1-2-3 Come Do Some Indian Corn "Craftivities" With Me!

Yesterday I posted cornucopia-themed activities.  (Scroll down to see that blog article.) To add some more variety to your November lessons, I have some cute  Indian corn items that I think you and your kiddo's will enjoy. Corn was a life saving food that both the Indians and Pilgrims ate in a variety of ways.

All of these activities appear in the Indian Corn Craftivities packet.  Click on the link to view/download it.

My personal favorite is the melted crayon corn.  Since we made apples and fall trees using this technique, my students know what to do.

The photo truly does not do this craftivity justice.  The results really look like Indian corn; my kiddos were amazed with the awesome results.  I thought the raffia bows added that finishing touch. I tied them ahead of time for my Y5's to staple at the top of their corn. 

Another favorite of mine is the fingerprint corn.  The one in the photo I did with my 1-year-old grandson, Kaiden.  I couldn't believe he sat so quietly while I pressed his index finger into the different colored stamp pads!  

I made the corn husks out of a lunch bag and then crumpled them up.  You could also trace & cut a child's hand print to glue at the base.   The British word for corn is maize so I added a play on words sentiment. ("I hope you have an 'a-maize-ing' Thanksgiving.")

Since he was sitting so quietly, I also wanted to do the ever-popular turkey hand print with him.  While I was putzing with his hands, I thought it would be fun to turn them into a family turkey and include a tracing of his mom's and dad's hand too.   The heart says: My family is turkey-riffic.  

I used Kaiden's little hand for the wing and bent it up, to add some 3D pop.  The beak is also 3 dimensional. You could do this new twist with your students too.  Simply send the construction paper home with a note and directions.  I've included a letter in the packet: Family Turkey Prints.

Getting back to our Indian corn theme, have students color in the corn kernels.  It's  a great fine motor skill.  However, to make this less tedious, I made it a game. 

Students choose a partner and take turns rolling a dice.  Whatever number they roll they color in that many kernels of corn.  Remind them to use a variety of colors. (I bring in some samples of real Indian corn to show them the variety.)

Older students can roll 2 dice and add them together.  I've included a math worksheet where they can show the equations on the back. 

On the front, students guess how many kernels are on the cob.  They make tally marks each time they color, and then count by 5's to find out the answer. (There are 110.) 

I've also included several other worksheets to reinforce more  standards, such as this Indian corn graphing activity.

There's a patterning activity, and a graphing paper craft where students also color the Indian corn. 

When I ate lunch with my friend Alma, she made tamales wrapped in cornhusks.  She said she bought the cornhusks from the grocery store. 

I thought adding some to one of my students' craftivities would add that finishing touch, so I bought a pack and we stapled them to the base of our cob for a realistic touch.

As long as you're doing a few corn-themed things, why not buy a bag of popcorn.  I LOVE popcorn, and it was something even the Pilgrims had, although I think they used it to make some sort of mushy cereal.

I'm munching popcorn right now (for breakfast) because I needed to take this photo and couldn't resist.  I think your kiddo's will have fun with these 1-to-1 correspondence Indian corn cards. 

Print, laminate and trim the full-color cards, or run off a set of black and white. After students wash their hands, pass out some popped and un-popped corn.  Children can place the popped corn above the cards for lower numbers, and put the kernels on the corn for all of the numbers. 

When they have completed their work they can eat their cup of popcorn.  (Collect and recylcle the un-popped kernels to use again next year.)

If you want your kiddo's to take a black and white set home, put a dollop of Elmer's glue on a small paper plate.  Give children a Q-tip to make a glue dot on their corn cob and place however many kernels on it that match the number.  Set aside to dry.  I've also included a page of interesting trivia about popcorn.

Finally, since my brain never shuts off, I'm forever asking "What educational thing can I make or do with this?"   While grocery shopping last week, I saw that many stores had Halloween candy 50% to 75% off and wondered how I could incorporate candy corn with Thanksgiving. 

