Thematic Crowns Vol. #2 {January – August}

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My Thematic Crowns volume #2 are finally done! This pack focuses on missing letters in different parts of the word.

qThe purpose of this activity is to increase
thematic vocabulary skills, practice phonics skills, create math patterns, practice writing and fine motor skills. These are perfect for
wrapping up a thematic unit to let parents know what the students learned
during the week J

How to use:

qTeacher
will read the title at the top of the crown.qStudents
will name the pictures.qStudents
will say and write the missing letter in each picture.qStudents
will color each picture.qStudents
will read the words.qStudents
will cut the crown pattern.qStudents
will glue or staple it to a sentence strip.qStudents
will wear their thematic crowns!

Click this picture to download it.

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Valentine’s Day craft and Classroom Organization

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I am honored that Jo-Ann Fabrics has invited me to team up with them for this Teacher Creativity Blog Hop. I was happy to shop at JoAnn Fabrics and Craft Stores for my supplies. Do you know that they have a Teacher Rewards program? Teachers save on every purchase 🙂
Since Valentine’s Day is around the corner, I will share two of my favorite crafts with you. They include a Valentine craft for kids and a Valentine gift for mom.  I also included an extra craft for organization. I hope that you like them.
Valentine Envelope/ Mailbox
When JoAnn contacted me, I knew that I wanted to make something related to Valentine’s Day. I had several ideas, but I kept leaning towards this one. This is a large envelope/ mailbox for those precious Valentine’s Day cards. And, this is how we made it.

Materials

Felt (stiff or regular) 2 pieces per student
Yarn (56in per student)
Tacky Glue (regular glue might work too)
Hole Puncher
Embellishments (I chose felt hearts & buttons.)
Ribbon (for handle)
File folder (Cut a piece smaller than the fabric and slide it into the envelope to hold its’ shape.)

Teacher Prep:

1. The felt pieces will not be cut in any way. The teacher, or helper, will use a hole puncher to make about 6 holes on the sides and bottom of the felt pieces. You can lay the first piece on top of the second to line up the holes. The hole punching is the only part that will need a little more time to complete.
2. Cut 56 inches of yarn and tie a knot on the first hole to keep the 2 pieces together.
3. Cut 2 triangles out of felt. I did this by using a ruler to mark a large X on the fabric.
4. Add a piece of tape to the end of yarn. This will help students thread it through the holes.

Student How To:

1. Glue the triangle piece to the front of the envelope.

2. Thread the yarn. My 3 year-old was able to do this by herself. I modeled how to thread it Under-Over-Under. She got it right away and did not want any help. Can you see that she is able to start under and go through both layers? I underestimated her understanding and abilities for this part, but she did GREAT!

3. Now, she is ready to add the embellishments. The heart sticker was the easiest. The buttons needed a dot of glue. An easy way to do this is to pour the tacky glue on a paper plate. Then, use a Q-Tip to add a dot to the bottom of each button.

4. I cut the letters for her name out of the scraps from above. You can also use alphabet felt stickers to make it easier.
5. Add ribbon or yarn to serve as a handle. I made a bow in the middle of the ribbon, then pushed the ends through  the top holes.

 

 

Valentine Gift for Mom

Valentine’s is the perfect time to give mom a gift. I love handprint crafts for this occasion. And, one of my favorite phrases for Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day is  Hold my hand today, but my heart forever!  I remember seeing a fingerprint project years ago, so I decided to combine the two ideas. This is how my little Isabella made it 🙂

Materials

Paint (I used the Americana brand.)
Card stock
Scrapbook paper
Scissors (scallops are nice)

Prepare

Pour a bit of paint into a paper plate. Use Valentine’s Day colors.

How to

1. Student dips the pointer finger into ONE color of paint and makes prints all over the paper.
2. Use a paper towel to wipe finger in between colors.
3. Set aside when the paper is full of colorful fingerprints.
4. Now, paint child’s hands with his/her color of choice.
5. Press hands down on white paper.
6. Add glitter for fun 🙂 and use scalloped scissors to cut around the heart shape that was made with the hands.
7. Glue a bright colored heart behind the heart hands for contrast.
8. Glue one side of the heart to the center of the fingerprinted paper. The other half side of the heart will not be glued to give it a delicate butterfly effect.
9. Send home on Valentine’s Day to be framed by mom. It’s so adorable. I love this handprint keepsake 🙂

 

Teacher Craft for Organization

I know that this is not related to Valentine’s Day, but I really wanted to do something for organization. I kept looking at the mason jars and the fiskars punchers since December. But, I ran across this in the floral/ garden section of JoAnn Fabrics. The bucket caddy is perfect for pencils and crayons. This organization tool makes it easy to keep the essentials in the middle of student tables without overcrowding their space with the larger tubs. It could also be used at the teacher table for small groups. I was thinking of painting them yellow, until I saw the picture on the can of this aqua spray paint 🙂 Here’s how I made it.

