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Are you looking for a few activities to plug in on Halloween party day, but still want to cover some standards?  Then I think you'll enjoy this ghost-themed packet. 

 1-2-3 Come Make A Multi-Purpose Scarecrow With Me

Since there are so many standards on our plates these days, there never seems to be enough time for everything, let alone a fun seasonal craft that we know our students would enjoy. That's why I spend so much time designing hands-on "craftivities" that revolve around all sorts of standards. 

Because it's so comprehensive, it took me several days to complete this Common Core scarecrow, and even more hours to make a sample of all 11 scarecrows, but it was time well spent, as they turned out so cute, are easy for your kiddos to make, and reinfore the following: 

Upper and lowercase letters, vowels, sc blend, beginning s sounds, matching words with pictures, numbers 0-30, odd and even, skip counting by 2s, 3s, 5s & 10s, shapes, telling time, colors, contractions, number words, color words, compound words, CVC words, and rhyming words.

Completed projects make a wonderful fall bulletin board, or look sweet hanging back-to-back from the ceiling.

To make this extra special, fold a sheet of white construction paper, have students trace their hand and then cut once, to get two hand prints for their scarecrow's "gloves".  I ran yellow construction paper through a shredder to make the "hair". 

Run off the scarecrow's body templates on a variety of colors of construction paper.  Students trim and glue together. 

For more fine motor practice, cut yellow rectangles with a paper cutter.  Have students snip the bottom portion and glue the "hay" to the back of the scarecrow's pant legs, then crumple.

I purposely made these patterns super simple to cut out, but if you think this is too much for PK kiddos, have a room helper trace once and then cut 3-6 shirts and pants out at a time,  leaving just the head for preschoolers to cut out.  

There's a blank head so children can draw their own scarecrow face, as well as a completed template for little ones to color.

 Students make their scarecrow and then trim and glue on the appropriate patches.  The vowel scarecrow is especially versatile, as it not only covers vowels, but shapes and colors too.

For extra practice, when everyone is done, play an "I Spy" game and give students a piece of candy corn to use as a manipulative.  Choose a student to call out a "patch". 

Children locate that letter, number, shape or whatever, cover it with the candy corn, and then raise their hand. 

This is a fun way to practice and review standards, as well as a quick and easy way to whole group assess, as you can see at a glance who is having difficulty. 

I've also included blank patches for you to fill in with whatever, plus ideas and templates to use the number, letter and shape scarecrows for matching games.

i.e. match the lowercase patches to the uppercase letters; match the number word patches to the numbers; and/or match the shapes to the shape words.

For more scarecrow-themed letter fun, click on the link for a set of scarecrow alphabet cards.

The following scarecrows are wonderful for vocabulary building and Daily 5 word work: Carl is the Compound words scarecrow; (Click on the link for an alphabetical list of over 3,000 compound words.)

Connie, is a contraction action scarecrow; (With an alphabetical list of 72 contractions)

Sam, is a scarecrow that loves 37, 3-letter words that begin with S; (CVC practice!)

Scott, is the SC blend scarecrow, with a list of 50 words. The packet also includes an entire SC blend section, with lots more activities.

Sophie, is a scarecrow with 47-picture patches, for simple words starting with the letter S. 

For a quick review, I've also included 4, Ss word, picture posters.

Rodney, is the Rhyme Time scarecrow, with 56 words that rhyme with scare and a list of 274 words that rhyme with crow.

Write the words that rhyme with scare on the front of Rodney, and have children choose some words that rhyme with crow and write them on the back.

In the sample, I chose 24-scare rhyming words and wrote them on the shirt, and then wrote an equal amount of words that rhyme with crow, on the pants.  The alphabetical lists include rhyming words that start with every letter except U & X.  I chose one of each.

Finally, the number scarecrow, has several options and serves double duty.  There are number patches from 0-30, which  I traced in a variety of colors. 

You can make Odd Todd and Even Steven scarecrows (front and back) or put the odd numbers on the top and the even numbers on the bottom.  (See photo.)

For more math number practice, I've also included skip counting patches.  Children can skip count by 2's, 3's, 5's and 10's.  There are matching worksheets in the packet as well, along with number cards, plus number puzzles in color & black and white.  

For more odd and even scarecrow number fun, click on the link to practice numbers from 1-120, in the Scarecrow's Pumpkin Patch packet.

If your kiddos are familiar with that concept, but need to work on matching numbers to their number words, use the Norman & Nancy number scarecrow patterns, with numbers 0-10, along with their matching number word patches.

Glue the numbers on the shirt and the number words on the pants.  For more practice, have students write the words above their matching number patch.

Click on the link to view/download the "craftivity" portion of the Common Core Scarecrow Packet.

This section will be FREE for an entire year!  After that, you can pick up the whopping 184-page jumbo packet in my TpT shop for just $5.95.  Click on the link for Patches, The Standard Scarecrow Craftivities packet to pop on over.

Thanks for visiting today.  I need to unclutter my brain, so we're off to a nearby fall festival.  It's a beautiful autumn-weather day, if the rain just holds out for awhile. 

