Getting to the Core

A Pumpkin Craft Using Positive and Negative Art

1-2-3 Come Make A Pumpkin Writing Prompt Craftivity With Me

With all of the pros and cons about Halloween and the hype about the negative versus the positive aspects of the holiday, I thought this controversy would make an interesting October writing prompt that even younger students could manage. This would be great for your writing block or Daily 5 writing portion on Halloween day, which tends to be a bit crazy.

Halloween writing prompts, writing prompts for October, halloween crafts, halloween activities, positive negative art, pumpkin crafts, pumpkin activities As a whole group, brainstorm what things students like about Halloween and list them on the board. Then discuss the negative aspects of the holiday and things that they don't like about Halloween. Write those on the board as well.

The lists can help students with spelling, as well as deciding what things they want to include in their own writing prompt.

I've always been intriqued by the positive negative aspects of art, and the fun things you can create around that concept.

Halloween writing prompts, writing prompts for October, halloween crafts, halloween activities, positive negative art, pumpkin crafts, pumpkin activities With that in mind, I thought the perfect craft to use as a topper for this writing prompt, would be a positive negative pumpkin. Click on the link to grab your FREEBIE.

Here's how to make one:

Halloween writing prompts, writing prompts for October, halloween crafts, halloween activities, positive negative art, pumpkin crafts, pumpkin activities Run the pumpkin template off on orange construction paper. I've put two pumpkins on a page for qucik printing, so you'll need to cut them in half using a paper cutter.

Likewise, cut black construction paper in half as well. Students lay their 1/2 sheet of black construction paper underneath their orange paper pumpkin half, and then cut out 2 pumpkin halves at the same time. One will be orange; the other black.

When they are done, they glue a half sheet of black construction paper onto a whole sheet of orange construction paper.

Halloween writing prompts, writing prompts for October, halloween crafts, halloween activities, positive negative art, pumpkin crafts, pumpkin activities Now glue the orange pumpkin on top of the black construction paper side, and the black pumpkin on the orange construction paper side, so that the two pumpkins are joined together, making a positive and negative pumpkin picture.

Halloween writing prompts, writing prompts for October, halloween crafts, halloween activities, positive negative art, pumpkin crafts, pumpkin activities Finally, students glue their writing prompt underneath. I've included a completed sample if you want to use mine to make an example to share with your kiddos.

Halloween writing prompts, writing prompts for October, halloween crafts, halloween activities, positive negative art, pumpkin crafts, pumpkin activities You could do this with other Halloween themed objects as well. I found this monster version over at In The Art Room, when I Googled positive negative art samples. Instead of using my pumpkin pattern, students could also create a Jack-O-Lantern of their own.

positive negative art sample, Halloween writing prompts, writing prompts for October, halloween crafts, halloween activities, positive negative art, pumpkin crafts, pumpkin activities While doing research, I found a helpful art site. For more information about positive-negative art click on the link.

There's a short video clip explaining the positive negative art form, plus some cool samples like this one. Do you see a vase or two profiles?

Thanks for visiting today. Since it's not too brisk out, I'm off to do a bit of winterizing in my garden. Too much for one day, but slow and sure wins the race. Wishing you an energizing day.

"Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body." -- Joseph Addison

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Math Activities For October

1-2 3 Come Do Some Skelton Activities With Me!

Since it's October, it seemed fitting to plug in a few skeletons, so I was diddling around with the idea of making a math packet around the play on words "Numb Skulls."

If you don't do Halloween-themed things, the skulls are perfect for a pirate theme too, or perhaps you can use them as centers when your kiddo's study about bones and the human body.

I think your students will enjoy rolling 2 dice to make additon or subtraction equations on their "Numb Skull" and then solving them. They write in their answer and color that many teeth.

Students can play independently or with a partner. Once I started designing with the skulls, more ideas kept popping into my brain, 'til I had a whopping 46-page Numb Skull packet that covers a variety of Common Core State Standards!

Lots of the items are very versatile. The number cards with number words, can be cut into puzzles, or run off so students can make an Itty Bitty Counting booklet, which is a nice activity for your Daily 5 word work.

You can also use them for a Memory Match game, or to play "I Have; Who Has?" Add the "Kaboom!" bomb cards to make things more exciting.

