1-2-3 Come Do Some Lion & Lamb Activities With Me.      

The simile “March roared in like a lion then left like a lamb” basically holds true for weather here in Michigan.

Because of that, I designed an entire “lion & lamb” weather-themed packet, which is very versatile.

It’s chock full of a huge variety of activities that are suitable for different grades & skill levels. (PK-3rd).

I introduce March with Marion Bauer’s book, “In Like a Lion Out Like a Lamb”, which was the inspiration behind the “door dangler” writing prompt craft in the packet, as a lion comes knocking at a little boy's front door.

The story is wonderfully illustrated with short rhyming text, perfect for introducing metaphor & simile  to older students as well.

“March comes with a roar.  He rattles your windows and scratches at your door.
He turns snow to mud, then tromps across your floor.
March comes with winter clinging to his tail.
He scatters sleet and sometimes even hail.”

My Young Fives absolutely love the lion & lamb weather analogy, which is perfect for introducing a variety of weather conditions to them.

I designed a set of pocket chart cards for this, as well as made a collection of 32 photographs that depict a variety of "real" lion & lamb-like weather. There are 2-on-a-page for quick printing.

To whole-group assess their ability to identify, then classify the weather, I made a set of 6 lion & lamb Popsicle stick puppet pals. Choose your favorite or give children a choice.

They color, cut & glue a lion & lamb back-to-back, then insert a Popsicle stick.

Teacher shows a pocket chart, weather card. 

Students decide if that type of weather is a lion or a lamb, flipping their “puppet paddle” accordingly.

You can also ask them about their current weather, or to vote whether they think March will come in like a lion or lamb, as well as predict what the weather will be on the last day of March.

I"ve included 3 graphing extensions for this.

The photo-posters can also be used like the weather cards. What clues in the photograph make them think that the weather is lamb-like, or was the result of a lion-kind of day.  

The photographs can also be used to inspire a writing prompt, where kiddos pick a picture then make a list of adjectives that describe it, write a descriptive sentence, paragraph, poem or short story. 

For an awesome bulletin board, display the photo next to students' completed work. 

Younger kiddos can sort the pictures using the lion & lamb sorting mats.  Make an extra set and cut them into puzzles to use for an independent center. 

We also track the weather for the month of March with a "color, cut & glue" calendar worksheet, with a culminating math activity, which practices, counting, comparison, greater & less than, as well as tally marks & graphing.  

Older students can record their data and analysis in the March Weather Journal, which is an interesting & fun diary-type writing assignment.  

All of the activities come in color as well as BW for kiddos. 

I've also included a super-fun variety of writing prompt craftivities.

Didn't  matter what grade I taught, as soon as I tossed in a bit of hands-on craftiness, my students were riveted and couldn't wait to begin.  

The beauty of these "craftivities" is that they can be completed by little ones, as well as older students who will write more in-depth. 

So that they fit your students' skill levels, I give you a list of writing prompt suggestions.

Simply pick which one's appropriate for your students or give them a choice.  

I've also given you the ability to choose how you wish to display them. 

Children can make a booklet, horizontal/vertical display, or dangler that's suspended from the ceiling.

To slide in the poetry genre, I've also included a poster-poem for William Cullen Bryant’s “Stormy March”.

There are 100+ pages of games, centers, whole-group activities, anchor chart-posters, worksheets, and Venn diagrams.

Besides the black & white templates, so you can quickly & easily make samples, or do activities as a whole group with little ones, I’ve also included full-color patterns for all of the activities.

To save you even more time, I tucked in my completed writing sample templates, so you don't have to make up your own. 

If your students are like mine, they'll give their "best effort" because these prompts are especially fun for them. Added bonus: completed projects make a terrific spring bulletin board.

Today's featured FREEBIE is "Wind Tricks" ; a 31-page poetry packet, which includes the games "Windy Words" and "Blow Some Words My Way", along with a variety of quick, easy and fun "rhyme time" activities.  I hope you find it useful. 

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

The weather finally feels like spring today (high 60s) so out to the garden I go for some much-needed clean up.

