poem. So that the poem easily transitions into the activity, I added another stanza on a separate poster: "We made our time together, snowing blowing better, making a snowflake letter!"

I’ve provided one in color, which can also be part of your bulletin board display, as well as a BW version for students to color, take home and read to their families.

The poem is packed with Dolch sight words and offers a nice rhyming review and easy way to include the poetry genre into your lessons.

* Besides the snowflake letter writing prompt craftivity, there’s also a Venn diagram compare & contrast activity, and a set of lovely snowflake cards perfect for sorting, patterning, or playing a Memory Match game with.

* For more letter practice, I’ve included 2 sets of snowflake-themed, upper & lowercase letter cards, along with a 4-page tip list of what you can do with them, including games like “What’s Missing?”, “Hidden Letter” and “Kaboom!”.

* There’s also a set of snowflake alphabet puzzles, plus a “How many words can you make using the letters in snowflake?” worksheet, with a 111-word answer key.

* The “I Spy a Letter!” game sheets are a quick, easy & fun way to whole group assess upper or lowercase letters.

* The 6 bonus worksheets are nice for early finishers, homework or a sub tub.

* Another super-fun way to practice letters and whole group assess, is with the snowflake slider craftivity.

There’s a strip for uppercase letters, and another for lowercase.

I have my students choose 2 different color highlighters, so that they can trace the letters in an ABAB pattern.

To play the assessment game, call out a letter.  Students pull their slider strip up or down 'til they locate that letter in the "window" of their snowflake, then hold it up. 

You can see at a glance who is having difficulty.  My students absolutely LOVE making and collecting sliders, so we do one each month featuring a seasonal theme that practices a variety of standards.

Woo hoo! There are two featured FREEBIES today. The first one is a quick, easy & fun snowflake craftivity that your kiddos will really enjoy doing with their families. 

Completed projects make an awesome bulletin board.  My students love pointing out their family's picture, which is especially nice for preschoolers who often miss their moms during the day. 

The next one is a "Shapely Snow Angels" emergent reader booklet featuring 2D shapes.  I hope you find it useful. 

Well that's it for now. Today's the perfect day to putz with more snowflake activities, as zillions of them are dancing in the breeze outside my office window. 

Wishing you a snuggly day, filled to the brim with fun.

           "Snowflakes may be delicate and fragile, but look what they can do when they stick together!"

1-2-3 Come Do Some Snowflake Activities With Me

My kiddos absolutely LOVE snowflakes. The entire month of January, finds us in a flurry of snowflake-themed activities. I'm featuring two of our favorites today.

The snowflake word family craftivity packet, is a quick, easy and super-fun way to practice and review word families.

The activities are great for a whole group, independent center or Daily 5 word work.

Completed projects make a simple, yet awesome winter bulletin board .

Put the two word work posters in the center, then scatter students’ snowflakes on a blue foil background (I use wrapping paper.)

The packet includes:

* 4 large snowflake templates
* 70 snowflake word family cards
* A list of the 70 word families, with 987 word examples!
* A word family sentence worksheet
* A word family bookmark, which students can use to write word family words on the back, plus . . .
* A cover to make a word family booklet 

Another snowflake activity that I think your students will enjoy is the 2D snowflake shapes game. 

It's a quick, easy and fun snowflake matching game, with several ways to play.

Students can play independently as a center activity, or pick a partner and play a game. They match shape to shape card, shape card to shape card, shape to shape, or shape card to word card.

There's a "color the shape" spinner game as well. I often use these activities as an interesting and fun way to assess.

The featured FREEBIE for today, also has a snowflake theme.

If you're looking for an awesome winter bulletin board or fun writing prompt that your kiddos will get excited about, then this "snow" special family snowflake craft's for you.

It's a quick, easy and fun "homework" assignment, which even PK kiddos can do with the help of their families.

Completed projects make a lovely bulletin board. Suspend a few from the ceiling above the board for that finishing touch. Caption:  "Brrrrr-illiant Work!"  

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

We have huge fluffy flakes gently falling outside my office window right now. PTL I don't have to shovel.  

Wishing you a warm and snuggly day!

"Advice is like snow-the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind." -Samuel Taylor Coleridge

1-2-3 Come Snip Some Snowflakes With Me

During the last few days before Christmas break, we took down all of our December bulletin boards and hallway displays featuring my students' work.

Because everything looked so bare, I always liked to do a craftivity on party day, that we could hang up for January. "Snippy, the 2D Snowflake", is perfect for that.

When it comes to practicing our scissor  skills, is there any cutting activity more fun than snipping a paper snowflake?

My Y5s absolutely LOVE making them, as there seems something almost magical about gently unfolding their creation, to reveal a lovely lacy snowflake.

