Hopping Into Springtime Science

Need a quick and easy way to review the life cycle of a frog for your students?

I designed two that can be plugged in as an independent center your students can transition to when they’ve finished their tabletop lessons.

Run off my frog templates on green construction paper, and the life cycle on white copy paper.

Students can choose to either make a froggy slider or a frog crown.

They color, cut, and glue to complete a “perfect” project in a short amount of time.

Both of these activities can be found in the Life Cycle Of A Frog Packet.

Click on the link to view/download it.

I also have The Life Cycle Of A Frog booklet.

Also included is a  graphing extension, word-wall word flashcards, and a certificate of praise. 

This is a nice self-esteem builder as it's easy to read and a wonderful way to follow up your science study by incorporating math, reading, writing and cutting skills.

Click on the link to view/download The Life Cycle Of A Frog booklet and activities.

If you're still looking for more frog activities, including an entire unit with lots of tabletop worksheets and centers, click on this link to view the entire list of all the FROG products available, and simply scroll down to pick whatever you'd like to view/download.

Enjoy!  I hope you can hop on back tomorrow for more fun teaching tips and tricks.

Do you have one you’d like to share?  I’d enjoy hearing from you.  diane@teachwithme.com or feel free to post a comment here, especially if you use one of my ideas.

As always you have my permission to PIN anything you feel might be helpful to someone else.

Thanks for visiting! Hoppy Spring; Hoppy everything.

Who Ya Gonna Tell? Bullybusters!

Is your school a bully free zone?  Do you need some materials? You’ve landed on the right spot.

I’ve designed 3 “No Bullying” posters + a matching booklet called Bullybusters.

Ghostbusters was of course my inspiration.  I actually played the song while I worked on the pages!

It’s an easy reader, as I’ve used lots of words from the Dolch word list + tossed in some rhyme.

Students trace and then write the person-word that they should tell, followed by coloring a picture of them.

Make the booklet even more special by giving students your photo. They glue it in the teacher’s square.

Make copies of the students’ pictures as well, so they can choose a friend’s school picture for that part of the booklet.

I’ve also included a worksheet that defines the various kinds of bullying + a Pledge Badge, that they receive after they sign the contract on the last page of the booklet.

Click on the link to view/download the Bullybuster booklet.

Click on the link to view/download the No Bullying Posters.

Since the booklet was so popular today, I also made a certificate, 2 badges, a contract for all of your students to sign and a bookmark, and added them to this article this evening.

If you're interested in those items click on the link. No Bullying "Stuff".

I hope you find these anti-bullying things helpful and that your students enjoy becoming Bullybusters!

Thanks for visiting! Do try and pop back tomorrow for more teaching tips and feel free to PIN anything that you feel might be helpful to others.

Is My Child Ready For Kindergarten?

Are you being asked that question a lot lately?  Do you need some answers to give parents, or are you a parent trying to make a difficult choice?

Hopefully my checklist and the information in this article will be helpful.

Deciding whether your child is ready for kindergarten depends on a lot of variables.  They may be extremely intelligent, but that is only one portion of “readiness”.

The rigors of a full day in K, also requires a child to sit for long periods of time and have an attention span, as well as be coordinated and work well with other children.  Are they physically and socially ready as well as mentally prepared?

Remember, life is a journey to be enjoyed, not a race to be completed. When a child is ready they will enjoy the journey so much more.

On a personal note, both my sons were not “ready” for kindergarten.  They had November 13^th and June 30^th birthdays.  Developmental Kindergarten was available for the first time, when I needed to make a choice for my oldest son, Jason. I hopped on the bandwagon.  I have NEVER regretted that choice.

It was the PERFECT spot for both of them.  They LOVED school and were truly “ready” the following year.

My daughter, with an April 17^th birthday, on the other hand, was “more than ready” for kindergarten.  She waved to me at the outside door, and didn’t even want me to come in with her!  I was the one who cried the first day.

All three of my children were honor students and graduated from college.  I think my sons would have struggled in K had I not put them in DK. Every child is different and should not be pushed or rushed just because of “age”.

Having taught Y5’s for 10 years as well as K, I can tell you many sad stories filled with an ocean of tears cried by these little ones who were just not ready.

All of them disliked school, hated coming, and many ended up repeating kindergarten.

Some were “saved” because we were able to put them in the Y5’s program where they should have been placed from the get-go.  They flourished there.

The government is no longer having us teach an age-appropriate curriculum anymore.

With so many mandatory standards, Kindergarten does not have the luxury of time for all of the fun things that we used to be able to do.

A child rarely can be a child anymore and simply have fun!

