spiral ghosts

1-2-3 Come Do Some Word Family Activities With Me

Oh my gosh, I had such a fun time designing this newest emergent reader packet: Trick or Treating With the -at Word Family, which packs a lot of standard punch!

at family activities, Dolch sight word activities, Halloween activities, Halloween crafts, sight word crafts, sight word games, cat crafts, bat crafts, emergent reader, Halloween crafts that teachPractice rhyming, and the -at word family, with the song: “Trick or Treating We Will Go” to the tune of “Farmer in the Dell”.

I’ve included a poster of the song, as well as pocket chart cards of the verses, plus picture cards. There’s a matching bookmark for your students.

at family activities, Dolch sight word activities, Halloween activities, Halloween crafts, sight word crafts, sight word games, cat crafts, bat crafts, emergent reader, Halloween crafts that teachFor more word family reinforcement, there are 3 “slider” craftivities: a cat, bat & hat, which include 20 -at family words!

The emergent reader incorporates 26 Dolch sight words, plus 7 of the -at family words.

Children add end punctuation: period, question mark & exclamation point to the simple sentences.

at family activities, Dolch sight word activities, Halloween activities, Halloween crafts, sight word crafts, sight word games, cat crafts, bat crafts, emergent reader, Halloween crafts that teachI’ve included a black & white copy, with 6 or 8 mini-pages, on a one-page pattern, so that you can make Itty Bitty booklets. 

There’s also a full-color teacher’s version.

at family activities, Dolch sight word activities, Halloween activities, Halloween crafts, sight word crafts, sight word games, cat crafts, bat crafts, emergent reader, Halloween crafts that teachFinally, 2 worksheets provide more reinforcement & practice the skill of alphabetizing

Click on the link to pop on over to my TpT shop to have a look see at this 27-page packet of fun: Trick or Treating With the -at Family. 

spooky spirals hallowen writing prompt craft, at family activities, Dolch sight word activities, Halloween activities, Halloween crafts, sight word crafts, sight word games, cat crafts, bat crafts, emergent reader, Halloween crafts that teach Today's featured freebie is called "Spooky Spirals"

It's a quick, easy & fun writing prompt craftivity that's perfect for Halloween party day. 

Younger kiddos can simply do the craft.  Completed projects look simply "spooktacular" swirling & twirling from the ceiling.

at family activities, Dolch sight word activities, Halloween activities, Halloween crafts, sight word crafts, sight word games, cat crafts, bat crafts, emergent reader, Halloween crafts that teachThat's it for today, thanks for stopping by. 

Time to switch gears, and try to shut my computer brain off. 

I have a lunch date with my daughter and the tots. 

Wishing you a love-filled day, filled with giggles galore.

 "In every conceivable manner, the family is the link to our past, and the bridge to our future." - Alex Haley

1-2-3 Come Do Some Halloween Craftivities With Me

When parents would ask "When does your Halloween party start?" I'd answer with a big smile, "When the children get here, and it lasts all day!"  The day before, I'd let my students know that we'd be doing all of our math, reading, writing and center activities as usual, but they'd all have a Halloween theme, so we could "party" all day.

Halloween party day packet, ghost pencil craft, spiral ghosts, Halloween activities, Halloween crafts, ghost crafts, ghost activities, october writing prompts, spiral pattern, watercolor washes, crayon resist art, halloween coloring pages, nursery rhyme crafts, peter peter pumpkin eater activities, pumpkin crafts, halloween craftsThey were then pleased and happy about this, and I wasn't constantly being asked: "When does the party start?" which interrupted everyone's focus.  They also remained calm, on-task and weren't all fidgety waiting.

In the 10 years I taught Y5's this day was never a crazy day, instead, it was one of my personal favorites, because I had lots of volunteers eager to help out.  We proceeded as normal, with only part of our lights on, to add just the right amount of ambiance.  (This also seemed to relax my students.)

ghost pencil craftThey wrote with their "spooky pencil pal" which was quick and super -inexpensive to make. (Directions in the Halloween packet.)

