Diane Henderson
Bookmarks For Spring
I love making bookmarks to give to my students, and March Is Reading Month is a marvelous time to hand them out.
I try to design some of them around standards so they become a helpful checklist that students can refer to.
My first graders used to keep them in a pocket taped to the side of their desks. My Y5’s kept theirs in their work folders.
The Pool Ball counting bookmark counts forward to 10.
I’ve also included large balls for teacher flashcards. Laminate, cut out, punch a hole in the top and put on a split ring.
I’ve included a smaller set for students. They can sequence them forwards and backwards and can also put them on a split ring made out of a bended paperclip.
These make great Memory Match games as well as a cute number line to hang on the wall too.
Click on the link to view/download pool ball counting bookmark.
The Blast Off With Me bookmark is a nice visual for students to “see” counting backwards from 10-0. I’ve also included cards and tips for several games.
Click on the link to view/download Blast Off Bookmark.
Finally, I’ve designed 3 spring bookmarks. Tuck them in Take Home folders, backpacks, or leave in or on a desk as a nice surprise.
Click on the link to view/download spring bookmarks.
For more bookmarks that you can use as monthly praise slips and incentives click on the link. I have a pre-colored set and ones that are just black and white so that students can color them.
Click on the link to view/download Praise slip-bookmark incentives.
Happy Reading!
St. Patrick's Day Ideas
Happy St. Patrick's Day! Let the Celebration of Learning Begin.
Sorry to those of you who tried to get on the site this morning. Our server went down. Such is the aggravating world of cyber space. I apologize for any frustration and inconvenience this caused.
Saturday is St. Patrick’s Day and many of you will be celebrating Friday with a special theme day or at least a few activities to help make the day a bit more fun.
I just wanted to post a few things for those of you who are still looking for some last-minute ideas to plug in.
When my students walk in I have Irish music playing. It puts everyone in a festive mood.
I play soothing harp music while they do their table top lessons and transition to centers. They’ve always enjoyed this.
I designed “St. Patrick’s Day Stuff” if you want to leave a little surprise on your students’ desks in the morning or afternoon.
I’ve included several old-fashioned St. Patty’s day postcards, 2 bookmarks, a note from the teacher, and badge.
Cut the badges out, write you students’ name on them and attach a tiny safety pin.
If your little ones are into “crowns” make an easy one with a sentence strip and have them glue the badge to the center.
They can also make a necklace with pony beads, noodles or whatever extra’s you have hidden in your storage closet, and add the badge to the center.
Not only is stringing beads a great fine motor skill, but students can put on a specific number of beads, counting as they go, and then skip counting to see how many they put on. They can also show you a designated pattern with the colors that they choose.
Click on the link to view/download St. Patrick’s Day Stuff.
Print off the “You Rock!” strips and let students decorate a stone with a shamrock sticker or dab on 3 dots of green paint with a Q-tip.
Tell students the story of the Blarney Stone and include lip stickers at this center as well.
Click on the link to view/print “You Rock!” strips.
For some additional activities, a class booklet and a leprechaun hat template click on the link to view/download St. Patrick’s Day Activities. It’s 30-pages long and filled with fun.
I hope you found an idea or two here that will help make your day a little more special and fun, to me that’s what learning’s all about.
It's Shamrock Time: St. Patrick's Day Games Involving Telling Time
I continue to plug along completing the Telling Time Cards for each month, and just finished the March clock set with shamrocks. Click on the link to view/download them.
I also have a variety of other telling time games with a shamrock theme, that are great throughout the month of March, but especially nice to plug in for St. Patrick’s Day, when you might want to add a bit more fun to the day because it’s “special”.
Start off by offering a quick and easy Make A Shamrock Clock center. Students cut out the circle, glue it to a paper plate and then count by 5’s to write in the helpful numbers around the clock.
Punch a hole in the center, fasten a brass brad and attach a small and large paperclip and you’re done! Students can take turns calling out a time. Everyone manipulates the paperclip hands to make that time and holds up their clock to show the answer. It's a quick & easy way to whole-group assess.
