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!

Fun Thanksgiving Math Packet!

If you are looking for a fun Thanksgiving themed math center for your students, check out my Thanksgiving Math Worksheets! Included in this pack are 12 Thanksgiving themed math worksheets that focus on math skills such as multiplication, division, fractions, converting fractions to decimals, pie graphs, and bar graphs. I recommend this pack for grades 5-8. This pack is one of my best sellers!

Although this pack is colorful and has lots of fun images, it can easily be used in black and white or color. All answer keys are included. Here is a list of the twelve fun worksheets included in this pack:

1. Recipe Math Worksheet
2. Nutrition Facts Questions
3. Turkey Facts Multiplication
4. Cornucopia Greater or Lesser Than Coloring Sheet
5. Create a Thankful Pie Chart
6. Draw a Cranberry Bar Graph
7. Turkey Feather Numerical Patterns
8. Dinner Plate Math Match-Up
9. Thanksgiving Word Multiplication
10. Thanksgiving Word Problems
11. Thanksgiving Dinner Pricing
12. Cornucopia Creation Cost
1. Recipe Math Worksheet
2. Nutrition Facts Questions
3. Turkey Facts Multiplication
4. Cornucopia Greater or Lesser Than Coloring Sheet
5. Create a Thankful Pie Chart
6. Draw a Cranberry Bar Graph
7. Turkey Feather Numerical Patterns
8. Dinner Plate Math Match-Up
9. Thanksgiving Word Multiplication
10. Thanksgiving Word Problems


All of these are included for only $3.00!

If you prefer Thanksgiving literacy worksheets, check out my related literacy pack for more Thanksgiving fun.

Fabulous Friday Freebies: Halloween Freebies!

This week I'm re-posting our most popular Halloween freebie article with one new freebie added to the end. Enjoy!

As the weather chills down and the children prepare for a sugar rush, the freebies heat up! Here are some fabulous Halloween freebies! If you have a Halloween freebie that you would like to share, please let us know in the comments and we will consider featuring your freebie in one of our future October freebie editions.

This Halloween Dry Ice Secrets packet gives a ton of information about dry ice and ways to use it in your classroom for science experiments! I found lots of useful information and fun ideas to try in the classroom. This would be perfect for a variety of ages.

This Halloween Poetry Bookmarks freebie is a different way to get students to write by following directions written on Halloween themed bookmarks. Also included are blank bookmarks that can be used for poems and themed writing paper as well.

Find a huge list of fun Halloween science experiment ideas on Science Bob's blog! There is a huge list of activities to capture your students' attention including an idea on how to make a screaming cup and a recipe for homemade slime.

Check out  this selection of 10 FREE Halloween bingo games! About Home has a great selection of bingo games you can download like the Crayola color it bingo games pictured above. I loved the selection and bingo is perfect as you can play for a short or long time.

Fun Fall Articles

I compiled all of our fall articles so they are all in one place! Hope you find some great resources for the fall holiday season.

• Fall Educational Freebies!

• Dressing in Costume in Your Classroom 

• What to do with Halloween candy besides eating it

• Fabulous Halloween Freebies

• Day of the Dead Freebies

• Fabulous Halloween Freebies Part II

• Fabulous Halloween Freebies Part III

Fabulous Freebies: Fun Fall Freebies!

 I have been seeing leaves here starting to fall from trees so I thought it would be a great time to put up a list of fun fall freebies! Enjoy these fall themed freebies with your students.

There are a slew of cute fall writing and math worksheets available here for younger elementary students. The worksheets are easy to download and all have cute fall graphics!

Have fun with these autumn Sudoku pages! There is an easy version and regular version of 4x4 Sudoku available to print in color or black and white.

 

Deceptively Educational has a fun fall leaf bingo game which work great for science or during a walk outside. I love all the types of leaves this game includes!

 

 

 

 

 

Creativity Portal has a list of thirteen autumn themed writing prompts, most that would work well for middle or high school students.

