Last call for entries to the Roylco Straws & Connectors Set giveaway! Ends tonight at midnight (PST), so hop on over to the giveaway post to enter! Merry Christmas!
Giveaway Ends Tonight!
Reply
Tag Archives: Homeschool
Paper Poinsettias Christmas Craft
This is quick and easy paper Christmas/holiday craft was submitted by a lower grade teacher! She loves doing this with all ages. I love how simple it is. It would be perfect to do after you read Tomie dePaola’s book, The Legend of the Poinsettia The book tells a Mexican legend of how the poinsettia came to be, through a little girl’s unselfish gift to the Christ Child. It’s perfect for a Christmas around the world unit! Anyway, here are the directions for the paper poinsettia craft:
Materials:
- 1 red square 9″ x 9″
- 1 yellow square 2″ x 2″
- 3 green strips 2″ x 9″
- scissors
- glue
- pencil
Directions:
1. Fold red paper in half. Then open it open and fold it in half the other way.
2. Round corners of yellow square.
3. Glue yellow square in center of red square.
4. Cut along the fold line until you get to the yellow. Don’t cut into the yellow.
5. Curl the poinsettia ends with a pencil.
6. Cut the ends of the green strips into a point.
7. Glue the green strips to the back of the poinsettia.
What are your favorite Christmas crafts for kids? Let me know in the comments below! Merry Christmas!
Giveaway! Roylco Straws & Connectors Set
**This Giveaway has ended. Check back for more giveaway fun!**
As promised, I have a fun treat for you! Another giveaway! I’m pleased to partner with Roylco, creators of all things fun and educational for your classroom! So here’s the part you’re waiting for… what can you win!? Drum roll please!
What: This Straws & Connectors set has a whopping 705 pieces (over triple what we played with) and retails for $60, available for purchase here. It’s recommended for ages 4-5+, which I think is appropriate.
How to Enter: Super easy! Here are the steps:
- Hop on over to the Roylco Blog. (Click here)
- Poke around and check out their craft ideas. (There’s so much fun stuff over there, I know!)
- Come back here to this blog and write me a comment telling me what Roylco craft you liked. Scroll all the way down to the bottom of this page to type your comment. If you’re not a WordPress member, please leave me your email address so I can contact you if you win! That’s it!
This giveaway ends 1 week from now, at midnight (PST) on Tuesday, December 16, 2014. **This giveaway has ended. Check back for more giveaway fun!**
What I think about the Roylco Straws & Connectors set: Way fun!! We played with the 230-piece set. It was a great amount for two of us to use. When I opened the box, it looked like this:
It wasn’t hard to separate the connectors. Once we pulled them all apart, here’s what we had to play (and learn) with:
At first, we didn’t use the directions, but we soon peeked at them to see hot to make more complex connections. The directions were fairly simple, easy to read, and gave us some good inspiration. Here are some of the creations we came up with (notice they get cooler as we continued to play with them):
The straws are roughly 9 inches long. They’re not very hard to connect, but they’ve got enough squeeze between the straw and connector that they stay connected pretty well.
This was our favorite creation: a 30 inch tall “castle” with corners and arches!
What can you learn: First of all, these are just plain fun. So no matter what kids learn, they’ll have a good time. Here are some ideas for incorporating learning into this activity:
- Identifying vertices and edges in 3D shapes
- Structural aspects of various shapes (Which shapes are strongest?)
- Spacial intelligence (How many cubes made up this castle? How many cylinders?)
- Volume! (What’s the volume of the cube? Of the castle?)
- Recreating historical buildings out
- Creating chemical compounds (H20, etc)
- And the list goes on!
**This giveaway has ended. Check back for more giveaway fun!**
How to Post a Comment:
A few readers have told me they struggled with finding the place to write a comment. There are a few ways readers will get to this page, so here’s how to post a comment (depending on how you got to this post).
If there are multiple posts on this page (you’re on the Squarehead Teachers home page or a search results page):
If you clicked on this post (and it’s the only one on the page), then scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page:
The Fine Print: Participation is optional. Void where prohibited by law. No purchase is necessary to participate. Only one entry per person. Available to US and Canada participants only. There will be one winner. Winner will be randomly selected. I will email the winner between Wednesday, Dec. 17-Thursday, Dec. 18. The winner will have 24 hours to respond and provide me with shipping information so I can mail them their prize! If the winner does not respond within 24 hours, the winner forfeits the prize and another winner will randomly be selected (in which case the new winner will be notified and the same terms apply). The winner will be announced on this blog once eligibility has been confirmed. I cannot guarantee the winner will receive their prize before Christmas, but I’ll try my best! This giveaway is sponsored by Squarehead Teachers and Roylco, and is not affiliated with WordPress or any other sponsor. If you have additional questions, please contact me! Good luck!
Giveaway Coming This Week!
I’ve been working with my friends over at the Roylco Little Fingers, Big Art blog to put together something special for you! This week, I’ll be launching my Christmas giveway with a special prize for one lucky winner! Check back this week for a chance to enter!
Easy Chair Numbering
Some schools have one specific teacher teach special classes like art, music, PE, health, etc. Often the general classroom teacher does that, but not always. Anyway, if you teach a class in a room with chairs but no tables (like the music classroom pictured below), this idea might interest you.
First, number note cards from 1-30 (or however many seats you need). Consider using different colored markers or cards so you can group students easily (all the students with purple cards are in a group, etc.). Then tape the numbers to the back of the chairs. Then you can assign each student to a seat. Having numbers on the chairs helps students be accountable for a single chair if you’re a teacher who has students move their chairs around a lot. No this idea is not complicated or extra cutesy, but it’s helpful. Also notice that the teacher divided the class up into 3 sections using masking tape on the ground. (Always check with your principal or custodian to make sure this is ok at your school.)
Have an idea you think is pretty snazzy? Send it to me (squareheadteachers at gmail dot com) so you share it with other teachers! Thanks!
Where Should I Sit? (Student Spacing Trick)
There are times when students need to sit on the ground. It may sound like an easy task, but most teachers have heard “There’s not enough space here!” or “Scoot over! You’re too close to me!” right after you give that direction. Here’s an easy solution:
Cut out a bunch of small foam circles. Then as you’re giving directions, drop them on the ground in a spread out circle so students know where to sit. This is an idea that many PE teachers use (but they use those dinner plate sized rubber circles that are pretty pricey). This idea takes the genius of that concept and adapts it to an economical, storage-friendly solution. Just be sure to have kids return the foam circles when you’re done with the activity (or maybe right after they sit down, so they don’t become a distraction).
Have a good idea to share? Send it to me (squareheadteachers at gmail dot com) so other teachers can benefit also! Thank ya much!
Holiday Synonyms and Antonyms Worksheet
Christmas is almost here!!! Yay! Check out this new page I made, using some of my favorite Squarehead cartoons from my dad. This one deals with one of my favorite language arts topics: synonyms and antonyms. Let me know what you think by commenting below!
Click here for the FREE PDF: Holiday Synonyms-Antonyms
Holiday Equivalent Fraction-Percent Worksheet
Merry Christmas! (I love getting to say that! It’s my favorite time of the year, by far!) Anyway, my freebie for you today is a free worksheet for equivalent percents and fractions. I chose common fractions, since those are the ones it’s really helpful for students to have memorized!
Click here for the FREE printable PDF: Holiday Number Matching – Fraction Percent
Squarehead Teachers 