1-2-3 Come Make a Venn Friend With Me

Venn diagrams are a quick, easy & fun way to introduce the concept of comparison-contrast writing.

Years ago, I came up with the concept of students choosing a partner to make a "Venn Friend" with, as an interesting way for students to get to know each other.

I designed the fall "Venn Friends" packet, which feature apples, pumpkins, leaves, turkeys, Pilgrims & Native Americans.

Introduce the lesson with the "What's a Venn diagram?" poster.

To help them do a thorough job completing their Venn diagram and jump start the writing process, I've included a list of 40 questions that they can choose from to discuss with their partner.

Each student does their own "different" portion of the "circle", and then, once they glue their "circles" together, they take turns recording the similarities that they have with their Venn Friend, using the middle "same" section.

I used a "pumpkin seed" for the middle of the Pumpkin Venn Friends, and an acorn for the leaf ones. 

You can see little boy & girl "toppers" in the pumpkin photo. 

These are black & white so kiddos can color them.  Use them on the pumpkins, leaves or apples. 

I encourage students to do a boy/girl Venn friend, not only so they have an extra "difference" but so they can see how much they truly have in common with eachother.

Doing a Name Venn with a classmate, is another option, and practices upper & lowercase letters, along with name recognition & counting. 

I also incorporate the concept of “greater & less than” with this activity, as students decide who has the most or least number of letters in their name.

I’ve made a sample using an apple, as I do this in September, for a “Getting to Know You” activity for “Back to School”.   There are 3 sets of letter tiles for your kiddos to choose from.

My Y5s enjoy this activity so much, I repeat it in October with pumpkins, and see quite a bit of improvement.

As you can see by the photograph, colorful paper plates (smaller 8” size) provide a nice 3D effect.

I pre-cut these to expedite the activity. Besides yellow & red, I also buy lime green plates, giving my students an option. 

Besides using paper plates, I've also included a wormy apple pattern.

There’s also more than one option for November. Students have 3 choices for their Venn friend topper: a turkey, a Pilgrim boy or girl, or a Native American boy or girl.

You can have a turkey find a turkey partner, a boy Pilgrim find a girl Pilgrim, or a boy Native American find a boy Pilgrim, mixing and matching however you or your students wish.

I designed the Venn friends, specifically so students could get to know a classmate better, but you could certainly have students pretend to be "real" Pilgrims and Native American children, and then compare and contrast historical information as well.

Each seasonal Venn, comes with a graphing extension, so you can get some math practice in as well.

For that finishing touch, add a school photograph. Students could also make a green hand print "leaf" for their pumpkin.

Completed projects make awesome fall bulletin boards. Click on the link to zip on over to my TpT shop to check out the super-fun, 51 page, Fall Venn Friend packet. 

Since Halloween is just a week away, I thought a "Halloween Boo Boos" worksheet would be a fun FREEBIE. Students make corrections to the sentences that have mistakes in them.

Click on the link to grab a copy.  It's certainly a little something fun, yet educational for party day.

That's it for today. Thanks for stopping by. 

The winds have knocked a lot of leaves off the trees, so this afternoon the hubby, pup & I are going for a relaxing drive to see what's left of the gorgeous fall colors, before they become  a distant memory, as barren trees dot the landscape.

I am so not ready for winter. Wishing you a pretty and peaceful day.

"How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days." - John Burroughs

1-2-3 Come Do Some Comparison-Contrast Writing With Me

Venn diagrams are a quick, easy and interesting way to introduce and practice comparison and contrast writing.  I designed Venn Friends, as an especially fun way to do that.  These are also a great way for you and your students to get to know each other better. 

I've made Venn friend packets for almost every month, but hadn't gotten around to do one for November.  Laurie, who's done several other packets with her kiddos, e-mailed me to ask if I was going to make one specifically for November.  Of course, and another thing was added to my "to do" list.

