1-2-3 Come Feed The Very Hungry Caterpillar With Me!

Because Eric Carle’s story, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” lends itself to “feeding” a caterpillar, I designed “Mr. Munch” as a quick, easy and super-fun way to review not just the story, but all sorts of standards!

“My caterpillar’s hungry. His name is Mr. Munch. He likes to eat all sorts of things, especially for lunch”. Is the poster poem I start the lesson with.

After reading the story, I pass out the life cycle of a butterfly cards, as well as the food cards to my students.

My Y5s absolutely love sequencing and retelling the story “feeding” Mr. Munch, as they drop the cards into his “mouth” in the appropriate order.

Simply attach the caterpillar pattern to the top of a Kleenex box, or large, ZipLock Baggie.

There are 2 caterpillar head options, with 3 size choices.

I included a small, 4-on-a-page size, so students can make their own very hungry caterpillar, which they attach to a ZipLock Baggie.

This is an inexpensive and fun way for them to practice reading words to a classmate or reading buddy. 

Each time they play, run off a different set of word cards on a different color paper.

In the end they’ll have a Baggie full of words that they can read, and a nifty activity to take home for more practice during the summer. 

They can also pull X amount of cards from their caterpillar’s “belly” to do the various “word-apillar” worksheets with.

In addition to “feeding” the caterpillar, you can use the cards in a ton of other ways; as the versatility of the cards makes them adaptable for games, centers, and assessing.

I’ve included a tip list of ideas, including my students’ favorite “Kaboom” game, plus 15 worksheets”, which are perfect for Daily 5, table top lessons, a sub folder, early finishers, or homework.

Besides the cards that directly relate to the story (life cycle & food) I’ve also included:

* A set of days of the week cards
* 2D shape cards, with matching shape words, with 13 options.

* Time to the hour and half hour analog clock cards, with a blank set to program with additional times.

* Number word cards from 0-22
* Number cards from 0-140, with a blank set of caterpillar cards to program with more numbers, as well as an odd & even sorting mat.

* Math symbol cards(+ — = < > ), so children can make equations
* A set of ordinal number food cards

* Alphabet cards showing both upper & lowercase letters, as well as separate cards for each.
* Mini word cards for ALL of the Dolch word lists. Each set has its own graphic so they are easy to sort.

* 570 mini, long & short vowel word cards (60 on 1 page) with a sorting mat and sorting cup game.

* Word family cards for 22 word families, with blanks to program more. Plus…

* Butterfly color cards, with matching color words

*“The Caterpillar Creeps” game, plus ...
* Each set of cards comes with a matching “Itty Bitty” booklet.

It took almost a month of work to complete The Very Hungry Caterpillar packet!

However, I felt it was time well spent, as the versatility makes this something you can do throughout the year, hauling out your hungry caterpillar anytime you want to reinforce and practice all sorts of things. 

Since Mother's Day is just around the corner, today's FREEBIE is a quick, easy & fun Mother's Day "keepsake" craftivity made with a child's fingerprints.

Here's the poem that's part of the card:

"I've left some little fingerprints on just about every wall.  On furniture, doors and windows, I've really marked them all.  Here are some that won't rub off, to remember when I was small.  Because I'll love you forever, even when I'm big and tall."

Well that's it for today. I have an entire pile of weather activities I want to get done, so it's lucky the current weather is chilly and not providing a temptation to be outside playing in my garden.

Wishing you a stress-free day filled with everything you enjoy the most.

"A Mother's heart is the child's classroom." -Henry Ward Beecher

1-2-3 Come Do Some Super-Fun Alphabet Activies With Me

Whether you do a letter of the week, or review a letter a day, I think you & your kiddos will enjoy my newest creation: The Letter Aa packet.

I know there are a zillion letter activities out there, but I think I've come up with some really creative & different ones, that will help make learning the alphabet especially fun.

I’ve incorporated a variety of standards for reading, writing, and even tossed in some math, so that you get more bang for your “time buck”, as you can review additional things besides one letter of the alphabet.

This is the first in a series of letter packets.

Countless hours went into designing it, because I wanted to create a format that I could use with every letter.

The consistency, will empower students, as they can get right down to business because they know what to do.  

This independence builds confidence, which leads to self-esteem.

Teaching’s a breeze because you don’t have to waste time continuing to give directions or explaining what you want your kiddos to do. 

Children are responsible & accountable, which frees you up to work one-on-one with strugglers.

