Items filtered by date: June 2011

One of the things I work on during the summer is getting my things ready for counting up to 100-Day. I’ve listed some of the “stuff” that I do.  I hope you get a few ideas for your students and become excited for back-to-school.

I’m endeavoring to keep my articles short, so I will post only two ideas on a page.  There are 6 ideas, so keep scrolling down for two more “mini-sub articles” if you want to read all of the tips for this topic!

Index Card Booklet:

• Make an index card-number flip book. You can buy spiral bound, 50-page index packs, at any office supply store. 
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•  Some come in packs of 2, so you can make one for a special teacher-friend as a surprise gift.

• Tuck in a note that says:  “I’m so glad I can count on you!  Here’s wishing you 100-Days and more, of fun this year!”
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• I like the index cards that come in pastel or neon colors.

• Office Max has them in a two-pack for $4.79.
• I made several covers for you to choose from.

• Print one, cut it out and glue it to the front of the index card.
• Number them from 1-50 with a WATERCOLOR marker as all others, including a flair, will bleed through.
• Then flip the pack over and finish writing the numbers 51 to 100 on the back pages.

•  I’ve also made the little friend note if you opt to buy a two-pack.
• Tie some curling ribbon around the book, and make someone feel appreciated.
• Click on the link to view/print the 100-Day index card things.
  

 Sammy Snake:

• Count your way to 100-Day With Sammy! 
• Click on the link to view/print this adorable alliterative tongue-twisting story about Sammy and how he sneaks to school with Sally.

•  He will slither his way into your heart.  Make an easy sock puppet pal too!
• Counting to 100-Day with Sammy Snake
• Scroll down if you want to see the 2^nd mini-sub article about 100-Day jars and puzzles.

We’re “Pear Pairs!"

In the above article, I wrote a blog about fun and fair ways to pick partners. 

I was diddling with homonyms and fooling around with the word pear and pair and thought making pears as puzzles would also be a fun way to pick a partner. 

A bunch of alphabet, shape and number pears later, I had a 48-page packet!  Click on the link to view/download Pear Pair Puzzles

 This packet will be free for an entire year, then it will be updated and put in Diane's Dollar Deals in my TpT shop.  Click on the link to pop on over.

Here's What To Do:

Run off the pears on yellow or green construction paper. Laminate the sheets.

• Cut them out and then cut the puzzles apart.
  
• Put the uppercase letters in one bag and the lowercase letters in another.
• Explain to your students the homonym pears and pairs.
• Make sure that you only use enough letters as you have children present.
• Have ½ your students choose a puzzle piece from one bag and the other ½ choose from the other bag.
• When everyone has a pear puzzle piece, have students go find their partner so they can make a pear pair!
• This can simply be a game of who can make a pear pair the fastest as a fun review, or as a fun and fair way of choosing a partner for whatever activity you have planned.
• Keep the pears in separate envelopes when not in use.
• You can also use them as a Memory Match game, or as an independent matching game.
• Make an extra set to send home with a struggling child, or make individual booklets and have students TRACE the letters and then take them home to make their own game.

• I’ve given you a blank set for you to dream up other ways to use them.
• There is a plain pear as well as one with a face on it.
• You could make sets for compound words, or contractions.
• Make up equations on one ½ and answers on the other.

• Another fun “pear pair” is to make a personal one for each student.
• This is perfect for younger students who need to learn how to recognize their name as a report card standard.
• Glue a student’s school picture on the top and print their name on the bottom puzzle piece,
• Scatter the pear pieces on the floor and have students find their photo and matching name as a fun “Name Game Pear-Pair”!

• You can make a set with a color word on the bottom.
• Run these pears off on that color of construction paper.
• You can use these for your word wall or other color activities.

• I’ve also made a set with a shape matched to a word.
• These can be used to pick a partner if you are only using a few children. (6 or less.)
• If you plan to use shape cards for partners, run them off on 4 different colors so that you will have 24 cards.
• I’ve also made a cover for these, so you can run these sheets off and your students can make a shape puzzle booklet or a game of their own to take home.
• This booklet is ideal to get some cutting practice in, as it’s only a few pages.
• Instead of having a rectangular booklet like the letter or number booklet, have students cut out the pears.  Seems perfect, as this is a “shape” booklet!
• To give this booklet more pizzazz, have your students COLOR the shapes in rainbow colors and then TRACE the shape word in the matching color.
• This is a fun way to teach the colors of the rainbow and review colors with your students at the same time you are reviewing shapes! (More bang for your “time” buck!)
• There is also a set with dots and numbers and numbers and number-words.
• I’ve also made covers if you want to run them off so that students can make their own booklet.
• This is a great sequencing activity.
• Students can also number the sets of circles, color them, put a smilie sticker in one of the dots on each page, or have fun using bingo dot markers at a center!
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• Run off just one pear number and have students use 2 bingo colors to show a math equation and then write it on the pear. i.e., The #9 pear has 4 pink bingo dots + 5 green  bingo dots = 9 total bingo dots.
• If you want to use numbers as pear pairs and you have 20-22 students, make a set of yellow and a set of green pears.
• You can also use the number-word pear pairs as well and add a 3^rd color if you have more students than 22, such as a light yellow and a bright yellow, or a lime green and an emerald green.

• I wish you a delightful pairing up with your favorite person!  Have a warm and wonderful day!

49 pages. Common Core State Standard RI.K1d A fun and fair way to pick a partner, at the same time reviewing upper and lowercase letters, numbers 0-10, and shapes.  This packet will be free for an entire year, after which, Pear Pairs will be up-dated and put in Diane's Dollar Deals in my TpT shop.

