Inside you'll find an easy step-by-step how to draw a Minecraft Self Portrait & Minecraft Coloring Page. Stop by and download yours for free.
Teaching grammar and language art skills can be a challenge for anyone. How do you hit all of the skills...effectively? How do you know your students are
Dear all, Here I share the work of my former student, Joey Jong. I am happy for her results though I thought her work could hit an A*—at lea...
Today I'm sharing one of my favourite tasks for building community in the classroom. Students are able to share an important aspect of themselves (the story of their name) with the class and with me, their teacher. Through this task we are also working on important skills, like reading comprehension, writing, and reflection. Day 1 To begin, I asked my students to write any name they wish they had on a sticky note. They then placed it in a mason jar. I read my class the story "The Name Jar" by Yansook Choi. We stopped at several points in the story to predict, make connections, infer, and ask questions. At one point, we paused in the story so that students could journal about the name they wrote down on the sticky note earlier: - Did they choose their own name? Or another? - Why? - If you chose another name, where did you hear that name before? Day 2 At the end of Day 1, students were given homework. (Stick around to the bottom of this post for a chance to get your own copy of this sheet.) I make it very clear, that while names all have meanings, your family may not have chosen your name for that reason. They might not know the meaning, and you can choose to look it up with your family if you wish. I also focus a lot on nicknames and your own feelings about your name. While I've never taught a student in foster care, or one who was adopted, I do think it's important to mention that this could be a touchy task in those situations, so be sure to know your students first, and modify as needed. Students use the homework task, and the journal write from the previous day, to write "The Story of their Name". Some possible options to include are: - who you are named after - the meaning of your name - a name you'd rather have - your feelings toward your name - nicknames you may have - the person (or people) who chose your name - how your name was chosen This piece of writing is then self, peer, and teacher edited, and a "good" copy is made. Day 3 I found this excellent step-by-step self-portrait from "Art Projects for Kids". I modified the task so that instead of drawing the left or right side of their face, they would draw the top half. Students find that folding their page into quadrants as she suggests is very helpful. Under the document camera I demonstrate each step, and students copy, adapting to their own facial features. Each student gets a mirror to look in to help them personalize. The final pieces are put on a bulletin board for display. Students also coloured in a bubble letter version of their names to complete the display. (I used the font KG Red Hands Outline for this.) Day 4 Once we've completed the task, the last job is to reflect on our work. I pulled some elements from our Arts Education curriculum (very relevant regardless of where you teach) for students to self-assess on. I've used the proficiency scale language our school has moved to for all reporting. A few students found it helpful to complete their reflection while looking at the finished product on their bulletin board, but most didn't need this. Want a copy of both my homework and reflection pages? Follow the image or button below to grab your copy. Take Me to the Free Download Pin this post.
Index > English > Grade 1 #MamaLovePrint #Prepositions #Prepositionr #LearningPrepositions #PrepositionsWorksheet #Prepositions #InO...
Looking for 3rd grade anchor charts? We put together some of our favorites to use in your third grade classroom this year!
