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

1-2-3 Come Do Some More Gingerbread Activities With Me

I decided to design some easy readers that cover a variety of standards using a gingerbread theme.

I hope you'll enjoy the Let's Count Gingerbread packet.  Students trace and write the number; color it, and circle it in the sequence.  They also add end punctuation to the sentences.

I've included 2 different sets of gingerbread number cards to 20, with a 2-page tip list of all sorts of things you can do with them, including games like Kaboom; + several "trace & write the number" worksheets, as well as a few "What's Missing?" activities and a traceable bookmark you can use as an assessment tool.

When students have completed the packet, you can give them a certificate of praise. Click on the link to view/download the Let's Count Gingerbread packet.  

One of my most downloaded easy-readers are the 10-Frame booklets, so I wanted to make one for gingerbread.  Click on the link to grab the 1-2-3 Count Gingerbread With Me one. 

Because this book is based on a 10-Frame, I've also designed a set of gingerbread 10 frames.  Click on the link to view/download the Gingerbread 10 Frames.

Finally, one of my Y5's favorite gingerbread activities started with me giving them a gingerbread cookie. 

If you're not a baker (I am not; the 1st time I attempted brownies, my son said they tasted like hockey pucks(!) and I'm wondering when he bit into one of those?) you can buy a box of Keebler gingerbread cookies or another brand.  They always have them in the grocery stories in December.

Any hoo, I told my students to take only 1 bite and then to freeze.  We graphed who bit off what part of the gingerbread. 

In the 10 years I taught Y5's, every year the head was bit off the most, and my quieter students almost always bit off an arm.  I wonder if one can draw any conclusions from these experiments?

If you'd like to do this with your kiddo's I included a graph of the parts, as well as a graph of who does and doesn't like gingerbread. 

These can be found in the Our Gingerbread Class Book packet.  Students fill in their name and what part of the gingerbread they bit off first and then draw a picture.  Collect the pages, collate and make a class book.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  I design and blog daily so after you finish running as fast as you can, doing a zillion things, I hope you'll have time to pop by tomorrow for the newest FREEBIES.

"A little sugar, a lot of spice, a woman shaped him … oh so nice. He’s made of dough, with a golden tan; the closest thing to the perfect man!" -Unknown