"Why try to explain miracles to your kids, when you can just have them plant a garden." -Robert Brault

1-2-3 Come Do Some "It Looked Like Spilt Milk" Activities With Me

Do you read "It Looked Like Spilt Milk"  by Charles Shaw?

It’s a terrific, springtime story for introducing your study of clouds, and helps children stretch their imaginations. 

Because my Young Fives really enjoy this story, I designed several cloud-themed activities for them to transition to, after we read the tale.  They are both featured on the blog today, along with an awesome FREEBIE.

Since "It Looked Like Spilt Milk" is perfect for practicing the “sequencing and retelling a story” standards, I designed a quick, easy and fun slider craftivity, which will help your students retell the story in the proper order.

There are 2 outside slider options to choose from.

One features a cloud, the other a square with a spilled milk "splat". 

I chose blue construction paper, to resemble the story as well as the color of the sky.

Pick your favorite or give children a choice.

Students color the story elements on the “slider strip” then cut and glue it together.

There are 2 "storytelling slider strip" options as well.
One, for beginning readers, has the pictures labeled, while the other strip's graphics are blank.

As they pull on the end of the “slider-strip” the various “cloud” pictures go through the “window”, so that children can take turns retelling the story to a partner or reading buddy, then take their craftivity home to share with their family, once again practicing these standards.

I introduce the lesson by reading the book ”It Looked Like Spilt Milk”, then share my completed "slider craft” with my students.

After I read the story, we retell the tale together, using the picture prompts on my slider.

I have them guess which story element they think comes next, before I pull the picture through the “window”.

My students now know what’s expected of them, and are very excited to transition to making an “It Looked Like Spilt Milk” storytelling slider of their own.

Storytelling sliders are also an easy & interesting way to assess comprehension.

I’ve included a “Let’s “sequence the story” activity for this, where students color and trim the picture “windows” then glue them in the correct order on their worksheet.

There’s also a “Here’s What Happened…” writing prompt worksheet, as another way to check comprehension, plus practice sequential writing, hopefully using a variety of ordinal numbers and other transitions. 

Finally, I thought it would be fun to practice upper and lowercase letters with a "cloud alphabet", which also includes an "animal cloud" for each letter as well.

The "Cloud-Themed Alphabet Packet" includes:
* An “Alpha Clouds” (color, trace & write) booklet.

With 4 pages on one, to make a "just-the-right-size", mini booklet.

*An “ABC Animal Clouds” booklet, with the same above format.

* A boy & girl “Look at my cloud name” worksheet craftivity.

* 3 sets of alpha-cloud cards for upper & lowercase letters.

* 2 sets of animal cloud cards. There is a “cloud animal” for each letter of the alphabet.

* There are also matching animal word cards, which will provide more ways to play “Memory Match” and “I Have; Who Has?” games.

* Children can also pick a picture card and describe the animal using 1-3 adjectives OR…
* Pick a word card and use it in a sentence. OR…
* Students can arrange the letter and/or word cards in alphabetical order.

-Use the “Kaboom!” cards to add to the fun.
-Use the cover to make an “Itty Bitty” booklet.

* I’ve also included a 5-page, tip list of other games and things you can use the cards for.

* 2 poster poems to introduce the lesson

These activities can be used for independent centers, whole group activities, Daily 5 word work, early finishers, homework, or tossed in a sub tub.

Today's featured FREEBIE is a set of number posters.  

These anchor charts are perfect for a math bulletin board that you can refer to daily and review:

* fractions, colors, patterns, telling time, fact families, money, tally marks, ordinal numbers, measurement with a ruler, +1 addition, sequencing numbers, counting groups and sets of objects, and using a ten frame for addition or subtraction.

Well that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by. My feet have hit the floor running, as I'm watching 3 of my grandchildren today.

They are age 4, 2 and 1, so it will be a busy day of play, filled with lots of fun and giggles.   Wishing you a love-filled day.