 

 

If you have a fall freebie, share it with us below!

 

 

 

 



Summary of The Daily 5: 2nd Edition by Boushey and Moser

I just finished reading The Daily 5: Second Edition by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser (2014) in preparation for my new job as an elementary school literacy coach.  The two sisters, as they refer to themselves, have been sharing their strategies with the rest of the world for awhile.  Their latest edition is a book worth reading, though, if you are an elementary school teacher who is familiar with their work but wants to hone your skills.  For teachers who are unfamiliar with the daily 5 framework, it is a must read.

This is the daily 5 in a nutshell: read to self, work on writing, listen to reading, word work and read to someone.  Each of those is just what it sounds like too.  It is not a curriculum, but rather a way to manage that time of day when students are working on reading and writing so that all students can engage in meaningful, independent skill building while the teacher confers with students individually.  Students are taught to read books, write and improve their vocabulary during self directed sessions, building their stamina throughout the year.

I am not going to summarize the whole book right here and now, but I will list ten reasons it grabbed and held my attention as I began to investigate what quality ELA instruction, especially at the elementary school level, looks like.  Here they are:

1) The daily 5 structure teaches routine and procedures so that students can learn to become independent.
2) The book is replete with references to the most prominent experts and latest research.
3) The structure engages students in meaningful, authentic reading and writing.
4) The book addresses the ever important issue of stamina and how to build it in students.
5) It addresses the latest research about the connection between time spent reading and reading scores and proposes a simple way to increase the number of minutes students spend reading each day.
6) It provides sample lessons and tips for getting started.
7) It addresses what to do with students who struggle to become independent and offers helpful tips.
8) It responds to high frequency concerns the sisters have heard as they've travelled around visiting other teachers.
9) It makes suggestions for how to differentiate.
10) It frees up teachers' time so that they are engaged in meaningful instruction rather then tedious work.

Check back in a couple days for a collection of freebies to help you get started using the daily 5!!

Fun Art Sub Lesson!

If you are looking for a fun art project that is ready to use for a sub, this lesson is perfect! Students will have fun designing and promoting a t-shirt during this lesson that is designed with a real world purpose.

Everything you need is included such as:
- Teacher/sub tip sheet
- T-Shirt design instruction sheet for students
- Brainstorming and thumbnail sketch sheet for students
- Final t-shirt design drawing page
- Promotion writing page

This is a lesson I have left for a sub before in my own classroom and had success with so I hope this means it will work for you as well! If you're interested in this lesson, check it out on my TPT store.

Fabulous Freebies: World Cup Educational Freebies!

To celebrate the World Cup games, here are some educational freebies you might want to use!

Financial Soccer

Play this fun game as an individual or against another player and get points for answering financial related questions. You can choose the question difficulty and questions are aimed towards the age you select. The game is free to play and no registration is required. (Age groups are 11-14, 14-18, or 18+)

Activity Village World Cup for Kids


Scroll down to the grey box to get the free World Cup activities ranging from puzzles, coloring pages, worksheets and more. Pages are geared towards elementary level students.


International Primary Curriculum 2014 World Cup

The IPC has a HUGE list of resources divided into many different categories including the mascots of the World Cup, cities, songs and more. Each category is explained and has a link to a PDF or word file with ready to print information, worksheets and more. I was impressed with this large collection of material!

TIME Slideshow

Time has a great slideshow about the history of the World Cup. It's easy to see an overview and learn more about how this competition started.

 Football Teaching Ideas

A site from the UK, hence the term football, has a great list of suggestions for using soccer to teach. The World Cup project book is a huge, free download on the list and might give you a great start.


Have fun watching the World Cup and rooting for your favorite team!

A Great Resource for Teaching Imagery

One of the 5th grade descriptors under the 3rd Common Core Standard for writing reads as follows, "Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely."

If you are looking for an engaging way to teach that, check out my lesson on imagery.    For just $3, you can have a lesson with over a dozen amazing pictures for students of all ages to write about as they practice how to incorporate imagery in their writing.  