The packets are a big & loaded with lots of variety.

There are activities to suit various levels, as well as practice reading & writing skills at the same time.

Simply choose what’s right for you and build your lesson plan.  

You’ll have plenty left over, to use in a sub folder, as homework, independent centers, or for early finishers.

The packet includes:

* Posters & anchor charts
* Emergent readers

* Lots of Worksheets
* Pocket chart cards
* and a variety of Games.
* There are also several "craftivities" such as the letter pennant.

Children decorate their pennant with things that start with the letter Aa.  They can use stickers, pictures cut from magazines, words, letters, & clip art.  

* There are Bookmarks
* Puzzles
* A Song
* A Maze
* and a Word Search.

Another thing that I included in the packet are “Learn & Earn” brag tags. I think your kiddos will really enjoy collecting them. 

There's one for each letter of the alphabet, plus a star-student one to hand out, when they've learned all of the letters. 

Simply run the tag template off on card stock, trim, punch a hole at the top and attach them with split ring. 

You can buy 8 in a package at The Dollar Store.  There are large teacher tags, which you can use as flashcards. 

The split ring makes it easy for children to flip through, so you can play "Flip & Find". You hold up your letter tag & children see who can find theirs the fastest. 

You can also ask for the letter that is before or after the letter that you're showing them.

* There are a variety of writing prompts too. My personal favorite is the Letter Aa Post Card. 

Children fill in the blanks with things that begin with the letter Aa. Grab a teachable moment with "How to address correspondence".

My Alphabet Wheels have been so popular, that I wanted to make a set for each individual letter.

There's a color copy for the teacher, as well as a black & white one, so that students can make their own.

Each packet will also have an alliterative story. 

This packet features "Going Ape".  Counting how many featured letters are in the story, will provide additon practice as well.

Besides a letter story and alphabet wheel, each letter packet will also have a "_______ is for . . ." flip booklet.

These are emergent readers that help reinforce pronouns too. 

The background picture features something that begins with that letter.  For the letter Aa I used an apple.

* A 100 chart hidden letter provides more math practice.
* There's also a class book writing prompt and
*  A Word Work booklet plus

*A cute certificate of praise, with 2 on a page to save paper.

Have students keep them all together, and when done staple their "Letter Achievement" booklet together.

* Also included is an “I found the sound” activity as well as
* A “growing” alphabet booklet (As you study a new letter that page will be added to this Itty Bitty “Alpha-bits” booklet.

My Y5s really enjoy making "Itty Bitty" things that are "just the right size" for them.  With that in mind, I designed a "Pocket Full Of Practice". 

Since lined paper is really inexpensive because of the loss leaders supply stores have, (I picked up a pack of 100 sheets for just a quarter) I decided to have my kiddos fold a sheet into a pocket, to hold "small stuff" that they completed from the letter packet. 

Everything is in one place, things don't get lost in the bottom of a backpack, and parents have a nice little keepsake. The paper pocket full of practice, is also included in every letter packet.

Because these packets are over 100 pages each (The Aa packet is a whopping 140 pages long!) I will not be "bundling" them, when they are all finished. 

I will however, sell them for only $3.00, instead of the usual $4.95 for packets with this amount of work. As an added bonus, the first 48 hours they will be on sale for just $2.50.  

So that you can take advantage of the savings, if you are a follower of mine, you will get an e-mail notification from TpT when I post a new packet.   Click on this link to pop on over to my shop.

Since it's September, and "apple time" here in Michigan, today's FREEBIE is a sweet little "You Can Count On Willie" craftivity. I hope you like it.  Click on the link to grab yours today.  

That's it for now. TGIF!  My brain has been on overload working on alphabet "stuff" so it's time for a much-needed break. 

I'm not sure what that might be, but here's wishing you a wonderful weekend.

 "I'm learning the power of going away for the weekend and keeping myself company." - Zoe Saldana

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

Woo hoo!  I just finished another alphabet-themed packet.  This one features alphabet wheels, and is chock full of activities, worksheets, assessments, games, goodies and fun!

It's a whopping 190 pages long!  I never set out to create anything more than 20-30 pages, but then I get on a roll, and one thing leads to another, 'til I finally have to say that's it, and endeavor to turn the creative juices off.

I'm relieved to get it done, as the "Turn While You Learn" picture wheels, nearly drove me insane.

