You Better Shape Up: Activities for 2D and 3D Shapes (Including a FREE Set of Anchor Charts)

Shapes are everywhere and we have just about worn them out.  

Over the past couple of years I've noticed a gaping whole in my 2D and 3D shape resources.  I've needed some hands-on centers for our work with shapes.  For whatever reason, I didn't have time to put anything together, until a few months ago.  

I started working on 2D and 3D shapes centers for my young learners.  I wanted to be prepared when our geometry unit rolled around again.

Here's a peek at some of the centers we enjoyed this year...

One of the centers my students completed was a real world/shape match up.  As you can see, student matched real world photos with 2D shapes.  They wrote their findings on a recording sheet.  They also had to find their own examples of shapes in the real world to illustrate and label.

Students worked on naming the 2D shapes and matching up their properties.  Most of the 2D shapes were super simple for my firsties.  However, they certainly needed extra practice with trapezoid, rhombuses, pentagons, hexagons, and octagons.

After a recent pattern activity, I knew some of my young learners needed additional opportunities to work with patterns.  I put together two pattern centers (one with 2D shapes and one with 3D shapes). The pattern centers served as a great review for many of my students and an opportunity for some remediation for others.

Of course we needed some anchor charts to reference.  I love 2 Super Teachers colorful shape friends clip art.  These clips were perfect for creating a simple anchor chart display.

I also put together 3D shape mini anchor charts.  I printed a set of these anchor charts and used them to label our class set of 3D shape models.

I highly recommend getting a class set of 3D shape models.

 I bought my set at Oriental Trading several years ago.  I paid about $20 (or so).  They have been well worth the cost.  It is extremely helpful to students to be able to put their hands on 3D shapes as they learn about these shapes and their properties.

My students used these shape models with almost all of the 3D shape centers.  They used them with the 3D naming and property matching center.

They used the shape models with the stack, slide, or roll center.  Students really liked testing if a shape could stack, slide, or roll.

In addition to labeling our shape models with the mini anchor charts, I also printed a second copy for classroom display.  (If you scroll to the bottom, you'll find a link to a FREE set of these charts.)

All of these activities and many more are available at my Teachers Pay Teachers store in my Shape by Shape {Hands-On Activities with 2D and 3D Shapes} packet.  Altogether there are eight centers with recording sheets, two sets of anchor charts, and a game of I Have/How Has? for 2D & 3D shapes.

You can click on the picture below for more details.

Besides all of our classroom work with shapes, we also read some great shape themed books.  Here are just a few of my favorites...

Captain Invincible and the Space Shapes by Stuart J. Murphy, Shapes That Roll by Karen Nagel, If You Were a Polygon by Marcie Aboff, Perfect Square by Michael, Circus Shapes by Stuart J. Murphy, Friendshape by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns, Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh, and If You Were a Quadrilateral by Molly Blaisdell.
For me, there's nothing like books to hook students' attention and spark their desire to learn more.

Finally, for a free copy of my 3D Shape Mini Anchor Charts.  You can click on the picture below.  If you teach 3D shapes, these colorful little posters make a great reference display and do not take up to much space.

Click on the picture below for your FREE copy of these anchor charts.

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Best.

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

Five for Friday: Freebies for February

Where did January go?  It is unbelievable how quickly the first month of this year came and went.
Before February gets in full swing, I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share some favorite February freebies I'll be using over the next few weeks.
Let's get started...

Groundhog Day Freebies

We'll make these simple and cute prediction groundhogs.  Students can predict whether or not they think the groundhog will see his shadow by adding a sun or a snowflake in the groundhog's hand.  You could also pair this little craftivity with a writing prompt instead of the sun or snowflake.

Click on the picture for a FREE copy of this craftivity.

After Mr. Groundhog makes his prediction, we'll be tracking the weather for the next six weeks with My Groundhog Weather Tracker.  Students will record the groundhog's prediction and the daily weather.  At the conclusion of the sixth week, students will compile their data and analyze it to determine if the groundhog's prediction was true.

You can have a FREE copy of My Groundhog Weather Tracker, by clicking on the picture below.

Super Bowl Freebie

 We'll make my Super Bowl Friend craftivity sometime this week before the big game.  Students will predict which team they think will win.  The helmet colors will reflect their predictions blue/orange for Denver and blue/black for Carolina.  Students will either write about their predictions or they will practice writing their spelling words on the football themed recording sheet.

