1-2-3 Come Do A Winter Craftivity With Me  

Having taken down all the decorations, plus sent home lots of wonderful student work that once festooned the walls, our hallways always look a bit bleak and bare after Christmas vacation. 

It's time to begin again, and since I live in Michigan where snow lasts well into March, I like to do a big snow theme in January.

With that in mind, I designed this sled-themed packet. 

The name sleds are a quick, versatile, and fun craftivity, that creates a super-cute, winter bulletin board or hallway display.

I’ve included letters which spell out “Brrr-illiant Work!” to use for a header.

I've gotten a bit more tech saavy and was able to use this beautiful, blue background paper to make the letters. 

Simply print, laminate, trim and hang on or above your bulletin board or wall display,

There are 28, black & white graphics of children to top a sled with; as well as full color, so that teachers can quickly and easily make an example to share. 

Choose your favorites or give children a choice. Younger children will find the rectanglular shape easy to trim, while older students can opt to cut around the picture.

Besides the 28 graphics, there are also 3 different style options: 1. Graphic with a face on the child, 2. Graphic with a blank face, so that students can draw on their own, and 3. Graphic with a white "photo circle" over the face, so that children can glue on a picture of themselves.

Younger children can simply color the picture, trim and glue to their paper sled with their name on it, while older students can use their sled to go along with one of the writing prompts.

There are three writing worksheets to choose from.

My personal favorite is: “Sledding With My 5 Senses”.

I share my examples, which i've included in the packet.  We close our eyes and pretend we are sledding, then discuss some things we might see, hear, feel etc. 

"Expand" these thoughts with older students. For example. "I see snow" is appropropriate for little ones; while "I see sparkling white snow" is expanded to include adjectives. 

This more descriptive sentence helps everyone "see" what the author does.  If your students are like mine, they will really enjoy "growing" a sentence. 

I’ve also included a “Come Sledding With Me” poem. Use the colorful poster for the center of your display.

"Oh no! Sloping snow. Here we go!"  This rhyming poem is chock full of over 20 Dolch sight words. Have older students use the black & white version to practice reading, along with a variety of other standards.

There’s a question sheet that you can share with your class. For example, "What words rhyme in the first stanza?" "Can you think of another rhyming word?"

Have older students write their answers on their BW copy of the poem.  I've included my completed sample to use as an answer key.

Another quick, easy and fun way to continue with the poetry genre, is having students make an acrostic poem, using the word sledding.

I’ve included an acrostic pattern, with a definition poster, plus an example to introduce your lesson.

Completed projects can be displayed with the name sled craft for a really cute language arts bulletin board. 

And woo hoo! Look at how many standards your students have practiced, all while enjoying making a name sled.

Since the 100th Day of school is just around the corner, today's featured FREEBIE is a quick, easy & fun little "Rip & Tear" craft to help you celebrate. 

Ripping and tearing strips of paper into small square scraps and then gluing them to their #100 worksheet, is not only fun for your kiddos, it helps strengthen their finger muscles.

Children can do a multi-colored "rainbow" 100, like my sample, or choose 2 or 3 colors and do an AB-AB or ABC-ABC color pattern. 

Completed projects make a sweet bulletin board. I've included a poster to use for the center of your display.

Well that's it for today.

The snow outside my office window is falling softly, and all over town children and teachers are rejoicing in having a "snuggle in"  snow day. 

Wishing you a sparkling day.

"If you listen carefully, the silence of the snow is beautiful." -Unknown

1-2-3 Come Do Some Name Writing Activities With Me

“Elmer” by David McKee, is a wonderful story about the beauty and importance of diversity. This colorful, patchwork elephant, enjoys making others happy and is an instant favorite of my students.

Inspired by this heartwarming character, and because I’m always looking for quick, easy and fun ways for my students to practice writing their names, I designed some name writing activities featuring a patchwork elephant.

The packet includes:

* Several posters
* 5 worksheets
* 3 different name cards as well as . . .

* Colorful name tags
* Several games plus . . .

* 3 super-cute craftivities
The mosaic letter craft is a personal favorite. 

Children color the squares inside their initial then cut it out.  On another day, they color the patchwork elephant and complete the worksheet.

When everyone is done, children choose their favorite color to glue their creations on. Completed projects make a sweet bulletin board.

When you take your display down, collate the pages in alphabetical order and add the cover for an awesome class book. 

My Y5s absolutely love painting with watercolors. It's an easy-peasy center for me, so I created an elephant watercolor craft using a coffee filter.

Students can write their name around the circle, or cut out the elephant, mount it to a paper "blackboard" and write their name with colored chalk. 

Writing their name with sidewalk chalk outside the school, is also a super-fun activity for your students.  

The other name craft is a "so proud pennant".  Children write their name on the pennant color of their choice.

They color the patchwork elephant however they want, then attach the pipe cleaner "staff" around his nose. 

The pipe cleaner can be bent up a bit so that this is a free-standing place marker, or keep them flat and scatter them on a bulletin board. 

Besides these craftivities, the packet also includes . . .

