The winter holidays are upon us, and we want to make sure everyone has a fun activity to do as they celebrate. For those who celebrate Kwanzaa, I’ve created a fun find and count activity page, both in color and in black and white.
Print it off and share with your students, your family, or your friends. It would also be a great resource to use if you learn about the different winter holidays with your class. Have fun, and happy finding!
*This printable is free to download, but is not to be resold, reposted, or claimed as your own.*
And just like that, we are already to December! The winter holidays are fast approaching— are you ready?!
Last year, I created and shared a Christmas I Spy page for you to download and use in your classroom or home. You can find that here.
I realize that not everyone celebrates Christmas, so I’ve created a Hanukkah Find & Count page for you to use in your classroom or home. If you want to use the Christmas download with your class, and have a few students who celebrate Hanukkah, now they can join in on the fun without feeling out of place. Including everyone is so important!
*Hopefully coming soon: a search and find for Kwanzaa and a black & white Christmas I Spy page!
This printable is free to download, and is only for classroom and personal use. Do not resell it or claim it as your own.
As a student, field trip days were highly anticipated days— a break from the “normal” school routine and schedule, eating lunch somewhere other than the cafeteria, and a chance to ride the bus with your friends! What more could a student ask for?!
For teachers, though, it’s a bit more involved than just hopping on the bus and going somewhere fun. You’ve got to coordinate and pay for the bus. You also have to arrange with the lunchroom staff so they can plan accordingly and have sack lunches made for the students who need them. There’s also a need for chaperones, so you’ve got to plan in advance and get volunteers worked out. It’s definitely more work than staying in the classroom teaching a lesson. Even though field trips are a lot of work for teachers, there are good educational benefits that come from the experiences students have while on them. Field trips give students hands on learning experiences and let them learn in ways that are sometimes hard to do in the classroom.
While unlimited field trips would be an amazing thing for schools, that just isn’t the case— there are budgets that must be adhered to and it just isn’t feasible in so many ways. Today, however, technology has made it possible for teachers to “take” their classes on field trips all over the world, allowing students to experience places they likely wouldn’t have had the chance to otherwise.
Zoos and other wildlife facilities across the planet have set up cameras to livestream various animals for people to watch. Museums around the world have filmed tours of their sites. Historic places have filmed and set up interactive tours to allow students to get an up close look at things of the past. It’s really quite incredible!
When learning about our nation’s symbols, important government buildings, and so on, my son’s kindergarten class took a virtual tour of Washington DC. My son came home so excited to tell us all about the things he had learned and seen on his field trip. As a parent, I was so grateful he had that opportunity, because taking him to actually see those places in person wasn’t an option at the time.
Many of the places that provide virtual field trips also provide lesson plans and activities that teachers can use to teach about the places, people, and things at their location. Not only do students get to experience somewhere new and exciting, but teachers get to enjoy preplanned lessons!
There are so many places that offer these virtual field trips, and a simple Google search will provide you with a list of possibilities to choose from. That being said, below you will find a list of links to various places that offer these virtual experiences for your students. Feel free to explore and share any that you find interesting! Happy field tripping!
Great Lakes Now provides videos, lesson plans, and other educational information about the Great Lakes.
The Nature Conservancy allows students to visit and learn about various aspects of nature all around the world.
Not everyone will have the chance to visit Amsterdam to see the Anne Frank house in person, but you can watch a virtual tour of it here.
If you’ve ever wanted to experience what life in colonial Williamsburg, Virginia was like, you can explore the town here.
The Natural History Museum provides an expansive look at many aspects of the people, places, and animals of past years. If you want an up close look at some of their exhibits, past and present, you can experience that here.
For your students who are interested in the way Amazon fulfills orders, this virtual tour might be an exciting opportunity for them to see how it all works!
Students can learn all about what happens to our garbage and recycling through this virtual tour shared by Republic Services.
There are so many opportunities to create and carry on family traditions during the holidays. We don’t have to create traditions that are a huge production— sometimes a quiet night at home with people you love is the best way to spend your time. Have you ever considered making books or reading part of your holiday traditions? There’s not much that is better than finding a cozy corner in your house, curling up with a soft blanket, and reading some good books, and Fall time is the perfect time to cozy up with your family and read some fun books together!
To get you started, I’ve selected a few books about Fall that will get you in the spirit of Autumn!