I'm never one to procrastinate, so I got right down to business.  Unlike the other monthly Venn Friends, I have more than one option for November.  Students have 3 choices for their Venn friend topper: a turkey, a Pilgrim boy or girl, or a Native American boy or girl. 

You can have a turkey find a turkey partner, a boy Pilgrim find a girl Pilgrim, or a boy Native American find a boy Pilgrim, mixing and matching however you or your students wish.  

As a way to get to know each other, I've included a list of 40 questions that they can ask their partner. 

From there, they choose what information they want to record on their Venn diagram. 

Each student does their own "different" portion of the circle, and then, once they glue their circles together, they take turns recording the similarities that they have with their Venn friend, in the middle "same" section.  (See completed sample.)

To make it easy for students to match up and glue their circles together, I've included both left and right circles.

I designed the Venn friends, specifically so students could get to know a classmate better, but you could certainly have students pretend to be "real" Pilgrims and Native American children, and then compare and contrast that way as well.

However, I do that sort of thing in the Thanksgiving Children's Packet with other Venn diagrams.

When everyone is done, have students come up with their partner to share their Venn Friend. This will give children some public speaking practice, as well as enable everyone to get to know each other a little better. 

Completed projects, look awesome hanging in rows on a hallway wall.  Click on the link to view/download the November Venn Friends packet.  For more Venn diagram activities, click on the link to pop over to that section of my site.

Thanks for visiting.  It's an overcast rainy November day; perfect for pouring over Pinterest boards, in search of some "pinspiration". 

As if my pile of "make this" projects is not big enough!  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE making homemade Christmas gifts though.  Wishing you a snuggly day.

 "Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action." ~W.J. Cameron

1-2-3 Come Play A Shape Game With Me

Come the end of November, my Y5's could identify their 2D shapes, but I liked to continue to incorporate some sort of shape review with them throughout the year, so they could retain that knowledge. 

The vocabulary words hexagon, pentagon and octagon, constantly needed to be reinforced as they easily confused them.

Thus, I like to create games and hands-on crafts that not only review shapes, but other skills & standards as well. The Native American headband does just that.

Run off the shape masters on matching construction paper.  Rough cut and have students trim.  Make the headbands out of strips of white construction paper that are 3 inches wide and 24 inches long.

Students choose a partner and take turns spinning.  Whatever shape they land on, they glue the matching shape to the center of their headband.  After the game, students can glue a feather to the back of it. 

You may want to give an extra feather to the winners of the game, or an extra shape. (When you cut out the hexagon, pentagon and octagon shapes you will have different sizes of diamond shapes as scraps.)

For extra pizzazz, students can add flat-backed rhinestones to the center of their shapes with glue dots.  If you'd like to add some writing to this activity, have students write something that they are thankful for under the shapes. 

These things should be the color of that shape.  i.e. I'm thankful for the blue sky.  You may want to brainstorm with students prior to the writing portion.  As children share things that they are thankful for that are those colors, write the words on the board to help with spelling.

If you've studied the Wampanoag people or Squanto you can also have students write a fact that they learned on the feather.

If you need some facts to share with your students I highly recommend the books: Squanto:The Miracle of Thanksgiving by Metxas,  Squanto Friend of the Pilgrims by Bulla and Squanto's Journey by Brucha.

I also found several sites that have some good factual information: Wampanoag Fact Sheet is extremely helpful with lots of links and pictures. Plimoth Plantation's site is also an excellent source as is Social Studies for Kids.   Current tribal information can be found here.  You can also check out ABC Teach,  Activity Village & Squanto.

Click on the link to view/download the Native American Headband craftivity.  Thanks for visiting.  I'll be designing lots more things today, so I hope you can pop back tomorrow for the newest FREEBIES.  Feel free to PIN away.

"I don't think the Lord wants any pompous proclamation of thanks on one Thursday in November as much as He would like a little humble service from us every day in the year." -Burton Hillis