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

I was excited to see that the Polly Wants A Letter Cracker packet was a very popular download this week. 

I had several teachers that liked Pirate Polly so much, that Karyn from Florida, and Elaina from California, asked if I could make some crackers with numbers on them, so I designed crackers with numbers from 0-130.

"Feeding" Polly is a fun and less tedious way to practice counting that high.  The mini cracker cards, are also the perfect size for for sequencing. 

Make extra sets and have students lie on their tummies and string 20-30 crackers in the appropriate order.

Use them to play a game of  "I Have; Who Has?"  Toss whatever cracker numbers your kiddos need practice on, into a container and have students choose several. 

I've included "Kaboom!" bomb crackers, to make things even more fun + a tip list of what else you can do with these number cards.  

Have students sort the number crackers on the odd and even sorting mat, or make equations with the math symbol crackers, and then solve the addition and subtraction problems, or show greater and less than. 

I've also included a variety of trace and write the number worksheets in the packet, as well as "What's Missing?" skip count worksheets, plus a certificate of praise. 

Click on the link to view/download the Polly Wants A Number Cracker packet.

While I was expanding Polly's appetite for learning, I thought it would be fun to make shape crackers too. 

Brook sent me an e-mail that's she's always looking for more 3D shape activities, so along with 2D shapes, I included  3D shapes, and even threw in the pattern block shapes.

The crackers are still square, but the "cheese" on them is shaped.  Of course "Polly" loves these treats.  So that you can also play a Memory Match game, as well as reinforce vocabulary, I also made crackers with shape words on them.   I hope your little pirates will enjoy "feeding" Polly yummy shapes and word crackers.

As with the other Polly Packets, I've also included some extras.   Students can "get in shape" by playing a variety of "I Spy" a shape worksheet games, as well as several  "Shipshape" porthole dice games. 

Click on the link to view/download the Polly Wants A Shape Cracker packet. 

Finally, I also made a Polly Slider for a bit of hands-on fun. 

This "craftivity" includes "sliders" for upper and lowercase letters, numbers 1-30, counting backwards from 10 to 0 as well as 20 to 0, plus skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's and 10's, and of course a shape slider featuring 2D shapes, pattern block shapes and 3D shapes. 

Run off Polly on white construction paper and have students color her, or run the bird off on green construction paper; students trim and add a black pirate hat (there are two to choose from) as well as a 3D yellow beak. 

Run off whatever "slider" you want your students to practice.  They trace the letters and numbers, or color the shapes, and then insert their strip into the slits, so that the various objects will appear in a "window" as they slide the long piece of paper up and down. 

I pre-cut the slits with an Exacto knife, as this sort of cutting was a bit too difficult for my Y5's to do on their own. Sliders are a quick and easy way to review and whole group assess. 

Call out a shape, letter, or number and have students slide 'til it appears in the window.  When they've found the correct answer, they hold up their parrot.  You can see at a glance who is having difficulty.

Add a bit more pizzazz by attaching a wiggle eye with a glue dot.  Click on the link to view/download the Pirate Polly Slider packet. 

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  (Create, Teach, Share! )

"Beware of no man more than yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us." -G.K. Chesterton

15 pages.

Help practice a variety of standards with this hands-on pirate "craftivity". 

23 pages.

Review 2D and 3D shapes, plus pattern block shapes with this fun Polly Wants A Shape Cracker packet. 

30 pages.

Print off Polly; laminate and trim.  Cut out an opening in her mouth; attach Polly to a container and have students "feed" her number "cracker" cards.

18 pages.

Here's an alphabetical list of 794 pirate-related words and phrases, perfect for "Talk Like A Pirate" Day, or your other pirate-themed activities. 

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

I've had several requests for some pirate-themed activities, so I thought I'd putz with designing some that would help reinforce upper and lowercase letters. 

Did you ever decide to do something that you thought would take a few hours and all of a sudden you whiled away so much more time?

That's what happened with the Polly Wants A Letter Cracker packet.   It's three days later, and I'm finally done working on it!

Here's how to use the packet:  Print off  Polly's body parts, trim, glue them together and then laminate.

Cut out her mouth, to make a nice opening for your kiddos to "feed" her letter "crackers". 

I perched Polly on a very small wastebasket that I bought at The Dollar Store, so that when students "feed" her, the crackers will drop into the basket.

