It has been awhile

 

 

What's going on?

 

Things have been pretty hectic around my house the last few months.  We moved....so that took a lot of my time up...then the holidays snuck up and before I knew it is the middle of January. 

 

Most of you are probably wrapping up with the main parts of Letterland by now.  My hopes are to start that back up along with my other daily topics now that things are settled down some. 

 

If you have any suggestions or themes that you would like for me to write about please feel free to comment below. 

 

See you soon

Letterland Thursday......Fireman Fred and Golden Girl

 

It's Letterland Thursday

 

I am behind one week so I am going to combine two of my favorites that actually are in order to come up anyway....

so let's meet

 

Firefighter Fred and Golden Girl

 

This is Firefighter Fred, formally known as Fireman Fred.  I have always known him as Fireman Fred, so referring to him as Firefighter Fred will be a challenge.  Firefighter Fred puts out fires with foam.  Whenever I hear his name I always think of a cheer that we used.....

"Fireman" oh wait that is not right

"Firefighter Fred, Firefighter Fred

fa fa fa (making the letter sound)

Firefighter Fred, Firefighter Fred

f  f   f (saying the letter).

 

While you say the sound of the letter you pretend to put out a fire with a hose.

 

Ok....now let's meet

 

Golden Girl

 

Another favorite of mine....Golden Girl has long golden hair that she braids.  She loves to swing and the color green.  Her chant is another all time favorite....because I love to do the motions and the kids always love it (especially the girls).

 

"Golden Girl, Golden Girl

ga ga ga (make the letter sound)

Golden Girl, Golden Girl

g g g (say the letter)"

 

Whenever you say her name...Golden Girl

you take your hand and pretend you are stroking your long beautiful golden hair.  I always said it as girly as I could because the kids loved it and we would always laugh. 

 

Have a great day

 

 

 

 

 



Math Monday......Pumpkins

 

 

Math Monday.......Pumpkins

 

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE this time of year and all of the fun things you can do?  Well, I do and there are SO much to incorporate into learning.

 

Today, in Math Monday we are going to be using pumpkins.

 

You can do so many things with pumpkins for math (and science and reading and just so many other things). Below I will give you some ideas of how you can incorporate them into your math lessons.

 

Have each student bring in a pumpkin.....various sizes and shapes encouraged.

 

Weight and Measurement

Bring out the measuring tapes.....introduce what a measuring tape is and how to use it.  Let your students measure their pumpkin in height and width.....even measure the stem (if there is one).  They can measure their own or have a center set up with many pumpkins so they can measure more than one.  You can create a worksheet to compare and graph (I don't have one right now, if I get time later  I will create one and add it to my blog). 

 

 

You don't have to use measuring tapes.....use Lego's or paper clips or how about all three to compare measurements.

 

Line them up for a pumpkin parade.....shortest to tallest

 

Adding and Subtracting

Cut one or two of the pumpkins up and get the seeds out......use the seeds for adding and subtracting....(another worksheet I will be working on). 

Sorting and Graphing

Have the students sort the pumpkins by size, color and shape.

Graph your results

All of these activities can be used as whole group, centers or as individual work.

 

Look for the worksheets to go with these activities later on. 

 

 



Crafting Friday....October Add On week 2

 

Apologies for a delayed Crafting Friday....which has turned into a Crafting Saturday. 

 

This week we are going to "Add On" to our October Bulletin Board with some corn stalks.  The picture above shows an idea of how it could look to add on to from week one.  My drawings are not that well. 

 

For the stalks you can take recycled brown paper and roll it up into stalks and staple onto your board.  You will not need much....just roll lengthwise and crumble.  Have your students work on their "corn" to put onto the husks. 

Below are a few pictures that you should be able to save and print off to use. 

 

Color or tear tissue paper for this one

 You could have them use Q-tips to paint this one

Indian Corn would look great on the board

 

  If you would rather use this for your stalks....save, copy and enlarge



 



Letterland Thursday.....Eddy Elephant

 

 

Letterland Thursday

 

Today for Letterland Thursday we meet

Eddy Elephant

 

Isn't Eddy just the cutest elephant ever? 

 

Watch his video here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKs4-GZE-8I

 

 



 



Math Monday....Acorn Math

 

Math Monday

Acorn Math

 

What a great "free" and natural manipulative to use for math......

acorns.  This time of year, fall, is that right time to collect and do acorn math.  Not only are they good for math but for other areas of your day in learning. 

 

Have your students bring in acorns and take them for a nature walk around your school to collect them too. 

 

Sorting

Sorting is a good math activity for students, plus it can help you to stay organized at the same time.  Have various containers or a number of the same type of container (baggies, or plastic bins).  I would do three containers and label them

Small        Medium      Large

 

Measurement:

Have the students sort their acorns that they collected or brought from home into one of the three containers. 

 

Counting:

You will need to prepare some number cards for these.  They can be on index cards if you would like.  On each index card write a number between 1-10 (you can include zero if you would wish).  Make sure to write the number and the word (number).  You will also need to write one of the three words....small, medium or large on the card.  You will want to go over these words (small starts with the letter s etc).  If you think this would be to much for some of your students you could omit the words and just use one bin of acorns and just use the numbers for them to count.

 

Another idea for counting:

I found this on Pinterest

 

 

How cute is this?  Each squirrel has a number on it.  The students have to give the squirrel that many of acorns in his cup. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Crafting Friday.....Pumpkin Patch

 

 

October "Add" On Bulletin Board

 

This week on crafting Friday, we are going to be getting ready for our October bulletin board.  There are so many fun craft ideas and activities for the month of October....so we need to start just a few days before October is here.  I apologize for the picture above being blurred.  For some reason the program I used to make the picture saved like this. 

 

So, to get ready for your board, you will need to decide what background papers you want to use.  Usually for Fall I would put up a base color of brown to use for both October and November (to save paper).  For the tree, you can either free hand it with paint (especially if you will be using it for November too).  If you do not want to paint, you can always use construction paper (but that is a lot of paper to use).  I went ahead and drew my fence with paint as well since I will be using it for November too.  The fence would be an optional prop for this board if you choose.  I like the dimension it gives.  For the letters I would die-cut or print out the phrase.  Now that you have the base.....it is time for the 'add' on.

 

The add on will be each day or each week the students would add another project onto the board.  You can have them add together how many projects they have included onto the board individually and then as a whole group. 

 

Students part:

The leaves for the tree are just a simple diamond shape.  You can choose any shape or even just go ahead and have them draw or color a leaf pattern.  Want to use less paper......have them go on a walk and pick up colorful leaves and then staple them onto the tree instead.

 

The pumpkins (not jack o lanterns) can be done several different ways.  You may be limited to space depending on the number of students you have.  1.  Each student gets a piece of orange construction paper and cuts out a pumpkin shape.  2.  Coffee filters....let the students paint coffee filters orange for their pumpkins.  3.  If you have a lot of foam.....have them cut out a pumpkin shape on foam and use lots of different bright colors for their pumpkins (non traditional).  4.  Maybe you have a lot of brown paper lunch bags (we did).  Show the students how to cut one side to open it up to make one big piece of paper (cut on one side of seam and across the bottom).  Paint the paper orange and then let dry.  Have students cut out pumpkin shape after the bag has dried. 

 

For the vine.....I just rolled up green bulletin board paper and attached through pumpkins. 

 

Next week I will show you how to "add" more to it.