Fluttering Through The Life Cycle Of A Butterfly

Looking for a few more ways to review or teach the life cycle of a butterfly?

I designed several with a bit of a different twist, that I think you and your students will enjoy.

My Many Colored Butterflies is an easy reader, that reviews color words at the same time sneaking in the life cycle.

Students trace and write the color words, as well as those new, rather impressive butterfly life cycle science terms.

Students color them in the matching color along with the picture.

I’ve also included a graphing extension and color word flashcards with this packet, as well as caterpillar and butterfly color cards.

Students can make an Itty Bitty color book, as well as play a Memory Matching game, where they match the color word to the corresponding caterpillar AND butterfly.

Click on the link to view/download My Many Colored Butterflies.

In the 49-page Catching On To Contractions, I’ve used a butterfly and caterpillar theme.  I think your students will enjoy learning or reviewing contractions as they flutter through these skill sheets.

Click on the link to view/download Catching On To Contractions.

I’ve designed 3 Butterfly Life Cycle Posters to help reinforce the order of the butterfly’s life cycle.

You can simply color and hang up the poster to use as an anchor chart, or run it off and have younger students color their own.

Older students can color and label a chart, or color, cut and glue a chart, depending on what skill you want students to work on.

Click on the link to view/download Butterfly Life Cycle Charts

Finally, the traceable butterfly life cycle cards are a quick and easy way for students to review this science concept.

Children can color, cut and sequence the cycle independently, making an Itty Bitty booklet, or have them play “Speed” against a partner, and see who can sequence the cycle the quickest, as they say the names of the process out loud.

Print off the cards on two different colors and turn them into Memory Match games or play “I Have; Who Has?” with them.

Click on the link to view/download the traceable butterfly life cycle cards.

I hope your students enjoy these activities, and that they always have the opportunity to fly through learning in an interesting way!

Be sure and flutter back tomorrow for still more tidbits and feel free to PIN anything on my site that you feel others might enjoy as well.

Thanks for stopping.

1-2-3 Come Do A Fun Spring Writing Activity Via a Venn Diagram With Me!

Since Bunny Buddies were so popular, as promised, here’s another Venn Friend, with more on the way for the other months.  Here in Grand Rapids, Michigan, we are close to the city of Holland, and like the country, they are all about tulips and even have some awesome windmills too. 

If you ever get a chance to visit, it's worth the trip!  Literally 1,000's of tulips are everywhere, in every color imaginable and all sorts of varieties.  Click on the link to take a look at some fabulous photographs. 

The hot pink and purple ones are a particular favorite of mine.  Since a tulip is a simple pattern,  I thought I'd design a tulip Venn Friend.

Venn Friend Diagrams are a great way to introduce or review the compare and contrast concept and a terrific way for students to get to know more about their classmates.

The finished product provides an adorable spring bulletin board and working with a partner enhances all sorts of life skills.

Simply run of my masters on a variety of construction paper that is conducive to tulip colors.

Write half of your students’ names on scraps of paper, toss them in a basket and have the other ½ select a Venn friend from this basket or bag.

To make these more of a keepsake, take a photo of each of your students, or use their school picture and have them glue it to their side of the tulip.

Use my list of questions, so each pair of students can interview each other appropriately and come up with lots of similarities and differences.  Students then choose from this list, which things they want to include on their Venn diagram.

You may want to brainstorm this part as a whole group, writing things on a white board, so that younger students know how to spell words.  Each student writes their own “different” tulip side, and then shares the writing of the "same" middle section.

You may want students to number things so they are easier to follow.  When they have completed the writing portion, students glue their tulips together and share with the class.

These make a lovely spring bulletin board, or can be suspended back-to-back and hung from the ceiling by punching a hole at both ends and making a yarn loop.  Click on the link to view/download this spring Venn diagram.  April Venn Friends

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.

"In the spring, I have counted 136 kinds of weather inside of 24 hours!" -Mark Twain

Fluttering With The Butterflies:  Hands-On "Craftivities"

April is the time that I launched my huge unit on butterflies.  It was my Y5’s favorite unit whenever we graphed “favorites”.

I ordered live larva from Insect Lore and my students were amazed to see the eggs hatch into hair-thin caterpillars, eat their way into chubby pencil-thick caterpillars, assume the J-position and spin a chrysalis, finally turning into 5 Painted Lady butterflies that were seen flying around their netted house in about 14 days time.

Every day was hands-on with a large variety of “craftivities” games, and songs that immersed them in the amazing life cycle of the butterfly.

They couldn’t wait to be part of the adventure, create something and become part of the “magic”.