With that in mind, I designed Snippy, the Shapely Snowflake Snowman, as a way to practice and review 2D shapes.

Although they look pretty awesome, they are no more difficult than cutting a regular paper, just follow my simple directions. 

If you opt to just make a regular snowflake, using coffee filters, instead of paper, is much easier for PK kiddos to cut.

The more "chunks" you snip, the more intricate your snowflake. Snipping chunks in the various 2D shapes, will also help reinforce this Common Core Standard.

I show my kiddos how to cut squares, rectangles, circles, triangles, a diamond rhombus, as well as a heart. 

Although each snowflake will be unique, just like real ones, the various shapes will be the same for everyone. 

Those snowflakes then becomes Snippy's body, with the hatbands stating the name of the shape.

Even if you choose not to do this as a whole-group, listening and following directions craftivity, make a set for a lovely "Winter Wonderland Wall", to use as shape review.

The packet includes directions, patterns and photographs of the folded steps, plus pictures of the completed projects.

Before we make our snowflakes, I read Snip Snip Snow by Nancy Poydar.   It’s one of my favorite snowflake books and my Y5’s really enjoy it. 

They always asked if they can make a snowflake too, which provides the perfect segue to our paper cutting activities.  

For almost all of them, this is a first-time experience, so they are extremely excited to begin.  To save time, you can prefold the paper for little ones, otherwise you can do the folding portion as a "monkey-see, monkey-do" following direction activity.  

While you are demonstrating, remind students to keep their snowflake folded and to have a space in-between each cut or they will have a snowflake with big holes that will likely fall apart. 

I always had a few kiddo's who got caught up in snipping and failed to follow directions.  For this reason, it’s a good idea to run off a few extra shapes. 

I hope your kiddos have a blizzard of fun as they snip snip away. The results are truly amazing!

Finally, while researching paper snowflakes, I came across the lovely idea of using a snowflake as a paper tutu for a ballerina, over at Krokotak What little princess wouldn't want to make one of these! 

There's also a connet-the-dots snowflake over at Calvary Kids with numbers to 78. 

The featured FREEBIE today is another shape craftivity.  I call them snowman name stackers.

They are a quick, easy and fun way to practice name recognition, letters, circles, squares and rectangles. 

My kiddos also make these before break, so that we can hang them on our lockers.

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by. I'll be watching Kaiden (3) and Kaitlyn (1) today.

My grandchildren are certainly rainbows in my life.

Maybe we'll make some snowflakes and attach them to the packages that still need wrapping.  Wishing you "fun-tastic" day. 

"Good friends are like snowflakes.  Each different and beautiful in their own way." -Unknown

1-2-3 Come Do A Flurry Of Word Family Activities With Me

It's snowing right now and I'm so in the mood for more! My Y5's loved our January snow-themed activities, so I decided to incorporate some word family work with a snowflake theme.  I hope you enjoy today's FREEBIE, which fits in nicely with Daily 5 word work.  Completed projects make an awesome winter bulletin board too.

There are 4 large snowflake patterns. Run them off and give your students a choice. 

There are also 70 word family snowflake cards, with 9 on a page for quick printing.

Choose the word family cards you want your students to practice, toss them in a container and have each student pick one. 

They write that word family in the center of their snowflake.  One of the facts that my kiddos learn about snowflakes is that although each one is unique, they all have six sides. 

For this reason, you can choose to keep things simple and have your students think of just six words for their word family, or challenge older students to think of more.

I've included a variety of samples you can share with your students.

If you want them to practice alphabetizing, have children write their words on a sheet of scratch paper, alphabetize the words and then write them in alphabetical order on their snowflake, starting at the top and writing clockwise. 

I've included a list of 70 word families, which has an alphabetical list of example words for each one. (This is a pretty comprehensive list, as I've included 987 words appropriate for school. ) 

You can share this list with your students if they become stuck, or if you want them to write more than six words on their snowflake.  To build vocabulary, have children look up any words that they are unfamiliar with. 

For more word work, there's a word family bookmark template.  Students fill in the word family you want them to work on. 

After they jot down as many words as they can think of, brainstorm as a whole group and write the words on the board. 

Afterwards, students return to their seats and update their list.  Have students save their word family bookmarks. 

When you're done with word families, have students organize the bookmark pages in alphabetical order then add the cover and staple.

There's also a worksheet where you fill in the amount of words and sentences you want your students to write that incorporate the word family words. 

Click on the link to view/download the Snowflake Word Families packet.

That's it for today.  I'm off to go play in the snow!  My poodle pup, Chloe, LOVES scampering through the sparkles.  Wishing you a fun-filled and relaxing day.  

"Advice is like snow - the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper in [it] sinks into the mind." -Samuel Taylor Coleridge

1-2-3 Come Snip Some Snowflakes With Me!

