1-2-3 Come Do Some Winter Writing Prompt Crafts With Me

Do you read the story “The Jacket I Wear In The Snow?”  My kiddos and I really enjoy Shirley Neitzel’s books.
They are perfect for sequencing and retelling a story too.

With that in mind, I designed several craftivities that you can transition to after reading the tale. I'm featuring two of my latest creations on the blog today.

First up is my "Jacket Packet", which includes 4 writing prompt options for older students, as well as 2 jacket patterns, so little ones can also do the craft.

* One jacket pattern is generic, which students can color, or you can run off on a variety of colors of construction paper.

* The other jacket looks like the one in “The Jacket I Wear In The Snow” story.

Pick a jacket or give children a choice, then choose a “lining” for your craft.
There are 5 options, plus a blank version to dream up something else.

* The first “lining” has pictures of the story elements in chronological order, which is a fun way for students to practice the “retell a story” standard.

* The other 4 “linings” are writing prompts.
Students cut the jacket on the dashed line, then glue just the sleeves, to the “lining” creating a booklet, when flipped open reveals the pictures or one of these writing prompts:

1. “Here’s what happened…” (Checks comprehension. Can be written as a “beginning, middle, end” prompt, or as a “sequential list” of what happened, or as a “paragraph of summary”.)

2. “The jacket I wear in the snow is…” option: (Descriptive writing, adjective practice).

     Children color the jacket pattern to match their own coat, then describe their jacket.

3. “My favorite thing to do when it snows is…” option: (Short & simple. Limited to one thing.)

     Children write about what their favorite thing to do in the snow is, then draw a picture underneath.

4. “When I’m all bundled up for winter I like to…” option: (Longer, expanded, can also be a list.)

     Children write about all of the things that they enjoy doing when they play in the snow.

Because they are very different, you can do the “retell the story” picture jacket, as well as the generic jacket with a writing prompt.

Possibly one for class and another for “early finishers” a fun homework assignment, or tuck in your "sub tub".

* Besides the black and white options, I’ve also included full color, plus my samples, so teachers can quickly & easily make an example to share. 

Completed projects make a sweet bulletin board or hallway-wall display. I’ve included several posters to use for the center of your display. 

Finally, since my storytelling "sliders" are such a hit, I also made one for "The Jacket I Wear In The Snow", which will help your students retell the story in chronological order.

Because I've become quite the clip art collector, there are 5 outside slider versions to choose from. I LOVE options and thought you might too.

Pick your favorite or give children a choice. Students color the story elements on the “slider strip” then cut and glue it together.

As they pull on the end of the “slider-strip” 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 craftivity 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 “Let’s “sequence the story” activity for this, where students color and trim the picture “windows” then glue them in the correct order on their worksheet.

There’s also 2, “Here’s What Happened…” writing prompt worksheets, as another way to check comprehension, plus practice sequential writing, hopefully using a variety of ordinal numbers and other transitions. 

Since Chinese New Year started on the 28th and runs through February 15th, today's featured FREEBIE is a quick, easy & super-fun Chinese Lantern craft.

It provides simple cuttng practice, and an intersting way to help strengthen those finger muscles. 

Completed projects look terrific dangling from the ceiling, or as a border in the hallway.  

Well that's it for today, it's snowing once again, and I'm finding it difficult to break my reclusive habits; as I'd much rather be snuggly and warm crafting away, than braving the outdoors. 

Wishing you a delightful day filled with memorable moments.

Happy Year of the ROOSTER!

“One year goes by taking with it a set of hopes and aspirations. Another year comes in with bundles of new opportunities to relive your dreams and realize your goals. “ -Unknown

1-2-3 Come Do Some Snowman Writing Prompt Crafts With Me

Do you read the story “Snowmen At Night” by Carolyn Buehner?

It’s one of my students favorites, so I thought I’d make a quick, easy and fun little writing prompt craftivity for them to transition to after our story time.

So you can use this snowman for other stories, I’ve included non-titled patterns for versatility.

Little ones can simply make the snowman, while older students can add a writing prompt on the back, as seen in my sample, where I wrote what the snowmen in the story did at night. 

Other prompts could be: "If I were a snowman I would . . .", "I built a snowman and at night he . . ."  or "This is how you build a snowman:"

Completed projects make a sweet winter bulletin board, and prompts look terrific twirling from the ceiling.

There are 2 circle snowman patterns, as well as a blank-faced snowman, so children can draw their own, coloring with markers and crayons.

For fine-motor cutting practice, I’ve also included pattern pieces that you can run off on a variety of bright colors.

Children trim, arrange and glue them to their blue “night sky” circles to create a vibrant contrast.