* 5 options for a class-made name booklet with inside pages plus covers.

There are two, 2-on-a page booklets. The one pictured in the mosaic craft, as well as this one, which features a child's favorite color as well.

My personal favorite is the big "color me" elephant featuring a child's initial.  And finallly, I've also included ...

* A mini certificate of praise. 

For more name writing practice, check out this other name writing packet in my TpT shop which makes a super keepsake. 

As long as my students were learning to write and recognize their names, I decided to make practicing especially fun, with this assortment of activities.

Since some of my kiddos came in with just a scribble, I also wanted to show their progress and how much they had improved by the end of the year.

I needed a simple assessment tool for the beginning of the year as well, to see where my students were at, that was also fun for them and easy for me.

With these things in mind, I designed several monthly keepsake booklets specifically for name writing practice. 

Finally, I created a "color-me" name writing practice packet too, because my kiddos are simply too young to keep track of a portfolio, and I don't need more work collecting and filing "stuff" for it. 

Because coloring is great for strengthening those weak finger muscles, I drew "color me" pictures for each month and put 2-on-a-page to make a "just the right size" booklet.

At the end of each month, they write their name on the appropriate page and give their best effort coloring the seasonal picture.

The booklet provides a wonderful look at the progress children are making, and is perfect to share during conferences.
At the end of the year my students have a wonderful keepsake to take home. 

Today's featured FREEBIE is from my Name Writing Activities With An Elephant packet mentioned above. 

I've pulled the reminder poster, the "Don't get behind practicing" name cards, plus the 2 "trace me" alphabet bookmarks (one with uppercase letters, the other with lowercase). Use them for practice, then later as an assessment tool. 

Click on the picture to zip on over to grab today's FREEBIE: Name & Letter Practice With An Elephant.  

Well that's it for today. I'm happily snuggled in my office creating new stuff, as a storm rages outside my window.

We so needed the rain and I love the sound of the thunder.  Wishing you a refreshing and relaxing day.

 "An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest." -Unknown

1-2-3 come Do Some Chrysanthemum Activities With Me

“Chrysanthemum” by Kevin Henkes, is one of my all-time favorite back to school books.

It’s perfect for a variety of ages, and especially wonderful as an introduction to name activities, as well as discussions about teasing, bullying and “filling buckets”. 

With that in mind, I enjoyed making a variety of Chrysanthemum-themed activities appropriate for PK-1st grade. I'll be sharing 3 of them in today's blog along with a sweet back to school FREEBIE. 

Because I like to mix math with literacy, I designed the Chrysanthemum Name Comparison Math Craftivity, where students compare their name with Chrysanthemum’s.

I’ve included a simple PK version which can be done as a whole group, with an older elementary buddy, or done as homework with the assistance of a parent.

There’s also a template suitable for kindergarten, 1st and 2nd, which involves some easy math, where students can show how they figured out their answer.

Use the vowel, consonants and syllable posters to help explain things, then hang up for students to refer to.

These can also be used as part of your display, as completed projects make an adorable bulletin board, or hung as a border on a hallway wall. 

I’ve included 2 “Mixing Math & Literacy” display posters for this as well. 

For extra pizzazz, punch a hole at the bottom and tie on a yarn "tail", or curl a white pipe cleaner and attach.

There are 10 border options to choose from.

Give your students a choice, or run off 2-3 of each of the worksheets so you have a nice variety in your display.

Girls can add a bow to their mouse, and boys can opt to leave it off if they want.

For an added splash of color, mount the worksheet on a variety of colors of construction paper before students glue their mouse head to the top. 

Next up, is another quick, easy and fun “print & go” name craftivity. I call them "sliders".

Simply choose which name slider you want your kiddos to make. There are 6 options.
I like my students to get some practice in making choices, so I run all of them off.

I’ve included black and white patterns for kiddos to color, as well as templates in color, so that you can quickly and easily make examples to share.

Mounting them on construction paper gives a splash of color and makes them sturdier.
Run off the boxed “slider strips”, as well as the blank strips and trim.

Children color Chrysanthemum, then write their name on the “slider” strip, by writing a letter in each box.

If you have PK kiddos who don’t know how to write their name, you can have slider strips already written for them, or provide a name card for them to copy.

I’ve included 6 matching name cards if you’d like to use these. 

Finally, I designed a Chrysanthemum-Inspired Class Name Booklet.

At the beginning of the story, her parents explain why they named her Chrysanthemum, so I thought it would be fun to send a note home and ask parents why they chose their child’s name.

Parents fill out the worksheet and their child colors it.  After everyone has shared their page, collate the contributions, add the cover and you have a very interesting class-made book.

Run off the "inside" pages and give children a choice. There are 7 girl-themed pages, plus 7 for boys.

I share Dr. Seuss’s story “Too Many Daves”, then include those pages, along with the rose-quote poster in our booklet as well.

We make several class books each month.  They are always a favorite in our classroom "book" basket, and a big hit with parents at conferences.

Adding a school photo to each page makes things extra special. 

