46 pages.

Cover lots of Common Core State Standards with this Numb Skull math packet.  Wonderful for your fall Halloween activities, or when you're studying about bones, or include with your pirate theme.

14 pages.

Cover quite a few Common Core State Standards with this Pumpkin Math Packet, 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.

8 pages.

Here's a list of my favorite October books.  Hopefully this will assist you in compiling a collection of your own.  Most of my books I acquired at garage sales, as well as Scholastic book sales.  A book is still my favorite gift to give and receive.

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

8 pages.  Common Core State Standards: RF.K3c, K.G.2

Several standards are covered in this easy-reader booklet that reinforces coins and shapes.  Students trace and write the coin word, value and shape word.  They trace the shape and then draw it on the pumpkin; cutting and gluing the coin(s) to the matching numbered boxes.

11 pages.

This is a quick and easy autumn "craftivity" with awesome results.  Completed projects make a wonderful fall bulletin board.  Students sharpen old peeled crayons and sprinkle the shavings on one of 7 bare tree templates.   An adult presses a warm iron on top of a sheet of waxed paper that covers the child's creation.  The shavings blend to make more colors.  For a bit of pizzazz, mount on black construction paper.  This craftivity will be FREE for an entire year, after which time it will be up-dated and placed in Diane's Dollar Deals in my TpT shop. 

1-2-3 Do An Awesome Autumn Activity With Me!

Because my Y5's needed to strengthen their finger muscles, I tried to think of interesting and fun ways to help them do that.  Peeling and sharpening crayons, and then pinching clumps of shavings and sprinkling them on the print of a tree, provided excellent practice; the completed projects looked truly outstanding!

I'd introduce autumn with a variety of books.  After reading a few, we'd have a discussion about the various colors that leaves turn, and why they do so, (chlorophyll was a brand new vocabulary word for all of them). 

They'd transition to some table top activities, and while they were busy, I called students up individually to make their creation with me or a room helper.  Students could also be peeling their old crayons at this time as well. 

I've included  7 different trees with bare branches for you to choose from, or run off a selection on white construction paper and give children a choice. 

Children can add more pizzazz to their picture by coloring their tree with a brown crayon.  This should be done AFTER you have "melted" the leaves on, or the trunk will also melt.

Set this activity up as a center, and call children to the table to shave the red, orange, yellow, brown and green (peeled) crayons with a crayon sharpener.

They made their piles on 5 small paper plates and then pinched a few shavings from each color-pile and sprinkled them onto their tree branches. 

Gently brush any stray crayon shavings onto the tree if they happen to fall elsewhere. As my students "sprinkled" I'd ask them why the leaves turned color?  I was looking for "Because the green leaves lose their chlorophyll."

The teacher or helper gently puts a sheet of wax paper over their tree and presses a warm iron onto the paper.  

If you slowly press the iron in an arched motion, the colors will run together to create more shades and you'll have a thicker looking tree.  If you just press and then lift, the colors won't run as much and this creates a different affect.   When you are satisfied with the way the "melting"  looks, carefully peel the wax paper off.  

My kiddo’s always oohed and ahhed over their beautiful autumn tree.   For extra pop, mount the fall trees on black construction paper.  They make a lovely bulletin board or hallway display.  You can also punch a hole in the top, add a yarn loop and hang back-to-back from the ceiling.  Click on the link to view/download the Autumn Tree Crayon Melts.

Thanks for visiting today.  I design daily and try to blog about it, so I hope you can stop by tomorrow to see the latest FREEBIES hot off the press.  Feel free to PIN away.  If you'd like to take a peek at all of the other educational FREEBIES that I post, click on the big heart to the right of the blog.

"A lot of very successful people are risk-takers.  Unless you're willing to do that--to have a go--fail miserably, and have another go--success won't happen." -Phillip Adams

1-2-3 Come Study Seeds With Me.

I just returned from a wonderful get-away weekend with my husband.  We enjoyed seeing all of the gorgeous fall colors here in Michigan and stopping at several farms to buy fresh produce; lots of apples, pumpkins, corn etc. 

It got me to marveling at how things grow, so I thought it would be fun to make several seed activities.  They are quick, easy and interesting math extensions, that also touch a bit on science.

I decided to match the seeds that I had put in the easy-reader booklet: My Seeds, a few years ago. 

Here students trace and write the various fruit words and color the pictures. If you have the seeds available, students can glue them to the appropriate pages.

The Seed Exploration packet covers quite a few math standards.  If you don't want to foot the bill for all of the seeds, you can send the parent-note home asking for donations. 

This is included in the packet.  Our Dollar Store sells packages of sunflower and pumpkin seeds as well as bags of popcorn kernels.

If you carve a pumpkin in your class to analyze pumpkin data, you may want to save the seeds from that and do these as  follow-up activities.  It's also easy to simply buy a package of pumpkin seeds that are ready to eat. 

To introduce your lesson on seeds, use the KWL for seeds that's included in the packet.

There's also an information sheet defining seeds that you can share with your students.

You may want to set up these activities as a center. Fill paper bowls with the various seeds. 

Have students bring up their Dixie cup and take a spoonful of each kind and put it in their cup.  When they get back to their desk they can spill out their seeds and arrange them on the sorting mat. 

After students are done sorting, they take one of each seed and glue it to their identification worksheet. 

Students can also arrange the seeds in size from smallest to largest and then glue one of each kind on their "sequencing sizes" worksheet.

I've also included a guess-timation worksheet.  You can do this as a whole group, or have students work on their own paper. Students also work on their greater than, less than, or equal to skills with a worksheet incorporating those math symbols.

When everyone is done, gather students in a circle to review what they learned, discuss their discoveries, share their worksheets and do any graphing extensions that you want to follow up with. 

Click on the link to view/download the Seed Sorting activities. 

Thanks for visiting today.  I hope you can pop on over tomorrow for the newest FREEBIES hot off the press.

"Good teaching cannot be reduced to a technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher." -Parker Palmer 

8 pages.

This seed packet practices a variety of math standards: Data collection & analysis, sorting, comparing & contrasting, predicting, guess-timating, counting, sequencing, greater than, less than & equal to, plus graphing.  

14 pages.

Use these alphabet cards to play all sorts of games on Columbus Day.