If you subscribed to Mailbox Magazine in 2007-2008 you saw lots of butterfly activities in the Preschool and Kindergarten/First Grade issues by Diane Tondreau-Flohr. 

I think they published over 50 of my designs that were kid-tested and teacher approved for nailing standards and being especially fun.

I’ve since designed zillions more.  Here are a few of my favorites:

The Butterfly, pictured above,is an easy reader that goes through the various parts of the butterfly's life cycle while reviewing spatial directions. By adding a child's school photo to the butterfly, you make this an extra special keepsake.

The Shapes on My Butterfly is also an easy reader, but reviews the 6 basic shapes.  Where Did All The Butterflies Go? practices simple subtraction skills.

Click on the links to view/download these copy-ready booklets, perfect for your writing center or Daily 5 activities.

If you’re looking for some tabletop or center activities, the 95-page Butterfly Unit is sure to have something to keep your students engaged.

If hands-on “craftivities” that nail standards, teach science, make awesome displays and keep students interested, is what you’re looking for, then you’ll want to check out the 153-page Butterfly Art & Activity book 1 or the 105-page Art & Activity book 2

I think my Y5's all-time favorite activity was the "Flutter Flapper".  This explained the entire life cycle of a butterfly. Students hung onto the pipe cleaner which represented the caterpillar stage and was a  "handle" that they flapped. 

It made their butterfly's wings go up and down as they pranced around the room to whatever music they voted on.

The thorax represents the crysalis and the pony bead on the pipecleaner is the egg. I've included a song and directions of how to manipulate the flapper through the various stages.

A parent favorite, was the life cycle done with fingerprints.

The most impressive looking project was our butterfly file folders, which qualified as our scientific research study. 

On the outside they looked like a simple file folder. 

When you opened them up another folder was cut into the shape of a butterfly and contained all sorts of facts printed on a variety of colored shapes which reviewed 2 more standards.

Students could choose from a variety of projects to show the life cycle of the butterfly. 

A few of their favorites were a crown, necklace, caterpillar and reinforcement hole activity.

These were set up as centers.  My personal favorite was the tissue paper butterfly collage made from Elison diecuts. 

I made the butterfly 3-D by simply folding the wings of an extra butterfly and gluing it to the top of the bottom butterfly.  Passersby could not believe these project were done by little kids, as the finished artwork was stunning. 

Butterfly Etc. includes 126 pages of projects, games and lots of songs that help teach about butterflies as well.

Click on the links to view/download these units.

I hope you and your students have as much fun flying through this stuff as I did designing it.

I know my students did, and our hallway always looked awesome fluttering with beautiful butterflies!

Do you have a buttefly activity you'd like to share?  I'd enjoy hearing from you diane@teachwithme.com or you may also leave a comment here.

Feel free to PIN anything you think others might enjoy as well.  I think sharing is so important!

"Education, to be successful, must not only inform, but inspire." - T. Knowlson

Hurry! Let's Make A Sentence!

A fun thing you can do with Dolch words is to print off my labels and press the stickers on large colored Popsicle sticks.

Simply download my template, put a sheet of large Avery (30 on a page) labels in your printer.  (In my HP you put the sheet face down, in my Epson printer it's face up.  Make sure you do a test, so you don't waste labels.) and then click print.

I wanted to use the big labels so that students could easily read them and I could use this cool font by Kevin and Amanda called “Tonight’s The Night”. Click on the link to check out their free fonts.

You’ll need to trim the labels down a bit so they fit, but I think it’s worth the effort because they show up nicely.  Press hard so that they will stay put.

Keep the sticks in a cute mug or basket that you can pass around.  Students choose a stick and read their word.  If they can, they stay in the game.  If they can’t, the stick goes back in, and they’re out of the game.

Challenge students to find other children with words that they can team up with to make a phrase or sentence.  See who can make the longest phrase or sentence, using the most words, before the timer goes off.

Students can go to this mug/basket and create sentences and phrases when they are done with other work, or use it as a writing center or Daily 5 activity, and have students choose sticks to make phrases/sentences and then write them on a sheet of paper using correct capitalization and punctuation.

Click on the link to view/download Dolch Word Labels There are 2 sheets for each Dolch Word List (Pre-Primer through 3rd Grade).  Enjoy! 

If you're looking for more Dolch Word activities, click on the link to zip on over to that section of my site.  The Dolch activities, especially the Dolch word Bingo games, are some of my most popular downloads! You can also scroll down to take a look at that blog article.

Do you have a Dolch Word or Daily 5 activity you can share or another way you used the word sticks?  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 in advance for your time.