I’ve also included a rectangular “color cut & glue” snowman option, with 2 writing prompt worksheets for the back. (See cover photo.)

For extra pizzazz and that finishing touch, my students absolutely love adding some snowflakes to the background using mini “porcupine balls” or Q-tips dipped in white paint.   

Besides writing prompt fun, I wanted students to be able to retell and sequence the story, so I designed some craftivities, which practice those standards in an interesting and fun way.

Completed projects make a really cute bulletin board, or look super dangling from the ceiling.

I’ve included 2, “Snowmen at Night” posters to use with your display.

There are 4 options for the crafty “danglers”, so that you can diversify ability levels, or give your students a choice.

My personal favorite is the single snowman.

Students color, cut & glue the top of the snowman to the oval "tummy" section, which features graphics for all of the things that the snowmen did in the story.

Ater students color them, they use their dangler as a fun way to retell the tale. 

For writing practice, and to check comprehension, older students can list the things the snowmen did at night on the back of their project. 

Another option, has large snowflake "snowballs" with a graphic on each one, that are glued back-to-back and dangle from a trio of snowmen. 

Students choose one of two picture options; then color, trim & glue to a sheet of royal blue construction paper, which adds that touch of "night". 

Besides making the craft, older students can practice their comprehension and writing skills, by explaining what the snowmen did at night on the back of their project.

I’ve included 2 writing prompt worksheets you can use for this.

If knot tying is too difficult for you kiddos, have them twist half a pipe cleaner into a ring and attach that way, or use the smaller snowballs, and have students arrange them in sequential order around the poster. 

You can also use these smaller snowballs, along with a different, circular "topper" to create yet another "dangler" option. 

As with the larger craftivity, these are also glued-back-to-back, so that different images of what the snowmen do at night are visible as the mobiles swirl & twirl.

To check comprehension, make an extra set of “snowballs” (large or small options), laminate, trim and use as an independent center, where students arrange the circle graphics in the correct sequential order of the story.

You could also add a magnet dot on the back, pass them out to students, then sequence the story on your white board after you read it.

Finally, make a “Let’s Sequence the Story” Itty Bitty booklet by collating the mini snowball graphics and adding the cover.

The activities are different enough so that you can do several.

I sometimes get requests to make one of my storytelling "sliders" for a particular book; and was happy to whip one up for Kara in Wisconsin for "Snowmen At Night". 

Sliders are another quick, easy & fun way for students to sequence and retell a story. 

There are two options in this packet, along with a "Here's What Happened" and "Let's Sequence the Story" worksheets.

There are two featured FREEBIES today!

Since Monday is Martin Luther King Day, one  FREEBIE is a set of MLK bookmarks.

Surprise students by leaving one on their desk, or give them a choice and have them use the bookmark to jumpstart a writing prompt about Martin Luther King.  

The other FREEBIE, is a writing prompt craftivity, which makes an awesome winter bulletin board.

Simply cut strips in a variety of construction paper colors.

Children glue them together to make a snowflake, then complete the MLK prompt:

"I have a dream too. My dream is . . ."  or "Like snowflakes, we are all different and unique, as well as the same because . . ." 

Any other winter writing prompts would also work.

Well that's it for today. Thanks for popping in. I'm watching my grandchildren today so it's time to put my Nana hat on. 

I have a new batch of Play-Doh I know they'll be thrilled with, plus we're going to make snowman cookies.

Wishing you a fun day filled with giggles galore & lots of snuggly hugs. 

"In the cookies of life, children are the chocolate chips."

1-2-3 Come Do Some Snowflake Alphabet Activities With Me    

Because my Y5s need to review letters throughout the year, I thought it would be fun to design some snowflake-themed alphabet activities; thus this snowflake letter craft was born.

It's very versatile, as younger kiddos can simply snip & glue their initial.

For added pizzazz have children glue their school photograph inside the small snowflake and write their name on the larger one, then arrange and glue them to their letter craft. 

If your kiddos have lockers, laminate and display there.

I've also included 3 writing prompt worksheet options for older children.

Choose which one is most appropriate for your students, or give them a choice.They attach the worksheet to their initial. 

One option practices the vocabulary associated with letters. "Cc is for Cody and cat, crayon, clown, circle, crown & car."

So that the letter "pops" out, have children choose 2 colors to write their words.

For added pizzazz have them draw and color a picture of one of the words. 

Another writing prompt option, "I am unique like a snowflake!" helps students get to know a bit more about their classmates.

I find that children really enjoy sharing about themselves, so filling in the blanks on this worksheet (favorite color, food, animal etc.) is an especially fun activity for them.  When everyone is done, have them "show & share" their completed project.  

The 3rd writing prompt option, is also a fill-in-the-blank worksheet which revolves around their letter and name, and practices counting.  

