1-2-3 Come Make A Common Core Scarecrow With Me!

So much to do and so little time to cover it all.  Sound familiar?  It's a no wonder that teachers constantly complain that there's simply no time for any of the fun craftivities of yesteryear. 

But wait!  There's hope! I spent a zillion hours making a comprehensive "Patches" the Standard Scarecrow. 

He's 17 scarecrows in one, so you can pick the standard(s) you want to practice.  Patches covers the following Common Core/Report Card Standards in a quick, easy and super fun way:

upper & lowercase letters, numbers 0-30, odd & even, skip counting by 2s, 3s, 5s, 10s, 2D shapes, 11-colors, vowels, telling time to the hour and half hour, and words: SC blend, contractions, compound words, beginning Ss sound words, CVC words that begin with S, plus rhyming words!

Wow!  That's a whole lotta bang out of one little scarecrow craftivity, and completed projects make a wonderful fall bulletin board, or look sweet hanging back-to-back from the ceiling.

To make this extra special, fold a sheet of white construction paper, have students trace their hand and then cut once, to get two hand prints for their scarecrow's "gloves".  I ran yellow construction paper through a shredder to make the "hair". 

Run off the scarecrow's body templates on a variety of colors of construction paper.  Students trim and glue together. 

For more fine motor practice, cut yellow rectangles with a paper cutter.  Have students snip the bottom portion and glue the "hay" to the back of the scarecrow's pant legs, then crumple.

I purposely made these patterns super simple to cut out, but if you think this is too much for PK kiddos, have a room helper trace once and then cut 3-6 shirts and pants out at a time,  leaving just the head for preschoolers to cut out.  

There's a blank head so children can draw their own scarecrow face, as well as a completed template for little ones to color.

 Students make their scarecrow and then trim and glue on the appropriate patches.  The vowel scarecrow is especially versatile, as it not only covers vowels, but shapes and colors too. 

The packet also includes shape and color cards, along with a variety of worksheets for more practice.

For extra reinforcement, when everyone is done, play an "I Spy" game and give students a piece of candy corn to use as a manipulative.  Choose a student to call out a "patch". 

Children locate that letter, number, shape or whatever, cover it with the candy corn, and then raise their hand. 

This is a fun way to practice and review standards, as well as a quick and easy way to whole group assess, as you can see at a glance who is having difficulty. 

I've also included blank patches for you to fill in with whatever, plus ideas and templates to use the number, letter and shape scarecrows for matching games.

i.e. match the lowercase patches to the uppercase letters; match the number word patches to the numbers match the colorful patches to the color words, and/or match the shapes to the shape words.

For more scarecrow-themed letter fun, click on the link for a set of scarecrow alphabet cards.

The following scarecrows are wonderful for vocabulary building and Daily 5 word work: Carl is the Compound words scarecrow; (Click on the link for a FREE alphabetical list of over 3,000 compound words.)

Connie, is a contraction action scarecrow; (With an alphabetical list of 72 contractions)

Sam, is a scarecrow that loves 37, 3-letter words that begin with S; (CVC practice!)

Scott, is the SC blend scarecrow, with a list of 50 word cards as well as pocket chart cards.

The packet also includes an entire SC blend section, with lots more activities.

Sophie, is a scarecrow with 47-picture patches, for simple words starting with the letter S. 

For a quick review, I've also included 4, Ss word, picture posters.

Rodney, is the Rhyme Time scarecrow, with 56 words that rhyme with scare and a list of 274 words that rhyme with crow.

Write the words that rhyme with scare on the front of Rodney, and have children choose some words that rhyme with crow and write them on the back.

In the sample, I chose 24-scare rhyming words and wrote them on the shirt, and then wrote an equal amount of words that rhyme with crow, on the pants.  The alphabetical lists include rhyming words that start with every letter except U & X.  I chose one of each.

Finally, the number scarecrow, has several options and serves double duty.  There are number patches from 0-30, which  I traced in a variety of colors. 

You can make Odd Todd and Even Steven scarecrows (front and back) or put the odd numbers on the top and the even numbers on the bottom.  (See photo.)

For more math number practice, I've also included skip counting patches.  Children can skip count by 2's, 3's, 5's and 10's. 

