1-2-3 Come Do Some Halloween Shape Activities With Me.

October is filled with all sorts of fun shapes, so with that in mind, I designed this cute, haunted house, 2D-shape review.

I don't know about your students, but my kiddos get super-excited over doing any sort of activity that I can tie in with Halloween. 

So when I ask, "Does anyone want to make a haunted house shape booklet?" they are all over it.

“Open the door if you dare” and you will find 6 pages of “spooky-shaped” (real life) things to greet you.

The basic 2D shapes covered are: circle, oval, square, rectangle, triangle & hexagon.

I find that while most of my students can identify these shapes, many of them have a bit of difficulty identifying them, when looking at "real" items.

This booklet helps reinforce that in a super-fun way.

There are 5, different page set-ups, for you to choose from, so that you can easily diversify to fit the various skill levels of your students, while still having everyone work on the same thing.

OPTION #1: Students simply color the shapes on each page.

OPTION #2: Students write down the name of the shapes on that page & color them.

OPTION #3: Students get an additional strip of paper with one extra shape on it.

They color the single object on their page, as well as all of the objects on this strip.
Afterwards, they cut the objects out & glue them to the matching shape page.

OPTION #4: Students color all of the objects on their extra worksheet. (This is a half sheet.)
They cut each of the 6 sections out (following the dashed lines), then glue them to the matching labeled page.

OPTION #5: These pages are all blank.
Students write the name of the shape on the bottom line, then draw one “spooky shape”.

As always, I’ve included black & white patterns for your students, as well as full-color templates, so that teachers can quickly and easily make a sample to share.

After students color their haunted house, & the pages you have chosen for them, they trim and collate their booklet.

You decide if you want students to glue the "door" pages together, or simply staple them.

If you're looking for something educational and that “something different” for your Halloween party day, this works well.

I’ve also included several other related activities, so that you can extend the lesson and cover more standards. (Woo Hoo!)

There’s a quick, easy & super-fun “Spooky Shapes on a Roll” dice game, which practices life skills, as well as subitizing.

This is an easy-peasy and fun activity for your Halloween party day too.

The "Tell me an answer" question page is a simple, whole-group assessment, you can use after students complete their haunted house. 

To extend the lesson, and practice graphing, I've also included several additional worksheets.

Completed projects make an adorable Halloween bulletin board as well.

I’ve included several posters to add some extra pizzazz to your display.

Today's featured FREEBIE is a set of fall graphing worksheets. 

They are great for early finishers, a fun homework assignment, or something for your sub tub.

Well that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by. 

We're having our third day of rain, and while that certainly fits the mood for designing Halloween activities, a little ray of sunshine would certainly boost my energy level. 

Wishing you a wonderful week.

1-2-3 Come Do Some Shape Actiities With Me

“Shapin’ Up With Turkeys” provides a quick, easy and super-fun “print & go” craftivity, that will help review 2D shapes in some interesting & engaging ways.

The 2D shapes included are: circle, oval, square, rectangle, triangle, hexagon, pentagon, octagon, trapezoid, rhombus, heart & star.

The packet includes patterns for the above shapes, so that children can make a “Perky Turkey Pal” of their own.

There are a variety of turkeys to choose from; for example, the “keepsake” turkey’s head is traced from your students’ shoe, which makes a nice keepsake. 

"This turkey's head was made by tracing my shoe! My way to say Happy Thanksgiving to you." 

I wrote the poem to be placed on the turkey's tummy. I discovered, that unless a child told their parents that the head was their shoe print, many of them didn't realize this!

There are also 10 other head patterns to pick from. Choose your favorites, or give children a choice.

Shape templates come in a large, full-page size, as well as a smaller, two-on-a-page pattern, allowing you to make just a “shapely head”, or a “full body” turkey. 

I recommend making just the head with little ones, as it's the easiest craftivity.

Keep things extra simple by adding just a beak and wattle. However, I've also included two, one-piece feather patterns, which can be glued to the back of the head or body. 

Feathers add an opportunity for students to color, while practicing making a pattern: AB-AB, ABC-ABC etc.

Large wiggle eyes add extra pizzazz, but I've also included several pages of other eye patters, including eyeballs where the pupils match the shape of the turkeys head/body.

