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. 

Summer Sunshine And Sunflowers

When I think of summer, I think of sunflowers.

When my children were little we always left sunflower seeds out for the birds.  They were a favorite of cardinals, one of my favorite birds.

The problem with the bird feeders tho’ is the squirrels made a virtual mess of them, so I had sunflowers popping up all over the place.

They are easy to grow and will sprout in just a few weeks, so I decided to see if we could grow some and make a sunflower “hideout” in the back 40.

It was a wonderful jungle and they loved playing in it.

I got the idea from Eve Bunting’s book, Sunflower House.  That book and Backyard Giant, are my two favorite sunflower books.

They are terrific read aloud’s for your kiddo’s.  Afterwards, compare and contrast the books and do a graphing extension.

I’ve included a graph in my Sunflower Packet, along with all sorts of other fun activities.

Click on the link to view/download the Sunflower Packet.

Where Is The Sunflower is an easy reader that works on spatial directions.  Students cut out the sunflowers and glue them to the appropriate places on the page.

Click on the link to view/download the Where Is The Sunflower easy reader booklet.

The Seeds On My Sunflower is another easy reader where students get practice counting to 10, reading, tracing, writing, cutting and gluing, as they match the appropriate numbered seeds to their sunflower.

I’ve included word-wall word flashcards, a math skill sheet, a graphing extension, and certificate of praise.

Click on the link to view/download the easy reader booklet The Seeds On My Sunflower.

Finally, 123 Count Sunflowers With Me, is the newest addition in the Count With Me collection of easy readers.

As with all the Count With Me booklets, this packet includes: a graphing extension, 40 word-wall word and number traceable cards, covers for the flashcards so you can make Itty Bitty booklets, a plus 1 more math worksheet and a certificate of praise.

Click on the link to view/download 123 Count Sunflowers With Me.

I hope your remaining days are filled with sunshine as warm and lovely as these yellow sunflowers.

Do you have a sunflower idea you’d like to share?  I’d enjoy hearing from you. diane@teachwithme.com or feel free to post a comment here, especially if you use one of my ideas!  Thanks in advance for making the time to do that; you’ll make my day.  I enjoy hearing from visitors.

PIN away if you think others might find anything on our site that is interesting or useful.

I hope you can skip on over tomorrow for more teaching tips that add fun to learning. 

Thanks for stopping by today!

Thanks For The Memories…

Are you looking for a nice keepsake for your students or an interesting end-of-the-year writing prompt?

How about making a keepsake booklet?  This makes a nice Daily 5 activity, or do the booklet as a whole group for your writing or reading block.

You can also send it home to be worked on during the summer.

Whether you send this home for students to work on with their families, or do a page or 2 each day during the last week of school, this booklet is sure to make a wonderful keepsake of the year your students were in your grade.

I've included cover pages for pre-school, young fives, kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades, + a blank page for others to fill in their grade level.

Add photographs of students and their best friends to make the booklet even more special and allow time for children to pass their booklets around to gather autographs.

To expedite things, why not run off an extra copy of the master autograph pages and have everyone, including yourself, sign the page and then simply run off enough copies for each student to include in their booklet.

Click on the link to view/download School Memories Keepsake Booklet

I hope all your memories were marvelous!

WRITE on!

Happy Father's Day Venn Diagram Comparison:

Brainstorm with your students how they are the same and different from their dads.  A fun way to do this is with a Venn Diagram. 

I like to use 2 brightly colored hula hoops to do this, and then write words on index cards. 

I then transfer this information to the white board so that students are seeing it again, and can copy what applies to them on their own Venn diagram. 

As an added writing extension students could also compare their grandpa's with their dads.  After they make their Venn Diagrams have them draw a picture of their dad and themselves/grandpa inside the diagram. 

You could also add their school photo.

This makes a cute card to give to their dad's on Father's Day by adding "We may be different, but we are also the same, and this you know is true: I LOVE you!" 

The Sweet Taste of Summer:

Brainstorm with your students of all the fun things they like to eat during the summer that are a bit different than the foods they eat during other months, such as Popsicles, ice cream, things cooked on the grill, stuff they take on a picnic, watermelon, strawberries, etc. 

Run off my master of a Popsicle.  Students cut them out and write their favorite things to eat during the summer.

When they are done, tape a large Popsicle stick to the back of their work. Buy a checkered tablecloth at The Dollar Store, cut it into a small rectangle to look like a picnic table and staple it to your b. board.

Arrange the Popsicle sticks around the table as a border in a crisscross fashion.  The caption: The Sweet Taste Of Summer  

Or... cover your b. board with blue paper.  Cut out two Peach lips. (One top and one bottom) Make these so that the mouth looks open. Cut out a long pink tongue. Place the Popsicles in and around the mouth.  

