Leap Frog Letter Factory

Many years ago, when I taught kindergarten, I needed a resource for helping my struggling students learn their letters and sounds. When I would conference with parents they would often claim that their children did know their letters. This usually meant they could sing the abc song or say the letter names in order. As students begin to read they need to not only know their letters and sounds in order, but randomly and with automaticity (knowing it without having to think about it).

Educational resources were pretty limited back then. We didn't have the YouTube resources that are now available or the educational apps that we could download. The limited resources that were available, were often very expensive. During this time I found myself relying heavily on Leap Frog products.

My number one "go to" resource was this Leap Frog Letter Factory video. I ended up buying several copies and sending them home for parents to use with their children. Now keep in mind this was during the VHS cassette period. Wow, I'm making myself sound really old! Anyways, I found success with students that were faithfully watching the video at home and also with students who I was using it for in class. During whole class instruction I would introduce a letter and then sing the letter song. All students were familiar with the Letter Factory.

As I began to have grandchildren, my children and I used the video to help my grand kids learn their letters and sounds. That too was many years ago, but with a new addition to our family, I wanted to give my daughter a copy of this video to use. My grandson is only 6 months old, but my daughter is also babysitting a 3 year old, so I thought the video would be perfect. The problem was that all of my copies were VHS, so that meant I had to purchase a new one. I actually found a used copy on ebay for about $5.00. What a steal! This recent purchase has reminded me of what a valuable tool this video is, I absolutely love it, so I thought I would share this FYI blog with you.

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Hand Art

This art project makes a cute beginning of the year activity, although my class actually did it as an ending of the year thank you gift to our classroom aide.

I've seen hand cut outs that can be used, but I wanted to make the project more personal. I traced students' hands onto green cardstock paper. I'm sure white or any other color is fine. I just liked having a color backing in case students didn't completely color in the hand.

After I traced a student's hand with a sharpie I wrote their name on their paper. The next day I gave everyone their hand and showed them some ideas for designing their hand with markers. They all came up with their own original ideas, which made each hand more special.

Once all of the art work was done I cut out the hands. Older students could, of course, do this part on their own, but I didn't want to trust it with my first graders. I cut the hands out and then wrote the names on the back of the hands.

I used another piece of green cardstock paper for mounting the hands onto. I tried cutting a big circle, but I had too many hands, so I ended up just rounding the edges. I arranged all of the hands in place to make sure I was happy with it before I glued anything. I placed the larger hands down for the first layer. The next layer was the medium size hands and the final layer was the smaller hands. After I had the hands laid out I picked up the top two layers keeping each layer together. I glued the bottom layer by leaving the hands in place and picking up one at a time to glue it on. I continued this process for the next two layers. I had one extra small hand, so I put that in the middle.

I wrote a thank you note on the back. Afterwards I found a class picture, which I gave to my aide as well. I wish I hadn't written the note on the back, because I would have glued the picture there instead.

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Father's Day Tie Card

This is a Father's Day card that I have my students make for their dads. I usually have a parent cut out the pattern, but then after that they are pretty easy for students to make.

If you are doing this whole class it is easiest to start off with a tie pattern. In order to make the pattern fold a 9" x 12" piece of construction paper in half. Then draw two trapezoids across from each other. Snip off two triangle pieces at the bottom of the tie. In order to make the rest of the ties you can just trace the pattern. I have reused the same pattern for years. You can decide if you want to draw the tie knot or have students draw it on.

Provide each student with a tie. Have students open up the card and write a Father's Day message. I usually model this on the board, but allow students to either copy mine or write whatever they want. Remind students to sign their name. 

Once students have finished their writing they can use a black crayon to draw the knot on the tie if this has not been done for them. Then they can color the ocean floor and some plants/rocks. As students are ready you can have them use sea creature sponges to finish off their tie. I don't really remember where I purchased these sea creatures, because I got them quite a few years ago, but I believe I  purchased them from a dollar store. If you can't find sea creatures sponges you could cut up a sponge to make your own or just have student paint something simple like a fish, whale, or a starfish. 

                                  

I hope that you find this Father's Day idea helpful. Anna

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Flower Pots

This Flower Pot project is a fun project that I like to do when my class is learning about plants. It is kind of messy but worth it. I love to see how students put their own special spin on the project to make their art more personal and unique. 

Here are the directions for doing this project.

Materials:

- Blue, green, and brown tempera paint

- Other tempera paint colors for the flowers

- 8" x 11" White cardstock or construction paper 

- 9" x 12" Yellow or other color construction paper 

- 9" x 12" construction paper to use as a work mat 

- Paint brushes

- Containers for paint (I like to use pie tins)

Directions:

Be sure to prep your materials beforehand, especially if you are doing this whole class. When you put the paint in the containers you will want to water it down a little if it is too thick. Place the blue paint and paint brushes out for students to use. 

Once all of your supplies are ready then you can provide students with the work mat and white paper. Have students write their name on the back of the paper before they get started. Then have them paint the whole page blue. My students know that I have a "no white" rule. They need to make sure that there is no white showing when they are done.

The paint needs to dry for a couple of minutes, so as students finish I have them go to the carpet and read while they wait. This project does require quite a few paint brushes if you are doing this activity whole class, so you will want to wash out the paint brushes while the blue paint is drying. You can also remove the blue paint and put out the other paint.

After the paint has pretty much dried you can have students go back to their seat. Then show them different ways to paint a flower pot/vase (round, square, or triangular). You will also want to show them how to add the stems, leaves, and flowers. I usually only have my students use two colors. The middle of the flower is one color and then the petals are another color. Show your students different ways in which the flower petals can be made. I usually show them how to either brush out a petal or dab the brush down to make the petal. Students always tend to do what works for them and what they like, so it doesn't really matter. 