I’ve also included a plain clock so that you can use it anytime, without the shamrock theme idea. Click on the link to view/download the Shamrock Clock
Bingo Dot Clock is another fun way to whole-group assess students. Call on a quiet child to “spy” a time to the hour.
Students trace the number, bingo dot the circle, manipulate the paperclip hands to show the correct time and then hold up their clock when done.
The first child with the correct answer gets to spy the next time for everyone to find. Click on the link to view/download Bingo Dot Shamrock Clock game.
Spin to Win also reinforces time to the hour. Students can either spin the shamrock clock spinner or roll a pair of dice.
Rolling dice involves simple addition and subtraction. Students trace the digital time on their time card and then write it. The first student to completely fill their time card in is the winner.
This game also includes traceable digital time cards to the hour and half hour + a certificate of praise bookmark. Click on the link to view/download Shamrock Spin To Win game
Shamrocks on a Roll also involves dice and addition and subtraction. Students have the option to trace the numbers on their shamrock clock or write them in. Click on the link to view/download Shamrocks on a Roll
Finally, Shamrock Skip Counting includes a shamrock spinner for counting by 2’s, 3’s, 5’s, and 10’s. There is also a spinner for counting by 1’s for younger students.
Knowing how to skip count is important in telling time. Click on the link to view/download Skip Counting With Shamrocks
Thanks for visiting. Feel free to PIN away. I hope your “time” playing some of these games on St. Patrick’s Day is delightful!
"An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." -Benjamin Franklin
- activities for St Patrick's Day
- telling time activities
- shamrock activities
- st patrick's day activities for preschool kindergarten and first grade
- St Patrick's Day activities
- clock pattern
- St Patrick's Day games
- St Patrick's Day math centers
- common core st patrick's day
- digital time activities,
- analog time activities,
- shamrock clock,
Counting Booklets Using A Ten Frame
123 Count With Me booklets are based on a ten frame. They are easy readers that cover a variety of math standards, at the same time incorporating reading and helping students practice fine motor skills, as they cut and glue the appropriate group/set to the matching numbered box.
Use these little booklets for Daily 5, a math center, independent activity when students have completed their regular work, easy plug in’s for substitutes, and great school-home connections.
For March I’ve designed 123 Count Shamrocks With Me, as well as 123 Count Kites With Me.
Make these booklets part of your monthly activities and empower your students. Once you have explained and modeled how to do the first booklet, your students get down to business, and can work independently on their booklets from then on.
This frees the teacher up to work 1-on-1 with other children.
Each booklet comes with more standard-based activities: a graphing extension, a +1 more skill sheet, traceable word and number cards and a certificate of praise.
Children enjoy using stickers, X’s, or a bingo dauber to fill in the appropriate boxes of the ten frame.
These also make great table top worksheets. Do one page a day and collect. When students have done all 10 pages staple their booklet together and read aloud as a whole group to reinforce concepts of print.
Your students will enjoy making, collecting and sharing all of the 123 Count With Me booklets with their families.
Click on the link to view/down load 123 Count Shamrocks With Me and 123 Count Kites With Me.
If you’d like to look at the rest of the 123 Count With Me collection, click on the link and scroll down.
There are some for each of the past months. I will be designing more for April and May when the collection will be complete.
If you don't see a counting booklet that fits your needs, or have a suggestion for a new one, feel free to contact me. diane@teachwithme.com I design new things every day especially based upon viewers requests.
Be sure and pop in tomorrow for more teaching tips.
Do you have one 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 an idea. Thanks in advance for your time.
Kite Glyphs and Graphs
A Y5 report card standard is “Listens and Follows Directions.”
A teacher can certainly tell you in a heartbeat which students don’t listen and follow directions.
There are a zillion oral examples of that on a daily basis, but what if you have to prove it to a parent during conferences?
Showing them some incorrectly done worksheet examples doesn't always do the trick. Perhaps they are listening, but don’t understand the concept.
This was a huge reason why I decided to do a glyph each month.
