Finish the Drawing- Christmas

Posted on December 5, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

Here’s a fun activity to use in a unit on symmetry or during a discussion of story setting (since lots of holiday stories take place at a gingerbread house!). Print off one page for each student and have them finish the rest of the picture. Make sure to help students focus on whatever aspect you’re learning about (symmetry, setting description, etc). You could extend this activity further by turning it into a writing project. …Or just color it and have fun! Here’s the free printable PDF: Finish the Drawing- Christmas 1 Happy holidays & Merry Christmas!

Click here for more fun and free Christmas/Winter stuff for kids!

Character Sketch/Analysis Graphic Organizer

Posted on December 4, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

Here’s a simple graphic organizer for elementary school character analysis. Click here for the printable PDF: Character Sketch graphic organizer Enjoy!

Genius Teaching Tips!

Posted on November 20, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

Desk name tags drive me nuts. So when I saw this idea (source) and just HAD to share it with you! Use an oil based Sharpie Paint Pen (available at craft and office supply stores) to write on the desk. It stays on just like a permanent marker, but you can see it better. Then at the end of the year when you’re ready to take it off, color over it with a whiteboard marker and it wipes off with a tissue! This same idea of erasing permanent marker with whiteboard markers also works on whiteboards, laminated posters, anchor charts, etc.

I’ve been focusing on multiplication facts with my kids lately, so, when I saw this idea I about fell over. (Yes, I’m always impressed by the creativity and pure genius I see in other educators!)! Kids shake the egg carton (above), and then multiply whatever numbers the chips land on. This can easily be switched to addition for younger kids. I love this idea and I’m excited to try it! (source)

This next genius idea (source) helps kids practice writing their letters the right size. It really helps younger students see what space should be used for lower case vs. upper case letters. This would be an awesome activity for kindergarten or first grade, even if you only did it once. You can buy pre-highlighted paper or just make your own using a highlighter. Making a bunch of these pages yourself is totally doable, but I recommend putting on a movie while you do it! 😉

Thankful Pumpkin Craft for Kids

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

I saw this cute “Thankful Pumpkin” paper craft idea (source) and wanted to make some printables to go with it. I love the idea of helping kids remember what they’re thankful for. Activities like this are perfect opportunities to talk with kids about how blessed we really are!

Materials:

2 Sheets of Cardstock (to print these printables on: Thankful Pumpkin Printable)
Small Hole Punch
2 Brads
Green Construction Paper
Brown Pipe Cleaner

Directions

1. After you print the two printable pages, cut them into strips (cut on the lines).

2. Finish writing the “I am thankful for” phrases on 5 strips of cardstock.

3. Decorate the “Happy Thanksgiving” on the other 5 strips. Get Creative!

4. Make a small hole in the center of both ends of each strip. (Use small hole puncher or another tool to make the small holes.)

5. Stack the paper strips alternating the “I am thankful” and “Happy Thanksgiving”.

6. Stick the prongs of a brad through the holes on one end of the stack with the metal circle of the brad resting on the side with the writing. Secure Brad.

7. Fan out the slips with the writing side facing the table.

8. Pull up one strip and feed the prongs of the 2nd brad through the hole with the metal circle resting on the blank side of the strips. Continue putting strips on brad going in a circular pattern.

9. When all of the strips are on the brad and you have formed a ball, secure the brad by pushing the prongs down in opposite directions.

10. Cut 2 leaf shapes from the green construction paper. Poke a small hole at bottom of each leaf.

11. Wrap the brown pipe cleaner around a pencil to make a spiral shape. Gently slide the pipe cleaner off to keep spiral shape.

12. Lift up the prongs of brad, hold brad in place from below, and slide on leaves.

13. Place brown pipe cleaner next to prongs, push prongs down on top of pipe cleaner to securely attach the leaves and “stem”.

Here’s what it looked like when my friend tried it with her class:

Click here for more fun and free Thanksgiving stuff for kids!

Using Evidence From The Text (Free Poster)

Posted on November 17, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

Kids often need reminders to use evidence and support from the text when explaining or writing about a piece of text. Here’s a free printable poster for your classroom (near your guided reading table?) to remind kids to use textual evidence! Click here for the PDF: Show the Evidence Poster

Halloween Creatures Crafts & Writing Project for Kids

Posted on October 29, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

I was browsing some teacher blogs recently and came across these adorable pictures of Bride of Frankenstein and Frankenstein (source), paper plate monster and witch:

(Students used green construction paper to make the head and legs (folded strips). They added black construction paper for hair (big hair with a white stripe for Bride), then added googley eyes, white for the screws coming out and some scars with markers/crayons. (Click the images below for the original post.)

And I started thinking of how you could use these crafts (or any Halloween creatures crafts) as a base for a writing project (not just the page in some of the picture)! How fun would it be to do a character “sketch” (description) for your spooky new friend?! So here’s the planning sheet I made to do after you finish making the craft. Have your students put at least 1 thing in each box. Click here for the PDF: Halloween Character Sketch graphic organizer

Once you’ve got it all planned out on the graphic organizer, put it into a paragraph. For older kids, challenge them to do multiple paragraphs. Maybe assign a 5 paragraph essay (choose 3 boxes to turn into body paragraphs). Then post the finished crafts and writing on a super spooky bulletin board to showcase your students’ work! Happy Halloween!

Fall Break Report (Easy writing project!)

Posted on October 12, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

When kids come back from a week off, they’re dying to tell their friends all about it! And they probably want to tell you, the teacher, all about it too! So here’s a simple writing activity to do the first day back from fall break that will let everyone share their adventures!

Click here for the free printable PDF: Fall Break Write Up

Practice Writing Dialogue with Funny Animal Pictures

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

Kids sometimes struggle with knowing how to punctuate dialogue in their writings. So here’s a way fun activity for you to practice this as a whole class. Print out a copy of these pictures of animals in Halloween costumes and put them under your document camera. If you’ve got a way to connect your computer to your projector, then you don’t have to print the pages. But either way, show the class the picture and decide on a sentence to write as a class. Point out where quotation marks go and how the fit with whatever punctuation mark is at the end. If you want some independent practice, have your kids write their sentences on personal whiteboards so they can hold it up to show you. Happy (grammatically correct) Halloween!