1-2-3 Come Do Some Snowman Craftivities With Me!

I LOVE rip and tear craftivities for little ones.  It's so important to strengthen their finger muscles and tearing strips of paper is an especially fun way to do that. 

Run off my snowman template.  I purposely make these small, so that children don't get tired and bored trying to fill up too big of an area.  Inform students to rip up their strips, putting each color in a pile, before they start to glue. 

This way, they can rub their glue stick over an entire section and simply press those colored pieces on that area.  This expedites the gluing and keeps children's fingers from getting too sticky.  You'll still have a few that will rub glue on that little piece and stick it on that way, which takes a lot longer.

You can do this as a whole-group activity.  While students are at special, lunch or recess, place the strips on their desk/table area, so they can get started when they return. 

You can also do this as an independent center.  When students completed their table top morning lessons, I had special centers the Y5's could transition to.  This really helped children stay on task and focused, as they wanted to make whatever fun thing I had on those TV tray centers.

So that my kiddo's didn't make a huge mess of all the colors of paper strips, I slid the paper in the openings of a plastic basket. 

Another option for rip and tear, is to rip the paper parts and then glue them together like a puzzle. 

I suggest this for Y5's and older, as some of my kiddo's had a hard time figuring out where to tear, while trying to keep their paper folded and stay on the line.  Before hand, demonstrate this. 

In later years, I held up the hat and said, "Do what I do." Doing this activity with step-by-step directions (monkey-see, monkey do) really expedited things.   These look wonderful hung back-to-back from the ceiling. 

In the photograph, they are hung along with our cylinder snowman windsocks.  My hallway was always decorated to the hilt, which was a real self-esteem builder.

These snowmen were also the January page for my Y5's  Rippin' Through The Year  monthly keepsake booklet.   Click on the link to view/download that booklet.  Click on this link to view/download the  Rip & Tear Snowmen packet which includes both kinds.

Another group activity that's great fine motor practice, is "Stuffy." We have a recycled paper box in the teachers’ lounges through out our schools.  The last day we’re in school, before Christmas break, I visited these rooms and loaded up a big black trash bag, with as much paper as I could carry.

If you don’t have a recycled paper box in your school, start one.  These scraps are great to make “shred” and do all sorts of activities with.

When my students came back from vacation, we'd build our own two-snowball snowman out of a couple of white garbage bags.  My Y5’s named him “Stuffy.”  Children sat on our Circle of Friends carpet and crinkled up paper “snowballs.” 

As they got a snowball done, I had them toss it towards our big garbage can that was lined with the white garbage bag.  Every time they made a “bucket” they gave themselves a tally mark, under their name that I’d written on the white board.   If they missed, they simply tried again. 

Afterwards, everyone got a snowman sticker, and the one who made the most “buckets” got a trip to the treasure box.  This is great counting, and tally mark practice, as well as wonderful fine and gross motor exercise too. 

Take the garbage bag out when it’s pretty full and have students continue to stuff ‘til the bag is nice and round.  Make sure the bottom bag is bigger than the “head”.  When you are happy with Stuffy’s size, put your snowman "ball" in the corner of the classroom, so he leans against the wall for support and “build” him from there.

Using duct tape (It’s nice and sticky) put on the head.  Decorate with a real stocking cap and scarf.  Poke a hole on either side and use two rulers as arms. Two paint sticks work well too.  A pair of gloves or mittens, go on each end and wahla (!) your own inside snowman.

Add a construction paper nose, “coal” black eyes and red cherry mouth pieces, + some circles for the buttons; stick them on with duct tape.
Each month I tried to do something that was RECYCLED and Stuffy fit the bill for January.  Click on the link to print Stuffy's directions.

Finally, a simple and quick decoration for your students' lockers is to make the Snowman Name Stacker. 

If you don't have lockers, these look adorable lined up on a hallway wall.  Have your students help you arrange them in alphabetical order, or from tallest to shortest. 

You can make a template, trace once and cut out 3-6 circles at a time, or run off my template on white construction paper and have students cut out their own circles. 

For younger children, especially those with long names, have a 2-3-circle cutting limit and then allow them to add as many pre-cut circles as they need to spell their name.

Demonstrate how to glue just the edge of the "snowball" to another to "build" their vertical snowman stacker. Review vertical and horizontal vocabulary with them, as well as the circle, rectangle and square shapes. 

Give each child a pre-cut black square and rectangle.  Have them glue the shapes together to make a hat to glue to the top of their snowman. 