I don’t think there's another cutting activity more fun than snipping a snowflake.  Even young children enjoy this great fine motor practice.  There’s something magical about unfolding a cut-up triangle to reveal a lacy snowflake! 

The photo shows my Y5's creations (along with 3 of my own more intricate ones, that I used as samples.) I displayed them on our cafeteria door, which was located across from our room.  Everyone enjoyed them, and commented that they couldn't believe my little ones had made such awesome lacy snowflakes. 

I was extremely proud of their results and how far they had come with their scissor skills!  They absolutely LOVED snipping snowflakes.

For PK kiddo’s, fold coffee filters, so they are less thick and so much easier to cut.  You can also expedite things by having your snowflakes pre-folded, or use this opportunity to whole-group assess listening and following directions, as well as ordinal numbers.  i.e. First fold your paper like this.  Second fold this point over to this point etc.

Be sure to make quite a few extras for students who fall in love with creating them, or those little ones who get carried away snipping and make a snowflake that falls apart, because they didn’t keep spaces in between their cuts.

For extra pizzazz, spritz their creations with silver glitter spray.   (Make sure you’re in a well-ventilated area.  Even though it’s cold, I spritzed artwork outside.)  Completed projects look great sprinkled on a blue-foil bulletin board, used as a border, arranged in a huge wreath on the wall, or taped to a classroom window.

Before we made our snowflakes, I read Snip Snip Snow by Nancy Poydar.   It’s one of my favorite snowflake books and my Y5’s really enjoyed it.  They always asked if they could make a snowflake too, which provided the perfect segue to our paper cutting activities.    For almost all of them, this was a first-time experience, so they were extremely excited!

This easy snowflake pattern can be found over at Sociological Images in an article about Snowflake Bently.

To cut some really intricate snowflakes, which you can use as incentives, check out the tutorial at DIY Cozy Home. 

I'd cut 3 really awesome looking snowflakes and tell my students that they would be given to 3 "quiet as snowflake" students who completed their work. 

When I saw a child on task, I'd put their name stick in the cup that I would be drawing 3 students' Popsicle sticks from.  This was a very effective motivational tool.

There are quite a few more lovely lacy examples over at Designs That Inspire.

For more snowflake cutting practice, I think your students will enjoy making Snippy, the Snowflake Snowman.  He’s a terrific way to review 2D shapes. 

You may want to whole-group assess 2D shapes by using the snowman "posters" from My Shapely Snowmen. Make a set and use as giant flashcards. 

Have students count any vertices and review vocabulary like angles, corners, symmetry etc.  After your little review, have students transition to making Snippy.

Here’s how: 

• Run off the snowflake shapes on regular white paper.
• Review 2D shapes.  

Show my sample photographs, or make samples of your own.  Students choose a shape that they want for their snowman’s belly.

• Give students a few moments to trim their shape, counting vertices as they go.
  
• Demonstrate how to fold the shapes. 

I’ve labeled the shapes with numbers in each corner, to make this easier, however, there are a variety of ways you can fold your paper, as you strive for a folded shape that looks like a cone. 

There's a photo of each folded-paper shape, next to the cut-out snowflake shape, to assist you.

Older students can read the directions at the bottom of their paper.  For younger students, I suggest a “monkey see-monkey do”  whole-group direction activity.  i.e. Gather all of the students together who chose the circle shape. 

Fold once, and have children do what you do, then continue with the step-by-step folding directions ‘til they have the desired cone.

Also demonstrate how to snip a snowflake.  While you are cutting, explain symmetry to older students and remind them to snip the same “chunk”  on both sides.  This sort of cutting is difficult enough for little ones, so I simply let my Y5‘s snip away, with whatever shape they could manage.  

They were not able to make a heart shape, so if they wanted one, I snipped that for them, when they were done cutting.  

While you are demonstrating, remind students to keep their snowflake folded and to have a space in between each cut or they will have a snowflake with big holes that will likely fall apart.  I always had a few kiddo's who got caught up in snipping and failed to follow directions.  For this reason, it’s a good idea to run off a few extra shapes. 

If you want to be able to have more cuts show through, for a lacier snowflake, fold the paper one last time.  This will make the paper pretty thick, so students should be older, with more cutting experience.  

To avoid ripping their shape, show how students should SLOWLY and CAREFULLY unfold their paper. So they flatten out, have older students refold their shape, but only in the opposite way they were folded, so the paper can be flattened out and smoothed.  

• Run off the snowman head and hat templates, trim and trace onto an old file folder to make a pattern that you can trace once and then cut 3-6 at a time.  Because your students are already doing a lot of cutting, I’d have the head and hat pre-cut.