I could whole-group assess in minutes, the children LOVED doing them, I had an instant seasonal bulletin board or decoration for the hall, students could analyze data and figure out which of their classmates did which glyphs AND I had lots of examples to show parents whether their child was indeed listening and following directions or not; plus I, as well as their classmates, learned more about the students each time we did one.
Here is a fun glyph for March. If you want students to analyze the data and figure out who did the glyph, simply fold the corner with their names on over.
Be sure and make your own personal sample. Students enjoy seeing their teacher's pictoral answers. For my age, I tell them to count the first 5 bows by 10's and then add the rest. The polka dot glyph is mine. The triangle glyph is a friend's child.
I’ve included 10 matching graphs so you can practice another standard and see how your students answered the questions as a whole group.
Click on the link to view/download Kite Glyphs and Graphs
Be sure and pop back tomorrow for more kite activities.
Shamrock Coin & Counting Games
I have quite a few shamrock themed activities for reading and writing, so I wanted to make sure that you had some for math as well.
Shake Your Shamrocks is a simple game to help your students review skip counting by 2’s 3’s and 5’s.
I’ve also made a game board for counting by 1’s for younger students. These games would be perfect any time, but a great addition to your St. Patrick’s Day activities.
The object of the game is to help the leprechaun get to his pot of gold by rolling a pair of dice and taking the face value of the number needed or adding and subtracting to get there.
For example, in order to move one space ahead, if you are skip counting by 3’s, you need to roll a 3, or a 2 and a 1 (add) or a 4 and a 1 (subtract) etc.
Encourage students to count out loud as they move their marker around the board. Plastic gold coins, shamrock erasers, and small rocks (Blarney Stones) make great markers.
If you are counting by 1’s, you play with only 1 dice. This game has a different set of rules, where students lose a turn, switch places with their partner and move backwards one space, depending on the roll of the die.
Click on the link to view/download Shake Your Shamrocks skip counting game.
Another game I think that your students will enjoy playing is Spin To Win-Dollar Holler where strategy counts or does it?
Children choose 1 of 3 columns, that they try and fill, in their quest to reach the amount of $1.00.
Includes a graphing extension. All games include a certificate of praise for participants as well as winners.
Click on the link to view/downoad Dollar Holler a fun game for St. Patrick's Day!
Coin Shamrocks makes a nice math center activity for March/St. Patrick’s Day. The object here is to identify the coins and figure out the total value that is displayed on each shamrock.
I’ve included an identification shamrock sample for each coin that will help students who still struggle with this concept.
Students can play independently or with a partner to see who can fill in their shamrock cards first. Students can use coin manipulatives as well as the little matching value cards to cover the shamrocks.
Includes a blank shamrock template to program your own coin cards + a certificate of praise. Click on the link to view/download Shamrock Coins
A wonderful little easy-reader booklet that involves both counting and coins is How Much Is This Shamrock?
It’s a terrific transition into a reading-writing block after students have completed the above math stations and is a nice Daily 5 activity for St. Patrick’s Day.
Students help the leprechaun purchase a variety of rainbow-colored shamrocks as they cut and glue the appropriate coins to the matching pages. Click on the link to view/download the shamrock coin booklet.
Finally, there are a variety of other shamrock counting booklets available as well. Simply click on the link to zoom to the Shamrock section and scroll down to download whatever fits your needs.
Thanks for visiting today. Feel free to PIN away. I hope all your Irish eyes, are smiling during your St. Patty's Day activities.
"A child educated only at school, is an uneducated child." -George Santayana
A Fun Way To Learn & Reinforce CVC Words
CVC Word Craftivities
Your students will LOVE Wisicigi (wa-sa-sig-ee) Time + it really helps get CVC and word wall words into their heads!
This is a great activity to plug in for a writing center or for your Daily 5 too.
Wisicigi comes from wi(write it) si(stamp it) ci(cut it out) and gi(glue it).
Make a copy of my WOW (Wonderful Outstanding Word) poster and hang it up so that you can post what the WOW’s are for the day.
