Mother's Day Gift Ideas:

If you're like me, you're probably wondering where on earth April flew off to, and thinking what should I do for Mother's Day that will soon be here!

I wanted to help children realize all the things busy mommies do for them, so that they could truly understand and appreciate their mom and why Mother’s Day is such a special Day; so I designed an easy reader with that idea in mind and followed it up with a blue ribbon-"craftivity" that students can make for their moms as a special card.

Start by having a discussion. Ask your students what things their moms do for them and what are their favorites.  Make a list of them on the board and see if they can think of a symbol or picture that would represent that task.

From a 5-year-old's point of view, here are some of the things my Y5's thought of: cooking, cleaning, doing the laundry (washing & ironing), helping with school work, taking me places, taking care of me when I’m sick or hurt, buying me things, doing things with me (listening to me), reading stories to me and my mom loves me (hugs me and kisses me goodnight!)

After the discussion, pass out the booklets.  

Students TRACE the words.  They find the matching pictures and CUT and GLUE them to the correct numbered boxes in their booklet. 

When everyone is done, read the booklet as a whole group a few times, ‘til everyone is able to read it independently, so they can take it home and share it with their moms.  What a wonderful gift that will be!

You can make the booklet even more of a keepsake by including their school photo; have students glue it over the clipart boy or girl. 

When you’re done with the reading activity have students make the blue ribbon card for their mom. Remember to have them sign their name under the “I love you."

Click on the link to view/download the Mother’s Day: Thanks For All You Do booklet and blue ribbon activity.

Scroll down for another Mother's Day idea: Teaching your students how to sign "I love you!"

April showers not only bring May flowers, they bring MUD and WORMS! Two of my favorite childhood aspects of spring!  I enjoyed making mud pies so much as a little kid I thought it would be fun to make up some activities for my Y5’s to reinforce report card standards using mud as well as worms as fun mini-themes.  I’ve also posted a few other rainy day activities!

Go ahead; dive into the past and pretend you’re a child once more.  Get out those pots and pans, grab some wooden spoons, wait for a warm spring drizzle and then go splash in some muddy puddles as you take your pot and pan parade down the block.  It’s one of my favorite memories that I used to do with my own children.

Wiggly Fun!

Going for a worm hunt is also fun, then have a worm race!  Whose worm will wiggle the farthest?  How many inches did they wander?  Bring them home and toss the worms in your garden.  Click on the links to check out these websites to learn more about the great earthmovers!  Interesting worm articles and background.    Short list of worm facts.   Top 10 facts about worms.

Now write your 3 favorite facts on the worm flip sheet. Click on the link to view/print the Worms: Flip for facts! Activity sheets. There are 2 sheets. Print the numbered sheet for a cover then fold in half and cut the numbered “doors” so they flip “up”. Print the “picture page” on the BACK of the number page.

Write 3 facts about worms under the pictures and you have a quick mini-science lesson about worms that includes reading, writing and computer skills!  (Great adventure with a Smart board.) I know your students will enjoy learning about these interesting creatures that can actually live even if they are cut in half and have no lungs but breath with their skin!

Worm Writing:

Stir those imaginations and ask your students what they like to do in the mud, then practice those writing skills and have them each make a page for a class Mud Book.  Make the book a keepsake by having students glue their school photo over the man's face in the picture.  I’ve included a cute mud poem if you’re also studying poetry at this time.  Click on the link to view/print the mud writing extension.

Worm Math:

Toss in some math and have your students make a Making Mud Pies counting booklet.  Using their fingerprints makes it a nice keepsake.  Students TRACE the number words and numbers and then WRITE the number somewhere on the page. After they have done that, they press their index finger on a brown stamp pad and press it on top of the pie pan to make a mud pie.

When everyone had completed their booklet, read it aloud as a whole group to reinforce concepts of print.  It’s a great way to reinforce number word recognition and is an easy reader that builds students’ self-confidence.

