1-2-3 Come Do A "Dog Gone Great" Writing Craftivity With Me

No matter what grade I taught, all I had to do to grab my students’ attention and get them excited about writing, was to add a bit of craftiness to an interesting and fun writing prompt.

With that in mind, I designed this (flip the flap) “Dog Gone Great!” activity, which is another one of my “double duty” writing prompts.

I call them double duty because they have patterns that serve a dual purpose.

You can use them for either the beginning of the year, for a super-fun back to school activity, or plug them in at the end of the year, for pre-summer writing.

There are 5 different dog designs to choose from, as well as 3 writing prompts:

“I had a dog gone great summer!”

“I had a dog gone great school year!” and...

"________________________ is dog gone great!” where students fill in the blank with something they think is awesome: a sport, activity, subject, book, person, vacation, etc.

There are also 3 writing page options as well: 2 with different sized lines, plus a blank pattern.

Pick which is most appropriate for your students, or give them a choice.
There’s plenty of room to write, as the patterns take up almost a full page.

I’ve included black & white patterns for students, as well as 5 colorful patterns, so that you can quickly and easily make an example to share.

When everyone is done, have students pick a partner and take turns sharing, or make some time for children to share with the entire class.

Completed projects make an adorable bulletin board.

I’ve included 2, “Dog Gone Great Writing!” posters to add some extra pizzazz to your display.

Today's featured FREEBIE is a super-fun "Shape Matching Game For Fall". 

Print, laminate and trim.  Students place the colored shape tile on to the matching shape on the leaf, spider, bat, owl, or turkey card.  

I've included a blank template for each theme, so you can program with more shapes or whatever. I hope you find it useful.

Well that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by. 

Since the heat index is 110 I'm going to continue to craft away in my blessedly cool office today. 

Wishing you a stress-free & happy-go-lucky day.

"It's summer! If you're not barefoot, you're overdressed." -Unknown

1-2-3 Come Do Some Back To School Activities With Me

As children head back to school, it's helpful if you can do some early assessing with your kinders and firsties to see where everyone's at, yet that can be time consuming and really not all that fun for your kiddos the first week of school, when they're already antsy sitting through rules, regulations and procedure talks. 

With that in mind I designed the puppy packet using the adorable clip art of DJ Inkers. 

It's a wonderful back to school packet that you can use for a variety of activities. 

Fill in your students' names on the "Look who's been spotted" worksheet.  I've included templates for preschool, kindergarten and 1st grade, plus a blank one to write in whatever you're teaching. 

Students find their name and color the circle their favorite color.  Be sure and include your name on the heart. 

Having simple worksheets like this gives your students something to do, and allows you a few minutes to work one-on-one with them.

To quickly and easily whole group assess where your students are at, play the "I spy" games for numbers, shapes, plus upper and lowercase letters. They'll have fun and you can see at a glance who's having difficulty.

The packet also includes 2 writing prompt activities.  I've designed these as extra large bookmarks, with 2 on a page. Students can choose one, color it and complete the prompt.

It's a quick home-school connection that lets parents know what their child did that day. 

I've included completed samples for you to share as well.

Another writing activity is D is for dog.  Students can roam the room and spot items and words that start with the letter Dd. 

If you do Daily 5 this is a nice option.

The packet also includes a Whose Name Is On The Bone? activity.  Because my Y5's were learning how to recognize their name, I filled a dog dish (I bought mine at The Dollar Store) with paper bones that I had written their names on. 

For a few minutes each day, I'd hold up a bone and the child who recognized their name would bark.  I know it sounds silly, but they absolutely LOVED this.  As time permitted, we'd do 3-6.  To help get the "wiggles" out, after they had sat through whatever else I had planned for carpet time, I'd play the song Who Left The Dogs Out?  

They'd pretend to be puppies and crawl around on all fours singing and barking 'til the song ended.  I'd reign them in and we'd transition to our next activity. (Too cute and rather hilarious!)

Click on the link for a nice YouTube video featuring the song and cute dog animation.  Who Let The Dogs Out?  For a shorter version, sung by kids and showing some nice dance moves for them to imitate, click on this link: Who Let The Dogs Out?

As another simple fill-in, I've also included 4 dog-themed bookmarks in color as well as black and white, plus one you can give for good behavior.

Click on the link to view/download the Back To School Puppy Packet. Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  

Work's done for today, so I'm off to play.  As always, summer is flying way too fast!!!

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." -Scott Adams