That's it for today. I'm off with my hubby to take a relaxing drive and enjoy all of the beautiful fall colors.  Thanks for visiting.  I hope you can stop by again for another fun teaching idea and FREEBIE.   I try and design new things every day, so do stop by often.   

"The wastebasket is a writer's best friend."  -Isaac Bashevis Singer

                                        1-2-3 Come Hatch Some "Craftivities" With Me                                                                                                                

I Hatched, is an easy spring writing activity that makes an adorable bulletin board or hallway decoration.

Your students will not only have fun with this March/April writing prompt, but will learn more about their classmates and possibly about themselves as well.

Simply run off my chick and egg templates.  Students cut them out and fill in the information.

I’ve included a letter home to parents, as younger children don’t always know any more than the month they were born in, and some don’t even know that.  You could also send this activity home to be completed over spring break, and then share on the day children return.

The “favorite activities” pennant adds more flair and an additional writing extension.  I’ve included 6 graphing extensions to reinforce that math standard and so students can visually “see” their classmates' answers.

Add feathers; wiggle eyes and straws to jazz things up and you hopefully have “eggs-actly” that little something you’ve been looking for to spice up your writing block.

To reinforce verbal acuity skills and learn more about their friends, have students share their creation with the class, after everyone has  “hatched” their egg, then hang them in the hallway for that finishing touch of springtime.

Click on the link to view/download the I Hatched Springtime Writing Activity

Each year our preschool hatches baby chicks in their classroom.  It's a fascinating experience they share with my Y5s. 

I found a short baby chicks hatching video (1:13) on YouTube, if you'd like to share it with your kiddos before or after they do the "I Hatched" craftivity.

Thanks for visiting. Do you have a spring writing prompt or craft that's a favorite?  Would love to hear from you.  diane@teachwithme.com  or feel free to leave a comment below.

"If you want to feel rich, count the things you have that money can't buy." -Unknown

Turning On The Dolch Word Light Bulbs

Are some of your students struggling with the Dolch Word lists?  Here are some helpful tips that might turn the light bulbs on.

Children enjoy games.  Making things fun for students takes the drudgery out of memorizing things, as one of my little ones said:  “We were having so much fun we didn’t even know we were learning!”

I truly believe that learning and fun should go together.  If children enjoy learning they will WANT to come to school and you won’t have problems with discipline because students will be engaged in learning because they aren’t bored.

The Traceable Dolch Word Card packets  provide a tip list of a variety of activities you can incorporate into centers and games for students so they can immerse themselves with these words.

I've also designed Dolch Word Bingo Bonanza for all the word lists. If you get students looking for, and using the words they will learn them.

I've discovered that looking at the words separately and trying to figure them out, is difficult for some students. Memorization is also very boring.

We teach students all sorts of attack skills when they read, yet we give them a “list” of Dolch words and hope for success.

I find that some children do so much better if they can see these words in a group.  So I’ve made up phrases using the words.

These can be found in My Read, Trace & Write Dolch Word Phrase Packets.   They include trace and write the phrase-skill sheets, 40-60 phrase cards, a letter home to parents, 3 recording “good reader” sheets, and 2 certificates of praise.  These make great Daily 5 activities.

It’s important to get parents on board to reinforce lessons at home to get struggling children over the hump as there is just not enough time for all the one-on-one needed at school. 

Click on the links below to view/download whatever packet you need.

My Read, Trace & Write Pre-Primer Dolch Word Phrase Packet 

My Read, Trace & Write Kindergarten Dolch Word Phrase Packet

My Read, Trace & Write First Grade Dolch Word Phrase Packet

My Read, Trace & Write Second Grade Dolch Word Phrase Packet

My Read, Trace & Write Third Grade Dolch Word Phrase Packet

When a student achieves success with one packet they can correct the phrases and turn them into sentences by adding capital letters, punctuation and a word or two to complete the thought.   Continue to raise the bar, and challenge students to move on to the next level of words.

Finally, I really think that teaching students the words phonetically helps a lot.  I’ve had wonderful success turning the light bulb on when some students just don’t get it when I rhyme things.

I actually think it is much easier to break the words down this way and feel most students could learn a lot more words across the board if we taught them “off the list” and grouped them by sound instead.

I’ve compiled an anchor chart of a Phonetic Dolch Word List.  Click on the link to view/download it.

I hope these things help your students enjoy reading and learning new words, as those light bulbs turn on and start to shine brightly!

"The only place success comes before work, is in the dictionary." -- May Smith

Activities For Dolch Words

Looking for something different to do with Dolch Words?  Look no farther!