More mud pie fun that reinforces color words is a booklet entitled: My Many Colored Gumdrops. It has a teacher manipulative as well as 2 graphing extensions.

Mudlicious Art:

Just in time for Mother’s Day, for a fun art project that makes another great keepsake, make some “Mudlicious” art prints by pressing a child’s hand in brown paint and putting it on either the boy or girl stationery provided.

I’ve also included a pig.  You can print this off and have each child cut it out and glue it on a piece of light green or powder blue paper.  Have them draw a pen for their pig and then using a sponge, have them add mud to their picture, dabbing some in the pen and on their pig.  I use an Ellison die cut for this and have them dab paint inside the template as well.  See photograph.  Click on the link to view/print the Mudlicious art projects.

Shape Fun:

If you’d like to review shapes, Shapely Pig is a fun way to do that and includes all of the major shapes in one quick and easy art activity that makes a great center. I've also included a skill sheet of words that rhyme with pig. Have your students brainstorm their own list and write them on the board and then put them in alphabetical order. Students can trace then write them on this skill sheet. Click on the link to view/print Shapely Pig and rhyming skill sheet

This art project is a nice go-together with the booklet: The Shape of My Mud which is a fun easy-reader booklet that includes a graphing extension and word wall flashcards.  Another April-themed booklet that reinforces shapes is The Shape On My Cloud.

It’s Raining the Alphabet:

To make mud you have to have rain.  I still remember my grama Lydia bringing my raincoat and umbrella to school when unexpected showers happened in the late afternoon.  I also had those wonderful little red rain boots to splash away many an hour puddle jumping.  Once I was late for school jumping in every one I happened upon along the way!  Make copies of this cute “dressed-for-rain” child, laminate him, cut out cards and have your students match the lowercase umbrellas to the matching uppercase letters. I've also included a set for shapes and a blank set if you'd like to do something with numbers.  Click on the link to view/print the umbrella cards.

Rainy Writing:

Make a class booklet by having your students each write and illustrate their favorite rainy activity and then graph the results.  Click on the link to view/print the class rain booklet.

Raindrop Art:

Complete your rainy day fun by making some “April showers bring May flowers” raindrops.  They look lovely dangling from the ceiling suspended with fish line.  Simply make a template out of tag board or a file folder using my master.  Have a room helper trace and cut out 2 clear contact paper raindrops for each student.  I buy it by the roll from the grocery store.  You can find it in the housewares’ section with shelf paper.

Have the helper peel back just the tip of the raindrops so that it will be easy for you to peel off the rest of the backing quickly on the day you will make the raindrops.  Write each child’s name in tiny print on the bottom edge of one of the drops.  The other drop is the back of the raindrop.  On the day you want to do the raindrops, start with this project.

Peel back the contact backing and lay the raindrop sticky side up.  I bend and fold the top pointy part of the raindrop and press it down onto the table so that it sticks to the desk/table where each child will sit.  I inform them that their raindrop is sticky and not to move it, but simply place their flower confetti on top of their raindrop and then raise their hand when they are done.  I come over and place the other raindrop on top of this raindrop so that two sticky sides are together.  Older students can do this on their own but my Y5’s need assistance getting the two drops to match up or they don't have their entire drop covered before they press it down.

Punch a hole in the top and tie on a piece of fish line.  Packages of floral confetti can be purchased at any party store.  I buy several different kinds and spill them on 8” paper plates that I have in the middle of the tables.

My students can put on as many flowers as they want, as long as they put on only ONE at a time and count as they place them on their raindrop.  They have to put on at least 10.  I also let them sprinkle on a little opalescent or silver glitter so that the raindrops sparkle and show up a little better when they shimmer from the hallway ceiling.  Click on the link to view/print the raindrop template and photograph.

