3 pages.

The controversy of Halloween, makes a nice comparison contrast writing activity, where students list the positive aspects of Halloween that they like, as well as the negative ones that they don't care for.  As a topper for their completed October writing prompt, students make a Jack-O-Lantern using the positive negative art form.

1-2-3 Come Make A Pumpkin Writing Prompt Craftivity With Me

With all of the pros and cons about Halloween and the hype about the negative versus the positive aspects of the holiday, I thought this controversy would make an interesting October writing prompt that even younger students could manage. This would be great for your writing block or Daily 5 writing portion on Halloween day, which tends to be a bit crazy.

As a whole group, brainstorm what things students like about Halloween and list them on the board.  Then discuss the negative aspects of the holiday and things that they don't like about Halloween.  Write those on the board as well.  

The lists can help students with spelling, as well as deciding what things they want to include in their own writing prompt. 

I've always been intriqued by the positive negative aspects of art, and the fun things you can create around that concept. 

With that in mind, I thought the perfect craft to use as a topper for this writing prompt, would be a positive negative pumpkin.   Click on the link to grab your FREEBIE.

Here's how to make one:

Run the pumpkin template off on orange construction paper. I've put two pumpkins on a page for qucik printing, so you'll need to cut them in half using a paper cutter. 

Likewise, cut black construction paper in half as well.  Students lay their 1/2 sheet of black construction paper underneath their orange paper pumpkin half, and then cut out 2 pumpkin halves at the same time.  One will be orange; the other black.

When they are done, they glue a half sheet of black construction paper onto a whole sheet of orange construction paper.

Now glue the orange pumpkin on top of the black construction paper side, and the black pumpkin on the orange construction paper side, so that the two pumpkins are joined together, making a positive and negative pumpkin picture. 

Finally, students glue their writing prompt underneath. I've included a completed sample if you want to use mine to make an example to share with your kiddos. 

You could do this with other Halloween themed objects as well.  I found this monster version over at In The Art Room, when I Googled positive negative art samples.  Instead of using my pumpkin pattern, students could also create a Jack-O-Lantern of their own.

While doing research, I found a helpful art site. For more information about positive-negative art click on the link. 

There's a short video clip explaining the positive negative art form, plus some cool samples like this one.  Do you see a vase or two profiles?

Thanks for visiting today.  Since it's not too brisk out, I'm off to do a bit of winterizing in my garden.  Too much for one day, but slow and sure wins the race.  Wishing you an energizing day.

"Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body." -- Joseph Addison 

1-2-3 Come Do Some Halloween Color Activities With Me

While reading some Halloween books with my grandson Kaiden this afternoon, I noticed that I could find a Halloween-themed "thing" that represented all of the colors my Y5's needed to learn.  I was inspired to whip together this little Halloween Colors booklet; a matching spinner game soon followed. 

No matter what I did, I tried to cram at least 3 other standards into any activity that I dreamed up for my Y5's, so that I'd get more bang for my time. 

With that in mind, this Halloween-themed easy reader has students read the simple sentences, (chock full of Dolch Words), correct the beginning capitalization, and then add end punctuation. 

Children trace, write and color the color words and matching pictures.

There are teachable moments for pronouns and plurals, because of the way I set up the sentences.

For more practice, there's a color word matching worksheet. 

I've also included a "favorite colors" graphing extension to toss in a bit of math.

The spinner color game, matches the story. Students pick a partner and take turns spinning the color wheel. 

Whatever color they land on, they have to remember the Halloween-themed "thing" that was that color in their booklet, and then color that object on their spider web coloring page.

You can use the game as an assessment tool for comprehension, or assist little ones by hanging up the answer key poster. 

Either way, both of these activities make great additions on Halloween party day, as they are quick, easy and fun, yet Common Core based. 

Click on the link to view/download a copy of the Common Core Halloween Colors Activity packet. For more Halloween activities click on the link to zip on over to that section of my site.

Thanks for visiting today.  Hope you can stop by tomorrow for a few more FREEBIES.  Right now it's time for me and one energetic 2-year-old to clean up our messes. 

Wishing you a day filled with giggles and precious moments. 

"When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion." - Ethiopian Proverb

10 pages.

This cute little booklet covers all sorts of standards.  Students read the simple sentences; correct the capitalization and add end punctuation.  They trace, write and then color the color words and matching pictures.   A "favorite colors" graphing extension is also included, as well as a color word matching worksheet and color spinner game.

