1-2-3 Make a Memory Book With Me.

I LOVE owls and that cute little saying: "Owl" miss... so I designed an end-of-the-school-year packet around them.  

With so much to do at that time, I wanted to post this a little earlier than usual, as time really flies for me.

The packet includes several writing prompts for students to write about what they'll miss. 

One is a bookmark and the other a class book.

Run off the cover and student page. Children complete the thought: "Owl" miss... and then illustrate their page.

Collect and collate the pages and bind them into a class book. 

When you share the completed story with your students, have each child read their own page.

Make a copy of your school composite and give each child an oval of themselves to glue on the tummy of the owl.

I've also included a note from the teacher. 

Tuck it in their backpacks for them to discover when they get home.

You can add slits to the page and insert a lollipop if you want. 

There's also a class memory booklet, complete with autograph page, where friends can sign their name on the owl's tummy. 

Students work on this writing prompt for several days, finally finishing the last week of school.

You can make their memory book even more special, by taking a last week of school photo of each child doing their favorite subject, activity, or at play during recess; and then have them include it somewhere in their booklet.

Thanks for visiting today. 

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Click on the link to view/download the Owl Miss School Packet

"A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings becasue it has a song." -Lou Holtz

1-2-3 Come Make An Owl With Me!

So Long School; Hello Summer is a writing prompt craftiviity I think your students will enjoy.

Students assemble their owls and then write what they'll miss about school under the owl's wings, or if you want them to have more room, they can cut and glue the "back" template and complete the writing prompt there.

You could also use this as a "graduation" activity and have students write about what they'll miss about pre-school or kindergarten, or whatever grade level they will be leaving.

Choose natural earth tone colors for your students to choose from, or for crazy-pizzazz, give them an assortment of bright colors to add a splash of wow to their work.

Glitter as well as wiggle eyes can also make things pop.

Adding a school photo to the leaf, helps easily identify work and makes the project even more of a keepsake.

I used a flower paper punch for the eyes. There are many available, and students enjoy this fine motor skill.

The owls look wonderful swirling and twirling when they are suspended from the ceiling in the hallway.

Click on the link to view/download the Owl Miss...Writing Prompt Craftivity.

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"How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something, but to be someone." -C. Chanel

1-2-3 Figure Out Story Elements With Me

Making The Very Hungry Caterpillar Story Dangler is a fun way to help students reinforce their understanding of content, as well as the following Common Core State Standards:L.K.2a, L.K.2b, RF.K.3a, RF.K.3d, RF.1.1a, RL.1.2,W.K.7,SL.K.2, RL.K.2, RL.K.3

The "craftivity" is an interesting way for students to show their ability to retell a story, as well as a gauge for the teacher to see if anyone needs help with comprehension.

(The smile is the title of the story, and the circle is about characters and setting. The leaf with the egg on it = the beginning of the story, the apple = the middle of the story, and the 3D butterfly = the end of the story. )

After reading the story review concepts of print with your students. Discuss who the characters are, where the setting takes place, as well as what happens in the beginning, middle and end of the story.

When students can identify the important events from the beginning, middle and end of a story, their reading comprehension and writing ability improves.

This knowledge helps a reader understand how organization, sequence, and plot make a good story, so they hopefully will include it in their own writing. (It's been said that "Good readers are also good writers.")

Here's How To Make The Hungry Caterpillar Dangler:

Cut lengths of yarn for each child. So they don’t get knotted, fasten them to a paper plate with a bottom and top slit cut out. Lay the yarn between the slits.

Make the eye, nose and antennae templates by cutting out the patterns and tracing them on an old file folder.

Older students can trace and cut out their own pieces, but it really expedites things for little ones, if these are already pre-cut by a room helper.

Run off the body parts on construction paper. To save paper, each child gets one body part.

To hang them together simply run a piece of yarn across the back and tape each section to it.

I like the more finished 3D look of giving children two of each body section.

To attach, they flip their pieces over and put them in a line with ½ an inch of space between them.

Children rub glue on the back, lay the yarn on top and then glue the other half over it.

I wanted the leaf to be 3D, so I only glued half of the leaf together, and let the other half stick out.

To represent a butterfly egg, I fastened a mini white pom pom to the right side of the leaf with a glue dot.

I also wanted to make the butterfly 3D, so I folded the wings up on either side of the thorax.

Rub glue on just the thorax area and press the other thorax over it. Fluff the wings and they will look like the butterfly is flying.

Pass out the pieces to the children. They fill in the information and assemble their Story Dangler.

Punch a hole in the top of the head and make a yarn loop.

If you want to cover even more standards, have students add another circle or make a heart to tell why they liked or did not like the story, or compare this story to another caterpillar or butterfly story and state which one they liked better.

These look adorable hanging from the ceiling (if you have front and back pieces) or hung in a row on the wall if you used Scotch tape.

Click on the link to view/download The Very Hungry Caterpillar Story Dangler.

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"Garbage in, is garbage out! Pay attention to what you read, listen to, and watch." -Unknown

1-2-3 Come Flip Over Opposites With Me!

It’s that time of year when students start wearing flip-flops!

I was looking at clip art and thinking “What can I do with flip flops?” I thought of “opposites”.

One sandal is the flip word and the opposite word is the flop; hence they flip flop.

I spent lots of time whipping together a 155-page packet so you wouldn’t have to!

I think your kiddo's will really enjoy this great vocabulary builder; it’s easy to implement and fun to do.

I know that school’s almost out, but hopefully this will get you excited for next year.

Hang up the flip-flop poster.

Choose a "flip" word for the day. i.e. "big".

Students have to guess the "flop" word "little" which they write in their flip- flop recording journal.

If you're also studying synonyms and/or antonyms, have the journal do double duty and challenge students to think up a synonym/antonym for the flip and flop words as well.

This only takes a minute, but will provide tremendous vocabulary building opportunities, an easy way for students to understand opposites as well as strengthen their understanding of synonym and antonyms.

The better their vocabularies, the better their writing skills.  By writing the words, and doing the trace & write activities their spelling will also improve!

Flip-Flops make a great addition to your "Word Work" for Daily 5 activities too!

The packet includes:

• 550 traceable opposite word cards
• Covers to turn them into Itty Bitty booklets +
• Directions of what else you can do with the cards including a variety of games like Kaboom.
• Kaboom bomb cards
• 275 traceable pocket cards, (These can also be made into a flip booklet.)
• You can also turn these pocket cards into puzzle cards.  Sample puzzle included.
• Blank set of cards to program your own opposite words, or worksheets. i.e., Write in one word and have students fill in the matching opposite word.
• A list of 550 words that make up 275 pairs of opposites.
• 3 different types of opposite recording sheets + 5 different journal covers so that students can make a Flip Flop Op Journal to record the daily Flip word activity in.
• Flip Word Of The Day Poster
• Flip Flop Word Wizard Tracking Chart-Poster +
• A certificate of praise

Click on the link to view/download Flip Flop Opposites

 I hope your students absolutely flip over these fun activities as they build their vocabularies!

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"Anyone who has not made a mistake, has not tried anything new." -Einstein