Items filtered by date: February 2013

1-2-3 Come Fly A Kite With Me!

As the wind is whipping around your school this month, are you looking for some kite-themed activities?  Well you've come to the right place!  I'll talk about a few of my favorites here, and then give you a link for the rest.

To help you review the Common Core State Standard: MD.1.3, I've designed a kite clock.  The game is entitled "Time Flies!" and reviews digital as well as analog time.

Click on the link to view/download the analog and digital time - kite clock.

If you're working on colors and patterning with your students, you'll enjoy the Kite Patterning packet.

You can quickly and easily whole group assess your students, as they have fun adding a variety of colored strips, to make a patterned kite tail.

Kites come in a large array of sizes and shapes, so I thought it would be fun to see if I could find examples of all of the 3D shapes.

I learned a lot doing this research, and found many examples of spheres, cones, cubes and cylinders.

In the easy reader: 3D Kites, students trace and write the shape words as well as glue the matching pictures to the numbered boxes.  Click on the link to view/download the 3D Kite booklet

No kite unit is complete, without studying the -ite and ight word families.  I made a kite poster listing these word families as well as included them in the My Kite Booklet. 

The easy-reader kite-booklet packet, is chock full of -ite & -ight activities, like the Zite Story Poem. 

There's also some trace and write worksheets as well as well as a graphing extension, plus 25 traceable word cards.

The packet also includes an -ite -ight word family kite "craftivity."

Click on the links to view/download the My Kite Packet.

Finally, since all of the glyphs have been such popular downloads, I decided to make a kite glyph too.  Click on the link to grab this freebie.

To see more kite activities, click on the link to zip over to the kite section, with 23 kite activities!

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"Distance means so little, when someone means so much. " -Unknown

1-2-3, Come Slide With Me, To Study a Word Family!

My Y5's really enjoyed making "sliders."  I named them that, because you slide a strip of paper through slits that then revealed something in the cut out "window."

I made sliders for lots of my report card standards: upper and lowercase letters, numbers, skip counting, counting backwards, shapes, colors, word wall words etc.

A slider was an especially successful way for my students to actually see, how a word family operated. 

They liked seeing new words appear, as they slid their letter strip up and down.

To make a slider, simply run off the templates on construction paper.  Students cut out and assemble.

Add pizzazz to their chick with wiggle eyes, a 3D beak, a yellow feather atop the head, and by folding the wings forward.

I added that finishing touch to the bunny, with wiggle eyes and a pink pom pom nose. Students can also glue a cotton ball to the back for a fluffy bunny tail.

Sliders are a wonderful way for discovering words that your students are not familiar with.

Add these to the vocabulary-building activities included in the packet like this sweet -ick ending word dictionary.

I often built vocabulary for a variety of themes and word families via a dictionary.

I've included a cover for both the -ick chick word family slider, as well as the bunny -op word family slider.

I hope your students LOVE learning new words as much as I do!  One of my favorite things about the internet is the unbelievable amount of information available at the click of some keys. 

While I was researching ick and op ending words I learned a few new ones I didn't know: snick, strop and swop!

There's also a worksheet in each slider packet, where students trace and then write the word family words in alphabetical order.

Because I thought it would be slick for students to skip count with their chick, I also included skip counting strips for 2's. 3's, 5's and 10's.

Click on the link to view/download the chick ick word family and skip counting sliders.

Click on the link to view/download the -op word family bunny slider packet.

If you like these spring sliders, you'll probably want to take a look at the sheep slider, featuring -eep Da -eap word family words.  Click on the link to view/download it.

Thanks for visiting.  The birds are chirping; the sun is shining and it's time for a much needed break to grab some fresh air.

"Do your work with your whole heart and you will succeed; there's so little competition." -Elbert Hubbard

9 pages. This packet includes a slider for -ick ending words, + a chick slider for skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's and 10's.

3 pages. Sliders are a fun way to review endings of words. A bunny hops, so I chose a rabbit to be the slider.

1-2-3- Have Fun Writing About Goals With Me

Pot of Goals is a fun "craftivity" March writing prompt, that reinforces Common Core State Standards: L.K.2a, L.K.2b, RF.K.3d,  RF.K.1c, RF.1.1a, L.1.2b

Simply run off the templates on construction paper. 

Students complete the "goal" coin sentences and add their reasons why.

Remind students to use appropriate capitalization, end punctuation and spacing, when they write their goals on the coins.

Lay out a selection of large construction paper, in the colors of the rainbow.  Only have enough paper so that all of it will be chosen, and you'll have a sampling of every color.

Students cut out their pot and coins, and glue them to the construction paper.

Hang the completed pots, in rainbow color order, on a large wall.  Your title can be: A Rainbow Of Wonderful Writing.

For a bit more pizzazz, have students write their names in rainbow colors, add a school photo + gold and silver glitter.

Click on the link to view/download the March writing prompt: St. Patrick's Day Pot of Goals.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything that you think others may find helpful.

"Learning is not a spectator sport, so let's play!" -Unknown

3 pages. Common Core State Standards: L.K.2a, L.K.2b, RF.K.3d, RF.K.1c, RF.1.1a, L.1.2b Pot of Goals is a fun "craftivity" writing prompt. Students complete the "goal" coin sentences and add their reason why.

17 pages. There are several ways to use the Seuss Hat for number games.

1-2-3 Come Make Some Spring Glyphs With Me!

When I think of spring I think of bunnies, eggs, and butterflies, so I designed some cute glyphs with those things in mind.

My Y5's really enjoyed making glyphs.  Completed projects make wonderful bulletin boards, and they are a quick, easy and fun way to whole group assess listening and following directions. 

This was a report card standard for my Y5's.   So that this is not just my "opinion" that was made through observing their child, a glyph provides nice "paper proof."

If a parent ever questions why you feel their child is not listening and following directions, or asks you for "proof", a file of incorrectly done glyphs is a terrific resource. 

After I took down this spring bulletin board, I kept completed glyphs in my assessment folder. 

I paperclipped incorrect ones together, and put them on the top. 

I also kept an answer key, so that I had a correct comparison for parents to peruse, as they looked at them side-by-side, and I pointed out problems.

After conferences, I'd send those glyphs home and start fresh.

The photographs are of completed glyphs.  As I stated above, each Glyph makes a sweet bulletin board on their own, but you could also combine them. 

Have students cut out their eggs and then use them as a border, scatter the bunny glyphs on the board, cut out and hang the butterfly glyphs back-to-back, and at different lengths from the ceiling, or "resting" on the wall. 

For a more 3D effect, fold the wings up, and just tack down the thorax portion.

Glyphs and graphing are also wonderful ways for your students to collect and analyze data, which will help you review the Common Core State Standard: 1.MD.4

Click on the link to view/download the egg glyph and/or the butterfly glyph and the bunny glyph

Thank you for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.

"It's OK to not know, but it's not OK to not try." -Unknown