1-2-3 Come Do Some Fun Football Activities With Me.

I discovered long ago,that if I could incorporate a theme of something that was popular with my students, I'd grab and hold their attention.  It seemed that my little guys had more difficulty focussing than the girls did, so I often offered choices when I could. 

Because sports was always a "hot button" and 'tis the season for the start of football, I decided to dream up some activities with a football theme.

I thought it would be fun to do something with the -all family of words and make a game of it. 

Students choose teams and then work either independently or with their group, to think of as many -all words before the timer rings.  Each word is worth 1 point. 

To get in some math practice, have students figure out how many touchdowns and field goals they achieved with their word list.  i.e. 7 words = 7 points = 1 touchdown.  Any "extra" words can be counted to make a field goal. 

A field goal = 3 points for 3 words. i.e. One team thought of 11 words.  They scored 1 touchdown (7) and 1 field goal (3) and had 1 extra point left.

I've provided score card - posters, if you'd like to keep track and post the results. 

There are blank templates, so you can program other word families, if you'd like to keep this idea going. 

After I got the -all word family football packet done, I wanted to make Bingo cards as another way to review the words. 

However, I had less than 24 words and could not make a Bingo card, so I thought I'd add the -ick word family to the football packet, because you kick a football. 

80 pages later, (!) the packet was completed, but my entire day had slipped away, so I certainly hope you find it useful.

Another fun way too reinforce these new words is via a word search. 

The packet includes the same activities for both the -all AND -ick word families. 

There are pocket word cards, traceable word cards, covers so students can make Itty Bitty booklets, alphabetizing worksheets, plus trace-write-color-cut & glue worksheets. 

Also included is a fill in the word sentence worksheet; 30 different Bingo cards, so your entire class can play; words on footballs + Kaboom bomb cards to play Memory Match and "I have; who has?" games. 

There are also posters, blank templates for you to program with whatever, and 2 "craftivities"  like the football -all word family slider pictured.  Many of these activities work well for your Daily 5 Word Work.

Click on the link to view/download the -all & -ick Word Family Football packet.

To go along with the football theme, I also designed a 10-frames football packet.  Click on the link for this FREEBIE.

Because of several special requests, I also designed a 1-2-3 Count Footballs With Me, 10-frames easy reader. 

Because these booklets are based on a 10-frame, they are nice extensions for the matching 10-frames packets. 

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.   If you'd like to see all of the terrific-educational items that I PIN, (Almost all of them FREEBIES!) click on the heart to the right of the blog. 

Time for a much-needed break.  I'm off to do who knows what.  Decisions-decisions-decision.

"There are only two ways to live your life.  One is as though nothing is a miracle.  The other is as though everything is a miracle." -Albert Einstein

1-2-3 Come Do Some More Spider Stuff With Me!

The spider shape activities are popular downloads, so I decided to do a few more spider-themed things.  All of these lessons will help your kiddo's practice upper and lowercase letters.  (To see the spider shape activities, scroll down for that blog article.)

Since the apple and pumpin clothespin "craftivities" were also very popular, I thought it would be fun to design a spider one too.  I named him Alphie.  Use my patterns to make templates; and then trace, cut and glue your spider together.  I added wiggle eyes and black pipe cleaner legs for that extra pizzazz. 

So that students can self-check, I've included a spider ABC chart.  For more letter practice, I designed a match the uppercase letter to the lowercase letter worksheet as well.

Alphie makes a wonderful independent center, or something for early-finishers to do.   You may want to make a few extra spiders to send home with children who are struggling.  I've included a note home, + a reminder note incase a family "forgets" to send Alphie back.  Click on the link to view/download the spider alphabet matching game.

I had a request for some spider alphabet cards.  If you collect ABC cards so you can change them each month, I have lots of themes available, and am always open to any requests visitors have for others. (diane@teachwithme.com). 

I've also included a BLANK color, as well as a black and white set of cards, for you to program with whatever + a 3-page tip sheet of ideas for games and other activities that you can do with the cards.   Click on the link to view/download the spider alphabet cards.

Because assessing can be overwhelming for little ones, I like to dream up fun ways I can do that.  Assessing is time consuming too, so I did a lot of whole-group assessment to weed out the strugglers.  

Playing "I Spy" is a fun game that enables you to see at a glance who is having difficulty.  I designed a spider upper and lowercase letter bookmark that's perfect for an "I Spy" game. 

