Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Happy New Year!

 
This thought provoking creative writing assignment is a fun way to bring in the New Year. It is designed to stimulate positive thoughts and actions for the coming year for a 
variety of ages!
The littlest learners can have the questions read to them and someone write down their answers. They truly have some interesting suggestions!
This activity has four odd and even counting pages to 20 and two skip counting page by 10s to 100. One set is color and the other black and white.

Cut apart the strips and glue them down on another piece of paper in the correct sequence. If the order is correct the picture is correct, then color if in black and white.

For continued practice, just send the cut pieces home, instead of having them glued down.

These can also be laminated and used in a center. For example, glue magnets to the back of each strip and use on a cookie sheet. Put a colored dot on the back of matching pieces to keep them from getting mixed up!
Best Wishes for a Happy New Year!

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Winter Snowman Roll and Graph Using Cube Kleenex Box or Dice Template!

Horizontal and vertical graphing can sometimes be very confusing for little learners, so I have created an updated version of this winter snowman product to include large and small pieces for a better visual understanding of the concept. Learning to do graphing should be a fun unforgettable activity!
 This is a creative winter snowman horizontal and vertical graphing activity using a Kleenex Tissue box or a cube template to make dice for graphing snowmen. It is a favorite with children!

 The product has pieces to do a large floor size graphing activity and a regular sized activity! It works best to print the activity out first, to help you decide, what size you want to make the large graphing grid. (Large graphing grid not included.)
For the large activity, you will need to create your own large graphing grid, preferably one that can be reused again and again! It can be any size you wish! Plus you will need colored paper to fill the grid squares, unless coloring them in with a onetime use.
You can use any size large piece of paper, heavy vinyl picnic table cover or plastic like a shower curtain and create a large visual floor graph to use with the pieces.
You can also create a large graphing grid on a chalkboard, whiteboard or paper, then carefully taping the pieces on, creating a large wall hands on activity.
There is a page to make your own dice using the snowmen dice template, which is tricky for many children! An easier version is to create a large dice using the six larger snowmen and a square Kleenex box (Not included.) or cut the small snowmen and glue them to small wooden cubes to create dice. 
Just add the snowmen and colored pieces of paper to fill in the boxes as each man progresses in the graph. They can be taped on, but I like to use binder clips to have the snowmen standing up!
Decide which activity you are going to do and if using the color or the grayshade activity. This activity includes 2 different dice pages, 4 different graph pages with two types of graphs, large and small movable snowmen pieces and the ending question sheet.
There are two different versions of the horizontal and vertical included graphs; one in each has more boxes to color in when doing the activity with older children. 
It is important to notice that the snowmen look very similar, so the children need to look very carefully before coloring the box. The children roll their dice and color in the correct box on the graph showing the same snowman.
This is a wonderful way to have hands on learning activity, especially for little learners being introduced to graphing.

The snowman pictures can be cut apart and put in blinder clips to move with the activity. Children love picking out their favorite snowman to race and quietly cheering them to the finish.
See which snowman is the winner!
You may want to start by introducing the large graphing activity using only two or three snowmen and gradually add all six. The included paper grids can be trimmed so that only a 2 or 3 grid is used!

This product makes a good visual discrimination practice and evaluation activity, as well as graphing. This activity can be used with individual students, small groups, the whole class and also in a center or pocket chart.
 Another activity that can be played by printing out extra snowmen is Concentration.
I also have a similar product called
I would love for you to Follow to keep updated on new activities, freebies, linkups and so much more!

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Winter Ideas and Activities!

I'm getting the jump on winter with some activities to share!
Children love this activity and like to do it over and over again!
 
The Mr. Snowman story is read or sung to the tune of "Happy Birthday". This fun, educational activity is good practice using color and position words. Parts of the body and clothing items are also reviewed.

Once created by you, this 15-page book contains a different verse on each page. Additionally, it includes all the pieces for a 2-foot snowman, plus a worksheet for a child's drawing activity.

The snowman can be used as is, on a flat horizontal surface. It can also be used upright with tape, Velcro, or magnets on the back of each piece, depending on the surface you wish to attach it.
It can be used with the whole class, small group, or in a center.

I also used the snowman pieces as patterns to trace on flannel to create a flannel board Mr. Snowman.
It is especially fun for children that do not get any snow during the winter!
 
A different twist on snowflakes and 2D shapes together. Discuss the design of snowflakes and the 6 points.

Introduce or review the five shapes, circle, square, triangle, rectangle, hexagon. Excellent practice for fine motor skills, cutting, and gluing.

There are 3 complete activities; 1 in blue shades, 1 in gray shades, and the last is black and white. Possible Sample Keys are included and are in blue shades.
 
