I made this book a few years ago and gave it to several relatives, including my husband. It was a hit! No related posts.

March 2011 These calendars are designed to give you tons of information about March 2011. I have left weekends out so you can enjoy your family . March themed student-made books, games, and activities will be on my next blog. March Calendars: Holidaysmart Brownielocks Fun-odd-march-holidays-to-celebrate-with-kids About.com The People History (to change the date, click on the calendar on left side of the page) Info please March 1st: (Tuesday) (National Pancake Day) Can you say free pancakes? Yum! IHOP Pancake Day Nebraska (1867) became a state on this day! Apples 4 the teacher Ohio (1803) became a state on this day too! Ohio kids March 2nd:  (Wednesday) (National Read Across America Day) Dr. Seuss, Theodore Geisel, was born in 190 Seussville Apples 4 the teacher March 3rd:   (Thursday) (Japanese Doll Festival for girls) Knowledgehound japanese holidays Florida became a state in 1845! Leg. state fl .us kids March 4th:  (Friday) Vermont became a state, 1791 Enchantedlearning.com March 7th:  (Monday) Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for the telephone. Scienceprojectideasforkids March 8th: (Tuesday) Mardi Gras/ Fat Tuesday activity village mardi gras March 9th:  (Wednesday) Learn What Your Name Means Zelo.com March 10th: (Thursday) Harriet Tubman died in 1913 Surf net kids Harriet Tubman History-timelines Harriet Iubman March 11th:  (Friday) Johnny Appleseed died in1844 Kinderart/Johnnyappleseed March 13th: Sunday) Daylight Savings Time March 14th: (Monday) Plant a flower! Yeah Spring!!! Primary games/flowers March 15th:  (Tuesday) In 1820 Maine became a state! http://www.apples4theteacher.com/usa-states/maine/ March 17th:  (Thursday) St. Patrick’s Day Family crafts Kaboose March 18th:  (Friday) Birthday of Sparky the Fire Dog (Official mascot of the National Fire Protection Association) Sparky  March 20th: (Sunday) First Day of Spring March 21st:  (Monday) Spring games and activities Family fun March 22nd:  (Tuesday) Goof off with the family day! (or a part of it if you don’t have the whole day!) Bing.com/entertainment/games March 23th:  (Wednesday) Patrick Henry’s "Give me liberty or give me death" Speech, 1775 Almanack/people March 24th:  (Thursday) Harry Houdini (magician) born, in1874 Library of simple tricks March 25th:  (Friday) National Family Day Angelfire 100things March 28th:  (Monday) March in national kite month National kite month March 29th:  (Tuesday) March is National Craft Month Activity village March 30th:  (Wednesday) Vincent Van Gogh born, 1853 Van+gogh+paintings March 31th:  (Thursday) National Sing With Your Child Month I love these sites! Have fun singing with your kids! Myrelationshipsupermarket Kididdles.com/lyrics/allsongs Related posts:September Story Starters I met a new friend this year at school! This... Leaf-Shaped Book and Autumn Activites Leaf-Shaped Book: First, I  cut out a leaf (Designer’s Calendar)...

http://www.ixl.com/math/grade/eighth/ Related posts:Writing for Kids 1st through 8th grade writing styles kidskonnect How to write...

Make a kite book with your child. It can be as simple or elaborate as you like. Easy and educational: enchantedlearning Fun kite ideas: scholastic.com Kite facts: wikipedia Writing Ideas: If you could make your kite out of anything in the world, what would it be made of? Describe your kite. If you could make your kite go anywhere, where would it go? Who made the first kite? How many kinds of kites can you list or find on the internet?  What is your favorite kind of kite? Make a book on how to make a kite. Pretend your kite could fly far, far, away. If you could write a message on this kite, what would it say? Have you ever flown a kite before? If so, describe the experience. No related posts.

Haiku is a structured form of Japanese verse. It does not rhyme, and it usually draws its subject from nature. It is composed of three lines: The first line must contain five syllables. The second line must contain seven syllables. The third line must contain five syllables. Give each child a piece of paper and ask them to write their own Haiku poems (see sample worksheet). No related posts.