If you would like a FREE copy of my Super Bowl Friends Craftivity, you can click on the picture below.

Valentine's Day Freebies

Another activity we'll be using in February is my sight word center, You've Got Mail.  Students have to crack the secret code and match it to the correct sight word.  After matching all the cards, the students will complete the recording sheet.  This fun little center is from my Classroom Cupids  {10 Literacy Centers for February}, available at my tpt store.  You can click here for more details.

If you would like a FREE copy of You've Got Mail, click on the picture below.

Another freebie you may want to snag is my message heart graph and pattern printables.
These activities are always a favorite.  Students will sort (by color) and graph candy message hearts.  They will also use the message hearts to create various patterns.
My kids adore working with candy.  It makes math time feel like playtime.

If you would like a FREE copy of message hearts printables, click on the pictures.  

Presidents Day Freebie

In my class, we usually take time in February to do some shared research about George Washington.  After we learn some important facts and details about his life, we create a class bubble map about him.  The bubble map will us with the writing for the craftivity pictured below.

If you would like a FREE copy of of my George Washington {A FREE Writing Craftivity}, click on the picture.

Mardi Gras Freebies

Mardi Gras falls on February 9th this year.  Most of my students do not know what Mardi Gras is.  So I like to do a little something in class for my kids to learn about the traditions involved with this holiday.

We'll have read some books, have some kings cake, and make these Mardi Gras Kids spelling art projects to display in the hall.

We will also do some Mardi Gras themed word problems in math using my Mardi Gras Math {A FREE Math Mini Book}.

If you would like to have a FREE copy of either of these activities to use with your students, click on the pictures.

February has so many fun learning opportunities.  I hope some of these freebies will be useful to you as you start planning for next month.
Thank you for stopping by and thanks to Doodle Bugs Teaching for hosting Five for Friday.

Have a great weekend!

Put On Your Hat and Mittens: Literacy Activities with Jan Brett's Classic Winter Stories

Hi Friends.
All this snowy weather really puts me in the mood to enjoy some Jan Brett books with my class.  She is one of my favorite authors and illustrators.
On our short week returning from Christmas break and the next short week (due to snow days), we read The Mitten and The Hat.  We used these two books as jumping off points for some Mitten and Hat inspired literacy activities.
We, of course, had to compare and contrast these two stories.  We worked as a class to brainstorm a list of ways these stories are alike and how they are different.  Students completed their own Venn diagrams using our class list.

After finishing the Venn diagram, students picked their favorite of the two stories.  They wrote about it and explained their choice.  Then, they illustrated their favorite part of their story.

If you would like a FREE copy of these printables, just click on one of the pictures or click here.

Our class just happen to be finishing up our study of long vowel sounds, spelled vowel-consonant-silent e.  I made a Real Word/Silly Word sort with a hedgehog theme to reinforce our work with this pattern.  I printed enough sets of this literacy center for the whole class to work on at the same time in partner sets.
It was a quick little assessment that let me know how well my young learners are reading with this pattern.
If you would like a FREE copy of Hedgie's Word Sort, you can click on the picture or click here.

The Hat influenced our practice with adjectives.  My firsties still have a ways to go when it comes to identifying and working with adjectives.  Any practice that we can get with adjectives is needed.

With this simple activity, students had to match the correct adjective with the correct hat.  Just like in the Real Word/Silly Word sort (pictured above), I printed enough sets of this literacy center for the whole class to work on at the same time in partner sets.  However, this activity would be great in small group or in whole group with a pocket chart or by adding magnets to the backs of the cards.

If you would like a FREE copy of Happy Hats Adjectives, you can click on the picture or click here. 

As an extension of our work with adjectives, we made our Winter Kids for display in the classroom.  Students designed their own hats and then wrote about them.  Writing about their original hat deigns gave students the perfect opportunity to use adjectives.

If you would like more details about this writing craftivity, you can click one of the pictures or click here.

There are so many ideas for using The Hat and The Mitten with students.  You may already have your own stockpile of activities and resources that you love.  If not, I hope some of these activities will be a help to you.  Also, if you visit  Pinterest, there are loads and loads of Hat and Mitten activities to choose from.

Thanks for visiting and have a great week.