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

Do you read The Mitten by Jan Brett?  It's one of my favorite winter stories and perfect for all sorts of sequencing activities. 

With the aid of the materials provided for teachers on Jan's site, I designed 5 activity packets that cover all sorts of standards.  I hope you enjoy them.  They are today's featured FREEBIES and have been very popular downloads.

Help students retell the Ukrainian folktale, by making this cute mitten slider. This is a simple way to review sequencing too.  Graphics copyright janbrett.com

The Language Arts Mitten packet also provides sequencing practice. 

My kiddos loved making the mitten paper plate pocket to keep their things in.

This 24-page packet is chock full of activities that cover a variety of standards and includes:

• Move Over Please, So I Won't Freeze an emergent reader booklet, which reinforces lots of Common Core, especially ordinal numbers and verbs.
• A mitten paper plate pocket "craftivity" students make to keep all of their mitten-related work in.
• A set of ordinal number pocket cards
• A Mitten Matching card game, where students match the animal character to the animal's name, or the ordinal number position it had in the story, or all three: i.e. the word mole, picture of the mole, ordinal number card 1st-first
• Ordinal number character assessment strip with answer key.
• 2 graphing activities
• 2 mitten writing prompts
• Several mitten worksheets, including one that covers rhyming words + more verb-work. (Great for Daily 5 activities.) and ...
• A certificate of praise bookmark that can be used to play another game.

Another Mitten Literacy Packet, includes more ordinal number-sequencing practice that will help your kiddos retell the story, including a "beginning-middle-end" graphic organizer.

There's also a worksheet  where students label the parts of a book, plus pocket chart cards for character, setting and event.  I've also included 8 bookmarks to prompt retelling the story.

Another interesting way to review the story and practice end punctuation and capitalization at the same time, is with The Mitten Pocket Chart Punctuation packet.

You can do this as a whole group activity with laminated cards (give students a dry erase marker for them to make corrections) or give each child a card to fix, by rewriting it on a sheet of scratch paper, then sharing their corrections with the class. 

Finally, Venn diagrams are a quick, easy and fun way to introduce students to the concept of comparison-contrast writing. 

They're great practice if you've already done so, and especially perfect for visual learners.  

There are 3 in the Mitten Venn Diagram packet to choose from. 

Do one as a whole-group activity to explain things, (compare mittens and gloves) and then give students a choice of the other two. (Compare two characters in The Mitten, or compare the story The Mitten with Jan Brett's other story The Hat.)

To see a short (3 minute) YouTube video featuring Jan Brett click on the link.  Another fun video (11 minutes) features Jan showing children how to draw a hedgehog.

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you found some extension activities to do with your mitten theme. As for me, it's time to help my grandson pick up Toys R Us that seems to have deposited itself all over my office.  Wishing you a day filled with contentment.

Cute quote: "If kisses were snowflakes, I'd send you a blizzard!" -Unknown

1-2-3 Come Review A Great Back To School Book With Me

Since the Miss Nelson Is Missing packet has been such a popular download, I decided to whip together a few more activities to accompany one of my favorite back to school books.

An interesting way to review the story, as well as reinforce rules for appropriate grammar, is with the Miss Nelson Is Missing punctuation cards.  Hang the cards on your board and read them together as a whole group. 

Choose a student to come up and circle letters that should be capitalized explaining why and then have another child add end punctuation. 

You can also do this with a pointer and pocket chart or pass one card out to each child to correct with a dry erase marker. 

After eveyone has shared their card, have students choose 3-6 cards and rewrite the sentences correctly.  This is a great Daily 5 word work activity too.

Another idea is to run off copies of all of the cards, have students trim and collate into a mini booklet, where they make corrections.

Encourage children to read their Miss Nelson booklet to their family, explaining what they did, as they retell the story.

Click on the link to view/download the Miss Nelson Is Missing Punctuation Cards.  Thanks for visiting today. 

I hope you are getting excited to start another school year, but still making time to relax and enjoy the rest of your summer too.  Wishing you all the best...

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

Since the lists of my all-time favorite books for various units, have been so popular, I decided to make one for my love-themed selections, which include Valentine's Day books and books about hugs, kisses and love. 

