1-2-3 Come Make Valentines With Me!

While looking for classroom charts today, I stumbled across the periodic chart.  Boy did that bring back memories. 

I LOVED chemistry lab, and could easily have become a mad scientist.

I'm always looking for ways for students to spell words, like using Scrabble tiles etc.

Since the periodic table is filled with letters and letter combinations, I frogged around half the morning dreaming up valentines.

There are 5 different sample valentines using the periodic chart to make the words.

You can use my templates or challenge students to think up their own.

I've included a periodic chart that you can shoot up on an overhead, so students can use it as a reference tool.

I hope they have a much fun as I did. 

Hint: Think up something you'd like to say, and then see if any of the elements help you spell it.

Click on the link to view/download the We've Got Chemistry Valentines.

Thanks for visiting today.

Please feel free to PIN anything you think others may find useful.

Do you have a valentine you'd like to share? I'd enjoy hearing from you: diane@teachwithme.com or leave a comment here.

"Education is not received. It is achieved." -Unknown

1 2 3 Come Tell Time With Me!

Woo hoo!  After days of designing this "Telling Time" packet for you, it's finally done, and 145 pages long!

I think these cards will be a fun way for you to teach/review the Common Core State Standard: 1.MD.3

There is a set of analog and digital time cards for telling time to the hour and half hour for EVERY month!

I've included two sets for August.  One set has a summer theme, the other has a back-to-school theme.

Set up a section of wall and make it into your "What Time Is It?" board. 

My large seasonal teacher clocks would look cute in the middle.

I've also included an assessment page + a blank set for each month, so you can program with whatever.

There's a tip sheet with lots of ideas of how to use these cards, including games and puzzles; + kaboom bomb cards.

Run off a set for your kiddo's, have them include the cover, so children can make a monthly Itty Bitty Time booklet out of the cards.

Click on the link to view/download the Telling Time Through The Calendar packet.

For more telling time activities, click on the link to go to that section of my website.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything you think others may find helpful.

"You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the peple all of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all of the time." -Attributed to Abe Lincoln

Fluttering By With A Valentine "Hi!"

These waxed-winged beauties are made with wax paper and melted crayon shavings.

They are quick, easy and fun to make and look lovely stuck to a window, so that the sun can shine through, or fluttering across a bulletin board for February.

Here's how to make them:

Run off the body part of the butterfly on a variety of colors of construction paper.

Rough cut them and stack them into color piles so that students can choose their favorite.

While students are working on a tabletop lesson, call them individually to the table.

Students choose a color or colors of crayons that they want to shave.

Students hold the sharpener over a sheet of wax paper big enough to be able to trace 3 hearts on.

You need it larger so that when the shavings melt, they do not run outside of the wax paper.

Make sure the wax paper is on a mini ironing board or a folded towel.

When the child has enough shavings sprinkled around the paper, lay a second piece of wax paper on top.

Using an iron on the lowest setting, slowly melt the shavings. Be careful that the pools do not run off the paper.

Let cool a few seconds and have the child step to the side to trace the heart template onto the wax paper.

Once done, she takes her paper back to her seat and cuts out the hearts and glues them to the back of her butterfly’s thorax.

When they are done, they can bring their butterfly up to you, so that you can give them glue dots for their wiggle eyes and rhinestones that they have picked out.

These look fabulous on a window. Simply put a small piece of folded tape on the thorax and stick.

As a writing extension, children can make another paper heart and write, “Flying by with a Valentine hi.” Or “My heart flutters for you.” 

Click on the link to view/download the Wax Paper Butterfly Valentine.

Thank you for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything that you think others may find worthwhile. 

"Writing, the art of communicating thoughts to the mind through the eye, is the great invention of the world...enabling us to converse with the dead, the absent, and the unborn, at all distances of time and space. " -Abraham Lincoln

1-2-3 Come Eat 100 Things With Me!

I LOVE Eric Carle, especially The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  I can teach all sorts of concepts with that story. 

It's a bit early to be posting butterfly "stuff" that teachers are usually working on in April here in the midwest, however, I thought I'd post it now as I had the caterpillar eating 100 things, that fits in perfect for 100-Day, which some of you still haven't celebrated.