Print, laminate and trim the upper and lowercase letter "cracker" cards.  Pass them out to your students. 

So that you'll have more than enough food for Polly, I designed two different sets of uppercase letter crackers, plus two sets of lowercase ones. 

These could also be used for Memory Match, or "I Have; Who Has?" games.  There's a tip list of other ideas in the packet as well, including a Kaboom game.

You can call for the "crackers" in alphabetical order, sing the ABC song, or read a pirate alphabet book. Whatever letter you come to, have those students feed Polly the upper and lowercase letter crackers. 

For even more review, the packet has a variety of pirate-themed upper AND lowercase alphabet worksheets, like "I Spy a lowercase letter" game.

After students have practiced, you can assess their knowledge. 

I've included a variety of alphabet assessment activities, such as the "Spy some letters" assessment mat. 

 A nice activity for your Daily 5, is the Polly Wants A Letter Cracker ABC booklet, where students color, trace and write the letters. 

Have older students write a word that begins with that letter.  To make this more of a challenge, have them use a pirate word or phrase.

To help you with this, I spent several days reading a few pirate books and lots of pirate articles about the history of pirates, real pirates, places they went, their treasure and adventures etc.  This helped me to compile an alphabetical list of pirate words and phrases. 

With the aid of lots of "Talk like a pirate" sites, as well as nautical jargon dictionaries, and all of the above resources, I came up with 794 words and phrases related to pirates, and included this list in the packet.  

I really enjoyed learning a lot of new pirate vocabulary and trivia, that's now buzzing in my head with some future ideas... 

While doing that research, I came across several wonderful pirate alphabet books, perfect to read before and/or after feeding Polly. 

Shiver Me Letters  by June Sobel, Pirate's Alphabet  by Patti Wigington, A Is For Arrr!  by Laura Purdie Salas, Twenty-six Pirates by Dave Horowitz, An A to Z of Pirates by Caroline Stills and Pirates of the Alphabet by Tim Whitney, are all worth taking a peek at.  A cute trailer for the Pirates of the Alphabet is also on YouTube.

If you're into Aps you may also like Pirate Phonics: Blackbeard's Alphabet.  It's $1.99  There are also a plethora of pirate songs and short pirate video clips on YouTube.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.

"A merry life and a short one, shall be my motto." -Bartholomew "Black Bart" Roberts

51 pages.

Make Polly the parrot and have your students "feed" her upper and lowercase letter "cracker" cards.  Packet includes an ABC booklet, upper and lowercase letter worksheets, assessments, a tip list of alphabet card ideas, plus an alphabetical list of over 700 pirate-related words and phases, as well as a certificate of praise.

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

Since it's October, it seemed fitting to plug in a few skeletons, so I was diddling around with the idea of making a math packet around the play on words "Numb Skulls." 

If you don't do Halloween-themed things, the skulls are perfect for a pirate theme too, or perhaps you can use them as centers when your kiddo's study about bones and the human body.

I think your students will enjoy rolling 2 dice to make additon or subtraction equations on their "Numb Skull" and then solving them.  They write in their answer and color that many teeth. 

Students can play independently or with a partner.   Once I started designing with the skulls, more ideas kept popping into my brain, 'til I had a whopping 46-page Numb Skull packet that covers a variety of Common Core State Standards!

Lots of the items are very versatile.  The number cards with number words, can be cut into puzzles, or run off so students can make an Itty Bitty Counting booklet, which is a nice activity for your Daily 5 word work.

You can also use them for a Memory Match game, or to play "I Have; Who Has?"  Add the "Kaboom!" bomb cards to make things more exciting. 

The packet includes:                                                            A Numb Skull slider, where students trace the numbers from 0-30, or insert a skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's, or 10's number strip. 

There's also a slider for counting backwards from 10 to 0 and 20 to 0.

I've included several games as well. There's A Numb Skull addition and subtraction game, plus  a Count to 100 Numb Skull game, where students add the dice that they roll and then  X-off that many skulls 'til they have added their way to 100.

Skull number cards from 0-120 also provide options for even more games.  Since the numbers are at the top of the skull, play a game of "What number am I thinking of?"

Students choose a card and then give classmates clues.  i.e. "My number is odd. It's greater than 20, but less than 27.  When you add 11 and 10 together, you'll know my number.