It's a great bargain, but don't take my word for it.  Here a review from one of my buyers...

I appreciate the ready made prompts and the great idea as it is one I can easily duplicate in the classroom with other pictures I have. I am also thankful that you chose to keep the price reasonable. If there was a Value button I would give you an A for that also.

Fabulous Freebies: Spring Things

Here are some more spring freebies that can help you celebrate warmer weather with your students:

#1: Here is a great idea for having students create a mural while learning about nouns and verbs, all with a spring theme.  It is meant for the younger grades, but could be adapted to many other lessons.

#2: 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 and so appropriate for this time of year as the snow turns to rain and the temperatures continue to fight to stay above freezing throughout the country.

#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.    

#6: A packet of puns is a great way to follow up April Fool's Day.   

  

Fabulous Freebies: St. Patrick's Day

I can hardly believe St. Patrick's Day is almost here! That must mean that spring is around the corner. Here are some fabulous freebies to help you celebrate the luck of the Irish in your classroom! If you missed last year's post, check out all the freebies here and visit this Pinterest board for more St. Patrick's Day ideas.

If you want to do some origami, check out this website for these three St. Patrick's day themed instructions. I love origami and my students always have as well - from elementary to high school! Origami is also a great way to use math in the classroom and ask math questions while folding your creations. I have some suggestions on ways to do that in this article.

This website is my absolute favorite website to learn new origami since the instructions are very clear and shown in photo step by step and many also include a video you can pause after each step. I have always had success with instructions from this site.

Rachel over at Minds in Bloom has a great list of St. Patrick's Day writing prompts. I thought the prompts were really creative and thought that most students would enjoy answering them!

The American Chemical Society has a list of fun St. Patrick's day related science experiments! My favorites include making blarney beads, frying green eggs or turning pennies gold. These activities are geared towards older students.

Find lots of information about St. Patrick's Day at the Holiday Zone including discussion questions, puzzles, quizzes, recipes and more. There is a big variety of items available.

If you have a St. Patrick's Day freebie, share it with us in the comments and we would love to feature you next week for fabulous freebies!

Art Criticism for Kids Pack

If you enjoyed last week's post about my Art Writing Prompts packet, you might also enjoy my Art Criticism for Kids pack. This pack contains materials that can help your students write and talk about artwork using appropriate terms.

The packet gives helpful terms that are divided into the four steps of art criticism and suggests four different activities you can do with this pack including playing a game, writing about art and discussing artwork.

I know that sometimes art criticism can feel like pulling teeth to your students and sometimes they just want to make art without discussing it. This packet should make it easy and entertaining so you can easily incorporate it into your classroom.

 Artwork is also included in case you choose to use it with your classroom.

This packet is a great introduction to art criticism and makes it easy for your students to learn about it. To see more and download a preview, check it out here.

Writing Across the Curriclum: Art Writing Prompts

Writing across the curriculum has something that has always been popular in every school I have taught at and it makes complete sense since writing is such a crucial part of everyday life and a necessary skill for our students.

Sometimes it can be tricky to make writing interesting in every subject. This is especially true of art since sometimes students can tend to think art is all about creating or getting messy when it is really also about learning.

To help combine writing and art I put together a packet of art focused prompts. The prompts are divided into three categories - easy, medium and hard so you can pick and choose the level you want for your class.

Check out the preview if you want to read some example prompts for each level.

These writing prompts are also great discussion starters and can be used in many other ways including materials for sub folders, exit tickets, bell ringers and more.

It's an easy to go packet with little to no prep work, just depends on if you want to make the prompts on transparencies or just read them out loud to your class!

If you're interested in this pack, check it out at my TPT store.

Fabulous Freebies: National Tell a Fairy Tale Day

On February 26, 2013 is National Tell a Fairy Tale Day. This could definitely be a fun incorporation into your classroom or spark some interesting writing activities! I haven't ever had a chance to celebrate this in my classroom but now that I know about it I would definitely consider celebrating it in the future.

