3 pages A wonderful counting keepsake! Children write the number then press their finger into a stamp pad and make a group/set of that many fingerprint "seeds".

13 pages. This is the student version. (2 are printed on a page.) An easy and fun way to reinforce counting, number - word recognition as well as practice writing and sequencing numbers.

13 pages. Large, full-page version, nice for a teacher's copy. Review counting with this fun twist of the 10 Little Indians song.

96 pages of "apple-icious" activities for your students to bite into!

92 pages of fun and easy apple art your students will take delight in doing!

1-2-3 Come Do A Back-To-School Icebreaker With Me.

My Y5's LOVED playing games as icebreakers for the first week of school. They are a quick, easy and fun way for students to learn about each other.

With a wave of my "magic magnifying glass" I'd often turn my kiddo's into ABC-De-tectives.  They especially enjoyed running around with a clipboard interviewing their classmates. With that in mind, I designed this "Find A Friend" icebreaker.

Here's What To Do:

Teacher runs off “rap sheets.” (A list of 5 simple questions.) Older students can fill them out in class; you may want to send the questionnaire home with younger students, to have parents help them out.  

Remind students NOT to put their name on their paper.  Pass out a rap sheet to each student. Make sure that no one has their own.

Inform your students that they are all detectives and that their mission is  to find their new friend.

Explain to your students, that by interviewing their classmates, they will eliminate suspects, until they find their  new friend.
When everyone has found their friend, detectives will introduce them to the class, using their rap sheet to tell about them.

Helpful tips:  

•  Choose one question from your list.
•  Ask this SAME question for each suspect.
•  If you get a no response, move on to another suspect.
•  If you get a matching response, then ask them another question.
•  If their next response does not match, then move on.
•  If it does, ask another question.  This may be the friend you’re looking for.

For added fun, I've included detective badges, a congratulations certificate of praise, that students earn when they find their new friend, a rap sheet, as well as an interview form.

Click on the link to view/download the Find A Friend Icebreaker Activity.

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"Education is not received.  It's achieved." -Unknown

1-2-3 Come Make A Shape House With Me!

Since the last "my home" craftivity was so popular, I decided to whip together another social studies lesson you can use when you're studying family and neighborhoods.  It's also a fun way to get to know your new students.

Completed projects make an adorable back-to-school bulletin board, and are a nice "icebreaker" for the first week of school, when students are getting to know about their new classmates. 

So that math is also covered, I've included all of the 2D standard shapes that children can use to decorate and "build" their home with. Common Core State Standards: K.G.1, K.G.2, K.G.3, 1.G.1, 1.G.2, 1.G.3 can all be covered.

Remind students that 2D shapes are flat shapes. (Lying on a plane.) You can make templates of the shapes using an old file folder. 

Have a room helper trace once and then cut out 5-6 at a time, or you can print off the masters, rough cut, and have students trim up their own pieces.

Provide lots of colors, so you can review those as well.  You'll also have a nice variety of different looking houses.

I've designed the square windows in such a way, that you can review small, medium and large, as well as fractions: a whole is "cut" in 1/2 and then into 1/4ths to make the windowpanes.

To cover this standard, encourage students to draw windowpane lines on the shapes that they are using for windows. 

Be sure to make a sample for yourself to help explain what you want students to do. Have children share their homes, pointing out which shapes they used.

To reinforce more of the shape standard, encourage them to use spatial direction words as well.  i.e. "My rectangle door is beside the window.  The square window is under the triangle roof." etc.

If you are working on CCSS fractions, students should also use the vocabulary whole, half and fourth when explaining their window shapes.  If "Knows their address." is a standard in your school, you can have students write theirs in the middle of the H.

Cutting their school photo into an oval and having them "peek" out a window, adds pizzazz.  Click on the link to view/download H Is For House shape craftivity.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away. My "Pin It" button is at the top of the page.

"They can, because they think they can." -Virgil

 1-2-3 Come Do A Social Studies Icebreaker With Me!

"My Home" is a quick and easy "craftivity" perfect for those studying about neighborhoods or families, or use as a sweet icebreaker for the first week of school, as it's a wonderful way to get to know your new students.

You can also do this for an easy activity that parents can work on with their child during your Open House.  Completed projects make a wonderful back to school bulletin board.

If you send a "welcome to school" summer letter out, you could also include the house pattern in that, or send it home the first day of school. Children take home, complete and bring back the next day to share with their new classmates. 

What an interesting and fun way for them to learn about each other, which also gives them practice sharing in front of the class.  So your kiddos get to know a bit about their teacher, make sure to do one for yourself to use as an example.

Here's What To Do:  Students write their family's last name at the top, write the number of members in their family and then draw a picture of them.

 

Inform children to label their drawing to tell who is represented.  Let them know that they can include pets as well.

Children glue a photgraph of themselves in the window. For the door, students complete the writing prompt "My favoirte room is..." and then explain why.

Some schools still have "knows their address" as a standard, so I've included a window for that as well.