Many parents do NOT realize this. It is up to the teachers to educate them on the rigors of their child’s day, so they can make wise choices and pre-plan ahead of time.

Hopefully this checklist will help out.

Click on the link to view/download Kindergarten Readiness Checklist

I hope you can pop back tomorrow for more teaching tips.

Feel free to PIN anything you feel might be helpful to parents and teachers.  Thanks for visiting! Be blessed.

123 Come Count With Me!

Since the 123 Count With Me Booklets have been so popular, I wanted to design some with May themes in mind.

I just finished 123 Count Flowers With Me,  123 Count Frogs With Me and 123 Count Insects With Me!

Click on the links to view/download any or all of the booklets.

These are easy readers that are perfect for an independent math center or Daily 5 activity.

Students really enjoy doing them, and feel empowered.  Their independence, frees the teacher up to work one-on-one with other students, or do assessing.

The booklets review a variety of math concepts and are a great plug-in for when students complete other work, super for a sub folder or to send home with a struggling student.

Children trace then write the number and number word and circle it in the sequence.

Using a bingo dauber they make dots in a ten-frame to equal the number.

Have students use 2 colors and make an ABAB pattern to reinforce yet another standard!

Finally, students cut and glue the matching numbered group/set of objects to the numbered box in their book.

The last page ties everything up and repeats the number 10.

123 Count With Me booklets include traceable word and number cards, with matching covers, so that students can make Itty Bitty booklets, as well as a +1 more worksheet, a graphing extension and a certificate of praise.

Click on the link to view all of the 123 Count With Me books that are available.

Thanks for visiting today. I hope you can click on over tomorrow for more ideas.

Feel free to PIN anything from TeachWithMe.com that you think others might enjoy.

Scroll down for article #2 today: A helpful Kindergarten Readiness Checklist

Yahoo! Red White and Blue...

More flags than usual will be flying soon.

Memorial Day is coming up, followed by Flag Day on the 14^th of June and then 4^th of July.

It’s time to think of reasons why you are proud to be an American and pose that question to your students as an interesting writing prompt.

I’m not a world traveler, but I have friends who are, + others in the mission field. 

When they share their stories of the deplorable conditions in some countries, where people are thrown into jail for no reason, or worse yet, shot or beaten, it makes one not only proud to be an American, but extremely grateful.

I’m proud to be an American for all of the wonderful freedoms we have, yet so many take for granted.  Dreams really do come true in America; one can aspire to be anything they want to be.

We’re free to be whom we want, dress how we want, come and go as we want, believe as we want and express our feelings and opinions openly without trepidation.

I’m proud to be an American because we are a caring country that defends human rights and comes to the aid of hurting countries in their time of need.

I’m proud to be an American, where we get a say, we get to vote, we have a president, not a dictator, and although things are far from perfect, we don’t live in constant fear.

I’m proud to be an American, because we are a diverse melting pot of many cultures, rich in diversity.  We strive to live peacefully, treat everyone equally and stand united.

Why are you proud to be an American?

Here's a writing prompt template to give your students an opportunity to answer that question.

Run off 2 sets of your students’ school photos; cut them into ovals.

Have children glue their picture + a friend’s to their  page and color it.

Brainstorm with students why they are proud to be an American.

Write their answers on the board.

Pre-cut 3-4 yellow stars for each child.  Have them write why they are proud to be an American on the stars.

Students glue the stars to their “Proud To Be An American” page.

Everyone shares their “pride page” with the class. You can send them home or collage them on a bulletin board.  Caption: Remember to be proud! Happy Memorial Day.

Click on the link to view/print the Proud To Be An American activity.

Another quick "crafivity" that you can do,  is this patriotic windsock.

I like making windsocks throughout the year.  They are an excellent way to show children what a cylinder shape looks like and reinforce that 3D shape vocabulary word.

Click on the link to view/download the Patriotic Windsock.

I hope you can flit on over tomorrow for more fun.

Feel free to PIN anything from my site or blog that you think others might find helpful. Thanks for visiting!

Tweet! Tweet! Life Is Sweet!

It’s now all the rage to “tweet” news, so why not make tweeting a fun writing prompt.

I’ve designed 2 “craftivity” headers for your students to pick from, that will make writing even more fun.

The results will make a lovely springtime bulletin board as well.

Make a robin template by tracing, then cutting the birds out of old file folders.

Students trace them onto recycled newspapers and cut out their robin.

They can leave the bird as is, or add a bit of color to the orange breast, yellow beak and add a black dot for an eye.

Run off the nest master on brown construction paper and have students cut around it.

