Category Archives: Holidays

April and May Notebooking and Writing Pages with Eight Spring Holidays

SB-April-May-Notebooking-030213-PREVIEWBrighten up your April and May writing time with fun and colorful notebooking pages! These are perfect for notebooking, handwriting, copy work, narration, dictation, and letter writing.

Every design includes both primary and standard writing lines. Matching generic pages are included at the end for overflow writing.

Topics include:
April Fools’ Day
Arbor Day
Baseball
Cinco de Mayo
Earth Day
May Day
Memorial Day
Mother’s Day

April & May Notebooking and Writing Pages with Eight Spring Holidays
April & May Notebooking and Writing Pages with Eight Spring Holidays
Notebooking pages for spring themes and holidays
Price: $3.00
Posted in Early Elementary, First Grade, Handwriting, Holidays, Literacy, My Store, Notebooking, Printables, Second Grade, Spring, Third Grade, Writing | Leave a comment

I Love America Patriotic Notebooking and Writing Pages

SB-America-Notebooking-021613-PREVIEWAdd some fun to writing projects with these colorful notebooking pages! Perfect for any patriotic holiday – Independence Day, Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day, Presidents’ Day, Election Day – or just to celebrate our great country!

Every design includes both primary and standard writing lines. Matching generic pages are included at the end for overflow writing.

Includes 32 pages.

I Love America Patriotic Notebooking Pages for Narration, Handwriting, Dictation
I Love America Patriotic Notebooking Pages for Narration, Handwriting, Dictation
Colorful notebooking and writing pages with patriotic themes!
Price: $2.50
Posted in Early Elementary, First Grade, History and Geography, Holidays, My Store, Notebooking, Printables, Second Grade, Third Grade, Writing | Leave a comment

How Many Days Until… Free Special Event Wheels

Monthly Special Date Turning WheelsHere is a great idea if you have a little one who is always asking, “How many days until such and such happens?” Let’s see, I can think of Birthday, Birthday Party, and Christmas just off the top of my head recently around our home.  Oh, and The 100th Day of School.  That’s been popping up a lot lately!

These are free Monthly Special Date Turning Wheels that you can use for any special event.  There is one for each month and you can write the special event on the cover as well.

Photo credit

Posted in Calendar, Freebies, Holidays | Leave a comment

Presidents’ Day KWL Chart/Graphic Organizer

SB-Presidents'-Day-KWL-013013-PREVIEWKWLs are an easy-to-use tool for understanding a child’s learning in a particular area. This KWL for Presidents’ Day will help you to assess his prior knowledge, understand his questions, and assess what he has learned at the end of your time of study.

KWLs can be completed by the child or the parent/teacher depending on the age level of the student and his writing ability.  They also work well in a class discussion setting.

This packet includes both vertical and horizontal KWL graphic organizers. Click on the thumbnails below for a preview.

Presidents' Day KWL Graphic Organizer
Presidents' Day KWL Graphic Organizer
Two KWL charts for President's Day learning activities 2 pages
Price: $1.00
Posted in February, Graphic Organizers, Holidays, KWL, My Store | 1 Comment

Presidents’ Day Notebooking Pages for Celebrating Washington, Lincoln and Other Patriotic Topics

SB-Presidents'-Day-Notebooking-012613-PREVIEWI’ve created these fun patriotic and colorful notebooking pages for celebrating Washington, Lincoln and Presidents’ Day! They are perfect for notebooking, copy work, narration, dictation, handwriting, and letter writing.

Many of the designs will also work well for Memorial Day, Fourth of July and other patriotic topics.

Every design includes both primary and standard writing lines. Matching generic pages are included at the end for overflow writing. Click on the thumbnails below to preview!