 "If stars can shine with darkness, so can you." -Unknown

1-2-3 Come Do Some Gingerbread Activities With Me!

Gingerbread activites are like Pinterest; does anyone ever get enough?   My daughter frequently asked me why I "reinvented the wheel" each month, spending hours creating new things, when I already had "a ton." 

The easy answer was, I simply LOVE designing stuff!  I'm always looking to improve, as well as keep things current, fresh and interesting.  There must be quite a few teachers who feel the same, as I continue to get requests for "more-more-more" gingerbread goodies. 

I hope you enjoy the newest FREEBIES on the blog today, plus a few old favorites that you might not have been aware of. 

"I need a glyph!" is probably one of the most frequent e-mail requests that I get.  The gingerbread glyph is very popular.  Glyphs are a great way to get to know your kiddos, at the same time whole group assessing listening & following directions. 

Because each one is so different, they make a cute December bulletin board. If you'd like to see my entire glyph collection, click on the link to zip on over to the Glyph Section of my site. 

Many teachers are also in search of worksheets that help reinforce and review a variety of standards, so that they can use them for practice, whole-group assessing, games, something for "early finishers" to transition to, or homework.

With that in mind, I designed a variety of simple, quick and fun gingerbread-themed worksheets that I think your kiddo's will enjoy. 

Plug a few into your Daily 5 activities or sub folder.   Click on the link to view/download the Gingerbread Worksheet Packet.

One of the most popular stories read in December is The Gingerbread Man.  I enjoy collecting various versions, with different endings.  Introducing story elements by reading a favorite book, is a simple way to grab students' attention.  

Give them a list of things you want them to listen for,  then when they realize where the setting is, they shoot up their hand.  When a new character is introduced, they do it again etc.  This is fun for children and keeps them focussed.

You'll be able to cover quite a few Common Core Standards with The Gingerbread Literacy Packet.  I've included picture cards, a graphic organizer, and a story slider "craftivity"  to help students sequence and retell the story.

The slider is my personal favorite.  I updated this old favorite. Adding "frosting" with puffy paint gives it an "awwww-dorable" finishing touch.

There are also pocket cards, 40 traceable word cards as well as a Venn diagram activity.  Click on the link to view/download The Gingerbread Literacy Packet.

For more Gingerbread Venn diagrams, click on the link for some fun ways to compare and contrast a variety of things. 

The Gingerbread Sentence pack is also great for reviewing the story, as well as practicing end punctuation and capitalization. 

You can use the pocket chart cards for a whole group activity and correct the sentences together, or have students do the individual worksheet.

Click on the link to view/download the Gingerbread Punctuation Packet.

Finally, K-teacher Jill, from Georgia, asked if I had time to make some gingerbread activities that involved colors and color words.  I hope you like them too.  Click on the link to view download the Gingerbread Colors Packet.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away. It's my hope that my efforts bring a smile to your students and more quiet time for you.  I enjoy hearing from my visitors; you can leave a comment below or e-mail me at: diane@teachwithme.com

"Had I but a penny in the world, thou shouldst have it for gingerbread." -William Shakespeare.

Getting To The Core, With Clothing, Specifically--What She Wore!

Mary Wore A Red Dress is another of my favorite back to school books.

It’s a great book for introducing color words to students.

In my “Red Dress Packet” I’ve included 11 color-picture cards to go with the book.  You can pass them out to your students to use as manipulatives when you read the story.

Print and laminate them.  Attach a magnet or piece of Velcro to the back and have students sequence them on your white board or a flannel board to enhance story time.

After the reading, pass out the pieces again and have students retell the story using the manipulatives.  See if they can get them in the proper order.

I’ve also included 2 different class books with two different writing prompts.

One reinforces their name and what they wore to school having them incorporate a describing color word.  “My name is _______________. I wore ______________________ to school.”

The first page begins with the teacher: “I'm the teacher, _____________. I wore _______________ to school."

The other is a take off of Martin’s Brown Bear and asks: “________________ what do you see?” What makes this class book so special is that the teacher glues the students’ first day photograph on the pages and students use describing words to write the sentence.

There’s even a page for the teacher. 

You could also take pictures of the principal, secretary, lunch staff, librarian, playground assistants and anyone else you think students need to be familiar with, and include those in the book, so you can use it as a handy reference tool as well, helping your students become familiar with names as well as faces.

This 38-page packet of fun activities that reinforce color recognition, reading, writing and math skills also includes:

• 10 color-word wall word flashcards with 10 matching color cards +
• Covers to make an Itty Bitty Color-Word Book
• 5 Graphing extensions
• 8 skill sheets including "Rhyme Time" with words that rhyme with dress, shirt, pants and hat.
• "We CAN Tie Our Shoes!" Poster-Roster
• A connect the dots tennis shoe and
• 4 Certificates of Praise for shoe tying

Class book pages are great for your Daily 5 activities, or September writing prompts!

Click on the link to view/download Activities For Mary Wore A Red Dress Packet

Thanks for visiting today.

Feel free to PIN anything you think others might find helpful.

“Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the whole world.” –Albert Einstein