There are matching worksheets in the packet as well, along with number cards, plus number puzzles in color & black and white. 

The puzzles review counting from 1-10, counting backwards from 10-1, as well as skip counting to 100 by 10s.

Two emergent readers also reinforce numbers, as well as colors.

For more odd and even scarecrow number fun, click on the link to practice numbers from 1-120, in the Scarecrow's Pumpkin Patch packet.

If your kiddos are familiar with that concept, but need to work on matching numbers to their number words, use the Norman & Nancy number scarecrow patterns, with numbers 0-10, along with their matching number word patches.

Glue the numbers on the shirt and the number words on the pants.  For more practice, have students write the words above their matching number patch.

The Common Core Craftivity Scarecrows are part of a whopping 184-page jumbo packet in my TpT shop for just $5.95. Click on the link to pop on over. Patches, The Standard Scarecrow Packet.

Thanks for visiting today.  It's a really hot July afternoon, with temps expected to flirt with the 90's, which is too hot for this midwest gal.  Time to put the AC on and make some lemonade.

“I know I am but summer to your heart, and not the full four seasons of the year.” -Edna ST. Vincent Millay

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

Every year I had at least 3 or more kiddos that consistantly reversed the letters b and d.  Most of the other children, at one time or another, had also been a bit confused with these similar-looking letters; many had to pause and think about which was which, before they wrote.

Because of that, I taught b and d together when we worked on letter of the week.  All they needed was a little tip or trick that they could remember and the confusion ended.  With that in mind I designed a jumbo Taking the Confusion Out Of b & d packet. 

I'm beyond relieved that it's done, as it took a zillion hours of research and work. 

Like most of my projects, I started out designing a "few posters" and things morphed into so much more; a few hours turned into an entire week! 

I really hope you find it beneficial.  I know in my heart that your kiddos will enjoy the projects.

I truly believe the more you immerse children in a variety of engaging letter activities, the easier it is for them to learn, as well as differentiate.

The packet is chock full of  a huge variety of all sorts of different, interesting and fun activities: worksheets, games, posters, tips, craftivities, graphs, assessments, stories, songs, emergent readers, puzzles; and even a maze, Venn diagram, some graphic organizers and a nursery rhyme thrown in!

Select what’s appropriate for your kiddos to use for: table top lessons, homework, partner play, games, a sub folder, early finishers, assessing, or centers. 

Many completed activities make awesome bulletin board displays as well.  

I think I’ve stuffed just about everything you’ll ever need, for helping students to differentiate between the lowercase letters b and d, with plenty left over to use for your individual letter of the day/week activities.

Whether it’s a “bat and ball”, “bunny and dog”, “drum and stick”, “dish and spoon”, “handy hands”, “bulldog”, “baby b & daddy D”, a “closed and open mouth”, “Here’s looking at you”, or a “doorknob and door”, one will click for your kiddos, and I’ve included all of them in this packet.  

To help further reinforce the memory tactic,  for every tip-trick, there’s a poster, as well as matching worksheets and activities.

So that you can reinforce more than one standard, math skills like counting, adding, subtracting, greater & less than, as well as graphing, shapes andtally marks, are all incorporated in some of the activities and worksheets.

Because the world is not made up entirely of “Times New Roman”, a variety of fun fonts are incorporated  as well.  

I have so many "favorites" in this packet, but one of the things I really enjoyed dreaming up, was the silly "b is for bubble gum" and "d is for Doofus the dog" stories. I hope they make you smile.

To conserve paper and ink, I also designed many of the worksheets with two, even 3 on a page.  Click on the link to pop on over to my TpT shop, and arm yourself with an arsenal of creative and fun ways, to end the confusion of b & d.  

Because the initial packet got so big, my husband thought I should divide it into two, not an easy task, but worth doing.  The best deal is to buy the "Bundle" which includes both packets and is a whopping 294 pages long!  You save $4 by doing this, as it's just $9.95.

As always, I have some FREEBIES for you too.  I selected my 7 original tip posters, for taking the confusion out of b & d and included those in a mini packet.  Click on the link to grab it.