Presidents' Day Notebooking Pages
Presidents' Day Notebooking Pages
Notebooking pages to celebrate Presidents' Day, Lincoln, Washington, and other patriotic topics. 20 pages
Price: $1.50
Posted in February, First Grade, Handwriting, Holidays, Kindergarten, My Store, Notebooking, Second Grade | Leave a comment

February Notebooking Pages with Valentine’s Day, Presidents’ Day, Groundhog Day, Chinese New Year and Black History Month

I’ve created a fun packet of February holiday-themed notebooking pages. Lots of cute, colorful graphics for notebooking, narration, dictation, handwriting, letter writing, or creative writing.

Every design includes both primary and standard writing lines. Matching generic pages are included at the end for overflow writing.

Topics include:
Black History Month ~ Chinese New Year ~ Groundhog Day ~ Presidents’ Day ~ Valentine’s Day

Click on thumbnails below for samples!

February Notebooking Pages with Valentine’s Day, Presidents’ Day, Groundhog Day, Chinese New Year and Black History Month
February Notebooking Pages with Valentine’s Day, Presidents’ Day, Groundhog Day, Chinese New Year and Black History Month
Fun and colorful notebooking pages for the month of February! Perfect for notebooking, handwriting, copy work, narration, dictation, and letter writing. 36 pages
Price: $3.00

Posted in February, Handwriting, Holidays, Literacy, My Store, Notebooking, Winter, Writing | Leave a comment

Chinese New Year KWL Chart/Graphic Organizers

If you will be learning about the Chinese New Year, consider using a KWL to get started!  A KWL helps assess your student’s prior knowledge, assists the student in focusing in on the topic, and then provides a way to summarize what he/she has learned.

KWLs are a simple but very effective tool for all ages.  Younger students can dictate to their parent or teacher. Older students will be able to fill them out on their own.

Click on the thumbnails below to preview the product!

Chinese New Year KWL
Chinese New Year KWL
KWL charts in two versions - vertical and horizontal
Price: $1.00

 

Posted in February, Graphic Organizers, Holidays, KWL, My Store, Teachers Pay Teachers, Winter | Leave a comment

Simple October and Fall Classroom Activities

Most students love fall, so it is easy to get them excited about Halloween, pumpkins, scarecrows, and other autumn themes. These October ideas provide easy to use and creative writing prompts, hands-on projects and fun ideas for classroom use. Best of all, they are simple for the teacher to prepare which is critical during the busy fall season!

Catching Kindness Bulletin Board
Decorate a large bulletin board with a tree trunk and branches. Label it “Kindness is Falling Everywhere.” Cut out medium sized leaves in red, yellow, and orange. Challenge students to look for acts of kindness amongst their classmates throughout the day. At a set time each day (or once in the morning and once in the afternoon), have students share where they saw an act of kindness. The student then writes the kind person’s name on a leaf and gives it to him/her. The student caught being kind can add the leaf to the tree. The teacher can also be on the lookout for kindness to make sure all students have the opportunity to be “caught” being kind.

Creative October Word Search
As a class, brainstorm a list of October themed words and record them on the board or a large piece of chart paper. Provide pairs of students with appropriate sized graph paper and challenge them to create a word search. Make copies of each word search and make them available for students to do during downtime or indoor recess.

Dress Like a Scarecrow Race
For some Friday afternoon fun, put the children into teams for a scarecrow race. Provide the necessary props to create a scarecrow (clothes, straw, hat, etc.) and have students race to dress their scarecrow (one of the students in their group) before the other groups. Switch props among the groups and dress a different student to see if it makes a difference which group wins!

October Writing Prompts

  • A Perfect Fall Weekend
  • October is for Outdoors!
  • The Disappearing Scarecrow
  • A Surprise in the Leaf Pile
  • Football is Fabulous!

Halloween Writing Prompts

  • The Jack-o-Lantern Joke
  • My Best Halloween Ever
  • How to Succeed at Trick or Treating
  • Too Many Black Cats!
  • Planning the Perfect Halloween Party

Pumpkin Writing Prompts

  • Invasion of the Pumpkin People
  • The Pumpkin Pie Caper
  • My Prize Winning Pumpkin Patch
  • The Year of the Polka Dot Pumpkin
  • Too Many Pumpkins!

