1-2-3 Come Practice the Alphabet With Me

In a world where even young children have to be assessed, it is no wonder that little ones become apprehensive & a bit worried about doing well.

With that in mind I designed this cute scarecrow that’s holding a big sunflower.

It’s an alphabet wheel and will help make learning to match lowercase letters with their capital counterparts fun.

I’ve included two wheels.

One has the lowercase letters in alphabetical order, while the other one shows them jumbled up, making it a super-fun way to whole group assess.

After students have colored, cut & assembled their scarecrow, call out the letter A.

Students turn the smaller wheel ’til the lowercase letter a matches up. Afterwards, they hold up their scarecrow.

Teachers can see at a glance who is having difficulty. Play continues with another child calling out the next letter. 

Add to the fun, by having your kiddos name their scarecrow. Mine is Sebastian.

Since snipping a sunflower can be a bit challenging, I’ve also included an easy-peasy pattern, where students simply cut on the dashed lines.

I use a protractor to poke holes in the center of the circles, then attach with a brass brad.

Besides the scarecrow manipulative, I’ve also included a variety of “color me” worksheets to help practice upper & lowercase letters in quick, easy & fun ways.

These “print & go” activities are great for early finishers, homework, extra help for strugglers or a sub tub.

I've also included an upper & lowercase assessment mat, plus my recording sheets, which you can use for 4 different evaluations.  They are super-simple to use & save time filing.

Another fun way that I practice and easily whole group assess upper & owercase letters, is with “I Spy” game sheets.

The same worksheet can be used multiple times and my Young Fives absolutely LOVE playing this game. I’ve included four game sheets in the packet.

There's also a colorful collection of alphabet cards.There's a set for upper, as well as lowercase letters. The shape and size of each set is different, making them perfect for "Memory Match" games.

Use in a variety of games, such as “What’s Missing?” “Flipped” and “Kaboom”. I’ve included a tip list of all sorts of simple ways to use the cards, with directions for the games, which will help make learning especially fun.

There’s also a mini-certificate of praise, which is an easy way to reward your students’ efforts. Patterns come in color as well as black & white, with 8 certificates on a one-page pattern.

Today's featured FREEBIE is a Thanksgiving placemat your students or own children can color.

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for popping in.

It's another snow-covered, cold and dreary day. 

A fire in our fireplace adds a warm & cozy atmosphere though, making it a  great day for designing some turkey crafts.  Wishing you a turkey-rific November.

Reflect upon your present blessings---of which every man has many--not on your past misfortunes, of which every man has some. -Charles Dickens

1-2-3 Come Make An Alphabet Wheel With Me  

Alphabet Wheels are a quick, easy & fun way to practice letters, and build the vocabulary needed to give an example of a word, with that beginning sound.

They feature 7 nouns that begin with that letter, and come in black & white, as well as full-color, so that you can use a colorful one for an independent center and use the black & white pattern for a whole-group or individual word work activity, where kiddos make their own.

Alphabet wheels are perfect for letter of the day/week activities. 

I've also tried to use popular themes so that you can revisit the wheels or feature them with your apple, leaves, gingerbread, turkey and snowmen etc. themes.

Another idea, after children have gone through the entire alphabet, is to have them make their own alphabet wheel that starts with the first letter of their name.

On the back of the wheel they can write the other picture words along with their name: “Kk is for kite, key, kangaroo, king, koala and Kaiden!”

I've also included a worksheet where students trace & write the words then put them in alphabetical order. 

So that you can give them a try, the first alphabet wheel, "A is for Apples and..." is FREE.  It's today's featured freebie as well.

I had a request for "bundling" the alphabet wheels.

I’m always happy to bundle up packets particularly for the alphabet, so you can get a nice price break and save more.

I’ve bundled 13 alphabet wheels A-M together, then another bundle for the rest of the letters N-Z., so instead of being a dollar each if bought separately, they are now only .50 cents.

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by.

