1-2-3 Come Do A Storytelling Craft With Me  

Do you read “The Little Old Lady Who Wasn’t Afraid Of Anything” by Linda Williams? 
It’s perfect for practicing the “sequencing and retelling a story” standards.

With that in mind, I designed this quick, easy and fun storytelling “slider” craftivity, that will help your students retell the tale in the proper order.

Children color the objects on the “slider strip” then cut and glue it together.

As they pull on the end of the “slider” the various pictures go through the ”window”, so that children can take turns retelling the story to a partner or reading buddy, then take their “Little Old Lady” home to share with their family, once again practicing these standards.

Storytelling sliders are also an easy & interesting way to assess comprehension.

I’ve included a “sequence the story” worksheet for this, where students color and trim the picture “windows” then glue them in the correct order on the blank worksheet.

I introduce the lesson by reading ”The Little Old Lady Who Wasn’t Afraid Of Anything”, then share my completed "slider craftivity” with my students.

So that you can quickly and easily make an example, I’ve included a full-color slider pattern.

After I read the story, we retell the tale together using the picture prompts on my slider. I have them guess which object they think comes next, before I pull the picture through the “window”.

My students now know what’s expected of them, and are very excited to transition to making a slider of their own.

I’ve also included a “Here’s What Happened…” writing prompt worksheet, as another way to check comprehension plus practice sequential writing, hopefully using a variety of ordinal numbers or other transitions. 

Today's featured FREEBIE is entitled "Halloween Boo Boos" .

For a fun language arts activity for Halloween, have your students become the teacher.  Pass out the ghostly paper then set a timer.  How many boo boos can they find before the timer rings?

Students circle the mistakes and then write a corrected sentence.  You decide what sentences you want your students to correct.  They circle those numbers and then begin the game. 

Well that's it for today. Thanks for popping in. Dashing this off before I turn in for the night.

I have a bit of a cold, and am hoping a good night's sleep will perk me up in the morning.  Wishing you a pleasant and relaxing evening.

"There is a harmony in autumn, and a lustre in its sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen, as if it could not be, as if it had not been!" -Percy Bysshe Shelley

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

Halloween party day, tends to be a bit wild and crazy because of all the energy your kiddos have. 

With that in mind, I designed some trick or treat-themed activities that practice a variety of standards, while still being a lot of fun for your kiddos. 

With a theme like candy and trick or treating, you will definitely get your students’ attention, so that you can reinforce:
graphing, tally marks, skip counting, upper & lowercase letters, 2D/3D shapes, plus the -ick & -eat word families.

Pick & choose from worksheets, writing prompts, crafts, puzzles, songs, & games!

The packet includes:

A “Trick or Treat” writing prompt craftivity, with 2 options, plus completed samples to share, along with 4 other interesting & fun writing prompts.

A Trick or Treat bag craftivity that reinforces the -it & -eat word families. The “sliders” practice 15 -eat words, as well as 14 -ick family words.

There are 3 options, plus trace & write word cards in color as well as black and white.

A “How many words can you make using the letters in “Trick or Treat”? worksheet, which includes an alphabetized answer key, with 158 words & a poster to introduce the lesson.

Perfect for a fun, yet educational, Halloween party day game too.

Two songs: “T-R-I-C-K” to the tune of Bingo, & “Trick or Treating” to the tune of “Brother John”. 

"T-R-I-C-K" is a wonderful way to practice letter recognition, spelling & subtraction!  My kiddos LOVE singing & clapping too.

Lots of graphing worksheets to practice that skill, plus worksheets with tally marks, data collection & analysis, and a graphic organizer.

8 “Trick or Treating at a Haunted House” I spy game sheets, that are a quick, easy & fun way to whole group assess: listening & following directions. upper & lowercase letters, numbers 0-20 and shapes.

Includes a blank template so you can program with whatever.

There's an assortment of “Candy Bones” activities & worksheets, plus an awesome collection of . . .

