1-2-3 Come Make a Sandcastle With Me

Put some “Woo Hoo!” into studying place value, by creating a super-cute PVS (Place Value Sandcastle).

This is a wonderful craftivity for both the end of the year, as a fun way to reinforce lessons learned, and also works well for back to school when you want to refresh, review and assess where your students are concerning their knowledge of place value.

The craft is a super-fun alternative to worksheets; however, I’ve also included some of those, for extra practice and as an assessment tool. 

One of the worksheet options, comes 2 on a one-page pattern for quick printing. 

Students fill in the blanks with the number, expanded form, word form and a breakdown of placement. 

Children also pick a partner and practice greater & less than, by comparing their sandcastle's value with their friend's.

Completed projects turn out really cute and make an outstanding bulletin board or hallway display.

I’ve included a variety of posters to help you decorate and add extra pizzazz, or use them as an interesting way to introduce the lesson and grab students' attention. 

I took a photograph of real sand, and made that my background paper, then placed transparent letters over the top, spelling "Sandcastles". 

Print, laminate & cut them out for a cool header for your bulletin board.

You’re sure to get lots of compliments, as the castles definitely have that “Wow!” factor; especially if you do the “sand names”. 

I set this up as a center, and call students up while they are working on their sandcastle. 

Beforehand, I wrote their names on a variety of colored card stock; then assist them in "tracing" their name with Elmer's glue.

Afterwards, they sprinkle the wet letters with play sand. Set aside to dry. For your display, hang their name above or under their sandcastle for that finishing touch.

The packet is very versatile with quite a few options for your students to choose from, which allows you to diversify your lesson.

Designing a sandcastle is appealing to a variety of ages and abilities.
The versatility allows younger kiddos, as well as older students, to create a sandcastle that will have a two, three or even 4-digit number value!

Beginners work on 1s & 10s, while older kiddos design with 1s, 10s & 100s. I’ve also included worksheets for 4-digit numbers, so that older students can work with 1,000s.

Keep things simple for little ones and limit the number of pieces and options, while challenging older students to create a bigger value for their sandcastle.

Once children have finished their PVS they figure out the value of their sandcastle.

I’ve provided several worksheet options for students to complete. 

Since some of my kiddos get carried away with decorating, they'll have to do some "conversions" when figuring out the value of their sandcastle. 

i.e. If they count up 17 ones, they'll have to make one ten, leaving just 7 ones. 

The worksheet helps them figure out the value by showing the math. 

I'm also able to easily asses that they "get it".

Besides the place value sandcastles, I’ve also included 2 options for a seashell, “counting castle” for younger students. 

There are 5 different seashells for students to color, cut and glue to the sandcastle of their choice. 

Little ones can practice counting to 10, while kinders can work on those toughie teen numbers. 

I've also included a graphing extension so that you can practice that standard as well.

I've also included 3 seashells labeled 1s, 10s & 100s, if you'd like to make this simpler place value sandcastle, or use these as an independent math center. 

Limited time? This makes a super-fun homework assignment, or another idea is to have students work with a partner or create one PVS in a small group of three, which will divide up the work.

Here’s a fun challenge: Give the small group a total sandcastle value, and see how close they can get to hitting that number.

For a super-fun math center, print a variety of sandcastle pieces & flags on construction paper or card stock. Laminate and trim.

Students can design a sandcastle, then figure out the value, writing that number on the flag using a dry erase marker. When they’re done, take a photograph.

Put the pictures in an album along with their place value worksheet. The same can be done with the seashell sandcastles as well.
I’ve included covers for your album(s). 

I know summer has just begun, but I also know there are teachers who are starting to collect things for back to school.

So today's featured FREEBIE is a "Lucky Charms" treat bag that you can make for your kiddos.

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

Time to put on my Nana hat, as two of my nine grandchildren, are spending the day with me.

Hopefully the rain will hold off.  If not, it will be a puddle jumping day! Wishing you a fun-filled week.

"A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, a warm and gentle breeze is blowing, the birds are singing a sweet song and the lawnmower is broken." -Unknown

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

No matter what grade I taught, my students LOVED making glyphs. They are a quick, easy and fun way to practice listening and following directions.

With that in mind I designed a snowman glyph.  Completed projects make an adorable bulletin board, and provide an interesting way to get to know your kiddos too.

To practice data collection & analysis, as well as process of elimination, have students try and figure out who made some of the snowman glyphs. I've also included 3 graphing extensions to practice another math standard. 

Another super-fun snowman activity, is Silas, the 3D Cylinder Shaped Snowman.

I've found that if I toss a bit of craftiness into our lesson, I not only grab my students' attention, but they learn and retain those concepts better. 