Since all of the worksheets are so different, you could easily stretch this activity over several days doing all 3 prompts.

Completed projects make interesting & awesome wintry bulletin boards too.

I've included a "Letters are 'snow' much fun!" poster for the center of your display.

Teachers can also assign a letter to each student then hang the completed alphabet cards up as a winter border, or use them as large flashcards. 

These could also be collected, collated and made into a class-made, wintry alphabet book.

Introduce the craftivity with my snowflake “Hush!” poem. So that the poem easily transitions into the activity, I added another stanza on a separate poster: "We made our time together, snowing blowing better, making a snowflake letter!"

I’ve provided one in color, which can also be part of your bulletin board display, as well as a BW version for students to color, take home and read to their families.

The poem is packed with Dolch sight words and offers a nice rhyming review and easy way to include the poetry genre into your lessons.

* Besides the snowflake letter writing prompt craftivity, there’s also a Venn diagram compare & contrast activity, and a set of lovely snowflake cards perfect for sorting, patterning, or playing a Memory Match game with.

* For more letter practice, I’ve included 2 sets of snowflake-themed, upper & lowercase letter cards, along with a 4-page tip list of what you can do with them, including games like “What’s Missing?”, “Hidden Letter” and “Kaboom!”.

* There’s also a set of snowflake alphabet puzzles, plus a “How many words can you make using the letters in snowflake?” worksheet, with a 111-word answer key.

* The “I Spy a Letter!” game sheets are a quick, easy & fun way to whole group assess upper or lowercase letters.

* The 6 bonus worksheets are nice for early finishers, homework or a sub tub.

* Another super-fun way to practice letters and whole group assess, is with the snowflake slider craftivity.

There’s a strip for uppercase letters, and another for lowercase.

I have my students choose 2 different color highlighters, so that they can trace the letters in an ABAB pattern.

To play the assessment game, call out a letter.  Students pull their slider strip up or down 'til they locate that letter in the "window" of their snowflake, then hold it up. 

You can see at a glance who is having difficulty.  My students absolutely LOVE making and collecting sliders, so we do one each month featuring a seasonal theme that practices a variety of standards.

Woo hoo! There are two featured FREEBIES today. The first one is a quick, easy & fun snowflake craftivity that your kiddos will really enjoy doing with their families. 

Completed projects make an awesome bulletin board.  My students love pointing out their family's picture, which is especially nice for preschoolers who often miss their moms during the day. 

The next one is a "Shapely Snow Angels" emergent reader booklet featuring 2D shapes.  I hope you find it useful. 

Well that's it for now. Today's the perfect day to putz with more snowflake activities, as zillions of them are dancing in the breeze outside my office window. 

Wishing you a snuggly day, filled to the brim with fun.

           "Snowflakes may be delicate and fragile, but look what they can do when they stick together!"

20 pages.

Review the ug word family with this hot chocolate mug craft.  Completed projects make a sweet winter bulletin board.  (For that finishing touch, have children glue their photo to the center of the snowflake.) If students write the words on the back, then punch a hole in the handle and suspend from the ceiling.

1-2-3 Come Do A Flurry Of Word Family Activities With Me

It's snowing right now and I'm so in the mood for more! My Y5's loved our January snow-themed activities, so I decided to incorporate some word family work with a snowflake theme.  I hope you enjoy today's FREEBIE, which fits in nicely with Daily 5 word work.  Completed projects make an awesome winter bulletin board too.

There are 4 large snowflake patterns. Run them off and give your students a choice. 

There are also 70 word family snowflake cards, with 9 on a page for quick printing.

Choose the word family cards you want your students to practice, toss them in a container and have each student pick one. 

They write that word family in the center of their snowflake.  One of the facts that my kiddos learn about snowflakes is that although each one is unique, they all have six sides. 

For this reason, you can choose to keep things simple and have your students think of just six words for their word family, or challenge older students to think of more.

I've included a variety of samples you can share with your students.

If you want them to practice alphabetizing, have children write their words on a sheet of scratch paper, alphabetize the words and then write them in alphabetical order on their snowflake, starting at the top and writing clockwise. 

I've included a list of 70 word families, which has an alphabetical list of example words for each one. (This is a pretty comprehensive list, as I've included 987 words appropriate for school. ) 

You can share this list with your students if they become stuck, or if you want them to write more than six words on their snowflake.  To build vocabulary, have children look up any words that they are unfamiliar with. 

For more word work, there's a word family bookmark template.  Students fill in the word family you want them to work on. 

After they jot down as many words as they can think of, brainstorm as a whole group and write the words on the board. 

Afterwards, students return to their seats and update their list.  Have students save their word family bookmarks. 