I introduce "Pinch & Pokes" as well as "Rip & Tears", in the jumbo b & d packet as well.  They are a great way to strengthen finger and hand muscles, so important in pre-writing.  My Y5's and kinders absolutely LOVED doing them!

Completed R & T's make awesome bulletin board displays too.  Click on the link to get your FREE 34-page upper and lowercase letter packet and let the muscle building begin.  

That's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by.  I have a zillion "I want to make this" piles on my desk, so it's time to get down to business. 

However, the summer sunshine is calling me, via the beautiful breeze coming through my office window; so perhaps a walk with Chloe, my poodle pup, might come first.  Is summer going way too fast for anyone else out there?

1-2-3 Come Make An Alphabet Paperclip Pal With Me

One summer I was attaching an upper & lowercase letter bookmark to my open house packet. As I slipped the paperclip over the bookmark, I saw the possibilities of children sliding the paperclip across the bookmark to "frame" a particular set of letters.

Thus, 14 years ago, the Paperclip Alphabet Pal was born.  I have since updated "Willie the Worm", and designed 37 Paperclip Pals for my latest alphabet packet. 

I hope your kiddos have as much fun with their alpha-pal bookmarks, as I did designing the assortment. They are a super-fun way for your kiddos to practice recognizing upper and lowercase letters.

Choose a pal that fits your needs or theme.  Run it off on construction paper or card stock and trim. 

Students add some color with crayons or markers. For some of the pals they also cut and glue.

Pass out large paperclips. Students attach it to their "bookmark".

Play “I Spy" with them by calling out a letter.  Children manipulate the paperclip, sliding it over the letters ’til they find the appropriate one.  The upper and lowercase letters should be peeking through the “window” of the paperclip.

Paperclip Alphabet Pals are a quick, easy and interesting way to whole group assess as well.  After a letter is called and found, students raise their bookmark in the air.  You can see at a glance who is having difficulty.  

I’ve included a recording sheet for this, as well as an assessment.  Later, you can work one-on-one with struggling students to individually assess all of the letters, pinpointing specific problems.

Children can also partner up and play the I Spy game together. 

By having made notes with the whole group game, you can now put a stronger child together with a struggling one.

Use the Paperclip Pal for spelling too. Little ones can practice spelling their names, while older students can practice a spelling list with a partner.

Manipulating a paperclip by pinching and moving it, provides good practice to help strengthen finger muscles, which will improve coordination and dexterity so important for pre-writing.

There are 37 Paperclip Alphabet Pals to choose from.  You can run them off and give students a choice, or choose one that’s appropriate for a particular season or theme.

They come in full color as well as black and white.  I made colorful ones, so that you can give them as a little gift for the first day of school. These can be laminated then trimmed.

Later, pick something different, and have children make one of their own.

There’s also an assortment for Halloween and Valentine’s Day, so that you can pass them out as gifts or prizes to celebrate those holidays, plus an elf-themed one you can give as a special surprise, if you do Elf on a Shelf activities.   

I’ve also included a blank one so that children can design their own, or have them glue their school photo at the top to make a special keepsake.

For additional practice, students can make an extra one to keep at home .  I’ve included a note home explaining this, as well as a recording sheet, plus a classroom chart and certificate of praise.

Ten worksheets also provide additional practice. 

The tongue-twisting, Paperclip Alphabet Pal Packet, is a whopping 86-pages long and just $3.95 in my TpT shop.  Click on the link to pop on over. 

As always, I have a FREEBIE for you from the packet. Besides practicing letters with a Paperclip Bookmark Pal, I also designed two "Color me" alphabet mats.

You can use these as homework, anchor charts, student-made posters, table top worksheets, something for early finishers, or a tool for individually & whole group assessing.

Play an "I Spy" game with them and have students cover the called out letter with a paperclip; or run them off and tuck them in your sub folder. Click on the link to grab a copy.

That's it for now.  Thanks for stopping by.  It's really hot today (pushing 90) so I think I'll stay put and chill in the comfort of my air conditioned office, "playing" with my school supplies designing more fun stuff, as I listen to the relaxing sounds of the surf.

