free puzzles

1-2-3 Come Make Some Back To School Things With Me

1st day of school activities, first day of school ideas, ideas for the 1st day of school, first day of school lessons, first day of school icebreakers, first day of school games, back to school bulletin boards, number puzzles, free puzzles, back to school puzzles, skip counting by 10's activities, back to school coloring pages, back to school gifts, ideas for open house, first day of school giftWhile I was working on the coloring-autograph page: "I made a lot of friends today!"  for a first day of school activity; I thought making some number puzzles that students could color, cut and glue, would also give teachers a little bit of "sanity" time, to get some of the zillions of trivial tasks done, that must be accomplished before dismissal, on that hectic first day.

The "friends" coloring worksheet was a very popular download.  It's so simple, but such a great way to give your kiddos something they can do independently, which frees you up.  When you're working with energized little ones, some of whom don't even know how to write their name, the word "independently" is imperative.

1st day of school activities, first day of school ideas, ideas for the 1st day of school, first day of school lessons, first day of school icebreakers, first day of school games, back to school bulletin boards, number puzzles, free puzzles, back to school puzzles, skip counting by 10's activities, back to school coloring pages, back to school gifts, ideas for open house, first day of school giftThe number puzzles also double as a quick, easy and inexpensive little gift that you can have lying on your students' desks.  Be sure and write their name on the puzzle (after the word Hi or Welcome! to make things extra special for them. 

The puzzles can be pre-cut to expedite things for preschoolers.  To give yourself even more time, have students cut their own puzzle pieces (after they have colored the picture) then tell them to mix up the pieces and put their puzzle together.

1st day of school activities, first day of school ideas, ideas for the 1st day of school, first day of school lessons, first day of school icebreakers, first day of school games, back to school bulletin boards, number puzzles, free puzzles, back to school puzzles, skip counting by 10's activities, back to school coloring pages, back to school gifts, ideas for open house, first day of school giftTo make a cool looking mosaic, have children glue the pieces to a sheet of construction paper, leaving a little space in-between the pieces. 

After they share their creation with the class, mount them on a bulletin board.  Caption: Mrs. Henderson's kinders stick together, or fit in just fine, or whatever else you deem appropriate. 

If you take a first day of school photo for a future memory book, make an extra copy and cut it into the shape of a puzzle piece, then put it along side that child's completed puzzle.  Adding a puzzle border, or scattering some real puzzle pieces through out your bulletin board, adds the finishing touches.  The Dollar Store sells a huge variety of puzzles that you can use to jazz things up.

1st day of school activities, first day of school ideas, ideas for the 1st day of school, first day of school lessons, first day of school icebreakers, first day of school games, back to school bulletin boards, number puzzles, free puzzles, back to school puzzles, skip counting by 10's activities, back to school coloring pages, back to school gifts, ideas for open house, first day of school giftThe Back To School Puzzle packet, includes 30 puzzles.  Some of them are vertical, others are horizontal.  They come in black and white, so that students can color them, and others are in full color, so you can print; laminate and trim, then use in an independent center for early finishers. 

1st day of school activities, first day of school ideas, ideas for the 1st day of school, first day of school lessons, first day of school icebreakers, first day of school games, back to school bulletin boards, number puzzles, free puzzles, back to school puzzles, skip counting by 10's activities, back to school coloring pages, back to school gifts, ideas for open house, first day of school giftMake a game of it by having children choose a partner to see who can complete their puzzle first. Some of the puzzles use numbers from 1-10 for little ones, others skip count by 10's to 100, for first graders. 

1st day of school activities, first day of school ideas, ideas for the 1st day of school, first day of school lessons, first day of school icebreakers, first day of school games, back to school bulletin boards, number puzzles, free puzzles, back to school puzzles, skip counting by 10's activities, back to school coloring pages, back to school gifts, ideas for open house, first day of school giftI've also included little "Welcome" tags.  (There are 16 on a page.) Write in your students' names and then paperclip one to their set of number strips and lay them on your kiddos' desks as a sweet surprise. 

