1-2-3 Come Do Some Valentine's Day Activities With Me

I had so much fun making things with candy hearts on Monday,  that I thought I'd make a few more things for today.   If you missed the article, simply scroll down.  As usual, my brain was going a zillion miles an hour of what other things I could do with the candy heart generator.

One of the things I made was a set of candy heart color cards.  The colors are just the 7 in the box, but sometimes its nice to limit things, especially for younger children.  The favorite color and favorite flavor candy heart graphs from yesterday, will compliment these activities. 

Print; laminate and trim to make Memory Match or "I Have; Who Has" games.  I've also included a cover, if you want your students to make an Itty Bitty Candy Heart Color booklet.  Click on the link to view/download the Candy Heart Color Cards.

Contraction activities are often requested, so I thought I'd make a set of those, using 61 contractions. 

Students match the word cards to their contractions.  You could also have children choose several cards and then write what the contraction or words are, depending on which ones they picked.  Click on the link to view/download the Conversation Heart Contraction Cards. 

Switching gears, I wanted to design a few quick Daily 5 word work activities with a valentine theme. 

How many words can you make using the letters in the word valentines?  Challenge your students to work independently or in small groups.  Set a timer, or let teams work on their lists throughout the day. 

I came up with a whopping 312 words!  When everyone has shared their list, share mine and highlight any that students don't know.

Give some to each team and have them look the words up, and then share their results with the class. I've also included several certificates of praise. Click on the link to view/download the Valentine Word Challenge. 

A Valentine Word Search is also a fun way to practice spelling, and build vocabulary.  This one has 22 familiar words associated with Valentine's Day, an answer key, plus several links for students to play valentine word searches online, as well as a list of quite a few sites for them to do valentine crossword puzzles. 

Including a site where they can make up their own crossword puzzle to share with their classmates.  Click on the link to view/download the Valentine Word Find packet.

Finally, I enjoyed making a list of 100+ ways to say "I love you!" in different languages. Challenge your students to each learn 1 or 2. 

These would be fun to include in a valentine card students make for their families, or as a jumpstart to having students do some computer research and find 3-5 facts about one of the countries listed.  Click on the link to view/download 100 Ways To Say "I love you." 

That's it for today.  Thanks for visiting.  Feel free to PIN away. 

"Study without desire, spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in." -Leonardo da Vinci

6 pages.

Help students practice their writing skills and organize their thoughts by using a graphic organizer.  Afterwards, have children use the adjectives they thought of to write several descriptive sentences about mittens.

1-2-3 Come Do Some Thanksgiving Turkey Activities With Me

Come November, it can become a bit boring for kiddo's to review letters, numbers, and various other basic standards.  Yet it's imparative to keep kids practicing these skills, so they retain them, as well as for slower learners to finally be able to "get it" and catch up. 

With that in mind, I designed some "Stuff Me!" turkey worksheets that make reinforcing upper & lowercase letters, counting, adjective use, and sight word recognition more fun. 

There are 6 "Stuff Me" skill sheets, that ask students to stuff their turkey with something.  I've also included a "you-fill-in-the- blank" one, to program with whatever. 

Some other ideas you could do would be: verbs, nouns, sight words, student names, names that begin with T, colors, rhyming words, words that contain the U vowel, spelling words, ways to show a given number etc.

To add to the fun, set a timer for 1 to 2 minutes.  Challenge students to write in as many as they can, before the timer rings.  For addition practice, have students count up their total and write it down on their recording sheet. 

When you have completed as many Stuff Me worksheets as you want, have students add things up to arrive at a grand total. 

Be sure and do these activities along with your students.  You might also want to revisit a worksheet to see if any of your kiddos can beat your totals.  Use the word worksheets, for something different, for your Daily 5 activities.  Click on the link to view/download the "Stuff Me" activity packet. 

Another "turkey-rific" writing activity, I designed several years ago, and just revamped today. My Thanksgiving Dinner, continues to be a favorite among visitors so I wanted to mention it today.

There are several options for the cover of the booklet.  In the first photo I used a large paper plate, glued just the cover to the center then stapled the other pages together and glued them on a second paper plate.

Punch a hole in the side and connect the front and back cover plates with a piece of yarn.  The Dollar Store sells plastic "silverware" that is silver and looks so realistic!  I used glue dots to add that finishing touch. 

