Last Minute Thanksgiving Resources {Including a FREE Directed Drawing}

Happy almost Thanksgiving. :)
I love this time of year.  The holiday season is just getting started. It's not yet December, so my kids aren't too crazy yet. Best of all, some delicious holiday eating is only days away.
To help take advantage of this special time, I thought I'd share a few Thanksgiving themed resources. I'll started with a quick and simple Turkey Directed Drawing.

This directed drawing is a favorite of my students. They always seems so surprised with their directed drawing creations and this turkey is no exception. These directed drawings make an adorable display that students are sure to be proud of.  Plus, this drawing is super simple to teach.

Click here for your FREE copy of my Turkey Directed Drawing.

Another resource I'll be using, during the days leading up to Thanksgiving, is my On Point Leaning Journal for November.  I've used these print-and-go math and literacy activities in a variety of ways over the years (depending on my group of students).  

In the past, I've made my On Point Learning Journal into a booklet that students work on at their own pace (if they've completed all of their work).  This year, I've been using the activities in small groups for review and reinforcement of skills from earlier in the year. Having quick-prep and meaningful, seasonally inspired activities makes planning a snap.

Click here for more details about the On Point Learning Journal for November.

One final Thanksgiving themed resource I'd like share is my Perky Turkey Fact Family Scoot. I actually created this scoot a few years ago.  Originally it was a subtraction scoot.  Well, this year, my students are in need of a little extra practice with fact families.

I tweaked the original Perky Turkey Subtraction Scoot so that my young learners can have a chance to work with fact families.

Students will scoot to each turkey card and write the fact family numbers on their recording sheets.  Then, students will write a fact family with each set of numbers.

My students love scoot and write the room. I know they'll enjoy practicing fact families with this activity.

Click here if you would like a FREE copy of Perky Turkey Fact Family Scoot.

I hope these resources are a help for you in the weeks/days leading up to Thanksgiving.
Thank you for taking time to visit School Is a Happy Place.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Hello November {Resources & Ideas, Including Three Freebies}

Hello November.  I can't believe you are already here.  It feels like school just started a few weeks ago.
Since the season has come for all things turkey, I wanted to share some favorite resources for November.
First up are the completely updated math centers we'll be using this month, Thanks and Giving {10 Math Centers for November}.

Pictured below is a preview of the skills covered with this set of centers.  We will be working on balanced equations, time to the half hour, basic addition, basic subtraction, missing addends, place value, fact families, and more.
I love using these monthly centers to lay the ground work for upcoming instruction and to review skills we've coved so far this year.
You can click here for more details about these activities.

The (also completely updated) literacy center companion to our November math centers is Thanks and Giving {10 Literacy Centers for November}.

Again, pictured below is a preview of the skills covered with this set of centers.  We will be working on sight words, initial blends, ending blends, antonyms, sentences, parts of speech, and more.
We will be busy, busy, busy.
You can click here to learn more about these centers.

Besides our November literacy and math centers, a couple of other resources I'll use are my free Veterans Day and Thanksgiving math mini books.  I made these books a few years ago, but I like to pull them out each year so that my young learners can get a little extra practice with word problems.
Click on the pictures below if you would like a free copy of one (or both) of these math mini books.

Another freebie that is perfect for November is, my Perky Turkey Subtraction Scoot.   We spend most of October working on subtraction, so this scoot activity is a great review.

My kids last year loved scoot and write the room activities.  We haven't scooted this year, I think this activity will be a wonderful introduction.

Click on the picture below if you would like a FREE copy of Perky Turkey Subtraction Scoot.

In addition to all of this November inspired math and literacy, I also like to make a couple of seasonal craftivities.  One of my favorites is our Thanksgiving Writing Craftivity.  

Students put together their Pilgrims and then write about what they are thankful for.  These little Pilgrims make a really sweet display.

There you have it...some of my go-to resources for November.  I love this time of year and want to make the most of it.  I hope some of these ideas and activities will be a help in your classroom.

Thanks for stopping by.

Last Minute Ideas and Freebies for Read Across America

Read Across America is here.  Does your school do anything special?  Ours does.  We love having a chance to "officially" celebrate the love of books and reading.  

We always have a spirit week during Read Across America.  Dress up days, guest readers, special snacks, door decorating, you know the drill.  It's a fun week for students and I love coming up with new Seuss inspired activities for my young learners

If you are still making plans, here are a few ideas to add to your Read Across America stash of resource goodies.

First up is our handprint Things...

My students really love making their Things.  They are super simple to put together and feature student handprints for the crazy Thing hair.  If you like, you can also use them to go along with a writing prompt of your choice.

You can click here for a free copy of the pattern.

Another activity we'll be using this week is my Seussical Scoot.
For this activity, I place word cards around the room; some on the walls, some on my shelves, and some on the desks.  Students read the words and determined if they have a long vowel sound or not.  Then they write the words on their recording sheets.
My kids love scoot and write the room activities.  They think they are playing a game.  It's a great way to get the wiggles out.

For a free copy of Seussical Scoot, click on the picture below.

Although Put Me in the Zoo is not a Dr. Seuss book, I still read to my class during Read Across America.  As a kid, this book was one of my favorites, so I love sharing it.
If you click on the picture below, you can have a free copy of the my craftivity and writing prompt that goes along with Put Me in the Zoo.