The cylinder shape was a bit of a toughie for some of my kiddos, so this really helped solidify the concept.

Silas does double duty, as his facial features practice and review 2D shapes, which can be drawn on, or cut and glued.

Finally, my kiddos needed more place value practice. To put a bit of zippidy-doo-dah in reinforcing this math standard, I designed  Petey, a super-fun place value snowman.

Simply print the worksheet filled with an assortment of place value blocks. (There's 2 on a page).

Students decide which pieces they want to use to decorate their PV snowman with, then color, cut and glue them to the pattern.

Afterwards, they figure out the value of their snowman, then fill out the "My Place Value Snowman" worksheet.

I've included a blank template as well, if you think this is too much information for younger kiddos.

Children can fill out the black and white version, with whatever information is appropriate for their level. 

I've included one in color, so that teachers can quickly and easily make a sample to share.

Completed projects make an awesome bulletin board or hallway display. 

For more wintry place value practice, I designed a snowman, whole-group assessment game, which can also be used as an independent center activity.

I’ve included both a full page snowman, as well as a two-on-a-page pattern.  Students can draw in their own snowman face, or color my pattern.

To turn these into dry erase “boards”, cut squares out of glossy photo paper.  Each student needs 4 to glue on top of the squares on their place value snowman.   My students keep their snowman in their math journals, as we play the game once or twice a week. 

Students, don’t really seem to get tired of it, and the place value “light bulbs” go on rather quickly in their heads.   Despite the fact that many of my kiddos can't count past 100, they still can wrap their brains around place value, when shown visually, by playing this game.

Print; laminate and trim the number cards (0-9) and toss them in a mitten or winter cap.  Choose 3 students to pick a card.  This will become the 3-digit number that students write in the number squares of the snowman’s hat, using a dry erase marker.

Today's featured FREEBIE is a "Rip & Tear" snowman craft. Ripping and tearing paper is a super-fun way for kiddos to strengthen those finger and hand muscles. 

The packet includes a pattern for a mosaic snowman, as well as a whole, torn paper one. 

My kiddos do one the first week of January, then the other at the end of the month. 

Completed projects make an awesome bulletin board or hallway display, which we keep up through February. 

In the photograph, you can see Silas, the 3D cylinder shaped snowman, hanging with our rip and tear snowmen.

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

Even tho' it's a chilly 33 degrees outside, the sun is shining, so I think I'll take my poodle pup Chloe for a walk.  Wishing you an energizing day.

"The higher your energy level, the more efficient your body. The more efficient your body, the better you feel and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results." - Anthony Roberts

 1-2-3 Come Do Some Seuss Hat Activities With Me

Dr. Seuss's iconic hat that he created for his Cat in the Hat character, is the perfect vehicle to make some quick, easy and fun activities that help practice a variety of standards.  Today's blog features some popular Seuss-hat downloads, as well as "Rhyme Time", which I just finished creating today!

Teachers assign a word, or give students a choice.  Children write the word on the brim of their Seuss hat and then think of as many words as they can that rhyme. They jot them down on a sheet of scratch paper, then write the rhyming words in aphabetical order on their hat. 

As is often the case with Seuss, have students dream up one nonsense word, which they define on the back of their bookmark.  Completed projects make a sweet Read Across America bulletin board. Caption: "Hats Off to Wonderful Word Work!" or "Rhyme Time With the Cat in the Hat."

I do this Cat Hat Place Value Mat  activity, as a whole group. Students take turns calling out 3-digit numbers.  Using a dry erase marker, children write that number on the hat brim and then put the correct number of tiles in the appropriate columns. 

This is a quick, easy and fun way to practice, as well as whole group assess place value.  

Another way to practice place value is with this Cat in the Hat place value game.

The 3 red rings show the 1s, 10s, and 100s columns.  Children "spin" them to make whatever 3-digit number is called out. 

Are your kiddos learning to identify coins?  Then I think they'll enjoy this "Cent-sational" Seuss hat craftivity, which reviews the penny, nickel, dime, quarter and half dollar coins.    

For more math fun with the cat's hat, I designed a How many ways can you show a number, Popsicle stick game, which includes a variety of ways to play. 

Students choose a  "How many ways can I show the number ______." hat brim strip, and then place all of the Popsicle stick equations that make that number on their Seuss-hat mat.  (Reinforce addition OR subtraction, or combine both).

This is an easy and fun way to practice and whole group assess a variety of concepts, including fact families. I've included number tiles from 0-120 with a blank sheet for you to program with even higher numbers. 

Time to the hour was another math standard that we practiced via Seuss's hat.  Students add digital time stripes to their hat by rolling dice.

They trace the stripe, place it on their hat and then manipulate the paperclip hands to show the analog time.

