1-2-3 Come Make a Pumpkin Slider With Me!

Making a hands-on craftivity, is a fun way for students to learn about, and review the basic 2D shapes and the shape words associated with them.  I tried to do at least one shape activity a week with my Y5's. The more exposure they had to shapes, the better the chances of their light bulb going on, in an interesting and non-stressful way.

My "sliders" have always been extremely popular, so I wanted to make a pumpkin one with shapes.  They are called sliders, because students pull(slide) their strip through slits, to reveal whatever I want to teach.  Sliders are a quick and easy way to whole-group assess.  Simply call out a shape and have students find it on their slider and then hold it up.  You can also individually assess with a slider; the game-like activity, lessens a child's apprehension when being tested.

Here's how to make the Pumpkin Shape Slider:

• Run off the sliders on white construction paper and the pumpkin on orange.
• For younger kiddo's, you may want to pre-slit the lines on the pumpkins, where the sliders will be pulled through. I use an exacto knife.
• Students trace and color the eyes. Encourage them to use different colors, so you can also review that standard. For a bit more pizzazz, have students add some color to the stem, nose and mouth sections.
• Teacher asks students to make their pumpkin’s eyes triangles. Children pull their “slider” ‘til they have located the triangle eyes, and then pull the mouth strip ‘til it says the word triangles.  
• Everyone “reads” their pumpkin together as a whole group.
• There’s a teachable moment for fractions (cut and glue 1/2 the strip) as well as plurals: The pumpkin has 2 eyes so the shape word needs to have the letter s on the end.

Click on the link to view/download the Pumpkin Shape Slider. I also made a Pumpkin ABC-123 Slider that has different strips, so you can review: upper and lowercase letters, numbers from 0-30, skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's and 10's, as well as counting backwards from 10 to 0 and 20 to 0. Run off whatever strips you want your students to work on.  Make a laminated one yourself to use as a demonstration, review, or assessment sample. 

So that the strip is easily managed, students can fold the ends up. Have children TRACE the letters/numbers with two different colored highlighters in an ABAB pattern. Click on the link to view/download the ABC-123 Pumpkin Slider. There are 3 pumpkin templates to choose from: students can draw on their own face, add wiggle eyes, or use the pumpkin that has a face on it. TIP: Decorate the pumpkin on both sides and glue 2 slider strips back-to-back for double duty.

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1-2-3 Come Play Some Interesting and Fun Math Games With Me!

Are you looking for some quick and easy ideas to do for the 1st day of school? Then I think you'll enjoy these simple bubble activities.

Start things off, by leaving the "I'm bubbling with excitement that you are in my class." bookmarks, as a cute surprise left on your students' desks.  I found this sweet saying on Pinterest as valentine cards with heart bubbles. Click on the link to check out this creative teacher's original post. 

Adding a small bottle of bubbles is an inexpensive way to help make children feel especially welcome.  (The Dollar Store sells 3 to 6 in a pack.  You can also buy a box of 20 mini wedding bubbles at most craft stores.)

Let students know that they will be allowed to blow bubbles at recess or at the end of the day.  Have them count how many bubbles they blew in 1 breath and then graph the results. (Template included.) What a simple icebreaker sure to get your kiddos excited about being in school.

To incorporate more math, print off the bubble picture cards, laminate and trim. 

I've included cards from 1 to 20.

To help strengthen upper body muscles, students lie on they tummies and sequence the cards in the proper order.  Using opalescent flat-backed glass "marbles" as manipulatives, (they look like "real" bubbles) they make a group/set above the number card to show "how many".  

So things don't get cluttered, use the larger glass "bubbles" for numbers less than 10 and the smaller ones for numbers 11-20. The "marbles" provide hands-on fun, and make counting more interesting. They are an inexpensive manipulative. 

Where did I get this idea? While in Hobby Lobby, I overheard a little girl ask her mom if she could buy a bag of them. 

When her mom asked her why she wanted them, "Kara" replied: "Because they are flat bubbles that won't pop!" I thought, "Wow! What can I make with 'flat bubbles'?" and the rest is history...

I've also included a set of number-word bubbles.  Run the templates off on blue construction paper, laminate & trim. Older students can match the number word bubble, to the picture cards.

For more fun, run off the "bubble wand" on a variety of colors of construction paper, cut out the centers and laminate so they can double as a "magnifying glass" for students to "spy" and cover numbers or whatever.  

For a "get the wiggles" out game, have students use their paper bubble wands, to find hidden bubbles around the room, or use them as an assessment tool for a whole group identification activity.  i.e. you display a bubble card and students raise their wand if they know the answer, providing a quick way to whole group assess comprehension.  Play "Swish."  After the number is correctly identified, have students swish their wand that many times. (Swish left-right-left for a number 3 bubble card.)

Click on the link to view/download the Back To School Bubble Math Activity Packet.

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"Imagination is more important than knowledge.  Knowledge is limited.  Imagination encircles the world." -Einstein

1-2-3's, ABC's, and Shapes Via The Mail

Woo Hoo! This is my 500th blog article! Hope you enjoy it.

I love making up special alphabet, number and shape cards for each month.

I think it helps students stay interested and focussed if they come in the first of every month and see a seasonal change that brightens up your room and adds variety to the "same-old- same-old"...

My Y5's loved going to the post office to mail their Valentines.  It was a fun way for me to cover that information, and just a few blocks walk from our school.

With that in mind, I wanted to dream up some cards involving envelopes.  I thought letters of the alphabet and letters in an envelope was a cute idea, thus Letter Letters, Number Letters and Shape Letters were born.

Number Letters covers the Common Core State Standards: RF.K.3c, K.CC.4a, K.CC.4b, K.CC.4c, K.OA.5,K.CC.6 and is a fun way to review counting, number words, simple addition and subtraction as well as greater and less than.

It includes a blank set for you to program with whatever...+ math symbols: < > + - = so students can make equations and solve them.

I've also included 2-pages of tips of what to do with the cards, including games.

Click on the link to view/downloard Number Letters.

Letter Letters  can be used as a border or laminate, cut them up into puzzles and use them to play games.

This packet includes a blank sheet for you to program with whatever...+ a cover so students can make an Itty Bitty Booklet, as well as 3-pages of tips of what to do with the cards.

Finally, Shape Letters is a delightful way to review these 11  2-D shapes: circle, oval, triangle, rectangle, square, pentagon, hexagon, octagon, heart, star and crescent.

The packet helps reinforce colors and color words as well. Remind students that these are two-dimensional shapes and lie in a plane or "flat."

Put them on the wall as a border, or run off a set for your students and have them write the shape word and then trace and color the shape.

You can also laminate them, cut them up and make them into puzzles. Students match the word to its shape.

Pass them out to students and give spatial directions: "Put your shape over, under, between, behind, beside, left-right, etc."

If you do the above, you'll be covering Common Core State Standards: K.G.1, K.G.2, K.G.3

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"Imagination is more important than knowledge.  Knowledge is limited.  Imagination encircles the world." -Albert Einstein