We've been having some chart-topping temps again for September, so it's time to go water my garden.

Wishing you a happy-go-lucky kind of day. 

"Be a rainbow in someone's cloud." - M. Angelou

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

I love Valentine's Day; it's one of my favorite parties at school too, so I'm constantly dreaming up new ideas to make the day special, while still learning standards.     Today I'm featuring 3 of my newest creations. 

“Valenteens” are goofy little heart people that feature a ten-frame. 
I designed the craftivity to showcase teen numbers, which can be toughies for kiddos. However, because of the blank templates provided, you have the option to simply make a silly valentine, or one with numbers 1-12, for younger students.

Children can create a boy or girl "valenteen", by where they glue the bow.
The bows come blank, as well as printed with a teen equation.

There is a blank full-size heart pattern, so that children can draw their own silly face, as well as 10 hearts with a variety of faces for them to choose from.

I’ve also included a 1/2 heart pattern. Print and fold on the dashed line. Keeping the paper folded, students cut on the black line and then unfold their paper to reveal a large heart.   My students are always amazed at this, adding to the fun of our lesson.

There are 4 options for the 10 frames: a blank set, a set with numbers, a set with hearts, and a set with numbers & hearts.

If you choose the blank set, children can make X’s & 0’s (hugs & kisses), use stickers, bingo daubers, or draw and color shapes to fill in the boxes.  For that finishing touch, I’ve also included gloved hands and shoe templates.  

You don’t have to have legs, but I think they add to the silliness of the “valenteens”, plus accordion-folding paper is a fun fine motor skill, that helps strengthen finger muscles.

I included links for the "My Funny Little Valentine" song, so you can play it while your kiddos work on their creations. 
There’s also a poster of the refrain, as well as an “Our Funny Little Valenteens”  poster to use in the center of your bulletin board display. 

Next up is the "Hh is for Hearts" alphabet wheel. I'm currently in the process of making one for each letter, and introduce them when the theme is appropriate.    

Dollar Deal Alphabet Wheels, are a quick, easy & fun way to practice letters, and build the vocabulary needed to give an example of a word, with that beginning sound.

They feature 6 nouns that begin with that letter, and come in black & white, as well as full-color, so that you can use a colorful one for an independent center and use the black & white pattern for a whole-group or individual word work activity, where kiddos make their own.

Finally, The “100 Chart, Heart Art” is a very versatile activity, as I’ve differentiated the directions for PK to 2nd grade. 

“Mystery Math”  hidden pictures, are a quick, easy & fun way to practice recognizing some of those big numbers that kiddos often trip over, when learning how to write and count numbers.

Using a 100s chart so students are seeing numbers in proper sequence, helps them wrap their head around a variety of math patterns, and is especially helpful to visual learners.

I’ve included a 100s chart worksheet without directions, so you can do this as a whole-group, “Listening & following directions” activity.  For younger kiddos, simply call out the numbers they need to color. 

I feel even young children can gain number sense by doing this as a “monkey see-monkey do” activity.

I’ve also included a set of spatial directions for you to read to older students: “Find the number 66. Color that box and the box that is UNDER it.”

There’s also a worksheet that includes the numbers to color, if you want to use this as a homework assignment, table-top activity, independent center, or something for early finishers.

To practice double digit addition and subtraction, there's a worksheet where students have to solve problems to find out what numbers they are supposed to color.

Completed projects make a cute February bulletin board.   Use the “We LOVE Mystery Math!” poster in the middle of your display.  

The featured FREEBIE today is a set of valentine 10-frames.  A nice "go along" to the Valenteen 10-frame craftivity mentioned above. 

Besides the 10-frame cards, the packet also includes heart-themed, counting tiles, plus math symbols and number cards, so that you can make equations and play a variety of games. 

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by.  Wishing you a blessed day filled with lots of "warm fuzzy" moments.

"Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move.  Doubt truth to be a liar, But never doubt I love." -William Shakespeare

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

Brrrrrr! It continues to be mitten weather here in Michigan. A chilly 3 degrees this morning! So I'm certainly in the mood to blog about some super-fun mitten-themed activities.

First up is Mm is for Mitten.  My "Dollar Deal" Alphabet Wheels, are a quick, easy & fun way to practice letters, and build the vocabulary needed to give an example of a word, with that beginning sound.

They feature 6 nouns that begin with that letter, and come in black and white, for individual word work, as well as color, so that you can use them as an independent center activity.

I've also included a worksheet where students trace & write the words in alphabetical order. 

Next up are some Mitten Number Puzzles to go along with Jan Brett's story The Mitten.  It's one of my all-time favorite winter stories.

These 42, mitten-themed number puzzles, are a super-fun way for your kiddos to practice sequencing numbers from 1-10, counting backwards from 10 to 1, and skip counting by 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s.

Some of the puzzles are mitten shaped, others are rectangular (horizontal as well as vertical).  Many feature the characters from The Mitten story, so you can combine math and literacy!
 
Since Jan Brett’s story, The Mitten, is a Ukrainian folktale, I’ve also included a map of the Ukraine puzzle. Take a teachable moment to toss in a bit of geography, by having students find the country on a world map or globe.

There are colorful puzzles to be used in a center, as well as black & white puzzles, so that your students can make their own.

I did not number the character puzzles, so that students can number each strip according to your directions.
This way you can work on those toughie teen numbers, or counting beyond 100.

Children color the animal and word, cut their puzzle apart, then put it back together.
You can also make these into a mosaic picture as well, gluing the strips on construction paper, leaving a small gap in-between each piece. For an awesome, wintry bulletin board, scatter them on a  blue background, with a few paper snowflakes. 

Whenever I can, I like to incorporate math with literacy, to get more bang for my time.

The mitten-themed emergent reader, is a quick, easy and fun way to have students practice writing skills and end punctuation, along with a variety of math standards.

However, the packet is simple enough, that you can just do the craft portion with PK kiddos, or some of the other activities as a whole group.

I've also included a few worksheets that practice tally marks, addition, skip counting by 5s, subtraction and graphing, as well as data collection and analysis.

You can do them as an independent worksheet, or break students into small groups and have them figure out the answers together.

Another sweet mitten-shaped booklet is "Let's Count Snowflakes", which includes a 10-frame emergent reader featuring 30 Dolch sight words.

Students read the sentences, add end punctuation, trace & write the number and number word, circle it in the sequence, tally the amount, then show the set in the 10 frame. 

Run off the mitten pattern on a variety of colors of construction paper. Students cut & collate the pages of their worksheets, then staple them to the "cuff" of the mitten.

I’ve also included a set of pocket chart cards counting up to twenty, with 2 cover options to make a 1-10 or 1-20 “Itty Bitty” flip booklet as well.

For more fun, there are 3 pages of mini snowflake tiles to use as manipulatives to make groups with, as well as a set of lovely snowflake puzzle cards from zero to ten, plus a blank set to program with higher numbers.

Simply print, laminate and trim, to use as an independent math center, or for a variety of games including “Kaboom”.   That game, plus a 3-page tip list of what else you can do with the number cards, is also included in the packet.

Today's featured FREEBIE is a quick, easy and fun, Mitten-Snowman craftivity that reinforces letters, plus a bit of math. 

By the way, today is a great day to zip on over to TpT, as they are having a site-wide winter sale. (January 20th through January 21st.)

Everything's  20% off, with an additional 10% off with the coupon code: START16

Well that's it for now.  I hope you found something useful here and can make time to check out the TpT sale. Thanks for visiting.

Wishing you a warm and cozy, snuggly kind of day.

 "When there's snow on the ground, I like to pretend I'm walking on clouds." -Ikkaku

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

Because my Y5s study the alphabet all year long, I like to plug in some themed, letter activites each month.  The single-letter alphabet wheels are perfect for this. 