It’s Fall! by Linda Glaser with cut-paper illustrations by Susan Swan
This darling book follows a little boy as he explores and experiences Fall, learning about all the things that happen during this time of year. He notices the leaves changing colors, the animals starting to get ready to hibernate, the leaves falling, and the temperatures cooling. They plant bulbs in their yard in preparation for next Spring, snd he plays in the piles of leaves that have fallen off the trees.
The illustrations in this book are phenomenal— they were all created out of paper then photographed for the book.
Sammy in the Fall by Anita Bijsterbosch
Sammy is a curious little tiger who loves going on adventures with his stuffed horse, Hob. Together, they do all sorts of fun Fall activities, like picking apples, raking leaves and jumping into the piles, collecting acorns, doing crafts, and playing in the rain.
The illustrations are adorable and the story is fun and engaging for younger kids.
The Roll-Away Pumpkin by Junia Wonders and illustrated by Daniela Volpari
Marla Little finds herself in quite a predicament: her giant pumpkin has started to roll away, and she can’t catch it. As she runs behind it, trying to stop it from rolling any farther, she exclaims, “Diddle-dee-doo! Oh, what shall I do?” She follows her pumpkin through town, and with every place her pumpkin rolls by, she gathers a new towns person to help her stop the pumpkin. Soon, the baker, the butcher, the farmer, the milk man, and the parade marchers are all running after the roll-away pumpkin with Marla. The pumpkin starts to get close to where some people are trying to cook a feast for the townspeople. Acting quickly, Marla flips a giant cauldron onto its side just in time for her giant pumpkin to roll right into it, where it stays until it is made into a delicious soup for all the people.
This story is a fun one to read with little kids, and is easy to get them involved in it with the repetition of Marla exclaiming “Diddle-dee-doo! Oh what shall I do?” every time she adds a new person to her pumpkin rescue efforts.
Full of Fall by April Pulley Sayre
This book features photographs of all the beauties that Fall holds. It highlights the rich, vibrant colors of the changing leaves, describes the sounds and sights of the leaves falling from the trees, and what happens to the leaves as they fall, dry up, and begin to decompose. The photographs capture the textures of nature during this time of year, and show just how beautiful and wonderful Fall is.
Apples and Robins by Lucie Félix
This book is so unique! Rather than traditional illustrations to tell the story, the author uses shapes cut out in the middle of the pages to form pictures. This format helps readers to see that everything around them is made up of shapes, put together to form new shapes and objects. The story is very simple, telling about picking apples and building a bird house for the robin. A storm comes and blows the leaves, apples, and birdhouse out of the tree, and again, uses shapes to rebuild the birdhouse.
This book was so fun to read. The cut out shapes made it engaging and fun to follow!
_____________
Reading is truly one of the best ways to connect with people around you— especially younger kids. It’s a great way to build language skills as well as build relationships and establish traditions. I hope you take some time soon to pick up a good book and share it with someone you care about!
Learning to count is an essential skill for kids to learn, so why not make it fun?! Last November, I created and shared a printable Thanksgiving themed I-Spy page. You can find it here. Since last year’s page was only in color, I thought I’d share a black and white I-Spy printable this year!
These I-Spy/ Find and Count pages are great for early finishers, class parties, fun math activities, or even as a game. Parents can also print them for their kids for long car rides, waiting rooms, quiet time, or to be used to keep kids entertained while the turkey is cooking!
**Printable is free, but is intended for classroom or home/personal use only. It is not to be sold, reposted, or claimed as your own.**
November is here, and that means Thanksgiving is coming! I’ve always loved this month for several reasons— the cooler weather, the yummy Thanksgiving meal, and time with friends and family. While all of those things are awesome in and of themselves, I think my favorite thing about November is the extra focus on gratitude. Sure, I am thankful all year round, but I love the extra emphasis on it during the days leading up to Thanksgiving.
I know not all families celebrate Thanksgiving, and that’s okay! But regardless of how or if you celebrate Turkey Day, I think we all can agree that it is good to be grateful. As teachers, we can help students understand what it means to be grateful and how to show our gratitude for someone or something. When we teach young children to acknowledge the things they are thankful for, they begin to more easily see the good things in their lives, which leads to better attitudes and more optimistic outlooks.
So as we begin this month of giving thanks, I encourage you to find ways to work mini gratitude lessons into your curriculum. It’s helpful for students to write down the things they are grateful for and to post them in the room for all to see. This helps create a sense of community as students begin to see that others in the room are grateful for similar things as they are, and also to help others find gratitude in things they may not have previously thought of. One way to do this is to create a “gratitude space” in your classroom. You can do this by devoting a wall or bulletin board to thankful thoughts, creating a large tree trunk that students can add leaves to, or by making a line of gratitude thoughts that follows the perimeter of your room. I’ve included a free resource you can print out and use in your classroom. Print the page on different “fall” colors and cut out the leaves. Each day leading up to Thanksgiving break, have students write something they are thankful for that day and hang it up in the designated spot in your classroom.