Using crayons or markers students draw and color a face.  Wiggle eyes are also fun. You could cut their school photo in the shape of a heart, and have them glue that to their hat as well.

Afterwards, students write a letter on each of the belly snowballs, so that they spell their name.  If you have the time, go over their letters with Elmer's glue and have them sprinkle on glitter. 

As a math extension, graph how many letters in students' names, or which letters were used the most. Add up everyone's totals for a grand total of how many letters for the entire class. Click on the link to view/download the Snowman Name Stacker.

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"Getting an inch of snow, is like winning 10 cents in the lottery." -Bill Waterson

Ho-Ho-Hoping Your Holidays Are Filled With Love & Laughter

Just popping in to wish all of our visitors a blessed Christmas Day. 

"We wish you a Merry Christmas.  We wish you a Merry Christmas.  We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!"

1-2-3 Come Do Some New Year "Craftivities" With Me!

One of my favorite childhood memories  was going over to my Grandma Lydia's house for a sleepover with my twin sister Kathie.  "Grama" was one of the most influential people in my life and a big reason I enjoy art and reading so much. 

She was a teacher too, back in the day when "rules for teachers" included not wearing a dress that showed your ankles and lighting the pot-bellied stove in the classroom, so she ragaled us with all sorts of wonderful stories, and always had and endless supply of craft ideas to amuse us.  

On one particular Saturday morning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, it was pouring the proverbial cats and dogs.  Grama decided it was a great day to make something, so she hauled out a roll of "butcher block" paper. 

I laid very still on the long sheet of white paper as grama traced the outline of my entire body.  Then she did the same thing for my sister. 

Even though we were barely 6-years-old, I still vividly remember designing a lovely "frock" for my "shadow" to wear, complete with rings on all of my fingers that sported hot-pink nail polish. 

As the rain pelted against the windows and thunder boomed, we happily colored away.  I highly recommend this activity.  I know it's a lot of bulletin board paper, but the memory will be lasting. Just think of the cuteness of your paper "students" lining the hallway walls too! 

For writing practice, have students label the parts of their body picture.  Before hand, have children help you make a list of all the parts of their body that can be seen on their picture.  Write them on the board, to help them with spelling.

If you're not up for a full-body experience, how about just your kiddo's hand.  Have them choose a partner to trace each other's, and then fill in the details. 

I've included a template, so these can become your first writing prompt for January.  Have students include the year as well as their school picture. 

This makes an interesting and fun Daily 5 activity.  Click on the link to view/download the High Five's For A Happy New Year "craftivity."

Be sure and make a sample to show your kiddo's.  My Y5's always enjoyed learning about me.  I added a bit more pizzazz by gluing on flat-backed rhinestones to my "rings."

After students share, mount their work on a variety of colors of construction paper and sprinkle over a wintery-printed bulletin board. 

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  My "Pin it" button is on the menu bar.

I design and blog daily, so I hope you can stop by again tomorrow for the newest FREEBIES that will hopefully be memory making!

"Wiggle fast; now wiggle slow; let's learn about our body from head to toe." -Unknown

2 pages.

Looking for a quick and easy bulletin board for January, or need an interesting winter writing prompt?  Run off copies of the New Year's resolutions template on white construction paper.  Students complete the writing prompt, then trace their hand, color it, and add some rings decorated with flat-backed rhinestones.  For that extra bit of pizzazz, glue their photo somewhere on their work, and mount on their favorite color of construction paper.

5 pages.

Packet includes 3 mitten Venn diagrams including 1 where students compare and contrast 2 animal characters from the story The Mitten.

1-2-3 Come Read The Mitten and Do Mitten Craftivities With Me!

I LOVE the story The Mitten by Jan Brett.  It was also a favorite of my Y5's.  Her illustrations are nothing short of spectacular. 

To see her at work in her studio, click on this YouTube video link.  It's only 3 minutes long and very interesting.  Jan Brett video

A huge thank you to Jan for all of the great ideas on her site: janbrett.com  If you haven't browsed through her site, it's a must see. 

She has all sorts of information about her books, along with lots of activities and graphics to go with them. 

Since The Mitten is such a popular story with teachers, I decided to design some things to go along with it. 

The Mitten Activity packet is chock full of all sorts of fun "stuff"  and includes:

• Move Over Please, So I Won't Freeze easy reader booklet, which reinforces lots of Common Core, especially ordinal numbers and verbs. 
  

Students underline the verbs, circle the capital letters, add end punctuation, trace and write the animal character's name, his ordinal position and an action word (verb) associated with him, then cut & glue the matching animal picture in the box.