In the falll I feature the Aa is for apple,  Ll is for leaf,  Pp is for pumpkin  and Tt is for Thanksgiving turkey wheels. (Click on each title to have a look).

For December, I created the Ee is for elf, and Gg is for gingerbread ones.

The Dollar Deal Alphabet Wheels, are a quick, easy & fun way to practice letters, and build the vocabulary needed to give an example of a word, with that beginning sound.

They feature 6 nouns that begin with that letter, and come in black and white, as well as full-color, so that you can use them as an independent center or individual word work activity.

Vowels, have word examples for both long and short vowel sounds.

I've also included a worksheet where students trace & write the words in alphabetical order.  

Besides the individual letter alphabet wheels, I also have a collection of 20 seasonal alphabet wheels, which cover all of the upper and lowercase letters. 

As you can see from the photo, there's a gingerbread man and a mitten alphabet wheel for winter. 

Besides the alphabet wheels, another fun way to practice letters is with my elf slider.

There’s nothing quite like a quick and easy little craftivity, to make practicing a variety of standards fun.

The paper elf can be used as a “slider” or turned into a "belly booklet”.

I’ve also included an easy-peasy “color me” option, where you can skip the craft, or simply do both.

Your kiddos will also enjoy making the little mini, belly booklets.
There are 3 options:

* Upper & lowercase letters that students trace & write, with enough room for older kiddos to write a word at the top and bottom;

* Numbers 1-12, where students also trace & write (play the Twelve Days of Christmas carol, while they’re working).

* There’s also a shape booklet. Here students trace, draw & color the 2D shapes, then trace & write the shape word.

Each booklet is on a one-page pattern, so students could make all of them, over a period of a few days, for a really big belly book!

* The “sliders” are a quick, easy and super-fun way to whole group assess a variety of standards as well.

* There’s a slider for: numbers 1-10, 1-30, counting backwards from 10-0 & 20-0, as well as skip counting by 2s, 3s, 5s, and 10s; plus one for upper case letters, another for lowercase, and finally one for the 2D shapes.

* Choose which one you want to work on. I have my kiddos trace the letter & number strips in a red and green, ABAB color pattern, and color each shape a different color.

To whole group assess, simply call out a letter, number or shape. Students “slide” to it, and hold up their elf. 

You can see at a glance, who is having difficulty. Click on the link to zip on over to my TpT shop and have a look: Elf Slider & Belly Booklets

Today's featured FREEBIE is a gingerbread-themed 10 frames packet.  I hope you find it useful.

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by. TpT's 20% off Cyber Sale continues through midnight tonight.  Type in the code SMILE for an extra 10% off. 

As for me, I'm dashing through the snow today, to get some more shopping done. Wishing you a delightful day.

"He who doesn't have Christmas in their heart, will never find it under a tree." - Roy L. Smith

1-2-3 Come Do Some Letter Aa Activities With Me

Woo Hoo for Diane's Dollar Deals!  I'm featuring two, apple-themed ones, on the blog today. Dollar Deal Alphabet Wheels, are a quick, easy & fun way to practice letters.

I priced them at only a dollar, so that you can afford to collect all of the individual alphabet wheels.

They feature 6 nouns that begin with that letter, and come in black and white, as well as full-color, so that you can use them as an independent center or individual word work activity.

I've also included a worksheet where students trace & write the words in alphabetical order.  

Click on the link to zip on over to my TpT shop to take a peek at the Aa is for Apple Dollar Deal Alphabet Wheel.

The other Apple Dollar Deal is an emergent reader: Aa is for Apple. It's filled with beginning letter Aa nouns. There are 6.

It's also packed with Dolch sight words and great practice for pronouns, as well as end punctuation.

Students read the simple sentences using the pictures as clues, and then add the appropriate end punctuation. (period, question mark, exclamation point).

They trace and write the Pp word, then color the picture.  There are 5, mini-strip pages, to a one-page template.

