Groundhog Day Activity

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

Each year, Groundhog Day is celebrated on February 2. Many people don’t know anything more about the day than what they learned from the 1993 movie with Bill Murray. So here are 2 short activities for your classroom that incorporate parts of speech practice and the history of Groundhog Day. The upper grade version of this activity asks students to color code nouns (common and proper), verbs and adjectives. The lower grade activity (recommended as a whole class activity) only deals with common and proper nouns in the passage. Happy Groundhog Day!

Click here for the free printable PDFs:
Groundhog Day History- lower grades
Groundhog Day History- Upper Grades

Upper grades

Number Pattern Detectives

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

One of the most important math skills for younger grades is recognizing and working with number patterns. It’s a concept intertwined with skip counting, repeated addition, and a precursor to multiplication. Here’s a series worksheets that require pattern blocks (rhombus, triangle, parallelogram, hexagon, square, etc.) to fill in a chart according to a number pattern. The 2nd grade class I did this with recently loved it! Students would work independently or in pairs as detectives to solve tasks and move up “detective levels.” When the student finished all the tasks, they became a “master detective” and were to then go help other detectives move up levels. This allowed for discovery, and individual pacing as the student needed. Try it and let me know what you think!

Click here for more free math stuff!

Number Pattern Detective- level 1

Character Analysis Graphic Organizer (free download!)

Posted on January 24, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

It’s nice to have some literacy-related graphic organizers ready (for a crazy day, an emergency sub folder, etc.). Here’s one that asks students to analyze their favorite character in a story. This could lead to a paragraph, picture or some other enrichment activity.

Click here to download the Character analysis graphic organizer.

Venn Diagram Graphic Organizer for Character Analysis (free download! )

Posted on January 24, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

This page is just what it sounds like: a graphic organizer set up to compare 2 characters. Add this to your collection of go-to’s when you’re not sure just what to do with that reading group… Easy-peasy!

Click here to download the Character analysis venn diagram graphic organizer

Parts of Speech in the Story (graphic organizer)

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

P.O.S. in the story graphic organizer STICKER As an elementary school teacher, you’re never really done reviewing parts of speech. So how about doing a parts of speech graphic organizer as a literacy block assignment? This graphic organizer is simple enough to work for both lower and upper grades. Enjoy!

Click here to get the PDF of the parts of speech in the story graphic organizer.

EASY Plot Summary Graphic Organizer (lower grades)

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

Plot summary graphic organizer STICKER It’s nice to have some literacy graphic organizers to use during centers, guided reading, story writing, etc. So here’s another one. It’s great for younger grades, since it doesn’t ask too much. Students can fill in sections for characters, setting, beginning, middle and end of the story.

Click here for the plot summary graphic organizer- easy.

Push-Pin Christmas Activities

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

Do you remember when you poked holes in a piece of paper to make an image when it’s held up to the light? Well that classic idea just got a make-over. I got these Christmas pages from a lower grade teacher and here’s what she said about it:

“I use these the whole month of December as a QUIET fast finisher. Kids get a pattern page and a piece of construction paper. They put the pattern on top and poke holes through both pages where the pattern directs. I have them sit on the floor and do it, because it’s way easier to poke holes through paper on carpet than at a wooden desk. Then the kids get to take home only the construction paper. We use the patterns a few times until they’re shot. It usually takes my 2nd graders a while to get through 1 page, so it’s great for those kids who finish everything fast. And who doesn’t want a little holiday cheer in their classroom?!”

Click here to download the Push Pin Christmas activities.

*Thanks to those who have submitted comments/ideas. If you have something to share, I’m all ears! 🙂

Scribbles… the best writing tool ever! (free download)

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

Scribbles picture

This is one of my absolute favorite teaching tools for writing. Kids love being creative and they love to share their creativity with others. These “scribbles” have been circulating for years, but I’ve added a ton of my own to make a big set of 27 scribbles. Here’s how they work:

1. Students turn the scribble at the top of the page into something (you can limit the amount of time if you need to).

2. Students write about what they turned the scribble into. This is your chance to help reinforce paragraph concepts, grammar, spelling, etc. I used to give my students a specific prompt and writing requirements that addressed something in the state or common core (persuasive, informative, etc.). We also used some of these as editing practice.

3. Have students share their writing (under the document camera, go read it to 2 classmates, whatever…). This part is CRUCIAL. It adds so much enthusiasm and energy to the project. When I didn’t let the kids share, they weren’t as excited the next time I passed one of these out. I had a space on one of my bulletin boards for the “Super Scribble” (the one I felt best completed the writing aspect we were focusing on).

4. I’d recommend not making a single book out of these and giving them to the students all at once. If kids see them ahead of time, it kind of kills the project. Some kids might also be tempted to draw on all of them before your class is supposed to do the scribble.

Like I said, this is one of my favorite writing tools. Let me know how it worked in your classroom!

Click here to get the 54 page PDF: Scribble writing- master set with back page of lines

Here are some (PDF) samples one 2nd grade teacher sent me: Scribble 1 and Scribble 2. Her class had fun doing these and the students wanted to send their work to me! So flattered!