 "Summer has filled her veins with light and her heart is washed with noon." - C. Day Lewis

1-2-3 Come Make A Seasonal Alphabet Wheel With Me 

I often work on several projects at the same time.  It's not that I want to be the queen of multi-tasking, but ultimately when I'm designing one thing a zillion others are popping into my head, that sort of go with what I'm doing. 

Working on the alphabet wheel packet that I posted yesterday, was no exception.  While making my samples, I thought an alphabet wheel would be cute with an apple or pumpkin shape. 

I don't know about you, but to get my kiddos excited about learning, I did lots of themes during the school year. 

It was an easy and fun way to keep adding interest and variety to activities, even though we continued to work on the same report card standards throughout the year. 

With that in mind, I designed the Seasonal Alphabet packet, which includes 20 alphabet wheels.

They are great for that “something different” to get children enthused about learning and practicing upper and lowercase letter recognition.

The seasonal alphabet wheels can be used as a “craftivity”, in an independent center, for games, partner practice, whole group assessing, or to send one home with a struggling child.

The variety keeps things interesting, no matter how many you decide to do.

There are several ways you can put your alphabet wheels together. You can practice using either a large upper or lowercase wheel with a seasonal pointer, or put a smaller lowercase wheel in the center of a large uppercase wheel, to practice matching the letters up.

As you can see by the photographs, running off the wheels on colorful construction paper adds a splash of pizzazz, and helps children easily differentiate.

I chose a gingerbread man for December's wheel, as it's a very popular and neutral theme.  There are two templates: one has the details filled in, the other is blank so that students can draw on a face and add their own trimmings. 

Notice the "wooden spoon" spinner.  All 20 wheels have pointer options. You can decide what kind of wheel you want to assemble, or give your students a choice. 

Because of the popularity of Jan Brett's story The Mitten, I designed a mitten alphabet wheel you can make during the winter months.  There's also a snowflake alphabet wheel as well. 

Other popular themes that I made alphabet wheels for that aren't pictured here are: bears, kites, frogs, flowers, and butterflies. I'm sure I'll be designing more to fit other seasonal packets that I work on, like scarecrows, superheros and pirates.

To use an alphabet wheel as a whole-group assessment tool, simply call out a letter. Students turn to it then hold up their wheel when they are done. You can see at a glance who is having difficulty.

To make this simple, I’ve included an assessment chart.  Pre-program with your students' names then run off a bunch of copies.  I alphabetize my kiddos by using their first names. This makes it easier for me to find them, especially at the beginning of the year, when I'm learning 20-30 names. 

Keep these assessment sheets on a clipboard.  When you play a whole-group "Find a Letter" game, you can quickly jot down notes.  Easy-peasy because there are just two options: They "get it" and are on target, or they're having "difficulty": missing letters, slow at finding them, peeking at other children because they are confused etc.  

After the game, if you have several kiddos who are struggling, you can later work one-on-one with them, or pair them up with a fluent student for other alphabet activities. So that you can enlist the help of parents, I've also included a note home that you can quickly fill out and send.

Besides using the alphabet wheels for assessments and "Find a Letter" games, students can work with them independently for a center/station activity. 

I've provided a bookmark recording sheet, where children trace the letters that they turned and worked on. For more practice have them write the letters on the back as well.

Pass out a little "paper praise" with the  "I'm a Wheel Whiz!" badge and the  "_______________ did super-star alphabet work today" bookmark that  children can color. 

Click on the link to pop on over to my TpT store to take a look at the 20-seasonal alphabet wheels.  It's a whopping 103 pages long!  I hope you and your kiddos enjoy celebrating the seasons, as they practice and learn with an alphabet wheel.

As always, I have a FREEBIE for you today too.  The "ABC Trace & Write Emergent Reader Booklet" can be used as individual worksheets for table top, early finishers, homework, a sub folder; or staple together to make a booklet, that kiddos work on when you cover a particular letter.  It's a wonderful way to show improvement in a portfolio.

Click on the link for The ABC Trace & Write Emergent Reader Booklet.

That's it for today.  Thanks for visiting.  It's overcast and a bit chilly today.  Perfect weather for "playing" inside and designing more stuff. 

I'm rather addicted to making "craftivities".  Wishing you an invigorating day filled with whatever you enjoy most.

"A life without love is like a year without summer." -Unknown

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

Woo hoo!  I just finished another alphabet-themed packet.  This one features alphabet wheels, and is chock full of activities, worksheets, assessments, games, goodies and fun!

It's a whopping 190 pages long!  I never set out to create anything more than 20-30 pages, but then I get on a roll, and one thing leads to another, 'til I finally have to say that's it, and endeavor to turn the creative juices off.

I'm relieved to get it done, as the "Turn While You Learn" picture wheels, nearly drove me insane.

Lots of tweaking to get the layout just right, so that the letter, as well as the matching picture would show up in the middle of the appropriate window.

I have 3 FREEBIES from the packet that I'm offering in this blog, as I tell you a bit about my latest labor of love. 

Alphabet wheels are that "something different" that will get your kiddos excited about learning to recognize letters.  The wheels have been around in some form since the 70's, when I made my first one in college for a methods class.

They are a super-fun way to whole group or individually assess a variety of alphabet standards. I've designed my alphabet wheels so that your kiddos can practice uppercase letters or lowercase letters by using an apple "pointer" that's attached to the center of the wheel. 

They can also match the lowercase letter to the uppercase letter using two wheels.  Finally, children can match a picture to a lower or uppercase letter, to practice letter sounds, as well as words that begin with that letter.

Make a "triple wheel" by combining all of the wheels, so you can practice all three alphabet skills.

There are 5 large picture wheels all with different pictures to better increase vocabulary and letter-to-word association.  (Color plus black & white).

I've included directions for whole group assessing with the alphabet wheels, an assessment recording sheet, plus a note home to parents, enlisting their help for a struggling child.

Besides these items, the packet also includes the following:

An Alphabet Poster Game, with 20-template options, including pictures (black & white + color), words, uppercase letters and lowercase letters.

• A large Uppercase Letter Wheel
• A large “Trace & Write” Uppercase Letter Wheel
• A large blank wheel, so students can write their own letters, and/or draw their own pictures, along with 7 lowercase wheels to choose from, including a lowercase one that is scrambled and not in alphabetical order, which is great for assessing. They all have matching “Trace & Write” worksheets.

There's an alphabet recording-sheet bookmark, 2 “Trace & Write” letter worksheets, and 4 “I Spy A Letter” game worksheets. (Great for whole-group assessing) Includes an assessment recording chart.

I designed the "I Spy" worksheets so that you can reuse them 6 times!

As a different way to practice, which strengthens finger muscles and improves dexterity, I designed a Clothespin clip apple center/station activity/game. Click on the link for this FREEBIE.

Since my kinders studied letters through November, I've also included a clothespin clip pumpkin game as well. Click on the link for FREEBIE #2.

As promised, the 3rd FREEBIE is a set of apple alphabet cards. 

There are 3 full-color sets: uppercase, lowercase, & both (Aa), with a 4-page tip list of how to use the cards. Includes a blank (black and white) template, so students can make their own, as well as the "Kaboom" game.

There are 3 other games as well:

The “Spin & Win Wheel Fun” game, is an independent-worksheet, that uses a paperclip and a pencil to make a spinner.  It's a "no-prep" print and go activity.

“The Wheel Deal” Wagon wheel worksheet game, is played 4 times with various partners.

The “Wheeler Dealer What’s the Word?” game, is played in teams and reinforces letter recognition, beginning sounds, sight words and spelling. 

It includes 182-pocket chart word cards that match all of the pictures for all of the wheels.

Finally, there are bookmarks, certificates of praise, and award ribbons, to use as incentives or "paper prizes" for the games or whatever. Click on the link to pop on over to my TpT shop to take a look. 

That's it for today.  I hope you can pop by tomorrow for more goodies and another FREEBIE. It's a gorgeous sunshine-filled morning.

The birds are singing a serenade and the bulldozer next door is adding to the summer symphony.  Wishing you a beautiful day.

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time. " -John Lubbock

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

Summer's a great time to visit the zoo.  It was also my favorite field trip with my first graders.  With fond memories of special animals and outings, I decided to design some animal-themed alphabet activities. 