Materials

Metal Bucket Caddy
Spray Paint (aqua)
Newspaper
Fiskars Pretty Scallops Punch 4XL
Scrapbook Paper
Ribbon

 

 

How to:

1. Lay newspaper on the floor of your garage.
2. Place the buckets on the newspaper.

3. Spray Paint the buckets. I was going to try to paint with the Americana craft paint, but the JoAnn associate was very helpful. She said that the paint would not last long. So spray painting was the better option. Eeek! I have never spray painted anything before. As it turns out, this paint is very forgiving to beginners like me. I definitely saw drips while painting, but you can’t even see them on the finished product. I did leave the bucket out by my door on a cold afternoon and it dried perfectly.
4. Decorate each bucket with ribbon.
5. Add a label made with the flower puncher. This was my favorite part. I LOVE how this puncher cuts so perfect shapes. I want to go back and buy more shapes! The flower is 3 1/2 inches. So, I made my round labels on powerpoint at 2 1/2 inches so that you could see the flower shape behind it 🙂

Here’s a before and after. Paint makes a huge difference, doesn’t it?

 

Well, that’s all I have for today. I hope that you enjoyed learning about these crafts for the classroom.
Oh, wait. Do you remember that I said that the sales associate was very helpful? She told me about the JoAnn app! She even helped me download it to my phone. Just go to iTunes and search for JoAnn. Once you download it, you will see some weekly ads. BUT… at the very bottom of the screen, you will see some small scissors with the word coupons underneath it. I clicked on it and it gave me 2 different coupons that I could use along with the current sale that was going on. The lady at the register just scanned the 2 coupons from my phone! Voila. It was so simple and I saved a lot of money. One was a 50% off coupon from a regular prized item and the other was a 15% off coupon from crafts. I left very happy!

Savings for YOU

1. Here’s some more wonderful news. JoAnn sent me this coupon to share with you. Click on the picture to download it 🙂
2. You can also sign up for the JoAnn Teacher Rewards program.
Disclosure:
The above review is part of a Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores® campaign. I received compensation for this review; however, this is my personal, honest opinion based on my experience.
Have you done any crafting in your classroom?

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Snowman Craft with Glue Paint

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We made a very cute snowman craft with glue paint. I am so glad that we took the time for it because it was sooo much fun! Since these low temperatures are not bringing us any snow, we might as well make our own snowmen. We have alway painted them with regular school paint. But, this time we made our own glue paint. Have you heard of such a thing? The idea is to make your own paint that will turn out white and puffy. It’s so easy and fun!

Materials:

You need to have some materials ready before you even start the project. Some will be used, others might not be used. Here’s what we have…
*shaving cream
*glue
*paintbrush
*glitter
*construction paper
*pre-cut black hats
*pre-cut black eyes
*pre-cute orange nose
*ribbon for scarf
*beads
*pom-poms
*crayons
*cotton swabs
*crayon
*ribbon

Mixture for Glue Paint:

We used 1/2 cup of shaving cream and just poured quite a bit of glue on top of it. Then, we mixed it. This part was fun!

Draw it!

Use a white crayon to draw an outline of a snowman. This will help the little ones see where they need to paint to create a snowman.

Paint it!

Now, the fun begins again. Get that paintbrush out and start painting inside the snowman shape. We found that it was easier to pour spoonfuls of glue to spread it easier. We had some cotton swabs ready to add snow dots, but he paintbrush worked just fine.

Decorate it!

After all the painting parts have been done, you will be ready to decorate it. The painting will start looking more and more like a snowman with each decoration added.

First, add some glitter for a touch of winter shimmer. It truly makes the snowman look magical 🙂

 Now add the hat, the eyes and the nose. Yeah! There’s that snowman that we have been waiting for 🙂

 Don’t forget the buttons.

 And the scarf.

 Oh, wait. Here are the stick arms and the mouth too.

 And, voila! The snowman is finally done.

The puffiness of the glue paint adds that extra touch to make it look a bit more real. Isn’t it beautiful? We love it!

This was a great idea from My Merry Messy Life. See how they used this snow paint.

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January Journal Prompts: Differentiated

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Writing time in kindergarten is so much more fun when students can feel successful and confident in their writing. These differentiated journal prompts are perfect for a classroom of students with a variety of abilities. 

Includes:
-5 daily journal prompts
-3 versions of each page
-picture/ word bank on each page

How are the 3 versions different?
1- Struggling writers use the version with the sentence starter. They simply plug in a word from the picture/word bank to finish the sentence.

2-Independent writers will use the version without the sentence starters. They will use their knowledge of phonics skills to create their own sentences.

3-Advanced writers will use the version with extra lines. This gives them the opportunity to add details and be creative in the writing process.

Click on any picture if you think that you can use these.