I think it's probably my biggest collection, as Valentine's Day has been my favorite holiday since I was five.   Click on the link to view/dowload the list of My 100 All-Time Favorite Valentine Books.

Books need a bookmark, so I designed ten Valentine bookmarks that you can use as incentives (challenge students to collect all of them as they complete various tasks each day) or give as prizes on your party day. 

Click on the link to view/download the Valentine's Day Bookmark packet.

Like the book lists, the punctuation pocket cards, have also been extremely popular, so I made a set of 30 with a valentine theme.  Print; laminate and trim. 

You can put them in your pocket chart, read as a whole group and then make corrections with a dry erase marker. 

Students circle the letters that should be capitalized, and then add end punctuation. 

I made a lot more cards for this packet, as I thought it might be a fun activity for Valentine's Day. 

Pass one out to each student to make corrections and then share the results with the class. 

I purposely included quite a few contractions in the simple sentences to provide yet another teachable moment.  Click on the link to view/download the Valentine Grammar Cards.

While I was making the valentine clock cards yesterday, I was working on several other telling time activities, and finished them today. 

Time For Valentines is a candy heart spinner game.  Children play with a partner or in groups of 3 or 4 taking turns spinning the candy heart clock. 

Whatever number they land on, is the heart that they color on their recording sheet.  Students also write in the digital time, and if you want, have them cover the heart with a candy one. 

The student who completes their clock first is the winner.  The prize can be the candy hearts. Inform students that they may eat one, and then put the rest in the box to take home.  Click on the link to view/download the Candy Heart Clock Game.

Finally, I also finished the Watch Me Tell Time whole-group assessment activity.  Print off the pocket watch page on tan or gold paper, cut off the directions. 

Run off the clocks and digital time rectangles on glossy photo paper. Cut out the clocks and boxes and glue one to each pocket watch paper.  You've now created a dry erase board.

Call out a time. Using a dry erase marker, students draw hands on the clock face and write the digital time in the box.  When they are done, they hold up their pocket watch. 

This is a quick, easy and fun way to whole group assess analog and digital time to the hour or half hour.  (Common Core State Standard:  1.MD.3)  Click on the link to view/download the Watch Me Tell Time assessment packet.

Thanks for visiting today; I hope it's love-filled.   Feel free to PIN away! 

"Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself." -John Dewey 

1-2-3 Come Do Some Mitten Activities With Me!

Since the other mitten packets to go with Jan Brett's story The Mitten, were such popular downloads, I decided to make a few more language arts craftivities to match that Ukrainian folktale.

The Mitten literacy packet contains: an ordinal number worksheet that will help your students with sequencing the characters, a label the cover activity, a beginning-middle-end graphic organizer, 2 sets of pocket cards that review characters, stories and events + 8 bookmarks to prompt retelling of the tale.  Click on the link to view/download The Mitten Literacy Packet.

Another way to sequence the story is with The Mitten Story Telling Slider "craftivity."  Run off the mitten on white construction paper and cut slits for the "window" with an Exacto knife. 

Children cut out their mitten, add some color to their "slider" and insert it into the mitten. 

Students retell the story by pulling the pictures on the slider so they show in the window.  Click on the link to view/download The Mitten Story Telling Slider.

Finally, I made some pocket review cards.  Students change the letters that need to be capitalized and add end punctuation. 

The question cards provide a nice review of the story as well.  Click on the link to view/download The Mitten Punctuation-Capitalization Pocket Card Review packet. 

Thanks for visiting.  It's time to don my mittens and brave the cold, so Chloe my poodle pup gets a bit of fresh air. 

"He had mittens, Minjekahjwun, magic mittens made of deer skin; when upon his hands he wore them, he could smite the rocks asunder; he could grind them into powder." -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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

Since the Venn diagram downloads have been so popular, I decided to make some with a snowman theme.  There are lots of wonderful winter books out there featuring snowmen. 

They are great for comparison and contrast writing prompts.  Venn diagrams are perfect to help students organize their thoughts before they write.

There's one where they draw details on the snowmen to look like the two characters they are comparing.  For the other one, they contrast two snowman books.  Click on the link to view download the Snowman Venn Diagrams.