Woo hoo! After an entire week of "playing", I just finished my  "Wild About the Alphabet" packet. Animals are a hot-button for children, so I think these will grab their attention and keep them focused.

Whether assessing to see where your kiddos are at for the beginning of the school year, or learning and practicing upper and lowercase letters throughout the year, I think you'll find some unique and useful activities here.

The packet includes the following:

An ABC Emergent Reader: “My Animal Alphabet Booklet” (Black & white plus color copies). Students read, write, trace & color.

ABC Cards: There are 5 different sets in various sizes for upper and lowercase letters; in color plus black and white, with blank templates to program with whatever.

Word Cards: Since part of learning the alphabet, is associating the letters with sounds and words, I've also included 26, mini-animal word cards, that match the emergent reader booklet, plus 26 more, with additional animals that include those on the Dolch noun list.

8 Games: "Mischievous Monkeys" a wall-display game; "Monkey Business" a hidden-letter game; "I Spy!" plus "Feed the Alpha-gator and Lion" game.

Along with a 4-page tip list to explain the card games: Memory Match, I Have; Who Has?, Kaboom, Speed and What's Missing. 

2 Center/Station Activities: Animal-print, strip puzzles for the uppercase letters, plus a Clothespin Clip game.

23 Worksheets for both upper and lowercase letters. "Monkey Mess", "Zooey Zoo", and "Bonkers Barnyard"  to name a few, which include colorful answer keys. 

I've included "trace & writes", "missing letters", matching, word finds, a Venn diagram, scrambled words, alphabetical order, a poem, Elkonin boxes, plus "cut & glue".

3 Craftivities: Gg Is For Giraffe Letter Slider, which can also be used as a fun way to whole-group assess.

Animal-Print Initials, (Make extra strips out of the animal-print paper:snake, leopard, zebra, giraffe, alligator & tiger used for the puzzle center.)

Children create their first initial to make a personal letter puzzle, or glue the strips down. 

For that finishing touch, add their school photo and make a "Wild About Kids, Learning & Letters" bulletin board.

"Feed the Animal" Kleenex-box craft.  I've included black and white templates for both the lion & alpha-gator.

As well as the B&W alphabet cards, (snack crackers), so that children can make their own "Hungry for the Alphabet" game, for a fun way to practice at home. 

10 Posters: Color, plus black & white. Use the B&W ones, as worksheets.

There are also 26-large, uppercase, animal-print letter posters, to use in your puzzle center for little ones to lay the strips on.  These also make fun flashcards or anchor charts as well.

6 Assessments with recording sheets, so you can assess: uppercase, lowercase, sounds, &letter formation.

I've also included a quick & easy "note home to parents", with assessment results, which identifies letter difficulties, and enlists their assistance.

3 Bookmarks: Color, plus black & white. Use as a reference, reward or mini assessment tool.

2 Certificates of Praise: Black & white, plus color for upper & lowercase letters.

As always, there are also directions, samples and photographs.

You can see, I've packed in a little bit of everything you need to help make learning the alphabet less tedious and more fun. 

This big boy is a whopping 200-pages long and just $7.95 in my TpT store.  I truly enjoyed every minute of the zillion hours of work that went into it. Click on the link to pop on over. 

I haven't forgotten the FREEBIES either. You can get a color copy of the Animal Alphabet emergent reader, plus the matching poster, by clicking on the link.  

Can't visit a zoo? I've also put together another FREEBIE: A  Virtual Zoo Field Trip packet, click on the link to grab a copy and let the "ed-ventures" begin.

Well that's it for today.  Doing the happy dance that I finally finished this whopper, and can concentrate on knocking off some much smaller back-to-school projects.  Wishing you a carefree day.

 "Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." -Anatole France

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

Woo hoo!  I just finished my latest creation.  As usual, it took way more time than I expected (2 weeks worth of work)!   

Whether assessing to see where your kiddos are at for the beginning of the school year, or helping children learn and practice upper and lowercase letters of the alphabet throughout the year, you'll find this a fun-filled packet, with some unique alphabet activities your students are sure to enjoy. 

I'm featuring some FREEBIES from the packet in today's blog, and hope you find them useful.

