My Fun Shines of Summer

Getting children to write during the summer can sometimes be a challenge!

So the goal is to make it simple, fun and creative!

Need an activity to promote creative writing over the summer and exciting enough for your students or children to want to do it? This project can be used to write down those moments that truly shined for them over vacation. Those special times that put a smile on their face because they enjoyed it so much!

My Fun Shines of Summer Creative Writing and Art Activity!

The black and white blackline set can be run on yellow papers or for more fun, print on designed papers. See example above! This is the cheapest way as it uses less ink. The yellow colored set has rays in two shades of yellow or mixed colors.

Print the pages out on the front side only. The thicker the paper, the more durable they will be. The sun is big enough that it can have two pages of rays shining around it! The rays can also be flipped the opposite direction so the skinny side is shining out.

The littlest learners can dictate their ideas for someone to write them down. Older children can write a more detailed small paragraph.

This is an activity in my

TeacherpayTeachers Store.

As a special treat for only my blog Followers, I am posting two pages of this activity for your personal use only.

Here are two blacklines for this activity! I have posted the sun and a set of rays!

 When you go to my store if you look under My Products, you will see a Sort Menu and if you click "Most Recent" all of my latest activities and products are listed.

 It makes a great bucket list activity too!

Free Sample Pack of Puzzles!

To introduce some of my activities, I use free samples of the product!

Puzzles are a quick fun way to introduce, practice or even evaluate learning skills.

 

Today, I am sharing my

Puzzle Match Sample Pack.

This free product has 42 puzzles that include the concepts of solid shapes (cone, cube, sphere, and cylinder), hour time (12:00-5:00), antonyms or opposites, rhyming, homonyms, time sequence, size sequence, and things that go together.

There is one whole page for each concept. It has six puzzles each for solids, time, opposites, rhyming, things that go together and homonyms, plus three puzzles each for size and time sequence.

They can be used for introducing, reviewing, or evaluating these concepts one to one, in small groups or centers. They are also fun to use in game activities, like ©Concentration.

Print, laminate, cut apart, and use year after year!

 

Download Preview to see the complete activity.

I have many other puzzle activities in my store and I am always making more!

Enjoy!



Celebrate The End of The Year!

The end of the year is getting closer with each passing day!

So much to do and so little time to do it!

 

To encourage summer reading, I've created an end of the year bookmark that hopefully will be a placemarker in several reading books during vacation!

Free! End of the Year Beach Theme Bookmarks

This has 4 pages of bookmarks for the end of the year with a beach theme. Show someone you care! Great for educators to give to students or staff.

They can be used to motivate reading with the words "Have a super summer! I will miss you!" The clipart is appropriate for a wide range of groups and age levels. There is color and grayscale, which can be colored. I would love feedback if you download this, please!

 

 I also have a wide variety of certificates and diplomas in many colors and designs!
This is my newest one!

End of Year Certificates or Diplomas of Completion For Any Activity.
Plus I have a variety of others!

 These can be found in my

TeacherspayTeachers Store

look under CUSTOM CATEGORIES for

Back to & End School.

There are spaces to be handwritten in for the name, the date, and the signing person.

After printing the certificate out, just fill in the blanks and present to the student. So much more personal when handwritten! They look gorgeous framed and are a wonderful memento!
 

 I also have Picture Frame Attachments.

 

Print the activity out on one side only. The heavier the paper, the more durable it will be. Laminate and cut the pieces out.

Decide what size empty picture frame you are going to use. The 8” by 10”, 11” by 14” or 16” by 20” are great sizes for these attachments. The example frame shown is 11” by 14.”

Have the student hold the empty frame with the pictures attached, centered in front of their face and smile! You take their picture and they will have a wonderful

remembrance keepsake!
I have other Frame Attachments in my store and will be creating more!

Don't forget to Follow Me, you never know when I will post another freebie!



End of School Goodbye Notes!

I am excited to share a fun summer product!

