1-2-3 Come Learn About 3D Shapes With Me

One of my Y5's favorite units was on butterflies.

We'd study them for the entire month of April, as we watched real larvae morph into fat caterpillars, spin their chrysallis and finally hatch as lovely Painted Lady Butterflies.

I worked hard at dreaming up butterfly lessons for all of the subjects, incorporating many of my standards.

Designing the 3D Shapes Butterfly book was especially enjoyable.

Because I like to incorporate several standards in every activity, this easy reader reinforces spatial directions, and is an interesting way to review/teach the 3D shapes. 

Students trace the words and shapes, as well as cut out butterflies and place them in the appropriate spatial direction - positions on the pages.

Click on the link to view/download the 3D Butterfly easy reader.

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"Minds are like parachutes.  They only function when they are open." Thomas Dewar

1-2-3 Come Make A Water Cycle Wheel With Me

I'm sorry this is getting posted late.  Because of an allergic reaction, I spent most of last night in the ER, and then was transferred to ICU 'til later this afternoon. 

Really makes your priorities in life clear, as well as appreciation of the much-taken-for-granted, simple act of breathing. 

Any hoo, I'm a firm believer in "better late than never" so here is a quick and easy water cycle lesson.

It is now even later, as I finished the article, and instead of hitting control save, I hit who knows what, and lost the entire thing!

Some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed. Arggg!

I did this bit of science in April as it coincided with the April shower weather we were having outside, and was a nice addition to our weather studies.

Here's how to make a water cycle wheel:

Run off the templates on white construction paper. Students will trim into a circle and cloud shape.

Little ones may need help cutting the window on their cloud.

Students color blue raindrops onto the wheel windows and then place the circle behind their cloud so that it is in the center.

Poke a hole in the middle and fasten the wheel to the cloud with a brass brad.

To give the cloud more pizzazz and a 3D effect, have students press whisps of pulled-cotton on to the top.

Just an FYI: You need to model this step and explain to students how the pulled cotton balls look so much more realistic, than a whole cotton ball plopped on their cloud, other wise you may get quite a few kiddos who skip the pulling step and simply glue the entire cotton ball on their cloud. 

I further explained, that they were only getting a few balls that would be enough for their entire cloud if pulled apart, but certainly not enough if they just glued on the whole cotton ball.

This extra bit of explanation was very successful.  I not only wanted them to listen and follow directions, but to practice this wonderful fine motor exercise.

Inform students that they should pull apart all of their cotton balls and make a nice pile of "fluff" and then press it on their glue-covered cloud.

When everyone is done with their cloud wheel, review the water cycle concept as a whole group.

I've also included a cut & glue water cycle worksheet to further reinforce cutting skills and the new science vocabulary.

Another fun way to hone in on the words, and a great way to "get the wiggles out" is to do this action-chant:

My Y5's would crouch down and say: collection, then they'd jump up and say; evaporation.

Making a big cloud with their arms, they would exclaim: condensation. Their bodies would bend slightly forward as their clouds got heavier and heavier. 

Finally, they would fall down to the ground and yell: precipitation. I'd go through this 3 or 4 times. The 3rd time we'd say the words and do the actions as fast as we could.

For the last time, we'd do it in a low voice and move very slowly.  This quieted things down.

My Y5's LOVED doing this and learned the new vocabulary by the end of the day. Throughout the entire month, we'd practice the water cycle action chant.

Click on the link to view/print the Water Cycle activities.

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"Chidren have more need of models, than critics." -Unknown 

1-2-3 Come Tell Time With Me!

The mustache mania continues here at TeachWithMe.com

I thought it would be fun to make a mustache telling time game; it's entitled: "I Mustache You What Time Is It?"

This packet includes recording sheets, a mustache clock spinner + a telling time matching worksheet, which you can use as an assessment for time to the hour.

Click on the link to view/download the Mustache Telling Time Game packet.

If you're looking for more mustache activities, simply click on the link to zoom to that section of my site.

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"A good teacher has been defined as one who makes themselves progressively unnecessary." -Thomas J. Carruthers

1-2-3 Come Play Word Games With Me.

You will really like the versatility of this 109 page word packet!

Students can sort words by vowel sounds, word families, nouns, verbs, plurals, school words, calendar words, seasonal words, rhyming words, colors, numbers, shapes, antonyms, synonyms, homonyms etc.

There are 31 sorting baskets to choose from + a blank basket to program with whatever.

Using brown construction paper, simply print off whatever baskets you want to use; laminate them, cut them out and attach a large paper cup to the back using a bit of tape.

Print off the word eggs on a variety of construction paper colors, laminate and cut out.  

Students can work in groups or individually, to sort a dozen or so words, dropping them in the cup and then rotating to another basket when they are done.

Children can also alphabetize a group of egg words.

I've included CVC words, sight words, over 40 word families, + all of the Dolch word list words, as well as all of the Dolch nouns; for a total of 1,180 word eggs! Sixteen eggs are on a page for easy printing.

There's also a blank set of eggs that you can program with your spelling words etc.

Click on the link to view/download A Tisket A Tasket Word Cards in a Basket packet.

"A-tisket a-tasket A green and yellow basket. I wrote a letter to my love and on the way I dropped it. I dropped it, I dropped it and on the way I dropped it. A little boy picked it up and put it in his pocket."

1-2-3 Come Color A Rainbow With Me!

Are you looking for a fun way to review ordinal numbers or the colors of the rainbow? 

If so, I think you'll enjoy the easy reader,  "Let's Color A Rainbow."

