assessing numbers

Back to School Puppy Packet

1-2-3 Come Do Some Back To School Activities With Me

As children head back to school, it's helpful if you can do some early assessing with your kinders and firsties to see where everyone's at, yet that can be time consuming and really not all that fun for your kiddos the first week of school, when they're already antsy sitting through rules, regulations and procedure talks.

assessing kids the first week of school, back to school activities, alphabet activities, assessments, games, With that in mind I designed the puppy packet using the adorable clip art of DJ Inkers.

It's a wonderful back to school packet that you can use for a variety of activities.

Fill in your students' names on the "Look who's been spotted" worksheet. I've included templates for preschool, kindergarten and 1st grade, plus a blank one to write in whatever you're teaching.

assessing kids the first week of school, back to school activities, alphabet activities, name activities, assessments, games, Students find their name and color the circle their favorite color. Be sure and include your name on the heart.

Having simple worksheets like this gives your students something to do, and allows you a few minutes to work one-on-one with them.

assessing kids the first week of school, back to school activities, alphabet activities, name activities, assessments, games, To quickly and easily whole group assess where your students are at, play the "I spy" games for numbers, shapes, plus upper and lowercase letters. They'll have fun and you can see at a glance who's having difficulty.

assessing kids the first week of school, back to school activities, alphabet activities, name activities, assessments, games, The packet also includes 2 writing prompt activities. I've designed these as extra large bookmarks, with 2 on a page. Students can choose one, color it and complete the prompt.

assessing kids the first week of school, back to school activities, alphabet activities, name activities, assessments, games, It's a quick home-school connection that lets parents know what their child did that day.

I've included completed samples for you to share as well.

assessing kids the first week of school, back to school activities, alphabet activities, name activities, assessments, games, Another writing activity is D is for dog. Students can roam the room and spot items and words that start with the letter Dd.

If you do Daily 5 this is a nice option.

assessing kids the first week of school, back to school activities, alphabet activities, name activities, assessments, games, The packet also includes a Whose Name Is On The Bone? activity. Because my Y5's were learning how to recognize their name, I filled a dog dish (I bought mine at The Dollar Store) with paper bones that I had written their names on.

For a few minutes each day, I'd hold up a bone and the child who recognized their name would bark. I know it sounds silly, but they absolutely LOVED this. As time permitted, we'd do 3-6. To help get the "wiggles" out, after they had sat through whatever else I had planned for carpet time, I'd play the song Who Left The Dogs Out?

They'd pretend to be puppies and crawl around on all fours singing and barking 'til the song ended. I'd reign them in and we'd transition to our next activity. (Too cute and rather hilarious!)

Click on the link for a nice YouTube video featuring the song and cute dog animation. Who Let The Dogs Out? For a shorter version, sung by kids and showing some nice dance moves for them to imitate, click on this link: Who Let The Dogs Out?

assessing kids the first week of school, back to school activities, alphabet activities, name activities, assessments, games, As another simple fill-in, I've also included 4 dog-themed bookmarks in color as well as black and white, plus one you can give for good behavior.

assessing kids the first week of school, back to school activities, alphabet activities, name activities, assessments, games, Click on the link to view/download the Back To School Puppy Packet. Thanks for visiting today. Feel free to PIN away.

assessing kids the first week of school, back to school activities, alphabet activities, name activities, assessments, games, Work's done for today, so I'm off to play. As always, summer is flying way too fast!!!

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." -Scott Adams

Pirate Activities

1-2-3 Come Do Some Pirate Activities With Me

I was excited to see that the Polly Wants A Letter Cracker packet was a very popular download this week.

I had several teachers that liked Pirate Polly so much, that Karyn from Florida, and Elaina from California, asked if I could make some crackers with numbers on them, so I designed crackers with numbers from 0-130.

pirate activities, shape activities, alphabet activities, number games, shape games, shape crafts, number crafts, pirate crafts, skip counting activities, counting backwards activities, shape games, hexagon activities, pattern block activities, common core pirates, pirate crafts, pirate games, "Feeding" Polly is a fun and less tedious way to practice counting that high. The mini cracker cards, are also the perfect size for for sequencing.

Make extra sets and have students lie on their tummies and string 20-30 crackers in the appropriate order.

Use them to play a game of "I Have; Who Has?" Toss whatever cracker numbers your kiddos need practice on, into a container and have students choose several.