1-2-3 Come Do Some Leaf Activities With Me

There are so many themes that I incorporated into my October lessons, that it was sometimes difficult to get to them all.  I think one of my favorites though, was leaves.

Probably, because of all the fond childhood memories I have of raking up big piles of colorful leaves and then playing in them for hours.

A leaf theme is an easy way to toss in a little bit of science, and build vocabulary with words like chlorophyll and photosynthesis. Leaves also work well with math and language arts too.

Here are a few of my favorite leaf-themed activities:

To help practice all sorts of math skills, (addition, subtraction, odd & even, greater than and less than) click on the link for the Leaf Counting Games.

Students can play the math games and do the center activities independently or with a partner. 

There are also leaf cards with number words on them, to help reinforce reading skills.  I've included a 3-page tip-list of ideas.

The 10 frames leaf packet is also a fun way to practice a variety of math skills.

Are you working on ordinal numbers?

The Ordinal number packet not only has a leaf worksheet (2 on a page for easy printing), but other fall themes as well.

Likewise, the Fall Graphing packet has similar themes, including one for leaves. 

Besides graphing, you can also reinforce the various 2D shapes.

I always tried to include some sort of hands-on "craftivity" with any theme that I taught. 

With that in mind,  I designed the leaf dangler.  It's the newest addition to my leaf collection of activities,  and includes a little rhyme: "Red, orange, yellow and brown, autumn leaves flutter down."

Older students can complete the "Leaves are, can, have" writing prompt on the back of their leaves. 

I've included a worksheet for this as well.  Do it as a whole group, or have children fill in their own.  There's a completed sample to share as well. 

Do some of your kiddos still need practice identifying the letters of the alphabet? 

These leaf-themed alphabet cards will help.  I've included separate upper and lowercase letter cards as well, which are perfect for all sorts of ABC games.  A tip-list of what to do with the cards is also included.

Finally, since the weather is so beautiful during the fall here in Michigan, I liked to take my Y5's for a mini nature walk. 

This was just a walk around the block of our school to look for things on a nature list that we brainstormed before departure. 

I gave each child a paper bag to collect "nature stuff" in, then we'd go back, wash up and design a paper plate "leaf pal". 

As you can see by the photographs, they turned out absolutely awesome. 

Click on the link for the leaf man craft. After everyone was done, we'd read the Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. 

Also in this packet is a quick and easy chlorophyll leaf craft.  Simply run off the leaf template on a variety of colors of fall construction paper. 

Students trim, fold in half and glue only one side to their matching green leaf, so that the other side flips up to reveal the green leaf underneath. 

This was an easy way to show that leaves were green when they were filled with chlorophyll, but changed to their natural color once it was gone. 

By the end of the activity my little ones could tell you about chlorophyll, as well as photosynthesis.  (Their parents were duly impressed.)

Well that's it for today.  I hope you found something you could use to help your students fall into some learning fun. :-)

Time to go get dinner started.  We're having stuffed red peppers.  Yum!

"Everyone must row with the oars he has." -English Proverb

12 pages.

Make this lovely leaf dangler to welcome fall.  To help reinforce color words and rhyming, a poem is included for the backside. Older students can write "Leaves ARE, CAN, HAVE..." on the back of their leaves.  This activity will be free for an entire year, after which time it will be up-dated and put in Diane's Dollar Deals, in my TpT shop.  Click on the link to zip on over for a look see: Welcome Fall Leaf Dangler Writing Prompt Craftivity.

4 pages.

Venn diagrams are a quick, easy and fun way to introduce the concept of comparison and contrast writing.  Choosing a partner to make a "Pumpkin Venn Friend" with, is an interesting way to do that.  What a fun way for students to get to know each other too.  This activity will be FREE for an entire year! Woo hoo.  After which time, it will be up-dated & put in my whopping 51-page Fall Venn Friends packet in my TpT shop.  For your convenience, I've included a PREVIEW here.

1-2-3 Come Do Some Crimping With Me

Crimping? What's crimping? It's a wonderful way to add that finishing touch to your students' crafts. Alicia, over at Jam Paper, contacted me and asked if I would be willing to design some sort of craft activity using their paper.   Of course! (They have "every color and every size!" including brown which is rather unusual and perfect for fall.)

I checked out their site and found that they also carried an awesome tool called a "corru-gator"  which crimps paper!  Well the creative juices kicked in and my brain went into over drive, with all of the fun things I could do with one. The more I pondered, the more excited I got.  I hope you will too. 

