Getting to the Core

It's Pumpkin Time!

1-2-3 Come Do Some Pumpkin Stuff With Me!

pumpkin activities, 10 frames, 10 frame templates, coin activities, coin booklet, counting coins, pumpkin money, 10 frame activities, pumpkin math, pumppin centers, pumpkin songs, pumpkin crafts, pumpkin activities, pumpkin puppets, pumpkin easy readers Our pumpkin theme was one of my Y5's favorites. We especially enjoyed all of the fabulous pumpkin books available. I'd always introduce a theme with a selection of interesting books, many of which, my little ones asked to have read over and over again. Click on the link for a copy of my October bibliography.

One of our favorites was Pumpkin Round and Fat. I have a huge collection of puppets that made reading and lessons extra special, so I often helped my kiddo's make a puppet-manipulative of their own.

When I Googled this poem, to get some ideas, I found a sweet Popsicle puppet idea over at Teacher Mama. This is my version: Click on the link to view/download the Jack-O-Lantern Popsicle stick puppet.

I've had several requests for some coin activities involving pumpkins, so I dreamed up an easy-reader entitled, Pumpkin Payment. Besides reinforcing the penny, nickel, dime and quarter, it also reviews all of the basic 2D shapes kiddo's are required to know, including that crazy hexagon.

pumpkin activities, 10 frames, 10 frame templates, coin activities, coin booklet, counting coins, pumpkin money, 10 frame activities, pumpkin math, pumppin centers, pumpkin songs, pumpkin crafts, pumpkin activities, pumpkin puppets, pumpkin easy readers Children trace and write the coin words, coin values, as well as the shape words. They trace the shape and then draw one of their own on the pumpkin. Finally, they cut and glue the appropriate coin(s) to the matching numbered boxes.

When everyone has completed their booklet, read it as a whole group to reinforce concepts of print. Click on the link to view/download the easy-reader booklet, Pumpkin Payment.

Students read, trace and write the number and number word.
They see a "thing" in a sentence and say it.
They spy the number in a sequence and circle it.
They X-out that many boxes or use a bingo dot marker or stamp.
They cut and glue the set/group to the matching numbered box.

pumpkin activities, 10 frames, skip counting, pumpkin bookmark, skip counting by 2's 3's 5's and 10's, 10 frame templates, coin activities, coin booklet, counting coins, pumpkin money, 10 frame activities, pumpkin math, pumppin centers, pumpkin songs, pumpkin crafts, pumpkin activities, pumpkin puppets, pumpkin easy readers Another quick booklet, that would work well for a Daily 5 activity is the easy-reader Pumpkin On A Vine. Students read, trace and write the simple sentences and then cut & glue the pictures to the matching numbered boxes.

pumpkin activities, 10 frames, skip counting, pumpkin bookmark, skip counting by 2's 3's 5's and 10's, 10 frame templates, coin activities, coin booklet, counting coins, pumpkin money, 10 frame activities, pumpkin math, pumppin centers, pumpkin songs, pumpkin crafts, pumpkin activities, pumpkin puppets, pumpkin easy readers Finally, Let's Count Pumpkins covers quite a few Common Core State Standards which includes an easy reader where students read, trace and write the numbers, + circle them in a sequence.

Children circle capital letters, add end punctuation to the simple sentences, + count the pumpkins in the group/set and color the puffy numbers as well.

This pumpkin math packet also includes trace and write worksheets for counting from 0 to 120, + skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's, and 10's. There are 2 sets of pumkin number cards to use for sequencing, games, and making equations using the matching math symbol cards.

pumpkin activities, 10 frames, skip counting, pumpkin bookmark, skip counting by 2's 3's 5's and 10's, 10 frame templates, coin activities, coin booklet, counting coins, pumpkin money, 10 frame activities, pumpkin math, pumppin centers, pumpkin songs, pumpkin crafts, pumpkin activities, pumpkin puppets, pumpkin easy readers You can practice counting forwards and backwards with the pumpkin bookmark that is also included in the packet. Use this as a whole-group assessment tool too.