I’ve made traceable word cards for Pre-Primer through 3rd, that you can turn into an Itty Bitty booklet.

Students enjoy tracing the words, cutting out the cards and sequencing them in alphabetical order, adding a cover and turning them into a mini booklet that’s fun to share with their families.

You can use these cards for Memory Match “Concentration” games, “I Have Who Has?” games or sprinkle them on the floor and have students find and then sequence them as a whole group.

 Students can choose a partner and play “Speed” and several other card games too.

I've also included a set of bomb cards so students can play "Kaboom" as well.  Directions for these games are in the tip sheet.

There are also worksheets where students trace and alphabetize the words as well.

These things make nice Daily 5 activities too.

Click on the links for the various Dolch Word Cards and activities: Dolch Pre-primer cards, Dolch Kindergarten cards, Dolch First Grade cards, Dolch Second Grade cards, or Dolch Third Grade cards.

If you think up some other uses, I’d enjoy hearing from you diane@teachwithme.com or feel free to comment here.

Thanks in advance for your time.  

Be sure and pop back tomorrow for more interesting teaching tips.

Compound Words, Sight Words, Dolch Words.... So Many Words So Little Time, So Here Are Some Time Savers:

I love making alphabetical lists of words to use as a checklist to help me find things as well as give to parents as a check off list to use to high light when their child knows a word.

Compound words is something that students from Y5 on up need to know.

I wanted to compile a list of as many compound words that I could think of so that I could draw from it to help me dream up compound word projects for my kiddo’s.

I thought maybe there might be a little over 1,000 words.  Was I surprised to come up with almost 3,000!

I hope you find it helpful; it took me hours to compile. If you think of others that I missed, please shoot me an e-mail so that I can add them.  It would be fun to hit 3,000. diane@teachwithme.com

A valuable tool for your classroom would be to make a student-driven anchor chart of compound words by using a piece of tag board.

Label the top: Compound Words and divide the poster into 3 columns.

The first column will be the beginning word, the second, the ending word and the third column will be the compound word. i.e. base   ball   baseball.

Brainstorm with your students to see how many compound words they can come up with in a few minutes and then have them write them on the poster.

Throughout the year, as they say or read a compound word, have them put it on the poster.

Share with them that you have a list of 2,602 compound words and challenge them to collect 100, or whatever number you deem appropriate for their age group.

How about 100 by 100 Day or the end of the school year?

click on the link to view/download Compound Word List

I also made up 2 alphabetical word list posters.  One is of “most used sight words” and the other pre-primer through 1^st grade Dolch words.

They are in convenient paper-size poster format, which is perfect for a mini-anchor chart.

Click on the link to view/download Sight Word Dolch & Word Posters

Be sure and pop back tomorrow for more teaching tips.

Anchors Away!

I think anchor charts serve a number of valuable purposes.

They are a quick reminder of facts; they assist students in visualizing a concept; they help children understand parts of a whole; a good one is concise; generic charts can help jump start students’ thoughts + they make great and practical decorations for your classroom.

I’ve designed several that involve a variety of subjects:  reading strategies,   vowel, coin, magic e,  flat shape POSTERS, candy and 3-D shape posters, an ABC Dolch sight word list, blends, ending the confusion of b and d, alphabetical word-letter sounds, long & short vowels and how to ask a question, to name just a few.

Click on the links to view/download them.

I have a “to do” list of about a dozen more that are in the works, so stop by often.  There’s at least 2 new things posted every day!

I wanted to design one where students could make their own mini version to help reinforce the lesson.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is an all-time favorite of my students and perfect for a spring anchor chart that helps students recall the various parts of a book.

This one includes a teacher’s poster and a mini template for students to label.

To add the artwork, simply have students make a pencil line of the caterpillar’s body and fill it in my dipping their index finger in the various colors of paint and then making prints on the line.

If you don't want to use paint, stamp pads work well too.  Baballa uses sponges soaked in paint to make the perfect fingerprints and avoid big blobs.

The picture on the right is from her site. Click on the link to check out her other "muy lindo" ideas.

Add details with markers when the paint dries.

Click on the link to view/download Parts Of A Book Anchor Chart

Need some more anchor charts?

Ms. M's Blog is throwing a Linky Party featuring anchor charts for K-2^nd grade.  Click on the link if you’d like to check it out.

Be sure and pop back tomorrow for more fun tips for springtime (although, here in Michigan, Mother Nature is having some sort of identity crisis. 

(She can’t seem to make up her mind whether it’s spring, summer or winter again…sometime all in the same day!)