Wishing On A Summer Star:

Brainstorm with your students some of the places they'd like to go during the summer, if they could go anywhere in the world.  Write them on the white board. 

Run off my masters of the starfish on two different shades of light brown construction paper.  Each student will need one of each color. 

Children cut out their starfish.  On the larger, front view one, they complete the writing prompt: "If I could go any where in the world this summer I'd like to go to... and list all the places they'd like to visit. 

On the other smaller back of the starfish, they glue Cheerio's on the lines, for a nice 3-D touch.  Glue the two stars together in a kitty wampus way. 

Put light blue paper on your bulletin board. Buy a fish net from The Dollar store and staple it diagonally in the middle of the board. 

Sprinkle the starfish on the net.  Caption: Wishing On A Summer Star

Click on the link to view/download Summer Fun Writing Packet

I hope these ideas will excite your students and get them to WANT to write.

Thanks for visiting! I hope you can pop back tomorrow for more fun in the sun activities.

As always if you have a creative idea that your students enjoy doing, I'd love hearing from you. diane@teachwithme.com

or feel free to post a comment here, especially if you use one of my ideas.

PIN away if you find something you think would be helpful or interesting to another teacher or parent that home schools!

Wishing you a super summer that simply sizzles with fun!

Sweet Summer Dreamin' Pillowcases

Another fun project I like to do with my students at the end of the year I call "Sweet Summer Dreamin' Pillowcases."

Just about every month we have practiced the art of stamping something with a foam stamp. 

I have collected them through out the years to use for our science units.  They make fun art projects and are great for math extensions as well. 

My Y5's self-esteem is also built, because the process is quite easy and the results are simply smashing.  They pat paint on a foam stamp and then press it onto paper and a lovely print of something is left. 

They make beautiful collages, paintings and patterns and are quiet proud of their projects. They have become quite skilled at this technique. 

Instead of doing an autograph book, I thought it would be fun for my students to autograph a pillowcase that they have stamped with all of the various foam stamps, depicting everything they have studied throughout the year.  This  makes a wonderful keepsake for them. 

I send a letter home to parents asking them to send in a plain, light-colored pillowcase and ask if they would be able to volunteer to help. 

I've found that having 4 helpers makes the process go faster and stay organized, but I've done it with only one daddy as well. 

One year I asked several 5th graders if they could come and help during their study hour when I was short on parents and they worked well with the little ones too. 

They all had been my Y5 students so that made it extra fun as they even remembered doing the project when they were little! 

I do this project on the floor in our entry hall atrium so that the children can spread out.  Lay plastic down in case of spills.  There are very few, but The Dollar Store plastic tablecloths make clean up a breeze.  I put 5 children in a row and make a large square. 

Insert a piece of tag board (I recycle them each year) inside of their pillow case so that the paint does not bleed through.  I write their name in large print on the edge of their pillowcase. 

I buy primary and pastel colors of the acrylic permanent paints that are only .59 cents at a hobby/craft store and spill a dollop of one color on a paper plate.

That paper plate, a foam brush and a stamp is given to a helper who pats the paint on the stamp and hands it to a child, they press that stamp anywhere on their pillowcase and then wait for the next stamp. 

We rotate all of the stamps in this assembly line fashion until everyone has done every stamp and every color. 

This takes about 45 minutes if I have help.  Afterwards, the children go wash up and they go outside for recess. 

When they come back in the paint is dry.  We flip the pillowcases over and everyone is given a permanent marker. 

I have 10 different colors. I remind them that they cannot rest the markers on the pillowcase as they will start to bleed into the material and run. 

I also tell them that it is hard to write on fabric so that they need to hold the fabric taught.  I demonstrate this as I "autograph" a pillowcase. 

Everyone signs their own pillowcase first, then they stand up when they are done so that I can see when everyone is finished; when everyone is standing, they move to the next pillowcase and sign their name; when they are done, they stand up again. 

We do this until they are back to their own pillowcase and have signed everyone's.  Make sure you remind them that they are writing THEIR name and "autographing" eachother's pillowcases. 

I had one little guy who was trying to write each person's name on the pillowcases instead of his own! 

In the beginning I had the children sign the fronts of the pillowcases where the stamps were, then a mom thought it would look nicer, since the children wrote so big, to sign the backs!  I've done it that way ever since. 

I don't paint the backs of the pillowcases, because the paint is scratchy when it dries. 

I type up a little note about washing directions which reads: When your child brings their pillowcase home, turn it inside out and toss in the dryer on high .  This will set the paint.  Wash in cold water on gentle cycle for years of wear.  Sleep on the side that is not painted.  I hope you enjoy your sweet summer dreamin' pillowcase and that it helps you to remember all of the fun we had learning and making these wonderful friends!

I've gotten lots of positive feedback about this project, and my students absolutely love making these pillowcases.