Give each child a bookmark and a candy pumpkin. Students trace the numbers. Teacher calls out a number and students put their pumpkin on that number. You can tell at a glance who is struggling and make a note of it. As a special treat, students can eat their candy pumpkin when the lesson is over. Click on the link to view/download the Let's Count Pumpkins math packet.

pumpkin activities, 10 frames, skip counting, pumpkin bookmark, skip counting by 2's 3's 5's and 10's, 10 frame templates, coin activities, coin booklet, counting coins, pumpkin money, 10 frame activities, pumpkin math, pumppin centers, pumpkin songs, pumpkin crafts, pumpkin activities, pumpkin puppets, pumpkin easy readers Thanks for visiting today. I design and try to blog daily, so I hope you can stop by tomorrow for even more FREEBIES. Feel free to PIN anything from my site. I think sharing truly makes all of our lives easier. To take a look at all of the helpful educational items that I PIN click on the heart button to the right of the blog.

"Knowledge and understanding are ife's faithful companions who will never be untrue to you. For knowledge is your crown and understanding your staff, and when they are with you, you can possess no greater treasures." -Kahlil Gibran

Students read, trace and write the number and number word.
They see a "thing" in a sentence and say it.
They spy the number in a sequence and circle it.
They X-out that many boxes or use a bingo dot marker or stamp.
They cut and glue the set/group to the matching numbered box.

- See more at: http://www.teachwithme.com/downloads/item/2759-682#sthash.VeXIPJlF.dpuf

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Studying Seeds

1-2-3 Come Study Seeds With Me.

I just returned from a wonderful get-away weekend with my husband. We enjoyed seeing all of the gorgeous fall colors here in Michigan and stopping at several farms to buy fresh produce; lots of apples, pumpkins, corn etc.

It got me to marveling at how things grow, so I thought it would be fun to make several seed activities. They are quick, easy and interesting math extensions, that also touch a bit on science.

seed activities, seed lessons, seed centers, math centers for fall, pumpkin activities, apple activities, sunflower activities, pumpkin seed activities, apple seed activities, sunflower seed activities, guesstimating, common core pumpkins, common core apples, common core sunflowers, seed booklet, studying seeds, seed facts, graphing activities, I decided to match the seeds that I had put in the easy-reader booklet: My Seeds, a few years ago.

Here students trace and write the various fruit words and color the pictures. If you have the seeds available, students can glue them to the appropriate pages.

The Seed Exploration packet covers quite a few math standards. If you don't want to foot the bill for all of the seeds, you can send the parent-note home asking for donations.

This is included in the packet. Our Dollar Store sells packages of sunflower and pumpkin seeds as well as bags of popcorn kernels.

If you carve a pumpkin in your class to analyze pumpkin data, you may want to save the seeds from that and do these as follow-up activities. It's also easy to simply buy a package of pumpkin seeds that are ready to eat.

seed activities, seed lessons, seed centers, math centers for fall, pumpkin activities, apple activities, sunflower activities, pumpkin seed activities, apple seed activities, sunflower seed activities, guesstimating, common core pumpkins, common core apples, common core sunflowers, seed booklet, studying seeds, seed facts, graphing activities, To introduce your lesson on seeds, use the KWL for seeds that's included in the packet.

There's also an information sheet defining seeds that you can share with your students.

seed activities, seed lessons, seed centers, math centers for fall, pumpkin activities, apple activities, sunflower activities, pumpkin seed activities, apple seed activities, sunflower seed activities, guesstimating, common core pumpkins, common core apples, common core sunflowers, seed booklet, studying seeds, seed facts, graphing activities, You may want to set up these activities as a center. Fill paper bowls with the various seeds.

Have students bring up their Dixie cup and take a spoonful of each kind and put it in their cup. When they get back to their desk they can spill out their seeds and arrange them on the sorting mat.

seed activities, seed lessons, seed centers, math centers for fall, pumpkin activities, apple activities, sunflower activities, pumpkin seed activities, apple seed activities, sunflower seed activities, guesstimating, common core pumpkins, common core apples, common core sunflowers, seed booklet, studying seeds, seed facts, graphing activities, After students are done sorting, they take one of each seed and glue it to their identification worksheet.