I have many other geometric activities and money saving bundles in my store under the category Geometric Fun.
Geometric Fun Activities

Also See:
Christmas Products
Winter Products
Other Puzzles and Games
Shapes
Colors
 Free! Here are two pages of bookmarks for winter. One page is in color and the other is black and white.

They can be used to motivate reading with the words "Reading is SNOW much fun!" The clip art is appropriate for a wide range of groups.
Get a jump on winter!

 


Monday, November 21, 2016

Trains for Christmas!

Planning for Christmas activities already?
There are so many great stories about trains for children!
A very special story for the holiday season is the classic
"The Polar Express" by Chris Van Allsburg's.
 
Some other examples are:
1. Smokey by Bill Peet
2. Crack in the Track (Thomas the Tank Engine Story)
3. Little Train by Lois Lenski
4. The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper
5. Steam, Smoke, and Steel: Back in Time with Trains by Patrick O’Brien
6. Big Book of Trains by DK Publishing
7. The Goodnight Train by June Sobel
8. The Potty Train by David Hochman
9. Dinosaur Train by John Steven Gurney
10. Freight Train by Donald Crews
 
I have two special train activities that can be used for Christmas!
The first one is a creative arts and writing activity.
This activity includes the cover sheet, 2 train engine templates and parent letter.

One train template is a simple black and white version. For older children there is a more detailed gray version. Print the train template you decide to use, on heavy paper and send it home with the parent explanation letter.
 
Parent and child will decorate it together. The train can be covered with whatever, but it must stay attached when hung up. Plus, it shouldn’t be so heavy that it won’t stay taped to a wall.

Suggestions for decorations: glitter, pompoms, tissue paper, pipe cleaners, felt, foam, lace, paper clips, sprinkles, colored rice, pictures, beads, sequins, shells, feathers, flowers, cotton, fake jewels, nature materials, sand, popsicle sticks, toothpicks, fabric, papers, foil, string, recycling materials, whatever you have around the house.
 
They need to put a picture of their child in the engine cab, so it looks like he/she is the engineer. When finished the student will bring back to school a Christmas Train to share with the class. It then becomes a prompt for story writing and telling.

It is always fun to see the different ways to decorate the train! They make a wonderful seasonal wall or bulletin board display! It can also be done in class instead of sending it home or send it home with older students that do not need parent help.
 
I have many different products similar to this to do during the year! Parents love doing these with their children!
 
The next activity is a free product and has been very popular, so I am sharing it again!
This fun product incorporates 5 geometric 2D shapes into the building of a train engine, plus a creative literacy activity.

There are 3 complete train engine choices; 1 has red and green colors, 1 is grayscale colored, and the last is black and white. The train can be made as a stand-alone, but that is better printed on heavy paper. It can also be made by gluing the pieces down on another piece of paper. This project is excellent practice for the fine motor skills of cutting and gluing. It is a good idea to give each child a baggie to hold their cut pieces until they have glued them all.

Introduce or review the five shapes; circle, square, triangle, rectangle, and hexagon. Decide if posting the picture of the finished Key that is included, so the children may use it for reference. When doing the black and white or grayscale engines, the children can color or decorate them when finished.
 
It can also be used in a center, but it is better if the pieces are laminated first. Again some of the pieces are small so a baggie helps to keep any from getting lost.

  The literacy activity has a black and white train paper with lines for writing and reading their creative stories. There is a cover sheet to make these stories into a class share book the students can read and reread again and again.
 
I also have many other products for 
that can be used during the year.
 
Wishing you a fun filled holiday season!

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

See Turkeys Run! Run Turkeys Run! Fun Graphing Activity!

Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for all of our blessings!
Little people sometimes say it best! I have so many blessings in my life! I want to take this time to say how thankful I am for the blessing of your friendship!
 
I have posted this FREE before, but it is so popular I am sharing it again!
This is a set of black and white realistic turkeys for literacy activities.

There are three different writing grids, so you can pick the right one for your age group. Also included is a blank turkey page so students can add a picture to their story or the littlest learners can just draw and dictate thankful pictures.

Great for students to color, after their story is written or pictures are drawn. They are extra cute when stuff as added, feathers, beads, etc.

There are 3 Title Pages: What I Am Thankful For, How To Cook A Turkey, and How To Disguise A Turkey and an Ending Page: Happy Thanksgiving.

The students love to share their stories! They can be made into a class book to be read and reread or posted for all to see.
 
See Turkeys Run! Run Turkeys Run!
This is a new activity that I posted a few days ago!
 
Horizontal and vertical graphing can sometimes be very confusing for little learners, so I have created this Thanksgiving product to include large and small pieces for a better visual understanding of the concept. Learning to do graphing should be a fun unforgettable activity!