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A Teacher’s Resolution

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 Have you set some New Years resolutions for yourself this year? If I were to write down a list of things that I want to do differently this year, the list would be looong. It can be a little hard trying to find some realistic goals, but all we can do is try 🙂  A good way to stick to your goal is to set something out as a reminder because we can easily…  and conveniently forget that we even set a goal at all ;p
My friends at Freebielicious and I want to share some of our goals and resolutions for 2014 with you! To help you get a jump start on the new year we’ve also added some freebies that may help you reach your own similiar goals. 
Many of us are teachers, moms, wives, and bloggers. Our time is very valuable! How many times have you left work late? There is always so much work to do and so many people to talk to, right? Well, getting work done is a must. But, how can we get our plans and materials ready when we chat with our friends so much?  LOL. We are very social butterflies. We like to talk. We talk about things that are work-related and other things that are not so much work-related. And that’s OK, but if you want to pick up your kids from daycare at a decent time,  take the kids to ball practice, get home before the sun goes down, make dinner, help kids with homework, make sure everyone has showered before they go to bed, read the kids a bedtime story, clean the kitchen, and sit back-relax-and watch TV with your hubby, then maybe we need to get a little more work done during our planning time. So here’s my teacher’s resolution that might be similar to yours. 
Ok. To think it and say it might not be enough because I might forget all about it later. So, I created a nice little sign that can be used as a reminder. It’s free for you. Just print, laminate and post it next to your desk or classroom door. Hopefully this will help us learn how to finish early at work and go home early to enjoy our families EVERY DAY! There is a signature line at the bottom so that we can hold ourselves accountable.

Did you notice the signature line? LOL. It says “Signed with high hopes” because no matter how easy the resolution might seem, it can be a little difficult to stick to it at first 🙂
Hop on over to Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations for another resolution and matching freebie!

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Happy New Year and a SALE

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The holidays are always full of food, fun and family! But, the New Year is just a few hours away! Let’s bring in the New Year with a SALE! This will give you enough time to download, print and prepare your lesson plans before you return back to school 🙂

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Reindeer Noses and Snowman Poop

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Are you looking for a quick and fun snack for Christmas? You can make reindeer noses or snowman poop! They are very simple to make and you can even buy the materials at a dollar store.

Reindeer Noses:

Materials:
1-  Reindeer Noses Printable
2- Whoppers
3- Cherry Sours or red gumballs
4- Baggies
5- Glue
6- Stapler
How to make:
1-  Print the reindeer noses printable
2- Glue it to a 7″ by 3″ construction paper
3- Add some whoppers to a baggie
4- Add one cherry sour to the baggie
5- Staple the topper to the baggie

Snowman Poop

Materials:
1- Snowman Poop printable
2- Marshmallows
3- Baggie
4- Glue
5- Stapler
How to make:
1- Print the snowman poop printable
2-Glue it to a 7″ by 3″ construction paper
3- Add marshmallows to the baggie
4- Staple the snowman poop topper to the baggie

Here are the free printables for reindeer noses and snowman poop toppers.
Enjoy!

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Christmas Ornaments

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It’s so easy to get in the Christmas spirit with these bead ornaments. They are so simple to make. 

Supplies needed:
1-  Pipe cleaners
2- Beads
3- Scissors
Instructions:
1- Have a Christmas ornament in mind.
2- Cut a long pipe cleaner in half.
3- Choose the color beads that correspond with your ornament.
4- Fill the pipe cleaner with beads.
5- Mold the pipe cleaner into the desired shape. 
Candy cane ornament: Students can work on math skills by creating colorful patterns with the beads.

Star: Tie the ends of the pipe cleaner before you mold it into a star shape.

Christmas tree: We used a long pipe cleaner for this one. It gave us enough room to make the bottom of the tree.

Wreath: Students can make a pattern with the colorful beads.

Icicles: Just bend the pipe cleaner to create the shape.

Have fun!

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How to Make a Snowflake

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The weather has been a little crazy lately. Some days were very cold, windy and rainy. We did have a little ice on the roads and schools started 2 hours late. 
This is the perfect time to make our very own snowflakes. 
It’s actually very simple and quick to make. Here are some detailed pictures to this cute snowflake craft.

Materials needed:

1- Beads

2- Two pipe cleaners

Steps:

1- Take one long pipe cleaner.

Fold it in half and cut it into two small pieces.

2-  Take the second pipe cleaner and cut it just a little bit longer so that you can make a loop at the top.

3-  Take the two small pieces and lay them like this.
4-   Take the longer piece and lay it straight down the middle, like this.
5-   Remember the left over piece? Lay it on top of all the other pipe cleaners.

 And wrap it around them, like this.

 6-  The snowflake shape is done. It’s time to decorate it.  Simply slide each bead into the pipe cleaners. The more you use, the more colorful it will be 🙂

7-   Here’s the finished snowflake craft.
8-   Now, you can put it on a window as a sun catcher.

Or, decorate your Christmas tree.

Have fun creating your own snowflake with beads:)

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FREE Letter to Santa Templates

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Children always look forward to writing a letter to Santa. This is when you see students trying their BEST to write neatly and make sure that everything is spelled correctly. Writing a letter to Santa lends itself to learning about the parts of a letter (greeting, closing, body and date).

Here are 2 free templates that you can use.

One template has space available for a drawing at the top of the letter.
This other template just has the writing lines. It can be used by advanced writers who write longer sentences with details.
Also available in Spanish.

Enjoy!

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