Depending on the level of your students, choose from 1-3 words for them to work on.
The one pictured has a spring theme to it.
Make copies of the WOW wisicigi sheet.
Run off the alphabet sheets on a variety of colored copy paper.
Students cut out the letters and glue them on their papers to spell the words like a ransom note.
Keep recycling the sheets ‘til all of the letters are used up. I keep mine in a file folder.
I made the cute alphabet sheet with a free font from Kevin and Amanda’s free scrapbook fonts site. Check them out for other cool fonts.
Students write their words in colored pencils, markers or crayons.
Children stamp the words with alphabet stamps and different colored stamp pads.
I got my alphabet sticks from Discount School Supply.
I really like that they are a “stick”, as it’s easy for the children to hold.
Unfortunately, they no longer sell the lowercase letters, only the uppercase ones. They are $26.99.
Click on the link if you'd like to take a look.
I’ve seen mini upper and lowercase alphabet sets at Michael’s Crafts for only $1 and nice letter sets in the scrapbooking department, in a variety of price ranges, at Hobby Lobby and JoAnn Fabrics.
When students have completed their WOW sheet they use the words in a sentence and write it on the bottom.
I use a different color marker to write the WOW words, than the other ones in my sentence so they “pop”.
Challenge students to see who can write the shortest sentence using the least amount of words.
These sheets make a great home-school connection so parents know what words to work on with their child.
When you make WOW’s a part of your daily routine, students are empowered, as they know what to do and get down to business.
They are having fun and will be learning CVC and word wall words in no time.
Teachers are freed up to help ESL and struggling students one-on-one. Such a nice win-win!
Click on the link to view/download Wow Charts to help with CVC and word wall word comprehension.
Scroll down if you're looking for more Shamrock-themed ideas, and be sure to pop back tomorrow when they'll be about coins and counting!
Do you have a successful CVC tip 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 in advance!
Shamrock Reading Games
Get Shakin' With Shamrock Games And Spice Up Reading Routines!
Blend To Get To The End involves the Sh for shamrock blend, as well as 23 others!
Students pretend to be leprechauns whose goal it is to get to their pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, by skipping along a shamrock trail.
In order to do that they need to identify shamrock cards with either a blend on them or one with a blend and an example of a word with that blend in it.
This game includes a game board, 42 word - blend shamrocks, 24 shamrocks with just a blend on them, a blank sheet of shamrocks to make your own templates, + 2 certificates of praise.
Review another standard; by having students trace their trails in an ABAB pattern. Click on the link to view/download Blend To Get To The End Shamrock Game
Shhh it’s a Shamrock is a slider that specifically works on the sh blend at the beginning and end of 56 words. Choose which strips you want to work on.
Students enjoy this hands-on manipulative, as they trace the words with markers or crayons. Again, this can be done in an ABAB pattern.
Includes 56 traceable word cards, a cover to turn them into an Itty Bitty booklet, tips of what else to do with the cards, a student log and a certificate of praise.
Click on the link to view/download Shhh It’s A Shamrock Packet
Finally, your students will enjoy putting shamrocks together to make CVC words beginning with the letter L for leprechaun in CVC Shamrock Word Fun
This packet includes a skill sheet for students to make a letter L CVC word list on, + an answer key.
21-traceable word cards with a cover so students can make an Itty Bitty booklet; vowel and consonant shamrocks and a blank set of shamrocks so you can make your own templates + a certificate of praise.
Click on the link to view/download the CVC Shamrock Word Game
Scroll down for an awesome reading-writing activity with a spring theme. I know you're going to really like this one!
Shamrock Game
Do you need a quick game to review numbers, letters, or shapes? What’s In The Hat is easy and fun and perfect for your shamrock theme or St. Patrick’s Day activities.
Print off my What’s In The Hat cards, laminate and cut out. Toss them into a leprechaun hat.
If you'd rather use shamrocks, I've made a template for you to run off on green construction paper. Write numbers and letters on them and draw on the various shapes as well.