Here are some freebies to help you celebrate National Tell a Fairy Tale in your classroom.

 

Find lots of resources related to fairy tales perfect for students in grades 4-6 at this site. There are PowerPoints, flash cards, vocabulary, fables and more. This website really makes it easy to incorporate fairy tales into your classroom.

Jump Start also has fairy tale printables for elementary age students. The sheets are easily downloadable and are very colorful and filled with nice graphics. 

Arts Edge has a nice website plan for exploring American tall tales geared towards grades 5-8. The lesson plan is thoroughly written out step by step. Some tall tales include Davy Crockett and Paul Bunyan. 

High school students might enjoy analyzing the stereotypes in fairy tales using the lesson plans and printables available at Thirteen Ed Online. I like that it starts with a pretest before comparing your answers to fairy tales. 

Have fun if you decide to celebrate this day at school!

Fabulous Freebies: Five More Great Olympic Lesson Sites

Since the Olympics are going on for a few weeks, I thought I would share five more Olympic lesson freebies. If you missed part 1, check it out here.

Activity Village has a section of winter Olympics activities divided by sport. I thought this was perfect so you can choose activities that fit the interest of your students. Most activities seem geared towards elementary level students.

Teach students the science behind the Olympics at the Learning Network website. This site had a ton of kinesthetic learning activities for students to do to learn the science behind the sport. Most of the activities focused on physics and are geared towards students in grades 6-12.

For more activities that focus on the science of the Olympics, try the Science Buddies website. It has activities that relate to each winter sport that are geared towards upper elementary and middle school students.

The NEA has a list of 10 Free Things for Teaching About the 2014 Winter Olympics. It has something for every grade level and a variety of activities including videos and historical Olympics resources.

I selected this resource because it was created by students for other students! This website was created by two fourth grade students and contains a wide variety of resources for learning about the Olympics. Some of the material is dated from Vancouver but most can be used anytime.

Have fun with these and root for your favorite team!

Teaching Students About Peace

For just $2, you can purchase my lesson about peace. It includes a word map, higher order thinking journal prompt and art activity. The lesson will spur students to think about what it means to live in peace, and have them create a peace tree to decorate the classroom with or take home to discuss with their families. I've done this with my second and third grade students, and they were excited to share what they had learned with their families.

Peace Trees from a brown paper bag...so simple yet so popular with the kiddos!

Fabulous Freebies: Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year is coming up this week on January 31, 2014. I'm re-posting some freebies for Chinese New Year from last year and adding some new ones to it to help you celebrate the year of the horse! These lessons have always been popular in my classroom.

I have used a lot of origami websites but this one is my favorite. It gives clear step by step photos to help you make your origami and most of the designs on the website are easy to make. Math is a great subject to incorporate into your origami as well.

Find some more year of the horse activities including coloring pages, worksheets, puzzles and more at the Activity Village.

Check out this site for a free printable spiral snake template. It is easy for students to practice pattern making or drawing inside the snake. When it is cut out it makes a nice spiral that is fun for kids to hold! Instead of having students draw inside the snake pattern you could also have them write information about Chinese New Year.

Crayola has a great template and printable so students can make a dragon puppet. The lesson is easy to follow and I have never met a student that does not enjoy dragons!

To help students learn about Chinese New Year, check out these free PowerPoint presentations. There are also interactive PowerPoint presentations and games as well.

If your students are kinesthetic learners, this blog has some fun ideas of learning about Chinese New Years with movement and physical activity. There are a variety of games to choose from.

This free Chinese New Year Activity Pack is great for older students. It contains a variety of activities including a writing prompt, information about the Chinese zodiac, a printable Tangrams template, Chinese New Year Boggle and more. Students could have a lot of fun and learn while using this packet!

Do you have a free Chinese New Year activity? Let me know in the comments below.