• So it's easy for children to have proper placement on their paper, have them glue the black hat to the white circle and then glue the snowman's hatted-head to the top of their paper.  Afterwards, they glue their snowflake so that it becomes Snippy’s body.  
• So they don’t rip their snowflake, have students rub their glue stick over the construction paper area where they will glue the snowflake, and then gently press the snowflake down, carefully smoothing it, so that it sticks to the paper.  

• Run off the shape-word hatbands on a variety of colors.  Students trim, trace and glue to their hat.  Glitter, or snowflakes cut with a paper punch can add a bit more pizzazz.   Punch a hole in the top, tie a yarn loop and hang back-to-back from a hallway ceiling.

I prefer making the snowman with just a snowflake tummy, but if your students would like to add mittens and boots for a more Frosty the Snowman look, I've included a template for both.  Click on the link to view/download Snippy, The Shaped Snowflake Snowman. 

Finally, while researching paper snowflakes, I came across the lovely idea of using a snowflake as a paper tutu for a ballerina, over at Krokotak What little princess wouldn't want to make one of these! 

There's also a connet-the-dots snowflake over at Calvary Kids with numbers to 78.

Thanks for visiting today, feel free to PIN away.  I hope you can stop by tomorrow, as I post more winter FREEBIES.

"Hold fast to dreams.  For when dreams go, life is a barren field frozen with snow." -Langston Hughes

1-2-3 Come Do Some Snowflake "Craftivities" With Me!

As long as we have to have winter, it might as well snow!  I'd always give my Y5's some time at our classroom windows, when the snow was falling heavily.  It's so lovely and sparkly.  They'd squeal with delight and chatter about a possible pending snow day.  I think I was as excited as they were at the prospect of a stay-at-home and snuggle day.

Our snowflake theme was a real favorite.  I'd start things out by sharing "Snowflake Bentley's" story and exquisite snowflake photographs.  If you don't own these books, I highly recommend them. 

I found that if I pre-folded coffee filters and demonstrated how to snip them into a snowflake, my students did a much better job, than when I used regular paper, which was way too thick for them to cut. 

Singing a rousing round of Frosty the Snowman got the wiggles out, and my students' behavior was really pretty stellar, in part, because they were working towards spelling the words Hot Chocolate, so they could receive that treat. 

They could earn a letter a day, which helped build self-esteem and confidence, as they worked together to achieve a goal.  I did the same thing with spelling Frosty The Snowman.  When they earned all of the letters, we'd watch the video at the end of the day. Click on the link to see it posted on YouTube.

The article today, shares some of my favorite snowflake activities.  I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.  

Start things out by printing, laminating and trimming a set of snowflake alphabet cards.  Use them as a border, independent center or to play a variety of games with.  I've also included a blank set so that you can program with whatever.  Click on the link to view/download the snowflake alphabet cards.

I think home-school connections are very important.  I designed a bulletin board activity each month, where students spent some quality time with their families, doing a themed-writing prompt craftivity. 

This family snowflake was the one for January.  Use blue foil wrapping paper for the background and suspend some plastic snowflakes from the ceiling for that extra bit of pizzazz.  Click on the link to view/download the Family Snowflake "craftivity."

Another awesome bulletin board involving snowflakes, is my Snowflake Writing Prompt Strips.  Run off a variety of color choices so that you will have a really vivid bulletin board.  These look wonderful on a black background spritzed with silver glitter spray. 

Students can write their resolutions, favorite things about winter, or something for your Martin Luther King Jr. activities.  I had my kiddo's write what they dreamed they'd some day be.

Click on the link to view download the Snowflake Writing Prompt Bulletin Board Craftivitiy.

One of the biggest down falls of snow with little ones, is that it's such a chore geting them dressed in all of their winter gear.

It would take some of my slowpokes so long, that by the time they waddled like a penguin out the door, the bell would ring to come inside!

To expedite things, I made up this poster of the order of how they should dress.  Before I did this, I invariably had more than just a few kiddo's start by putting their boots or mittens on first.  We've all been there I'm sure. 

Having a race to see who could be the first one dressed, or which team got lined up the quickest, really helped too.  Click on the link to print one for your hallway. Getting Dressed Poster

A matching easy reader about getting dressed is entitled: Let's Go! Let's Play in the Snow.  It's a great way to review ordinal numbers too. The packet includes traceable word cards, picture cards, a graphing extension, a compound word worksheet, as well as one on contractions.   Click on the link to grab it.

Finally, one has to make a few snow angels before everything melts.  Review 2D shapes with this Shapely Snow Angel easy reader.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  I design and blog daily, so I hope you can breeze on by tomorrow to see all of the newest FREEBIES.

"The Eskimos had 52-names for snow because it was so important to them.  There ought to be as many for love." -Margaret Atwood