1 2 3 Come Do Some New Year Writing With Me
I realize people have been wishing each other a Happy New Year for a week now, but I thought a few more New Year-themed writing prompts would still be appropriate, since quite a few schools in the midwest have not gone back yet, because of all of the cancellations due to snow and below zero weather conditions.
My home state of Michigan included, as we are enjoying another snow day with a -25 windchill as I blog.
This photo is of the St. Joseph Lighthouse on Lake Michigan. with the caption: "Today, it is encased in ice as the Midwest is hit with a "polar vortex", causing wind chills to reach -50 degrees! " The waves froze as they crashed over the pier.
Inez, from equally cold Canada, requested some New Year puzzles that counted down from 10 to 0. Great idea Inez! I so enjoy hearing from other countries. On any given day we have visitors from over 150.
I'm always amazed at how the Internet makes everything so much cozier. Click on the link to view/download 5 New Year counting puzzles.
When I'm designing within a theme, the ideas just keep coming, so I also made a pair of New Year spectacles.
I enjoyed seeing these goofy glasses being worn by a lot of New Yorkers as they watched the ball drop. I thought it would make a cute writing prompt "craftivity."
Students can write what they "see" in their future for the New Year, or write things they are hoping and wishing for. i.e. health, happiness, success etc.
After I finished my sample, the only "person" I could find to model them, was our poodle Chloe. She'll do just about anything for a treat, and kept the glasses on long enough for me to take a picture.
I've included a set of numbers so that you can make future years. Click on the link to view/download the New Year Writing Prompt Glasses.
I really liked that chunky number font and thought it would make a nice writing prompt as well, so I designed a New Year craftivity entitled "Past and Present."
Students reflect on the prior year, jotting down memorable moments from that year, as well as their activities, goals and hopes for the New Year. My sample is from a high school student's perspective.
I've also included templates through 2024 so you can reuse this idea for awhile. Who knows where we'll all be in 10 years. Completed reflections make a sweet January bulletin board. Mount them on a variety of colors of construction paper, scatter on a few snowflakes and you're set. Click on the link for the New Year Past & Future writing prompt.
While doing research I came across a cute poster over at Dimple Prints. Show the poster to jumpstart your students' creative minds, and have them design their own word poster.
Finally, my personal favorite, is a January writing prompt that I call "More or Less." It's a nice way to toss in a little math as well.
Have students brainstorm a list of things that they think they should do less of (watching TV, playing computer games, fighting with siblings ...) as well as a list of things that they think they should do more of (studying, reading, exercising etc.).
Write these on the board to help with spelling. Students return to their desk and write their own list on the pre-writing paper.
When they are happy with their lists, they write complete sentences on the greater than and less than symbol pages. Have students color the symbols their favorite colors.
When they are done, students trim their papers. To turn this into a really interesting January bulletin board, have students trace their foot (with their shoe on). Offer a variety of colors for students to choose from.
They cut out their foot, glue on the "More or less I will try to put my best foot forward in the New Year" square, add a photo, name and the year. Click on the link to view/download the More or Less New Year Writing Prompt packet.
Thanks for visiting today. I try to design and blog daily, so I hope you can stop by tomorrow to check out the newest FREEBIES. Feel free to PIN away.
"While I relish our warm months, winter forms our character and brings out our best." -Tom Allen
1-2-3 come Enjoy Winter Wonderland With Me!
Oh my! It's really snowing hard, and the winter wonderland swirling outside my office window is spectacular! We are supposed to get 17 inches! Woo hoo! As long as it's winter it might as well snow. There's always the added excitement of a snow day right? So bring it on!
Making templates for my daily tabletop lessons, was a real time saver for me. The repetition empowered my Y5's, as they were familiar with the format and could get right down to business, without wasting time with a lot of directions. To keep things fresh and interesting, I simply changed the clip art.
With this in mind, I designed monthly Fun With Number Worksheets. They review a variey of standards in an interesting way. I used a graphic organizer-format, that's especially beneficial for visual learners. The different clip art (snowmen, snowflakes, mittens, Martin Luther King, penguins, New Years etc.) added variety.
Print, laminate and trim the number cards 1-120. Toss them into a basket. Have a child choose one, as the number students will use to fill in their worksheet with. When kiddo's are done, they can exchange their paper with another child to correct. (Saves you time, and provides extra practice for your kiddo's.)
