I’m A Te-rrific Student T-shirt Writing Prompt.

This is a really fun end-of-the-year activity, but could also be a wonderful way to get to know your students at the beginning of the year too!  Use as an icebreaker for the first week.

The hands in the photo are neon orange.  The feet are much larger, but I took the shot with Elliot upside down, so they look smaller, they are actually much bigger than the hands.  Because this artwork is so big, when I took the photo feet fist, the head looked shrunken. Oh my!

Anyway, you get the idea.  I know yours will turn out really cute and be a great keepsake that your students will enjoy making.

I've included 2 different headings on the shorts so you have that option to use at the end or beginning of the year.

The end of the year shorts say: My short shorts of what I want to do this summer, The one for the beginning of the school year says: My short shorts of what I did this summer.

Here’s how to make a “Creative Writing Craftivity Kid”:

Run off copies of the t-shirt and shorts on a variety of brightly colored construction paper. Students will fill in the writing prompts and cut the clothing shapes out.  Buy a few pair of wacky sunglasses at The Dollar Store in bright colors.  Have your students put a pair on and take a head shot of them.

Print the photo off in black and white and enlarge them on the copier. Students color the sunglasses in with a magic marker to compliment the color of their T-shirt or shorts.  Students trace their hand and foot on a folded sheet of bright or neon-colored construction paper.  By cutting on a folded piece of paper they will get a pair of hands and feet.

Children glue their hands to the cuffs of the T-shirt and their feet to the bottom of the shorts. These paper kids make an adorable wall display.  Run them under the ceiling, as a border in your hallway. 

For another writing extension, I’ve also included a T-shirt where students can list all the Te-riffic things they’ve learned during the year, jotting down the thing they feel they are the most terrific at.

Click on the link to view/download Te-riffic Student T-Shirt Writing Prompt

Feel free to PIN away on my site. I think sharing is so important.  

Do you have something that you do as an icebreaker that you could share with us? I'd enjoy hearing from you.  diane@teachwithme.com  You can also leave a comment here. If everyone adds to each other's bag of tricks how easy our lives become! Thanks in advance. 

Let's Get To The Point: Edible Pencils!

Even easier than the “Owl Miss You” gift for students, is this pencil treat.

I first saw it last September on Pinterest as a back to school lunch box tuck in, as well as a teacher gift.

So if you are looking for a teacher appreciation gift, or wanting to make something for all of the volunteers that helped you, this would fit the bill for that too.

Again, I saw it pinned about a dozen times, tweaked in different ways, by different people, being used for different things, so if this was your original idea, please let me know and I will give you credit and link to your site.

I too, am tweaking it, to be used as an end-of-the-year gift for your kiddo’s, and adding a poetic note that you can attach.

The above people all used Rolo’s, but I found that there are several other rolls of things that you can wrap with yellow construction paper to make the pencil.

I used Sweetarts, because I found them at Walgreens on special 2 for $1.

You can buy the 2 different flavors of Mentos as well as Rolo’s by the box at Sam’s Club too.

If you use card stock instead of construction paper and pre-make the rolls instead of wrapping a candy roll, you can really cut down the cost, by dropping 7-8 Hershey kisses down the tube, or bubble gum or whatever other candy you find on sale.

If you do use a roll of candy, measure your candy roll so that you can wrap it.

Leave enough room at the “pencil writing end” to insert a Hershey’s kiss.  The eraser end will simply remain open.

Cut strips of pink construction paper for the eraser part and glue the strip to the end of the pencil BEFORE you wrap the candy.

Snip off the flag of the kiss and put it at the other end of the pencil.

Just an FYI, when you are making your rolls, make sure that you are not wrapping them too tightly around the roll of candy, otherwise the kiss will not fit in the end.

I had a hard time shoving my kiss into the point after I wrapped the sweetarts.

The Mentos were a bit wider, but still not as wide as a kiss.  You also don’t want it too loose, or the kiss will drop out.

I ended up adding a glue dot to the end to make sure the kisses stayed put.

For a bit more pizzazz, print off the U R Sharp! labels.  Put a sheet of Avery (30-on-a-page) labels in your printer.  Trim and press on the pencils.

Run off the notes, sign them and tuck everything in a Baggie.  You may even want to include a real pencil. 

I also made "You're sharp!" 10-on-a-page praise cards that you can cut 2 slits in and insert a pencil.  This is the sweet clip art of Laura Strickland from My Cute Graphics.

Click on the link to view/download U R Sharp Candy Pencil Gift

Do you have an end-of-the-year gift that you give your students?  I’d enjoy hearing from you! diane@teachwithme.com or post a comment here.

Feel free to PIN anything you think others might enjoy or find useful.

Thanks for visiting; hope you can pop in tomorrow for more interesting teaching tips.

In The Good Ole Summer Time

When I think of summer I think of sunglasses.

I found this cute clip art and I thought what could I do with this?

As Dr. Seuss would say, A few “thinks” later, and I had several new things for you to do with your students!

