16 pages.

Why not have your students help create the decorations for your classroom with this cute pirate-themed "welcome" banner.  On the 1st day, when things are hectic, it's nice to have an independent activity that students can do.

13 pages.

Why not have your students help create the decorations for your classroom with this cute apple-themed "welcome" banner.  On the 1st day when things are hectic, it's nice to have an independent activity that students can be doing.

1-2-3 Come Make Some 10 Frames With Me

Thinking about numbers using frames of 10, can be a helpful and easy way for students to learn basic number facts. A 10 frame is a simple graphic tool that allows people to  “see” numbers. They will help your students with number sense, place value, patterns and relationships, as well as subitizing.

While researching 10 frames, I found a wonderful 10 frame game your students can play.  There's no reading involved, a voice tells you what to do. The four games that can be played with their applet, help to develop counting and addition skills. Children can independently play: How Many, Build, Fill and Add.  Click on the above link to hop on over.

I also took a look at YouTube to see if I could find some quick explanations.  There's a  Ten Frame 4-minute video that does a nice job. Click on the link to pop over. For a 1 minute 10-frame explanation click on that link.

Since I planned all of my teaching around various themes each month, I decided to make 10 Frames featuring the most popular ones I could think of.   Working on the same procedures can get a bit boring, but if you switch things up with different 10 frame templates, students will get excited to continue practicing skills.

There are a lot of ways to use these 10 frames.  They certainly enhance number sense.  They also help students subitize:recognize at a glance, domino and dice patterns without having to count the dots. 

Besides the obvious uses, I've also made a set of numbers, number words, and math symbols ( plus, minus, equals, greater and less than) so students can make equations and play a variety of other games. i.e.  Match the 10 frame to the number card, or number word, to play a Memory Match game, or play "I Have; Who Has?"  

To practice subitizing, use them as flashcards to see who can call out the correct number first. They are also nice in a math center, using manipulatives and dry erase markers to fill them in.  To make manipulatives to add to the 10 frames, simply run off extra pages of the 10-filled 10 frame and cut them into squares.  

I'm in the process of making some for each month, and started with September.  I just finished apple 10 frames, owl 10 frames and pirate 10 frames.  Click on the links to zip on over to download these freebies.  I also have pumpkins, leaves, scarecrows, frogs, stars, bats, spiders, dinosaurs and bees in the works, to round out fall, before I begin ones for winter.  If there is a theme that you'd like 10 frames for, shoot me an e-mail and I'll add it to my list, and let you know when I've completed it. diane@teachwithme.com

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything you think others might enjoy.  My "Pin It" button is at the top.  If you'd like to take a peek at all of the awesome-educational things I spend way too much time pinning, simply click on the "Follow Me" heart to the right.

"My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance, but understanding of illiteracy, because some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and more intelligent than some college professors." -Maya Angelou

9 pages.

If you are doing a pirate theme, you'll enjoy this 10 frame pirate packet.

Be sure and check out our other 10 frame activities; we have lots!

9 pages. If you're doing an apple theme, then you'll enjoy this apple 10 frame packet.

Be sure and check out our other 10 frame packets; we have lots!

4 pages.

Attach a glow stick or bracelet to this bookmark, as a cute treat for the 1st day of school. There is a bookmark that says: Welcome to school; Welcome to preschool; Welcome to kindergarten and Welcome to 1st grade.

4 pages.

A quick, easy and fun way to teach the parts of an apple. Run the apple cover off on red, yellow and green construction paper and give students a choice. Older children can label their apple by writing on the lines, younger students can cut and glue the word-labels.

1-2-3 Come Make Some Banners With Me

More and more schools are telling teachers that they only want them to put up student-made bulletin boards that showcase their work, so I thought I’d take it a step farther and have student-made banners too.

I LOVE how festive a classroom and hallway look, when they are decorated to the nines with children’s “mess-terpieces.” As I’ve shared before, I have spent a small fortune on decorations for all of the seasons, months, and themes that I taught, so I like to design lots of FREEBIES so that you don’t have to.

A “Welcome” banner suspended from the ceiling in your room or hallway, is a wonderful way to greet children on their first day of school.

I thought it would be fun for them to help create that banner by coloring it.  A "full shot" of the banner, isn't that good, so I decided to just show the 1st pennant and the first letter in welcome, so you can still get an idea of  how they look.  The 1st and last pennants also come in black and white if you want your students to color them as well.