1st day of school activities, first day of school ideas, ideas for the 1st day of school, first day of school lessons, first day of school icebreakers, first day of school games, back to school bulletin boards, number puzzles, free puzzles, back to school puzzles, skip counting by 10's activities, back to school coloring pages, back to school gifts, ideas for open house, first day of school giftSo that I had quiet time to check bus numbers and "going home" tags that needed to be changed,  I always had some sort of independent activity towards the end of the day.  My Y5's were exhausted, the room was usually hot and stuffy, so they were happy to simply veg-out a bit.  This puzzle packet is perfect for that. 

If you decide not to precut the strips, you may want to lay out a selection of black and white puzzles, and allow your students a choice of which one they want to color, cut and glue.  Put a variety of colors of construction paper out as well.   If you're all set for your first day, the puzzles also make a great Open House activity

Click on the link to view/download the First Day Of School Puzzle Packet.  For more number puzzle FREEBIES, click on the link.

1st day of school activities, first day of school ideas, ideas for the 1st day of school, first day of school lessons, first day of school icebreakers, first day of school games, back to school bulletin boards, number puzzles, free puzzles, back to school puzzles, skip counting by 10's activities, back to school coloring pages, back to school gifts, ideas for open house, first day of school giftThanks for visiting today.  As always, feel free to PIN away.  Do you have a first day or back to school activity  you could share with us?  I'd enjoy hearing from you.  diane@teachwithme.com  or leave a comment below. 

1st day of school activities, first day of school ideas, ideas for the 1st day of school, first day of school lessons, first day of school icebreakers, first day of school games, back to school bulletin boards, number puzzles, free puzzles, back to school puzzles, skip counting by 10's activities, back to school coloring pages, back to school gifts, ideas for open house, first day of school giftTime to go water my flower garden.  I hope you're enjoying summer and making time to rejuvenate.  Blessings to you from my little corner of cyber space. 

"Your life is your garden.  Your thoughts are the seeds.  If your life isn't awesome, you've been watering the weeds." -Unknown

1-2-3 Come Do A Few More St. Patty's Day Activities With Me

I had a few special requests this week, and thought I'd combine them all in today's blog article.  I hope you enjoy them.

St. Patricks day activities, st pattys day activities, st pats day activities, st patricks day word search, st patricks day word find, st patricks day games, shamrock activities, shamrock centers, shamrock 10 frames, st patricks day puzzles, daily 5 for march, vocabulary building activities, common core st patricks day, Kyanne, from Wisconsin, wanted a simple St. Patrick's Day word search for her young five students.  Even though there are a lot of word search generators out there, they mostly have uppercase letters

Further difficulties arrise,  because they share letters, show the words going backwards, as well as diagonally and vertically, so I usually make up my own.  I like to include a shape to add interest as well.

Word searches are a great way to practice spelling and build vocabulary, so that's why I think they should be in lowercase letters.  I also like them relatively easy (showing the words in forward-horizontal fashion) so that my kiddos don't get frustrated. 

If you want to do these easy ones with older elementary students, simply give them 1-minute to find as many as they can.  Speed games, help prepare children for timed tests in a non-stressful way.   Besides using them as a game, they are a nice plug-in for your Daily 5 word work activities too.  Click on the link to view/download the 2 St. Patrick's Day word searches.

St. Patricks day activities, st pattys day activities, st pats day activities, st patricks day word search, st patricks day word find, st patricks day games, shamrock activities, shamrock centers, shamrock 10 frames, st patricks day puzzles, daily 5 for march, vocabulary building activities, how many words can you make out of leprechaun, how many words can you make out of shamrock, common core st patricks day, Another way to work on words, is by giving students a themed-word and challenging them to create other words, using only the letters that appear in that word.  With that in mind, I created How Many Words Can You Find in Leprechaun, and another one for the word shamrock

Surprisingly, I made 97 words from the letters in shamrock, and found 161 words using the letters in leprechaun.  The packet includes recording sheets, as well as my answer keys.  Click on the link to view/download the How Many Can You Find St. Patrick's Day activity. 

