1-2-3 Come Do Some Spider Stuff With Me!

Even though I am absolutely creeped out by spiders, I LOVED teaching our spider unit to my Y5's.  These spiders were cute and not creepy. The reason I hate real ones, is a huge pine spider dropped from the ceiling onto my shoulder, when I was lying on a cot at our cottage.  I was only 5, but I still remember it. Yikes!

Anything I design with shapes seems to be downloaded quite often, so I decided to whip together some 2D flat shape activities, featuring some sweet spiders. 

These lessons are quite versatile.  Use them for independent math centers, table top lessons, a Daily 5 option, review, game, or even a whole-group assessment!

Inky is a quick and easy "craftivity."  Students trace, cut and glue their spider slider together.  Add some wiggle eyes for extra pizzazz and have students trace and color the shapes.  Cut slits and insert the shape slider. 

Teacher calls out a shape and children slide their strip up and down 'til they locate Inky's "tongue."  If you want to whole-group assess, have students show you their answer. 

Click on the link to view/download the spider slider shape craftivity.

Peek-A-Eek is another "craftivity" that you can simply make for yourself and share as a read-aloud to review the basic 2D-flat shapes.  

I used a file folder to make my easy-reader sturdier. 

If you want your kiddo's to have their own, simply trim some folders and have them glue the cover (circle web page) to the front, and the hexagon web page to the inside. 

Make a fluffy spider, by gluing a black pom pom to the center of the hexagon shape.  This is the last page.  

Trim and assemble the rest of the pages.  Cut the "web window" shapes out so that the spider will peek through all of the pages.  Click on the link to view/download Peek-A-Eek the spider shape booklet.

Spin A Spider is also quick and easy.  Your little ones will enjoy taking turns spinning.  Whatever shape they spin, they color or bingo dot the matching  spider on their web. 

I've included spider cards with the shapes as well as the shape words on them.  Laminate and trim into puzzles. 

Besides putting together a puzzle, use the cards for a Memory Match, or "I Have; Who Has?" game.  There's also a "Match the spider shape to the shape word" activity.  Students can use the spinner to fill in this worksheet as well.   Click on the link to view/download the Spin A Spider game packet.

Finally, I made a Spider Shape game, that matches the other themed ones that have been so popular. 

Run off the shape tiles on a variety of colors of construction paper; laminate and trim.  Students place the tile onto the matching spider card. Click on the above link to view/download. 

Thanks for visiting today.  I design and try to blog daily, so I hope you can pop  by tomorrow to grab a few more FREEBIES. If there's something you need, drop me an e-mail with your request and I'll see what I can do: diane@teachwithme.com

  "To LOVE what you do and feel that it matters-what could be more fun?" -Katherine Graham.  (I am so blessed to be doing what I so enjoy! I hope my endeavors make your life a little easier and teaching even more fun. )

10 pages.

You can make just a copy for yourself and use it to review the basic 2D flat shapes with your students, or run off copies of the shapes and have students cut and glue them into a booklet of their own.  To make mine sturdier, I used a trimmed file folder.  Students cut the different "web window" shapes out,  so that their pom pom spider, that's on the last page, pops though.

5 pages.

Reinforce the 2D flat shapes as well as shape words with this fun game.  Students take turns spinning.  Whatever shape they land on, they color or bingo dot the matching shaped spider on their web.  A set of shapely spiders and their shape words are included in this packet. 

4 pages.

Review shapes with this fun Spider Shape game.  Run off the shape tiles on a variety of colors of construction paper.  Students place a tile to the matching shape spider.  This makes a nice independent math center.  I've included a blank set of spiders for you to program with whatever.

3 pages.

Your students will enjoy making "Inky" the spider slider.  Use him as a review, or whole-group assess by calling out a shape and having students hold up Inky when they slide to it.  Colors can also be reinforced, as well as spatial directions: Put your spider slider in your right hand; put Inky above your head, under your arm etc.

1-2-3 Come Do Some Pumpkin Stuff With Me!

Our pumpkin theme was one of my Y5's favorites.  We especially enjoyed all of the fabulous pumpkin books available.  I'd always introduce a theme with a selection of interesting books, many of which, my little ones asked to have read over and over again.  Click on the link for a copy of my October bibliography. 

Songs were also a special part of our day and a great way to get the wiggles out.  

One of our favorites was Pumpkin Round and Fat.  I have a huge collection of puppets that made reading and lessons extra special, so I often helped my kiddo's make a puppet-manipulative of their own. 

When I Googled this poem, to get some ideas, I found a sweet Popsicle puppet idea over at Teacher Mama.  This is my version: Click on the link to view/download the Jack-O-Lantern Popsicle stick puppet. 

I've had several requests for some coin activities involving pumpkins, so I dreamed up an easy-reader entitled, Pumpkin Payment.  Besides reinforcing the penny, nickel, dime and quarter, it also reviews all of the basic 2D shapes kiddo's are required to know, including that crazy hexagon.

Children trace and write the coin words, coin values, as well as the shape words.  They trace the shape and then draw one of their own on the pumpkin.  Finally, they cut and glue the appropriate coin(s) to the matching numbered boxes. 

When everyone has completed their booklet, read it as a whole group to reinforce concepts of print.  Click on the link to view/download the easy-reader booklet, Pumpkin Payment.

For more math extensions, with a 10-frame format, I think your students will enjoy 1-2-3 Count Pumpkins With Me.  