You can also use these for your sub folder, homework practice, something for early finishers, or assessments. Click on the link to view/download the January Number Fun Packet. If you'd like the Big Bundle number fun packet (105 pages!) that includes all of the months, click on the link.
If you're working on +1 simple addition with your little ones, I think you'll enjoy the snowy +1 Snowman booklet.
Students trace and write the numbers, circle the number in the sequence, add +1 to arrive at a new number and then cut and glue X number of snowflakes around the snowman.
I've also included a graphing extension. Click on the link to grab it. +1 Snowman Addition booklet.
Finally, help review analog and digital time (to the hour and half hour) with the Time For Snow snowman clock matching game. Print the snowman template on white construction paper; laminate and trim. Run off the hatband-time words, the digital time-rectangles and the analog clocks; laminate and trim.
Students choose a time and then match all of the pieces and parts to complete that snowman. Make an extra set and glue together for a "Time For Winter" bulletin board.
Run off the analog clock and digital time box templates, on glossy photo paper. Children trim and glue to their snowman, to make a dry erase digital and analog clock.
Teacher calls out a time and students draw hands on the clock and write in the digital time in the box, using a dry erase marker.
Children hold up their snowman when they are done. This is a quick, easy and fun way to whole-group assess. Students erase that answer and the teacher calls out another time.
Play continues 'til you have reviewed all of the times to the hour or half hour. Click on the link to view/download the Time For Snow matching game.
Thanks for visiting today. I'm off to unbury my snow shovel. Wishing you a warm and snuggly day.
"Snow provokes responses that reach right back to childhood." -Andy Goldsworthy
- Snowman activities
- snowman math
- Math Games
- snowman games
- Money activities
- place value activities,
- addition and subtraction activities
- greater and less than activities
- tally mark activities,
- telling time activities
- time to the hour games,
- time to the half hour activities
- time to the half hour games,
- telling time games
- 1MD3
- Common Core State Standards for kindergarten and first grade
1-2-3 Come Do A Few More Mitten Activities With Me
I wanted to finish up our mitten theme with several more activities + a few requests. Who knows what I'll design tomorrow; I hope you can pop by for the newest FREEBIES.
Kyesha, over in Michigan, asked if I could make some mitten-themed number cards like the gingerbread ones. Happy to oblige, simply click on the link Mitten Number Packet to grab them.
Just an FYI, if you've got a theme going and need a few more fill-in's, simply dash an e-mail off to me: diane@teachwithme.com and I'll see what I can do.
You can use these as pocket cards, flashcards, for a bulletin board, or your winter word wall. Students can also make their own Itty Bitty booklet.
Make extra sets, laminate and trim and use for Memory Match and "I Have; Who Has?" games. Cut them up to make puzzles for centers, assessing, or more games. Click on the link to view down load The Mitten Number Packet.
I also had a request from Dana, in Wisconsin, for some mitten time cards to match the other fall-themed ones. Click on the link to view/download the Mitten Clock Cards. They reinforce Common Core State Standard: 1.MD.3
There are cards for analog as well as digital time, a blank set you can use for assessing, and plain red or black and white mittens to program with whatever. These are great for flashcards, puzzles and games too.
Since mittens come in pairs, I thought it would be fun to review things that come in pairs with your kiddo's.
This leads to a really interesting discussion, because the word "pair" is used for a pair of pants or a pair of sunglasses, even though they are only one item.
I enjoyed researching and making up a list of "single" item pairs, as well as a list of 38 things that come in pairs like mittens. Challenge your students to make up their own lists.
The packet includes a variety of skip counting by 2's worksheets, a bookmark + a certificate of praise. Click on the link to view/download the Mitten Skp Counting Pair Packet.
Since the graphic organizer activities have been so popular, I decided to make 3 with a mitten-theme. This is a great way to build vocabulary, as well as reinforce the use of adjectives.
After students have completed their mitten graphic organizer(s), have them write several descriptive sentences incorporating words from their lists. I included some samples for you to share with your students. Click on the link to view/download the Mitten Graphic Organizers.
Finally, Kathy in chilly Colorado, asked for a set of mitten 10-frames. Click on the link to view/download them.