The packet includes: A Numb Skull slider, where students trace the numbers from 0-30, or insert a skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's, or 10's number strip.

There's also a slider for counting backwards from 10 to 0 and 20 to 0.

I've included several games as well. There's A Numb Skull addition and subtraction game, plus a Count to 100 Numb Skull game, where students add the dice that they roll and then X-off that many skulls 'til they have added their way to 100.

Skull number cards from 0-120 also provide options for even more games. Since the numbers are at the top of the skull, play a game of "What number am I thinking of?"

Students choose a card and then give classmates clues. i.e. "My number is odd. It's greater than 20, but less than 27. When you add 11 and 10 together, you'll know my number.

I've also included matching math symbol cards, so students can make equations. Use the blank skull cards to program with whatever, or to make groups/sets for the equations students create.

There are some Trace and Write the numbers from 0-120 worksheets, as well as quite a few What's Missing worksheets for numbers 0-120, plus all of the skip counted numbers.

There are several puzzles that you can use in a variety of ways, as well as Odd Todd and Even Steven skeleton sorting mats. When students have completed whatever you deem appropriate, give them a certificate of praise for a job well done.

Click on the link to view/download the Numb Skull Math packet.

Since I get quite a few requests for telling time activities, I decided to whip together a Numb Skull clock and a few telling time to the hour and half hour games too.

This packet includes analog as well as digital time cards that you can use as flashcards, or to play games with. Click on the link to view/down load the It's Numb Skull Time packet.

Well that's it for today; thanks for visiting. I'm off to take a drive in the country with my hubby.

The fall colors have peaked and a windy afternoon with a bit of rain, threatens their ability to cling onto branches for too much longer.

Even though it's a bit chilly, a nice cup of apple cider at our farmer's market will warm things up. Wishing you a lovely day.

"One man who has a mind and knows it, can always beat ten men who haven't and don't." -George Bernard Shaw

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Common Core For Halloween

1-2-3 Come Do Some Halloween Color Activities With Me

While reading some Halloween books with my grandson Kaiden this afternoon, I noticed that I could find a Halloween-themed "thing" that represented all of the colors my Y5's needed to learn. I was inspired to whip together this little Halloween Colors booklet; a matching spinner game soon followed.

No matter what I did, I tried to cram at least 3 other standards into any activity that I dreamed up for my Y5's, so that I'd get more bang for my time.

Halloween activities, Halloween games, beginning capitalization activities, end punctuation activities, common core Halloween, color words, color activities, colors, color games, Halloween coloring pages. With that in mind, this Halloween-themed easy reader has students read the simple sentences, (chock full of Dolch Words), correct the beginning capitalization, and then add end punctuation.

There are teachable moments for pronouns and plurals, because of the way I set up the sentences.

I've also included a "favorite colors" graphing extension to toss in a bit of math.

Halloween activities, Halloween games, beginning capitalization activities, end punctuation activities, common core Halloween, color words, color activities, colors, color games, Halloween coloring pages. The spinner color game, matches the story. Students pick a partner and take turns spinning the color wheel.

Whatever color they land on, they have to remember the Halloween-themed "thing" that was that color in their booklet, and then color that object on their spider web coloring page.

Halloween activities, Halloween games, beginning capitalization activities, end punctuation activities, common core Halloween, color words, color activities, colors, color games, Halloween coloring pages. You can use the game as an assessment tool for comprehension, or assist little ones by hanging up the answer key poster.

Either way, both of these activities make great additions on Halloween party day, as they are quick, easy and fun, yet Common Core based.

Click on the link to view/download a copy of the Common Core Halloween Colors Activity packet. For more Halloween activities click on the link to zip on over to that section of my site.

Thanks for visiting today. Hope you can stop by tomorrow for a few more FREEBIES. Right now it's time for me and one energetic 2-year-old to clean up our messes.

Wishing you a day filled with giggles and precious moments.

"When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion." - Ethiopian Proverb

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Halloween activities,

"Leaf" It To Me!

1-2-3 Come Do Some Leaf Activities With Me

There are so many themes that I incorporated into my October lessons, that it was sometimes difficult to get to them all. I think one of my favorites though, was leaves.

Probably, because of all the fond childhood memories I have of raking up big piles of colorful leaves and then playing in them for hours.