2D & 3D candy shape posters. What a fun way to practice/review shapes!

Who doesn't remember excitedly spilling out their treat bag?

Have your kiddos sort & then graph the different shaped candy, using the recording sheet. 

And finally, there's ...

A dozen, “Trick or Treat” number puzzles, to help practice sequencing numbers from 1-10, counting backwards from 10-1, as well as skip counting by 2s & 10s.

Puzzles come in color for an independent math center, as well as black and white, so students can make their own.

This is a Perfect activity for Halloween party day.

The packet is a whopping 133 pages of fun.  Click on the link to pop on over to my TpT shop to have a look see. Trick or Treat-Themed Activities.

Today's featured FREEBIE, "Midnight Magic" is also a quick, easy & fun craftivity for party day. As you can see by the photo, the results turn out quite spectacular & take only about 5 minutes! 

Well that's it for today.  Halloween brings back some of my most favorite childhood memories.

Here's wishing you a “fang-tastic” rest of October, filled with lots of special treats.

"Halloween is an opportunity to be really creative." - Judy Gold

1-2-3 Come Do Some Word Family Activities With Me

Oh my gosh, I had such a fun time designing this newest emergent reader packet: Trick or Treating With the -at Word Family, which packs a lot of standard punch!

Practice rhyming, and the -at word family, with the song: “Trick or Treating We Will Go” to the tune of “Farmer in the Dell”.

I’ve included a poster of the song, as well as pocket chart cards of the verses, plus picture cards. There’s a matching bookmark for your students.

For more word family reinforcement, there are 3 “slider” craftivities: a cat, bat & hat, which include 20 -at family words!

The emergent reader incorporates 26 Dolch sight words, plus 7 of the -at family words.

Children add end punctuation: period, question mark & exclamation point to the simple sentences.

I’ve included a black & white copy, with 6 or 8 mini-pages, on a one-page pattern, so that you can make Itty Bitty booklets. 

There’s also a full-color teacher’s version.

Finally, 2 worksheets provide more reinforcement & practice the skill of alphabetizing. 

Click on the link to pop on over to my TpT shop to have a look see at this 27-page packet of fun: Trick or Treating With the -at Family. 

Today's featured freebie is called "Spooky Spirals". 

It's a quick, easy & fun writing prompt craftivity that's perfect for Halloween party day. 

Younger kiddos can simply do the craft.  Completed projects look simply "spooktacular" swirling & twirling from the ceiling.

That's it for today, thanks for stopping by. 

Time to switch gears, and try to shut my computer brain off. 

I have a lunch date with my daughter and the tots. 

Wishing you a love-filled day, filled with giggles galore.

 "In every conceivable manner, the family is the link to our past, and the bridge to our future." - Alex Haley

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

Ever since Disney came out with Monsters Inc, monsters have gone from something scary to something sweet, helpful and rather loveable.

Because these cute creatures are super-popular with children, I decided to design a few monster things for my October activities.

Thus, "Shapely Monsters" was born, and like Disney, my monsters are adorable.

This emergent reader, packs a lot of Dolch punch, as students practice color and number words, as well as 2D shapes.

Children read the simple sentences; trace & write the shape, color & number words associated with that monster, then color the “shapely monster” the matching color, adding the appropriate number of eyes.

For the last page, students design their own monster, using their favorite color, and draw on as many eyes as they are years old.

To cover another math standard, I’ve also included a graphing extension, featuring Marvin the marvelous monster who is helping to search for, count & color the various 2D shapes.

Besides the full-page booklet, to conserve paper & ink, I’ve also included 2-on-a-page templates to make a smaller emergent reader.  You can use the larger one as a teacher's edition.  

When everyone has completed their booklet, read it aloud as a whole group to practice concepts of print, then encourage children to share it with their family when they get home, to further reinforce colors, numbers and shapes. 

Shapely Monsters is one of Diane's Dollar Deals in my TpT shop.  Click on the link to zip on over.  