October is such a fun time of year to enjoy the fall colors, pumpkins, scarecrows, and Halloween. Creative ideas don’t have to be complicated and these easy to prepare writing prompts and hands-on projects will be helpful during the busy fall season. For other ideas to make the most of the season, see Pumpkin Unit Ideas, Scarecrow Ideas, and Fall Unit Ideas.

Photo credit

This article first appeared at Suite 101 dot com.

Posted in Holidays, Seasons, Teacher Resources | Leave a comment

Pumpkin Ideas for Kindergarten and First Grade Units

Kindergarten and first grade children find pumpkins naturally interesting so it is a great age for a special fall or October pumpkin unit with crafts, fun read alouds and more! There are many simple ways to prepare a fun pumpkin unit for elementary aged children. Here are a few easy activities and books that will create a quick but enjoyable learning experience for everyone.

Predicting Pumpkin Weights Activity
Bring in an assortment of pumpkins of various shapes and sizes. Weigh the pumpkin students think is the “middle-sized” pumpkin. Based on that information, have students predict what the other pumpkins will weigh. The student who makes the best predictions can take one of the pumpkins home!

Torn Paper Pumpkin Arts and Craft Activity
Give each student a small paper plate, orange construction paper and glue. Students tear the paper into ragged edged pieces and then glue them on to the paper plate. When the plate is covered with overlapping orange paper, students can then add a green stem. It is also possible to provide black paper for student to cut out eyes, a nose and a mouth to make their pumpkin a jack-o-lantern. Or use the individual pumpkins for a bulletin board and connect them all with green vines!

Pumpkin Sticker Story
Give each student a sheet of pumpkin stickers. Students write a short story about a pumpkin, using a sticker instead of the word “pumpkin” each time it comes up in the story. Children who aren’t able to write their own story can dictate to an adult.

Picking Apples and Pumpkins Book
Picking Apples and Pumpkins by Amy and Richard Hutchings is the story of Kristy, her family and friends as they go on an outing to an orchard and pumpkin patch. Told through beautifully photographed illustrations, the children and adults have a great time picking apples and then selecting pumpkins to bring home. Once they arrive home, they carve the pumpkins and illuminate them with candles.

Apples and Pumpkins Read Aloud Book
Apples and Pumpkins by Anne Rockwell follows the outing of a little girl and her parents as they go out to a farm to pick apples and pumpkins. The little girl selects her pumpkin and takes it home to carve it. They light it in celebration of Halloween when the little girl goes out trick or treating with her dad. The book is warmly illustrated and the story is told simply and briefly.

From Seed to Pumpkin Science Book
From Seed to Pumpkin (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science, Stage 1) by Wendy Pfeffer is a great introduction to the science behind pumpkins. Written at a level appropriate for early elementary, the books traces the growth of a pumpkin from the beginning to the harvest. The story focuses on the farmer and three children who help him plant his hundreds of pumpkin seeds. The warm and inviting illustrations are likely to produce a very positive response from young children.

Fall is a great time to enjoy special units for kindergarten and first grade students. Whether they are special units about apples or fall itself, children will be sure to enjoy the opportunity to do special things. By preparing simple activities, art projects, and read alouds related to pumpkins, teachers can easily spend time celebrating this great part of autumn.

Please also check out my Fall Literacy and Math Activity Pack with pumpkin activities!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo credit

This article originally appeared on Suite 101 dot com.

Posted in Books, Early Elementary, Holidays, Science, Seasons, Teachers Pay Teachers | 2 Comments

Cute Thanksgiving puppet kit from Hobby Lobby

While searching for things to do with Caroline, I came across this cute little puppet kit at Hobby Lobby.  (How do I love that store? Let me count the ways…)

Even better is that it was half off so it was $2.50.  Pretty inexpensive for a morning of fun with Daddy and then playing with them afterward.

And here is the finished product!

Posted in Art and Creative, Holidays | Leave a comment