The activity that I am sharing is my 

End of The Year Summer Goodbye Notes,

What an adorable looking little crab! This product has notes or postcards for the end of the year with a beach theme. You can create a personal handwritten note or use as a thank you card.

Show someone you care! Great for teachers to give to students, principals to staff or just from one person to another. 

There are three versions. No fold single quarter sheet, side fold half sheet and top fold half sheet. There is color and gray scale, which can be colored. The clipart is appropriate for a wide range of groups and age levels.

After printing the notes out, just write a heartfelt message and give it to that special someone! It looks so cute and is a wonderful keepsake!

Warm Fuzzies!

I love Warm Fuzzies!

 

Urban Dictionary Definition: notes of praise that gives one a "warm fuzzy" feeling upon reception! As when someone you love or close to you says or does something that gives you a tingling sensation, melted or warmed heart, sends your heart racing to the heavens or even gives that "good" kind of goosebumps!

 

I truly love all the creative drawn pictures and adorable inventive written cards from the children, plus the special handwritten letters and notes from the parents!

It means so much when someone takes the time and effort to show they care!

So as the year ends, two things......

 

As a parent, take a moment to share a warm fuzzy with your child's educator or teacher.

As a teacher or educator, take the time to start a special Warm Fuzzy File for all your
one-of-a-kind treasured keepsakes.

 

I am so glad I did!

 I am so excited to have this post featured on the TpT blog!



End Of The Year Diplomas and Certificates!

The end of the year is rapidly coming, along with the many end of the year celebrations! I have a wide variety of diplomas and certificates in various colors and styles, to make those milestone achievements memorable!

I have Kinder and Preschool Diplomas, as well as non-grade, age and activity specific for up to and including adults!

End of School Products

Click the link to find a variety of end of the year products!

My May Days!

 May 1st, often called May Day, just might have more holidays than any other day of the year. It's a celebration of spring. It's a day of political protests. It's a saint's feast day and a day for organized labor. In many countries, it is a national holiday.

As a little girl, I would hang small baskets of flowers on the doors of family and friends in my neighborhood, bringing in May to celebrate the return of spring.

We continued this tradition when our daughters were toddlers. My husband and I were lucky enough to live just down the road from my husband's parents. The day before May Day, we made little homemade baskets with colored papers.

 Simply trace a half circle using a plate to create the little cone baskets and cut it out. Then cut a strip of paper from one side to make a handle. Curve the straight edge of the paper in half over itself to form the cone shape needed to make the basket.

Glue or staple the edges of the basket together, plus add the handle by fastening it to 

each side of the basket. Ribbons or bows can be added, but are not necessary.
This project is so easy peasy to do!

The girls were always so excited waiting for May 1 morning to arrive! They picked whatever small flower bouquet they wanted from dandelions to lilac flowers. We would sneak down to Grandma's house hoping she wouldn't see us. The girls would tiptoe up to the door, hang their baskets of love, ring the doorbell and run to hide.

Of course, Grandma was always excited to see those adorable little baskets! She would play like she didn't know the two special little people that placed them on her door. This only lasted for a few seconds because the girls were too excited to stay in their hiding places. Every year Grandma would be totally surprised and there would be lots of hugs and kisses!

 I also used this activity with my little learners, making little baskets the day of May 1 or the day before, then sending them home. They tended to fill their baskets with lots and lots of dandelions! They came to school with delightful stories of how they shared their May Day baskets with family, friends or neighbors. Occasionally a little one would forget, then rush home after school to do it!

The stories they created while writing down what happened were full of happiness and a joy to hear being shared with the class! Every year it was a treasured teaching project!

 Wishing you a very special May Day!

Sequence Sorting Puzzles or First, Next and Last

Learning about sequencing can be fun using this activity!

Sequence Sorting Puzzles:First, Next, and Last Tell or Write The Story

Here are 15 sets of three puzzle pieces teaching the concept of first, next and last. These are self checking and can be used with the whole class, small groups, or in centers. 

 

These can also be used to write sequence stories for first, next and last, then have the student read them too.