I always made some little treat for my kiddo's just before they left on break and thought maybe other teachers would like to do that too.  

Run off the candy corn note and pass it out 15-minutes before dismissal. To expedite the activity, count 5 pieces of candy corn out for each child the day before and put them in Dixie cups.

I made a template with the star on it for really little ones to place their candy on, as well as one without the pattern to challenge students to make the star.  It's interesting to note that when the bottoms touch a bit they will make the 5-sided pentagon shape. Woo hoo another teachable moment!

Except for the family turkey print, (separate link) all of these activities can be found in the Indian Corn Craftivities packet. 

Thanks for visiting today.   I'm off to go find my Thanksgiving decorations.  Am anxious to take down Halloween and put up some cute little turkeys.  Wishing you a happy day and blessed November.

"We should be thankful for the wonderful things we have, and the awful things that we don't" -Unknown

Fall Into Some Fun Common Core Writing For Fall!

I LOVE combining art with creative writing.  I call these activities “Craftivities” and when you can mix in a little science at the same time, that's a real win-win.

Craftivities also make simple and easy bulletin boards or hallway displays that are pretty outstanding.

These fall writing prompts will help you teach several Common Core State Standards. They are listed and explained below.

Draw an oak tree on brown bulletin board paper with bare branches so that you can hang the leaves and acorn writing prompts on it, and scatter the squirrels underneath.

The leaves say: I see... I hear... I smell... The acorns say: I taste... and the squirrels say: I feel... (Older students write the entire sentence; younger students trace the first few words.)

Display the tree on a wall in the hallway.  You can use the caption: Our 5-Senses Creative Writing Oak Tree OR Using Our 5-Sense In The Fall.

If you want this to appear a bit more 3-D, twist brown lunch bags into strands, and use duct tape to attach them to the branches and down the trunk.

Run the oak leaves off on a variety of colored construction paper, as this will look better than brown leaves, even though oak leaves turn brown when they lose their chlorophyll.  Mention this fact to your students.

Gather students in front of the whiteboard. Review what the 5 senses are.  Brainstorm with them about using their 5 senses to see, hear, smell, taste and feel different things typical of the fall season.

Review beginning capitalization of words, Common Core State Standard: L.K.2a, as well as ending punctuation. Common Core State Standard: L. K. 2b, and RF.1.1 as well as L.1.2b for 1^st grade.

Have students spell simple words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships, or write a list of words from your brainstorming session on the white board having students help you spell them as you write them. Common Core State Standard: L.K.2d for kindergarten and L.1.2d for 1^st grade where they use conventional spelling for words with common spelling patterns and for frequently occurring irregular words.

Review what a noun, verb and adjective are, with older students.  Keep things simple for PK students and have them TRACE the beginning words and complete the sentence with 1 noun and a period.  K’s can add nouns and verbs; older students can add adjectives as well.

Make sure that you do an example yourself, explaining the parts of speech, grammar and punctuation as you go. RF.K.1a (Point out to students that they are reading words from left to right, top to bottom and page by page.) RF.K.1c (Point out that the words are separated by spaces and remind them to make sure they have a finger-space between their words too.)

Students can add color to their cut out pieces.  Remind them to include their names.  For a bit more pizzazz, you can also add glitter.  Use this as an incentive for students if they give their best effort and do their work correctly.

To give variety to your “wall board,” I have designed two squirrels.  You can run off both kinds and give children a choice.  Sprinkle the squirrels around the bottom of your oak tree.

If you don’t want to make a bulletin board, or hallway tree mural out of these writing prompts, you can collate the pages together to make a class book.  I’ve provided a cover for you if you want to do that.

You can also suspend the various similar pieces back-to-back from fish line and hang from the ceiling.   Click on the link to view/download 5-Senses Oak Tree Creative Writing packet.  Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything you think others may find helpful.

"It takes time to save time." -Joe Taylor