Besides using the hat for math, I made a few hat activities for language arts.  The Cat Hat AT slider, was my 1st hat "craftivity", which was made years ago before I had all of the graphic programs I now use, but it's still a popular download. The packet includes a variety of worksheets too.

I will read... is a hat bookmark that can be used as a writing prompt.  Share my example with your students and challenge them to write verses of their own. 

I've alluded to a variety of Seuss books in my poem. "I will read with Mr. Brown; I will read upside down.  I will read with duck feet; I will read because it's neat."

Challenge your students to figure out which books I've used.  

After reading The Cat in the Hat, review story elements with this Cat in the Hat language arts packet.

The packet includes pocket chart cards, a beginning-middle-end graphic organzizer, plus sentence strips to sequence the Cat in the Hat story.  This can be done independently, or as a whole group activity. 

Finally, because the punctuation pocket chart cards have been so popular, I decided to tweak this idea, and make the "cards" into stripes for the cat's hat. Cat's Hat Grammar "craftivity" packet.

Students underline the letters that need to be capitalized and add punctuation. 

They cut their stripes and glue them to their hat in an ABAB pattern, leaving a space, so that the hat will look like it has alternating red and white stripes. 

If you want, have students re-write the corrected sentences on the red stripes. I made up 108 sentence choices, from a variety of Dr. Seuss stories, so  each students' hat will be different.  Completed projects make a nice bulletin board. 

Thanks for visiting today.  If you're looking for more Dr. Seuss FREEBIES click on the link to pop on over to that section of TeachWithMe.  I also have an entire board of Seuss-themed activities on Pinterest, with lots more ideas and freebies.   

"From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere!" -Dr. Seuss

1-2-3 Come Learn About Place Value With Me!

I found that when I played fun place value games with my kinders and 1st graders, the light bulbs of understanding went on so much faster.

Repetition is a must, as everyone learns at a different rate.  By making a different place value slider each month, you get the consistent repetition you need, but because it's a little different, things don't get boring for your little ones.

Making things hands-on, by incorporating a craftivity-game, is always edu-taining for children.

Because students are familiar with the directions, and can get right down to business, you're also empowering them and building their self-esteem.

"Sliders" were one of my Y5's favorite craftivities.  I designed them for skip counting, shapes, upper and lowercase letters etc.

I gave them the name "sliders" because students slide a strip up and down as a quick & easy way to practice and review all sorts of things.

Because quite a few teachers have requested activities for place value, I thought sliders would be a wonderful way for students to "see" and "manipulate" that concept.

They are a quick, easy, & fun way to whole group assess too!

I designed a place value slider for each month, with some generic extra's. They will help you with Common Core State Standards: 1.NBT.2a, 1.NBT.2b, 1.NBT.2c, 1.NBT.3, K.NBT.1

For more CCSS practice have students jot down the numbers they are showing on the slider. Students can then compare 2 numbers as > or < .

To include addition and subtraction practice as well, ask students to make the number that is 10 more or 10 less.

Let's Make A Slider!

Run off the place value slider templates on construction paper.  Choose a variety of colors where appropriate. i.e. apples can be red, green and yellow; leaves can be all of the fall colors etc.

By doing so you are teaching a little bit of science at the same time.  i.e. apples can be 3 different colors; leaves change color because they don't have chlorophyll etc.

To expedite things, have a room helper pre-cut the slits.

Run off the 1’s, 10’s, 100’s strips on white construction paper. Students trace the numbers and cut out their strips.

The 1st strip, without a 0, is the 100’s strip, the 2nd is 10’s, the 3rd is 1’s.  Remind students that the 100 strip does not have a 0 on it.

Cut the 3 blank strips and fold them in 1/2. Cut on the fold.

Glue one piece of the blank strip, to each end of a numbered strip, so that you can easily pull the strips up and down. Insert strips into the slits on the place value slider.

A piece of Scotch tape on the back, makes things smooth for easier pulling.

The teacher starts by calling out a number and then writing it on the board.  Students manipulate the strips in their slider to make that number.

Teacher calls on students to tell  how many 100’s, 10’s and 1’s there are. Give every child a chance to make up a number and play the teacher.

Cover more CCSS math standards with the prior suggestions discussed above.

When everyone catches on, you can play “Speed” to see who can make the number 1st.

Make sure you make a sample for yourself to demonstrate what you want your students to do. Students can add a bit more pizzazz to their sliders with crayons.

I hope your kiddo's will enjoy making, manipulating, and collecting their monthly place value sliders.

Click on the link to view/download the Place Value Slider Packet.

Thanks for visiting.  Feel free to PIN anything you think others may find helpful.  My "pin it" button is at the top.

"Of those to whom much is given, much is required."