If you want things to be a bit more colorful, use decorative fall paper plates.  The Dollar Store also sells these. In the bottom photo I used a small 8 inch plate, put the entire booklet on that and then glued it to a construction paper "placemat" gluing the "silverware" on either side.  

Completed projects make a cool bulletin board.  Use a "real" plastic or fabric tablecloth for your background and scatter on the plates. 

Students read the simple sentence, trace and then write the food word and add end punctuation. 

You may want students to include an adjective when they are writing their sentences.  i.e. I am going to eat warm homemade bread.

Students have the option to put in the word NOT if they won't be eating that food, or create their own picture page of what they will be eating. I've included a blank page template for this.

I've also included a different cover that says: My Favorite Dinner and a blank page template, for students you may have in class that don't celebrate this holiday.  They can make a booklet with their favorite foods, or a special meal that their family makes for one of their celebrations.

When everyone is done, read the booklet aloud, to review concepts of print, stopping to share pages that are different.  The packet also includes 10 traceable word cards.  These are the words that were used in the booklet. 

You can use them for a Daily 5 word work activity to help reinforce word recognition.  Click on the link to view/download the My Thanksgiving Dinner "craftivity".

After you have read a few books about the first Thanksgiving, a nice follow up to the above activity, would be to have students complete a Venn diagram comparing their Thanksgiving celebration with the Pilgrim's. 

There's also a Venn diagram comparing Thanksgiving then and now.  Click on the link to view/download the Thanksgiving Venn Diagram.

My personal favorite book about Thanksgiving is an awesome rhyming story, by Diane Z. Shore. It's entitled: This Is The Feast.  

For more books, click on the link to view/print a list of 70 of my favorite Turkey & Thanksgiving Books.

Thanks for visiting today.  I hope you can strut on over tomorrow for another FREEBIE hot off my computer. 

Feel free to PIN away.   If you'd like to see all of the wonderful-educational FREEBIES, that I can fritter an entire morning away looking for and pinning, click on the heart button to the right of the article.  I've done lots of fun work, so that you don't have to!

"A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge." -Tyrion Lannister

1-2-3 Come Do Some SC Blend Activities With Me!

It's sometimes difficult to find interesting activities for teaching blends.  I decided since I was designing scarecrow items, I'd make some for the SC blend.

To introduce the SC blend, set a one-minute timer; challenge students to write down as many SC words as they can think of, before the timer rings.  I've included a worksheet for this, as well as one for how many words students can make using the letters in the word scarecrow.

The SC Word Blend packet includes 50 words that begin with the SC blend.  There's an anchor chart alphabetically listing them, + separate word cards you can put on your word wall or use for flashcards, alphabetizing, vowel sorting, or Memory Match and "I have; who has?" games. 

Combine them with the 50 SC pocket cards for  more activities.  The pocket cards feature dashed SC letters at the beginning of the word.  Students can trace them with a red dry erase marker. 

Add the scarecrow "Kaboom!" cards to make games even more fun. See the tip list of what to do with word cards to find out the directions.

I find that simply writing the words helps reinforce word recognition and usage.  So that this is not a tedious or boring activity, students can write the words in their own SC blend word book.

Encourage students to look up definitions for words that are new to them and include them.  There's a cover and recording page.  To make printing easier, I made 2 on a page. 

Another way to record words, is via the bookmark.  As students learn words they can add them to their list. 

There are also several worksheets, where students trace, write and alphabetize the words, fill in the SC blend to make words, as well as use the words to fill in the blanks to complete simple sentences. 

For more writing practice, there's a story-starter:  "No matter how hard Scarface, the scarecrow, tried to be scary, he just wasn't!" 

Encourage students to use as many SC blend words as makes sense; underlining them as they go.  Who incorporated the most?

Any of these activities would be great Daily 5 options, for the word work or writing portions.

This SC blend packet will be FREE for an entire year.  After that, it will become part of my whopping 184-page Common Core Scarecrow packet, in my TpT shop. Click on the link to pop on over.

If you're looking for more blend activities, click on the link to pop on over to that section of the site, where you can grab lots more FREEBIES.

I also spent some time searching YouTube for cute video clips reviewing the SC blend.  The only one I found worth taking a look at, was a 2-minute animated clip.  Click on the link above to take a look. 

Thank you for visiting today. I design and blog every day, so do stop by tomorrow to see the newest free items.  You may PIN anything you like. 

If you'd like to take a look at all of the wonderfully educational items that I spend way too much time pinning, click on the heart button to the right of the blog.  I have an entire board of word-related activities.

