1-2-3 Come Have Some Fun With Chrysanthemum And Me

I thought I had finished up designing some quick, easy and fun activities to go with the story "Chrysanthemum", 'til I had a request from Erin in Idaho.

Her preschool has adopted the "Bucket Filling" program and she wondered if I could tie that concept in with the "Chrysanthemum" story. 

Great idea Erin, and easy-peasy to do, as the theme of "Chrysanthemum" is all about being kind, and careful with the things you say.  Thus "Bucket Filling With Chrysanthemum" was born. 

After reading the story, children transition to making a list of “bucket dipping” moments in the story, as well as “bucket filling” times on the 2 worksheets.

I’ve also included color copies so you can do this as a whole group activity as well.

The packet also includes several posters: “We are a bucket-filling classroom”, “Easily Fill A Bucket By . . .” plus a “Please Don’t Be A Dipper”.

The “Chrysanthemum’s ABCs of Bucket Filling” worksheets help build vocabulary while practicing letter sounds.

These can be done individually, or use the colorful ones with a whole group.

I’ve included answer keys with lots of alliterative options: “Aa: aid, applaud, ask, award, advise, affirm, acknowledge…”

Finally, students can use the little Chrysanthemum "bucket cards" to encourage each other.  There’s a set in color so that you can leave your students a compliment or note as well. 

I was now in the Chrysanthemum mode again, so I also designed some Chrysanthemum-Themed Alphabet Number Puzzles.

Because the story is all about this little mouse’s name, I like to transition my kiddos to some name writing activity afterwards.

These puzzles provide a super-fun way to do that, plus children get in some uppercase alphabet practice too.

They're a real “sanity saver” as children are happily engaged coloring, cutting, then putting their puzzle together.
While they work independently you are freed up. Woo hoo!

The puzzles mix math with literacy, as they help practice sequencing numbers from 1-10, working on those toughie teen numbers, as well as skip counting by 10s.

Simply choose which number concept is most appropriate for your students.

For a fun back to school bulletin board, have children mount their puzzle to a sheet of construction paper leaving a little gap between each strip, which will create an interesting mosaic effect.

I’ve included 2 “ABC 1-2-3 Look Who’s In The Class With Me!” posters to use for the center of your display. (Plus preschool, kindergarten and 1st grade as well).

There’s also a colorful Chrysanthemum puzzle (1-10, 11-20, & counting by 10s) to use as an independent math center, plus an additional name writing worksheet where children finish drawing Chrysanthemum.

Finally, while I was putzing with this, another name activity popped in my head, so I created a quick, easy & fun "color, cut & glue" name craft, which provides wonderful fine motor practice, plus assists children in learning how to spell their name as they begin to recognize those letters.

Completed projects make a sweet back to school bulletin board too.  Besides the name craft, the packet also includes:

* Separate upper & lowercase letter cards, as well as a set of cards with both the upper and lowercase letter on one card.

Use them for Memory Match and “I Have; Who Has?” games. 

I’ve also included a 4-page tip list of other ideas for the cards, including the “Kaboom!” game as well as . . .

* A variety of letter worksheets plus…
* Some simple letter games like "What Letter Did Chrysanthemum Hide Today?" and "What's Missing?", as well as several dice worksheet games.

Today's featured FREEBIE is a set of 10 Classroom Management Posters.  I hope you find them useful.

Well that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by. Time to move on to another theme. 

Hmmm... shall I start working on "Chicka Boom" or "If You Take A Mouse To School" stuff? Stay tuned.  I'll be doing both before August disappears.

 Wishing you a carefree, happily lazy kind of relaxing day.   

"Children must be taught how to think, not what to think."-Margaret Mead

1-2-3 Come Do Some More Chrysanthemum Activities With Me 

Since my students absolutely LOVE the story "Chrysanthemum" by Kevin Henkes, I've made an assortment of Chrysanthemum-themed activities to practice a variety of standards. 

Today I'll be featuring 3 of my newest creations. First up, are some Chrysanthemum Number Puzzles.  

They are a quick, easy and super-fun way for your students to practice sequencing numbers from 1-10, counting backwards from 10-1, as well as skip counting by 2s, 3s, 5s & 10s, plus I’ve added a template for those “toughy teen” numbers as well.

There are 7 different Chrysanthemum-themed patterns, each has an example of all of the above templates, with 97 puzzles in all.

Some are vertical, while others are horizontal.  Pick and choose your favorites to make a collection of choices for your students.

Print, laminate & trim the full color options and use as an independent math center.
Use the black & white ones, so that students can color & cut up their own puzzle.

For an interesting “craftivity” have children glue their puzzle to a sheet of construction paper.

Remind them to leave a little bit of a gap between each numbered strip, to create an especially cool mosaic effect.
Completed projects make a cute back to school bulletin board.

Next up is a set of "Fix the Sentence" cards. These 27, Chrysanthemum-themed sentence cards, are a quick, easy and fun way to review and sequence the story, while practicing capitalization and end punctuation.