I chose the "wave" pattern for it's versatility. (One with straight lines, that crimps like corrugated cardboard, is also available.)  I'm sure scrapbookers are well aware of these fun gadgets, but I wanted to figure out ways a teacher could use one in the classroom. 

One of the reasons that this is great for school, is that it has a width of 8 1/2 inches, so it will fit a regular sheet of paper, (smaller sizes too) as well as card stock thickness, so you can add texture to just about any project.

The corru-gator is a safe and easy-to-use-tool even for little ones.  Inserting a sheet of paper and cranking the roller, is wonderful fine motor practice that is a super-fun way to strengthen finger muscles, which is so important for pre-writing skills and scissor cutting capability.

A child's excitement at seeing their finished project being cranked out, with a cool texured look, is priceless.  "Wow! Look what I made."  

Because students will want to add that "finishing touch" to whatever you deem appropriate, use the tool as an incentive to keep students focussed, by allowing them to use the crimper after they have completed their project. 

What kinds of projects? Oh the possibilities... Here are just a few that I thought of:

Students can crimp a file folder (portfolio) or pocket folder to keep their work in.  The "Flip For Facts" file folder activities that I've posted also look more interesting after they're crimped too.  Make sure you use plenty of glue on projects to be crimped and that they are completely dry.

Crimp shapes, letters and numbers to add a bit of pizzazz. Use Elison die cut letters and have students glue them together to make a name plate then crimp it, or simply have them write and color their names and then add the texture. 

When students make a special card for Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, or Father's Day, allow them to crimp it to add that "wow" factor or have them crimp the envelope for something different.

Crimp your plain colored bulletin board borders to add some 3D pop.  Have students design a bookmark and then crimp it. 

Crimp a writing prompt topper, or even the written page.  I crimped the entire haunted house 5 senses craftivity to add an extra touch of creepy. As I've discussed before, tossing in a bit of hands-on art to go along with a writing prompt, simply gets students more motivated. 

Completed projects make awesome displays, which help build self-esteem. 

Crimping only takes a minute and the unusual results will surely get all sorts of comments.  Everyone wanted to know how we made these cool tri-colored apples.

A myriad of themed craft activities are also perfect for crimping.  Here are just a few:

For Fall: crimp apples, pumpkins, scarecrows, bats, spiders, candy corn, skeletons, & monsters.

Studying fire safety? As you can see by the photograph, flames look awesome crinkled and definitely add that finishing touch!

Are you studying leaves?  Paper leaves look wonderful crimped.

I designed this fall dangler then added the texture for an interesting 3D effect.

Trees are also the perfect craft to crinkle.  

My students partnered up and traced their arm and hand with fingers spread to make an apple tree and then ran it through the corru-gator.  

The pumpkin sliders gained extra pizzazz by being "munched and crunched". (My Y5's have named this cool tool "The Muncher Cruncher".)

Our pumpkin Venn Friends turned out especially cool with a little crimping.

I LOVE that the size of this tool accommodates an entire project. 

The scarecrow's face and hat, look extra special when crimped, which gave it more of a burlap look. I also ran yellow paper through a shredder to make the hair.

Thinking ahead to WINTER: Crimp Christmas trees, ornaments, snowmen, snow scenes, and mittens.

Do you celebrate 100 Day?  Have students draw a self portrait of how they think they'll look if they get to be 100-years-old, then crimp for instant wrinkles, or simply crimp a real photo of them.

For Groundhog Day, crimp children's groundhog craftivities to give those animals some "fur".  Are you studying shadows? Using a light source, trace your students' profile, trim and crimp. 

For Valentine's Day add texture to paper hearts.  If you study Abraham Lincoln, crimp a log cabin.

Moving on to Spring: Crimp rain, the water cycle, a Seuss hat, butterflies, caterpillars, shamrocks, flowers, grass, eggs, baskets, bunnies, lions, and lambs.

As you can see I'm pretty excited about the educational potential of this fun gadget, and at $24.50 it's certainly an affordable tool to add to your teaching bag of tricks. 

To take a look at the corru-gators over at Jam Paper, click on the link.  They also have a large variety of paper choices, as well as other office supplies. 

If you're going to do the Frankenstein envelope activity with your kiddos that I posted a few days ago, they also sell the green envelopes. Your kiddos could also crimp their completed envelope monsters too.