Check out the photographs to help you decide what’s most appropriate for your students

To add even more variety to your turkeys, there are also 3 wing patterns.

Create different looking turkeys by placing the wings rightside up or upside down. To make the wings "moveable", instead of gluing them down, attach with brass brads. 

Hat, shoe, leg & feather patterns also add variety.  Pick your favorite pieces, or give students a choice.

Accordion-folding the leg strips, is a fun way for students to strengthen their finger muscles, while adding to the cuteness factor of their turkey.

If your kiddos are like mine, they will enjoy the “boing-boing” effect.

Besides making a turkey with one of the more traditional heads, students can also match their turkey's head to its body shape. 

To help practice the “positional words” portion of the 2D shape standard, I’ve also included a “Corn Cob” whole group, assessment game.

Use the shape posters and pocket chart cards to introduce your lesson.

I’ve also included a “Shapely Turkeys” bookmark for your students.

Completed projects make an adorable display.

Dangle them from the ceiling as a border in your hallway.

I’ve included several posters to add extra pizzazz.

To add to the fun, encourage children to name their turkey, then fill out a "turkey tag", which can be glued to the middle of their turkey's tummy, or displayed next to their turkey on your display.

Older students can write down the attributes of the shape that they chose.

Today's featured FREEBIE is also about turkeys. 

"It's Turkey Time!" is a set of turkey-themed pocket chart cards, that will help your students practice analog and digital time to the hour and half hour. 

I've also included a whole group assessment worksheet, plus a black and white "turkey time" pattern, so that your students can make a telling time booklet as well.

Well that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by. 

I have to put my "Nana" hat on, as my daughter's dropping off my granddaughter for a few hours.  She's one of 10; so we are truly blessed.

Wishing you a love-filled and carefree afternoon.

Turkey Talk: "Hey turkey, what are you thankful for?" "Well, this month, I'm especially thankful for Vegans!"

1-2-3 Come Do Some Pattern Block Activities With Me

Pattern blocks are a wonderful manipulative for all sorts of activities, and introduce students to a few more geometric shapes, like the rhombus and trapezoid. My Y5s especially enjoyed lying on their tummies and making long lines of various patterns. (ABAB, ABBA, ABC-ABC etc.)

Not that we need anymore "to do" things added to an already overwhelming list, but as long as your kiddos are playing with pattern blocks, they might as well learn the names of them. This is easily done through repetition and simply allowing children to play with them. 

Adding a few posters, so students can see the pattern block pictures throughout the day, is an easy reminder of these new shapes.  Click on the link to view/download the Pattern Block Poster. 

I also made a set of Giant Pattern Block blackline templates.  Simply run them off on a variety of colors of construction paper, laminate and trim. 

Punch a hole in the top and hang from the ceiling with paperclip hooks or clothespins, so that you can easily switch their positions.  Choose 4 of the more difficult shapes and hang one in each corner.

The hexagon, trapezoid, rhombus and triangle, were the "toughies" for my kiddos. At the end of the day we played the game 4-Corners, which helped them practice those shapes in a fun way.

 Another poster is a pattern block optical illusion.  Do you think the trapezoid on the top is bigger?  Chances are your students will think so, but it really isn't.  Both pieces are the same size.  Print and trim the pieces on a sheet of red construction paper to prove it to them.  Click on the link to grab it.

I've also designed a set of pattern cards for your pocket chart, with a matching blackline booklet your kiddos can make.   

There's also a set of Counting With Pattern Blocks, perfect for your pocket chart as well.  I've included a blackline template so you can make worksheets, or use as a center.

Practice counting, sequencing, making groups, plus numbers and number words, with the Pattern Block Number Booklet.

Make a laminated booklet for your math center and have students use dry erase markers to fill in the information,  or make a booklet for each child and have them work on a page a day. I've included two cover options.

Instead of placing real pattern blocks on the pages, they can draw them, glue (Ellison Die Cut ) paper pieces, or paste on stickers. 

If you'd like some pattern block stickers (They do exhist!) you can find them over at purefunsupply.com They come 900 in a package for just $8.68.

Want to play some games with pattern blocks? Click on the link for a variety of spinner and dice games using pattern blocks. 

I also made Rack Up A Stack. Students roll the dice to see which pattern block they need to stack on their mat. 