Lots of tweaking to get the layout just right, so that the letter, as well as the matching picture would show up in the middle of the appropriate window.

I have 3 FREEBIES from the packet that I'm offering in this blog, as I tell you a bit about my latest labor of love. 

Alphabet wheels are that "something different" that will get your kiddos excited about learning to recognize letters.  The wheels have been around in some form since the 70's, when I made my first one in college for a methods class.

They are a super-fun way to whole group or individually assess a variety of alphabet standards. I've designed my alphabet wheels so that your kiddos can practice uppercase letters or lowercase letters by using an apple "pointer" that's attached to the center of the wheel. 

They can also match the lowercase letter to the uppercase letter using two wheels.  Finally, children can match a picture to a lower or uppercase letter, to practice letter sounds, as well as words that begin with that letter.

Make a "triple wheel" by combining all of the wheels, so you can practice all three alphabet skills.

There are 5 large picture wheels all with different pictures to better increase vocabulary and letter-to-word association.  (Color plus black & white).

I've included directions for whole group assessing with the alphabet wheels, an assessment recording sheet, plus a note home to parents, enlisting their help for a struggling child.

Besides these items, the packet also includes the following:

An Alphabet Poster Game, with 20-template options, including pictures (black & white + color), words, uppercase letters and lowercase letters.

• A large Uppercase Letter Wheel
• A large “Trace & Write” Uppercase Letter Wheel
• A large blank wheel, so students can write their own letters, and/or draw their own pictures, along with 7 lowercase wheels to choose from, including a lowercase one that is scrambled and not in alphabetical order, which is great for assessing. They all have matching “Trace & Write” worksheets.

There's an alphabet recording-sheet bookmark, 2 “Trace & Write” letter worksheets, and 4 “I Spy A Letter” game worksheets. (Great for whole-group assessing) Includes an assessment recording chart.

I designed the "I Spy" worksheets so that you can reuse them 6 times!

As a different way to practice, which strengthens finger muscles and improves dexterity, I designed a Clothespin clip apple center/station activity/game. Click on the link for this FREEBIE.

Since my kinders studied letters through November, I've also included a clothespin clip pumpkin game as well. Click on the link for FREEBIE #2.

As promised, the 3rd FREEBIE is a set of apple alphabet cards. 

There are 3 full-color sets: uppercase, lowercase, & both (Aa), with a 4-page tip list of how to use the cards. Includes a blank (black and white) template, so students can make their own, as well as the "Kaboom" game.

There are 3 other games as well:

The “Spin & Win Wheel Fun” game, is an independent-worksheet, that uses a paperclip and a pencil to make a spinner.  It's a "no-prep" print and go activity.

“The Wheel Deal” Wagon wheel worksheet game, is played 4 times with various partners.

The “Wheeler Dealer What’s the Word?” game, is played in teams and reinforces letter recognition, beginning sounds, sight words and spelling. 

It includes 182-pocket chart word cards that match all of the pictures for all of the wheels.

Finally, there are bookmarks, certificates of praise, and award ribbons, to use as incentives or "paper prizes" for the games or whatever. Click on the link to pop on over to my TpT shop to take a look. 

That's it for today.  I hope you can pop by tomorrow for more goodies and another FREEBIE. It's a gorgeous sunshine-filled morning.

The birds are singing a serenade and the bulldozer next door is adding to the summer symphony.  Wishing you a beautiful day.

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time. " -John Lubbock

1-2-3 Come Do Some Animal-Themed Alphabet Activities With Me

Summer's a great time to visit the zoo.  It was also my favorite field trip with my first graders.  With fond memories of special animals and outings, I decided to design some animal-themed alphabet activities. 

Woo hoo! After an entire week of "playing", I just finished my  "Wild About the Alphabet" packet. Animals are a hot-button for children, so I think these will grab their attention and keep them focused.

Whether assessing to see where your kiddos are at for the beginning of the school year, or learning and practicing upper and lowercase letters throughout the year, I think you'll find some unique and useful activities here.

The packet includes the following:

An ABC Emergent Reader: “My Animal Alphabet Booklet” (Black & white plus color copies). Students read, write, trace & color.

ABC Cards: There are 5 different sets in various sizes for upper and lowercase letters; in color plus black and white, with blank templates to program with whatever.

Word Cards: Since part of learning the alphabet, is associating the letters with sounds and words, I've also included 26, mini-animal word cards, that match the emergent reader booklet, plus 26 more, with additional animals that include those on the Dolch noun list.