Today's FREEBIE also has to do with shapes, and features an assortment of fall-themed pictures.  I hope you enjoy it.  Fall Shape Matching Game.

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by.  There's a huge MOPS sale at a nearby church today!

I'm excited to search for some bargain-priced clothes and goodies for my grandchildren.  Wishing you an exciting day. 

"The monster was the best friend I ever had." -Boris Karloff

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

Are you looking for a few quick and fun things to plug in on Halloween?  Something interesting for your kiddos, easy for you, and will still be educationally relevant?  Then I think you'll enjoy my Ready Set Ghost!  Halloween games packet. 

Everything's pretty simple with a lot of variety.  You can review and practice math, counting, letter recognition, end punctuation, capitalization, spelling, sequencing and more.

Here are a few things that I've included in the 28-page packet:

There are all sorts of math dice games that will help review numbers, counting and addition: A very simple one is the coloring puzzles. 

Students choose one of three options; color their paper then cut on the lines making a 6-piece puzzle. 

They pick a partner and take turns rolling a single dice.  Whatever number they roll is the numbered puzzle piece that they glue on their grid. 

Older students can work on addition, with the Race to 100 game.  They too pick a partner and take turns rolling dice. 

Children add the 2 dice together and then X off that many boxes on their 100 chart.  Who will be the first one to get to 100?

Another 100 chart activity is a Halloween hidden picture worksheet.  Students can listen and follow the directions of the teacher, or read the numbers on their worksheet.  A successfully completed paper, will reveal a Jack-O-Lantern.

Have you made a list of all sorts of fall words for your word wall?  The "I mustache you to unscramble the words" worksheet, will help students practice them. 

Give children a minute or two to try and figure out as many as they can.  Did anyone get all 22?  There's an answer key to save you time. 

I've also included another mustachioed ghost worksheet, which asks students to add end punctuation to however many Halloween-themed sentences that you want them to work on.

Students can work on more vocabulary skill building, by challenging them to use the letters in pumpkin, to see how many new words they can create.  I've included my list of 20.

Younger students can spin and spell Happy Halloween! There are two spinners to choose from, a recording sheet and a colorful answer key poster to help little ones know where to put the letters.

Even preschool children can work on addition skills with the candy corn counting game. There are several math mat options, including one that the children color. 

Students can work independently or choose a partner and take turns rolling the dice.  Each child gets 13 pieces of candy corn.  (Pre count them and put in Dixie cups). 

Children can eat one, then use the rest as manipulatives to put on their candy corn counting mat, making groups of whatever numbers they roll.  I've also included a recording sheet (2 on a page) where students can "show" their work.

If you want to practice letter recognition, play upper or lowercase "I Spy" .  You can reuse the worksheets as many as 5 times, depending on how you have students record their findings. (Trace the letter, trace the circle,  color, X-off, bingo dot etc.)

Finally, just for fun, I've included a Halloween version of "Trick" Tac Toe. There are six manipulatives children can choose to play with, plus a set of black line tokens they can color.

Click on the link to view/download the Halloween game packet: Ready, Set, Ghost!

Well that's it for today.  I hope you found something useful that will make Halloween less stressful for you, and more fun for your students. 

I'm off to change the light bulb on the front porch.  Since I'm ready for those sweet trick or treaters, I better have the lights on.  Wishing you a safe and happy Halloween.

"I love the childhood memories of Halloween, the excitement and energy that comes with it. Even the air feels different on Halloween; festive, fresh and crisp."  

1-2-3 Come Do Some Halloween Craftivities With Me

When parents would ask "When does your Halloween party start?" I'd answer with a big smile, "When the children get here, and it lasts all day!"  The day before, I'd let my students know that we'd be doing all of our math, reading, writing and center activities as usual, but they'd all have a Halloween theme, so we could "party" all day.

They were then pleased and happy about this, and I wasn't constantly being asked: "When does the party start?" which interrupted everyone's focus.  They also remained calm, on-task and weren't all fidgety waiting.