A second roll, tells them how many of that pattern block they need to stack. Stacks can get pretty high if they keep rolling the same number. 

If their stack falls, children put only the spilled pieces back in the pile. 

The child with the most pieces stacked in one pattern block column can be the winner, or the one with the most stacks, or the one with the most total number of pattern blocks stacked. 

To practice addition, give students the point value card, so they can add up the points in each stack, as well as a grand total.  I've made the easier-to-stack pieces worth only 1 point, for easy counting, as well as higher point values for pattern blocks that are more difficult to stack. 

I've purposely given these values of 2, 3 and 5 points, so that students can practice their skip counting skills. There's a recording sheet for them to show their work.   Click on the link to grab it. Rack Up A Stack: Pattern Block game.

Another game challenge, is to have students use the pattern blocks to see how many ways they can make a hexagon.  I chose this shape because it's a standard for many, and often a "toughie" shape to remember for lots of kiddos.  Click on the link for the Hexagon Challenge With Pattern Blocks packet.

As with anything we studied, I liked to throw in some hands-on "craftivity" as another way to immerse my kiddos in whatever concept we were working on. 

With that in mind, I made Pattern Block Pals.  (Blockheads!) I think they turned out pretty cute and hope you like them too. 

There are blank pattern block "head" templates, so your students can draw on their own faces, ones with a traceable word on them, plus ones with sweet faces. 

They look great as a border, bulletin board, or suspended from the ceiling against a hallway wall.  As a writing extension, have students list things on the back of their blockhead that also have that shape. 

For example, on the back of a rhombus students could list kites, jewelry etc.  Older students can mark an X on each corner and then count and record the vertices on the back.

A caption for your display could be: "Mrs. Henderson's Kinders Are Really Shaping Up." Click on the link to view/download the Pattern Block Pals packet.

Wow! That's a lot of pattern block options.  I hope you found something that's just right for you.  Thanks for visiting today.

The sun is trying to peek out, and dispite the fact that it's snowing again (boo hiss) I may venture out.  It's March and time for Mother Nature to realize that winter weather should make way for springtime!  Wishing you a magical day.  

"Manners are the basic building blocks of civil society." -Alexander McCall Smith

1-2-3 Come Do Some Common Core Gingerbread Activities With Me

Even though you may have taught a particular standard a few months ago, doesn't mean all of your kiddos have retained that information.  It's imperative to continue to reinforce various concepts throughout the year. 

To keep interest high, simply add variety.  The easiest way I found to do this, is to simply theme various activities. Gingerbread for December, is one of my favorites. 

In order to cover all of the Common Core State Standard: K.G.1 when reviewing shapes with students, one must include some spatial direction activities as well: "Describe objects in the environment using names of shapes, and describe the relative positions of these objects using terms such as above, below, beside, in front of , behind, and next to."  

With this in mind, I designed the Gingerbread Spatial Directions Shape Easy Reader.

Students trace and write the shapes and spatial direction words, as well as color, cut and glue the shape "cookies" on the designated "spot."   Click on the link to view/download the Gingerbread Spatial Directions booklet.

Telling time to the hour is another standard. (1.MD.3a)  Students can easily tire of the same-old learning about time lessons, so it's nice to switch things up a bit. 

I find that if children can play a game, or even make their own clock, that they will stay more focused.  I think your kiddo's will enjoy the "It's Gingerbread Time" game.  Students work in pairs or groups of 3 to 4 and take turns spinning the gingerbread clock. 

Whatever number they land on, they draw hands on the clock showing that time to the hour on their gingerbread recording sheet.  They also include the digital time underneath the gingerbread man.  

The first one to fill in all of their clocks is the winner.  Click on the link to view/download the Gingerbread Clock Game.  For more time activities click on the link to zip on over to that section of my site.

I've also designed an adorable Gingerbread Place Value game that makes practicing breaking down numbers a bit more fun. Print and laminate your teacher gingerbread house, as well as the black and white houses that students use.

Using a dry erase marker print a 3-digit number on the top of your gingerbread house.  Show it to the children and have them break it down by writing the appropriate numbers in the 1's, 10's 100's windows on their gingerbread house - place value mat. 

While they are doing that, you write the answer on yours. 

When everyone is done, show the answers and have students self-check and correct if necessary. 