The robin’s blue eggs can be pre-cut.  Review and discus what a main idea is.

Students’ write the main idea of their “newsflash” on the whole egg.

Print off their school photo and cut the headshots into ovals.  Students glue their photo to the back of the “hatched” egg.

Children glue the eggs and newspaper bird to the nest and the nest to the top of their “Tweet” paper, writing one to two “tweets”.

The other option is a word art robin.  I made this on the awesome website Tagxedo.

You can use my template, (run it off and have students cut it out and glue it to a sheet of brown construction paper & trim.) or you can have students go to the site and type in their own word list, using adjectives that describe their news, or have them type in their entire tweet!

The site is easy to navigate.

Since they did not have a bird shape, I imported one and have provided the clip art for you.  Simply use my pdf, save it as a jpeg to your desktop.

When you click on shapes on the left, you’ll get a window with all the blue shape options,  on the bottom is a box that says “add image” click on that.

Make sure “desktop” is in the top file window.  Scroll down ‘til you find the "robin" file.  Click on it to import, then click "accept" in the bottom right box.

The robin is a state bird for several, so make it a teachable moment with a few facts about your state and the bird if you like.

There’s also writing prompt about those “tweet” friends your students have and a mini certificate of praise to tweet the good news to family.

If you have an I Pad or e-mail account at school, with a real Twitter account, (easy to set one up for pupil praise purposes) why not let students who have done an especially fine job with this activity, really Tweet about it! 

Let them know about this bonus ahead of time, for added incentive!

Click on the link to view/download the Tweet Stuff packet.

I hope you can fly on back tomorrow for more fun tips! It's OK to PIN anything you think might be helpful or interesting to others too.

Happy Tweeting!

Scroll down for article #2 today...More preschool kindergarten graduation ideas.

Announcing: Preschool and Kindergarten Graduates!

I wanted to see if there were any fun templates in Word for graduation and I found this one.

I think it turned out to be a cute keepsake and quick gift for the kiddo’s.

Click on the link to view/download the pdf file for graduation announcement and cards.

I made a pdf master for you to make things easier, but if you’d like to personalize things, I’ve also left my template in a word doc that you can click on to type in a different year as well as your students’ names for the business cards. 

The file for the announcement was too big and would not let me save it in a doc that you could click on, even though I only had one on a page, but you can easily source it in your word docs. Not sure what was up with that, but oh well...

If you like the font, it’s called Tonight's The Night and is from free fonts by Kevin and Amanda.  Click on the link to download it. 

Click on the link to view the doc graduation business card.

 I also found this cute “World’s Best” certificate that I thought you might enjoy.

Click on the link to view the doc World’s Best Certificate and adapt it with your students' information.

I hope these keepsake items help you out.

Do you have a treasure you'd like to share?  I'd enjoy hearing from you diane@teachwithme.com or feel free to leave a comment here, especially if you use one of my ideas.

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you can pop by tomorrow for more fun. 

You have my permission to PIN anything you feel might be interesting or helpful to others.

End Of The School Year Ideas:

Lots of visitors have been downloading the 36-page Graduation Activities and Ideas packet, so I wanted to up-date last year's bookmark project found there, to 2012, as well as provide the rest of the numbers so if you like this, you can update it each year.

Click on the link to view/download the 2012 preschool or kindergarten graduation bookmark.

Click on the link to view/download the Graduation Activities and Ideas packet.

Presenting fun certificates to everyone at the end of the year is a nice self-esteem builder.

There are 12 different kinds included in this packet, but I wanted to make it a separate download, as I’ve had several requests for this type of thing for other grades. 

They wouldn’t know they are here, because it’s a kindergarten graduation item.

For your convenience, here's the separate certificate file: Click on the link to view/download it.  End of the Year Certificates.

I hope you find these things helpful as you prepare for this exciting time!

Scroll down for the big article for today: Word Art Fun!

Tag You're It! Now You Make A Picture!

I am over the moon excited over Tagxedo! It’s a website that turns words, famous speeches, poems, quotes, etc. into a VISUALLY stunning word cloud.

Click on the link to check it out. Tagxedo The possibility of ideas is endless. Here are a few that I dreamed up for up-coming spring activities:

The site is simple to use, so that even K students can be shown how to type in a list of words and create a special piece of art that can also become a card.

Brainstorm a list of words with students; write them on the board; students choose the ones appropriate for them and type them in.

These are three that I made for Mother’s Day. You can use mine, or have students describe their mom and make their own. Click on the link to view/download the Mother’s Day word pictures.

Different fonts, colors and shapes are available to choose from, so each child will come up with a unique keepsake for their mommy.