Also included is a mitten paper plate pocket "craftivity" students make, to keep all of their mitten-related work in.

• + a set of ordinal number pocket cards

and a Mitten Matching card game, where students match the animal character to the animal's name, or the ordinal number position it had in the story, or all three:

i.e. the word bear, picture of the bear, ordinal number-card 7th-seventh

 There's an Ordinal number character assessment strip with answer key.

• + 2 graphing activities
• 2 mitten writing prompts
• and several mitten worksheets, including one that covers rhyming words + more verb-work. (Great for Daily 5 activities.) and finally,
  
• A certificate of praise bookmark that can be used to play another game.

Click on the link to view/download the Activities To Go With Jan Brett's The Mitten packet.

I also designed 3 mitten Venn diagrams, perfect for helping your students practice the concept of comparison and contrast. 

Children can compare a mitten to a glove, or The Mitten story to Jan Brett's companion story The Hat; an equally adorable tale, featuring even more animal characters. 

There's also a Venn diagram to compare 2 animal characters.  Click on the link to view/download The Mitten Venn Diagrams.

Thank you for visiting today.  I design and blog daily, so I hope you can slide on over tomorrow to grab the newest FREEBIES.   Feel free to PIN anything from my site. 

"Winter is not a season, it is an occupation." Sinclair Lewis

14 pages.

This packet is chock full of activities to go along with Jan Brett's story, The Mitten. 

1-2-3 Come Do Some Mitten Craftivities With Me!

I did a month-long mitten theme in January with my Y5's.  They enjoyed all sorts of mitten matching games and activities, so I wanted to share the newest FREEBIES as well as some old favorites today.

If you teach the "magic e" spelling rule, I think you'll enjoy the Magic e Mitten packet.  It took lots of hours to complete, but I think it was time well spent.   Run the mitten patterns off on a variety of colors of construction paper. 

I wanted mine to have a red mitten with a green cuff + a green mitten with a red cuff, so I ran off two of each page (one on red and one on green). 

Laminate, trim and then cut the cuffs off so that you create puzzles for a Magic e Mitten Matching Game.

The 29-page packet includes a My Magic e Words (dictionary).  Students trace the word, add a magic e to the end (use a different color) and then write the new word that is made. 

Encourage students to look up words that they don't know and define them on their new-word definition page. 

There are also Mitten Math worksheets, where the word + an e ='s a new word, as well as an alphabetical list of 86 magic e words, + a pattern to make a magic e snowflake-mitten wand.

I added glitter to mine and glued it to a Popsicle stick.  Give students a word from the list, have them come up and write it on the board.

Everyone waves their magic e wand, and the child adds an e to the end, creating a new word "magically!"  Click on the link to view/download the Magic e Mitten packet. 

Do you do nursery rhymes?  If so, Three Little Kittens is perfect for your mitten-themed day. 

Students cut and glue the matching numbered kittens as well as the appropriate pair of mittens to the correct page. 

Children read, trace, and write the simple sentences, reviewing number words. 

This packet reviews pairs, as well as skip counting by 3's.  I've also included 4 worksheets, a maze + a certificate of praise.  Click on the link to view/download The Three Little Mittens.

Finally, the collection of 10-frame Count With Me Booklets would not be complete without one featuring mittens. 

Practice a variety of skills and standards with this cute 10 frame booklet. Students read, trace and write the number and number word.  Children see the numbered-mitten word in the sentence and say it.  They spy the number in a sequence and circle it.

Kiddo's X-out that many boxes in the ten-frame or use a bingo dot marker, stickers or stamp. Finally, students cut and glue the set/group to the matching numbered box.  Includes a variety of worksheets as well.  These counting booklets are great for your Daily 5 activities.

Click on the link to view/download the 1-2-3 Count Mittens With Me packet. 

Thanks for visiting today.  

"If winter comes, can spring be far behind?" Percy Bysshe Shelley

15 pages.

Run the mitten pattern off on a variety of colors of construction paper.  I wanted mine to have a red mitten with a green cuff + a green mitten with a red cuff, so I ran off two of each page (one on red and one on green).  Laminate, trim and then cut the cuffs off so that you create puzzles for a Magic e Mitten Matching Game. 

3 pages.

Students choose either a mitten or snowman pattern; trace it onto a wordy section of the newspaper, and trim.  Children guess-timate how many S's or Mm's they will find and write that information on the matching recording sheet.  Students circle the letters and count them as they go and then fill in the rest of their recording sheet.