In the 10 years I taught Y5's this day was never a crazy day, instead, it was one of my personal favorites, because I had lots of volunteers eager to help out.  We proceeded as normal, with only part of our lights on, to add just the right amount of ambiance.  (This also seemed to relax my students.)

They wrote with their "spooky pencil pal" which was quick and super -inexpensive to make. (Directions in the Halloween packet.)

In the afternoon, our snack time would be extra special (cider, fruit, veggies, with some sweets & treats, which parents provided) and to practice and review a variety of standards, we'd play educational games.

I think one of the Y5's favorite parts of the day, were the super-fun centers.  Parents would come in to help, so I could plug in a few more craftivities.  What took me a bit of time to design and set up, they usually completed in just a few minutes, but that was OK as we had much to accomplish. They were enjoying themselves and learning at the same time.

I share my party day ideas in a Halloween packet, but wanted to dream up a few new ones, as this was one of the first units I did, way before I had all of the cool software programs, fonts, and clip art that I use now, but perhaps you'll find a few things you and your kiddos will enjoy.  

These cute dangling ghosts are a quick, easy and fun little something to do on Halloween party day, or as a nice activity to transition to after reading some Halloween-themed stories.

I was "pinspired" by a Family Magazine holiday craft photo.  They did not provide a pattern, so I made up my own.

Cutting on a spiral provides wonderful scissor cutting practice, which helps strengthen little finger muscles. 

There's an easy ghost pattern with no arms for younger students, and to help out your left handed kiddo's, I've included flipped patterns for them.

Older students can write on the spiral and complete one of these prompts: "Things that are creepy to me are . . ." or "Things that I'm a bit afraid of are . . ."

As you can see by the photo, these look awesome dangling from the ceiling, where they'll twirl and swirl. 

Click on the link to view/download the Spooky Spirals Halloween ghost writing prompt craftivity.

Another Halloween craft that I found several versions of on Pinterest, was a photo of a child in a pumpkin. 

These too, did not offer a pattern, so I provide one in my Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater craftivity packet. 

There's a blank pumpkin, one that says: "Happy Halloween from your little pumpkin" as well as one with the nursery rhyme written on it that I revamped.

"Teacher, teacher pumpkin eater.  Had a student couldn't reach her.  Put _________ in a pumpkin shell and there she taught her very well." (Female and male options.)  I've included a poster of the original Nursery Rhyme. 

Midnight Magic, is also a quick, easy and fun little ghost craftivity, perfect for Halloween party day because it's super-simple and has that "Oh Wow!" factor.  

This art is called crayon resist, as the wax in the crayons resist the watercolors. I've taken a picture of the 3 steps of how it looks.

Using a white crayon, (press hard) trace the simple ghost pattern onto squares of white paper.  Children will not see the ghost 'til they "wash" their paper with the "magical colors of midnight".  To their utter delight, a ghost will appear as they are painting. 

Although an all-black wash is effective, I think the ones where children used purple, blue and black turned out better.  I did a ghost, but any simple shape (pumpkins, candy corn, or bat) would do.

I've also done these with children's names.   Click on the link to view/download the Midnight Magic Halloween watercolor craftivity.

In the Halloween Crayon Resist packet, I've included 5 coloring pages for kiddos to choose from, along with directions of how to set things up. 

Finally, another quick painting craftivity, is Alphie Andy the candy corn alphabet cup. I used styrofoam cups, orange and yellow acrylic paint and a black ink pen to make these fun "I Spy a Letter!" game "twirlers".

Students can add a face to the top white section, or leave it plain. First graders can write their own letters on the top of the cups, but I'd do this for younger kiddos.  (I did a class set while watching TV.  Takes a minute or two per cup.)

It's not at all difficult, but little ones have a tendency to write large, so they won't be able to fit all of the letters around the rim.   When you make yours, look at my photo.  Letters need to be close, with a small space.

Remember the cup is upside down when you write the letters on the rim.  Add a second cup so you have a sturdier surface to write on.