Rainy Day Activities:

For more fun rain activities click on the bolded links. Rain Rain Go Away Come Again Another Day, is an easy reader booklet that reinforces days of the week words, Where’s My Umbrella is a spatial direction booklet, Where Have All The Raindrops Gone and 10 Little Raindrops are booklets that reinforce numbers and math skills.  My 87-page Rain Unit is chock full of a variety of skill sheets and fun ideas for rain-themed centers as well! Become a gold subscription member and get all my activities at no additional cost!

Tinsel Rain:

One of the prettiest April art projects my students create is their rain cloud mobile.  The rain is made out of silver tinsel that I buy on sale after Christmas.  We tape it to the bottom of one of the clouds and then put another cloud over the top.  This project can be found in my 98-page May Art Book and is one of my students’ favorites!

Books:

It’s pouring right now as I put the finishing touches on this article.  The perfect weather to do some fun projects or snuggle with your little one and read some great books! Puddles are beginning to pool and there’s mud everywhere!

One of my personal favorites is Mud Puddle

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It’s my favorite book by this author.  Can a mud puddle really sneak up on a child and get them dirty?  How fun is that? The repetitious verse and “What do you think will happen next?” predictability, make it a wonderful read aloud, and will have your students waiting in anticipation and giggling!

I also recommend Mud by Wendy Lewison.  My Y5's LOVE this book.  It's an easy read and the pictures get them giggling.  They'd love nothing better than to jump into the pages and join the characters getting dirty playing in the mud.  It's a wonderful "what do you think will happen next?" prediciton book as well. 

  Stuck in the Mud, by Jane Clarke, is also a “must have” for your “mud collection”.  A little chick is stuck in the mud and 1-by-1 the farm animals try to get her out.  Rhyme and repetition of (s)he pushed and (s)he pulled make this another fun read aloud with a surprise ending.

Finally, Mud by Mary Lyn Ray is a lovely free-form poem that includes great descriptive words with lovely illustrations that make mud and springtime come alive.

 Well it’s time for me to don my umbrella and boots and brave the rain, puddles, and mud--not that I really want to go out, but we have a new puppy and she needs to, sort of fitting as it’s raining cats and dogs!

I love using Aesop’s Fables to teach life lessons to my students.  The last week of March when we are studying wind I tell them the story of the Wind and the Sun.  I explain to them that these stories have a moral or lesson that they should learn and we discuss what that might be when I finish telling it. 

Since these fables are very short they make fun interactive stories where all of your students can get involved.  It’s not quite a Reader’s Theatre but a great introduction to that type of activity.  I’ve made some clipart cards that you can hold up while you tell the story or you can pass them out to your students to hold up at the appropriate time while you're telling it.

After you've told the story reenact it by having some of your students play the part of the wind, while some of them play the part of the sun.  Instruct the wind children to pretend to be really conceited and boisterous, puffing themselves up and blowing really hard making lots of wind noise. 

If you want the wind noise to sound realistic, help them out by downloading the sound of the wind and then playing it.  Microsoft has a variety of wind sounds that are perfect for this. Click on the link.  Wind sounds.

You’ll also need to assign students to play the part of the people that are affected by the wind and sun.  Pass out some hats so that they can toss them off when the wind blows; they’ll also need to put on their jackets or a sweater so that they can clutch them tightly when the wind students are blowing extra hard.

They can then take them off and wipe their brows and act all hot and sweaty when the sun people shine on them.  Designate a swimming area so that they can all jump in the “pond” to go swimming when the sun people reach their highest heat level.

 They can then get out of the pool and lay on the “beach” as the sun students shine over them.  The wind people can then say in unison: “Sun you have won our bet; you are the strongest!” 

During snack time I show several Aesop Fable videos.  My set stars Bill Cosby.  Click on the links to several YouTube videos of this tale. There are quite a few, but I thought these 3 were the best.  Video one.  Video two.  Video three.

Click on the link to view/print the pictures and my version of the story to go with them.  The Wind and the Sun Aesop Fable cards. Enjoy.