seed activities, seed lessons, seed centers, math centers for fall, pumpkin activities, apple activities, sunflower activities, pumpkin seed activities, apple seed activities, sunflower seed activities, guesstimating, common core pumpkins, common core apples, common core sunflowers, seed booklet, studying seeds, seed facts, graphing activities, Students can also arrange the seeds in size from smallest to largest and then glue one of each kind on their "sequencing sizes" worksheet.

seed activities, seed lessons, seed centers, math centers for fall, pumpkin activities, apple activities, sunflower activities, pumpkin seed activities, apple seed activities, sunflower seed activities, guesstimating, common core pumpkins, common core apples, common core sunflowers, seed booklet, studying seeds, seed facts, graphing activities, I've also included a guess-timation worksheet. You can do this as a whole group, or have students work on their own paper. Students also work on their greater than, less than, or equal to skills with a worksheet incorporating those math symbols.

When everyone is done, gather students in a circle to review what they learned, discuss their discoveries, share their worksheets and do any graphing extensions that you want to follow up with.

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"Good teaching cannot be reduced to a technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher." -Parker Palmer

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Harvest Themed Activities

The Farmer In October

pumpkin activities, harvest activities, harvest lessons, farmer in the dell activities, pumpkin songs, harvest songs, harvest lessons, daily 5 activities for october, easy reader booklets for october, fine motor skill activities for october, vegetable activities, fruit activities, fruit lessons, vegetable lessons, farm lessons, farm activities, cut and glue booklets for october, October is often inundated with Halloween, and for schools who don't celebrate that, it's sometimes hard to find "harvest' related activities. I wrote The Farmer In October with a harvest theme in mind, because of that. I've included a teacher's copy, with manipulatives that you can laminate so that your story can be interactive.

There is a "cut & glue" version for students, to reinforce fine motor skills. Have students transition to this activity after reading the teacher’s edition. It makes a nice independent reading/writing center or great Daily 5 activity.

Have students combine them with other word wall word flashcards, from other packets, to make sentences. After everyone completes their booklet, gather children in a circle and act out the story. Manipulatives are included.

The Farmer in October can be sung to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell. The "characters" in the story are fruits and vegetables that he harvests. Students can play these parts just like the farmer's wife, the dog, cheese etc. in Farmer In The Dell. Children make a circle and sing The Farmer in October song, picking fruits/veggies and having them stand in the middle, as you would for The Farmer In The Dell.

I've also included, a graphing extension, as well as a tally sheet to incorporate math with reading! Click on the link to view/download The Farmer in October 28-page packet.

pumpkin activities, harvest activities, harvest lessons, farmer in the dell activities, pumpkin songs, harvest songs, harvest lessons, daily 5 activities for october, easy reader booklets for october, fine motor skill activities for october, vegetable activities, fruit activities, fruit lessons, vegetable lessons, farm lessons, farm activities, cut and glue booklets for october, Thanks for visiting today. Feel free to PIN anything you think others might find helpful. My "Pin it" button is on the burgundy menu bar. I design and blog daily. I hope you can stop by tomorrow for LOTS of Christopher Columbus FREEBIES.

Happy Harvest to you and yours!

“Schoolteachers are not fully appreciated by parents until it rains all day Saturday.” –E.C. McKenzie

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Math Activities With Candy Bones

1-2-3 Come Do Some Candy Activities With Me!

I had a request for a Candy Bones graph. I’d never heard of them; (Where have I been?) so I Googled candy bones. They are really quite popular, as there were lots of Ask.com questions of where to buy candy bones and what to do with them.
Many of the links were outdated and broken, so I went on my own quest.

Oriental Trading has the best deal Online for “Candy Bones.” The bones in their pack include: the ever-popular sweet-tart skull, foot, hand, ribs and plain bones. They come in pastel colors. There are approximately 28 pieces per pack and 19 packets per unit (13 oz.) They are “fat free” and were $8, now on sale for $5.99 as of 10/7/13 I have dealt with Oriental Trading for many years and never had a problem. Their customer service is wonderful.

