1-2-3 Come Lend A Hand With Some Earth Day "Craftivities"

After studying the importance of taking care of our earth and discussing the fact that even little children can make a difference, I’d give a few directions, and tell my Y5’s that they were going to be part of Mrs. Henderson’s Kids Care Cleanup Crew.

Each child got a pair of non latex gloves (You can buy a pack of 50 at The Dollar Store.) and armed with their own plastic grocery sack to put litter in, we’d hit the playground when no one was using it.  

Because their hands are so little, I also bought a pack of elastic ponytail holders and slipped those around their wrists to hold the gloves on.

It’s amazing how much garbage gets caught up against the fence!  My kiddos absolutely LOVED running around picking up all sorts of debris.  We’d then head to the dumpster and toss our sacks and gloves in.  

They were always very proud of themselves.  I made sure that the principal knew what we were doing and he always thanked our class over the P.A. during the announcements the next day.  

Afterwards, we’d wash our hands really well and then settled down to watch a short and educational Earth Day video.  One of my favorites is an awesome 6-minute clip of the paper recycling process at the Staten Island Paper Mill.

For more interesting Earth Day YouTube videos, click on the link to this Pinterest board:  "Favorite Earth Day Videos on YouTube" .

 The “craftivity" that day was “I can lend a hand.”  Children chose a partner and took turns tracing each other's hand.  

They then cut out their print and glued it to a variety of colors of construction paper.  For young children, you could have a room helper do this for you the day before.

Even the boys enjoyed decorating their hand posters with "tatoos" and jewelry. To add a bit more pizzazz,  have students paste on some flat-backed jewels using glue dots.

Older students can complete the "Pitch in" writing prompt and glue that to the back of their poster. Punch a hole in the top and suspend from the ceiling.

My students enjoyed discussing the many different ways little kids can 'pitch in" to make a big difference. 

At the end of the day have students color their certificate.  These always prompted parents to ask their child about the cleanup activity. 

Click on the link to view/download the Lend A Hand Earth Day activity. 

While working on the above, I also designed another Earth Day craftivity that  I call the "Helping Hands Dangler".  Like the above poster, students can choose a partner to help them trace their hand, or they can do it themselves. 

There are several options for "dangling" these mobiles from the ceiling. 

I've taken a photo of both samples to help explain this. 

Students can glue all 4 circles together in such a way that they make a 3D sphere (like the earth) or they can glue the circles vertically to a length of yarn.

Both writing prompt options, dangle from the child's hand.

For the latter option, give students 3 of the "I can help" writing prompt circles.  They write 3 ways they can lend a helping hand and then glue them back-to-back on to the other circles.  Punch a hole at the top and suspend from the ceiling.

Click on the link to view/download the Helping Hands Dangler. 

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away. To see more Earth Day activities, scroll down to check out the other blog articles.

"We are living in a world where lemonade is made from artificial flavors, and furniture polish is made from real lemons." -Alfred E. Newman

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

I was excited to see that the Polly Wants A Letter Cracker packet was a very popular download this week. 

I had several teachers that liked Pirate Polly so much, that Karyn from Florida, and Elaina from California, asked if I could make some crackers with numbers on them, so I designed crackers with numbers from 0-130.

"Feeding" Polly is a fun and less tedious way to practice counting that high.  The mini cracker cards, are also the perfect size for for sequencing. 

Make extra sets and have students lie on their tummies and string 20-30 crackers in the appropriate order.

Use them to play a game of  "I Have; Who Has?"  Toss whatever cracker numbers your kiddos need practice on, into a container and have students choose several. 

I've included "Kaboom!" bomb crackers, to make things even more fun + a tip list of what else you can do with these number cards.  

Have students sort the number crackers on the odd and even sorting mat, or make equations with the math symbol crackers, and then solve the addition and subtraction problems, or show greater and less than. 

I've also included a variety of trace and write the number worksheets in the packet, as well as "What's Missing?" skip count worksheets, plus a certificate of praise. 

Click on the link to view/download the Polly Wants A Number Cracker packet.

While I was expanding Polly's appetite for learning, I thought it would be fun to make shape crackers too. 

Brook sent me an e-mail that's she's always looking for more 3D shape activities, so along with 2D shapes, I included  3D shapes, and even threw in the pattern block shapes.

