Fabulous Freebies: Superhero Style Lesson

For this week's freebies I'm showcasing a fun free lesson idea I got from a former art teaching colleague. She used this Superhero Registration in a fun lesson plan that is perfect for a cross curricular lesson!

The Superhero Registration form would be a fun start to a fictional story or interview for a literacy project. My former colleague combined it with a lego person template as the base of their superhero and had them draw their own hero by adding key details onto the example. The finished examples looked great and I think her students had a lot of fun with it!

If you wanted to add a science element to it you could always do a science experiment to test out super powers like making invisible ink!

Fabulous Freebies: Etc's new items!

My partner in blogging crime has recently come out with two new freebies at her store. Check them out and please remember to rate freebies!

• Database of Children's Literature

Find databases of high quality children's literature with this easy to use freebie!

• Spanish Checkers

Etc is a wonderful teacher known for her use of games in the classroom to help make learning fun. I've learned  many games from her that I used for years in my classroom and became some of my favorite activities. Even if you don't teach Spanish this freebie can still come in handy as a way of learning a new game that you can use in your classroom. Having games in your repetoire is very handy when lessons don't go as planned or when you have unexpected time left at the end of a lesson.


Have fun checking out Etc's newest freebies!

Fabulous Friday Freebie: The Ultimate

I am posting one freebie---just one.  Rockin Resources on Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT) has put together one free pdf with hundreds of links to other freebies on TPT.  There are math and literacy freebies for PreK through 12th grade.  Note: a few of the links don't work or link to resources that are no longer free, but based on my experiences, that is true of less than 10% of the links.  This is definitely worth bookmarking and going through when you have a spare minute this summer.  Enjoy.  It is the ultimate collection of TPT freebies!

Super-Sized Friday Freebies

The Fourth of July is almost upon us.  So, this week I'm rolling the Wednesday Website and Friday Freebies post into one super sized post on free apps to check out.  Most of them are geared towards elementary students, but don't click off just yet if you teach older students.  Numbers 2, 6, 7 and 8 are really for everyone! Here they are:

1) Rhyming Bee is great for having students work on rhyme.  There is a cute little bee holding a word.  The child has to decide which flower has petals with rhyming words that match the bee's word.

2) Sleep Pillow plays loops of soothing sounds like rain and crackling fires for rest time in Kindergarten or background white noise while they work independently.

3) I Say helps students with their listening skills and auditory memory.  It looks a lot like the old game, Simon Says.

4) Simoo is a lot like I Say, but with cows.

5) Spelling City is a free app that allows teachers to create assignments for students based on customized spelling lists.  Students enjoy playing games with the word and completing the assignments online.

6) Class Dojo allows teachers to encourage behaviors by giving students points for meeting expectations.  Parents can login to check out their child's weekly progress.

7) Remind  is an app that allows teachers to send out text reminders to parents and students.  The receiver cannot respond, so it cuts down on group messages that blossom out of control when everyone writes back.

8)  Turboscan is a free app that allows you to take a picture of a document and convert it to a pdf.  Before it converts the image, it will clean the picture up so you don't see shadows.

9) Profs' Phonics Smar-test has activities to work on the phonological skills that are the first foundations of reading.

10) Kidsdoodle  is a fun app that allows students to draw and write on a black backdrop.  What they create shows up in bright neon rainbow lights.

Stay tuned!  I will be posting the rest of my fav summer finds in the next few weeks.  If you have favorites, feel free to share them in the comments section.

Happy Fourth of July!



  

Fabulous Freebies: Teaching Poetry

One genre that has always been challenging, yet rewarding for me to teach is poetry.  The Common Core expects students to dig into the nuances of language.  Poetry slow students down, requiring them to think through punctuation, word choice, tone, mood, etc.  So, I've been adding to my folder of resources for next year.  Here are a few of my new favorites...

Poem Hunter is a website that I have used many times.  You can search for free for just about any poem by just about any renowned poet.  There are biographies and videos available to accompany lessons.  This site can be used to access the texts or do a biography study of favorite poets.

This is one Limerick Writing lesson available for free on Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT).  The packet has examples, notes on what a limerick is and student friendly handouts so your students can write their own.  This would make a great writing lesson, introduction of limericks, extension lesson after students have read limericks or even a simple sub plan.

This is one of many Haiku Writing lessons available for free on TPT.  Like the limerick packet, this lesson comes with examples, notes on what a haiku is and handouts so your students can write their own.  It would be a great lesson to couple with a unit on Japan, poetry, and/or nature.

This Poetry Packet is another lesson I'm filing away for next year.  It is another TPT freebie.  It has descriptions of the following poem types: Acrostic, Cinquain, Couplet, Diamante, and Haiku.  There is a template so students can write their own book of poems.  It would be a good project idea to summarize a poetry unit.

Auto Rap is a new free app.  Students record their poems and the recording is automatically synched with a rhythm and turned into a rap.  I can't wait to try this with my students and let them hear their voices rapping the poems they write!

Fabulous Freebies: Free Readers Theater Scripts

One great way to encourage your students in the upper primary grades to read fluently and closely for more in depth comprehension is to have them participate in a readers theater.  If you do the Daily 5 in your classroom, you probably have students reading with someone.  A fun way to encourage that and hold them accountable is to have them practice reading scripts together that they can then perform in front of the class.  There are a lot of great resources online to choose from.  Here are a few of my favorites...

TeachingHeart is a website with links to well over 50 scripts for transitional readers.  There are some well known classics such as "Casey at Bat" and Rumplestiltskin.  But, there are also many, many more to explore that relate to a range of topic and themes.  There are scripts for Christmas, Earth day, animals and more.  This site is definitely worth checking out!

Readers Theater All Year has scripts for just about every holiday.  Most of the scripts come with approximate grade levels so you can quickly search based on theme and readability.  

Finally, don't forget about TeachersPayTeachers.  If you do a search for free plays and scripts, you will find a number of quality resources to download.  

The plays the thing to catch the interest of your students!!  Check these sites out today.

Fabulous Freebies: Summer Fun

Our minds are working every day, all the time.  We are constantly learning, growing and changing. Our interactions with the world around us are forming our realities of how the world operates.  New books and people bring us new vocabulary and perspectives.  This is especially true of children.  They don't stop learning because they are on summer vacation.  So, why not encourage parents to use that time to enrich the academic side of summer learning?

Here are a few ideas....

#1-Check out this Scholastics article on ways to keep kids busy while learning.

#2-Send kids home with a summer reading log.

Fabulous Freebies: Ways to Teach with Free Travel Brochures

Since it is almost summer and vacation season, I thought I would share some ideas of what you can do with fun vacation related freebies like travel brochures and other things you can get for free by requesting the through tourist and convention centers.

If you don't have any travel brochures handy here are some resources to get you started:

- Free Visit Orlando Vacation Kit

- Free State of Alaska Vacation Planner

- Free Enjoy Illinois Pack - Can add on highway map and state park guide


Once you get your materials, here are some ways to start using them:

Use brochures to:
- Read for information
- Compare prices and deals
- Compare and contrast different hotels/attractions/or even two different cities
- Compare the city/state to your home town
- Create an itinerary for a set length of time
- Use the brochures as example for your own travel brochure project
- Have students write about why or why they wouldn't want to visit the destination

You can also use the  maps for directions, planning routes, calculating distances and other real world math problems.


If you have any other ideas or ways to use travel brochures in your classroom please share it with us below!

Fabulous Freebies: Memorial Day

Summer is about to start, and there are a few holidays left to squeeze in!  The first is a holiday formerly known as Decoration Day: Memorial Day.  This day is more than just one last day off for those of us who teach until June.  Below is a list of free resources to use to teach your students what the day is all about.

#1- TeacherVision is a site with Memorial Day printables for all grades.  It is easy to navigate, and can be a useful site for a number of other themes in the future, as well.

#2-For a reading comprehension activity that shares some quick facts about the day click here.  (Note: this is best for grammar school age readers.)

#3-Let them do a craft.  Create a Patriotic Pinwheel.

#4-Click here for a reading on Memorial Day.  There are also some activities on this site that you can use to supplement your lesson.

#5-Play patriotic bump with this free game.

Free Summer Reading Programs for 2015!

Here are some great nationwide summer reading programs to help your students continue their learning throughout the summer!

Scholastic Summer Challenge 

Students can help to break a world record and earn digital rewards by logging on and recording their reading minutes. Teachers can preregister your students and compete with classes from around the world!

Barnes and Noble Summer Reading Program

Get a free book after filling out a reading journal available on the Barnes and Noble website.

Half Price Books Feed Your Brain

Students of all ages can earn Bookworm Bucks for Half Price Books for logging their summer reading program this year. Students only have to read a minimum of about 15 minutes a day with a minimum of 300 minutes total to earn this reward and students up to age 14 are included in this easy program. High school students can earn Bookworm Bucks by reading two books and leaving a short review of each.

Sylvan's Book Adventure

Students read and take comprehension quizzes to participate in this summer program. Points are earned based on the books read and students can select their prizes accordingly.

TD Bank's Summer Reading Program 

TD Bank will deposit $10 into a young saver's account after they have read 10 books this summer. Students simply read 10 books, record those books onto TD Bank's sheet and bring it into any local branch. This could be a great way to encourage reading and help students learn how to save money. This program is for kids in grades K-5.

Chuck E Cheese Reward Your Kids

Students record their daily reading on a printable calendar and turn in into their local Chuck E Cheese. Two weeks of daily reading results in 10 free tokens. There is a catch: food must be purchased for free token redemption.

Your Local Library 

Almost all local libraries have summer reading programs for kids. My local library even has a summer reading program for adults! It's always worth it to participate.



 

Wednesday Websites: Readers Theater Resources

One great way to encourage your students in the upper primary grades to read fluently and closely for more in depth comprehension is to have them participate in a readers theater.  If you do the Daily 5 in your classroom, you probably have students reading with someone.  A fun way to encourage that and hold them accountable is to have them practice reading scripts together that they can then perform in front of the class.  There are a lot of great resources online to choose from.  Here are a few of my favorites...

TeachingHeart is a website with links to well over 50 scripts for transitional readers.  There are some well known classics such as "Casey at Bat" and Rumplestiltskin.  But, there are also many, many more to explore that relate to a range of topic and themes.  There are scripts for Christmas, Earth day, animals and more.  This site is definitely worth checking out!

Readers Theater All Year has scripts for just about every holiday.  Most of the scripts come with approximate grade levels so you can quickly search based on theme and readability.  

Finally, don't forget about TeachersPayTeachers.  If you do a search for free plays and scripts, you will find a number of quality resources to download.  

The play's the thing to catch the interest of your students!!  Check these sites out today.

Fabulous Freebies: Math and the Common Core

A while back I posted some freebies to go along with the reading common core standards.  Now I'm posting for math.  As many of you are aware, the standards for math are not laid out like the reading standards.  Thankfully, there are a number of teachers who have made them more user friendly.  Here are the standards by grade level and resources to help you.


Standards

Kindergarten1st gradeKindergarten-2nd grade3rd grade-5th grade3rd grade4th grade5th grade6th-8th grade6th-8th grade

Sample Assessments

Kindergarten data folders1st grade2nd grade word problems3rd grade board game4th grade sample word problems6th grade mini review

Fabulous Freebies: Free Writing Prompts for Spring!

Here are some places to get over 100 fun and free spring themed writing prompts!

• Writing Forward - Writing forward has writing prompt for every season, but scroll down for a few good spring ones.  Then check out the others and tuck some away for use next year.

• Minds In Bloom has a list of 20 spring writing prompts.  There are prompts for different types of writing from persuasive to narrative.  You're sure to find something you can use on this list.

• Journal Buddies has a list of over 50 spring journal prompts, many of them appropriate for older students.  

• The Teacher's Corner has a list of writing prompts for each day in May.  Many of them are tied to special days in the month and will prompt you to think thematically as you wrap up the school year.

Fabulous Freebies: Common Core Reading Activities

Common core is the educational buzz phrase.  This week I'm posting some fabulous freebies that correlate with the reading standards: reading (I'm combining reading literature and informational texts into one), writing, speaking and language.  These can be used by parents out there looking for activities or teachers looking for something to send along to parents.  Or, it can just get tucked away in a folder to be pulled out at a later date.  But, without further ado, here they are....

#1-Reading: Check out this reading contract and log.  It is simple and attractive.  It is a great resource to use with parents and students because it provides an explanation of the importance of reading, a contract that lays out the logistics and a log to track their reading.  There are several ways it can be used:

a) Send it home to be used by your students.

b) Keep for next year.  (You are probably already on summer mode and not thinking about work.)

c) Start a summer reading club.  This can even be a neighborhood thing or a once-a-week get together at school to promote reading.  There are a number of free reading incentive programs that promote summer reading.  Check out one of our previous blogs about free summer reading programs.

#2-Language: Check out this antonyms puzzle.  It is a fun way to go over vocabulary and opposites.  Once kids/students have put it together, they can create their own puzzle using more difficult vocabulary, synonyms, word analogies, etc.

#3-Writing: This is essentially summer stationary.  It can be used several ways.  Here are a few ideas:

a) Have kids use it to write about your family vacations.  They can add some color and you can put it in a scrapbook.

b) Visiting the grandparents in another state this summer?  Have the kids write about the visit and send it in the thank you note.

c) Have your kids write to pen pals using the stationary.

#4-Listening & Speaking: This is a simple question and answer activity with vocabulary.  It practices the 5 W questions.  Going through it orally helps students with their listening skills.  It can be made more fun if played as a game.  Take out the oral piece and it can become memory.  Just cut the cards apart, place them face down and match the picture and corresponding question.  Keep the oral piece and it can be a version of go fish where students draw rectangular cards that are made up of the picture and question.  When it is their turn they have to ask the question to see if one of the other players has the item.  This is great for early elementary, but the idea can be adapted and used with more difficult vocabulary.