You'll be able to whole-group assess by seeing who is changing their mat without embarassing a student. Continue playing by calling on quiet students to make up a number for the class to break down.

You can make inexpensive "dry erase" gingerbread mats for your kiddo's to take home by printing off the black & white gingerbread house on brown construction paper. 

They color and trim.  Pre-cut "window" squares out of glossy photo paper.  They glue them to their gingerbread house for a quick, easy & inexpensive dry erase board that really works! 

I made mini-dry erase boards for my kiddo's to use for fact-family fun or whatever else I wanted them to practice.  They are a wonderful way to whole-group assess all sorts of stuff.  To expedite things, a terry cloth square was also kept in the envelopes.  Each child had their own that they kept in their work folder. 

Click on the link to view/download the gingerbread place value mats. The adorable gingerbread house clip art is by dj inkers.

That's it for today. Thanks for visiting.  Feel free to PIN away. "Tis the season for sharing!"  

I'm off to go get the ingredients to make salt dough ornaments for the first time.  I'm so excited.  Wishing you a crafty day filled with homemade fun. 

"Our houses are such unwieldy property that we are often imprisoned rather than housed by them." -Henry David Thoreau

1-2-3 Come Study 2D and 3D Shapes With Me!

Reading Across America Starts the 24th and runs through March 2nd this year, and of course March is Reading Month will be in full swing as well.  Are you hopping on board? 

I always planned a huge Seuss Theme for that week.  My Y5's really enjoyed all the goofy things we did.

It was difficult to find Seuss lessons that met my Standards, so I simply dreamed them up, using easily recognizable Seuss characters for the clip art.

A classroom favorite was of course Cat in the Hat.  I even dressed up as the cat to launch that special day. 

Since one of the more iconic pictures of the cat is him juggling, I thought it would be fun to create 2 shape books where the cat juggles 2D shapes in one, and then 3D shapes in the other.

I've included the hexagon, pentagon and octagon, in the 2D booklet, as I've had so many requests to add these shapes.

The Cat Juggles 2D Shapes also nails several more standards than just the recognition of shapes.  Students circle the capital letters and add end punctuation.  Remind them of spacing, and that they are reading from left to right and top down, and you've covered 2 more Standards.

Children also trace and write the shape word, as well as trace and write the shape. Click on the link to view/download The Cat Juggles 2D Shapes.

The Cat Juggles 3D shapes, relies on a similar format, so students feel empowered, as once they've done the 2D booklet, the 3D booklet needs little explanation before they can get down to business.  This empowerment will build their self-esteem as they know what they are doing and can set to work.

I take this booklet a step farther, in that students cut and glue the 3D shaped object, to the matching numbered box in their booklet.  I also challenge students to think up another 3D shape and write it down. 

The last page in the book, as with the first booklet, has students drawing the objects that the cat is juggling. Click on the link to view/download The Cat Juggles 3D Shapes.

If you're looking for more Seuss Activities, click on the link to pop on over to that section of my site, and be sure to stop in tomorrow for a new Seuss FREEBIE!

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything that you think others might find helpful. 

Do you have a Seuss activity you could share with us? I'd enjoy hearing from you: diane@teachwitheme.com or leave a comment here.

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind, don't matter, and those who matter. don't mind." -Dr. Seuss

The Silly Shaped Penguins Family Has GROWN!

Do you remember the Silly Shaped Penguins I packet I made a while back?

It features 2D shaped penguin craftivities + an easy reader with a surprise ending, where the last penguin is in the shape of a child’s shoe, thus making the booklet a special keepsake.

It has been THE most popular download in January and has been pinned a zillion times.

Many requests have come in for an additional page with penguin patterns for the newer shapes: pentagon, hexagon and octagon, that have since become standards for some teachers.

Well, you asked for them, you got them.  Here is the Silly Shaped Penguins 2 packet.

It contains the patterns for the pentagon penguin as well as the hexagon and octagon penguins.

I’ve also included these as an additional page in the booklet.

If you don’t teach those shapes, simply don’t add that page, or you could “raise the bar” and challenge students to learn some new ones!

Click on the link to view/download Silly Shaped Penguins 2.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything you think others might enjoy.

“Write it on your heart, that every day is the best day in the year.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson