I Wish... Craftivity

On my last post, I posted a New Year's freebie which was designed for my students to reflect on their favorite memories from the last year.  I also wanted an activity for my students to think about the upcoming year and all that it may bring.  I decided on an I wish...activity for students to write their wish for the upcoming year.  If they could have just one wish, what would it be?

This craftivity could be used for New Years, but could also be used for MLK Day.  Students could write about a wish they have for making the world a better place.  I know Christmas just passed, but it could have been used for students to write a wish for the holiday season.  There is also a blank star that will leave this craft open-ended, so you can use it in any way you see suited in your classroom and curriculum.  Student can decorate the blank face pattern with construction paper, yarn, crayons and/or markers.  The rhyme(author unknown) can be used to create a poster, or it could be used as a title for a bulletin displaying student work.

You can get this craftivity in my TPT store.
Simply click on the image below.

I created the examples above with my older son.  It was good bonding time :), well for me anyhow.  I'm sure he would have rather been playing video games.   I love how he made himself with red, spiky hair, which he does not have, might I add.  But I love his heartfelt wish for his brother to be healthier during the upcoming year. 

With hopes that everyone's wishes come true in the upcoming year :)

New Year's Freebie

I've been away from blogging for a bit.  It's such a busy time a year, and our house has been pretty sickly the last few weeks.  Thought I'd create a quick freebie for my students to draw pictures of their favorite moments from 2012.  There are 4 slots on the film strip for them to illustrate their special moments.  Grab it below for free.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Hope you create many more special memories in the upcoming year.
God Bless,

Silence for Sandy Hook

Bloom's Buttons

Higher level questioning is on everyone's minds these days.  I knew I wanted to create something for Blooms, but just couldn't decide on how I wanted it to look in my classroom.  It's always been something I just do without even thinking.  I always gear my questioning toward higher level thinking, but don't necessarily tell my students where each question ranks on the Bloom's Hierarchy.

I've come up with a little something to incorporate more of the Bloom's language and questioning in my day to day classroom discussions.  We always have a read aloud for the week, whether it's from our reading adoption (Reading Street) or a trade book.  My plan is to use this form to teach the levels of Bloom's Taxonomy and then have them answer questions about the story at the different levels of Blooms.

My analogy will be when the shirt is fully buttoned, then you are fully dressed and ready to go.  And when you are able to answer all the button level questions, then you have a full or complete understanding of the story.

My plan is to have button breaks, where a student will randomly choose a colored button from a can. The color they choose will correspond to a Bloom's Button Card which contains a question  that corresponds to a particular level of Bloom's Taxonomy.  Some times I may have them answer the question independently, they could do this either orally or in a journal.  Other times they may try to answer the question with a buddy or a group.  The goal is to get them thinking about the story as well as their own thinking!!!

 These are the buttons that I'm using in my jar.  Nice and big.

Notice that the orange buttons are missing in the middle picture above.  Well, we had an uh oh, this evening.  My toddler decided to stick the orange buttons inside the skinny opening of my very expensive laminator.  Yikes, it was not fun finding a solution for that one!!!

 Here is an example of a few of the cards.

 

There are 9 questions for each of the 6 levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. There are also blank (editable) cards provided for you to add your own questions as you see fit.  There is also a black line master available of the Button Chart, if you would like to have your students color it in and then place it in a journal/notebook  to refer to throughout the year.  You can click the picture below to head on over to my teacher store.

Hope my students and possibly yours love their button breaks!!!

Advent Calendar

I have been meaning to create an Advent Calendar for my class for awhile now.  I had one I used in the past, but I just wasn't too crazy about it.  I saw one on Pinterest today that I just loved, but I just don't have the time to put into creating it.  What that really means, is that with my little one sick at home, there is no way I can get to Hobby Lobby to buy everything I'd need to make it.  This is what I finally decided on:

Each student will get a numbered calendar piece to color. The blank oval can be used in a variety of ways.  It can be used to illustrate a favorite holiday memory.  It could also be used to draw something they’d like to do this holiday season.  For older students, they could write about a favorite holiday experience.  Then, attach the two pieces with ribbon, glue, tape, or staples. 

                                            
For example,

 

 Each day, I will have a student count down the days until Christmas, by revealing the hidden image.  I also like to have a sweet treat for the student that created the calendar piece for the day.  

Visualizing

I have been meaning to post this for some time, but time just flies.  We work on mental imagery throughout the entire year.  Below are some examples of templates I use for my students to record their mental images.  The first example was from the book, The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything.  Yikes, that was way back in October.  If we have a story for the week, I always have my little ones visualize the first day.  They don't get to see any of the pictures from the story until after their mental images are completed.  They really love comparing their mental images to the actual pictures in the story.  Their pictures always put a smile on my face.

 

 

 

I just love displaying their mental images!

Here is another recording page for mental images:

You can get this set in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.
Click here to head straight there.

Veteran's Day

I don't usually post twice in a day, but I just had to post a couple goodies for Veteran's Day.  The first is an acrostic FREEBIE.  Simply click on the image to download.

I also created Patriotic Pennants for Veteran's Day.  There are 3 different patterns and also a blank pennant for students to create their own.  You can get them in my TPT store for $1.00.  I thought they would look perfect strung together and placed in the hallway or classroom.  Click on the pennant below to head over to my store.

 

A huge thank you to all of our veterans!!!!

M&M Election Winner...

We finished up learning about elections last week.  They described their candidates (M&M's), created campaign posters, voted, and graphed their results.  It was a great lesson on adjectives, as well!

And the winner was... the PEANUT BUTTER M&M.

If you want to check out the forms we used, check out my previous post here.

Here are a few of their posters:

 

Sweet Elections

 *** This resource was updated (March 2014).  All the new pages are shown in the images below.

This upcoming week is election week.  I wanted a fun activity to get my class excited about elections and voting.  We just got finished voting on our favorite character pumpkins, so they are really excited about the voting process.

 

I still have candy on my mind after Halloween and all, so what better way to learn about elections that with candy.  We are going to have our very first M&M Election.  The recording forms are all open-ended so you can choose which M&M flavors you'd like to include.
I chose these 4 flavors-
Peanut
Dark Chocolate
Candy Corn (Halloween Flavor I got on clearance)
Pretzel


Students will taste test each flavor and then record their observations/descriptions about that candidate... I mean flavor.

Then, they will create a campaign poster for their favorite candidate (yep.. I mean flavor).  They will draw a picture in the middle and around it they will cut/paste adjectives that describe their favorite M&M.  I plan to have my students share their posters and give mini speeches to try to persuade the class to choose their favorite M&M flavor. 

Next, students will get to cast their vote for their favorite candidate...I mean M&M.

Finally, votes will need to be counted and then students will graph the results.

And the winner is.... well, if it were up to me it would be dark chocolate.  But, we'll have to see what the verdict is next week. You can check this resource out by clicking here.