My Sunglasses is an easy reader where students trace and write the color and number words, circle the number in the sequence and then color the sunglasses.

Number 10 has a twist. I’ve also included a graphing extension.

Click on the link to view/download My Sunglasses.

Do a few of your little ones still not have a handle on those 3-D shapes, or have you just begun to introduce them for next year’s kindergartners?

Then Seeing 3-D Shapes Through My Sunglasses is perfect for you.

Click on the link to view/download Seeing 3-D Shapes with sunglasses!

Next, there are a variety of ways you can use 20-Summer-Sun Compound Word Sunglasses.

You can run off and laminate the puzzle cards and have students put them together as a center.

I’ve included directions for a variety of games that you can play with them such as Memory Match Concentration or “I Have; Who Has?”

They are great as worksheets.  So that you can program the glasses with other lessons, to reinforce more report card standards and practice other skills, such as skip counting, subtraction or addition equations, shapes etc.  I’ve included a blank set of sunglasses.

Have students cut the sunglass pages apart, put them in alphabetical order, trace the words, collate the pages and make a booklet.

Click on the link to view/download Summer-Sun Compound Word Sunglasses

Finally, ABC Sunglasses are traceable upper and lowercase letter pages that can be made into a booklet or used as separate worksheets.

Again, there’s a blank set of sunglasses so that you can program your own skillsheets. i.e., Write only the uppercase letters in and have students fill in the lowercase letters, or write in the lowercase letters, and have students fill in the uppercase ones.

I’ve also made the sunglass letters into puzzles.  Color the sunglasses, laminate them and cut the pieces apart on the puzzle lines.

Besides a puzzle center activity, I’ve also included a list of game ideas you can use the pieces for as well.

Click on the link to view/download ABC Sunglasses.

Thanks for visiting. Be sure and pop back tomorrow for another teaching tip.

Feel free to PIN anything you think might be interesting to others.

Do you have an end-of the year activity you do with your students?  I’d enjoy hearing from you: diane@teachwithme.com or leave a comment here, especially if you use one of my ideas.  Thanks in advance for taking the time. I hope these activity sunglasses are fun for your students, and your remaining days with them are made in the shade!

For your convenience, I reposted 3 of my visitors "favorite" articles from last year:  

Let's Have A Pet Parade, Sweet Summer Dreamin' Pillowcases,  & Thanking Volunteers.

Scroll down to check out these end-of-the-year fun things to do with your kiddo's.

1-2-3 Come Fill A Pail Of Fun With Me

Double-Duty! Writing Prompts and Bulletin Boards

I love this time of year.  Standards have been taught, assessments are pretty much done, and I'm looking for some fun pre-summer things to plug in.  

Students are anxiously waiting for summer vacation so why not cash in on that enthusiasm and use it as a writing prompt?

I like to incorporate writing with a bit of art to turn these lessons into "craftivities". 

Students seem to enjoy them more, creating awesome results and I have an instant bulletin board or hallway decoration when things are starting to look a little sparce.

Make A Bucket List!

I'm happy to report I've achieved just about everything I've wanted to accomplish in a college notebook "bucket list" and that's a wonderful feeling.  I now have mini-bucket "to-do" lists on a daily basis which triggered this idea.

These colorful sand pail buckets make an adorable bulletin board or hallway display, or can simply be sent home with your students.  If you're homeschooling they are perfect for a summer scrapbook page.

Run off my masters on a variety of brightly colored construction paper and give students a choice of colors.  Make sure children choose a DIFFERENT color for their pail and shovel as it makes a nicer contrast and more colorful bulletin board.

Students CUT out their pails and write their name on the back of them.  Children also cut out their shovel and write their name on that as well.  If you want to make this even more of a keepsake, add their school picture to the shovel as well.  Cut two, 2-inch strips of complimentary-colored construction paper, and glue them together. Mine are 22 inches long.

Glue the ends to the back of the pail on either side, for a 3-D handle. I looped mine down so that it crossed over the written paper, and then I folded the right end down.

Have children brush on Elmer's school glue to the oval section of their pail and then sprinkle on play sand. Set the pails aside to dry.  You could also simply cut oval shapes using sandpaper.

While the pails are drying, students write their "bucket list" of all the things they want to do during the summer and then glue the list to the bottom of their sand pail.

Mount the pails on the bulletin board or wall with the shovels leaning against them.  Use light brown paper as a background so that it looks like a beach or big sandbox.

Two or three paper seagulls suspended from fish line, flying overhead, complete the picture.  The caption:  Our Summer Bucket List! You could expand this idea and have a "not fun" bucket list for another day of writing.

This would be a list of things students have to get done over the summer that they don't really want to do, like clean their rooms, do yard work, etc.  For these buckets and shovels they would pick colors they don't like. 

Click on the link to view/download Summer Fun Writing Prompts  Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.

"People don't notice when it's winter or summer when they are happy." -Anton Checkov