Items filtered by date: March 2013

7 pages. These are quick, easy and rather inexpensive gifts to make for your students for the first week of school.

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

I LOVE owls and that cute little saying: "Owl" miss... (you fill in what) so I designed an end-of-the-school-year packet with an owl theme using that play on words.  

I'm posting this a bit early, as there is so much to get done towards the end of the school year, that May  was always the month that flew the fastest for me.   If you've been contemplating making some sort of memory booklet, hopefully this will help you out. 

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

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 if you're looking for just a little something.  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. 

"I learned a lot of knOWLedge this year.  Here's a list of my favorites:" is a simple and quick writing prompt bookmark students can color.  This too makes a nice keepsake, and works well for a Daily 5 activity.

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

The beauty of this, is that students can work on their memory book writing prompts for several days, finally finishing the last week of school.  It's a great "something to do" while you get one-on-one assessing done with your students.

I don't know about your state, but Michigan had the worst winter on record and schools all over have quite a few snow days to make up.  My grandsons' last day is June 19th.  Having some copy-ready activities to do can help save your sanity.

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.

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

To take a look at another FREE end-of-the-year memory book click on the link.  I've included a cover page for preschool, kindergarten, first grade, second grade and a generic one to fill in something else. 

If you run out of time, you can always send the booklet home for a parent to help their child fill out, especially if they complain: "I'm bored!"

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything you think others may find helpful. My "pin it" button is at the top.

If you teach preschool or kindergarten and are looking for a graduation memory book FREEBIE, scroll down to the next article to take a look.

"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.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything you think others will find worthwhile.

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

13 pages. This packet includes a variety of writing prompts, plus a school memory book.

5 pages. 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 This fun "craftivity" will help students show their understanding of characters, setting, beginning, middle & end of the story.

1-2-3 Come 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.  Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.

For another Very Hungry Caterpillar activity, scroll down to take a look at the next blog article.

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

1-2-3 Come Flip Flop With Me!

Tis the season for flip flops! I thought it would be fun to use them to make some fun CVC word actiities.

I put a CVC word on one flip flop and then "flip-flopped" it, (wrote it backwards) to make a new CVC word.

Surprisingly, a lot of the flips made real words and not just nonsense words, but even the nonsense words are a valuable resource and fun for your kiddo's.

I also ran into quite a few palindromes (words that are spelled the same backwards and forwards), which is an interesting vocabulary word for your students to explore as well.

The 63-page CVC Flip-Flop Word Activities Packet will help you with Common Core State Standard:RF.K.3c

The Packet Includes:

• Over 450 CVC word flip flop cards (Use for your word wall, games, puzzles, Daily 5 Word Work etc.)
• 2 pages of blank flip flops that you can program with whatever
• 11 sorting mats so students can sort CVC words in a variety of ways: real-nonsense, noun-verb, palindromes etc.
• Flip flop "Kaboom!" cards for games + 3-pages of tips & ideas of how to use the CVC flip flop cards
• "Add A Letter" worksheet to make CVC nonsense words into real words. Have a discussion if this new letter changes the vowel sound to long, and what letters words don't usually end with ( c, j, h, f, etc.)
• A CVC word booklet students can make
• A CVC vowel sound game +
• A certificate of praise.

Click on the link to view/print the CVC Word Flip-Flop Packet.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything you think may be helpful to others. My "pin it" button is at the top.

"Sometimes we are all too quick to count the days, that we forget to make the days count." -Unknown

63 pages. Common Core State Standard:RF.K.3c Tis the season for flip-flops! This packet is stuffed with CVC words, that when flip-flopped (written backwards) give you more CVC word fun.