I have 2 different "last" pages for you to choose from: 1 celebrates 100-Day, the other has an ending that fits in nicely no matter what day of the year it is.

I enjoy nailing at least 3-5 Common Core State Standards when I design a lesson.  This one covers quite a few CCSS: RF.K1a, RF.K.1c, RF.K.3a, RL.K.10, RF.K.4, L.K.2a, L.K.2b,L.K.5a, K.OA.1a, K.MD.3 K.CC.1a, K.CC.5, 1.NBT.2c, 1.NBT.5, 1.MD.3

Since the original Very Hungry Caterpillar goes through the days of the week, I decided to have this starving caterpillar eat through the hours in a day, so that I could cover telling time.

 The packet includes

• The Hungry Caterpillar Eats 100 Things easy reader, 
• 2 caterpillar craftivities,
• a food sorting idea,
• + 64 circle pictures of food

Students trace and write numbers & number words, as well as the time, drawing the appropriate hands on the clock. 

They also circle the capital letters and add end punctuation to the simple sentences.  I've used as many sight and Dolch words that I could fit in, that sounded appropriate.

Children cut and glue the groups of 10 pieces of food to their matching numbered boxes, as they count by 10's to 100.

I think you'll find this a fun addition to your day, no matter what you use it for.

Click on the link to view/download The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eats 100 Things.

 Thank you for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything you think others might find useful.

Do you have a caterpillar activity you could share with us?  I'd enjoy hearing from you: diane@teachwithme.com, or post a comment here.

"All I have learned, I learned from books." -Abraham Lincoln

For Crayon Out Loud Let's Learn Something!

I think the play-on-words saying: "For crayon out loud." is adorable. I've seen some form of it pinned all over Pinterest, usually accompanied by darling, melted crayon hearts, for Valentines Day.

This saying, was my "pinspiration"  to make a 20-page For Crayon Out Loud packet  that I hope you'll enjoy.  There's a lot you can do with this it, from a simple reminder poster hung on a bulletin board, to games and behavior management.

The packet includes:

A For "crayon" out loud please raise your hand! Reminder poster

A For "crayon" out loud class rules poster

Crayon bookmarks

A blank poster with a crayon border,  for you to use as stationery or fill in your own rules

Crayon badges, perfect for name tags. 

Behavior modification checklist (A quick and easy way to communicate with parents at the same time having students  be accountable, and take responsibility for their actions.

Behavior traffic light crayon boxes. A little something different than the popular traffic light classroom management technique.

Student crayon (Use with the traffic light program or as a bookmark, or run off on different colors of construction paper and write in the matching color word, then put up on your word wall.)

3 dot-to-dot behavior modification crayon sheets.  These are a quick and easy way to help students stay focused and on task. This behavior modification technique was always very successful with my Y5's, especially my ADHD students who seemed to enjoy this form of classroom management. 

You and the child decide what the reward will be after they have connected all of the dots.  Write this in on the blank line provided.  This also serves as a quick and easy way to keep parents informed.

Crayon color cards. A blank set and a set with color words.  Play Memory Match or "I Have; Who Has?" games.

Click on the link to view/download the For Crayon Out Loud packet.

Hoping that there's something in the packet that you find useful.  May it color your world with a bit of joy and less stress.  Thank you for visiting today.  It's time to put my crayons away and go get some housework done...(Or not!) 

"Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow.  The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing." -Abraham Lincoln

Flip And Find Out

Are you studying coins with your kiddo’s this month?

February was the month that I really started working quite a bit on coin identification.

It seemed like the ideal month, as two Presidents that we would be learning about for Presidents’ Day, were on the penny and quarter.

One of the activities that my Y5’s really enjoyed was making a coin flipbook.

I set this up as a center activity that they could do independently.

When students completed their tabletop lessons they could visit this station, grab the materials and go back to their desk to complete the project.

Students cut and glued the matching coins to the cover and then cut on the lines to make the flaps, that when lifted, would reveal information underneath that they filled in.

Information includes the name of the coin, the color, the value, what President is on the coin and how many tally marks it takes to make the value of the coin.