Let the painting dry before mounting them onto the colored construction paper. Once they are dry enough to stack I like to place some books on top of them to flatten them out. Then I glue them onto the mounting paper and write their name at the bottom of the page. I then of course hang them up for all to see. 

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Teachers Appreciation Poster

This was a really neat poster that our PTO made for the teachers at my school. I'm sure it has been done before, but I have never seen it, so I thought I would share it with you to enjoy.

Here is what it says:
Thank you, teachers! You are all Sweetarts. You deserve 100 Grand every Payday. We know sometime our kids act like Air Heads or like they're from somewhere beyond the Milky Way. You bring them such Almond Joy when you teach. It must be hard to contain your Snickers when those Sugar Babies tell you Mounds of stories. Sometimes it must seem that all you do is Skor papers and you want to make like Baby Ruth and run home! For all you do, thanks! you are numero U-no.

I hope you enjoyed this poster as much as I did.
Anna

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Timers for the Classroom

As a teacher, I have always used timers as a very useful tool in the classroom. I use them for reading groups, math rotations, computer time, students support, and for my reading assessments. I also use them for choice whole class activities, such as 5 minute quick writes or 10 minutes of independent/silent reading. I usually just use digital timers, but I love using the free online timers when I am doing something whole class.

The online timers are really fun and give students a visual as to how much time they have left. You might think this would be a distraction, but it is not as distracting as students claiming to be done with their work or wondering how much longer they need to keep working on a task.

Initially, students are curious about the different timers and watch it more closely, but less so after they have seen what the timers do. At this point my students just glance up at the timer to see how much time is left. They still want to be ready for it when it goes off, but for the most part they just keep working.

The funny thing about the timers, and kind of an unexpected side effect, is that my students have definitely gotten better at counting back. They don't, of course, count down the whole 5-10 minutes, but they really start watching the last 20 seconds or so. This is key for some of my students who have struggled with using the counting back
math strategy.

If you haven't tried the free online timers I recommend you check them out and play around with them. You will want to decide on the timers that you feel are appropriate. There are bomb and dynamite timers, and you may not feel comfortable with using them. The racing timers are fun to watch, but seem to be a little bit more of a distraction for my students. It's not that I can't use them, I just have to be more selective as to when to use them. Anyways, I hope that you find them to be a useful tool.

Here is the link to the online-stopwatch timers.

http://www.online-stopwatch.com/classroom-timers/

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End of the Year Ideas for the Classroom

So, it is that time of the year again. We have one month of school left and my students are starting to realize that the year is quickly coming to an end. My job... to keep them engaged and learning. I know this isn't always easy to do and I'm thinking it is not just me, so I thought I would share some ideas for helping to make the final days of the school year enjoyable for both you and your students.

Several years ago one of my team members shared an ABC Countdown Calendar that she had gotten from a friend. I don't know who that person was, but I will forever be grateful to her. This ABC Countdown makes the last 26 days of school really fun and helps my students and I get through the end of the year. There are activities for everyday. Some are very simple and some are more complex, but it really depends on how far you want to take it. The first day is of course "A" day, which is Art Day for my class. I have my students watch videos and read about various artists; use play-dough for sculpturing; watch and do directed drawings; and then a bigger art project. You can see it can get really big, but then there are really easy days like "H" Day, which is Hat Day. I just let students wear their hats all day.

 Since the ABC Countdown is not a product that I created I can't share the actual calendar (although this one has been modified), but it is really just the idea that you need. Even if I did provide the calendar the dates would be off, so I recommend you making one on your own with the activities that work for you.

Here is a clearer sample of what I use and how it is set up.

There are lots of other things that I like to do to keep my students engaged. Not just at the end of the year, but throughout the year as well. My students love doing the STEM activities. Students focus on science, technology, engineering and math, along with reading, writing, critical thinking, cooperative learning and more. I have several STEM Activities available at my TpT Store if you are interested. 

Science activities are always a fun way to get students engaged. I actually use my Science Experiment Day packet on "S" Day. It is definitely one of those way over the top days, but it is my favorite ABC Countdown day. You don't actually need to do all of the science experiments in one day, but it is super fun. I'm already getting all my supplies ready. I can't wait!

Another fun science activity for students is to have them explore things that sink or float in water. It is really fun to do this outside on a hot day. There is bound to be water that has managed to find its way out of the container and onto the students. 

There are lots of things I like for the end of the year, but one last idea is to focus on a habitat. We do the rain forest, polar regions, and the desert during the year, but at the ending of the year we focus on the ocean. I happen to have two turtles, two crabs, and I usually have a beta fish. I also have lots of shells, rocks, plastic sea creatures, and other miscellaneous ocean things. I put all this stuff out, along with some books, on my exploration table. The students love it. I also have a thematic packet that I use to help students learn about the habit and/or to practice other skills. 

I hope that you have been able to gleam some ideas that you can use to help make the ending of your school year an enjoyable one. I have included links to some of the resources that I have mentioned. Please feel free to check them out. 

Anna

STEM Build a Tower

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/STEM-Activity-Build-a-Tower-2285613

STEM Super Hero

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/STEM-Activity-Super-Hero-Project-2348047

STEM Build a Vehicle

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/STEM-Activity-Build-a-Vehicle-2285620

You can visit my TpT Store to see more STEM or other activities.

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Science Experiment Day
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Science-Experiment-Day-1245181

Sink or Float Activity
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sink-or-Float-Activity-Set-2146855


Ocean Themed Activities
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Ocean-Themed-Activities-1880350

Rain Forest Themed Activities
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rain-Forest-Themed-Activities-1615324

Desert Themed Activities
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Desert-Themed-Activities-1622748