In the afternoon, our snack time would be extra special (cider, fruit, veggies, with some sweets & treats, which parents provided) and to practice and review a variety of standards, we'd play educational games.

I think one of the Y5's favorite parts of the day, were the super-fun centers.  Parents would come in to help, so I could plug in a few more craftivities.  What took me a bit of time to design and set up, they usually completed in just a few minutes, but that was OK as we had much to accomplish. They were enjoying themselves and learning at the same time.

spiral ghosts, Halloween activities, Halloween crafts, ghost crafts, ghost activities, october writing prompts, spiral pattern, watercolor washes, crayon resist art, halloween coloring pages, nursery rhyme crafts, peter peter pumpkin eater activities, pumpkin crafts, halloween craftsI share my party day ideas in a Halloween packet, but wanted to dream up a few new ones, as this was one of the first units I did, way before I had all of the cool software programs, fonts, and clip art that I use now, but perhaps you'll find a few things you and your kiddos will enjoy.  

These cute dangling ghosts are a quick, easy and fun little something to do on Halloween party day, or as a nice activity to transition to after reading some Halloween-themed stories.

I was "pinspired" by a Family Magazine holiday craft photo.  They did not provide a pattern, so I made up my own.

spiral ghosts, Halloween activities, Halloween crafts, ghost crafts, ghost activities, october writing prompts, spiral pattern, watercolor washes, crayon resist art, halloween coloring pages, nursery rhyme crafts, peter peter pumpkin eater activities, pumpkin crafts, halloween craftsCutting on a spiral provides wonderful scissor cutting practice, which helps strengthen little finger muscles. 

There's an easy ghost pattern with no arms for younger students, and to help out your left handed kiddo's, I've included flipped patterns for them.

spiral ghosts, Halloween activities, Halloween crafts, ghost crafts, ghost activities, october writing prompts, spiral pattern, watercolor washes, crayon resist art, halloween coloring pages, nursery rhyme crafts, peter peter pumpkin eater activities, pumpkin crafts, halloween craftsOlder students can write on the spiral and complete one of these prompts: "Things that are creepy to me are . . ." or "Things that I'm a bit afraid of are . . ."

As you can see by the photo, these look awesome dangling from the ceiling, where they'll twirl and swirl. 

Click on the link to view/download the Spooky Spirals Halloween ghost writing prompt craftivity.

spiral ghosts, Halloween activities, Halloween crafts, ghost crafts, ghost activities, october writing prompts, spiral pattern, watercolor washes, crayon resist art, halloween coloring pages, nursery rhyme crafts, peter peter pumpkin eater activities, pumpkin crafts, halloween craftsAnother Halloween craft that I found several versions of on Pinterest, was a photo of a child in a pumpkin

These too, did not offer a pattern, so I provide one in my Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater craftivity packet. 

There's a blank pumpkin, one that says: "Happy Halloween from your little pumpkin" as well as one with the nursery rhyme written on it that I revamped.

Peter peter pumpkin eater rhyme poster, peter peter pumpkin eater activities, spiral ghosts, Halloween activities, Halloween crafts, ghost crafts, ghost activities, october writing prompts, spiral pattern, watercolor washes, crayon resist art, halloween coloring pages, nursery rhyme crafts, peter peter pumpkin eater activities, pumpkin crafts, halloween crafts"Teacher, teacher pumpkin eater.  Had a student couldn't reach her.  Put _________ in a pumpkin shell and there she taught her very well." (Female and male options.)  I've included a poster of the original Nursery Rhyme. 

midnight magic watercolor wash, spiral ghosts, Halloween activities, Halloween crafts, ghost crafts, ghost activities, october writing prompts, spiral pattern, watercolor washes, crayon resist art, halloween coloring pages, nursery rhyme crafts, peter peter pumpkin eater activities, pumpkin crafts, halloween crafts Midnight Magic, is also a quick, easy and fun little ghost craftivity, perfect for Halloween party day because it's super-simple and has that "Oh Wow!" factor.  