Since it is poetry month, I thought I would share a bit about how I teach alliteration. Teaching literary devices is probably one of my favorite things to do, but they can be tricky for the little ones! That means I provide a lot of different kinds of activities to help the concepts stick! Here are just a few of my favorites with alliteration. Tongue Twisters Tongue twisters are a favorite! I love sharing some with my students and have them try to say them three times fast to the class. We usually end up doubled over in laughter. :) Once students are familiar with tongue twisters, we set out to write our own. We publish them on the tongues of these cute displays! No template - we just trace lids for the circle faces and I free-cut tongues out of the large construction paper. Poem Practice We read the Jack Prelutsky poem, "Bleezer's Ice Cream" and I ask students to identify the flavors that alliterate, like checkerberry cheddar chew or cotton candy carrot custard. This poem is in the book The New Kid on the Block and it's an all-time favorite poetry book that I highly recommend! {affiliate link below} There are a few ways to access this poem online if you can't get your hands on the book. Here is a YouTube reading of the poem. You can also play the musical version of the poem being sang by Natalie Merchant here. After analyzing the poem, I put students in partners and let them create their own wacky ice cream flavors that alliterate! You can download the freebie below to do this activity with your students. {Download Freebie Here} Games Galore Games are so important in the primary classroom. We play games every single day. Multiple times a day. For alliteration, we play an old fashioned car game. It's great, not only for alliteration, but for listening and memory, too! The items being taken on the trip must all begin with the same initial sound as the destination. To play, I read the card, for example, "I am going to Paris and I'm taking a parachute." The next student in the circle would repeat my item and add one of his own, for example..."I am going to Paris and I'm taking a parachute and a piano." The sentence keeps getting passed around the circle with each student repeating it and adding another "p" word. They are amazed when it make it all the way around the circle! I also teach students how to play it with just two players - perfect for the car ride home from school (sorry parents)! One student starts it, and it keeps alternating until one player either can't think of an item to add or can't remember an item. What fun practicing alliteration! Clever Crafts Since we study literary devices during the spring, we love to decorate the hall with clever craftivities. For alliteration, we create "Alliterainbows." Students use planning pages and brainstorm parts of speech to alliterate with each color and then use these ideas to write their own sentences with alliteration on each color band of the rainbow. By now, they are amazing at alliterating! :) Story Surprises Throughout our study, I always throw in a couple of surprise read-alouds! These are a couple of my favorites for alliteration. The first book I read is The Little Book of Alliterations. It is a simple alphabet book with one phrase per page. It's perfect to read before having students write tongue twisters. The next book I read closer to the end of our study. It's called One Smug Slug and it is written in story format. The story uses as many "s" words as possible. They enjoy trying to figure out what the smug slug is climbing throughout the story and are always surprised when he is eaten at the end! But, their favorite part of the book is that there is a hidden "S" somewhere on each page - some are super tricky and they love searching for them. {affiliate links for books} I hope this post gave you a few new ideas for teaching alliteration!
This common and proper nouns worksheet guides kids to improve their writing skills. Try a common and proper nouns worksheet with your kid.
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Effective communication is essential in our daily lives, and punctuation plays a significant role in making it possible. Punctuation marks l...
1st Grade Reading Worksheets can help your kids get off to a great start of a life-long love of reading. Reading is knowledge. Stimulate their imagination and help them expand their understanding of the world and communication with others. Grow a strong and intelligent future with a passion for learning. Print all of our 1st […]
I had sooooooo much fun doing this monster art project in my son Elliot's kindergarten class recently! I chose to do this project because Elliot LOVES monsters and he LOVES using his imagination to make characters come to life. We have enjoyed using popsicle stick puppets for many many years and he always enjoys both creating
Here’s an archive of our downloadable activities so far- feel free to download and print off any of these to use yourself or with your club / group / scouts troop / evil supervillain society&…
This was a collaborative project I did with one of the Science teachers at my school. He was teaching his kids about food chains and wanted an art project to go along with it. He found THIS image via Pinterest as initial inspiration for the project. UPDATE: The poster was designed by art director and illustrator Dhanashri Ubhayakar for the magazine Sanctuary Asia, an Indian nature and wildlife conservation magazine. I turned the digital image into a collage project using construction paper. I used 12 x 18" construction paper. Have a background colour (in my case, turquoise). Then start with your largest animal (the top predator, I guess... the Science teacher explained this part to the kids, heh, heh) I folded my paper vertically so I only had to draw half the polar bear and it also made it symmetrical. I collaged on the eyes, nose and teeth from scraps of paper. Then make all the other animals slightly smaller... My messy workspace below.... Ok- once you have all the animals (our students were required to have 3 animals plus a plant) it's time to layer them and glue it all together. This took some fiddling and such, but I found it easiest to lay it all out and then start from gluing the smallest middle part first (the plant- I lost my mini tree) and work your way up. I used dots of white glue. It went faster than using a glue stick. Grade 7 student results!
Do you hate to teach poetry? Do you want your students to learn and enjoy poetry? Try these simple ways to learn how to teach poetry...
Help your primary grade students explore, learn, and write about landforms. See our hands-on landforms activities plus our culminating writing project!