I purchased my hat 50% off at a party store. If you don’t have one, use a Dr. Seuss hat, or run off my hat template on green construction paper and glue on a lunch bag.
Gather your students in a circle on the floor and have them sing my Oh Do You Know song to the tune of The Muffin Man.
While the children are singing, have them pass the hat and pick a card.
When everyone has a card, go around the circle and have each child show and share “what’s in the hat!”
As long as the tune Muffin Man is in their heads, you can also review colors and have children transition to the next activity by singing:
Oh who is wearing green today, green today, green today? Oh who is wearing green today, please quietly go away.
Repeat the verse with all of the colors of the rainbow, ‘til all of your students have transitioned to the next activity.
Click on the link to veiw/download What's In the Hat? Shamrock-St. Patrick's Day Game
Be sure and pop back tomorrow for another fun teaching tip. Scroll down if you missed the other Shamrock ideas.
Do you have one you'd like to share? I'd enjoy hearing from you! diane@teachwithme.com OR...leave a comment here, especially if you use an idea.
Thanks in advance for caring and sharing!
More Fun With Shamrocks
Spring Spirals
I love decorating for the various seasons and holidays. It energizes me.
Children’s creations make the best decorations and displaying them is extremely important in building self-esteem and helping students take pride in their accomplishments.
Other teachers and students enjoyed going through my hallway “art museum” filled with “mess-terpieces”.
Their comments to my students were also very encouraging. I find that schools look more interesting, fun and inviting to visitors, when they are festooned with student "craftivities".
An announcement by our principal + warnings by teachers to “Keep your hands off the dangling decorations!” did a pretty good job of helping to keep things from getting slapped down.
Spring Spiral Shamrocks are one of those awesome tempting danglers. A spiral offers great fine motor cutting skill practice.
If you are dealing with Y5’s and younger cut the spiral out so that they have a circle to hang on to when they cut. Remind them to stay on the “road” and continue to cut on the line as they go along.
Demonstrate this and show how you turn your circle as you cut showing how the “road” will then spiral and dangle down.
Because I made lines across so that children know when to stop coloring, a few little ones might be tempted to cut across, so explain these lines as “stop” features for coloring and that they are NOT to be cut.
Because I teach about rainbows and rainbow color order in March, I like to combine those concepts with shamrocks to get more “bang for my time.”
You can make your ceiling display colorful by giving your students an assortment of rainbow-colored spirals to choose from, or you can have them color their spirals with crayons or markers.
Just and FYI that this is a lot of coloring for a little one as in order for the colors to be dramatic, you need to color both sides.
It is easier to color the spiral before it is cut out, but then in order to color the back, it needs to be cut out in order to see where to color. This is definitely a task for older students.
You can add more colors of the rainbow with the center shamrock as I included a smaller shamrock template for the middle.
Simplify things and make it white or another shade of green or a variety of rainbow colors.
I wanted to show all of the rainbow colors so to create the cool effect pictured, I peeled broken crayons, sharpened them over my shamrock, put a piece of wax paper over the shavings and then pressed an iron on low heat on top of them, you’ll get an instant melted rainbow and lots of oooh’s and ahhh’s from your students.
I teach my students a short rainbow song to help them remember the color order of the rainbow.
Every year when we are working on a rainbow activity they burst into song. This “craftivity” includes the song.
You can also add 3-D pizzazz to the back of your shamrock by cutting out 2 additional shamrocks, folding them in half gluing them together and then gluing the 3-D shamrock to the back of your flat one.
This additional step is also recommended for older students. Punch a hole in the top of the shamrock, add a yarn loop and dangle from the ceiling.
If you want to put up a caption: ________________________’s class is spiraling into spring! You can also skip the spiral and just do the melted crayon shamrock. It makes a lovely March bulletin board. Caption: __________________'s class is melting into spring! OR... Wishing you a colorful spring!
Click on the link to view/download Spring Spiral Shamrocks
Be sure and pop back tomorrow for What's In The Hat? A quick and easy shamrock review game.
Other Resources
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