One morning of Read Across America week our cafeteria usually serves a "delicious" breakfast of green eggs and ham.   Of course on that day I incorporate some Green Eggs and Ham themed activities in class as well.
One green eggs math activity we will use is my Nom Nom Numbers math center.  For it, I put together four sets of green plastic eggs that have numbers inside.  Students work in small groups to write the next three numbers, either counting by ones or counting by tens.  As a bonus, they colored the eggs on their recording sheets green if the number inside is even.

You can absolutely use this activity in your class with eggs that are colors other than green or no eggs at all.  For a free copy of Nom Nom Numbers, click on the picture below.

Another craftivity I've used over the years is my Birthday Cat.  Students make these cats and write their favorite book on the cupcake.  I've used these cats to decorate our door during Read Across America and they look adorable.

You can click on the picture for a free copy of this pattern.

Besides all these craftivities and activities, I've also started a little Read Across America t-shirt collection.  I've found some adorable ones at Teacher T-Shirts.
The site has several cute shirt options.  They not only have RAA shirts, they also have grade level specific tees, 100th Day tees, St. Patrick's Day teacher tees, and more.

       

I guess that's it for now.
I hope next week is a great one for you and your students.
Thanks so much for stopping by

Elf in the Classroom (Ideas and Free Activities)

At dinner tonight my daughter started up a conversation about holidays and explained that Christmas is her number one.  I was not surprised in the least.  Then she proceeded to tell me that getting visits from our family elf is one of her favorite parts of Christmas.
Our Ms. Joy arrives tomorrow and so does my class elf, Anderson.  At the moment I have an"E" written in Sharpie on my hand.  That E stands for elves...the elves that I better not forget about or else.
I should probably just keep a Sharpie E on my hand for the next 24 days, just in case.

If your class gets a visit for an elf, here are a few activities (old and new) that you might want to use with your students to take advantage of all the elf-induced excitement.

First up is a fun Elf Glyph.
These glyphs make a very festive display.  As part of this project, there is a little data collection/analysis activity, if you want to extend the activity a bit.  A writing prompt is included as well.
Elf Glyph:  A Fun Holiday Creativity is available at my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  You can click here for more details.

Next up is an elf themed scoot (or write the room or math center).  My firsties have been working on fact families.  I made this simple activity for students to complete in small groups.
You can click on one of the picture below for a FREE copy of Elf Friends: A Free Math Activity (Practice with Fact Families).

Another elf inspired goody for your classroom (or even for home) is my Diary of an Elf:  A Free Writing Activity.  Your students can get in some extra writing as they chronicle the adventures of their elf with this daily journal.  

For a FREE copy of Diary of an Elf, click on the picture below.

I have one more elf freebie before I wrap things up.  It's my Elftastic Rhymes.  This quick, print and go sort features rhyming words for the book The Elf on the Shelf.  I like to use it after I read the book to the class.  

Students read each set of words and determine if they rhyme or not.  If your students are anything like mine, they can always use more practice with rhyming words.

For a FREE copy of Elftastic Rhymes, click on one of the pictures below.

I hope you've picked up some ideas that will help incorporate elf into some of your learning activities.  If you have a favorite elf in the classroom idea, I'd love to hear about it :).

Thanks for stopping by.

Thanksgiving Tidbits (Activities and Freebies)

It's a little less than a week until Thanksgiving.  I cannot believe it.  It seems like Halloween was just last weekend.  Craziness!  We'll have a couple of days in school next week to wrap up some of our Thanksgiving activities, then we're off for a little break.
Traditionally, my first graders get a little (let just say) spirited the week or two leading up to a holiday/break.  Being prepped and ready with plenty of engaging learning activites is super important.  Here's a peek some at a few Thanksgiving inspired math and literacy activities we stayed busy with this week.

We started off by making our Pilgrim Writing Craftivity.  Our class cabinets have been embarrassingly bare for the past couple of weeks and these little Pilgrims look great.
On the backs of the Pilgrims, students wrote about what they are thankful for.

Some of our literacy time has been devoted to Thanksgiving themed literacy centers.  I am so happy to see how much independence most of my students are gaining as we work through our year of math and literacy centers.

Speaking of math centers, those have been Thanksgiving themed as well.  Math centers are an awesome way to provide ongoing review and to lay the ground work for upcoming instruction.  The fact that they can be seasonally inspired makes them even better.

Another Thanksgiving related resource we used during our math time was my It's Turkey Time Math Mini Book.  I made this book a couple of years ago and have been using it ever since.  It includes word problems that review several of the skills we've been working on so far this school year.
If you would like to have a FREE copy of this math mini book, click on the picture below.

We wrapped up our week with a fun round of scoot.  When I say fun, I mean FUN!  My firsties think scoot is awesome.  They love moving around the room or in this case switching from desk to desk.  They get a huge kick out of scoot.
Since we have been working on subtraction the past few weeks, our scoot focused on basic subtraction equations.

If you would like a FREE copy of my Perky Turkey Subtraction Scoot, you can click on the picture below.
I addition to using this freebie for scoot with your students, it also works great as a math center or as a write the room activity.

Hope some of these activities are helpful to you during these last few days before Thanksgiving.  If you are among the lucky teachers that have the entire week of Thanksgiving off...enjoy your well deserved break.

Best.