A leaf theme is an easy way to toss in a little bit of science, and build vocabulary with words like chlorophyll and photosynthesis. Leaves also work well with math and language arts too.

Here are a few of my favorite leaf-themed activities:

leaf activities, leaf crafts, common core leaves, fall writing prompts, fall crafts for kids, ordinal number activities, leaf alphabet cards, fall alphabet games, fall writing prompts, fall centers, leaf graphing, shape activities, alphabet games, leaf science, fall math games, fall math activities, graphing activities, 2D shape activities To help practice all sorts of math skills, (addition, subtraction, odd & even, greater than and less than) click on the link for the Leaf Counting Games.

Students can play the math games and do the center activities independently or with a partner.

There are also leaf cards with number words on them, to help reinforce reading skills. I've included a 3-page tip-list of ideas.

The 10 frames leaf packet is also a fun way to practice a variety of math skills.

Are you working on ordinal numbers?

The Ordinal number packet not only has a leaf worksheet (2 on a page for easy printing), but other fall themes as well.

leaf activities, leaf crafts, common core leaves, fall writing prompts, fall crafts for kids, ordinal number activities, leaf alphabet cards, fall alphabet games, fall writing prompts, fall centers, leaf graphing, shape activities, alphabet games, leaf science, fall math games, fall math activities, graphing activities, 2D shape activities Likewise, the Fall Graphing packet has similar themes, including one for leaves.

Besides graphing, you can also reinforce the various 2D shapes.

I always tried to include some sort of hands-on "craftivity" with any theme that I taught.

leaf activities, leaf crafts, common core leaves, fall writing prompts, fall crafts for kids, ordinal number activities, leaf alphabet cards, fall alphabet games, fall writing prompts, fall centers, leaf graphing, shape activities, alphabet games, leaf science, fall math games, fall math activities, graphing activities, 2D shape activities With that in mind, I designed the leaf dangler. It's the newest addition to my leaf collection of activities, and includes a little rhyme: "Red, orange, yellow and brown, autumn leaves flutter down."

Older students can complete the "Leaves are, can, have" writing prompt on the back of their leaves.

leaf activities, leaf crafts, common core leaves, fall writing prompts, fall crafts for kids, ordinal number activities, leaf alphabet cards, fall alphabet games, fall writing prompts, fall centers, leaf graphing, shape activities, alphabet games, leaf science, fall math games, fall math activities, graphing activities, 2D shape activities I've included a worksheet for this as well. Do it as a whole group, or have children fill in their own. There's a completed sample to share as well.

Do some of your kiddos still need practice identifying the letters of the alphabet?

leaf activities, leaf crafts, common core leaves, fall writing prompts, fall crafts for kids, ordinal number activities, leaf alphabet cards, fall alphabet games, fall writing prompts, fall centers, leaf graphing, shape activities, alphabet games, leaf science, fall math games, fall math activities, graphing activities, 2D shape activities These leaf-themed alphabet cards will help. I've included separate upper and lowercase letter cards as well, which are perfect for all sorts of ABC games. A tip-list of what to do with the cards is also included.

Finally, since the weather is so beautiful during the fall here in Michigan, I liked to take my Y5's for a mini nature walk.

leaf activities, leaf crafts, common core leaves, fall writing prompts, fall crafts for kids, ordinal number activities, leaf alphabet cards, fall alphabet games, fall writing prompts, fall centers, leaf graphing, shape activities, alphabet games, leaf science, fall math games, fall math activities, graphing activities, 2D shape activities This was just a walk around the block of our school to look for things on a nature list that we brainstormed before departure.

I gave each child a paper bag to collect "nature stuff" in, then we'd go back, wash up and design a paper plate "leaf pal".

leaf activities, leaf crafts, common core leaves, fall writing prompts, fall crafts for kids, ordinal number activities, leaf alphabet cards, fall alphabet games, fall writing prompts, fall centers, leaf graphing, shape activities, alphabet games, leaf science, fall math games, fall math activities, graphing activities, 2D shape activities As you can see by the photographs, they turned out absolutely awesome.

leaf activities, leaf crafts, common core leaves, fall writing prompts, fall crafts for kids, ordinal number activities, leaf alphabet cards, fall alphabet games, fall writing prompts, fall centers, leaf graphing, shape activities, alphabet games, leaf science, fall math games, the leaf man by ehlert, fall math activities, graphing activities, 2D shape activities Click on the link for the leaf man craft. After everyone was done, we'd read the Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert.

