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

Since the lists of my all-time favorite books for various units, have been so popular, I decided to make one for my love-themed selections, which include Valentine's Day books and books about hugs, kisses and love. 

I think it's probably my biggest collection, as Valentine's Day has been my favorite holiday since I was five.   Click on the link to view/dowload the list of My 100 All-Time Favorite Valentine Books.

Books need a bookmark, so I designed ten Valentine bookmarks that you can use as incentives (challenge students to collect all of them as they complete various tasks each day) or give as prizes on your party day. 

Click on the link to view/download the Valentine's Day Bookmark packet.

Like the book lists, the punctuation pocket cards, have also been extremely popular, so I made a set of 30 with a valentine theme.  Print; laminate and trim. 

You can put them in your pocket chart, read as a whole group and then make corrections with a dry erase marker. 

Students circle the letters that should be capitalized, and then add end punctuation. 

I made a lot more cards for this packet, as I thought it might be a fun activity for Valentine's Day. 

Pass one out to each student to make corrections and then share the results with the class. 

I purposely included quite a few contractions in the simple sentences to provide yet another teachable moment.  Click on the link to view/download the Valentine Grammar Cards.

While I was making the valentine clock cards yesterday, I was working on several other telling time activities, and finished them today. 

Time For Valentines is a candy heart spinner game.  Children play with a partner or in groups of 3 or 4 taking turns spinning the candy heart clock. 

Whatever number they land on, is the heart that they color on their recording sheet.  Students also write in the digital time, and if you want, have them cover the heart with a candy one. 

The student who completes their clock first is the winner.  The prize can be the candy hearts. Inform students that they may eat one, and then put the rest in the box to take home.  Click on the link to view/download the Candy Heart Clock Game.

Finally, I also finished the Watch Me Tell Time whole-group assessment activity.  Print off the pocket watch page on tan or gold paper, cut off the directions. 

Run off the clocks and digital time rectangles on glossy photo paper. Cut out the clocks and boxes and glue one to each pocket watch paper.  You've now created a dry erase board.

Call out a time. Using a dry erase marker, students draw hands on the clock face and write the digital time in the box.  When they are done, they hold up their pocket watch. 

This is a quick, easy and fun way to whole group assess analog and digital time to the hour or half hour.  (Common Core State Standard:  1.MD.3)  Click on the link to view/download the Watch Me Tell Time assessment packet.

Thanks for visiting today; I hope it's love-filled.   Feel free to PIN away! 

"Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself." -John Dewey 

I'm Wild About You!

I love zebra’s; they are fun to draw and easily recognizable by little ones, who seem to quickly associate them with the letter Z

I was in Big Lots the other day and picked up some things for my poodle pup Chloe.

Do you know they have designer doo-doo bags for dogs?

Well the nice thing about that, is they are sturdy, come in packs of 60 to 100 for around $3.

This is way less expensive than the designer treat bags for kids, that are smaller, flimsier, and come in packs of 12 – 18, which forces teachers and parents to buy multiple packs.

Now if you can just get past the idea of what their initial purpose is for, you’ll be fine.

Anyway…I bought some with a zebra print, because I wanted to make some “Wild about you” valentines and well…you be the judge, I think they turned out really cute.

It seems that animal prints are quite the rage, as you can buy zebra, leopard and giraffe prints in scrap paper as well as tissue paper. Give students several options for an extra wild February bulletin board, then send the valentines home on party day.

I also made a copy of my doo-doo bag for you to print off, in case you can’t find anything, but I really like the see-through affect that the bag or tissue make.

Run off my heart template on red construction paper and fold.

Remind students to keep their paper folded and cut on the lines. Tell them that if they listen and follow directions they will come up with a special “February shape”.

Your students can make these as a special valentine for their family and/or you can surprise them with a treat bag and use the “Wild about you.” as a hangtag.

Click on the link to view/download the Wild About You Valentine.

Follow this activity up by singing my Z-E-B-R-A song to the tune of Bingo. Click on the link to view/download my Bingo song cards. 

They are a great way to teach clap patterns, letters, spelling and simple subtraction! I have one for each month which will review every letter of the alphabet except X.  The H-E-A-R-T one is a February favorite.

Students can also color this adorable letter Z or turn it into a pinch and poke or dot-to-dot.

Click on the link for the Zebra Z or education.com's entire animal alphabet. It's a terrific site for kids.

Whatever you’re planning for Valentine’s Day, I hope you have a wildly wonderful time!

Do you have any ideas you'd like to share with us?  I'd really enjoy hearing from you! diane@teachwithme.com OR... feel free to leave a comment, especially if you use an activity.  Thanks in advance.

Be sure and gallop on over tomorrow for some more fun!

Valentine, You Melt My Heart!

I LOVE melted crayon art.

You can do these black-framed templates each month using a different theme (shamrocks for March) and your students will never tire of them.

They have an outstanding stained-glass look, when hung in the windows or make an eye-catching bulletin board, by sprinkling them kitty whompus on a white or aluminum foil background with a paper lace border. Caption: Valentine, You Melt My Heart!

They are quick and easy, with terrific results; who could ask for more? Plus, peeling crayons and manipulating a sharpener, make for wonderful practice with fine motor skills.

Follow the project up with a mini lesson on secondary colors, as your students watch the crayons melt into each other and the yellow and red shavings blend to make a vibrant orange etc.

Here’s how to make a stained-glass crayon melt valentine heart:

Make heart templates from my master out of old file folders.  Students trace them on a sheet of black construction paper.

Make sure to tell them to keep their paper folded in half.

Children cut on the lines, open their paper and are always amazed to find a heart.

If you have a Duplo, simply run off my master on black construction paper, fold the paper and have students cut on the lines.

As children finish, call them up to the melting table.

Lay a towel on the table and put down a sheet of wax paper.

Students have already selected the color crayons they wanted on their heart from the broken crayon tub and have removed the paper wrappings.

Children insert the crayon into the sharpener and twist it once.  Make sure they sprinkle their filings on different spots of the wax paper.

You may want to have them swirl their pile of shavings with a Q-tip before you melt them.

Lay another sheet of wax paper over the top.

Set the iron on the lowest setting and lay it on top of the wax paper for a second.  Lift and put on another spot.

I have experimented with “ironing” the sheet , rubbing it gently back and forth, instead of just pressing it up and down, but found that the colors run too much and smear into a big mess, sometimes ending up to have a  “brownish” color instead of a nice melted many-color effect.

Practice does make perfect here, so you may want to experiment a bit before you start on your students’ projects.

Children brush Elmer’s glue on their black heart frame with a Q-tip and lay it on top of the wax paper.

Press with palms.

Let dry and then cut off the wax paper edges.

Since the backs are lovely too, these look great dangling from the ceiling as well.

Simply punch a hole in the top, make a yarn or ribbon loop and hang.

For another interesting look, have children put tissue paper squares on the wax paper using Elmer's glue. I really like the new CLEAR Elmer's it's perfect for this type of project. 

When dry, brush lightly with Modge Podge and then mount the black heart frame on the top.  They look cute sprinkled lightly with opalescent glitter too!

Do NOT hang in the window, because the sun will fade the tissue paper colors.

Click on the link to view/print the Melted Crayon Valentine Heart directions & pix

These lovely melted crayon hearts made from waxpaper are from Martha Stewart. 

Do you have a valentine idea you could share with us? I'd enjoy hearing from you: diane@teachwithme.com OR...post a comment, especially if you use one of mine! Thanks in advance.

Be sure and stop on in tomorrow for another fun idea.