My kiddos LOVE making "Itty Bitty" booklets that are just the right size for little ones.  I've added a new "twist" to these mini "flip booklets" by having students cut the "covers" on the dashed line, so that the booklet is like a puzzle.  This feature allows you to do a variety of things with them.  I've also included full color templates, as well as a set in black and white for even more options.

Here are some ideas for the colored patterns: Laminate, trim and collate into a teacher’s copy of the alphabet booklet. For an independent center activity, make an extra set to use as puzzles. 

Print off two more sets using white copy paper, as well as beige to make two sets of a Memory Match game.  I find that it’s less frustrating, and takes less time, if the uppercase letters are on a different color than the lowercase ones.  Children then flip over one of each color.

For a whole-group game, pass out all of the cards.  Children sit in a circle on the floor. Play “I Have; Who Has?”  For example, the child with the uppercase letter A starts the game.  “I have uppercase letter A.  Who has the matching lowercase letter?”  This is a quick, easy and fun way to practice and review.

Ideas for the black and white set of cards:  Do as separate mini puzzle booklets, or have students save each one that they complete to later make one big ABC booklet: Print off the 1st page. (Aa-Ee) picture cards, as well as the matching trace and write page.   Give a copy to each child. Students work on one letter each day/week, however you teach the alphabet. 

When you are on the letter Zz, pass out the cover page as well.  Students cut and collate their flip booklets, cutting the picture pages on the dashed lines so that their booklets “flip open” from the center, to reveal the writing underneath.  

Besides having each child make their own alphabet flip booklet, later in the year, assign one page to each student, collect, and collate for an additional, student-made copy of the booklet for your classroom library.

Games are also an interesting and fun way to get children excited about practicing letters.  There are  three ways to play the full-color “Cover Me Quilt” game: cover the uppercase letters on the quilt with the lowercase tiles, or use the picture tiles, or the word tiles.  I store everything in a Ziploc Baggie and set this up as an independent center.

I've also included a "Cover Me" game in black & white, so that each of your students can make a matching game of their own.  This is a great home-school connection that provides more practice, and is especially beneficial for kiddos who are struggling. 

There's an alphabet poster that can double as a game as well.  Hang up the full-color ABC poster as an anchor chart, make another copy to use for a center.

Students can match the word cards to the poster.  These also work for Memory Match and "I Have; Who Has?" games.  Use the black and white patterns as worksheets.  Students can also design their own alphabet poster using the blank template. 

Need some "table top" or "morning work"? The packet has a nice variety of 14 worksheets to help practice both upper and lowercase letters.

To help build vocabulary, at the same time teaching alphabetical order, I have my kiddos make a dictionary of words. 

There are 10 cover options in the packet, along with pages for each letter. (Two on a page for quick printing.)

The packet also has a variety of unique ways to assess your kiddos that are simple for you and fun for them. "I Spy a Letter" is one of my Y5's favorites, and perfect for whole-group assessing. 

They also enjoy making ABC "sliders" which serve as an interesting way to assess at a glance. Besides the assessments, I've also included recording sheets for assessing uppercase letters, lowercase letters, letter sounds, word examples, as well as assessments for letter formation.

After children have passed an assessment, reward them with a certificate of praise or ABC bookmark. As you can see, I've included a little bit of everything.  

This Alphabet Activities packet is a whopping 121 pages long and just $5.95 in my TpT shop.  Click on the link to pop on over. As promised, there are FREEBIES! Today, I have two for you that are from this packet.

Do you need some letter tiles, so that your kiddos can cut and glue them to make words or play games with? The packet includes both upper and lowercase ones in 4 different sizes.  From one set on a page to 8 sets.

Simply print, laminate and trim to use for Daily 5 or other word work activities or to use in centers and for games. This  Letter Tile freebie, includes a 4-page tip list, filled with ideas and games to use the letter tiles for.  Click on the link to grab your copy.  

The other FREEBIE revolves around a set of posters. Use these alphabet anchor charts to help students remember and recognize  lowercase letters, by pointing out their differences, as the letters are grouped into 3 catergories.  

For more practice, I've included two worksheets, along with a Venn diagram. Have students choose 2 letters from 2 of the categories and graphically compare and contrast them using the Venn diagram. Click on the link to view/download these freebies.