Ask your children to write a story of a magic kettle (see sample worksheet). The stories can be funny, scary, silly, or whatever the childrens’ imaginations come up with. No related posts.

Here’s an activity for teaching "oo" (see sample worksheet): Ask your children to draw a large full moon on yellow construction paper. Have the children fill in their moons with other words that have "oo" in them. Here are some words the children could put in their "oo" moons: soon raccoon noon bloom groom balloon room shook book cook No related posts.

Here’s another writing activity for Halloween: Have your children complete the following on a sheet of paper (see sample worksheet): Sorting Candy I love candy! I had _______ pieces in my candy jar. ______ were chocolate. ______ were ___________________. ______ were ___________________. ______ were ___________________. ______ were ___________________. ______ were ___________________. Have your children draw a picture of their goodies below their sentences. No related posts.

Here’s a writing activity for autumn (see sample worksheet): Ask your children to draw a large sweater on a piece of construction paper. Let the children choose the color of the paper for their sweater. On another piece of paper, ask the children to fill out the following: My sweater is ______ and _________. It has _____ buttons and _________ pockets. My sweater is made from ____________. I love my sweater! When complete, their sweater story may read like this: My sweater is fuzzy and blue. It has shiny buttons and deep pockets. My sweater is made from wool. I love my sweater! When the children have completed their sweater stories, they can decorate their sweaters with real buttons, cotton and/or fabric scraps that you may have. No related posts.

Here are some ideas for silly witch books (see sample worksheet and sample book): Make a silly riddle book. For example: What is a witch’s favorite city? (answer: Wichita, Kansas) Where does a witch like to spend her leisure time? (answer: On Lake Erie) Write a story using any of the following phrases: pain in the neck working the skeleton crew lending someone a hand going to bat for someone having a bone to pick with someone a real bonehead talking your ear off opening a can of worms all tied up right now don’t have a ghost of a chance a broom closet petrified wood visiting the blood bank Write silly Halloween alliterations starting with "w" for witch. Write a "How To" story on planning a Halloween party. No related posts.

I was watching my first-grade children playing at recess one beautiful spring morning when I noticed that a small group of them had gathered in the corner of the playground. Curious, I walked over to the fast-growing group "oohhing" and "aahhing". "Look!", they squealed with delight. "We found a cocoon on a branch. It must have fallen out of the tree." I looked at the lonely cocoon and realized what it was. "It’s actually a chrysalis, not a cocoon," I told them. I looked it over carefully and decided it looked "healthy". We marched straight into the library and showed off our chrysalis to our lovely librarian. She immediately found some great books on how to care for chrysalises until they turn into butterflies. She also recommended that if ours turned into a butterfly, we should set it free; and right there in the library, our class unanimously agreed to set the butterfly free. I had not planned to study butterflies this particular day or week, but because all of the children in my class were enthralled with the chrysalis, I changed my science lessons completely around. I chose to focus on what the children were interested in at that time and the payoffs were huge. We ended up studying life cycles, caring for chrysalises and other forms of life, other insects, and so on. It was the most natural lesson plans I had ever written, although it was the spur of the moment. I was lucky to work for a principal who allowed me to alter my plans if it worked for the children. I’m so glad that I listened to the kids’ excitement about what they wanted to learn about. We all learned a lot of science that year. In the end, our chrysalis turned into a beautiful butterfly and we had a wonderful celebration the day we set it free! Textbooks and other teaching references are great resources—all teachers need them. But teachers also need to be encouraged to use their training and creativity to make learning natural and fun, just as the chrysalis did for me and my class one year. No related posts.