You can keep this simple and just make cups with the uppercase letters on them, or "double up" and add an additional cup with the lowercase letters.  This way, you can review more than one standard.  When you call out a letter, students twirl their uppercase letter cup til their arrow lines up with that letter; then they twirl the lowercase letter cup, so that letter matches up with the uppercase one.

Students literally take 2 minutes to paint a yellow and orange stripe on their cup. (Make sure they write their name on the bottom.) Set aside to dry. Add an arrow, insert cup(s) and play "I Spy!"  It's a quick, easy and fun way to whole group assess.  Children hold up their cup when they've found the correct letter and have the arrow pointing to it.  Click on the link to view/download Alphie Andy, the Candy Corn Alphabet Assessment Cup craft.

That's it for today.  Thanks for visiting. Have to go check my apple-crisp bars.  The cinnamon scent is wafting through the house and smells delicious.  Wishing you a warm-fuzzy kind of day.    

"Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done." -- Louis D. Brandeis

1-2-3 Come Study -ick and -eat Word Families and Shapes With Me

Here's a word family trick for helping teach Common Core, that's a real treat, as you'll  be covering the Phonological Awareness Common Core State Standards: RF.K2a, RF.K2c and RF.K2e  in a quick, easy and fun way.

Here's How: Run off my template with the adorable Laura Strickland trick or treaters on it. You can use the treat bag just as it is, or you can cut off the top of a brown paper lunch bag, so that it fits on the back of this treat bag, and glue it on.

It's a bit more difficult to manipulate the strips, but worth the extra effort as it's truly a functional bag for doing other things with, which I'll explain later.

Pre cut the top & bottom dashed lines of the squares. (I use an Exacto knife.) Insert letter strips, so students can make new words.    

I’ve also included traceable word flashcards, so students can practice the words in yet another way.  There's a cover if you want them to alphabetize the words and then make an Itty Bitty booklet.

When they have finished cutting & tracing their word cards, they can drop them in the bag when they are done.  Students write their name on the side of the bag. You can punch holes and put in real yarn for handles if you want a more 3-D effect.

After everyone has completed their bag, call on students to pull their strips to make the various sentences. Children read them in unison.  There'll probably be a few giggles as they say “Wick or wheat”, “Sick or seat” "Chick or cheat" and “Kick or heat.” etc.

Make sure the last one they read is “Trick or Treat!”  Drop a piece of candy corn, or a sticker, or special treat in their bag as a reward for their great effort!

You can also play “I Have; Who Has?” with the word cards.  Make a copy of the word cards and do not cut them out. Post these pages on the board.  Make another copy and laminate them.  Cut these out.  Put them in your Trick or Treat bag and have students choose cards ‘til they are all gone.

You read an –ick card and ask for an -eat card on the list. The –eat child reads their card. Both children say their “–ick or –eat!” sentence together. Those cards go in the bag. Play continues ‘til all of the cards are gone.

The packet also includes a poster that says: How many words can you make using the letters in Trick or treat?" plus a recording sheet and alphabetical list of 158 words that I thought of. 

Click on the link to view/download the –ick or –eat Word Family Treat Bag.

Finally, after doing this trick or treat-themed activity, you may want to review 2D and 3D shapes using my candy shape posters.  

There are 17 Candy Shape posters in all, with a white or black background. What a fun way to grab your kiddos’ attention. 

These “real life” shape examples will certainly help them understand and hopefully remember the various shapes.

As an incentive, reward them with a shaped sweet treat when they can identify all of the shapes on the posters.

Thanks for visiting today.  The rain's stopped and it's time to take my poodle pup out for a romp.  The fresh air is filled with the wonderful fragrance of fall.  Wishing you a splendid day.