"Becoming a grandmother is wonderful. One moment you’re just a mother. The next you are all-wise and prehistoric." ~Pam Brown

1-2-3 Come Do Some 2D Shape Activities With Me

Most of my Y5s don’t have any problem learning to identify the 2D shapes, however, when I ask them to find an example of that shape in the “real world” many of them have difficulty.

With that in mind, I designed these quick, easy and fun “I Spy!”  Puzzle Pie activities.

Whenever I'm putzing with a project, I test it out on my 4-year-old grandson, to tweak any "glitches" that may occur. 

Nothing like "kid-tested & teacher-approved".

He absolutely LOVED putting these together.

Even his 2-year-old sister enjoyed placing pieces on the grid, although she did things willy-nilly.

Each shape packet is sold individually for just a dollar.

There are 14, 2D shapes in all: circle, oval, triangle, square, rectangle, hexagon, pentagon, octagon, rhombus, trapezoid, heart, star, semicircle & crescent!

I had a question whether I would consider bundling all of them into one packet. For sure! 

I'm always willing to combine a "collection" of something.  This bundle offers a 40% savings from buying each 2D shape puzzle pie packet separately.

Use the full color patterns as an independent center.  

Simply print, laminate and trim.  I keep the "puzzle parts" for each 2D shape in a large, ZipLock Baggie.

Depending on the shape and clip art available, I’ve included 1-4, “bottom” puzzle grids with matching words, as well as a blank template, so that students can pick and choose, which of the 6-24-different pieces of “real world” 2D shape examples, they want to use to complete the picture puzzle.

For example, I found many more graphics of rectangular-shaped items, so there are 4 puzzles and 24 pieces for the rectangle packet, where as there were a limited number of examples for the hexagon, which has 2 grids and 12 pieces to choose from. 

Even though they are not part of my report card standards, I included the rhombus and trapezoid shapes, as my Y5s use pattern block manipulatives for a variety of our math centers, and I wanted them to be familiar with the vocabulary to describe these shapes.

Beginning readers can practice their decoding skills with the word-filled grids, while younger kiddos can simply place the pictures on the blank grids. 

You can also use the puzzles as an interesting and fun assessment tool. Choose one or 2 picture pieces for each 2D shape.

Hold one up and ask students to identify what shape they see. This will also check that they are using correct vocabulary as well. 

Likewise, ask them to point to a hexagon. This way you know they can identify the shape, but not necessarily remember the name of it.

I also run off an extra set of each of the picture pieces for all of the shapes, to use as a sorting activity. This set is kept in a large ZipLock Baggie. 

As a whole-group activity, I also use this bag to pass out several pieces to each child. We sit in a circle and they show one of the picture pieces, tell the name of the shape and what the "real world" object is.  "Can we spy anything in our room that is also that shape?"

I’ve also included black & white templates, so that students can make their own puzzles to take home. 

The pentagon & hexagon packet also have a volleyball, picture poster.  Tossing or rolling a volleyball to your students, is a quick, easy and super fun way to practice those somewhat "toughie" shapes. 

I think they're a bit difficult to remember because there really aren't that many examples children see or are familiar with, like squares and circles. 

The pentagon packet also includes "irregular" pentagons, as seen with a teabag, pocket or baseball's home plate.

I've also included some interesting information about the "why" home base is an irregular pentagon.  

Since March Is Reading Month, and many classrooms are celebrating Seuss, today's featured FREEBIE also helps practice 2D shapes; as well as letters, numbers 0-120, contractions, colors and more.

I used a sand pail for one container, as well a "flip up" container from a 10-pack of Mr. Clean "erasers", which is perfect for the Grinch's "mouth". 

LOVE the dry sponges too, as they are perfect for getting permanent marker off laminated name cards, so that I can reuse them each year.  Several dishwashing containers like Cascade, also use flip up containers.

 Click on the link to grab the jumbo, "Feed The Grinch" packet.  I hope you find it useful. 

Well that's it for tonight.  I usually zip off a blog article during the day, but life happened this morning, with way too much on my plate all day.  

Thanks for stopping by. Wishing you a stress-free week. 

"The greatest weapon against stress, is our ability to choose one thought over another." -William James