"Children should be allowed the time to enjoy learning to play, for it will definitely lead to playing to learn." 

1-2-3 Come Review The Alphabet With Me.

I like to do "regular routine" stuff with a different theme each month.  Even tho it's the "same old-same old" things are kept fresh and interesting by simply tweeking them for the seasons.  With that in mind, I designed 20 Letter of the Day anchor charts.  There are some for each month as well as a few extra's for popular themes.

If you’d like to use these each year, print, laminate and clip to your white board changing things up each month.  This is also a nice activity to use as a review if you post it on your calendar board.

Another option is to not laminate the pages and have children fill in the information.  When the page is complete, add it to your Letter of the Day binder. (I've included a cover for this. )

When you have done all 26 letters, put this student-made booklet in your classroom library.

Occasionally, you may want to run a page off for your students to work on for Daily 5 Word Work.

It's easy to make this a part of your morning routine, job chart, or calendar time. Using a dry erase marker, write the upper and lowercase letters in the boxes.  You can show correct formation of the letters, or choose a student to do so.

Ask students, “What sound does the letter make?”  Say the sound several times.  Ask them if they know any words that begin with that sound?  Write the words in the appropriate boxes.  Have students look at your word wall to see if they can find any more to add to the list.  Another question could be,  "Is this letter a vowel or a consonant?"

Make it personal, by also asking, "Do any classmates have a name that starts with that letter?"  You can either write their name on the paper or have the child with that name come up and write it. 

Choose another child to circle the letters in the “Find it” section. This is a good time to point to each letter and say the letter or sing the alphabet song.  Click on the link to view/download the Letter of the Day Packet.

If you're looking for more alphabet activities, click on the link to zip on over to that section of our site to grab some more FREEBIES.

Thanks for visiting today.  I design and blog daily so I hope you can stop by tomorrow to check out the newest FREEBIES.  Feel free to PIN anything.  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 wonderful-educational items, that I spend way too much time pinning, click on the heart button to the right of the blog.  I have an entire board on just alphabet stuff.

"The life you live is the lesson you teach." -Unknown

19 pages. Common Core State Standards: RF.K1a, RF.K1c, RF.K3c, L.K2a, L.K2b This booklet will help your students identify winter clothing words and the order clothes should be put on to get ready to go outside.

Word Power!

I know the year is at an end, but I just dreamed up Bird Words and am so excited.  Hopefully you will be too, and can implement this program for next year. 

I just had to blog about it today, because this 93-page packet, makes teaching word families simple and easy for you,  and lots of fun for your kiddo's!

The Toucan will help make your students Can-Do Word Wizard Kids. These lessons plug in perfectly with your Word Work for Daily 5 activities too.

Students stay organized and keep everything in a neat folder for easy access!

The packet includes:

• A toucan Poster
• 34 word family header cards.
• 283 traceable word cards derived from the word family root prefixes.
• 5 Word Family apple word art "We're Studying Word Famiies!": posters/anchor charts.
• These can also be used as a cover for students' folders.
• (See the photo above for how these 1st 4 things are set up on your word family wall.)
• A blank set of cards for you to program with other word families.
• 34 "Trace and Write" worksheets that cover the 283 word family words.
• Covers to make the traceable word cards into Itty Bitty booklets
• A list of other things you can do with the cards including how to play the game Kaboom
• Kaboom bomb cards
• A self recording checklist of word families covered +
• 2 certificates of praise.

 Click on the link to view/download Word Family Word Bird Packet

 A perfect compliment to this packet is the Word Family Letter Wands!

Your students will have fun making "magic wands" out of 5 Popsicle sticks by simply putting a consonant on the front and back of each tip.

Words will "pop" out as they place the point in front of the words on their paper.

• Students write any words that appear on their recording sheet.
• The student with the most words when the timer rings receives a sticker on their sheet.
• As an alternative, have students think up silly nonsense words and then define them.
• For example, Zad, a friendly alien from the planet Zador.
• Students can keep this practice sheet and their "magic letter wands" in the above folders.

Click on the link to view/download Magic Word Family Wands 

Be sure and pop in tomorrow for more teaching tips.

Do you have a word family activity you'd like to share? I'd enjoy hearing from you. diane@teachwithme.com or feel free to post a comment here, especially if you use one of my ideas. 

PIN away if you find something you feel would be helpful to others.  I think sharing is so important. 

May all your days be magical!