8 Games: "Mischievous Monkeys" a wall-display game; "Monkey Business" a hidden-letter game; "I Spy!" plus "Feed the Alpha-gator and Lion" game.

Along with a 4-page tip list to explain the card games: Memory Match, I Have; Who Has?, Kaboom, Speed and What's Missing. 

2 Center/Station Activities: Animal-print, strip puzzles for the uppercase letters, plus a Clothespin Clip game.

23 Worksheets for both upper and lowercase letters. "Monkey Mess", "Zooey Zoo", and "Bonkers Barnyard"  to name a few, which include colorful answer keys. 

I've included "trace & writes", "missing letters", matching, word finds, a Venn diagram, scrambled words, alphabetical order, a poem, Elkonin boxes, plus "cut & glue".

3 Craftivities: Gg Is For Giraffe Letter Slider, which can also be used as a fun way to whole-group assess.

Animal-Print Initials, (Make extra strips out of the animal-print paper:snake, leopard, zebra, giraffe, alligator & tiger used for the puzzle center.)

Children create their first initial to make a personal letter puzzle, or glue the strips down. 

For that finishing touch, add their school photo and make a "Wild About Kids, Learning & Letters" bulletin board.

"Feed the Animal" Kleenex-box craft.  I've included black and white templates for both the lion & alpha-gator.

As well as the B&W alphabet cards, (snack crackers), so that children can make their own "Hungry for the Alphabet" game, for a fun way to practice at home. 

10 Posters: Color, plus black & white. Use the B&W ones, as worksheets.

There are also 26-large, uppercase, animal-print letter posters, to use in your puzzle center for little ones to lay the strips on.  These also make fun flashcards or anchor charts as well.

6 Assessments with recording sheets, so you can assess: uppercase, lowercase, sounds, &letter formation.

I've also included a quick & easy "note home to parents", with assessment results, which identifies letter difficulties, and enlists their assistance.

3 Bookmarks: Color, plus black & white. Use as a reference, reward or mini assessment tool.

2 Certificates of Praise: Black & white, plus color for upper & lowercase letters.

As always, there are also directions, samples and photographs.

You can see, I've packed in a little bit of everything you need to help make learning the alphabet less tedious and more fun. 

This big boy is a whopping 200-pages long and just $7.95 in my TpT store.  I truly enjoyed every minute of the zillion hours of work that went into it. Click on the link to pop on over. 

I haven't forgotten the FREEBIES either. You can get a color copy of the Animal Alphabet emergent reader, plus the matching poster, by clicking on the link.  

Can't visit a zoo? I've also put together another FREEBIE: A  Virtual Zoo Field Trip packet, click on the link to grab a copy and let the "ed-ventures" begin.

Well that's it for today.  Doing the happy dance that I finally finished this whopper, and can concentrate on knocking off some much smaller back-to-school projects.  Wishing you a carefree day.

 "Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." -Anatole France

 1-2-3 Come Do Some Super-Fun Grinch Activities With Me

There are so many activities out there for Seuss's Cat in the Hat, that I wanted to design some things with another popular character. 

We usually think of the Grinch in December, because after all, he tried to steal Christmas, but I felt he was the perfect "creature" to "munch and crunch a variety of standards for lunch!" so I created the "Feed the Grinch Game".

"Feeding" cards to a Grinch-topped container, is a quick, easy and fun way to review all sorts of things.

Print, laminate and trim the "food" cards. 

These are mini cards that include upper and lowercase letters, numbers from 0-120, 11 number word cards, twelve 2D shape cards, twelve 3D shape cards, 35 contraction cards, 94 "GR is for GRinch" gr word blend cards, and 11 color word cards!

I chose bright neon-colors, for that extra touch of Seuss-pizzazz. There's also a set of blank tiles for you to fill in with whatever else you want to review or practice. 

Besides "feeding" the Grinch, make extra sets of the cards to play all sorts of games.  I've included tip lists suggesting more activities, plus the "Kaboom!" game.

There's also a set of math symbols as well, so you can use the number cards for other math activities, like making up equations and solving them, plus showing greater & less than. 

Students can also sort the number cards into odd and even piles and sequence them.

Play Memory Match or "I Have; Who Has?" games with the number word cards and their matching number cards.

The shape cards, as well as the color cards, work in the same way.  You can also play these games with the letter cards, matching an uppercase letter to a lowercase one. 

