1-2-3 Come Do Some Cornucopia Craftiivities With Me

Just a few more days 'til Thanksgiving.  Woo hoo!  As you're anxiously counting down the days 'til  break, you might want to toss in a little craftiness for those last few days.

With all the testing, report cards and parent-teacher conferences that have taken place, I think everyone needs a bit of a brain break.

Here are some quick, easy and fun cornucopia-themed craftivities that take just a short amount of time, yet pack a big “Wow!” factor when completed.

The packet includes:

* Background information about cornucopias.
* A variety of crafts suitable for various levels of ability.
* Writing prompts
* Worksheets
* Center activities
* Shape activities
* Word find
* Dice game
* Puzzles that reinforce numbers 1-10, counting backwards from 10-1, plus skip counting by 2s and 10s, in both color as well as black & white.  

Click on the link to zip on over to my TpT shop to have a look see: Cornucopia-themed craftivities.

Since the Dolch fairy tale that I posted yesterday was so popular, I decided to feature another Dolch word FREEBIE today.

When you're deciding what Dolch words your students will work on, you may want to take into consideration their frequency of use. 

I've included 2 Dolch word lists in this packet. One lists the order of frequency for each separate Dolch word list (pre primer-3rd grade). 

The other list, categorizes all of the words, from all of the lists, by order of frequency.   I hope you find it useful.

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by.  I have a busy day ahead, as the entire house had the carpets cleaned yesterday and things are in a stacked-up disaster everywhere. 

Right timing because we're having 20 for Thanksgiving, poor timing because now I have more to do.  I'm sure most everyone can relate.  Wishing you a productive day, filled with lots of energy.

"The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving." ~H.U. Westermayer

1 2 3 Come Do Some Cornucopia Craftivities With Me

Instead of just doing a turkey or Pilgrim theme in November, add some variety with cornucopias!  Plenty of Cornucopias is a 37-page packet filled with a nice selection of ideas.

Introduce your lessons by asking if anyone knows what a cornucopia is. I spent some time searching the web for background and enjoyed learning some new trivia, which I put in a 1-page Cornucopia Tidbits page.  To reinforce the new vocabulary word, I've included a trace and write worksheet.

My Y5's especially enjoyed the lunch bag cornucopias because we sparkled them up with a bit of glitter glue. I pre-folded the bags over and demonstrated how to twist the bottom to turn it into a cornucopia. 

This is wonderful fine motor practice. As you can see by the photograph, these make a lovely bulletin board.

There are two options to choose from.  One is simply a coloring page of the fruit spilling out.  Students color, cut and glue to the inside of their bag. 

To ensure that they used lots of colors, I told my kiddo's that whatever colors they used, we would add those glitter colors. 

It was amazing how this resulted in really great coloring!  I set the glitter-station up as an adult-run center.

For the other option, run off the fruit patterns on construction paper.  Rough cut.  Students trim and glue to the inside of their cornucopia bag.  I assemble one as a "how to" sample. 

The Rip & Tear Mosaic cornucopia is also great fine motor practice.  Encourage students to rip the 1/2 inch paper strips into color piles and then rub their glue stick over a certain area and place their "tiles" down.

I show how to press the torn paper around the edges of a food, and then fill in the rest of the area. 

Remind students that they can overlap pieces and that there should be very little white showing through. 

These also make a beautiful bulletin board.  The mosaics really pop on a black background.

The "Plenty of Shapes" cornucopia, reviews 2D shapes.  Another activity you can do with this shape craft, is to brainstorm with students about what real foods come in those shapes. i.e and egg is an oval shape.

How many can they think of?  I've included a list of my own that you can share with your kiddos, after they've completed theirs.

I've also included a matching "Shape Up!" spinner game.

Children choose a partner and take turns spinning.  Whatever shape they land on, they color that shape on their recording sheet. 

Encourage students to say the names of the colors and shapes as they play the game. 

Students also write down their favorite shape and something in real life that's that shape. i.e. circle-pizza.

3 cornucopia number puzzles, review counting forwards and backwards, as well as skip counting by 10's.  They make a nice independent center or something for "early finishers" to work on.

There are several writing prompts + a November Word Search.

Finally, I think your students will enjoy the November word search.  A word search is not only fun, but reinforces new seasonal vocabulary as well as spelling. 

The Roll & Color Cornucopia game is also a fun way to reinforce numbers and colors. 

Click on the link to view/download the Cornucopia Craftivies packet.

Thanks for visiting today.  I hope you can stop by tomorrow for some wonderful Indian corn-themed activities.

My daughter's expecting a baby girl any day now, so I have much to do today and much to be thankful for.  My feet have definitely hit the floor running!  Wishing you a relaxing afternoon.

"He who thanks but with the lips thanks but in part; for the full, the true Thanksgiving, comes from the heart." -J.A. Shedd