Happy March!

St. Patrick's Day Card:

I like to do a St. Patrick's Day card as a center activity.  It's a quick project and involves cutting for a great fine motor skill as well as writing.  My students enjoy it and I get positive feedback from parents that it's a nice keepsake.

Because my students keep their shamrock folded I have the opportunity to assess listening and following directions as a whole group as well as review the concept of symmetry with them.  Folding a strip of paper back and forth to make their leprechaun "boing" about, is fun for them and great exercise for their fingers. 

You can have your students trace the message or copy it from the paper and write it inside their card.  You don't have to add the step of gluing their photo to the face of the leprechaun, but I think that's why parents love it all the more. 

I know you'll enjoy making this "paper love" as you practice report card standards at the same time.  Click on the link to view/print the St. Patrick's Day Card.     I've also made a "Happy St. Patrick's Day!" note from your teacher that you can print if you'd like.  Keep it as a leprechaun, or glue your school photo in the face just as your students' did on their cards.  Enjoy!

Triple Shamrock Stamp Art:

This is also a very easy center for students and makes a nice display for a hallway wall or bulletin board.  It's also a great review of small, medium and large as well as groups/sets and counting. 

All you need is some white construction paper, 3 different sizes of caps, 3 shades of green paint, Q-tips or brushes, some gold glitter glue and 3 paper plates, then you're all set.  It's amazing the different spatial direction patterns your students will come up with! Click on the link to view/print the directions for the Triple Shamrock Stamp Art.

Newsprint Art:

Combine letter recognition and counting with this simple and fun art center.  I like to do a recycling project each month and this is the one I do for March. 

I save up a bunch of old newspapers and then have a room helper go through and find the pages that have mostly printed articles with hardly any pictures on them. 

She tears them out and puts them in a pile.  She also traces and cuts 6 tag board templates of a shamrock and a Seuss hat for me.  I choose one of these as a center activity for Shamrock or Seuss Day. 

My students trace the template on their sheet of newspaper, circle all the letter S's that they can find, counting as they circle them.  Then write a grand total somewhere in a space on the newsprint.  They highlight the entire shape with a green highlighter if they've traced a shamrock, or color alternating red stripes if they've done a Seuss hat. 

When they are done, they cut out their shape and glue it to a piece of black construction paper.  For a great math extension, we graph our results and add up the total number of S's everyone found.  These make sharp looking boarders for a b. board.  Click on the link to view/print the directions and shamrock/Seuss hat templates.

Rainbow Kite Squishing:

March wouldn't be complete without a kite activity.  My students enjoy the mystery of making a kite squisher.  Simply add blobs of rainbow-colored paint to one side of a folded diamond.  Have students rub their hands over the folded paper and then gently open their kite to see a rainbow of smeared and "squished" colors! 

Each one is as unique as the child who made it. Mine are thrilled with the results.  They look wonderful suspended from the ceiling, gently floating to and fro as people pass by.  Click on the link to view/print directions and kite template.

I hope you got some ideas for your "wee ones" to have a bit o' fun during your March center time. 

As always if you have an idea to share, I'd enjoy hearing from you. diane@teachwithme.com