This art is called crayon resist, as the wax in the crayons resist the watercolors. I've taken a picture of the 3 steps of how it looks.

Using a white crayon, (press hard) trace the simple ghost pattern onto squares of white paper.  Children will not see the ghost 'til they "wash" their paper with the "magical colors of midnight".  To their utter delight, a ghost will appear as they are painting. 

spiral ghosts, Halloween activities, Halloween crafts, ghost crafts, ghost activities, october writing prompts, spiral pattern, watercolor washes, crayon resist art, halloween coloring pages, nursery rhyme crafts, peter peter pumpkin eater activities, pumpkin crafts, halloween craftsAlthough an all-black wash is effective, I think the ones where children used purple, blue and black turned out better.  I did a ghost, but any simple shape (pumpkins, candy corn, or bat) would do.

I've also done these with children's names.   Click on the link to view/download the Midnight Magic Halloween watercolor craftivity.

Halloween crayon resist watercolors, halloween games, spiral ghosts, Halloween activities, Halloween crafts, ghost crafts, ghost activities, october writing prompts, spiral pattern, watercolor washes, crayon resist art, halloween coloring pages, nursery rhyme crafts, peter peter pumpkin eater activities, pumpkin crafts, halloween craftsIn the Halloween Crayon Resist packet, I've included 5 coloring pages for kiddos to choose from, along with directions of how to set things up. 

Finally, another quick painting craftivity, is Alphie Andy the candy corn alphabet cup. I used styrofoam cups, orange and yellow acrylic paint and a black ink pen to make these fun "I Spy a Letter!" game "twirlers".

Halloween crayon resist watercolors, halloween games, spiral ghosts, Halloween activities, Halloween crafts, ghost crafts, ghost activities, october writing prompts, spiral pattern, watercolor washes, crayon resist art, halloween coloring pages, nursery rhyme crafts, peter peter pumpkin eater activities, pumpkin crafts, halloween craftsStudents can add a face to the top white section, or leave it plain. First graders can write their own letters on the top of the cups, but I'd do this for younger kiddos.  (I did a class set while watching TV.  Takes a minute or two per cup.)

It's not at all difficult, but little ones have a tendency to write large, so they won't be able to fit all of the letters around the rim.   When you make yours, look at my photo.  Letters need to be close, with a small space.

Remember the cup is upside down when you write the letters on the rim.  Add a second cup so you have a sturdier surface to write on.

You can keep this simple and just make cups with the uppercase letters on them, or "double up" and add an additional cup with the lowercase letters.  This way, you can review more than one standard.  When you call out a letter, students twirl their uppercase letter cup til their arrow lines up with that letter; then they twirl the lowercase letter cup, so that letter matches up with the uppercase one.

Students literally take 2 minutes to paint a yellow and orange stripe on their cup. (Make sure they write their name on the bottom.) Set aside to dry. Add an arrow, insert cup(s) and play "I Spy!"  It's a quick, easy and fun way to whole group assess.  Children hold up their cup when they've found the correct letter and have the arrow pointing to it.  Click on the link to view/download Alphie Andy, the Candy Corn Alphabet Assessment Cup craft.

Halloween crayon resist watercolors, spiral ghosts, Halloween activities, Halloween crafts, ghost crafts, ghost activities, october writing prompts, spiral pattern, watercolor washes, crayon resist art, halloween coloring pages, nursery rhyme crafts, peter peter pumpkin eater activities, pumpkin crafts, halloween craftsThat's it for today.  Thanks for visiting. Have to go check my apple-crisp bars.  The cinnamon scent is wafting through the house and smells delicious.  Wishing you a warm-fuzzy kind of day.    

"Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done." -- Louis D. Brandeis