1-2-3 Come Do Some Saint Paddy's Day Activities With Me   

St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner, so I've been busy designing a few things for that week.  Today's blog features 4 of my favorites, plus the featured FREEBIE of the day.  

First up is the quick, easy and fun "Pot Of Goals" writing prompt craftivity.    Students complete the "goal" coin sentence prompts.

Coin Prompts: "I want to...", "I want to be...", "I want to go...", "I want to learn...", "I want to see...", "I want to read..."

Younger kiddos can dictate a one-word response, while older students also include a reason why. 
So that you can program your own, I've also included a set of blank coins.

Mount on rainbow-colored construction paper, and hang in an arch in rainbow-color order, on a large wall. 
Your title can be: "A Rainbow Of Wonderful Writing". 

Next is a shamrock glyph, which is a super-fun little something to do on St. Paddy's Day, or whenever... 

No matter what grade I taught, my students LOVED making glyphs.  They are a quick, easy and interesting way to practice and assess 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, and are also an interesting way to get to know your students; plus completed projects make an adorable bulletin board, as each one will be different!

To practice data collection & analysis, as well as process of elimination, have students pick a partner to "interview", to help them figure out which glyph is their partner's.  I've included a data collection worksheet for this, challenging them to try and solve the "mystery" with the least amount of questions.

I've also included 6, whole-group graphing extensions, to practice another math standard. 

A Shamrock Venn Friend  is also a super-fun way to get to know your students better.  These too make an adorable bulletin board for March, and are a visual way to practice "comparison-contrast" writing.  

Introduce the lesson with the "What's a Venn diagram?" poster, then have children partner up.

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 their shamrock. Afterwards, the two-some glues their shamrock to the “pot of gold”, and takes turns filling in the “same” section oval, which is then glued to the top of the pot.

For that finishing touch, students color their leprechaun, add a school photograph on the leprechaun’s face, then glue it to their side of the Venn diagram.

For added fun, and to practice another standard that mixes math with literacy, I’ve also included a graphing extension. 

Finally, the St. Paddy's-Themed CVC Word Packet is a personal favorite. 

To break things down, the packet focuses on 100 CVC words that begin with the letters "L is for leprechaun"; "M is for March"; "P is for Patrick", and "S is for shamrock.”

The packet includes:
* A Celtic shamrock craftivity that reinforces CVC words beginning with the letter S
* A leprechaun craftivity that reinforces CVC words beginning with the letter L.

* I’ve also included dice and spinner games, plus …
* A whole-group "Feed the leprechaun” review game, with a matching, mini- independent "Feed the leprechaun" activity.

There are…
* Long and short vowel sorting mats,  5 bookmarks for CVC word writing, 26 alphabet shamrock cards, with 20 extra vowel shamrock cards, plus  4 CVC worksheets with 4 anchor chart answer keys.  I've also included . . .

* 100 black & white “trace & write” CVC word cards, with covers to make Itty Bitty booklets, 100 mini-CVC word cards, and 100 full-color CVC word cards to use for flashcards, pocket charts, games, puzzles etc.

Finally, there's a "Super Shamrock Sentences” worksheet, 4-page tip list of ideas, games and activities to use the various word cards for, plus a certificate of praise for "wonderful word work." 

Today's FREEBIE also has a St. Paddy's Day theme. It's a set of 16 number "strip" puzzles, which help practice sequencing numbers from 1-10, counting backwards from 10-1, plus skip counting by 10s to 100.

I've included full-color puzzles to use in a center, as well as some black and white ones, so that kiddos can make their own. They are vertical as well as horizontal.  

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by.The sun is shining and even the tall, ugly piles of dirty snow have started to melt. 

Hooray!  Spring is finally on its way.  Wishing you a carefree day filled with springtime fun.

"Spring: The season of rebirth, renewal and regrowth!" -Unknown

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

Making a Venn diagram is an easy and fun way for students to practice the concept of comparison and contrast.

It's also an interesting and quick way that you can learn more about your students and make an adorable March bulletin board at the same time.

Students partner up and discuss their similarities and differences and then make their Venn Friend Diagram.

To help them think of similarities and differences, I've included a list of questions students can ask their partner.

To make these March Venn Friends extra special and add that finishing touch, have students color their leprechaun and add a photograph of their face.

Click on the link to view/download the Leprechaun Venn Friends packet.  For more St. Patrick's Day FREEBIES, click on the link to pop on over to that section of my blog.  I also have an entire St. Patrick's Day board on Pinterest, with more ideas and free educational activities.

Thanks for visiting. My "To Do" list is longer than the time I have left to get it all done, so I'll happily be putzing with a few more St. Paddy's Day ideas, before I start work on kite activities.  Wishing you a carefree day.

"My two favorite colors of the rainbow are gold and leprechaun.”  -Jarod Kintz from It Occurred to Me