The first few days are often very hectic with all sorts of rules and regulations to go through, along with a lot of forms to fill out for each student. It’s nice to have an independent quiet activity little ones can do, so you are freed up to get some of that one-on-one stuff done.

Even if you have already started school, your students will enjoy having a part in decorating their classroom, making it look comfy with their special creations.

I have designed a color as well as a black and white version, of the cute “saying” pennant that starts your banner. (There are 3 "saying" options for the cow.) Because I’m all about things looking symmetrical, I suggest putting a duplicate at the end of the banner as well.

Run off and pass out the pennant pieces to your students. They color and cut them out. When everyone is done, gather on the carpet circle and put your banner together, spelling out the word “Welcome.” To add a bit more pizzazz you could tie ribbon bows inbetween each triangle.

So that you have enough pieces for each child, and your banner looks great from both sides, put the other set back-to-back. This will give you 16 total pennants.

If you have more than 16 students in your class (At this point with budget cuts I think we can only dream of small class sizes.) make another banner for a total of 32 pieces.

This can be hung as one long streamer down the hall above your door, or as 2 separate banners across your classroom ceiling. If you don’t have that many students in your class, allow early finishers to color the extra pennant pieces. You could also do one.

I tried to think of the more popular themes so that the Welcome Banners would match your room. Click on the link for the OWL welcome banner, the COW welcome banner, the APPLE welcome banner.

The WESTERN welcome banner & the PIRATE welcome banner, both feature a different pennant for each letter.

I've included a pennant for preschool, kindergarten and 1st grade.  I thought they were a bit too cutesy for older grades, but if you don't, and want one for 2nd or 3rd grade, drop me an e-mail and I'll make you one.diane@teachwithme.com

I've seen a lot of frog themed activities, especially about "leaping into a new grade, so I also made a  FROG banner.

Superheroes continue to be very popular so here's a SUPER HERO banner  as well. To view/download them, click on their links.

Why not  change your banner every now and then, as you switch themes.   If you’d like me to whip together another themed-banner, simply shoot me an e-mail and I’ll see what I can do.

Thanks for visiting today.  If you’d like to see all of the wonderful educational FREEBIES that I PIN, simply click on the “Follow me” heart on the right of the blog.

“Our success multiplies each time we lead someone else to success.” –Susan Collins

1-2-3 Come Stack Apples With Me!

I like to combine a variety of skills and standards into one lesson, that way I'm covering quite a bit in a short amount of time.  The "Apples Up on Top" Name Activity involves math, reading, science and writing, plus completed projects make an adorable back-to-school bulletin board!

For example, if you run off the apple printable on yellow, red and green construction paper, students can learn the science fact, that apples can be 3 different colors. You can also teach students an ABCABC pattern. I've included a graphing extension to cover that concept as well.

Click on the link to view/download the Apples Up On Top Name Activity.

To further reinforce lessons, whenever I read a story, some sort of activity followed. Dr. Seuss' (Theo. LeSieg's) book, Apples Up On Top is a wonderful first week of school book, as we are in full swing studying apples. After reading the story, ask your students who the main animal characters are.  Run off the template that is appropriate for you, and have students choose one to color.

Print off the apples of your choice (plain red, numbered red, plain black & white, numbered black & white) for your students to (color), copy and glue "up on top" of their animal.  When everyone is done, count to 10 forwards as well as backwards. There's also a graphing extension to see how many students chose a specific animal.

The printable can also be used as a dice game for older students. They choose a partner and take turns rolling first one die, for numbers 1-6, and then add a second die, enabling them to roll numbers 7-10, when they add the 2 together. 

I've included numbered strips for this game.  The numbered strips are also good for preschoolers who are not able to sequence yet.  This is great 1-to-1 correspondence for them. 

Click on the link to view/download the Apples Up On Top With Animals Activity.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  If you'd like to see all of the other awesome educational FREEBIES that I PIN, click on the "Follow Me!" heart to the right to check out my boards.

"You give but little when you give of your possessions.  It is when you give of yourself that you truly give." -Kahlil Gibran

15 pages.

These are great activities to do after reading Dr. Seuss' (Theo. LeSieg's) book, Ten Apples Up On Top.  Students can simply choose an animal from the story and color it, and then cut and glue their apples on top of their character. (I've included blank red apples, blank black and white apples, as well as numbered apples in color and in black and white.) or older students can roll the dice to see which apple they should glue up on top. Numbered strips are provided for the game.  There's also a graphing extension.