There are a number of options you can use for the container.  I bought a green bucket from The Dollar Store.  Currently, they have all sorts of pails and buckets for the Easter season.  

Print off the Grinch on green construction paper then cut around the edges.  If you want his eyes to pop, print another Grinch on yellow construction paper then cut out just the eyes and glue them on.

So that the Grinch’s face, easily fits over the top of the bucket, I glued it to half of a sturdy paper plate. Fold his “mouth” on the dotted line so that children can flip it up and drop the Grinch “food” cards inside the bucket.

Add a green "hair" feather at the top, for extra pizzazz, and hold the plate down with some glue dots.  The packet includes labels to decorate your container.  Store each set of “food” cards in their own Ziploc Baggie inside the bucket. 

To play, simply pass out whatever cards you want to practice with to your kiddos, then call out a word, letter, number etc.  The child holding that card comes up, reads and shows it, then "feeds" the hungry grumpy Grinch.

Besides using a bucket, you can also use a dishwashing-detergent, flip-top container, to make your hungry Grinch.   Only the front section lifts up, making the perfect “mouth” for “feeding”.

The container in the photo, is from a 10-pack of Mr. Clean erasers that I bought at Sam’s Club. Cascade, as well as other dishwashing detergents, also use this type of container.  (It's the detergent that comes packaged in little pillows.)

Finally, celebrate Seuss with these two Grinch "craftivities" that I just finished today. 

Both of them are in the  Rhyming & Writing Are a Cinch With the Grinch packet. 

One features two writing prompts.  Students think of things that make them grin like the Grinch. 

They jot these down on the left side.  On the right side, they list things that make them "Grinchly and grumpy".  

The other craft is a "doorknobber".  Children fold their paper in half and glue it together, cutting the slit and hole at the top.

On the front, students glue their photo face over the Grinch's, after they color it. 

On the back, they list all of the words that they can think of that rhyme with whatever word you assign.  I chose Grinch and Seuss. 

Samples of both are included, so you can easily show examples to your students, to help explain what you want them to do.

Well that's it for today.  It felt good to get a few more things checked off my too-long "To Do" list.  Feeling overwhelmed, definitely makes me feel "Grinchy". 

My feet have hit the floor running, as there's lots to do today.  Wishing you a "Seuss-tastic" day, filled with giggles galore.

 "So be sure when you step, step with care and great tack, and remember that life's a great balancing act!" -Dr. Seuss

1-2-3 Come Sing A Fire Safety Song With Me

Almost 15 years ago, my 1st graders enjoyed singing my version of The Wheels On The Bus Go 'Round and 'Round,  as I'd add all sorts of extra goofy things to the traditional favorite. 

When October rolled around, and we were studying fire safety, I thought it would be fun to substitute a fire truck for the bus.  My kiddos loved it. 

Well it's years later and I decided to build a Common Core packet around this silly little song.  While doing research, I even found a few people who had the same idea. ("Great minds think alike and all that..." )

Any woo, what started out to be just a few things, morphed into a whopping 69-page packet, and believe me, my brain is a bit fried. 

I had a few requests for some fire safety themed alphabet and number cards, so I threw them into the mix, and one thing led to another...

Take a peek, pick the items that suit your fancy, and let the fun begin. 

The Packet Includes:

• The song that started it all: Wheels On The Truck Go 'Round And 'Round
• Poster of the song.
• 9 pocket chart cards to go with the song
• Labeled fire truck poster
• Fine motor Popsicle stick fire truck activity
• Writing prompt graphic organizer page:  "If a fire truck could talk it might say . . ."

• A wheels on the fire truck upper and lowercase matching game, with answer key. 

Students place the uppercase letter circle on the first wheel and then match the lowercase letter circle to the back wheel.

• Upper and lowercase letter cards, with a 4-page tip list of what to do with them.
• A Kaboom game to make playing a variety of the other games like Memory Match and "I Have; Who Has?" even more fun.
• Number cards from 0-120, with a 2-page tip list of what to do with them. (I tried to keep the ABC and number cards small, to conserve ink and paper.)

