From Seeds To Pumpkin Pie -- Life Cycle Craftivity
I LOVE teaching hands-on "craftivities." They are wonderful vehicles that get students motivated and excited to learn.
They involve a multitude of senses as I incorporate all sorts of skills, report card standards and subjects.
From Seeds To Pumpkin Pie is an example of how I do this.
The front of the pumpkin reviews all of the basic shapes, including the hexagon, as students design their Jack-O-Lantern. (K.G.2)
Students can draw them on their orange circle or give them an assortment of the various shapes, by pre-cutting them out of black construction paper. I would opt for the latter with Y5’s or younger.
I’ve found that little ones are often frustrated with reproducing shapes, particularly triangles, so they make a dot here and there and put a smile on their pumpkin face, which defeats the purpose of the lesson.
This way you’ll get all sorts of unique Jack-O-Lanterns with hexagons, ovals, triangles etc.
Things are also done in a short amount of time, yet students are still getting a good fine motor skill work out.
Listening and following directions is imperative to assembling their project, which can be whole-group assessed.
The back of the pumpkin converts into a pie and is divided into quarters and shows the life cycle, so you’ll be teaching science.
A cycle is done in a specific order, so you can review ordinal numbers as well. i.e., first we plant seeds, second we’ll see a sprout, third the yellow flower will appear etc.
The picture is divided into 1/4ths so it’s perfect to introduce or review fractions (Common Core math standard1.G.3) with first graders.
That’s specifically why I added the 2 skill sheets with the pumpkin pie and stem activities, so 1st grade students can work on partitioning circles (pumpkin pies) and rectangles (pumpkin stems) into two and four equal shares; describing the shares using the words halves, fourths & quarters. (1.G.3)
Click on the link to view/download From Seeds To Pumpkin Pie
I hope your little “punkins” enjoy this hands-on craftivity, while they’re learning Common Core.
Their self-esteem will be built as they see their work dangling from the ceiling in the hallway too. What a treat!
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“Work is love made visible.” –Kahlil Gibran
Getting To The Core Is A Real Treat And Not All That Tricky With This Cute October Booklet
My Trick Or Treat easy reader, is a fun way to reinforce the Common Core Standards: RF.K1a (Following words from left to right, top to bottom and page by page.) RF.K1c (Understanding that words are separated by spaces in print.) L.K2a (Capitalizing the pronoun I and the 1st word in each sentence.) and L.K2b (Being able to recognize and include ending punctuation.)
Simply review these standards with your students and point them out as you explain the booklet.
Students read, trace and write the sentence. On the first page they illustrate what they will be for Halloween.
On the following pages, children color the sight word and then trace the letters, then cut and glue them to the word box.
This “cut and glue” aspect of the booklet is a terrific activity for word work for Daily 5.
If you want to expedite things, skip cutting and gluing the booklet together.
Instead, simply have your students write the letters in the boxes and use the cut and glue pages as worksheets for Table Top, or Daily 5 at a later date.
When choosing sight words, I incorporated many words from the Dolch word lists when I wrote this easy reader booklet. This covers the Common Core State Standard: RF. K3c
I've also included a page of manipulatives for you to laminate and use Velcro or magnet strip so that the booklet can become an interactive read aloud that you can later sequence with your students.
To incorporate math, tally your students' favorite Halloween candy and graph the results on the bar graph provided.
Traceable flashcards are also included + a certificate of praise when children can read the booklet independently.
Click on the link to view/download My Trick or Treat Easy Reader Booklet.
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“Children need models rather than critics.” –Joseph Joubert
Halloween Triangles
One of the shapes that my Y5’s had a bit of difficulty with was a triangle; not sure why, but more often than not that was the toughie.
They often enjoyed playing “I Spy” and trying to find a shape in the real world, so I decided to think of some fun triangle shapes that they might see on Halloween, and the booklet, Halloween Triangles was born.
I introduced the easy reader ike this:
“Uh Oh! It's Halloween and these spooky triangles can be seen! Count them if you dare!”
Your students will enjoy reading, tracing, writing, counting, and coloring the Halloween triangles.
They’ll have fun during "Tally Time" and then afterwards, graph childrens opinions of what triangle character was their favorite.
I’ve also included 10 traceable word flashcards for students to practice or cut out and use with other sets, to make new sentences.
Great for "word work" during Daily 5 activities.
This is a cute rhyming booklet, (rhyming is a Common Core Standard) that packs in a lot of skills, as it incorporates math with reading in a fun way.
Click on the link to view/download Halloween Triangles.
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“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it you will land among the stars.” –Les Brown
Whenever I introduced math concepts to my Y5's I liked to make it hands on.
We played lots of games and I used manipulatives whenever I could.
As one of my students was fond of saying: "We didn't even know we was learnin' cuz we was havin' so much fun!"
I created I See Sum Fall Puzzles so that little ones would especially enjoy solving simple addition problems in a more creative way than simply looking at them on a worksheet.
Putting puzzles together was also a report card standard, so these would do double-duty.
Students solve addition problems by cutting and gluing the puzzle piece answers to the appropriate equations.
This packet includes 11 fall puzzles + a blank template to program your own equations, so you can also do subtraction, multiplication and division.
Several of the other puzzles are also without numeric answers in the boxes, so they can be programed as well to meet other Common Core Standards.
You can laminate the puzzles and store them in Ziploc baggies, using them as math centers each year, or run off individual puzzles for each student, and use them as worksheets.
Have students arrange pieces on the equation sheets before they glue them down, making sure the picture "looks correct" before they glue pieces down, to make sure they have the right answers.
You can also switch things up a bit and challenge students to program their own puzzles and then exchange worksheets with another student.
What a fun way to practice math skills!
Do you have a math game your students enjoy that you could share with us? I'd enjoy hearing from you. diane@teachwithme.com or leave a comment here.
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Click on the link to view/download I See Sum Fall Puzzles
"Encouragement is oxygen to the soul." George M. Adams
In 1492 Columbus Sailed The Blue, So What Are You Planning To Do?
Are you looking for a few activities to do Monday for Columbus Day?
I have a day's worth of fun-filled activities to help you celebrate and teach all sorts of report card standards at the same time.
There's something for everyone here, that involves all sorts of subjects and skills.
The 42-page Columbus Day packet includes a geography book, 3 art projects, songs, 2 games, a 2-page easy-reader activity, and all sorts of skill sheets from dot-to-dots (you choose how to count), to a maze, alphabet sort, matching, a cut and glue activity, pinch and poke to a trace to pre-write skill sheet.
Choose what suits your students and staple them together to make a Columbus Day Activity Booklet for your morning Table Top routine.
The ship picture on the left has sails that are 3-Dimensional. Adding students' pictures makes this "craftivity" even more of a keepsake.
I've also included a certificate of praise to pass out at the end of the day.
Click on the link to view/download the Columbus Day packet.
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“Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.” –Abraham Lincoln
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