Everyone will love watching the gratitude space fill up with positive things, and students will begin to recognize things in their lives that they are thankful for. Happy November!
**This free printable resource is intended for personal or classroom use only. It is not to be sold, reposted, or claimed as your own.**
Have you ever sat down to write something, only to find that you just can’t think of any ideas? Or maybe you start off with lots of ideas, then hit a road block part way through your piece. Either way, it can be really frustrating when the ideas just aren’t flowing. Students can have this happen to them, too. Teaching our students to use the writing process can equip them with the tools they need to ensure their writing is the best that it can be, and can also provide them with the skills they need to keep their thoughts and writing organized.
The general structure of the writing process begins with brainstorming or prewriting, where ideas are written down, research is gathered and organized, and the overall plan for the piece of writing is laid out. Next comes drafting— putting the ideas into sentences and paragraphs. Editing and revising come next. Here, the piece is proofread for errors, flow, and consistency, then the necessary revisions and corrections are implemented. This step, along with drafting, may be done several times during the course of writing a piece. The last step is finalizing, polishing, and wrapping up any edits or changes and making the final draft ready for readers. While all the parts of the process are essential, today I will be focusing on brainstorming and prewriting.
The way a person brainstorms might differ depending on what kind of writing they are doing. If they are writing a fictional story, they might begin with outlining the characters, setting, and conflict. If they are doing a research paper, they might start by choosing their topic, then picking a few key points or areas to cover, followed by researching their chosen topics. If they are writing an argumentative or persuasive piece, they first would choose which side of the argument they are going to defend, then generate their supporting arguments. Regardless of the kind of writing being done, prewriting is an important step in the process of writing.
There are many ways to brainstorm ideas, and, as noted above, the method changes with each kind of writing. Below are some methods that can be effective as students begin to generate their ideas prior to writing.
Bubble/Spider/Cluster Map
With this method, students begin with writing their central idea in the middle of the page. Then, they draw lines connecting to other bubbles, which would contain the sub-topics they are going to cover, with additional lines and bubbles drawn to accommodate any other ideas. This method is particularly effective for research or argumentative papers.
If writing a fictional piece, a writer might begin with the story title or idea in the center, then devote individual bubbles to characters, setting, conflict, and plot.
Outlining
Here, students would begin with their main idea at the top of the page. Next, they would focus on one sub-topic or section at a time, writing down key elements, quotes, or facts that they are going to use. This is a great tool for research or argumentative papers as well. It can also be effective for narratives. Students would begin with their story topic/title, then outline the order of events, the conflict, characters, and so on. In the case of writing a story, sketching out ideas on a simple plot diagram would also be an effective way to outline.
Free writing
Free writing is the process of setting an amount of time, then writing about the chosen topic for the duration of that time. Writers can write down what they already know, what they want to know, questions they have, and so on. It is a great chance to just kind of brain dump onto a piece of paper (or computer screen). The free write can then be used to facilitate a more organized prewrite, such as an outline or cluster map.
Listing
Listing is a great way to generate ideas when doing a compare/contrast paper, research paper, or even an argument piece. It’s effective for listing pros and cons, story ideas, ideas for character names, potential settings or conflicts, or any other number of things that might need to be included in a piece.
Timelines
Timelines can be helpful when writing a research piece. It can be useful to map out events in chronological order so that when drafting the piece, the writer has a clear idea of when things happened so as to ensure that they get their facts right in their writing.
Researching
In addition to this type of prewriting being effective for research papers, this form of prewriting is also extremely helpful for argument pieces. Students can combine researching with outlining or cluster mapping to organize their findings as they search for information. One very important thing to note here is to make sure that students remember to record where they find their information and research so that they can properly cite their sources, and, in the event that they need to revisit the source, they will know right where to look.
The writing process isn’t something that only Language Arts teachers might use; it can (and should be) employed by any teacher who is having students write papers or pieces. It is a very effective way for students to get their ideas down, organize their writing, and prepare for the drafting stage of writing. Think of it as “preheating the oven” when you bake— you’re getting things ready for the final product. Check out the resources below if you need some ideas for getting your students started!
** Please note that these resources are for classroom or personal use only. They are not to be sold, reposted, or claimed as your own. **