• 11 number cards with numbers and their matching number words. (0-10).
• Ordinal number cards (1-10).
• Odd and Even Sorting Mat +
• 20 worksheets, which include the following:

1. Can-Are-Have
2. Label the truck
3. KWL
4. Match the pictures to the words
5. Unscramble the words.
6. Graphing shapes.
7. Trace and write the words in alphabetical order.
8. Re telling a story: Beginning-Middle-End
9. Describing fire trucks (Adjective activity).
10. How Many Words Can You Make? (Use the letters in fire truck.) I've included my list of 56 that I came up with. Great for vocabulary building.
11. Two cutting skill sheets.  One difficult with zig zag lines, the other simple with straight lines.
12. Two dot-to-dot worksheets.  One with all the letters of the alphabet, the other with numbers 1-30.
13. Two trace the numbers to to the fire. (Skip counting by 5's, the other #s 1-20).
14. Two trace the letters to the hydrant. (Uppercase and lowercase).
15. Match the number to the number word and finally,
16. Fire Trucks On A Roll a dice game to practice numbers, counting and addition. Whew!

 Click on the link to view/download the Common Core Wheels On The Truck Packet.

While looking for fire truck ideas, I came across a super-simple fire truck Make a Vehicle game over at Enchanted Learning. 

I always liked to give my Y5's some computer time, and this would make a quick, easy and fun independent activity to practice keyboarding skills etc.

I also found an excellent video on YouTube featuring real fire trucks.  It's only 2:44 minutes long.  My grandson was revited, but then he's only 2 and everything is pretty exciting.

If you're teaching numbers 1-10, Monster Fire Trucks is also a rather short video (4:18) that's kind of cute.  Certainly attention grabbing.

Well that's it for today. (Where has it gone?) I hope your kiddos enjoy learning, as their own wheels start turning.  I'm off for a romp outside to unclutter my mind.  Wishing you a fabulous fall!

"The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places." -Author Unknown

1-2-3 Come Do Some Kissing Hand Activities With Me

Since all of The Kissing Hand Activities have been such popular downloads, I decided to make a few more activities to review all sorts of Common Core State Standards. 

The first packet has to do with the alphabet.  I've included large 5x7 upper and lowercase letter cards that you can use as flashcards or for Memory Match or "I Have; Who Has?" games. 

Make an extra set; cut them apart, and use them for an ABC puzzle center.  I've included a tip list of all sorts of other things you can do with the cards, including a "Kaboom" game.  

There are also mini cards.  Run them off and have students arrange them in alphabetical order, or don't cut them apart, and make the lowercase worksheet into an "I Spy" game board. Students color their uppercase heart-tiles and cut them apart. 

Choose a student to call out a letter.  Students find the uppercase letter heart-tile and place it over the lowercase letter hand on their game board.  You can also have them glue them down. 

I've also included several assessments, a recording sheet, plus 2 trace and write worksheets. 

Click on the link to view/download The Kissing Hand Alphabet Game packet. 

The next packet is all about numbers.  There's a counting booklet for numbers 0-10, with a blank sheet to program with larger numbers. 

Have students show "how many" with stickers, or X's (kisses) to show the group/set for each number. 

Students trace the numbers and number words.   If you want to extend the activity, have them practice writing the numbers and words on the back of the pages. 

I've included large and small "lipstick-ers" for your students to cut and glue the appropriate amount to the hands.

There are also large 8x10 number posters that you can use as flashcards or for games.  There's a blank hand for this activity as well, so that you or your students can make cards for those teen numbers and beyond.

As with the alphabet packet, this one also includes several trace and write worksheets. Click on the link to view/download The Kissing Hand Number Packet.

Finally, I wanted to toss in a "craftivity," so I designed some number, shape and letter sliders. 

There are two different "Chester" raccoons to choose from, as well as upper & lowercase letter strips, plus a shape strip.

If you want to reinforce numbers, choose a slider with numbers to 20, or practice skip counting with strips to count by 2's, 3's, 5's, and 10's. 

Click on the link to view/download The Kissing Hand Slider packet.  Do you have a Kissing Hand activity that you could share with us?  Would love to hear from you: diane@teachwithme.com or leave a comment below.

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you found something here that you can use to help make learning even more fun. As always, feel free to PIN away.

It's steamy outside, as the gentle rain splashed all over the hot asphalt.  Time to pretend to be two again, as I go puddle jumping with my little grandson.  Hope you have a refreshing day!

1-2-3 Come Play Some Alphabet Games With Me

I designed these cards to go along with the FREE ABC Zoo Booklet that I posted yesterday. (Scroll down to the next blog article to have a look or click on the link for the item.) Whenever I did a theme with my Y5's I really tried to find or make matching things.  I'm not sure if that's the perfectionist or artist in me. 