Students trim, collate and staple to the front of their "Aa is for apple" cover to make a flip booklet.

I've also included matching picture and word cards to play games like Memory Match and "I Have; Who Has?".

They come in color as well as black & white, so that you can use them as an independent center for Daily 5 Word Work, or children can make their own game to practice at home. 

Students can match picture to picture, or picture to word.  They can also alphabetize the word cards and use them to write their own sentences.

As with the individual alphabet wheels, I've priced these emergent readers at only a dollar, to make them affordable, so that you can collect all of the flip booklets in this series. 

Click on the link to pop on over to my TpT shop to have a look: Aa is for Apple Emergent Reader.

The FREEBIE today also has an apple theme.  It's called Apple Adjectives.  On the worksheet, students describe the outside and inside of an apple.  You can do the same with a pumpkin. 

It's a quick, easy & fun way for students to practice descriptive writing and the use of adjectives. For your convenience, I've included a completed sample.

Well that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by. It's a bit chilly, but the sun is shining through the lovely fall-colored trees. 

A perfect day for a walk in the woods with my poodle pup Chloe.  Wishing you a fun-filled day. 

"Happiness is a warm puppy." -Charles Shultz

1-2-3 Come Do Some Letter Pp Activities With Me

Woo Hoo for Diane's Dollar Deals!  I'm featuring two, pumpkin-themed ones, on the blog today. Dollar Deal Alphabet Wheels, are a quick, easy & fun way to practice letters.

I priced them at only a dollar, so that you can afford to collect all of the individual alphabet wheels.

They feature 6 nouns that begin with that letter, and come in black and white, as well as full-color, so that you can use them as an independent center or individual word work activity.

I've also included a worksheet where students trace & write the words in alphabetical order.  

Click on the link to zip on over to my TpT shop to take a peek at the Pp is for Pumpkin Dollar Deal Alphabet Wheel.

The other Pumpin Dollar Deal is an emergent reader: Pp is for Pumpkin.

It's filled with beginning letter Pp nouns. There are 11.

It's also packed with Dolch sight words and great practice for pronouns, as well as end punctuation.

Students read the simple sentences using the pictures as clues, and then add the appropriate end punctuation. (period, question mark, exclamation point).

They trace and write the Pp word, then color the picture.

There are 5, mini-strip pages, to a one-page template.
Students trim, collate and staple to the front of their "Pp is for pumpkin" cover to make a flip booklet.

I've also included matching picture and word cards to play games like Memory Match and "I Have; Who Has?".

They come in color as well as black & white, so that you can use them as an independent center for Daily 5 Word Work, or children can make their own game to practice at home. 

Students can match picture to picture, or picture to word.  They can also alphabetize the word cards and use them to write their own sentences.

As with the individual alphabet wheels, I've priced these emergent readers at only a dollar, to make them affordable, so that you can collect all of the flip booklets in this series. 

Click on the link to pop on over to my TpT shop to have a look: Pp is for Pumpkin Emergent Reader

While you're there, I would so appreciate it if you'd click on the "Follow me" button, so you'll know when I post more Diane's Dollar Deals & FREEBIES.

I'm only 11 shy of reaching the 700 followers milestone! I know it's kind of silly getting excited about breaking records, but I do none the less.  Thanks in advance.

Speaking of FREEBIES, today's is also pumpkin related.  It's an apple-pumpkin Venn diagram.

Venn diagrams are a quick, easy & fun way to practice comparison-contrast writing.  This Venn diagram is a perfect way to reinforce and review the things your students learned about apples and pumpkins.

That's it for today.  I'm trying to finish some of the other fall-themed letter wheels & emergent readers and will hopefully have Ll is for Leaf done by the end of the week.

Hope you can pop back. Wishing you a joy-filled day.

 "Beauty for some provides escape, who gain a happiness in eyeing Autumn sunsets exquisitely dying." -Langston Hughes

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