When you're done with word families, have students organize the bookmark pages in alphabetical order then add the cover and staple.

There's also a worksheet where you fill in the amount of words and sentences you want your students to write that incorporate the word family words. 

Click on the link to view/download the Snowflake Word Families packet.

That's it for today.  I'm off to go play in the snow!  My poodle pup, Chloe, LOVES scampering through the sparkles.  Wishing you a fun-filled and relaxing day.  

"Advice is like snow - the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper in [it] sinks into the mind." -Samuel Taylor Coleridge

1-2-3 Come Do Some Martin Luther King Activities With Me

Are you doing anything special for Martin Luther King Day?  I’ve been thinking about this man and the era I grew up in.  I’m in awe of the bravery it took for him to overcome injustice, while forgiving the people that were grossly unjust.

This year, we are celebrating his inspiring  accomplishments on Monday, January 20th, in the year of Nelson Mandela’s death, whose trial in 1963 was 50 years ago, as well as the 50th anniversary of JFK’s assassination.   It's also the 60th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision by the US Supreme Court, which desegregated public schools.

Although these are national headlines, I think it is sad that today’s generations are relatively clueless, as to what life was like before these individuals and historic events changed the world we live in.

Because of this, I think it’s extremely important to teach a bit of history and take students on a “Back to the Future” ride in time. To help you do this, I compiled a list of 95-Interesting Fast Facts About Martin Luther King.

I enjoyed wading through more than 40 websites and reading over 20 children's books + a few biographies and then fact-checked discrepancies.  I thought I knew quite a bit, but learned so many more amazing things!

Did you know that Martin's birth certificate has his name down as Michael, or that he skipped 9th and 12th grade and went to college at the age of 15?  Read through the pages, highlight what you feel is relevant and appropriate for your kiddo's, and then share:  95-Interesting Fast Facts About Martin Luther King.

Another way to make the 60's real for your students is to have them watch some brief videos about MLK’s life and listen to a portion of his infamous  “I Have A Dream” speech.  Click on the link for a list of short Martin Luther King Jr. videos on YouTube.   Click on this link for footage of his peaceful march on Washington.

Start the day off by leaving a Happy Martin Luther King Day bookmark on your students' desks.  I designed 7 for you to choose from. 

You can also use them as incentives and pass them out as children complete tasks.  Challenge them to collect all seven to share with their friends. Martin Luther King Day Bookmarks.

Have your students complete their own personal MLK KWL, then gather children together to fill in the larger KWL for MLK.

After your studies, have students complete their KWL by writing in what they learned.

Now it's time for a story.  Simply and easily introduce the concept of discrimination and diversity by reading several books. 

Click on the link for my 24 all-time favorite books for Martin Luther King Day.

These are tried and true resources, to help little ones wrap their heads around complex concepts, and really helped my Y5's comprehend the hard-to-understand stuff.  Martin Luther King Day bibliography. 

While researching, I also found a short animated clip over at BrainPop, that even early elementary students will understand. This is a wonderful site for children. 

The National Georgraphic site for kids has an excellent photographic time line of MLK.

After reading some stories and watching a few videos your students can take a short online MLK quiz.

Diversity is a relatively new word for a lot of students. Helping them understand that we are all different, yet we are all also the same, is a great way to explain things. 

The people over at Kids Activites Blog,  suggest comparing a brown chicken egg to a white one.  They look different on the outside, but what happens when you crack them open? Students discuss how they are exactly the same on the inside. 

You could also do this with M&M's. Have students suck the colored candy coating off, then stick out their tongue to check things out, or simply cut one in half.

An excellent book to read about diversity is Sesame Street's We Are Different,  We Are The Same by Bobbi Jane Kates.  The rhyming format makes it a wonderful read aloud:  "We're different.  Our noses are different. We are the same.  Our noses are the same.  They breathe and sniff and sneeze and whiff."

Finally, making a Venn diagram will also help students "see" similarities and differences, and is a great way to help them organize their thoughts, before they write a comparison-contrast piece.

Children can compare Barrack Obama, the first black President, with MLK or choose the Venn diagram comparing him with Mahatma Ghandi.

It was while at college that MLK started to study Ghandi's passive resistance ideas.  Martin thought this peaceful means of protest, could be successful in changing unfair laws in the United States.

 To futher understand similarities and differences, students can also choose a friend to compare themselves with, and work together to fill in their Venn diagram.  Click on the link to view/download the Martin Luther King Venn digrams.

Thanks for visiting today. I hope you can stop by tomorrow for some more really interesting and fun FREEBIES for Martin Luther King Day.  Feel free to PIN away.

"I have decided to stick with love; hate is too great a burden to bear." -Martin Luther King Jr.