Another activity that you could do,  is to have students make up a list of adjectives that describe them.

Students make a word picture about themselves entitled “ME”.  I chose the handprint shape for mine, but they could choose whatever shape that represents them, such as a shape from their favorite sport, a ballerina, their age, their initial etc.

Teacher's could also make a "High Fives!" word art picture for each one of their students as a card for preschool or kindergarten graduation, or as a certificate for going into the next grade. 

I've also made, "Look Who's Leaping Into ______ Grade!" filled with fun words associated with the school year. There's also a matching bookmark or slap bracket to go along with the certificates.

Click on the "Look Who's Leaping!" template to view/download mine, or design your own with words specific to you and your school.

Tagxedo also has an awesome gallery featuring famous people.  Two of my favorites are Abe Lincoln and Martin Luther King.

How perfect to use word art, when studying these men. Have students plug in a speech, or adjectives they feel describe them.

What a wonderful vocabulary builder and great independent computer center to practice keyboarding skills!  It’s also a fun way for students to illustrate a poem or short story that they wrote!

I’m always looking for different ways for students to use Dolch and CVC words, so I typed in the various lists of Dolch and CVC words to make cute anchor charts.  I made a header that says:  How many words can you spy?

Students LOVE  “I Spy” and “Where’s Waldo?” books, so this is yet another way to immerse children in word work in a fun way. Run off copies of the various word pictures and have students “spy” the words in the collage.

Have them jot down the words as they find them and then, for another activity, students can alphabetize their list.

Have students make tally marks next to each word to see how many times they found it in the word picture, to reinforce yet another standard!

I've included an apple word art picture for all of the Dolch words for the following lists: pre-primer, kindergarten, first, second and third, + an apple for all of the Dolch nouns and an anchor chart that lists all of the words in their separate categories.

There are 8 CVC word posters. The shape depicts a CVC word. i.e. dog, pig, key etc. I've included an alphabetical list of all of the 338 CVC words used on the word art posters. Click on the links for the Dolch Word Picture Packet, CVC Word Picture Packet

I also thought it would be cute to make a graduation certificate using those themed-words. Click on the link to view/download the Kindergarten Graduation certificate word picture.

It’s also a great way to plug in new vocabulary as it relates to the various science themes that you study, like butterflies.

Click on the link to view/download the Butterfly Word Picture anchor chart.

As you can tell, I had an absolute blast on this site and hope you do to! Do you have a fun site that you relish? 

I’d enjoy hearing from you diane@teachwithme.com or feel free to post a comment here, especially if you use one of my ideas.

I hope you can pop by tomorrow for more ideas. Feel free to PIN anything you think others would find helpful. Thanks for visiting!

Alternatives to the Treasure Box: 100+ Behavior Rewards

It’s getting that time of year when students are filled with lots of energy!

Sometimes the weather is a bit rainy and inside recess just doesn’t help get all of those wiggles out.

I find that having behavior incentives truly helps motivate children and gives them that extra incentive to try a bit harder.

The jury is out in many schools about the proverbial treasure box.

Are rewards good or do they do harm?  Whether a reward system is intrinsic or a thing, it is in our society to stay.

Adults go for the raise, the bonus, the extra paid vacation day, the free trip for the highest sales etc.

Yet constantly rewarding children with a trip to the treasure box can lose its impact too, so one day I decided to let my fingers do the clicking through the Internet, to see if anyone had done any surveys or studies, or taken any polls, on what students liked as rewards.

Incredible as it sounded, many students liked to DO a special thing rather than have a prize, such as be line leader, student helper, or message/errand person, to name a few TOP jobs.  With that in mind, I whipped together a list of 100+ rewards.

Switching desks and eating lunch with the teacher or sitting on a bean bag or at the teacher’s desk, were also high on the list of “woo-hoo’s”, as well as phoning home, or receiving a certificate or happy gram of praise, to share the great news with parents.

Something that isn’t often seen in a treasure box, but coveted by kids, are trophies and medals.

Anyway, before you shell out big bucks for your treasure box, you may want to check out this list, and make a few coupons for special treats your students will truly treasure and “behave for!” What a win-win.

Why not enlist their help and ASK them what’s their hot button.  To jumpstart their imaginations, read them the list and highlight the ones they think are the best.  Enjoy the good behavior to come!

Hope you can pop back tomorrow for more tips and tricks! Do you have one you'd like to share? 

I'd enjoy hearing from you dianehen@teachwithme.com or feel free to post a comment here, especially if you use one of my ideas, which you can PIN if you think it may help someone! Thanks in advance for making the time to do that.