Today's featured FREEBIE is also perfect for back to school. I not only give my students a little surprise treat on the 1st day of school, I do a little something extra special the entire week.  

For a quick, easy and inexpensive treat bag, fill up a Snack Baggie with Lucky Charms cereal and include my little note.  There's also 2 "header" options if you want to put 1 at the top of your bag.  

Well that's it for today. My mom's visiting from Wisconsin, and I hear her stirring on this beautiful morning, so time to switch gears and go play outside.

"Tears of joy are like the summer rain drops pierced by sunbeams." - Hosea Ballou

1-2-3 Make A Keepsake Name Booklet With Me

My Y5s were simply too young to keep track of a portfolio, and I didn't need more work collecting and filing "stuff" for it, so instead, to show my students' awesome progress, I designed what I call "monthly keepsake booklets". 

Today's blog features two name writing activity packets.  First up, is a very simple "color me" booklet.

Because coloring is great for strengthening those weak finger muscles, I drew pictures for each month, and for quick printing, put 2-on-a-page to make a "just the right size" booklet.

At the end of each month, students wrote their name on the appropriate page and gave their best effort coloring the seasonal picture.

The booklet provided a wonderful look at the progress children were making writing their name, as well as coloring.

It was perfect to share during conferences, and then at the end of the year, my students had a wonderful keepsake to take home.

In celebration, the last page of the booklet is a certificate of praise.

The other name writing packet, has  3 keepsake options for you to choose from, along with a variety of other name writing activities to make practicing especially fun.

The 1st option, is simply a 2-pager in both color as well as black and white.

Simply staple them together & have your kiddos write their name at the end of each month & then color the small picture. 

Keep these in their writing folder or journal.

The 2nd option, is also a two-pager, but has 6 page strips on one page that children cut apart to make an Itty Bitty pencil keepsake name booklet.

Finally, the 3rd option is a bit like the "color me" name booklet I first discussed, as this one has monthly-themed pages to color as well. 

However, I’ve also added quite a few extra pages to work on later in the year, that involve a variety of math & language arts skills appropriate for kindergarten.

Such as vowels, syllables, counting, comparing, word work, greater & less than, as well as simple addition.

Besides the keepsake booklets, there are also a variety of name-related worksheets.

Such as the three "find your name" worksheets, where teachers write everyone's name on a heart, gum ball, and star. 

For another activity students "rainbow write", "stamp" & "cut and glue" their name. I've included a set of letter tiles to make this easy. 

To get in a bit of ABC order practice, there's also an "alphabetize your classmates' names" worksheet. 

My personal favorite worksheet, is the "I can write my name with a ...." (crayon, pencil, marker, pen, and piece of chalk).

Since apples are a big theme in September, I've also included several apple craftivities.

In the first activity, students find their name then give the apple 3 layers of "skin" to reinforce the fact that apples can be red, yellow & green. 

I also made matching apple cards.  Glue a student photo on one, and write their name on another to make Memory Match & "I Have; Who Has?" games, as a fun way for students to learn their classmates' names as well. 

I do the other apple craftivity after we read Dr. Seuss's story "10 Apples Up On Top".

Students count how many letters they have in their name, then place that many apples on top of their head, which is either a photograph or self portrait. 

The apples spell their name, and show either an AB-AB or ABC-ABC pattern.  Older students can cut out the larger apple pattern, while younger kiddos cut squares & color them.

Children share their creations with the class, then color in the appropriate number box on the "How many letters in your name?" apple graph.

Completed projects make a sweet fall bulletin board.

The "Build your name" activity, where students color the construction bear and glue the letters in their name to the worksheet,  as well as the "puzzle name" also make cute bulletin boards too.

Finally, another fun way for your kiddos to learn how to recognize & write their names, is my Spill & Spell game.

I write the letters of each students' name on colored Popsicle sticks & put them in a Snack Baggie.  They spill them out & put their name puzzle together. 

This simple game reinforces colors & counting too.  Children can also pick a partner and compare their names.

I also pass out extra sticks so that everyone has 6; then I call out a shape and students arrange the Popsicle sticks to create whatever shape I ask for.  It's a quick, easy & fun way to whole group assess.

Students can also practice making a variety of capital letters with their sticks as well. 

This 50-page packet is just $2.95 in my TpT shop.  Click on the link to pop on over: Name Activities & Keepsake Monthly Name Booklets.

While you're there, I'd so appreciate it if you'd follow me.  I only need 30 more followers to hit 600 then I'll post a celebration FREEBIE. I know it seems silly to get all excited about reaching this goal, but that's just me.  Thanks in advance.

I have two featured FREEBIES today.  Both of them come from this packet.  They are the "Apples Up On Top" craft, as well as the "Find Your Name" apple worksheet.  Click on the links to grab them.  

Well that's it for today. Mother Nature has decided to pitch a fit, delivering 40 degree temps today. 

Brrrrr! I'm so not ready to give up the warmth of summer.   Wishing you a snuggly day. 

 "There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen, as if it could not be, as if it had not been!" -Percy Bysshe Shelley.