"Like a ten-speed bike, most of us have gears we do not use." - Charles Schulz 

A 1-2-3 Come Do Some More Haunted House Activities With Me

I'm enjoying a bit of R&R time this weekend, so I wanted to feature 2 "oldies" but "goodies" for today's blog.  They fit in perfectly with the 2 new haunted house FREEBIES from yesterday.  If you missed that article, simply scroll down to check it out.

The 17-page Haunted House math packet, is a "craftivity" and game to help reinforce fact families in a fun way.

The Packet includes:

• Fact Family "craftivity" templates.
• Fact Family spinner game templates.
• Directions and link for a home-school math connection, for fact family Online homework skill building practice
• Directions and sample of how to make mini dry erase envelope boards.
• Fact Family T-bar "mad-minute" skill sheets +
• A certificate of praise.

Click on the link to view/download Haunted House Fact Family Fun.

The other haunted house activity helps reinforce 2D shapes.  These are quick, easy and fun games for your kiddos to play in an independent center, or as a whole group.

Click on the link to view/download the Spooky Windows Haunted House Shape Games.

That's it for today.  Thanks for visiting.  Wishing you a restful and relaxing weekend too.

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore is not an act, but a habit." -Aristotle

1-2-3 Come Play Some Halloween-Themed Games With Me!

As a child I loved drawing haunted houses and spooky things at Halloween.  The first and only art contest I ever won was a picture of a witch riding her broom past a crescent moon.  I was in 4th grade and thrilled!  One of the things that really pops out at you when you're looking at a haunted house is all of the broken and shuttered windows.

I thought it would be fun to make the windows look like the 6 standard 2D shapes.  To play the Spooky Windows game, print, laminate and trim the haunted houses.  Run off the shapes on a variety of colors of construction paper. 

Keep each set in its own Ziploc Snack Baggie and attach with a paperclip to one of the Spooky Windows haunted house mats. Children place the shape cut outs onto the matching spooky window. 

You can also play this as a game.  Children choose a partner and spin the spooky shape spinner.  Whatever shape they land on, they say the name of the shape and place it on their haunted house.  The 1st one to match all of the shapes on their house, is the winner.

I've also made the Spooky Windows into a dice game.  Here students choose a partner and take turns rolling a dice. Whatever number they roll, they color in 1 matching numbered window and identify the shape.  The 1st child with all of their windows filled in, or the one with the most filled in when the timer rings, is the winner. 

By having students play with the color spinner,  you can also review colors.  Whatever shape they land on, they color the matching shape window that color.  Afterwards, little ones can color their haunted house.  Challenge older students to only color the rectangles.  How many did they color?

Also in this packet is a Spooky Windows shape sorting mat.  I found that after awhile, most of my Y5's readily identified the various shapes, but when I asked them to find that shape in the world around them, many had difficulty. 

i.e. I could show them the shape of a rectangle and they'd say "That's a rectangle."  but when I asked them to name something in the classroom that was a rectangle, some of them had difficulty doing so. 

Because of this, I also like to design shape activities using pictures of things representing the various shapes, so children can sort them.  Print off the shape pictures, trim and keep each set in a separate Snack Baggie.  Children can work independently or against a partner to sort the shapes.  Turn it into a game, and have students spin the spinner in order to be able to place that shape on their mat.  

Another fun way to review shapes with the haunted house, is via a little ghost puppet.  Print and laminate the haunted house, trim and cut out the windows.  Using an Exacto-knife, I cut out the circle and oval windows completely.

I cut the other shape windows, so that one side was left un-cut, to act as a hinge.  You can fold the windows open, or leave them shut, so your students can better see the shape as your ghost puppet pops through it.

Hold the house up in front of you. Manipulate a white ghost (Popsicle stick) through a window or simply have the ghost peek behind the window. 

Students call out the shape of the window the ghost is peeking out of. 

You can also make a ghost finger puppet by cutting off a “finger” of a white glove, and gluing on 2 wiggle eyes.  Use rubber gloves for an eerie transparent look.  I experimented with dotting eyes on with a black marker as well as using puffy paint. 