The crackers are still square, but the "cheese" on them is shaped.  Of course "Polly" loves these treats.  So that you can also play a Memory Match game, as well as reinforce vocabulary, I also made crackers with shape words on them.   I hope your little pirates will enjoy "feeding" Polly yummy shapes and word crackers.

As with the other Polly Packets, I've also included some extras.   Students can "get in shape" by playing a variety of "I Spy" a shape worksheet games, as well as several  "Shipshape" porthole dice games. 

Click on the link to view/download the Polly Wants A Shape Cracker packet. 

Finally, I also made a Polly Slider for a bit of hands-on fun. 

This "craftivity" includes "sliders" for upper and lowercase letters, numbers 1-30, counting backwards from 10 to 0 as well as 20 to 0, plus skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's and 10's, and of course a shape slider featuring 2D shapes, pattern block shapes and 3D shapes. 

Run off Polly on white construction paper and have students color her, or run the bird off on green construction paper; students trim and add a black pirate hat (there are two to choose from) as well as a 3D yellow beak. 

Run off whatever "slider" you want your students to practice.  They trace the letters and numbers, or color the shapes, and then insert their strip into the slits, so that the various objects will appear in a "window" as they slide the long piece of paper up and down. 

I pre-cut the slits with an Exacto knife, as this sort of cutting was a bit too difficult for my Y5's to do on their own. Sliders are a quick and easy way to review and whole group assess. 

Call out a shape, letter, or number and have students slide 'til it appears in the window.  When they've found the correct answer, they hold up their parrot.  You can see at a glance who is having difficulty.

Add a bit more pizzazz by attaching a wiggle eye with a glue dot.  Click on the link to view/download the Pirate Polly Slider packet. 

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  (Create, Teach, Share! )

"Beware of no man more than yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us." -G.K. Chesterton

15 pages.

Help practice a variety of standards with this hands-on pirate "craftivity". 

23 pages.

Review 2D and 3D shapes, plus pattern block shapes with this fun Polly Wants A Shape Cracker packet. 

30 pages.

Print off Polly; laminate and trim.  Cut out an opening in her mouth; attach Polly to a container and have students "feed" her number "cracker" cards.

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Here's an alphabetical list of 794 pirate-related words and phrases, perfect for "Talk Like A Pirate" Day, or your other pirate-themed activities. 

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

I've had several requests for some pirate-themed activities, so I thought I'd putz with designing some that would help reinforce upper and lowercase letters. 

Did you ever decide to do something that you thought would take a few hours and all of a sudden you whiled away so much more time?

That's what happened with the Polly Wants A Letter Cracker packet.   It's three days later, and I'm finally done working on it!

Here's how to use the packet:  Print off  Polly's body parts, trim, glue them together and then laminate.

Cut out her mouth, to make a nice opening for your kiddos to "feed" her letter "crackers". 

I perched Polly on a very small wastebasket that I bought at The Dollar Store, so that when students "feed" her, the crackers will drop into the basket.

Print, laminate and trim the upper and lowercase letter "cracker" cards.  Pass them out to your students. 

So that you'll have more than enough food for Polly, I designed two different sets of uppercase letter crackers, plus two sets of lowercase ones. 

These could also be used for Memory Match, or "I Have; Who Has?" games.  There's a tip list of other ideas in the packet as well, including a Kaboom game.

You can call for the "crackers" in alphabetical order, sing the ABC song, or read a pirate alphabet book. Whatever letter you come to, have those students feed Polly the upper and lowercase letter crackers. 

For even more review, the packet has a variety of pirate-themed upper AND lowercase alphabet worksheets, like "I Spy a lowercase letter" game.

After students have practiced, you can assess their knowledge. 

I've included a variety of alphabet assessment activities, such as the "Spy some letters" assessment mat. 

 A nice activity for your Daily 5, is the Polly Wants A Letter Cracker ABC booklet, where students color, trace and write the letters. 

Have older students write a word that begins with that letter.  To make this more of a challenge, have them use a pirate word or phrase.

To help you with this, I spent several days reading a few pirate books and lots of pirate articles about the history of pirates, real pirates, places they went, their treasure and adventures etc.  This helped me to compile an alphabetical list of pirate words and phrases. 

With the aid of lots of "Talk like a pirate" sites, as well as nautical jargon dictionaries, and all of the above resources, I came up with 794 words and phrases related to pirates, and included this list in the packet.  