Teachers can take it a step farther and have students make crayon rubs of the various coins, cut out their best efforts and glue them under the flaps that match the appropriate coins. 

Click on the link to view/download the Coin Flip booklet.

Thank you for visiting today. Feel free to PIN anything you think others may find useful.

“Leave nothing for tomorrow, which can be done today.” – Abraham Lincoln

This Little Piggy Went To Market, and This Little Piggy Went To School For 100-Day!

What started out to be a few simple piggy bank worksheets, to help students count coins to 100, turned into a  whopping 50-page 100-Day Piggy Packet.

You don't have to use it just for 100-Day, reviewing these "hog wild" counting skills, throughout the year, is important no matter what the day, and it's nice to have a variety of tricks in your bag of how to do that in an interesting way. 

After all, counting to 100 can get quite boring for some little ones, and extremely frustrating for those kiddo's whose light bulbs haven't lit up yet. With that in mind, I designed the Q-tip mud craftivity to the right.  Students dab brown paint on the 10 groups of 10 dots on the dirty piggy.  For less mess, children could use a brown crayon to color in the dots.

This unique packet will help you with Common Core State Standards: K.CC.1, K.CC.3, K.CC.4a, K.CC.4b, K.CC.4c, K.CC.5, K.OA.1, K.CC.6, 1.NBT.1  The packet is chock full of all kinds of goodies to help you celebrate 100-Day, or simply use as math centers.

The packet includes:

• 8 Piggy bank pages for pennies, nickels, dimes & quarters.  Students can color and count the filled banks, or color, cut and glue the coins inside an empty bank. 
• Coin to coin word matching worksheet
  
• 1 letter words, to more than 5 letter-words skill sheet
  
• Game sheet: "Race your pig to 100."
  
• Game sheet:  "Spin To Win!" coin counting to 100 + 2 coin spinners.
  
• Tally Ho tally mark worksheet.
• Graphing extension
• More than less than calculations worksheet
  
• How much money? Addition worksheet
  
• 2 Measurement activity worksheets
  
• Counting pigs by 5's to 100 worksheet
  
• Counting pigs by 10's to 100 worksheet
  
• Name Your Pig 100-Grid worksheet
• Round up the pigs by 10's worksheet.
• Pig slider "craftivity" counting by 10's & counting by 5's
  
• Piggy Popsicles "craftivity" counting by 10's.  +
• A blank sheet of pigs for you to program with whatever you want.  Use them for name tags, other numbers, letters etc.
  
• "Craftivity" counting Q-Tip mud spatters to 100 by 1's, 5's and 10's
  
• 3 counting worksheets. Counting by 1's to 100 & 120 and skip counting by 5's and 10's
  
• 2 connect-the-dot worksheets.  Counting by 5's and by 10's to 100.
• 2 Q-Tip Pig in the Mud "Craftivities."
• 2 Happy 100 Day posters. 1 in color, 1 in black and white so children can color.
• 3 different certificates of praise for "Hog Wild" counting + a
• Happy 100-Day bookmark

Click on the link to view/download the 100-Day Piggy Packet.

I hope your students have as much fun doing the lessons, as I had creating them.

Thank you for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything that you think others may find helpful.

"I do the very best I know how, the very best I can, and I mean to keep on doing so until the end." -Abraham Lincoln

Happy 100-Day With a 100-Topping Pizza!

If you're like my school, you'll be celebrating 100-Day in February.

I LOVE that day!  It's such a fantastic opportunity to do so many math things.  I also liked to have my Y5's count to 100 in a variety of different ways. 

100-Day Pizza is a non-boring way to do that. Our pre-school has a pizza-themed day and the children love it, so I thought it would be fun to design a pizza with 100 toppings.

If your kiddo's are learning to skip count by 10's to 100 then use that pizza template.  If you're also counting to 100 by 5's, you may want to give your students a choice.

I designed this packet so that you could cover quite a few Common Core State Standards: RF.K1a, RF.K1c, RF.K3c, L.K.2a, L.K.2b, RF.1.1a, L.1.2b, K.G.2, K.CC.1, K.OA.1

Remember to remind students that they are reading from left to right and top-down. Have them note the spaces between words, circle the capital letters and add the end punctuation.