Please note….. I picked turkey clipart that is lifelike. They look like real turkeys and are very similar! This can be confusing for some children, but this makes a good visual discrimination practice and evaluation activity, as well as graphing.

There is a page to make your own dice using the turkey dice template, which is tricky for many children! An easier version is to create a large dice using the six larger turkeys and a square Kleenex box or cut the small turkeys and glue them to small wooden cubes to create dice.
 
It works best to print the activity out first, to help you decide, what size you want to make the large graphing grid. (Not included.)

For the large activity, you will need to create your own large graphing grid, preferably one that can be reused again and again! It can be any size you wish! Plus you will need colored paper to fill the grid squares, unless coloring them in with a onetime use.

You can use any size large piece of paper, heavy vinyl picnic table cover or plastic like a shower curtain and create a large visual floor graph to use with the pieces. Just add the turkeys and colored pieces of paper to fill in the boxes as each turkey progresses in the graph. They can be taped on, but I like to use binder clips to have the turkeys standing up! This is a wonderful way to have a hands on learning activity, especially for little learners being introduced to graphing.
You can also create a large graphing grid on a chalkboard, whiteboard or paper, then carefully taping the pieces on, creating a large wall hands on activity.

You may want to start by introducing the large graphing activity using only two or three turkeys and gradually add all six. The included paper grids can be trimmed so that only a 2 or 3 grid is used!

Children love picking out their favorite turkeys and quietly cheering them to the finish.

This activity can be used with individual students, small groups, the whole class and also in a center or pocket chart. Another activity that can be played by printing out extra turkeys is Concentration.

Note the large graphing grid is not included in this product! Download the three page Preview in my store to see the complete activity.
Also see other turkey activities and Thanksgiving products in my
 
Happy Thanksgiving!

Saturday, November 5, 2016

Thanksgiving Ideas!

The turkeys are coming! The turkeys are coming!
Do you have leftover mini pumpkins from Halloween?
A project I like to do with little people is to make them into Thanksgiving turkeys!
You can use ice cream sticks, popsicle sticks or tongue depressors cut in half for the head and tail feathers. The sticks can be colored with crayons or makers.
 
The littlest learners will need help getting the sticks into the pumpkins after coloring. A knife maybe needed to cut slits into the pumpkin to make it easier to push in the sticks.
They look cute sitting on the Thanksgiving dinner table!
I also have a variety of Thanksgiving ideas and activities on my
Pinterest Thanksgiving Board.


This paid product in my store has a variety of different colors and fonts.

I am posting a free page version of this activity here!
Enjoy!




Saturday, October 29, 2016

Thanksgiving is Coming!

When teaching children,
you always need to be planning and staying prepared one step ahead!
Many of you are already thinking about Thanksgiving!
 
I have a variety of Thanksgiving activities in my TpT Store
simply click on the
CUSTOM CATEGORIES
on the left side of my store and look under Thanksgiving!
 
I just added a super simple product called 
I am posting it here as a blog freebie!
This is an easy peasy, no prep way, to create a turkey about being thankful using
a child's hand!
Print this Handful of Thankful template out on the front side only.
It uses very little ink, print and create!
Have the children work in pairs to trace around the hand of each other or an adult can trace around little people hands. They add their details to make a turkey and color.
They write four things that they are thankful to have in their life, inside the tail feathers. Little learners can use their own spellings to create their turkeys and older children can write small sentences. The tiny learners can tell an adult their answers and they write them.

 This can be a wonderful display for Thanksgiving or a great class book to share!
It also makes a cute keepsake for parents.
Enjoy!


Saturday, October 22, 2016

Fifty Nifty Days of Learning

50 nifty days of learning or 50 nifty days of school is cause for a celebration!
It happens about this time of year depending upon when you started.
I have two new products for this special occasion!
The first is a bookmark!
While it is a paid product in my store for all four versions,
I am posting two on here free just for my blog followers!
Enjoy! 
I have also added a song for the 50 days too! 
What a fun activity for the 50th Day of Learning or 50 Days of School!

There is a song poster, the number 10 poster and the letter posters that spell FIFTY. Also included is a cover sheet and directions. Each poster is 8 1/2 by 11 inches.

It is a great way to learn some letters of the alphabet and practice memory skills!

Assembly: Print the song poster, the 10 poster five times (if using) and the letter posters on heavy paper and laminate. The 10 poster can be printed out five times and placed back to back with the letter posters. Then they can be flipped during the song from the letter to the number 10.

Activity: Show the song poster and teach the song. Introduce the letter cards to go with the song. Pass the cards out to 5 students and as the letter is sung, the card is held up. Repeat until every student has had a chance to participate.

To make the activity harder, sing the song with flipping a letter to 10 for each verse and do a motion and/or sound instead.