I created a binder for our son Will after my husband asked him, "What did you learn today?" and Will replied, "Some stuff. I don’t really remember." I homeschool Will and when I heard this I nearly cried. I promised myself that this would never happen again. On a sheet of paper I printed out in huge letters, "This is How My Brain Grew Today by Will" and glued it to the front of the binder, then I divided the binder into the different content areas (reading, math, etc). Each day I put the lesson plans into the binder so that Will knew the activities that he had to do. For independent work, he had to fill out a form on which he listed five things he learned about a topic and place it in the binder. At the end of each day I asked Will, "How did your brain grow today in (content area)?", and he had to tell me what he did and what he learned. If he forgot, I pulled out the lesson plan for that content area (for example, reading) from the binder, and we reviewed how his brain grew. When I first introduced this concept to Will, he was less than thrilled, but the problem of him forgetting what he learned has virtually disappeared. This idea works in classrooms, too. I used a similar method at the end of each day where we reviewed what we did for the day in each subject. I told my class that I never wanted to tell their parents that they did nothing in class that day. There are many ways to tweak this idea. For example, you can ask your children to verbally review what they learned for the day, or have each child keep a journal in which they can record what they learned at the end of each day. Good luck to the hard-working, worrying, giving-it-all-you-have teachers out there. May you never hear from a parent that their child said, "I learned nothing from my teacher today." No related posts.

In October I gave my students the following list of verbs as they wrote a new story (see sample worksheet): adjust dig jiggle ride sweat ask divulge jog roam swim assist draw jump roll swoop bake drive leap romp talk banish eat leave run tear beg enter magnetize rush throw bite exit march scamper tiptoe blink explore meddle search toddle bounce extinguish mow share touch bound fall navigate shuffle trample break flap nestle sigh tremble capture fly nod sing trip chew frighten ooze skip tumble clench gallop pace slide type conceal giggle pat slip walk cook glide peek soar wash crawl grab pet somersault wave creep grow play spread whisper cringe growl plead stare wiggle crush hire point stir wink cry hit polish stomp wreck dance hop prance stretch wring dash hug prowl stroke wrinkle desert invite quake stroll write detain jerk race stutter yawn After they finished their first drafts, I asked them to replace as many of their passive verbs with the active verbs on this list. Their writings sparkled! No related posts.

This idea was given to me years ago by a principal I worked for. I still think it’s one of the best ideas for classroom management and enhancing a child’s self-esteem. This is how it worked: At the beginning of the year, my principal gave each of his teachers a little red plastic telephone. He explained that the telephones were to be used for positive reinforcement for good behavior. If, for example, a child went out of his way to befriend a new student in class, the teacher would place the little red telephone on his desk, and that child knew that his parents would receive a "good" phone call from the teacher that night. My children were first graders and they loved receiving the "good" phone calls! The parents also loved receiving a positive phone call home. And I, as a teacher, loved to be the provider of good news. One rule I attached to my red phone was that no bad comments were to be in the conversation. This, for me, was all about bragging on the child. If problems needed to be addressed with the parents in other areas, they were done at a different time and place. Hope this idea helps build your children’s self-esteem! No related posts.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Labor Day! Labor Day Facts Labor Day Trivia Labor Day Games and Coloring Pages Labor Day for Kids No related posts.

I’m creating an Election Day theme unit for my fifth-grade son. I found an outstanding Web site that you need to check out if you’re also teaching presidential elections. The Web site is Electing a President for Kids. I’m also creating an interactive bulletin board that has a book about the presidents (which is something that my child put together last year), a timeline about the history of our country, and other books about electing a president. If anyone has other ideas for an Election Day theme unit I’d love to hear from you! ***Update*** I’ve decided to turn my interactive bulletin board into an ongoing "Handmade Presidential Election Big Book". ***Update 2*** Here is my Political Election Theme Outline. No related posts.

I’ve created a mirror blog at creativeteacher.minti.com. No related posts.

Welcome to our site! We will be posting creative teaching ideas for reading, writing, math, science, and social studies. We hope you find these useful in both classroom and homeschool environments. No related posts.

