1-2-3 Come Do Some New Year "Craftivities" With Me!

One of my favorite childhood memories  was going over to my Grandma Lydia's house for a sleepover with my twin sister Kathie.  "Grama" was one of the most influential people in my life and a big reason I enjoy art and reading so much. 

She was a teacher too, back in the day when "rules for teachers" included not wearing a dress that showed your ankles and lighting the pot-bellied stove in the classroom, so she ragaled us with all sorts of wonderful stories, and always had and endless supply of craft ideas to amuse us.  

On one particular Saturday morning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, it was pouring the proverbial cats and dogs.  Grama decided it was a great day to make something, so she hauled out a roll of "butcher block" paper. 

I laid very still on the long sheet of white paper as grama traced the outline of my entire body.  Then she did the same thing for my sister. 

Even though we were barely 6-years-old, I still vividly remember designing a lovely "frock" for my "shadow" to wear, complete with rings on all of my fingers that sported hot-pink nail polish. 

As the rain pelted against the windows and thunder boomed, we happily colored away.  I highly recommend this activity.  I know it's a lot of bulletin board paper, but the memory will be lasting. Just think of the cuteness of your paper "students" lining the hallway walls too! 

For writing practice, have students label the parts of their body picture.  Before hand, have children help you make a list of all the parts of their body that can be seen on their picture.  Write them on the board, to help them with spelling.

If you're not up for a full-body experience, how about just your kiddo's hand.  Have them choose a partner to trace each other's, and then fill in the details. 

I've included a template, so these can become your first writing prompt for January.  Have students include the year as well as their school picture. 

This makes an interesting and fun Daily 5 activity.  Click on the link to view/download the High Five's For A Happy New Year "craftivity."

Be sure and make a sample to show your kiddo's.  My Y5's always enjoyed learning about me.  I added a bit more pizzazz by gluing on flat-backed rhinestones to my "rings."

After students share, mount their work on a variety of colors of construction paper and sprinkle over a wintery-printed bulletin board. 

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I design and blog daily, so I hope you can stop by again tomorrow for the newest FREEBIES that will hopefully be memory making!

"Wiggle fast; now wiggle slow; let's learn about our body from head to toe." -Unknown

1-2-3 Come Do Some Wintery Craftivities With Me

If you need a quick bulletin board for January, I think you'll like this simple but vibrant mitten craftivity.  Run off the template on a variety of colors of construction paper. 

Children choose one and press their painted white hand in the center.  Gluing pulled-cotton to the cuff, adds that finishing touch.  For even more pizzazz, write students' names with glitter. 

If you want, give students a writing prompt, and have them complete it on the back of their mitten, then suspend from the ceiling.  Click On The Link to get the mitten pattern. 

This is a fun activity to do with your kiddo's after reading The Mitten  by Jan Brett.

If your little ones are still working on identifying letters, another simple bulletin board "craftivity" is to have children choose either a mitten or snowman pattern, trace it on a wordy section of the newspaper and then trim.  

Children complete a matching recording sheet, filling in their guess of how many letters they think they will find.  Afterwards, they find and circle, either the letter Mm for mitten, or Ss for snowman, counting as they go.  

When they are done, they complete the data as to whether their guess was equal, greater than or less than their correct answer.  If you want, have them figure out how many more or less they were off. 

Children who chose the snowman, add facial features; those who chose the mitten can color it their favorite color. 

Gather students together to discuss their results.  Do they have any ideas of why more S's  than Mm's were found?

Click on the link to get the newsprint mitten/snowman patterns.

If you are starting to work on coins with your students, you'll want to take a look at Mitten Money.

This easy reader reinforces word wall and Dolch words, as well as all of the 2-D shapes, + the penny, nickel, dime and quarter coins.  Click on the link to view/download the Mitten Money easy reader. 

For more math activities check out the place value snowman.  Students can choose to draw their own face on the snowman, or color mine. 

To turn these into a dry-erase "board" cut squares of glossy photo paper.  Each student needs 4 to glue on top of the squares on their paper.  

Print; laminate and trim the snowman number cards (0-9) Toss them into a mitten; call on 3 students to choose a card. 

These will make the 3-digit number that students write in the number box, using a dry erase marker.  

Children figure out the place value position of each, and write the appropriate numbers in the one's, ten's, and hundred's boxes.  

When they are done, they show their work; you can whole-group assess with a glance.  Play continues 'til all of your students have had a turn to choose a number.  Click on the link to view/download the Place Value Snowman Packet. 

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  I hope you can stop by tomorrow for the newest FREEBIES. 

"In seed time, learn; in harvest, teach; in winter, enjoy." -William Blake