Hello darlings! Amy here from That Teaching Spark! When I teach spelling, I am often on the hunt for fun, yet practical activities for my students to practice their spelling pattern for the week. This year, I am meeting with my students in small groups to work on differentiated spelling lists. One of my rotations is called Choice. This is where students get the “Choice” of the activity they would like to complete. They are allowed to choose from a list of activities on their Choice Board. We glue these boards onto the inside cover of our Word Study Journals so students have them all year. (Freebie at the end of post!) At the beginning of the year, I introduce each activity choice and have students practice it. That way when rotations come along, I have a well oiled machine with students working independently. While I completely agree that activities such as these are NOT effective in long term application of spelling words, research shows that adding kinesthetic activities helps with memorization. I teach the understanding and the word pattern “rules” during my Teacher Rotation. A few Favorites…. I created the Michelangelo Spelling activity after our art teacher did a project with my kiddos about the Sistine Chapel. My kiddos LOVE taping their paper to the underside of their desks and “painting” like Michelangelo. Of course, they are just writing their spelling words, but it is incredibly motivating. My kiddos also love Ghost Spelling. They write their words on paper with a white crayon and then color over the crayon with a marker. It “magically” shows up. Another favorite of mine is Context Clues. Students must write a sentence with the word that is so detailed, that another student could figure out the word if the word was covered up. I use the little sticky flags for this activity. I wanted to give this Choice Board to you FREE!
Using "Oranges" by Gary Soto, "Daffodils" by William Wordsworth, and "The Red Wheelbarrow" by William Carlos Williams, I attempt to…
It is a worksheet designed for young learners to practise colours. You can model read the sentences, and then the students colour the fish as suggested. Hope you like it! - ESL worksheets
Check out these fun activities from Award Winning Author/Illustrator Jarett Lerner to do at home or in the classsroom. Includes comics, drawing, and more.
Are you ready for the month of March? We are all geared up for some fun learning this month! Our March NO PREP packets are done and we are ready to go!
Planting lifelong foundations in early childhood
Please Note: All images seen below are of my students artwork only. These photos/lessons are not posted in any particular order regarding the flow of my curriculum. 3-D WINTER MUGS This lesson inco…
Paint, draw, sculpt, and learn about famous artists and their art.
So way back when I first started teaching (cough cough, 15 years ago back in 2008, there was no Pinterest, no Instagram and very few blogs to gather lesson ideas. We all know the early years of teaching is rough, but when you have very limited access to other art teachers to share ideas with, and have to create everyth
From mixed media to simple sketching, there's something here for every 1st grader.
Inside you'll find an easy step-by-step How to Draw a Lego Tutorial Video and Lego Coloring Page. Stop by and download yours for free.
This week 4th grade is starting their Robin Mead inspired landscapes! She's a contemporary artist from Georgia, and you can check out her work on her website here! I was also inspired by the awesome art teacher, Lauralee Chambers, from her beautiful student examples on Instagram! Here's Robin Mead's Instagram too :) She has a Youtube channel too! Here's how we created ours! Materials: Sax 90 lb paper pencils Sharpies Crayola artista II watercolor Big Kid's Choice Paintbrushes Robin Mead examples Day 1: Show examples of Robin Mead's work, and show examples of other 4th grade work from Lauralee Chamber's art room. Then I demonstrated how to add the water, ground, mountains, and sun. After I drew it out, I traced it with Sharpie, and let them get to work. When enough had drawn and traced, I demonstrated how to blend their watercolors in a way similar to Mead's work. They did a great job, and enjoyed creating their own landscapes! Here's some examples of Robin's work! It's so beautiful and colorful!! Here's a video, showing how to draw a Robin Mead inspired landscape! Here's some great student examples on day 1 of instruction! here's Mrs. Braswell's class, working hard on theirs! Here's Mrs. Torres' class, finishing up! Just beautiful!! DISCLOSURE: LINKS TO PRODUCTS ARE AFFILIATE LINKS, WHICH MEANS I GET A SMALL COMPENSATION FOR SALES. THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING OUR BLOG!
Engage kids in art projects in a variety of media, with many based on famous artists or art movements.
Affiliate Links This crayon and marker project is so pretty and covers several big art concepts- like primary color mixing […]
Inside you'll find an easy step-by-step how to draw a Minecraft Self Portrait & Minecraft Coloring Page. Stop by and download yours for free.
In fourth grade at Brimfield, we are just finishing these oil pastel animal enlargements. We talked a lot about different kinds of...