The positive comments about the Gingerbread easy reader, which reinforced color words, were a deciding factor in designing one featuring snowmen. 

I took the snowman packet a step farther and also reinforced the days of the week. 

Students circle capital letters, add end punctuation, trace and write the color and day words, + color the hat and scarf on the snowman. (See photo for a close up.)

A worksheet, 3 graphing extensions, a bookmark and spinner game, are also included.  Click on the link to view/download Snowman Colors.

I'm also working on a matching snowman color puzzle to go along with this packet.  Students can put them together as an indendent center, or play a game with a partner.   You could also give each child one of their own to complete and then use for your winter word wall.  I'm putting the finishing touches on, and will post it with tomorrow's newest FREEBIES.

So glad you popped by today. Feel free to PIN away. 

“I love snow for the same reason I love Christmas: It brings people together while time stands still. Cozy couples lazily meander the streets and children trudge sleds and chase snowballs. No one seems to be in a rush to experience anything other than the glory of the day, with each other, whenever and however it happens.” -Rachel Cohn

Teaching Beginning Word Capitalization and Ending Punctuation Common Core Standards, By Hunting For Sentences And Fixing Them!

I’ve been trying to think of some fun activities to go with Common Core State Standards and thought sprinkling sentence cards around the room for students to find would be something different.

My Y5’s LOVED Goin' on a bear hunt during our hibernation studies, so I dreamed up sentences that would go with the adorable clip art bears of Laura Strickland.

I made up  12 bear sentence cards, that are missing a capital letter and end punctuation, so you can work on the Common Core State Standard: RF.1.1 

Here students need to demonstrate an understanding of the organization and basic features of print, by recognizing the distinguishing features of a sentence.  i.e. first word capitalization,  and ending punctuation.

Here’s how to Go On A Bear Hunt:

Print and Laminate the cards.

Decide which 10 you want to use for the bear hunt and number them with a dry erase marker.

If you use a permanent marker, a Mr. Clean Eraser will wipe off the numbers.

Put a magnet on the back, so students can put them on your white board, or use a pocket chart.

The one pictured I just bought at Target. They were in their Dollar Deal section.  They also had red and green.

This pocket chart only has 8 pockets so you’ll need 2, or you can put a magnet strip on the pocket chart and a magnet on card number 1 and card number 10. Students place the cards in the pockets and put card #1 above the chart and card #10 under the chart.

Sprinkle the cards around the room. Students find them and put them on the white board or in your pocket chart in 1-10 order so that they can rewrite the sentences on their recording sheet,.

When students write their sentences they put a beginning capital letter, and the appropriate end punctuation on their sentences, circling both for easy identification.

Before students take their seats and work on their own papers, read the cards as a whole group, adding inflection so that students can determine where an exclamation mark goes,

You may want to give students an FYI that the Oh no! The bear sees me. and  Help! I see a bear. cards are made up of two sentences.

Have students gather in front of the board and have them take turns filling in the correct answers with a red dry erase marker.

A nice "get the wiggles out" activity to do afterwards, is to play "Goin On A Bear Hunt." and have students go through the motions.

One of my favorite versions of this is from Greg and Steve's Kid's In Action CD.  It's on YouTube. Click on the link to have a listen.  My Y5's begged to do this all the time.

Later, you can use different sentences and use the recording sheets as an assessment.

This packet also includes a certificate of praise.

Click on the link to view/download Goin On A Bear Hunt Sentence Punctuation Packet

If you like this way of working on capitalization and punctuation, be sure to watch for my up coming  Piggy Punctuation,  Kitty Capitalization, Hop To It Frog Capitalization and Punctuation, and I’m Dino-mite At Doing Capitalization and Punctuation.

They all follow the same format as Goin’ On A Bear Hunt and will be completed this week. To find them click on the reading apple on my home page and then click on capitalization or punctuation in the list under grammar.

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you can stop by tomorrow for another back to school idea.

Feel free to PIN anything that you think might be helpful to others.

“Everyone who remembers his own educational experience, remembers the teacher, not methods and techniques.” -Sidney Hook