There's opportunities in the booklet to skip count by 2's, 3's, 5's and 10's.

Besides the easy reader booklet that contains quite a few sight and Dolch words, I've also included a pizza craftivity, 2 graphing extensions, a shape sorting mat, pizza patterning page and a count the pizza slices by 5's worksheet.

The 100-Day pizza, has 100 toppings! Students can arrange them by 10 groups of 10, or 20 groups of 5, depending on how you want them to count to 100.

These 100 topping pizzas review 2D-shapes as well as colors, and make a terrific 100-Day bulletin board.

Click on the link to view/download the 100-Day Pizza Packet.

If you're looking for more 100-Day activities, click on the link to zip on over to that section of my site.  There are over 30 more fun things to keep your students educationally stimulated and excited on 100-Day.

Whatever you've planned I hope it's sentsational!

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything that you think others might find helpful.

"Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle." -Attributed to Abe Lincoln

Using Posters For Writing Prompts

I whipped together some new posters. They make a nice decoration for your classroom and a great way to get students’ minds pondering about a subject.

Use them to instigate a lively discussion or as a jump-start for writing prompts.

On the back of the poster, students can write what they think the quote means, how it applies to them or why they liked or did not like it.

The Abe Lincoln and Washington posters from yesterday's article (scroll down to check it out ) are perfect for your Presidents’ Day activities.

The Horse and Michael Jordan posters can also be used as writing prompts and are especially thought provoking.

Click on the links to view/download these newest editions: Horse Writing prompt poster,  Jordan inspirational posters,  Abe Lincoln or George Washington posters.

If you’d like to view all of the free posters and anchor charts that are available at TeachWithMe.com, then click on the link to zip on over to that section of the cart.

Whenever I found appropriate and short video clips on YouTube, I'd show them before a writing prompt. 

Students found them not only entertaining and educational, but I think it got them in the mood to write.  I also played music that fit the theme as well to enhance the writing atmosphere.

I've found the following awesome clips for Presidents' Day:

Video #1 is a song about the presidents. It has cute black and white pictures of all of them through George Bush. I think it’s a great way to remember them.

Video #2 Is my personal favorite. The graphics are quite sensational + it's less than 4-minutes long. Presidents of the United States are morphed in sequence from George Washington to President Barack Obama. Seeing them morph from one to the other is quite amazing. The music is '”Hooked on America” performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Video #3 is a 6-minute clip that goes through all of the presidents with a nice song. Here they count them while a cool collage of pictures for each, including their signatures, flows.

Finally, in Video #4 you'll hear a Rap about Lincoln and Washington. 

I hope you found these helpful!

 Thanks for visiting today. Feel free to PIN anything you think others may find useful.

“Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?” -Lincoln

Happy Presidents' Day!

It's just around the corner and coming up fast, if the speed at which January blew by is any indication.

This patriotic heart "craftivity" makes a sweet valentine, as well as an easy writing prompt.

There are 5 writing prompt hearts for students to choose from, that they can glue to the back, including a comparison and contrast one.

Use the patriotic heart "craftivity" for fine motor-puzzle practice.  Remind students that the star's stripes are in an ABAB pattern.

I've included a list of Lincoln & Washington quotations that can be used as writing prompts as well, and put on the two presidents' posters.

Post a different quote on the board through the month of February, &/or make an overheard of quotes and have students choose several to add to their blank posters.

They can comment on the back of what the quote means, what it means to them, or why it's their favorite.

I've included posters with quotes and ones without.

I've also added the President's real signatures to the posters. Lincoln's real "autograph" is extremely sought after.. At one auction it commanded a price of over $700,000!

After students have shared, collate their quote posters and make into a class book.

Punch holes in the tops of students' patriotic hearts and hang from the ceiling with fish line.

Click on the link to view/download the Presidents' Writing Prompt Posters

Thanks for visiting.  Feel free to PIN anything you think others might find useful.

"That some achieve great success is proof to all that others can achieve it as well." -Lincoln