Fabulous Freebies: Fun Spring Things

Despite the fact that I had to brush two inches of snow off of my car before I left for work today, it is officially spring.  So, here are a few great freebies to check out...

This spring fractions matching game is a sure hit with your primary students who are just learning fractions.  The packet includes fraction cards with the fractions written as a number, word and visual (separately).  Student can have fun playing memory or roll-it, read-it, keep-it with the cards.

This spring packet for K-1 includes 40 pages of literacy and numeracy activities.  There are alphabetizing activities, writing booklets, addition problems and much more.  This would be a great packet to have in your files as it can be used a variety of ways: learning stations, sub plans, etc.

This spring dice game is a fun way to have primary students practice their math skills.  It practices addition, subtraction, and place value.  This would be a great activity to use as a math station, review activity, or celebration game for a job well done.

Fabulous Freebies: Lessons on Weather

This week's Fabulous Freebies focus on weather lessons.  Here they are....

#1: Weather Graphing Activity  is a fun activity that has your students track weather and graph it over time.  This activity is perfect for the younger grades.

#2: Weather and Climate Unit is a package of materials with assessments, power points and notes on weather.  There is so much there, it is hard to believe it is free.  It is ideal for the middle school grades.

#3: April Showers Bring May Flowers Clipart  is an eight page packet with spring clipart.

#4: Weather Whiz Kids is a website on how to conduct close to forty weather related experiments.  It is definitely worth checking out.

#5: The Weather Channel also has a ton of free lesson plans to check out.  

There are so many ways to bring it into the classroom in cross-curricular ways.  Students can work on data analysis by graphing weather, conduct science experiment to help them understand it more and journal about what they like to do in different climates.  The possibilities are virtually endless, but hopefully this blog can help you take some concrete first steps!

Fabulous Freebies: Fun April Fools Ideas for the Classroom

Here are some fun and free April Fool ideas for the classroom!



Following Directions Test - I'm sure we have all seen a test like this that asks readers to read through the test before starting. Not many students actually do this though! This is a fun one.


Squarehead's No Prep Pranks - I loved this list of no prep pranks of funny things you could tell your students! There is also a list of short prep items as well.


Printable April Fools Pranks - This list of printable April Fools pranks are great ideas as well and pretty quick to pull together!


April Fool Poems - Here are two poems with a funny and cute April Fools twist.

Fabulous Freebies: Free Things for Spring

Here is a link to all of our free spring themed lesson lists here at One Less Headache! There is something for every grade level and subject area. Enjoy!

• Free Things for Spring 2015

• Five Egg Experiments to Try

• More Free Spring Lessons

• 15 Spring Themed Writing Prompts

• Even More Free Spring Lessons

• 15 Ways to Grow Plants in Your Classroom

• And More Free Spring Lessons

• Easter Lesson Ideas

Fabulous Freebies: Language Arts Freebies for Spring

I think that just about everyone is excited for spring after the cold weather most of the country experienced! Here are some language arts freebies for spring to help you thaw out.

Spring Writing Prompts

     - There are 15 spring themed writing prompts from last year at One Less Headache
     -  Journal Buddies has 53 spring journal topics for elementary and middle school students
     - Minds in Bloom has a list of 20 fun topics.

Spring Poems

     - 11 Spring poem ideas
     - See an extensive list of spring themed poems
     - Print an easy to use spring acrostic poem sheet

Other Spring Language Arts Activities

     - Check out some spring vocabulary puzzles, flash cards and more here. Click to download.
     - Here are some spring themed vocab exercises for online work.
     - More elementary spring worksheets are here and easy to download.

Fabulous Freebies: St. Patrick's Day

Since St. Patrick's Day is coming up next week I thought I would share some fun free educational resources for St. Patrick's Day!

St. Patrick's Day Acrostic Poem Printables - This is an easy way to incorporate St. Patrick's Day into your language arts lesson!

 

St. Patrick's Day Journal Prompts - There is a wide variety of prompts here for various types of writing practice. Fun!

St. Patrick's Day Math Worksheets - These sheets are geared towards early elementary age. I liked that they had a variety of printing options such as color or b&w only.

St. Patrick's Day Games - Near the top of this page are direct PDF links to flash cards, bingo games and even a Shamrock and Ladders game! Fun for team building or if you have some down time.

St. Patrick's Day Experiments - There is a huge list here of fun science experiments here and they sound like so much fun! I bet your students will barely realize they are learning.