Learning To Count By 5’s And Counting Up To 100-Day

Via a Fun And Interactive Bulletin Board for a Great First Day of School Activity!

I only had to skip count by 10’s to 100 with my Y5’s as a report card standard, but I know this is a standard for K’s and first grade. 

A fun way to do this everyday as well as to count up to 100 for that special day, is to make this quick and easy bulletin board.

Here’s How:

• Choose a background color that you will be happy with all year long, yellow and white look nice, but I’ve also used wallpaper that’s neutral in color and has a textured look and feel.


• This is not that expensive if you only buy one roll and you can usually find discounted rolls that have been discontinued at most paint and hardware stores.
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• This display works great next to your calendar center.
• You can put it up on the wall if you don’t have another bulletin board.

• Choose a plain-colored scalloped border.
• Black will help it pop and looks great all year.


• The caption for this board could be: High Five’s For ______________________’s kindergartners/first graders!
• Cut the letters out with a die-cut machine, or print them out on your computer.

• On the first day of school have a room helper trace and cut out your students’ hands, or send a note home and the paper in your Open House packets to have this already done for you by the parents.


• Make a sample of your own hand and explain to children that they can decorate their hand with fingernails, and rings.
• If you want to give the hands a bit more pizzazz and a 3-D affect you can give them rhinestones for their rings.

• Boys may enjoy wiggle eyes, but don’t be surprised if they want a rhinestone too.

• You could make the rhinestone their birthstone, or simply give them a choice of colors.
• Use glue dots so there’s no dry time involved.


• For the girls’ nails they can color them as if they have nail polish on.
• If you want to add more pizzazz you can go over them with real glitter nail polish or glitter glue.

• If you want to use the board to show a specific pattern, use the construction paper that they are tracing their hand on in two or 3 different colors.
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• Left handed children should have their left hand traced for more opportunities to compare and contrast, count, or graph this board.
• Write the child’s name in small print along the bottom border of the hand.
• Print off a copy of the two posters and mount them on construction paper.

• These can be your school colors or something that you can live with for the entire year, or have the class vote on what colors they want.
• If you have 20 children in your class you have the perfect set of hands.
• If you have less, you will have to make extra hands,; if you have more, sprinkle them on the corners of the posters, heading and bulletin board.

• Put the rest of the hands, 5 in a row, across your bulletin board.
• Do NOT number them.


• On the FIRST day of school, when you are doing the calendar, choose a child to put the number 1 on the thumb of the first hand.
• When all 5 fingers of that hand have been counted (5 days of school) the child whose handprint that is, gets to choose a marker and write the big number 5 on that hand.
• Even tho’ the numbers are not written on the hand, you can still count by 5’s everyday that you are doing this calendar.


• You may want to post an already numbered poster to help them “see” and visualize this.
• I’ve made posters you can print off.
• You can also count by 1’s.

• If you want to make V-arrows connecting 2 of the hands when you get a group of 10 done, you can also use the board to count by 10’s!
• At the end of the year, everyone can take their hand print home.

• Click on the link to view/print the masters for this article. Skip Counting by 5's Bulletin Board.
• For a FREE 85-page 100-Day packet click on the link!

• I have lots of other 100 Day ideas at this link.  Simply click and scroll down to download as many as you want. 100 Day Stuff
  
• Thanks for visiting.  Feel free to PIN anything you think others may find useful.
• I hope you can drop in tomorrow for more back-to-school tips.

"A Pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity. An optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." - Unknown"

When I taught high school, I remember running into a mother of a student years later.  She shared with me that her son still carried a dog-eared scrap of paper around in his wallet, with a list of positive qualities his classmates had wrote about him in my class!  Wow.  I never forgot that conversation, and the impact something so simple can have on a person. 

I hope this idea brings a smile to your students' faces and helps build their self-esteem.  Who knows, maybe someday you'll meet a mom somewhere and they'll tell you their child still has their Smile File! 

"I am not a teacher, but an awakener." -Robert Frost

54 pages. A little bit of everything for your study of fireflies.

Are you trying to think of something different to do as an icebreaker for a fun first day of school activity?  How about a survey?

My Y5’s loved carrying around a clipboard and asking questions.  It makes them feel “grown up” and important, or so they tell me when I ask them why everyone always wants to use my clipboards.

You can buy packs of 12 at Sam’s Club for a reasonable price.  They came in handy for this purpose as well as having them write in the hallway when we went on measurement adventures, or outside when we went on scientific explorations to collect data.

They are great as lapboards for when I had students writing in a circle on the floor as well, so I certainly got my money’s worth!

Directions:

• Gather your students together and brainstorm a list of yes or no questions and write them on the board.
• I’ve also included a list of suggestions.
• Each child chooses a different question.
• Set a timer and allow students to take their survey sheet and clipboard around to interview their new friends.
• Older students can write their friend’s name in the appropriate column, younger students can simply mark an X.


• The teacher should also participate.
• After the timer rings, give students a moment to add up each column.
• Gather students back into a circle to share their results.
• Everyone learns a little bit about everybody in a fun way.
• You can even graph results as a math extension. 

This information can be found in my Back To School Packet. Click on the link to view/download it.  
  

 Until next time… have fun breaking that ice, making friends and melting hearts!

Thanks for visiting. I hope you can pop back tomorrow for more back to school tips.

Feel free to PIN anything you feel others might find helpful.

"No dreamer is ever too small; no dream is ever too big." -anonymous