Because of St. Patty's Day and the folklore surrounding leprechauns and their pots of gold at the end of the rainbow, I introduced rainbows in March, and then revisited them in April, when the spring showers started here in Michigan.

My Y5's loved crouching on the floor and singing the Let's Make A Rainbow song, and then jumping up and arching their arms, as they finished the song, which is included at the end of the booklet.

Students trace and then write ordinal numbers as well as color words and then cut and glue the matching picture to their page.

Children also think of something else that is that color and write it down in the space provided. 

When everyone has completed their booklet, read it aloud to reinforce the words and review concepts of print.

I think your little ones will enjoy taking it home and sharing it with their families. 

I encourage this, so that students once again review what they've learned.

Click on the link to view/download Lets Color A Rainbow.

If you're looking for more ordinal number or rainbow activities, click on the 2 links.

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"Children have a special way, of coloring your day in a happy way."  -Unknown

1-2-3 Come Make A Pattern With Me!

Run off egg template on white construction paper. Cut a variety of bright and pastel construction paper strips the width of a ruler.

For ease of cutting, on a paper cutter, I make a template and then run off the strips.

I made mine 1 inch wide, but sometimes when you print from a scanned PDF, the template comes out a tad smaller, so make sure that your strips are the same width as your egg template.

Make some samples of a variety of patterns: ABAB, ABCABC AABB ABBA etc.
Review patterning with your students.

Children decide what pattern they are going to make and choose their strips accordingly.

Rub glue on the template and then place a strip down. (I’ve taken a picture of how this looks with an ABC (red-orange-yellow) pattern. I started in the middle so that you could see the egg shape, but students should start at the top.

After they have completed their pattern, have them flip over their egg so that they can trim off the ends.  Students write the pattern on the front of their egg.

If you want to dangle them from the ceiling, punch a hole in the top, add a yarn loop and hang them back-to-back so that all sides look nice.

They also make a colorful bulletin board. Your caption can be: Egg-sactly What Patterns Do You See? or “Egg-citing Patterns From Mrs./Mr. ___________ class.”

I’ve also included a rip and tear egg template, so that students can make a rip & tear creation.  This is outstanding fine motor exercise. My Y5‘s loved making R&P’s.

Students simply put all of the ends of their paper strips in a pile.  Children select whatever colors they want, and rip and tear them into a pile.

They then rub glue all over their egg template and press the pieces on the top.  These too can be flipped over and trimmed, so that their shape is more egg like.
You can hang these along with the larger eggs for even more pizzazz.

Click on the link to view/download the egg patterning packet.

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"Wisdom is one treasure that no thief can touch." -Japanese Proverb

1-2-3 Do Some Carrot Activities With Me!

Since spring has supposedly sprung, although you wouldn't know it by the cold and snowy weather we're having here in Michigan, I thought I'd whip together a few carrot-themed activities.

My Y5's loved carrots and dip as a snack. I'd often put some sort of "craftivity" involving carrot counting, or graphing as an extension, into our morning lessons, and then finish up with the carrot snack as a reward for a job well done.

This packet includes a carrot fold open card that's nice to give as a spring note to parents, or use it to have students record their writing prompt inside.

Snipping the carrot topper is a wonderful fine motor skill as well.  The template is symmetric so you can review that concept too.

The "Spring Spiral" is also a great cutting skill.  I've included a left-handed spiral too, so that your "lefties" will have an easier time.

These spiraling carrots look great hanging from the ceiling.

I've included several graphing extensions + upper and lowercase bunny-carrot cards that you can use as a spring border, or to use for Memory Match games or  to play "I Have; Who Has?"

Click on the link to view/download the carrot activity packet.

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"I bet You know a thing or two. You're super smart; I'm proud of you!" -Dr. Seuss

1-2-3 Come Record The Temperature With Me

Showing students how to read a thermometer and checking the daily temperature, is a quick, easy and fun way to collect and analyze data.

Two recording sheets help students do that, as well as reinforce tally marks and the concept of comparing and contrasting data.

At the end of the month students can make graphs to show their results.

The packet includes a paper thermometer slider "craftivity", a temperature log, a tally mark data collection sheet, and 2 templates for grafhing their results.

Click on the link to view/download the temperature data collection packet.

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1-2-3 Come Tweet a Writing Prompt With Me!

Since tweeting is all the rage, I decided to hone in on that motivation, to get students to write about a variety of things on a daily or weekly basis, using this quick, easy and fun "tweet" form.

There are 10 different tweet forms for you to rotate through, plus a blank one for you or your students, to make up their own tweet topics.

The last entry on every form is "Feeling."  Students think up 3 adjectives that describe them that day, which further reinforces the important use of description in student writing.

If you have the time, have students partner up and share what they've written, as a means of expressing, venting and getting to know each other.

Click on the link to view/download the Sweet Tweet writing prompt packet.

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"The task ahead of us, is never as great as the Power behind us." -Unknown

2-4-6-8 Skip Counting is Great!

Run these adorable bunny bookmarks off for your students. 

They hop with the bunny as they skip count by 2's, 3's, 5's and 10's tracing the numbers as they go.

I've also included "What's Missing?" worksheets for skip counting, using all of the above skip counted numbers.

Students fill in the missing number in the pattern and trace the numbers that are present.

This is a quick and easy way to assess if your students understand the concept.

Click on the link to view/download the Skip Counting Bunny Hops packet.

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"Our days are happier when we give people a bit of our heart, rather than a piece of our mind." -Unknown