Amazon.com also offers the same candy bones mini packages. They are sold by Zugar and fulfilled by Amazon. They are $9.99 for the same quantity as Oriental Trading. Some teachers have e-mailed me that they have also found the candy bones packages at their Dollar Tree Stores. However, they were not in mine, here in Grand Rapids, MI

There is also another popular bone candy called: Skulls and Bones. Unlike the above candy, these only have 2 shapes inside, but more colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink, white and a blackish purple. Unlike the other pastel candies, these are brightly colored. They are offered by Candy Nation. They sell bulk at $3.85 a pound.

O’Ryan’s Village, featuring old-fashioned candy, also sells a package of Skulls and Bones for $2.29. There are 11 small packages inside. So now you know where to get the candy. Why would you want it? For starters, they are perfect for graphing. The skull and bones lend themselves to a Halloween, pirate or a science skeleton/bone activity.

A sweet treat makes math a whole lot more fun for your kiddo's too. So they aren't eating too much candy, pass out a sample from your stash at the start of the lesson, with the promise of being able to eat one more at the end, and if they behave, they can take the rest home. This always worked with my Y5's whenever I used edibles for lessons.

Students spill out their package and sort them on the sorting mats. I have ones for both kinds of candy, as well as a sorting mat for colors. Children practice counting, tally marks, and addition with the various graphs and candy bones worksheets.

I've also included whole-group graphs so that you have an extra opportunity to review your students' results. There are graphs for shapes, colors, favorites, and flavors. Since I was on a roll, I decided to make guess-timation activities, as well as some worksheets for patterning. You can cover quite a few standards in a short amount of time.

Click on the link to view/download the Candy Bones Math Activities packet. Another popular download is the candy shape poster packet. Did you know that Halloween treats come in all of the standard shapes? For a fun review, print off a set to use as anchor charts or large flashcards.

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"Learning should be a joy and full of excitement. It is life's greatest adventure and should be an illustrated excursion into the minds of noble and learned men, not a conducted tour through a jail." -Taylor Caldwell

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October Writing Prompts

1-2-3 Come Do Some Fall Writing With Me

Since the "Apple Sense" craftivity was downloaded quite a bit, I decided this format would also work well for Pumpkin Sense. No matter what grade your students are in, they need to be reminded to use their senses to make their writing "come alive." The use of adjectives is equally important, and such a simple thing to explain using examples. I find that if students can add a bit of art to their creations, writing is more fun and completed projects make wonderful bulletin boards that build self-esteem.

Run off the pumpkin template on orange construction paper. Students add a bit of color to the the stem, with a green crayon. You can make this even cuter, by having students trace their hand (with their fingers spread) onto a sheet of green construction paper, trim and glue their "leaf" next to the stem. Adding a photograph gives things that finishing touch.

Run the "pumpkin guts" off on yellow construction paper. Students trim and fill in their answers. Before hand, discuss the 5 senses, as well as what an adjective is, explaining the importance of using both to write better.

Brainstorm words that can be used to describe a pumpkin using the various senses and write them on the board. Students can draw from this word bank when they write.

So that they are practicing starting a sentence with a capital letter, have students write a complete sentence, rather than filling in their answer. Review proper end punctuation. To make sure that they use adjectives, encourage students to underline them.

You may want children to write a rough draft, checking to make sure that every noun has a descriptive word before it. Can they think of a better word to describe what they are seeing, feeling, tasting, smelling, etc? When they are satisfied with their final draft, they can write it on the yellow insert. Click on the link to view/download the Pumpkin Sense craftivity.

Continuing with adjective practice, I designed a Describing Fall packet.

Students think of words that describe the various fall themes: school, apples, leaves, pumpkins, spiders, bats, scarecrows, sunflowers, turkeys and Pilgrims, and then fill in the appropriate boxes with adjectives. Once they have done that, students incorporate several words into 1 or 2 sentences that they write on the back of their worksheet.

Children can add a bit of color with crayons or markers. When everyone is done, have them share their work. I've also included a definition of an adjective anchor chart. Click on the link to view/download the Describing Fall Adjective Writing packet.

If you're looking for more activities involving the 5 Senses you may like Sam's Senses craftivity. Children cut and glue the labels to Sam the pumpkin man. What makes Sam special is that his hands are the traced hands of the student. Click on the link to view/download Sam.

cov cc go My Fall Senses, is a quick and easy candy corn graphic organizer that again helps students practice their writing skills. Click on the link to view download this fall writing activity.

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