Also in this packet is a quick and easy chlorophyll leaf craft. Simply run off the leaf template on a variety of colors of fall construction paper.

leaf activities, leaf crafts, common core leaves, fall writing prompts, fall crafts for kids, ordinal number activities, leaf alphabet cards, fall alphabet games, fall writing prompts, fall centers, leaf graphing, shape activities, alphabet games, leaf science, fall math games, fall math activities, graphing activities, 2D shape activities Students trim, fold in half and glue only one side to their matching green leaf, so that the other side flips up to reveal the green leaf underneath.

This was an easy way to show that leaves were green when they were filled with chlorophyll, but changed to their natural color once it was gone.

By the end of the activity my little ones could tell you about chlorophyll, as well as photosynthesis. (Their parents were duly impressed.)

Well that's it for today. I hope you found something you could use to help your students fall into some learning fun. :-)

Time to go get dinner started. We're having stuffed red peppers. Yum!

"Everyone must row with the oars he has." -English Proverb

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Adding That Finishing Touch

1-2-3 Come Do Some Crimping With Me

Crimping? What's crimping? It's a wonderful way to add that finishing touch to your students' crafts. Alicia, over at Jam Paper, contacted me and asked if I would be willing to design some sort of craft activity using their paper. Of course! (They have "every color and every size!" including brown which is rather unusual and perfect for fall.)

crimping tool crafts, pumpkin crafts, apple crafts, haunted house crafts, halloween crafts, scarecrow crafts, venn diagrams, venn friends I checked out their site and found that they also carried an awesome tool called a "corru-gator" which crimps paper! Well the creative juices kicked in and my brain went into over drive, with all of the fun things I could do with one. The more I pondered, the more excited I got. I hope you will too.

I chose the "wave" pattern for it's versatility. (One with straight lines, that crimps like corrugated cardboard, is also available.) I'm sure scrapbookers are well aware of these fun gadgets, but I wanted to figure out ways a teacher could use one in the classroom.

One of the reasons that this is great for school, is that it has a width of 8 1/2 inches, so it will fit a regular sheet of paper, (smaller sizes too) as well as card stock thickness, so you can add texture to just about any project.

The corru-gator is a safe and easy-to-use-tool even for little ones. Inserting a sheet of paper and cranking the roller, is wonderful fine motor practice that is a super-fun way to strengthen finger muscles, which is so important for pre-writing skills and scissor cutting capability.

A child's excitement at seeing their finished project being cranked out, with a cool texured look, is priceless. "Wow! Look what I made."

Because students will want to add that "finishing touch" to whatever you deem appropriate, use the tool as an incentive to keep students focussed, by allowing them to use the crimper after they have completed their project.

What kinds of projects? Oh the possibilities... Here are just a few that I thought of:

Students can crimp a file folder (portfolio) or pocket folder to keep their work in. The "Flip For Facts" file folder activities that I've posted also look more interesting after they're crimped too. Make sure you use plenty of glue on projects to be crimped and that they are completely dry.

crimping tool crafts, pumpkin crafts, apple crafts, haunted house crafts, halloween crafts, scarecrow crafts, name activities, name crafts, venn diagrams, venn friends Crimp shapes, letters and numbers to add a bit of pizzazz. Use Elison die cut letters and have students glue them together to make a name plate then crimp it, or simply have them write and color their names and then add the texture.

When students make a special card for Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, or Father's Day, allow them to crimp it to add that "wow" factor or have them crimp the envelope for something different.

Crimp your plain colored bulletin board borders to add some 3D pop. Have students design a bookmark and then crimp it.

crimping tool crafts, fire safety crafts, pumpkin crafts, apple crafts, haunted house crafts, halloween crafts, scarecrow crafts, name activities, name crafts, venn diagrams, venn friends Crimp a writing prompt topper, or even the written page. I crimped the entire haunted house 5 senses craftivity to add an extra touch of creepy. As I've discussed before, tossing in a bit of hands-on art to go along with a writing prompt, simply gets students more motivated.