For example, they sing F I F T Y for the first verse. Then turn the letter F over for the second verse and have the children sing and show ten fingers for 10 for the letter F. They would sing 10, I F T Y. The third verse would be 10, 10, F T Y. Do this until all the letters are turned over and the last verse is 10, 10, 10, 10, 10! The 5 number 10 posters add up to 50 and 5 sets of ten fingers add up to 50 fingers!

Download Preview in my store (link above) to see the complete activity.
Happy 50 Days!

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Kleenex Box Dice for Halloween!

No Tricks, just Treats!
Sometimes trying to make paper dice with little learners is too hard for them to put together.
This is when cube Kleenex Tissue boxes are sooooo helpful!
So I have updated and added to this product to make it easier to use,
plus the size makes it an awesome class activity!

The children roll their dice and color in the correct box on the graph showing the same pumpkin. Several faces are similar so they need to look carefully before coloring the box.

See which pumpkin reaches the top first! This activity can also be used in small groups or in a center.

Enjoy!

Saturday, October 8, 2016

Halloween is Coming With ABCs

There are so many fun activities for Halloween, especially using the letters.
I love to make books that are child created by using pages made by little learners. Those pages are then laminated, bound together in the book and able to be
shared again and again!
A favorite one for Halloween is
I've made a Halloween Trick or Treat ABC Book with 26 pages of A thru Z words. All the words are made with dotted lines that the children need to trace! Have each child pick a letter and draw themselves in that costume or draw how they might look as that example. They will illustrate and color a picture that goes with the words.
BUT if you don't like the words I've picked, I have added other choices for most of the letters. Just print the one you want for each letter to change the original story or have the child pick the one they want. The extra pages are listed after the ABC Story.
Print the 26 A-Z pages you want for the book.
Don't print them all!
Here are some examples of the other B letter choices.
 
The first word listed is in the story, and the other words are pages to choose from.
A-astronaut, angel, alien
B-ballerina, bat, bunny, baseball player, basketball player, bride, butterfly
C-clown, cat, cowboy, cowgirl, cupcake, candy
D-doctor, dog, dinosaur, dragon, diva
E-elf, elephant, engineer
F-fireman, fairy, football player, farmer
G-ghost, gorilla, gladiator, gnome, gypsy, genie
H-horse, hiker
I-Indian, ice cream cone, imp
J-jack-o-lantern, jester, jellyfish
K-kitty, king, knight
L-lion, leopard, ladybug, lamb
M-monster, monkey, mummy, mermaid
N-nurse, ninja
O-owl, ogre, octopus
P-pirate, princess, prince, policeman, policewoman
Q-queen
R-robot, rock star
S-superhero, skeleton, scarecrow, spider, superstar, soccer player,
T-teacher, T-rex, tiger, troll
U-unicorn, umpire
V-veterinarian, Viking
W-wizard, warrior
X-x-ray, eXtraterrestrial
Y-yoyo, yellow duck, yellow bee
Z-zebra, zzzzzz Trick or treat is over. Good night.
 
This is also a fun activity for a child to work on between now and Halloween,
doing just a couple pages a day with a finished book to keep and reread!
 
Another good learning activity for a variety of ages, is to see how many words can be made using the letters for the words Happy Halloween!
Halloween Words to Make
Students, especially younger ones love to be able to arrange and rearrange letters to make different words. The activity includes the letters in two sizes to manipulate during play.

There are different versions in this product, see the link. There are two sheets with the letters large enough for a chart or group work in color and black & white. They can also have magnets put on the back for magnetic play.

Also included are two worksheets with little Happy Halloween letters at the bottom to cut off for arranging the letters into various words. Color and black & white copies in my TpT Store. Snack size baggies would help students keep track of their letters.
 Even beginning readers can make simple words like: A, he, we, all, etc.
 The only extra thing needed is a pen or pencil!
Excellent activity for fast finishers or when there are a few extra minutes in the day.
So enjoy part of  this activity FREE, only on here on my blog!
 
Be sure a visit my
to see other products I have for
 
Don't forget to Follow, you never know when I will add another free activity!


Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Fall Y'all

The wonderful season of fall has just begun!
The trees are just starting to turn colors and I love the more comfortable temperatures!
 
Here is a freebie bookmark to celebrate called
 There are two pages of bookmarks, one page is in color and the other is grayshades. They can be used to motivate reading with the words "FALL Into A Good Book!" The clipart is appropriate for a wide range of groups.

Please leave feedback!
Simply go to your TeacherspayTeachers Store, then the My Purchases page (you may need to login). Beside each purchase or free download you'll see a Provide Feedback button. Simply click it and you will be taken to a page where you can give a quick rating and leave a short comment for the product.
Thank you for your feedback.
Enjoy!
 


Wednesday, September 14, 2016

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
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!

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