Read the cards together as a whole group to practice a lot of sight words.

Choose a student to come up and using a dry erase marker, circle letters that should be capitalized and then add end punctuation. (period, question mark & exclamation point).
You can do this on a whiteboard, with a pocket chart, or pass a card out to each child to correct.

For more practice, as an individual activity, have students choose X number of mini cards and rewrite the sentences correctly on the worksheet provided.
Afterwards, students can swap their paper with a partner to correct.

I've included 2 sizes of mini "fix the sentence" cards for this, which make a nice Daily 5 word work activity too.

There are 27 mini cards on one sheet of paper.  Simply print, laminate and trim several copies for a class set

As an independent center activity, have children arrange the cards in sequential order.  To make this activity self-correcting, number the cards on the back. 

Finally, since my students absolutely LOVE glyphs (Didn't matter what grade I taught and that's lots!) I designed a Chrysanthemum-themed glyph, as a quick, easy and fun way to get to know your new students. while assessing listening and following directions.

Since this is one of my report card standards, glyphs also provide a "hard copy" to use as proof that a child does or doesn't.

Completed projects make a wonderful back to school bulletin board, as each one will be different!

I’ve provided two, Chrysanthemum-themed glyph posters to use for the center of your display.

Afterwards, have children pick a partner, and try to guess which glyph is theirs by asking them a few key questions, which will narrow down the field.

The featured FREEBIE today is also based on one of my all-time favorite back to school books ("The Kissing Hand", by Audrey Penn).

Chester, a little raccoon is apprehensive about going to school 'til his mom kisses his hand, so he can continue to feel her comforting presence, so I thought it would be fun to give my students a few Hershey Kisses in a Snack Baggie after I read the story.  

I designed 3 "header" tags for the top of your sweet treat.  There are patterns with 5 on a page as well as 10.

Click on the link to grab your copy and let the smiles begin.  The Kissing Hand-Inspired Snack Bag Tags.

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for popping in.  I hope you found something useful. 

We continue to melt here in Michigan with unusually hot 90 degree temperatures. PTL for air conditioning, so I have energy to get the mountains of stuff done I need to.  Wishing you a relaxing day. 

"Dear Weather, Stop showing off.  We already know you're hot!" -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

A Great Back To School Book: Chrysanthemum!

I designed the Chrysanthemum packet to help reinforce LOTS of Common Core State Standards in quick, easy and fun ways.

As with The Kissing Hand Packet featured in yesterday's article, this packet reinforces Common Core State Standards: RI.K5,RI.K6,RI.K9,RI.K10,RL.K2, RL.K3,RL.K6, L.K1d, RI.1.9, RL.1.2, RL.1.3

The packet includes:

• A beginning-middle-end story map, that will help students retell Chrysanthemum
• A "favorite part" retelling "writing prompt" bookmark
• A compare and contrast Venn diagram with Hooway For Wodney Wat
  
  • Character, Setting and Event cards. (Laminate, put magnets on the back and put them up on your white board. Write down students' answers under the cards.)
  • Cover to label book parts + review author and illustrator
  • Question words activity sheet, reinforcing who, what, why, when, where & how
  • 2 cover templates for the following activity:

I use the book Chrysanthemum as a wonderful lead-in story that the nursery rhyme: “Sticks and stones may hurt my bones but names will never harm me” is simply NOT true’ as words can be very mean AND hurtful!

I Xerox off the cover of the book Chrysanthemum, by Kevin Henkes, and read the story.

Each time someone hurts Chrysanthemum's feelings, I pass the paper around the circle.

We each crumple up the paper, say "I'm sorry" and then smooth it out.  By the time I am done reading the story, the picture of Chrysanthemum is in shreds and full of holes as well.

We discuss the fact that words hurt, and even though we say that we are sorry and “smooth things out” with that person, we have still hurt them.

The words sort of leave “scars” on their heart and in their mind, just like the dilapidated paper visually demonstrates.

I cut out a large red paper heart and glue the poor shredded cover of Chrysanthemum next to a fresh cover, as a gentle reminder to think before you speak, as words DO make a difference.

I also want children to understand that being critical of each other and saying things like "I don't want to be your friend” and leaving them out of a group when they play, is also hurtful.

I'll ask them a question like: “How would you feel if Mrs. Henderson said that to you?”, or how would they feel if I gave everyone else a toy or piece of candy, or let everyone go out for recess and didn't let them go?  It really gives them a wake up call.

Chrysanthemum discusses making fun of a child’s name.  Hooway For Wodney Wat is a wonderful book that delves into bullying and making fun of a child with a speech impediment.

This is a great comparison-contrast book to work on that Common Core Standard, using a Venn diagram that once again brings home the fact that teasing is hurtful.

Click on the link to view/download Chrysanthemum Packet Thank you for visiting today. Hope you can pop back tomorrow for more helpful tips. Feel free to PIN anything you think others may find useful.

“All you need is a plan, a road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.” –Earl Nightingale