St. Patricks day activities, st pattys day activities, st pats day activities, st patricks day word search, st patricks day word find, st patricks day games, shamrock activities, shamrock centers, shamrock 10 frames, st patricks day puzzles, daily 5 for march, vocabulary building activities, how many words can you make out of leprechaun, how many words can you make out of shamrock, skip counting activities, counting backwards activities, skip counting by 10's, common core st patricks day, Betty, from Texas, wrote that she's collected most of the number puzzles for center activites, for her PK students.  She wondered if I had any puzzles for St. Patrick's Day.  I didn't, but do now. 

St. Patricks day activities, st pattys day activities, shamrock alphabet cards, st pats day activities, st patricks day word search, st patricks day word find, st patricks day games, shamrock activities, shamrock centers, shamrock 10 frames, st patricks day puzzles, daily 5 for march, vocabulary building activities, how many words can you make out of leprechaun, how many words can you make out of shamrock, skip counting activities, counting backwards activities, skip counting by 10's, 10 frames templates, shamrock 10 frames, ten frames activities, 10 frames activities, common core st patricks day, I made 16, which includes some in color, as well as 5 in black and white, so that students can color their own. 

The puzzles help students practice counting to 10, counting backwards from 10 to 1, as well as skip counting by 10's to 100.  Click on the link to view/download the St. Patty's Day Puzzle Packet.

St. Patricks day activities, st pattys day activities, shamrock alphabet cards, st pats day activities, st patricks day word search, st patricks day word find, st patricks day games, shamrock activities, shamrock centers, shamrock 10 frames, st patricks day puzzles, daily 5 for march, vocabulary building activities, how many words can you make out of leprechaun, how many words can you make out of shamrock, skip counting activities, counting backwards activities, skip counting by 10's, 10 frames templates, shamrock 10 frames, ten frames activities, 10 frames activities, common core st patricks day, Gloria, from Wisconsin, collects my alphabet cards, and wanted some with shamrocks and kites, two big theme weeks for her kinders. 

I had already made shamrock alphabet ones, and am now working on the ABC kite cards, to add to our growing collection. 

All of the alphabet packets, include a tip list of what to do with the cards, including games like Kaboom, plus a separate set of upper as well as lowercase letters, so that you can play Memory Match and "I Have; Who Has?"  games.   Click on the link to view/download the shamrock alphabet cards.  The kite cards will be done and posted by Monday.

St. Patricks day activities, st pattys day activities, shamrock alphabet cards, st pats day activities, st patricks day word search, st patricks day word find, st patricks day games, shamrock activities, shamrock centers, shamrock 10 frames, st patricks day puzzles, daily 5 for march, vocabulary building activities, how many words can you make out of leprechaun, how many words can you make out of shamrock, skip counting activities, counting backwards activities, skip counting by 10's, 10 frames templates, shamrock 10 frames, ten frames activities, 10 frames activities, common core st patricks day, Finally, Sara from Maine, likes to change her 10 frame math center each month.  She was looking for some with shamrocks.  I spent quite a bit of time making 10 frame templates, so it's pretty easy for me to plug in appropriate clip art to make them for any theme you do. 

If you have a special request, simply shoot me an e-mail, and I'll see what I can do.  diane@teachwithme.com  Click on the link to view/download the Shamrock 10 Frames packet.  

St. Patricks day activities, st pattys day activities, shamrock alphabet cards, st pats day activities, st patricks day word search, st patricks day word find, st patricks day games, shamrock activities, shamrock centers, shamrock 10 frames, st patricks day puzzles, daily 5 for march, vocabulary building activities, how many words can you make out of leprechaun, how many words can you make out of shamrock, skip counting activities, counting backwards activities, skip counting by 10's, 10 frames templates, shamrock 10 frames, ten frames activities, 10 frames activities, common core st patricks day, Just a reminder, that all of the 10 frame packets, have matching 1-2-3 Count With Me 10 Frame-Based easy readers to match. Click on the link to view/download the 123 Count Shamrocks With Me.

http://www.teachwithme.com/downloads/item/4292-st-patrick-s-day-activities-shamrocksThat's it for today.  Thanks for visiting.  Feel free to PIN away.

"Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow beloings to the people who prepare for it today." -Unknown

 

1-2-3 Come Do Some More Chinese New Year Activities With Me

Chinese New Year starts the 31st, but you have plenty of time to plug in some cultural social studies, as the festivities run for 15 days, ending on Valentines Day this year. 

chinese number cards, chinese new year activities, counting to 10 in chinese, lessons on china, chinese new year crafts, writing prompts for chinese new year, chinese new year puzzles, chinese new year gamesWhy not teach your kiddos how to count to 10 in Chinese? To help you, I designed some Chinese and English number cards, so children can play Memory Match and "I Have; Who Has?" games. 

chinese number cards, chinese new year activities, counting to 10 in chinese, lessons on china, chinese new year crafts, writing prompts for chinese new year, chinese new year puzzles, chinese new year gamesThe packet also includes an anchor chart that shows the order of "brush" strokes, as well as helpful links so students can see and hear the numbers. 

chinese number cards, chinese new year activities, counting to 10 in chinese, lessons on china, chinese new year crafts, writing prompts for chinese new year, chinese new year puzzles, chinese new year gamesOne of the sites tells you how to ask a person their phone number in Chinese

I thought that would be a really fun activity for students, so I made a recording sheet.  There's also one for students to write their age on. 

chinese number cards, chinese new year activities, chinese snack ideas, chinese treat bags, chinese new year treats, chinese new year games, chinese new year centers, chinese new year snacks, chinese new year bookmarks, chinese new year treats, treat bags for chinese new year, counting to 10 in chinese, lessons on china, chinese new year crafts, writing prompts for chinese new year, chinese new year puzzles, chinese new year gameschinese number cards, chinese currency, comparing chinese coins with US coins, venn diagram activities, chinese new year activities, counting to 10 in chinese, lessons on china, chinese new year crafts, writing prompts for chinese new year, chinese new year puzzles, chinese new year gamesIntroduce these lessons by reading a Chinese counting book.  I've included 3 suggestions. 

Click on the link to view/download the Let's Count In Chinese,Number Card Packet. 

If you're studying money right now, it would be interesting for your students to compare US currency with China's.  The renminbi (RMB)  (pronounced like the letters) is their official currency.

chinese number cards, chinese new year activities, chinese snack ideas, chinese treat bags, chinese new year treats, chinese new year games, chinese new year centers, chinese new year snacks, chinese new year bookmarks, chinese new year treats, treat bags for chinese new year, counting to 10 in chinese, lessons on china, chinese new year crafts, writing prompts for chinese new year, chinese new year puzzles, chinese new year gamesYou may also have heard of the yuan, (pronounced you-en) which is the basic unit of the renminbi, but is also used as a synonym for China's currency, especially in international contexts, sort of like England's Brittish Sterling and the pound.

Since currency rates change daily, click on the link to visit the China Tour site; here students can type in a US dollar amount and have it converted to Chinese yuan. 

Currently, the Chinese yuan is worth .15 cents in US money, and 100 US dollars is 664.0 yuan.  I've made up a Chinese Currency packet that you'll find helpful.  

chinese number cards, chinese currency, comparing chinese coins with US coins, venn diagram activities, chinese new year activities, counting to 10 in chinese, lessons on china, chinese new year crafts, writing prompts for chinese new year, chinese new year puzzles, chinese new year gamesIt includes 2 Venn diagrams, so students can compare and contrast Chinese currency with ours.

chinese number cards, chinese currency, comparing chinese coins with US coins, venn diagram activities, chinese new year activities, counting to 10 in chinese, lessons on china, chinese new year crafts, writing prompts for chinese new year, chinese new year puzzles, chinese new year gamesI've also included some templates for their paper money.  It's a Chinese tradition to give money to children during Chinese New Year. 