• Students read, trace and write the number and number word. 
• They see a "thing" in a sentence and say it. 
• They spy the number in a sequence and circle it.
• They X-out that many boxes or use a bingo dot marker or stamp. 
• They cut and glue the set/group to the matching numbered box. 

Another quick booklet, that would work well for a Daily 5 activity is the easy-reader Pumpkin On A Vine.  Students read, trace and write the simple sentences and then cut & glue the pictures to the matching numbered boxes.

Finally, Let's Count Pumpkins  covers quite a few Common Core State Standards which includes an easy reader where students read, trace and write the numbers, + circle them in a sequence. 

Children circle capital letters, add end punctuation to the simple sentences, + count the pumpkins in the group/set and color the puffy numbers as well.

This pumpkin math packet also includes trace and write worksheets for counting from 0 to 120, + skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's, and 10's. There are 2 sets of pumkin number cards to use for sequencing, games, and making equations using the matching math symbol cards.  

You can practice counting forwards and backwards with the pumpkin bookmark that is also included in the packet.  Use this as a whole-group assessment tool too. 

Give each child a bookmark and a candy pumpkin.  Students trace the numbers.  Teacher calls out a number and students put their pumpkin on that number.   You can tell at a glance who is struggling and make a note of it.  As a special treat, students can eat their candy pumpkin when the lesson is over.   Click on the link to view/download the Let's Count Pumpkins math packet. 

Thanks for visiting today.  I design and try to blog daily, so I hope you can stop by tomorrow for even more FREEBIES.  Feel free to PIN anything from my site.  I think sharing truly makes all of our lives easier.  To take a look at all of the helpful educational items that I PIN click on the heart button to the right of the blog.

"Knowledge and understanding are ife's faithful companions who will never be untrue to you.  For knowledge is your crown and understanding your staff, and when they are with you, you can possess no greater treasures."  -Kahlil Gibran

3 pages.

Review shapes in a fun way with this "Spin to Win" Columbus Day game.

1-2-3 Come Study Shapes and Graphs With Me

Because I incorporated shapes into a themed picture, you are able to cover several standards, while students practice their graphing skills.  Besides the 4 seasonal graphs, there are answer keys included, so you have a sample to show students. Point to the various shapes on the sample, and have children identify them.

Use the discussion questions, to help kiddo's further understand data collection and analysis.  I tried to think of a variety of themed-shapes for fall, so there's an apple graph, a pumpkin graph, a leaf graph and a spider graph.

I design quite a bit from teacher requests, so if there's a theme you study in the fall, that you'd like a graph for, simply shoot me an e-mail and I'll see what I can whip together. diane@teachwithme.com

Click on the link to view/download the Shapely Fall Graphs packet.

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If you'd like to take a look at all of the wonderful-educational items I pin, click on the heart button to the right of the blog.  I'm grateful to all of the teachers and parents out there who share their creativity, to help children have fun learning.

"The task of the modern educator, is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts." -C. S. Lewis

5 pages.

Reinforce your 2D-flat shapes, with this 1- to -1 correspondence game.  Students place their shape tile on the matching  pumpkin.  Make extra sets to play a Memory Match game, or "I Have; Who Has?"   Also includes a blank set of pumpkins for you to program with whatever.

Everything's Coming Up PUMPKINS!

I LOVE fall.  It was one of my favorite times of the year with my Y5’s.

We studied so much science in the month of October: leaves and how they changed color, because they lost their chlorophyll; pumpkins: their life cycle and if they sank or floated, when submerged in water; and spiders spinning their lovely webs.

Dreaming up all sorts of hands-on craftivities to teach these concepts, as well as incorporating a multitude of report card standards and subjects, was always a challenge that I enjoyed.

At the end of the month, when we graphed our favorites, pumpkins rolled into the top spot year after year. Nationwide teachers across the US, spend a lot of time in the pumpkin patch reading, writing and diddling with numbers, so I wanted to offer up a nice variety of activities.

Pumpkin Art and Activities was my first pumpkin packet. It’s 23 pages and includes 6 pumpkin projects, that help reinforce report card skills and standards.

In 5 Little Pumpkins, I revamp an old-fashioned favorite and turn the rhyme into a Pumpkin Paper Plate Puppet Theater.

It’s a fun way to review ordinal numbers, counting, and rhyme.

I like using recycled “stuff” to make a “craftivity.”  Using newspapers for art paper provides a cool effect, when students use orange highlighters to color over the newsprint.

Newsprint Pumpkins are a unique way to review shapes and letters as well as name recognition and spelling. Have students circle all of the letter P’s that they can find for even more practice.

Making a 3-D Pumpkin Patch Mobile is a wonderful culmination to your life cycle of a pumpkin, science studies.

Click on the link to view/download Pumpkin Art and Activities

For even more fall fun, your little "punkins" can practice all sorts of skills and report cards standards in the 42 - page Pumpkin Art and Activities II packet.

Sing the ABC song,  practice counting and  verbal acuity, by identifying shapes, letters and numbers, with the pumpkin slider (pictured), just one of many pumpkin-themed activities in this part two packet.

Click on the link to view/download Pumpkin Art and Activities II.

Thanks for visiting today.  Do you have a pumpkin idea you could share with us? I’d enjoy hearing from you. diane@teachwithme.com or leave a comment here.

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“Education is hanging around ‘til you’ve caught on.” –Robert Frost