That's it for today; time to play.  The lovely, 70 degree sunshine-filled afternoon, is calling me.  Wishing you and yours a wonderful weekend.

 "Dictionary - opinion expressed as truth in alphabetical order." -John Ralston Saul

1-2-3 Come Make A Father's Day Card With Me

I feel a bit sorry for dads when it comes to making special cards and keepsakes at school.  We seem to go all out for Mother's Day, and then because things get quite hectic at year's end, we often don't have the time or energy to whip something together.

Because we usually had a coupple of snow days to make up, and I was looking for a few things to plug in for that last week of school, it was easy for me to make time for my Y5's to create something for their daddies.  

Ever mindful that these creative endeavors still have to be standard-based and educational or some teachers won't be able to do them "just for fun," I designed the dynamite dad card. 

It's a wonderful way to review the cylinder shape and includes a writing prompt. 

Younger students can simply do the craft portion, or dictate why their father is a dynamite dad, while older students can complete that writing prompt on the stationery provided, trim and glue to the back of their card. 

Have them add some color with crayons or makers. Before hand, you may want to brainstorm with students, some of the reasons why they think their daddy is dynamite.  Write them on the board to help with spelling.

For the finishing touch, punch a hole in the top and attach a piece of yarn to the back.  Tape the Kaboom "fire" to the end of the yarn.  I added some gold glitter for a bit more pizzazz.

Click on the link to view/download the Dynamite Dad Craftivity.  If you're looking for more Father's Day FREEBIES click on the link to zip on over to that section of TeachWithMe. 

Well that's it for today.  I hope you and yours have a blessed Father's Day.

 "It doesn't matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was." -Anne Sexton

4 pages.

Students will enjoy this Spanish-themed "Taco 'bout" play-on-words writing prompt.  I've included an "Ola!" poster to introduce the lesson with a friendly "Hello" in Spanish, then use it as the center for your bulletin board display. 

1-2-3 Come Do An Alphabet Craftivity With Me

Woo hoo for me; woo hoo for you!  As some of you know, I just opened a shop on TpT May 6th  We've reached our 1st "milestone" of 100 followers.  In celebration of that, here's a special little FREEBIE great for anytime, but especially nice for back-to-school.

So that I could get a handle on where my new kiddos were at, I always liked to do some fun assessing the first week of school. 

Testing and assessing students can be tedious and overwhelming for young children, as well as time consuming for teachers.  Keeping that in mind, I designed Alpha Bird.

Precut "Alfie's" body parts from a variety of colors of construction paper.  Students choose the pattern pieces that they want, and glue them to their paper plate bird body, which is simply a folded paper plate.

To expedite things, I'd fold and staple them shut ahead of time, leaving the bottom middle open so that students can insert the birds "legs".  For extra pizzazz, I added several feathers for a tail.  You can buy a bag at The Dollar Store.

Students cut and glue the alphabet strips to make Alfie's legs. When everyone has completed their alpha bird, play "I Spy" by calling out a letter.  Because the legs are long, and to increase upper body strength, have children lie on their tummies.

Students find and trace both the upper and lowercase letters.  When they  have done so, children raise their hand, so that you know that everyone is done. 

With just a glance, you can see who is struggling, either trying to find a letter, tracing the wrong one, or peeking at others to see what they're doing.  

Jot yourself a note, so that you can work with these children later. Call on a child to choose the next letter.  Play 'til all of the letters have been traced.

Alfie offers a simple, quick and interesting way to whole group assess, while providing a nice review of upper and lowercase letters. 

The birds also make a stunning hallway wall border.  Simply tie a yarn loop at the top and suspend from the ceiling.  Caption: "We know our letters and that's something to TWEET about!"

If you don't want to do this craftivity with your students, but like the different assessment idea, simply make your own alpha bird, hang him on a wall, and use Alfie to individually assess, in a non-threatening fun way. Click on the link to grab a copy of this fun FREEBIE: Alfie the Alpha Bird.  

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by, and a very special thank you to all of my loyal followers!  Wishing you a warm and wonderful summer.

"If plan B doesn't work, don't give up; the alphabet has 25 more letters!"  -Unknown