Saturday, January 23, 2016

SNOW DAY!

After a warm start to winter, the snow is finally here. Although we haven’t used any yet, everyone loves a good snow day-well, maybe not the parents! I came across this video from a teacher singing about a snow day and love it- check it out.



Getting into the spirit of winter, my kids made this adorable winter craft. The original idea came from Artsonia, but  A Year of Many First has a very easy printable template that I printed out to make tracers and they worked great!   The kids loved how they turned out. This is definitely on my list to do again next year.  We added a winter writing and they look great! 
Feel free to download this winter creative writing paper FREEBIE from my store.  It’s in the preview. Enjoy!






For the little ones, feel free to check out this Snow Day Craftivity which includes follow up printables as well! 



ENJOY THE SNOW!




Saturday, January 16, 2016

Martin Luther King Jr Activities and Books

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is almost here! Here are some great books and a video to teach kids about MLK and the Civil Rights Movement.
 I think Kid President sums it up the best! Click his video below!


https://youtu.be/4xXZhXTFWnE

I just discovered My Brother Martin this year and love it!  It was written by MLK’s sister and does an amazing job portraying Martin as a young boy and her memories of their time together.  It also discusses how Martin felt when he encountered racism and how it shaped him into the person he became.  The watercolor illustrations are incredible and children will truly enjoy and relate to Martin as a child. 




Martin’s Big Words- Another incredible book with wonderful illustrations that is great for young kids as well. It does a great job explaining how Dr. King inspires us to use our words to change the world. One of my kids loved it so much he went home and ordered it from Amazon!  Thank goodness for Prime! You can also watch it read aloud here.


Before discovering the books above, I was a fan of The Picture Book of MLK.
I enjoy reading all of the Rookie Biographies because they are perfect for young kids and the children enjoy them. National Geographic is also terrific.

My kids read all about Dr. Martin Luther King through an activity book I created, and we wrote about Dr. King. It includes comprehension questions, timelines, writing prompts and activities. If you'd like to check it out, click here.



We made this craft to go with their writing.







Here's a short clip of his speech

 If you’re looking for some fun crafts and activities, feel free to check these out.  I also love some of these ideas and plan to try them as well.

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(no link provided)
This could be for MLK or Valentine's Day. Perhaps you could use different color paints.

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Tuesday, January 5, 2016

New Year's Activities


Happy New Year!

It’s the start of a fresh new year which  seems like a perfect time to make a New Year’s resolution.  I always find that I can never quite follow through when I make a resolution so, instead, I'll try to set a goal for the upcoming year. This year's goal is TBD. Any thoughts on a good one besides eating healthier and getting more organized?

This year, the kids created their own New Year goals/ resolutions for our 'Toast to the New Year' bulletin board. 
We watched the book, Squirrel’s New Year’s Resolution, on youtube- you can see it here. 
It’s an adorable book about a squirrel who learns that January 1st is a good day to make a resolution. She learns what a resolution is and struggles to come up with her own. Through helping her friends, she realizes she has already come up with her own resolution.

 



    


We created our own little ‘toasts’ and the kids wrote their goals for 2016. Their first sentence would state their goal and their second sentence would explain how they would attain this goal.
Ex. My New Year’s goal is To meet this goal I

My New Year’s resolution is I plan to
 

 They outlined their toast on brown paper and added some hands, a party hat (from scrapbook paper) and a pom-pom.  Love them!
 


Want to try this with your kids? Grab a FREE copy of your own toast and bulletin board topper here!
Feel free to share your New Year's goal or if you plan to try this in your class.
 
 
Happy 2016!