The instruction page has several games to play using these pieces. For example, give each child a puzzle piece, making sure that they each have the matching pieces. The students then scramble to find their matches and put them in the correct order.

These can easily be adapted for the littlest learner by only using the concepts introduced.

Print, laminate, cut apart, and use year after year!

 

Don’t have time to cut puzzles? You may have a valuable, untapped resource, in your student’s parents! Many parents work and are unable to help with activities or projects in the classroom. This is their time to shine! Simply send home the puzzles after laminating, with directions about how you want them to be cut. The puzzles come back with both the student and parents proud to be involved in helping the teacher!

My other puzzles:
School Compound Word Puzzle Match Set using All School Words
Math Number Sense Interchangeable Mix and Match Puzzles 1-10
Solid Shapes Puzzles
Rhymes Puzzle Match-30 Matches 2 Letter Families
Rhymes 2 Puzzle Match-30 Matches 3 Letter Families
Rhymes Puzzle Match Bundle-60 Matches
Homonym Puzzle Match-30 Opposite Matches
Alphabet Puzzle Match Sounds and Letters
Antonym Puzzle Match-30 Opposite Matches
Go Togethers Puzzle Match
Spring Size Sequence Puzzles
Sequence Sorting Puzzles:First, Next, and Last Tell or Write The Story
Sports Puzzles 0-10
Color Word Puzzles
Time Puzzles 1 Show Hour and Half Hour Practice Clock Included
Time Puzzles 2 Show Quarter and Three Quarter Hour Clock Included
Time Puzzles Bundle
Money Coin Posters, Puzzles, Play Money
Large and Small, and Piggy Banks
Best-selling Solid Shapes Products Bundle
Synonym Puzzle Match-30 Matches
Other Puzzles and Games

 

Math Number Sense Interchangeable Mix and Match Puzzles 1-10

This is a very exciting concept to use to teach number sense! It is a set of 130 puzzles in 26 different forms for the numbers 1-10. There are two different forms on each puzzle. All puzzles with the same number are interchangeable to mix and match!

 Math Number Sense Interchangeable Mix and Match Puzzles 1-10

Number Forms Included: Numbers 1-10, Counting Fingers, Kid Print Numbers, Number Formations, Number Formation Poems, Dice, Number Words, 10 Frames, Number Lines, Tally Marks, Coins, Roman Numerals, Counting Cubes, Money Sentences, Clock Time, Digital Time, Expanded Form, Before and After Boxes, Ones and Tens Frames, Counting Spots 1-9, Ordinals and Line Placement, Odd or Even, plus 100 Charts, Plus and Minus Sentences. 

These puzzles are interchangeable by number, meaning every form of the same number can be mixed or matched many different ways!

You just decide what parts you want to use. It can be all forms of one number or a certain form for all numbers, or all numbers all forms. These can also be used for sorting activities!

This activity can be started with even the littlest learners using only the numbers they know!

Print, laminate, cut apart, and use year after year!

Spring Brings Pussy Willows!

One of the first signs of spring is a furry bush called a pussy willow. Children love being able to touch these soft kitty cat feeling flower buds called catkins. 

There are several fun ways to create the pussy willow as a craft.

One is to make them by cutting off the ends of Q-tips! 

The children draw a stem stick with crayon or marker on paper. Have them notice that pussy willow buds alternate as they go up the stem. Simply make a little line on the stem where the Q-tip bud is to be glued on. Then color the bottom end of the Q-tip bud to look like the bud covering.

Another way is to do the same as above, but use clumps of cotton instead of Q-tips.

This third way is cheaper, but is messier to create! Again the child draws the stem stick, but this time the catkins are made by them pushing their pointer finger into a black ink pad, then pressing down on the paper in the spots where they should go.

The ink should be washable!

 It is always fun to bring a little spring inside to share!

Tiny Book of Colors

Learning the colors is one of the first skill sets achieved by little people.

Colors are everywhere which makes them so easy to teach. 

 

Freebie Alert Here Only! 

I have a variety of color activities in my store, but have decided to post one here as a

freebie for blog readers only!