I really enjoyed learning a lot of new pirate vocabulary and trivia, that's now buzzing in my head with some future ideas... 

While doing that research, I came across several wonderful pirate alphabet books, perfect to read before and/or after feeding Polly. 

Shiver Me Letters  by June Sobel, Pirate's Alphabet  by Patti Wigington, A Is For Arrr!  by Laura Purdie Salas, Twenty-six Pirates by Dave Horowitz, An A to Z of Pirates by Caroline Stills and Pirates of the Alphabet by Tim Whitney, are all worth taking a peek at.  A cute trailer for the Pirates of the Alphabet is also on YouTube.

If you're into Aps you may also like Pirate Phonics: Blackbeard's Alphabet.  It's $1.99  There are also a plethora of pirate songs and short pirate video clips on YouTube.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.

"A merry life and a short one, shall be my motto." -Bartholomew "Black Bart" Roberts

51 pages.

Make Polly the parrot and have your students "feed" her upper and lowercase letter "cracker" cards.  Packet includes an ABC booklet, upper and lowercase letter worksheets, assessments, a tip list of alphabet card ideas, plus an alphabetical list of over 700 pirate-related words and phases, as well as a certificate of praise.

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

I had a few requests for some black line letter posters, to use as alphabet anchor charts. Woo Hoo! After a lot of work they are finally done!  Click on the various links to grab them.

I made a set of separate uppercase letters and enlarged them to take up the entire page. You can use them as posters or for a variety of other fun activities.

These are perfect for running off your students' initials and then having them decorate however they wish, or reinforce that letter and sound, by having students decorate the letter with words and pictures that begin with that letter. 

Encourage them to use stickers, clip art, pictures cut from magazines, photographs and even drawings.  This idea makes an interesting and fun homework assignment, or something they can work on for their Daily 5 word work.  Click on the link to view/download the Uppercase Letter Posters

If you read the book Chicka Boom, run the letters off on a variety of colors of construction paper, laminate and then cut out.  Scatter them on your classroom Chicka Boom palm tree.

I also made a set of large lowercase letters as well.  To strengthen upper body muscles, run off several sets and have students lie on their tummies and make up words. These too, are great for your Chicka Boom activities.  

I've included a tip list of ideas of all sorts of fun things you can do with these letter sets, including games like a giant Memory Match or "I Have; Who Has?" + a Kaboom game. 

Because the letters are easy to see, choose 4 posters and put one in each corner of your room.  I dangle mine from the ceiling. 

You can then play the game 4-Corners.  Each week choose another 4 letters 'til you have reinforced and reviewed them all.   Click on the link to view/download the Lowercase Letter Posters.

To make an awesome class alphabet book, use the letter posters that show both the upper and lowercase letter together.  Glue them on a variety of colors of construction paper.  

Scatter them on the floor face down and have students pick a letter that they will decorate for your class book.

I made a sample page of the letter Aa, where I used words and pictures that started with that letter.  This is a photo of my completed page. 

I also included this as a non-colored pdf, so that you can easily make a sample of your own to share with your kiddos.  

I've included two covers for you to choose from for your ABC class book as well.  

Click on the link to view/download the Alphabet Book Poster Packet.

Finally, since all of the number puzzles have been such popular downloads, I thought it would be fun to make some alphabet ones.  I purposely made them using both upper & lowercase letters, because I think it's very important for little ones to see both letters together. 

By immersing them with "matches" the light bulbs start going on.

If you want a set in color, have your students help you decorate them, then laminate and trim.  Keep each puzzle in its own Baggie. 

Use them as an independent center, or have students work on them as a whole group activity.

You could also run off the initials of your students and have them make a personal letter puzzle. 

Once they've diddled around with their creation as a puzzle, have them glue it to a sheet of construction paper, leaving a small gap in between the pieces to create an interesting mosaic. 

These look wonderful on a bulletin board. The alphabet number puzzle packet, will be FREE for an entire year, after which time they will become part of Diane's Dollar Deals in my TpT shop. 

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  I'm a firm believer in creating, teaching and sharing!

"Don't ever take a fence down, until you know the reason it was put up." - G.K. Chesterton

29 pages.

There are a variety of ways to use these alphabet puzzles. This packet will be FREE for an entire year, after which time it will become one of Diane's Dollar Deals in my TpT shop.  Click on the link to pop on over & join the fun.