I've included "Kaboom!" bomb crackers, to make things even more fun + a tip list of what else you can do with these number cards.

pirate activities, shape activities, alphabet activities, number games, shape games, shape crafts, number crafts, pirate crafts, skip counting activities, counting backwards activities, shape games, hexagon activities, pattern block activities, common core pirates, pirate crafts, pirate games, Have students sort the number crackers on the odd and even sorting mat, or make equations with the math symbol crackers, and then solve the addition and subtraction problems, or show greater and less than.

pirate activities, shape activities, alphabet activities, number games, shape games, shape crafts, number crafts, pirate crafts, skip counting activities, counting backwards activities, shape games, hexagon activities, pattern block activities, what's missing number worksheets, odd and even sorting mat,common core pirates, pirate crafts, pirate games, I've also included a variety of trace and write the number worksheets in the packet, as well as "What's Missing?" skip count worksheets, plus a certificate of praise.

Click on the link to view/download the Polly Wants A Number Cracker packet.

pirate activities, shape activities, alphabet activities, number games, shape games, shape crafts, number crafts, pirate crafts, skip counting activities, counting backwards activities, shape games, hexagon activities, pattern block activities, common core pirates, pirate crafts, pirate games, While I was expanding Polly's appetite for learning, I thought it would be fun to make shape crackers too.

Brook sent me an e-mail that's she's always looking for more 3D shape activities, so along with 2D shapes, I included 3D shapes, and even threw in the pattern block shapes.

The crackers are still square, but the "cheese" on them is shaped. Of course "Polly" loves these treats. So that you can also play a Memory Match game, as well as reinforce vocabulary, I also made crackers with shape words on them. I hope your little pirates will enjoy "feeding" Polly yummy shapes and word crackers.

pirate activities, shape activities, alphabet activities, number games, shape games, shape crafts, number crafts, pirate crafts, skip counting activities, counting backwards activities, shape games, hexagon activities, pattern block activities, common core pirates, pirate crafts, pirate games, As with the other Polly Packets, I've also included some extras. Students can "get in shape" by playing a variety of "I Spy" a shape worksheet games, as well as several "Shipshape" porthole dice games.

pirate activities, shape activities, alphabet activities, number games, shape games, shape crafts, number crafts, pirate crafts, skip counting activities, counting backwards activities, shape games, hexagon activities, pattern block activities, common core pirates, pirate crafts, pirate games, Click on the link to view/download the Polly Wants A Shape Cracker packet.

Finally, I also made a Polly Slider for a bit of hands-on fun.

This "craftivity" includes "sliders" for upper and lowercase letters, numbers 1-30, counting backwards from 10 to 0 as well as 20 to 0, plus skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's and 10's, and of course a shape slider featuring 2D shapes, pattern block shapes and 3D shapes.

pirate activities, shape activities, alphabet activities, number games, shape games, shape crafts, number crafts, pirate crafts, skip counting activities, counting backwards activities, shape games, hexagon activities, pattern block activities, common core pirates, pirate crafts, pirate games, Run off Polly on white construction paper and have students color her, or run the bird off on green construction paper; students trim and add a black pirate hat (there are two to choose from) as well as a 3D yellow beak.

Run off whatever "slider" you want your students to practice. They trace the letters and numbers, or color the shapes, and then insert their strip into the slits, so that the various objects will appear in a "window" as they slide the long piece of paper up and down.

I pre-cut the slits with an Exacto knife, as this sort of cutting was a bit too difficult for my Y5's to do on their own. Sliders are a quick and easy way to review and whole group assess.

pirate activities, shape activities, alphabet activities, number games, shape games, shape crafts, number crafts, pirate crafts, skip counting activities, counting backwards activities, shape games, hexagon activities, pattern block activities, common core pirates, pirate crafts, pirate games, Call out a shape, letter, or number and have students slide 'til it appears in the window. When they've found the correct answer, they hold up their parrot. You can see at a glance who is having difficulty.

Add a bit more pizzazz by attaching a wiggle eye with a glue dot. Click on the link to view/download the Pirate Polly Slider packet.

pirate activities, shape activities, alphabet activities, number games, shape games, shape crafts, number crafts, pirate crafts, skip counting activities, counting backwards activities, shape games, hexagon activities, pattern block activities, common core pirates, pirate crafts, pirate games, Thanks for visiting today. Feel free to PIN away. (Create, Teach, Share! )

"Beware of no man more than yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us." -G.K. Chesterton