Any hoo, I thought you might like a few matching things to supplement your lessons too, so I once again used the adorable clip art of djinkers.  She's one of my favorite artists and I simply fell in love with her cute critters.

These alphabet cards, can be found in my whopping 200-page Wild About the Alphabet packet in my TpT shop.  For a limited time, the cards will be FREE (all this week), simply click on the word FREE.

Use the cards as a border or for flashcards. They are also great for games like Memory Match or "I Have; Who Has?"   Students can match uppercase cards to lowercase ones or they can match the word card with the picture card.  Have them find all three to complete a puzzle. 

One of my favorite games that I played with my Y5's was "What's Missing?"  I'd gather my kiddos in a circle and lay 4 small seasonal items in the center, then point to each one and we'd say the name together.  They then closed their eyes and I'd take one away.  To make sure there was no "peeking cheating" I held a paper plate or some sort of cover over the items, then reached under and took one.

"Open your eyes!"  I'd whisper and they'd try to figure out what I took away. To strengthen their memories, I'd continue to add up to 7 items for them to look at.  To reinforce standards, you could do this with shapes, numbers or these ABC cards.

Make things a bit more interesting, by giving the missing card to the person who calls out the correct answer first, then add another card and continue to play 'til you've used all of the letters.  For more ideas, and games, such as "Kaboom" , take a look at the 4-page list of tips that are also included in the packet.

I've also included a black and white set of cards, so your kiddos can make an Itty Bitty alphabet booklet to color, cut and collate, then take home and share with their family. (Great  home-school connection and fun way to reinforce lessons.)

Mix up the word cards and have students put them in alphabetical order, then post them on a mini-word wall, or pass them out and then flash an uppercase letter card. 

Whomever is holding the matching word card holds it up and reads it.  Afterwards, as a writing extension, have students use their word card in a sentence.  There's a "No Lion About It" worksheet for that in the packet as well.

 For letter-writing practice, there are plenty of upper, as well as lowercase "trace and write" worksheets, along with 20+ other fun worksheets to reinforce letter recognition, formation, as well as word sounds. I hope you like the packet as much as I enjoyed designing it. Wild About the Alphabet

Thanks for visiting today.  As always, feel free to PIN away.  Do you have an alphabet game you could share with us?  I'd really enjoy hearing from you.  You can contact me at dianehen@teachwithme.com  or leave a comment below. 

It gets rather lonely on this side of the computer screen.  I often wonder what people think when they read my blogs, and if what I design truly helps make someone's life easier and more fun.  Blessings to you and yours.

"I love acting, but it's much more fun to take the kids to the zoo." -Nicole Kidman

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

I've had several requests for some pirate-themed activities, so I thought I'd putz with designing some that would help reinforce upper and lowercase letters. 

Did you ever decide to do something that you thought would take a few hours and all of a sudden you whiled away so much more time?

That's what happened with the Polly Wants A Letter Cracker packet.   It's three days later, and I'm finally done working on it!

Here's how to use the packet:  Print off  Polly's body parts, trim, glue them together and then laminate.

Cut out her mouth, to make a nice opening for your kiddos to "feed" her letter "crackers". 

I perched Polly on a very small wastebasket that I bought at The Dollar Store, so that when students "feed" her, the crackers will drop into the basket.

Print, laminate and trim the upper and lowercase letter "cracker" cards.  Pass them out to your students. 

So that you'll have more than enough food for Polly, I designed two different sets of uppercase letter crackers, plus two sets of lowercase ones. 

These could also be used for Memory Match, or "I Have; Who Has?" games.  There's a tip list of other ideas in the packet as well, including a Kaboom game.

You can call for the "crackers" in alphabetical order, sing the ABC song, or read a pirate alphabet book. Whatever letter you come to, have those students feed Polly the upper and lowercase letter crackers. 

For even more review, the packet has a variety of pirate-themed upper AND lowercase alphabet worksheets, like "I Spy a lowercase letter" game.

After students have practiced, you can assess their knowledge. 

I've included a variety of alphabet assessment activities, such as the "Spy some letters" assessment mat. 

 A nice activity for your Daily 5, is the Polly Wants A Letter Cracker ABC booklet, where students color, trace and write the letters. 

Have older students write a word that begins with that letter.  To make this more of a challenge, have them use a pirate word or phrase.