When I was a first-grade teacher, I started each day, from Day One, with a song about the letters and the sounds they make. It went like this: I would point (with my handy-dandy long pointer) to the letter A and sing, "The ‘A’ says ā-ā-ā or ă-ă-ă." Then I would point to the letter B and sing, "The ‘B’ says b-b-b." I would continue through the entire alphabet with this little song. The children picked up the little song very quickly and it started out each day in a fun and easy way. Even after my kids knew all of the letters and the sounds they made, they did not want to give up "their" song. It only took a few minutes each day and it really helped the kids who were struggling with phonics. So we kept up our letter song every day while the tardy kids were coming in and the class was settling in for the day. To hear a recording, please go to the Favorite First-Grade Letter Chant page (listed under ABCs). No related posts.

On the first day of school, I would tell each and every one of my first graders that they had to write a story for me. I wish you could have seen the shocked looks on their little faces! They would cry out, "I’m only 6-years old! I can’t write a story!" I explained to them they all had stories inside them. Some of them would tell me their stories with pictures. Others would tell their story with pictures and letters. Some might even tell me their story with words and pictures. It did not matter how they told me the story, they just had to tell me a story. These first stories taught me what each child knew about letters, words, and even their pictures. They taught me about where each child was in their development. I put these first stories in front of each child’s portfolio. For Mother’s Day, I would bundle up each child’s portfolio (no worksheets were in them) and give them to the children to give to their mothers for Mother’s Day. The response was overwhelming. The kids all said their mothers cried after they opened their Mother’s Day Portfolio gifts. No related posts.

This site is great! mastersinspecialeducation No related posts.

September calendars: This site offers many September celebrations with great links for each day posted!   www.surfnetkids A list of books for September events:   childrensbooks Blank calendars: superteacherworksheets Definition: wikipedia Family fun activities never disappoint! familyfun.go.com/magazine No related posts.

I met a new friend this year at school! This is why I like her/him! If I could change anything about my school it would be… My favorite summer memory is… If I were a teacher I would teach __ because… What advise would you give to students that are a grade below you. I love my grandparents. I have fun with them when we… Make a list of all the things you can make with apples. What is fall/autumn? wikipedia Draw a picture of a leaf. Describe your leaf to another student so well that she could draw it herself. Autumn is coming! What are you looking forward to this fall? Web sites you can’t miss: This is a GREAT story starter site for any time of the year! teacher.scholastic Writing ideas for every day in September! theteacherscorner More September writing ideas: uniqueteachingresources Daily writing ideas for every month!tooter4kids.com September writing prompts: creative-writing-ideas-and-activities No related posts.

Leaf-Shaped Book: First, I  cut out a leaf (Designer’s Calendar) using my cricut and gypsy. I used "layer one"on the gypsy to cut out the leaf, and "layer two" to write the word, AUTUMN ( Gypsy Wanderings).  *Be sure to switch your blade to your marker when you go from layer one to layer two. Next, I cut out slightly smaller leaves from white paper for the pages of the book. Use the leaf-shape book for: Writing poems For example: A Fall Song by Ellen Robena Field Golden and red trees Nod to the soft breeze, As it whispers, "Winter is near;" And the brown nuts fall At the wind’s loud call, For this is the Fall of the year. Good-by, sweet flowers! Through bright Summer hours You have filled our hearts with cheer We shall miss you so, And yet you must go, For this is the Fall of the year. Now the days grow cold, As the year grows old, And the meadows are brown and sere; Brave robin redbreast Has gone from his nest, For this is the Fall of the year. I do softly pray At the close of day, That the little children, so dear, May as purely grow As the fleecy snow That follows the Fall of the year. Autumn words: For example: acorn apple autumn chestnuts chilly cider cold cool cornucopia cranberry fall football hay leaf pumpkin scarecrow season Working with Words Write words that have the same"ea" sound as in leaf. eat beat neat seat heat meat Links to great autumn sites: Puzzles, Games, and Crafts: dltk-holidays Awesome Autumn Activities: familyfun Fun Fall Crafts: kaboose More Great Fall Activities: activityvillage Fall Unit of Study: apples4theteacher http://www.storyit.com/Seasonal/autumn.htm No related posts.