Speaking of envelopes, if you do a Chinese New Year Theme in February, and want to get some red coin envelopes to do a few of my Chinese New Year activities with, they sell the perfect 3 x 5.5 size.

Well that's it for today.  I'm going to play around a bit more with this fun gadget to see what else I can come up with. 

If you've thought of another way to use the tool, or an activity you plan to do with your kiddos, I'd enjoy hearing from you: diane@teachwithme.com  or feel free to leave a comment below.

"There is a great distance between said and done." - Puerto Rican proverb 


1-2-3 Come Study -ick and -eat Word Families and Shapes With Me

Here's a word family trick for helping teach Common Core, that's a real treat, as you'll  be covering the Phonological Awareness Common Core State Standards: RF.K2a, RF.K2c and RF.K2e  in a quick, easy and fun way.

Here's How: Run off my template with the adorable Laura Strickland trick or treaters on it. You can use the treat bag just as it is, or you can cut off the top of a brown paper lunch bag, so that it fits on the back of this treat bag, and glue it on.

It's a bit more difficult to manipulate the strips, but worth the extra effort as it's truly a functional bag for doing other things with, which I'll explain later.

Pre cut the top & bottom dashed lines of the squares. (I use an Exacto knife.) Insert letter strips, so students can make new words.    

I’ve also included traceable word flashcards, so students can practice the words in yet another way.  There's a cover if you want them to alphabetize the words and then make an Itty Bitty booklet.

When they have finished cutting & tracing their word cards, they can drop them in the bag when they are done.  Students write their name on the side of the bag. You can punch holes and put in real yarn for handles if you want a more 3-D effect.

After everyone has completed their bag, call on students to pull their strips to make the various sentences. Children read them in unison.  There'll probably be a few giggles as they say “Wick or wheat”, “Sick or seat” "Chick or cheat" and “Kick or heat.” etc.

Make sure the last one they read is “Trick or Treat!”  Drop a piece of candy corn, or a sticker, or special treat in their bag as a reward for their great effort!

You can also play “I Have; Who Has?” with the word cards.  Make a copy of the word cards and do not cut them out. Post these pages on the board.  Make another copy and laminate them.  Cut these out.  Put them in your Trick or Treat bag and have students choose cards ‘til they are all gone.

You read an –ick card and ask for an -eat card on the list. The –eat child reads their card. Both children say their “–ick or –eat!” sentence together. Those cards go in the bag. Play continues ‘til all of the cards are gone.

The packet also includes a poster that says: How many words can you make using the letters in Trick or treat?" plus a recording sheet and alphabetical list of 158 words that I thought of. 

Click on the link to view/download the –ick or –eat Word Family Treat Bag.

Finally, after doing this trick or treat-themed activity, you may want to review 2D and 3D shapes using my candy shape posters.  

There are 17 Candy Shape posters in all, with a white or black background. What a fun way to grab your kiddos’ attention. 

These “real life” shape examples will certainly help them understand and hopefully remember the various shapes.

As an incentive, reward them with a shaped sweet treat when they can identify all of the shapes on the posters.

Thanks for visiting today.  The rain's stopped and it's time to take my poodle pup out for a romp.  The fresh air is filled with the wonderful fragrance of fall.  Wishing you a splendid day.

"Like a ten-speed bike, most of us have gears we do not use." - Charles Schulz 

A 1-2-3 Come Do Some More Haunted House Activities With Me

I'm enjoying a bit of R&R time this weekend, so I wanted to feature 2 "oldies" but "goodies" for today's blog.  They fit in perfectly with the 2 new haunted house FREEBIES from yesterday.  If you missed that article, simply scroll down to check it out.

The 17-page Haunted House math packet, is a "craftivity" and game to help reinforce fact families in a fun way.

The Packet includes:

• Fact Family "craftivity" templates.
• Fact Family spinner game templates.
• Directions and link for a home-school math connection, for fact family Online homework skill building practice
• Directions and sample of how to make mini dry erase envelope boards.
• Fact Family T-bar "mad-minute" skill sheets +
• A certificate of praise.

Click on the link to view/download Haunted House Fact Family Fun.

The other haunted house activity helps reinforce 2D shapes.  These are quick, easy and fun games for your kiddos to play in an independent center, or as a whole group.

Click on the link to view/download the Spooky Windows Haunted House Shape Games.

That's it for today.  Thanks for visiting.  Wishing you a restful and relaxing weekend too.

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore is not an act, but a habit." -Aristotle