They place it in red envelopes for good luck.   You could print some of this money off and include it inside a red envelope for your students.

Most office supply stores sell red envelopes, and after Christmas they go on sale 50% off.  As with the 100 dollar bill for 100-Day, you could substitute your students' photo on the money. 

Use them as "behavior bucks" where students earn them throughout the day, as they accomplish various tasks, and then "convert" them for a priviledge or trip to your treasure box.  Click on the link to view/download the Chinese Currency Packet.

chinese number cards, chinese new year activities, chinese snack ideas, chinese treat bags, chinese new year treats, chinese new year games, chinese new year centers, chinese new year snacks, chinese new year bookmarks, chinese new year treats, treat bags for chinese new year, counting to 10 in chinese, lessons on china, chinese new year crafts, writing prompts for chinese new year, chinese new year puzzles, chinese new year gamesAlso math related, are these 9 Chinese puzzles that will help your students practice counting forwards, backwards and by 10's.

aI'm thrilled to add another graphics artist to our activities.  Along with Laura Strickland and DJ Inkers, you'll be seeing the adorable work from Scrappin Doodles.  Click on the link to view/download the Chinese New Year puzzle packet.

Finally, I designed some incentives or prizes that you can make and give to your students, to add to the excitement of your Chinese New Year celebration.  

chinese number cards, chinese new year activities, chinese snack ideas, chinese treat bags, chinese new year treats, chinese new year games, chinese new year centers, chinese new year snacks, chinese new year bookmarks, chinese new year treats, treat bags for chinese new year, counting to 10 in chinese, lessons on china, chinese new year crafts, writing prompts for chinese new year, chinese new year puzzles, chinese new year gamesPurchase a pack of sparkly pencils at The Dollar store, print off these toppers, trim, cut slits and insert the pencil. 

Challenge students to collect all three designs as they accomplish tasks, or play games. The Chinese symbols on the 1st one say "Happy New Year."  The teapot says: U R T rific! and the dragon says Happy Chinese New Year.

Click on the link to view/download the Chinese New Year Pencil Topper Packet.

chinese number cards, chinese new year activities, chinese snack ideas, chinese treat bags, chinese new year treats, chinese new year games, chinese new year centers, chinese new year snacks, chinese new year bookmarks, chinese new year treats, treat bags for chinese new year, counting to 10 in chinese, lessons on china, chinese new year crafts, writing prompts for chinese new year, chinese new year puzzles, chinese new year gamesAnother inexpensive treat that you can give your kiddos, is a lollipop note.  There are 5 designs to choose from.  Print them off, cut slits and insert a lollipop. My personal favorite is the fan, which says, "I hope your New Year is fantastic."

Because of Valentines Day, The Dollar Store is carrying red heart lollipops, perfect for Chinese New Year too, because red is such an important color in China.   Click on the link to view/download the Chinese New Year Lollipop Notes. 

Last, but not least, I always enjoyed making treat bags for my Y5's.  This can be your snack, an incentive, or prize.  There are 5 headers to choose from.

chinese number cards, chinese new year activities, chinese snack ideas, chinese treat bags, chinese new year treats, chinese new year games, chinese new year centers, chinese new year snacks, chinese new year bookmarks, chinese new year treats, treat bags for chinese new year, counting to 10 in chinese, lessons on china, chinese new year crafts, writing prompts for chinese new year, chinese new year puzzles, chinese new year gamesI've photographed the treats that I put in mine.  Click on the link to view/download the Chinese New Year Treat Bag Headers.

chinese number cards, chinese new year activities, counting to 10 in chinese, lessons on china, chinese new year crafts, writing prompts for chinese new year, chinese new year puzzles, chinese new year gamesThanks for visiting today.  I have lots more to share, so I hope you can pop by tomorrow.  I'll be finishing up with some adorable crafty Chinese New Year FREEBIES.  Feel free to PIN away.

"One joy scatters a hundred griefs." -Chinese Proverb