Tiny Book of Colors
Here it is in my store, but the free pages are posted below!

This is a quick and easy way to introduce or review colors and color words. Plus each child will have a great take home read and review booklet to keep!

Included in this activity are the colors; red, yellow, blue, green, orange, purple, brown,

black, white, and pink.

Here are some example pages shown!



Run the three booklet pages, printing on the front side only. The ten little color examples can be run colored or grayscale. There are two sets to each sheet, but each child only gets one set of ten pictures for their booklet.

 

Pass the three pages out to each student. They are to fold each sheet in half on the short dotted line and again in half on the long dotted line. Place the three folded pages together with the title on the front and The End page last. The booklet then gets stapled or glued together on the left side.

 

The booklet color words maybe traced or colored during introduction or review.

 

 

 

 

Pass out the set of ten little pictures to each student.

They cut the ten pictures apart and glue them in the box on the correct color page. 

The little color boxes can be in color or black and white.There are links in the product description linked above to many other color activities and products!

Enjoy this free activity!

 



Earth Day

Earth Day is an annual event, celebrated on April 22, on which day events worldwide are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection. It was first celebrated in 1970 and is now celebrated in more than 192 countries each year, coordinated globally by the

Earth Day Network.

 

I am sharing two free pages of my reading and writing activity

Earth Day Stationery.

 There are also blank pages for the students to write on, using no lines.  The littlest learners can dictate their story to an adult.

 There are three different writing grids pages, so you can pick the right one for your age group. They are in colors and gray shades.

 The students love to share their stories! They can be made into a class book or posted for all to see.

There are other pages in a variety of colors in the complete product.

Here are 21 pages of Earth stationery in a variety of color and gray shades. Each color and gray shade has differentiated lines for a variety of grade level writing assignments.

Earth Day Stationery

Enjoy!

Almost Time To April Fool!

I am sharing my April Fool paper and pencil activity. What a fun product for April 1st!  April Fools' Day Skip Counting Secret Puzzle 

Included:
Cover and direction sheets
2 worksheets for odd and even numbers in sequence order, plus 2 answer keys.
2 worksheets for odd and even numbers in mixed order, plus 2 answers keys.

Directions:
Introduce or review the concept of odd and even numbers. Decide which worksheet to use.

Have the students trace all the numbers and letters. Then circle all the even numbers or odd numbers depending on the worksheet you assigned.

Next students circle the letters in the even or odd number column. If they have circled the numbers and letters correctly it will spell the words April Fools!

Download Preview in my store to see the activity. I would love some feedback here or on my TpT page!

So Lucky To Be A Teacher

Teachers are so lucky because they get to experience the joy of watching children learn!

Teachers come in many forms!

 

Teachers in a school classroom, a homeschool, a preschool, a daycare, a roadschool, worldschool, an afterschool program or other educational program will totally understand this!

 

If you are a parent, grandparent or relative that helps with the learning of a child you are also a teacher and will also understand this concept too!

 

I am sharing information about this activity!

Math Number Sense Interchangeable Mix and Match Puzzles 1-10 

 

This is a very exciting concept to use to teach number sense! It is a set of 130 puzzles in 26 different forms for the numbers 1-10. There are two different forms on each puzzle. All puzzles with the same number are interchangeable to mix and match!

Number Forms Included: Numbers 1-10, Counting Fingers, Kid Print Numbers, Number Formations, Number Formation Poems, Dice, Number Words, 10 Frames, Number Lines, Tally Marks, Coins, Roman Numerals, Counting Cubes, Money Sentences, Clock Time, Digital Time, Expanded Form, Before and After Boxes, Ones and Tens Frames, Counting Spots 1-9, Ordinals and Line Placement, Odd or Even, plus 100 Charts, Plus and Minus Sentences.

 

You just decide what parts you want to use. It can be all forms of one number or a certain form for all numbers, or all numbers all forms. These can also be used for sorting activities!

This activity can be started with even the littlest learners using only the numbers they know!

Print, laminate, cut apart, and use year after year!

 

Enjoy!