She also wanted to know if I had any mitten number sliders. I do.
This mitten "craftivity" is found in the Monthly Place Value Slider Packet.
That's it for today's FREEBIES. Thanks for visiting.
Feel free to PIN away. To see the wonderful teaching materials I spend way too much time pinning, click on the heart button to the right of the blog.
"Nothing burns like the cold.” -George R.R. Martin from A Game Of Thrones
1-2-3 Come Do Some Mitten Activities With Me!
Since the other mitten packets to go with Jan Brett's story The Mitten, were such popular downloads, I decided to make a few more language arts craftivities to match that Ukrainian folktale.
The Mitten literacy packet contains: an ordinal number worksheet that will help your students with sequencing the characters, a label the cover activity, a beginning-middle-end graphic organizer, 2 sets of pocket cards that review characters, stories and events + 8 bookmarks to prompt retelling of the tale. Click on the link to view/download The Mitten Literacy Packet.
Another way to sequence the story is with The Mitten Story Telling Slider "craftivity." Run off the mitten on white construction paper and cut slits for the "window" with an Exacto knife.
Children cut out their mitten, add some color to their "slider" and insert it into the mitten.
Students retell the story by pulling the pictures on the slider so they show in the window. Click on the link to view/download The Mitten Story Telling Slider.
Finally, I made some pocket review cards. Students change the letters that need to be capitalized and add end punctuation.
The question cards provide a nice review of the story as well. Click on the link to view/download The Mitten Punctuation-Capitalization Pocket Card Review packet.
Thanks for visiting. It's time to don my mittens and brave the cold, so Chloe my poodle pup gets a bit of fresh air.
"He had mittens, Minjekahjwun, magic mittens made of deer skin; when upon his hands he wore them, he could smite the rocks asunder; he could grind them into powder." -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
1-2-3 Do Some New Year Activities With Me
I hope everyone had a safe and relaxing New Year. We enjoyed watching the Tournament of Roses Parade. I made up a few interesting writing prompts that you can give your students on the day they come back. They are nice for the writing portion of your Daily 5.
One prompt packet is about the parade and includes a Venn diagram comparing Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade to the Tournament of Roses New Year's Parade. Click on the link to view/download the New Year Parade Writing prompts.
The other is a Happy New Year writing prompt-craftivity. Run the balloon pattern off on a variety of colors of construction paper. Students choose one, trim, and complete the 3 writing prompts. Children add hands to the clock so that it reads midnight. Gluing on a school photo adds that finishing touch.
You can also have students write a longer prompt on the back of their balloon. Tie with yarn or curling ribbon and dangle from the ceiling.
I've included a pattern for this New Year (2014) as well as two with a blank for whatever number (201____ and 202____) you need, so that you can use this craftivity each year. Click on the link for the Happy New Year Writing-Prompt Craftivity to view/download it.
There's also a packet of New Year posters, mini-cards and bookmarks that you can print off and place in your students desks, on their tables or tuck into their backpacks. Click on the link to view/download the Happy New Year Poster-Bookmark packet.
I had a request for a list of my favorite books for January, so I compiled one with 77 of my all-time favorites. Click on the link to view/print it. January Bibliography
Finally, in yesterday's blog article I promised to complete the Snowman Color Matching Game that's a great companion to the Snowman Colors packet. Click on the links to grab them. There are several ways to use the Snowman Color Matching Game packet.
Students can match the scarf and hats to the appropriate color word snowman as an independent center, or children can pick a partner and take turns spinning.
Whatever color they land on, is the snowman that they "dress" in the matching colored items. I've included a blank set, where students can draw on their own snowman faces, as well as a set that has faces on them.
You can give each student their own snowman to complete and have them glue the hat and scarf on. These can then be used for your winter word wall.
Students can also make their own personal "favorite" color snowman, as I've included a snowman pattern for that too. Click on the link to view/download the Snowman Color Matching Game.
Thanks for visiting. Feel free to PIN away. I design and blog daily, so I hope you can stop by tomorrow for the newest FREEBIES. I'm working on some adorable mitten activities, interesting stuff for Martin Luther King Day, as well as some super-fun things for Chinese New Year.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do, than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -H. Jackson Brown from P.S. I Love You