To help you with this, I spent several days reading a few pirate books and lots of pirate articles about the history of pirates, real pirates, places they went, their treasure and adventures etc.  This helped me to compile an alphabetical list of pirate words and phrases. 

With the aid of lots of "Talk like a pirate" sites, as well as nautical jargon dictionaries, and all of the above resources, I came up with 794 words and phrases related to pirates, and included this list in the packet.  

I really enjoyed learning a lot of new pirate vocabulary and trivia, that's now buzzing in my head with some future ideas... 

While doing that research, I came across several wonderful pirate alphabet books, perfect to read before and/or after feeding Polly. 

Shiver Me Letters  by June Sobel, Pirate's Alphabet  by Patti Wigington, A Is For Arrr!  by Laura Purdie Salas, Twenty-six Pirates by Dave Horowitz, An A to Z of Pirates by Caroline Stills and Pirates of the Alphabet by Tim Whitney, are all worth taking a peek at.  A cute trailer for the Pirates of the Alphabet is also on YouTube.

If you're into Aps you may also like Pirate Phonics: Blackbeard's Alphabet.  It's $1.99  There are also a plethora of pirate songs and short pirate video clips on YouTube.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.

"A merry life and a short one, shall be my motto." -Bartholomew "Black Bart" Roberts

ABC: Come Teach With Me!

I’ve been taking one-on-one computer classes at the Apple store and loving it!

I’ve been focusing on learning lots of new things with Pages a software program for MAC’s, that my husband bought me to help make my documents “cooler” than what I can manage in Word.

Since a big part of learning to read and write revolves around the knowledge of the alphabet and since I themed everything I did in Young Five’s, I wanted to make alphabet cards for each month, that teachers can use in a variety of ways, to keep students interested in letter study.

This is especially important since all but a few states have now adopted  Common Core Standards. 

These cards will help you pass that all important English Language Arts Reading Standard: Concepts of Print: Foundational Skills: 1d: "Students will recognize all of the upper and lowercase letters of the alphabet."

For some students that takes an entire year; you need to make that interesting, fun and different.  These cards will help add the necessary variety.

Let’s face it, things can get rather boring if you haul out the same graphics each day, but switch the pictures to match the month or theme you’re studying and the children seem to perk right up, simply because it’s “different”.

I’ve also included a tip list of a variety of things you can do with the cards, including games you can play.

One of the things I did was have a seasonal bulletin board with two huge bears. One was a girl, the other a boy. I dressed them in appropriate clothing that I changed for the 4 seasons.

I sprinkled my alphabet cards around the bears in order at first, so it wasn’t that difficult to figure out what letter was missing.  Later, when my kiddo’s knew the alphabet, I’d mix up the letters so the game was a bit more difficult.

It was their job each morning to figure out what letter the bears had hidden. They LOVED this game, it only took a few minutes, and it really got them to examine the letters. Afterwards, run through the alphabet, or sing the ABC song as a quick way to review.

I’ve included a blank set of cards in case you also want to make number cards or even program your spelling list or student names.

The other thing you can do in the hallway, is put up a large oak tree with just branches.

This is easy enough to paint on bulletin board paper with brown paint.  I’ve also seen them made by twisting brown tissue paper, or brown bags from the grocery story.

You can also buy a big tree, as a large fold out poste at most teacher stores for around $10.

Hang the apples up for September and then decorate the tree with the other alphabet shapes for the other months.

While students are waiting in the hall to go out to recess, lunch, or standing in line for bathroom/drink breaks etc. you can use it for “teachable moments” for all sorts of letter-question games.

I’ve made 11 sets of alphabet letters.  There is a set for each month (September through May, + a set of leaves and a set of dinosaurs.)

I've included separate sets for uppercase letters as well as lowercase letters, so you can make Memory Match Concentration games, play "I Have; Who Has?" with them, or have students put them in sequential order, spell their names, spell words and do all kinds of other activities that you'll find on a a list that I've included in the packets.

Click on the link to go to my ABC Section (page 2) of the shopping cart.

Scroll down ‘til you see the first set: Alphabet Acorns and then click on which ever set you’d like to download. You'll have to click on page 3 to get the last set for spring Tulips.

If there’s another themed set you’d like to have, simply shoot me an e-mail and I’ll see what I can do. diane@teachwithme.com

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything from my site you think others will find useful.

“We all need someone who inspires us to do better than we know how.” -Anonymous