I personally like how the ghosts with wiggle eyes turned out.   You decide which you like best.  Because these are really quick, easy and inexpensive to make, you could set this up as a center and have your students each make one.

Finally, I've included a card game called "Shapely Haunted Houses".  These are cards with a shape on them that can be matched to the shape, or shape word cards for a Memory Match or "I have; Who has?" game. 

All of these games and "craftivities" are included in the Spooky Windows packet.  Click on the link to view/download it.

Thanks for visiting today.  I design and blog daily, so I hope you can fly on by for tomorrow's FREEBIES.  Feel free to PIN away.  To ensure that "pinners" return to THIS article, click on the green title at the top; it will turn black, now click on the "Pin it" button located on the burgundy menu bar.  If you'd like to take a look at all of the awesome educational items that I pin, click on the heart button to the right of the blog.

"Faith is building on what you know is here, so you can reach what you know is there." -Allen Hightower

1-2-3 Come Do Some Candy Activities With Me!

I had a request for a Candy Bones graph.  I’d never heard of them; (Where have I been?) so I Googled candy bones.  They are really quite popular, as there were lots of Ask.com questions of where to buy candy bones and what to do with them.
Many of the links were outdated and broken, so I went on my own quest.

Oriental Trading has the best deal Online for “Candy Bones.”  The bones in their pack include: the ever-popular sweet-tart skull, foot, hand, ribs and plain bones. They come in pastel colors.  There are approximately 28 pieces per pack and 19 packets per unit (13 oz.) They are “fat free” and were $8, now on sale for $5.99 as of 10/7/13  I have dealt with Oriental Trading for many years and never had a problem. Their customer service is wonderful.

Amazon.com also offers the same candy bones mini packages. They are sold by Zugar and fulfilled by Amazon.  They are $9.99 for the same quantity as Oriental Trading.  Some teachers have e-mailed me that they have also found the candy bones packages at their Dollar Tree Stores.  However, they were not in mine, here in Grand Rapids, MI

There is also another popular bone candy called: Skulls and Bones.  Unlike the above candy, these only have 2 shapes inside, but more colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink, white and a blackish purple. Unlike the other pastel candies, these are brightly colored.  They are offered by Candy Nation.  They sell bulk at $3.85 a pound.

O’Ryan’s Village, featuring old-fashioned candy, also sells a package of Skulls and Bones for $2.29.  There are 11 small packages inside.  So now you know where to get the candy.  Why would you want it?  For starters, they are perfect for graphing. The skull and bones lend themselves to a Halloween, pirate or a science skeleton/bone activity.  

A sweet treat makes math a whole lot more fun for your kiddo's too.  So they aren't eating too much candy, pass out a sample from your stash at the start of the lesson, with the promise of being able to eat one more at the end, and if they behave, they can take the rest home.  This always worked with my Y5's whenever I used edibles for lessons.

Students spill out their package and sort them on the sorting mats.  I have ones for both kinds of candy, as well as a sorting mat for colors.  Children practice counting, tally marks, and addition with the various graphs and candy bones worksheets. 

I've also included whole-group graphs so that you have an extra opportunity to review your students' results.  There are graphs for shapes, colors, favorites, and flavors.  Since I was on a roll, I decided to make guess-timation activities, as well as some worksheets for patterning.  You can cover quite a few standards in a short amount of time. 

Click on the link to view/download the Candy Bones Math Activities packet.  Another popular download is the candy shape poster packet.  Did you know that Halloween treats come in all of the standard shapes?  For a fun review, print off a set to use as anchor charts or large flashcards.

Thanks for visiting.  Feel free to PIN away.  Just think, if everyone took a few minues to share, our lives would be so much easier.  If you'd like to take a peek at all of the creative and educational FREEBIES I spend way too much time pinning, click on the heart button to the right of the blog.

"Learning should be a joy and full of excitement.  It is life's greatest adventure and should be an illustrated excursion into the minds of noble and learned men, not a conducted tour through a jail." -Taylor Caldwell