Inspiration in A Box (Creative Project Display)

Posted on July 16, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

I was at a charter school recently and saw this really cool display of projects. Each student’s project was on one side of a box. Rope was strung through each box (with knots and washers to secure the box in a specific place on the rope) and handing on bars attached to the wall. This set up could be easily modified to accommodate a classroom or school lobby. I just thought this was an “out of the box” idea for displaying projects!

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Measurement Practice 1

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

One thing that seems to give kids some trouble is learning to measure with a ruler (especially when they have to round to the nearest inch, half inch, etc.). Here’s a free measurement practice page. Happy measuring!

Here’s the answer key:

Teacher Memes/Cartoons- 20

Posted on July 14, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

Funky Monkey Painting Project

Posted on July 13, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

I recently wrote about painting with Q-tips instead of brushes. The following is one of the many Q-tip painting projects I’ve done with lower grade kids. This one we called “funky monkey” because the kids were encouraged to create all aspects of a very unusual monkey. Each kid first got a funky monkey printable (click here: Funky Monkey – printable).

On the back of the page, they wrote their name and the date. Then they wrote key words describing their funky monkey. These key words would be helpful when starting to write about the monkey. Here are some of the questions I asked to help them start thinking about their new character.

What’s the monkey’s name?
What’s the monkey’s favorite food?
What does the monkey do during the day?
What does the monkey want to be when it’s all grown up?
What’s the silliest thing about the monkey?

funky monkey... Q-Tip painting

After describing the character, the kids got to paint their monkey using Q-tips. In the white space, the kids could paint anything they wanted about the monkey (paint its favorite food, etc.).

We set the project aside for a few days to let the paint dry. Then chose a writing project from the following options:

Write a character sketch for the monkey.
Write a story about the monkey (from the monkey’s childhood, the monkey as a superhero, etc.).
Write what you and your monkey would do if you could spend a day together.

For the kids who finished painting quickly or wanted a friend for their funky monkey (in their story), they repeated the above steps again with this tiger printable (click here: Tiger – printable).

Finally, the kids got to share their painting along with their writing. We wanted to mount both onto an 11″ x 17″ sheet of construction paper to display them, but we ran out.

Overall, it was a fun and the kids liked using their imagination. You could add variety to this project by giving students more animal options to choose from. To find other printables like these, search “animal coloring pages for kids” (or something similar) on an internet search engine. Choose a coloring page that doesn’t have too much detail (since it’s hard for the kids to paint in).

“Get To Know You” Games

Posted on July 12, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

Games are always a fun way to get to know other people and help break the ice. Here are 3 suggestions for your first day of school:

Ooga Booga: Have all company members stand in a circle with their arms around each other’s shoulders. All participants will look down at the ground and say, “Ooga Booga, Ooga Booga, Ooga Booga, look!” and look up at another person in the circle on the word “look”. If two participants look each other in the eye, they will leave the group and talk to each other. Repeat the game until two to three people are remaining. Make it fun by giving the participants a fun topic to talk about. For example: “Talk about your favorite music/ice cream flavor/vacation.”

Do I Know You? Begin by numbering the company off by ones and twos. Have all ones create a circle, and have all twos stand in the middle of the circle. Have all twos find out a fact about another number two. Then each two will find a number one and tell each other the fact about the other number two. Ones will then go around the circle and try to find the person whom the fact is about by saying, “Do I know you? You like to read/are a twin,” etc. When all ones have found the person they are looking for, play another round. Remind them to ask and remember names.

Two Truths and a Lie: In groups of three to eight (depending on how much time you want to devote to this exercise), have individuals take turns making three statements about themselves—two that are true and one that is not. After an individual makes three statements, the other youth in the group discuss among themselves which statements seem most plausible and which one is most likely to be the “lie.” After giving the group time to talk about their decisions, the individual who made the statements not only tells which one is not true but also provides a bit more background about the truths.

Creative Writing Prompts

Posted on July 11, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

Imagine that you can become invisible whenever you wanted to? What are some of the things you would do.

I am very proud because…

If I were President I would…

If I were a turtle living in a pond, I would …

I am afraid to________ because

Name on thing you do really well? Give lots of details telling why.

What is your favorite room in your home and why?

Describe what it means to be a good neighbor?

What is your favorite time of day? Why?

Describe your best day ever?

How do you deal with people who bug you?

What excites you?

Describe your favorite hobby.

What is your favorite quote by a famous person? Why?

What is your favorite song and why?

Climbing trees is…

I wish trees could ___________ because….

I want to be a ________ when I grow up. Then I will….

I wish there were a law that said…..

I wish I could forget the time I ___________ because….

I wish I could do ___________ because…..

Older people are…

Younger people are…

The perfect place in the whole wide world is ___________ because …

What makes you feel sad? Why?

What makes you feel happy? Why?

What can you do to help you feel better when you’re feeling blue?

Name your favorite book and why?

If I were a raindrop, I’d …

What I know about rabbits is that

If I were an Easter egg…

For lunch today…

Pretend that you can fly whenever you wanted. Where would you go?

Pretend that there is no such thing as television, Internet, or video games. What do you do with all your time?

My favorite stuffed animal or toy is…

Imagine if cows gave green juice instead of milk! What would the world look like?

Imagine that all the streets are rivers? How do you get around?

What would happen if it really did rain cats and dogs?

If I were a snake, I’d …

Use descriptive words like amazing, incredible, outrageous, super-fun or mind-blowing in your journal entry.

If I could choose a different name, I would choose…

Let’s go _______________. Describe your adventure.

Write a letter to your Mom, Dad, friend, cousin, classmate.

What would happen if animals could talk?

What questions would you would like to ask animals and what would their answers be?

What would you do if you were in the middle of the lake and your boat springs a leak?

What would you do if you suddenly woke up in another country and no one could understand a word you said! What would you do?

Write a poem about your favorite person, animal, or place.

What is your dream vacation?

Solving the Paintbrush Problem

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

Kids love to paint. But adults hate cleaning paintbrushes.

I recently worked with a school that didn’t have lots of funding for art supplies. But they also didn’t have good facilities with sinks for cleaning brushes. Our solution was Q-tips! At some we were skeptical about the quality of work that could be produced with a Q-tip as opposed to a paintbrush. We were working mostly with kindergartners, so we didn’t really have to worry. They were way better for making dots than paintbrushes. And it was the easiest clean-up ever! So if you’re looking for a low-budget option for paintbrushes, consider Q-tips.