I've also included matching math symbol cards, so students can make equations. Use the blank skull cards to program with whatever, or to make groups/sets for the equations students create.

There are some Trace and Write the numbers from 0-120 worksheets, as well as quite a few What's Missing worksheets for numbers 0-120, plus all of the skip counted numbers.

There are several puzzles that you can use in a variety of ways, as well as Odd Todd and Even Steven skeleton sorting mats.  When students have completed whatever you deem appropriate, give them a certificate of praise for a job well done.

Click on the link to view/download the Numb Skull Math packet. 

Since I get quite a few requests for telling time activities, I decided to whip together a Numb Skull clock and a few telling time to the hour and half hour games too.

This packet includes analog as well as digital time cards that you can use as flashcards, or to play games with.   Click on the link to view/down load the It's Numb Skull Time packet.

Well that's it for today; thanks for visiting.  I'm off to take a drive in the country with my hubby. 

The fall colors have peaked and a windy afternoon with a bit of rain, threatens their ability to cling onto branches for too much longer. 

Even though it's a bit chilly, a nice cup of apple cider at our farmer's market will warm things up.                                                                                      Wishing you a lovely day.

"One man who has a mind and knows it, can always beat ten men who haven't and don't." -George Bernard Shaw

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

I had a request for a Candy Bones graph.  I’d never heard of them; (Where have I been?) so I Googled candy bones.  They are really quite popular, as there were lots of Ask.com questions of where to buy candy bones and what to do with them.
Many of the links were outdated and broken, so I went on my own quest.

Oriental Trading has the best deal Online for “Candy Bones.”  The bones in their pack include: the ever-popular sweet-tart skull, foot, hand, ribs and plain bones. They come in pastel colors.  There are approximately 28 pieces per pack and 19 packets per unit (13 oz.) They are “fat free” and were $8, now on sale for $5.99 as of 10/7/13  I have dealt with Oriental Trading for many years and never had a problem. Their customer service is wonderful.

Amazon.com also offers the same candy bones mini packages. They are sold by Zugar and fulfilled by Amazon.  They are $9.99 for the same quantity as Oriental Trading.  Some teachers have e-mailed me that they have also found the candy bones packages at their Dollar Tree Stores.  However, they were not in mine, here in Grand Rapids, MI

There is also another popular bone candy called: Skulls and Bones.  Unlike the above candy, these only have 2 shapes inside, but more colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink, white and a blackish purple. Unlike the other pastel candies, these are brightly colored.  They are offered by Candy Nation.  They sell bulk at $3.85 a pound.

O’Ryan’s Village, featuring old-fashioned candy, also sells a package of Skulls and Bones for $2.29.  There are 11 small packages inside.  So now you know where to get the candy.  Why would you want it?  For starters, they are perfect for graphing. The skull and bones lend themselves to a Halloween, pirate or a science skeleton/bone activity.  

A sweet treat makes math a whole lot more fun for your kiddo's too.  So they aren't eating too much candy, pass out a sample from your stash at the start of the lesson, with the promise of being able to eat one more at the end, and if they behave, they can take the rest home.  This always worked with my Y5's whenever I used edibles for lessons.

Students spill out their package and sort them on the sorting mats.  I have ones for both kinds of candy, as well as a sorting mat for colors.  Children practice counting, tally marks, and addition with the various graphs and candy bones worksheets. 

I've also included whole-group graphs so that you have an extra opportunity to review your students' results.  There are graphs for shapes, colors, favorites, and flavors.  Since I was on a roll, I decided to make guess-timation activities, as well as some worksheets for patterning.  You can cover quite a few standards in a short amount of time. 

Click on the link to view/download the Candy Bones Math Activities packet.  Another popular download is the candy shape poster packet.  Did you know that Halloween treats come in all of the standard shapes?  For a fun review, print off a set to use as anchor charts or large flashcards.

Thanks for visiting.  Feel free to PIN away.  Just think, if everyone took a few minues to share, our lives would be so much easier.  If you'd like to take a peek at all of the creative and educational FREEBIES I spend way too much time pinning, click on the heart button to the right of the blog.

"Learning should be a joy and full of excitement.  It is life's greatest adventure and should be an illustrated excursion into the minds of noble and learned men, not a conducted tour through a jail." -Taylor Caldwell