Children color their house the appropriate color and cut it out.  After students share their homes, make a classroom "neighborhood" as a bulletin board.

Click on the link to view/download the My Home  back to school icebreaker activity.  Thanks for visiting.  Feel free to PIN away!  My "Pin It" button is at the top.  I hope you can stop by tomorrow for another home-sweet-home "craftvity" entitled H is for House.

"If you don't risk, you can't grow.  If you don't grow, you can't become the best you, you can be!" -Unknown

1-2-3 Come Learn About Place Value With Me!

I found that when I played fun place value games with my kinders and 1st graders, the light bulbs of understanding went on so much faster.

Repetition is a must, as everyone learns at a different rate.  By making a different place value slider each month, you get the consistent repetition you need, but because it's a little different, things don't get boring for your little ones.

Making things hands-on, by incorporating a craftivity-game, is always edu-taining for children.

Because students are familiar with the directions, and can get right down to business, you're also empowering them and building their self-esteem.

"Sliders" were one of my Y5's favorite craftivities.  I designed them for skip counting, shapes, upper and lowercase letters etc.

I gave them the name "sliders" because students slide a strip up and down as a quick & easy way to practice and review all sorts of things.

Because quite a few teachers have requested activities for place value, I thought sliders would be a wonderful way for students to "see" and "manipulate" that concept.

They are a quick, easy, & fun way to whole group assess too!

I designed a place value slider for each month, with some generic extra's. They will help you with Common Core State Standards: 1.NBT.2a, 1.NBT.2b, 1.NBT.2c, 1.NBT.3, K.NBT.1

For more CCSS practice have students jot down the numbers they are showing on the slider. Students can then compare 2 numbers as > or < .

To include addition and subtraction practice as well, ask students to make the number that is 10 more or 10 less.

Let's Make A Slider!

Run off the place value slider templates on construction paper.  Choose a variety of colors where appropriate. i.e. apples can be red, green and yellow; leaves can be all of the fall colors etc.

By doing so you are teaching a little bit of science at the same time.  i.e. apples can be 3 different colors; leaves change color because they don't have chlorophyll etc.

To expedite things, have a room helper pre-cut the slits.

Run off the 1’s, 10’s, 100’s strips on white construction paper. Students trace the numbers and cut out their strips.

The 1st strip, without a 0, is the 100’s strip, the 2nd is 10’s, the 3rd is 1’s.  Remind students that the 100 strip does not have a 0 on it.

Cut the 3 blank strips and fold them in 1/2. Cut on the fold.

Glue one piece of the blank strip, to each end of a numbered strip, so that you can easily pull the strips up and down. Insert strips into the slits on the place value slider.

A piece of Scotch tape on the back, makes things smooth for easier pulling.

The teacher starts by calling out a number and then writing it on the board.  Students manipulate the strips in their slider to make that number.

Teacher calls on students to tell  how many 100’s, 10’s and 1’s there are. Give every child a chance to make up a number and play the teacher.

Cover more CCSS math standards with the prior suggestions discussed above.

When everyone catches on, you can play “Speed” to see who can make the number 1st.

Make sure you make a sample for yourself to demonstrate what you want your students to do. Students can add a bit more pizzazz to their sliders with crayons.

I hope your kiddo's will enjoy making, manipulating, and collecting their monthly place value sliders.

Click on the link to view/download the Place Value Slider Packet.

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"Of those to whom much is given, much is required."

1-2-3 Come Write Some News With Me!

I sent home a newsletter every week to keep my parents informed.  It was simply a bulleted 1-pager of what we were doing.

Having a standard header for your newsletter, alerts parents of what this is.  I kept it the same for the month, and then would switch to something appropriate for the next season.  i.e. pumpkins for October etc.

I always ended on an uplifting note with "Chuckles and Heartwarmers." This section was a few quotes of the cute things the children had said or did that week. 

Many parents commented that they looked forward to the newsletter, and being able to know important information, as little ones don't tend to have a whole lot of comments when a parent asks: "What did you do in school today?"

I've included headers for preschool through 4th grade, + a blank one for you to fill in with whatever.

You can also use these as a cute writing prompt.  Have each student write their own page of what they are doing that’s newsworthy.

Collect and collate them into a class book, or post them on a bulletin board. Use real newspaper pages as the background of your board and then mount students’ work on the top.

Print off the “Read all about it...” strips; cut them out and use them for a border around the bulletin board.

You can also use only one page to post news on. Pass the “newspaper” around to each student, who jots down something newsworthy for that week or month. If it gets filled up, start a new page.  Mount the pages on real newspaper and put on the wall.

Children could also become reporters and choose a partner to interview, filling out their "newspaper" about that person. My Y5's loved carrying around a clipboard to do various writing.

Click on the link to view/download the Read All About It newsletter templates.

Thanks for visiting.  Feel free to PIN anything you think others may find helpful. My "Pin It" button is at the top.

"If we take people as we find them, we may make them worse, but if we treat them as though they are what they should be, we help them to become what they are capable of becoming." -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe