1-2-3 Come Study 2D Shapes With Me
Since fall is in the air, I decided to put some autumn decorations up. I have lots of scarecrow-themed things, as they can stay up through Thanksgiving. I LOVE decorating for the seasons, but hate taking stuff down and putting it away, so the longer things can hang around, the better.
My love for scarecrows probably stems from fond childhood memories, seeing all sorts of creations watching over large gardens and small farms in Wisconsin. My Y5's enjoyed this mini-theme as well, so I used scarecrows to help teach all sorts of standards. Here are some that I designed to reinforce 2D shapes.
My personal favorite is Socrates. He's a "slider" as the paper strip of shapes, slide through the "window" to make his nose. It was fun drawing and putting him together.
As I putzed with what to do for his hair, I decided to put a sheet of yellow construction paper through a shredder.
Rubbing a glue stick on the edges of his head and neck, then pressing down various pieces of shred, made the perfect scarecrow hair and "hay stuffing" peeking out of his neck and hat.
So that you can cover more standards, I've also included "sliders" for numbers 1-30, skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's and 10's, as well as upper and lowercase letters. Click on the link to view/download Socrates the Scarecrow Shape Slider.
Socrates came about, because I made an easy reader booklet entitled: My Scarecrow's Nose. In the story, an adorable little scarecrow needs a nose!
It's up to your students to decide which 2D shaped nose is the best for their scarecrow.
It's a quick, easy and fun way to learn about shapes, at the same time helping strengthen finger muscles, as children trace and draw the nose shapes and then trace and write the shape words.
To reinforce concepts of print, when everyone is done, read the booklet as a whole group.
I've also included a graphing extension where students vote on their favorite shaped nose.
There are also 2 worksheets. Students trace and write the shape word, then match the shape to its shape word.
Finally my last scarecrow-themed shape activity is Sam and Samantha. They are full-body scarecrow "danglers".
Give students the option of whether they want to make a boy or girl scarecrow.
As with Socrates, I used shredded paper. Picking up the long shred, ripping it into smaller lengths and then pressing them to the back of the scarecrow, is wonderful fine motor skill practice.
However, if you think this is too time consuming, use a few pieces of double-sided stick tape, then cover with a piece of regular tape when children are done decorating.
Because a pile of shredded paper is tempting for all sorts of shenanigans, remind students ahead of time, that if they throw the shred around and make a mess, they will not be able to use some on their scarecrow. I never had a problem.
So that you can review lots more 2D shapes, I've included a template with extra shapes on it. Students can cut and glue as many shapely "patches" on their scarecrow as they want.
Children can opt to keep the shapes separate, (see photo of Samantha) and glue the various shapes onto a piece of yarn, or they can glue their pieces together, which is a bit easier for little ones. (See photo of Sam.)
Punch a hole in the top triangle and suspend from the ceiling, back-to-back with another child's scarecrow. Adding a few real buttons adds a bit more pizzazz. Click on the link to view/download Sam/Samantha The Shapely Scarecrow craftivity.
Thanks for visiting today. For more scarecrow fun, be sure and pop back tomorrow The timer's ringing, so I need to dash off and check the big pot of Veggie soup I'm making for dinner. Nothing like a nice hearty bowl of soup on a crisp fall evening. Wishing you an ed-venture filled day.
"Trying times are times for trying." -Unknown