Crimping only takes a minute and the unusual results will surely get all sorts of comments. Everyone wanted to know how we made these cool tri-colored apples.

A myriad of themed craft activities are also perfect for crimping. Here are just a few:

For Fall: crimp apples, pumpkins, scarecrows, bats, spiders, candy corn, skeletons, & monsters.

crimping tool crafts, fire safety crafts, pumpkin crafts, apple crafts, haunted house crafts, halloween crafts, scarecrow crafts, name activities, name crafts, venn diagrams, venn friends Studying fire safety? As you can see by the photograph, flames look awesome crinkled and definitely add that finishing touch!

I designed this fall dangler then added the texture for an interesting 3D effect.

Trees are also the perfect craft to crinkle.

crimping tool crafts, fire safety crafts, pumpkin crafts, apple crafts, haunted house crafts, halloween crafts, scarecrow crafts, name activities, name crafts, venn diagrams, venn friends My students partnered up and traced their arm and hand with fingers spread to make an apple tree and then ran it through the corru-gator.

crimping tool crafts, fire safety crafts, pumpkin crafts, apple crafts, haunted house crafts, halloween crafts, scarecrow crafts, name activities, name crafts, venn diagrams, venn friends The pumpkin sliders gained extra pizzazz by being "munched and crunched". (My Y5's have named this cool tool "The Muncher Cruncher".)

Our pumpkin Venn Friends turned out especially cool with a little crimping.

crimping tool crafts, fire safety crafts, 100 day activities, pumpkin crafts, apple crafts, haunted house crafts, halloween crafts, scarecrow crafts, name activities, pumpkin venn friends, venn friends, venn diagrams, name crafts, venn diagrams, venn friends I LOVE that the size of this tool accommodates an entire project.

crimping tool crafts, fire safety crafts, 100 day activities, pumpkin crafts, apple crafts, haunted house crafts, halloween crafts, scarecrow crafts, name activities, pumpkin venn friends, venn friends, venn diagrams, name crafts, venn diagrams, venn friends The scarecrow's face and hat, look extra special when crimped, which gave it more of a burlap look. I also ran yellow paper through a shredder to make the hair.

Thinking ahead to WINTER: Crimp Christmas trees, ornaments, snowmen, snow scenes, and mittens.

crimping tool crafts, pumpkin crafts, apple crafts, haunted house crafts, halloween crafts, scarecrow crafts, venn diagrams, venn friends Do you celebrate 100 Day? Have students draw a self portrait of how they think they'll look if they get to be 100-years-old, then crimp for instant wrinkles, or simply crimp a real photo of them.

For Groundhog Day, crimp children's groundhog craftivities to give those animals some "fur". Are you studying shadows? Using a light source, trace your students' profile, trim and crimp.

For Valentine's Day add texture to paper hearts. If you study Abraham Lincoln, crimp a log cabin.

Moving on to Spring: Crimp rain, the water cycle, a Seuss hat, butterflies, caterpillars, shamrocks, flowers, grass, eggs, baskets, bunnies, lions, and lambs.

As you can see I'm pretty excited about the educational potential of this fun gadget, and at $24.50 it's certainly an affordable tool to add to your teaching bag of tricks.

monster activities, crimping tool crafts, fire safety crafts, pumpkin crafts, apple crafts, haunted house crafts, halloween crafts, scarecrow crafts, name activities, pumpkin venn friends, venn friends, venn diagrams, name crafts, venn diagrams, venn friends To take a look at the corru-gators over at Jam Paper, click on the link. They also have a large variety of paper choices, as well as other office supplies.

If you're going to do the Frankenstein envelope activity with your kiddos that I posted a few days ago, they also sell the green envelopes. Your kiddos could also crimp their completed envelope monsters too.

Speaking of envelopes, if you do a Chinese New Year Theme in February, and want to get some red coin envelopes to do a few of my Chinese New Year activities with, they sell the perfect 3 x 5.5 size.

Well that's it for today. I'm going to play around a bit more with this fun gadget to see what else I can come up with.

If you've thought of another way to use the tool, or an activity you plan to do with your kiddos, I'd enjoy hearing from you: diane@teachwithme.com or feel free to leave a comment below.

"There is a great distance between said and done." - Puerto Rican proverb  

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