Run off the spider bookmarks and give each child a spider ring or piece of candy corn to use as a manipulative.  Whenever I'm using candy as a marker, I always allow students to eat one at the beginning of the activity. 

It saves a lot of time reminding students that they cannot eat the candy 'til the game is done, and helps them enjoy the game and stay focussed better. 

The teacher starts by calling out a letter, children move their marker to that letter and raise their hand to signal that they have "spied" it.  The teacher then calls on a child to choose the next letter.  Play continues 'til all of the letters are called.  If you don't want to reuse the bookmarks each year, students can also circle the letters and then take their bookmarks home.  

If you are doing an individual assessment, circle the letters the student does not know, write a note on the back asking parents to work on those letters and send it home with the child.  There are also 6 alphabet worksheets for even more practice.  Click on the link to view/download the spider alphabet activities.

Finally, if you're looking for a bit more, you may enjoy an older Spider packet that has a few alphabet activities in it, as well as lots of math fun.  My kiddos especially enjoyed working with the paper flies and spider web sorting mats. 

If you want to see all of the other spider freebies I offer, click on the link.

Thanks for visiting today.  I hope you found something you can use for your spider studies.  I'm off to check the basement after a ton of rain.  Hopefully there are no disasterous puddles down there, or spiders for that matter. :-)

"Children don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care." -Unknown

1-2-3 Do Some Fall Games With Me

Since the apple and pumpkin shape games, as well as the apple and pumpkin number games, were such a huge hit, I decided to design some for the rest of the popular fall themes.  There are sets for leaves, spiders, bats, owls and turkeys.  If I've missed a theme that you do, and would like games for, simply shoot me an e-mail: diane@teachwithme.com and I'll see what I can do.

Number words were always part of my word wall.  I found that the more contact my students had with these words, the easier it became for them to automatically recognize and read them.  Playing word games made learning them interesting and fun.  To make the games, print off the cards, laminate them and then trim. 

Students clip a clothespin to the number that matches the number word on the themed-card.  So that students can self-check, put an X on the back of the card in the location of the correct answer.  I kept clothespins in a tub and games in their own separate Baggy. 

There's a blank set of cards for each theme, so that you can program higher numbers, or use for whatever.  Click on the link to view/download the Fall Themed Number Word Clothespin Games.

To go along with the apple and pumpkin shape games, I also made 5 more fall-themed shape matching games.   They too include the above sets: leaves, spiders, bats, owls and turkeys. 

Run off the shape template on a variety of colors of construction paper; laminate and trim.  Students place the colored shape tile onto the matching shape on the themed card.   The shapes on the cards also include the shape word, to help reinforce word recognition as well. 

I've included a blank set of cards with these sets too, so that you can program them with more shapes or whatever.  Click on the link to view/download the Fall Shape Matching Game packet.

Thanks for visiting today.  I design and blog every day, so I hope you can stop by again tomorrow, for the newest FREEBIES.  Feel free to PIN away.  I think sharing makes everyone's life easier.    If you'd like to see all of the educational items that I pin, click on the heart to the right of the blog. 

"This above all else: to thine own self be true." -William Shakespeare

Is It On Your Left Or Is It On Your Right?

Learning spatial directions is a Y5 report card standard.  One of the most difficult ones for my kiddos to learn was left and right.

I designed the easy reader Left or Right? with an October theme, to help my students learn this standard, in a fun way, while also reinforcing other skills.

This packet is filled with fun activities to help your students practice their fine motor, listening and following direction skills, as well as help reinforce this rather difficult spatial direction, in an interesting way.

Students read and trace a sentence, deciding whether things are on the left or right side of the page.

Point out the fact that the first word is capitalized and that the sentences have ending punctuation, as well as the fact that they have spaces between words and that they are reading from left to right and top down and you’ll be reinforcing 4 Common Core State Standards as well. 

Children also practice their cutting and gluing skills as they follow directions. 

The last page has a play on words and offers 2 alternatives, depending on the age of your students. 

I’ve also included a skill sheet and pumpkin paddle art activity, where students flip their pumpkin Popsicle stick to show left or right, so that you can whole group assess. 

There’s left and right hand posters and a certificate of praise too. 

Click on the link to view/download Left or Right?

Thanks for visiting today. Feel free to PIN anything you think others may find helpful.

Do you have a spatial direction tip you could share with us? I’d enjoy hearing from you.

diane@teachwithme.com or leave a comment here.

“It is a happy talent to know how to play.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson