Little Blogfish

Cowboy School = Glyphs, writing, branding, boots, and a lasso

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 04:14:00 +0000

We've been working our way through Scott Foresman's 2nd Grade Reading Street, and this week, we read Cowboys. I've been waiting for this selection because I knew our Cowboy School would be a hit. Here's what we did. I hope you'll be able to use some of these ideas with your lessons about cowboys too in your classroom and homeschool classrooms.

First, we read the Cowboys reading selection, talked about the pictures, worked with the new words, and talked about what it would be like to be a cowboy--or cowgirl too of course.

Then we worked through my Cowboy or Cowgirl Glyph. We started out with the glyph questions and patterns. If you're not familiar with glyphs, they are a visual way to represent data. For this glyph, depending on how you answered questions about cowboys, you colored the hat, boots, bandanna, and gloves a certain color. You could also use the same items printed on colored construction paper.

Then we worked on some writing. The prompt was simple... "If I were a cowboy ...." and "If I were a Cowgirl...". This writing prompt was part of each cowboy and cowgirl craft.

Next, we looked at all the glyphs and worked a bit with data analysis and graphed the results from our cowboys. Check out the results! The kiddos even named their cowboys and cowgirls.

We had read about branding too in the Reading Street selection and the kiddos made their own brands. (Yes, Ninjago has had a big influence this year!)

Then we worked with symmetry and created these fun and colorful cowboy boots. I think I'd wear the brown and purple ones. What do you think? Would you wear them?

And then we watched a YouTube video on how to throw a lasso. While we didn't have a lasso, we had some rope and our target was the deer skull you see here. We discovered this deer last year in the woods which made for an interesting science lesson.

And that covered our cowboy school.

If you can read the writing prompts above, it looks like the line from Cowboys in Reading Street about what cowboys eat made a lasting impression. They wanted to eat cowboy food! But I didn't add that to the plan--maybe next time.

You can purchase my Cowboy and Cowgirl Glyph HERE at my Teachers Pay Teachers Store. The symmetric boots are from Loreen Leedy's TpT store.

Enjoy!
Robin @ Little Blogfish

Kid's Co-op Linky Fun- Post #3

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 02:48:00 +0000

It's a Kid's Co-op Linky PaRtY for the week of April12th!! I hope you enjoyed your Easter. Let's share some kid-friendly fun. This Little Blogfish is a happy girl to be a Kid's Co-op host along with many other great bloggers! I hope that you'll bookmark Little Blogfish and follow me here and on Pinterest too.

Please stop by again next week and in between too. Join this fun collection of family & kids play-based ideas and more. Scroll down and check out all the great stuff being shared or add your ideas too.

Be sure to follow the links and check out these posts. I plan to feature some of my favorite kid-centered ideas here next week too.

I hope that a few of you will be excited to be featured here next week. I look forward to checking out your links and following and discovering some new blogs...even little blogs like this one.

Now, let’s see what fun this week brings. The Kid's Co-Op link up is co-hosted by these awesome bloggers and will show up on their blogs as well. Don't forget to add a link back to this Kid's Co-op party somewhere in your post and include our button somewhere on your blog.

Please stop by and like the Kid's Co-op! Facebook page.

Enjoy and thanks for joining the "school" at Little Blogfish!

Cowboy Glyph and Cowgirl Glyph $.99 Sale on 4/11

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 14:27:00 +0000

I'm running a special sale on my newest Cowboy and Cowgirl Glyph teaching resource and I wanted all my blog readers to know about it. Head on over to my Teachers Pay Teachers store HERE and get your Cowboy Glyph for a great deal of only $.99 today (4/11) only. {Update--the sale is over, but this glyph is still available for a great deal.}

Product Description: Add a Cowboy and Cowgirl Glyph to your lesson about cowboys. This glyph and craftivity includes a writing prompt that's part of each cowboy or cowgirl glyph. In addition to the glyph questions about cowboys and cowgirls, this packet include four graphs to graph your results if you choose. This is a great way to integrate art, social studies, writing, and math!

This packet includes teaching tips, glyph questions with a student example, patterns to print on card stock paper or you can use the individual student patterns for coloring like you see on the cover of this packet. You will also get two writing prompts using three different writing levels for differentiated instruction. You also get four graphs if you decide to work with graphing and would like to graph the data from the glyphs.

Be sure to follow my blog to learn about other special deals and new products.

Thanks,

Robin @ Little Blogsfish

Cowboy Glyph and Cowgirl Glyph

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 04:42:00 +0000

Who's ready for some cowboy glyph and cowgirl glyph fun? I am. We've been working through our Scott Foresman 2nd Grade Reading Street textbook and have made it to the Cowboys reading selection. My mind started working, and I knew that I needed to create a cowboy glyph. I made this cowboy and cowgirl ready for the students to write too.

Cowboy Glyph and Cowgirl Glyph Craftivity

Click HERE to visit my TpT store and add a Cowboy and Cowgirl Glyph to your lesson about cowboys. This glyph and craftivity includes a writing prompt that's part of each cowboy or cowgirl glyph. In addition to the glyph questions about cowboys and cowgirls, this packet include four graphs to graph your results if you choose. This is a great way to integrate art, social studies, writing, and math!

This packet includes teaching tips, glyph questions with a student example, patterns to print on card stock paper or you can use the individual student patterns for coloring like you see on the cover of this packet. You will also get two writing prompts using three different writing levels for differentiated instruction. You also get four graphs if you decide to work with graphing and would like to graph the data from the glyphs.

Enjoy!
Robin @ Little Blogfish

Life Cycle of a Butterfly Glyph

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 19:28:00 +0000

Teach your children and students about the life cycle of a butterfly with my new Life Cycle of a Butterfly Glyph. This Life Cycle of a Butterfly Glyph is a combo package that includes my Colorful Shapes Caterpillar Glyph Fun Unit and my Colorful Shapes Butterfly Glyph Fun Unit. I have bundled those two units and added additional patterns to create the egg on a leaf and chrysalis so that you can display the life cycle of a butterfly. A description of each package included follows:

Click Here to Learn More About My Life Cycle of a Caterpillar Glyph

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Spring Caterpillar glyph for math and literacy fun...Glyphs are fun ways to display data in a visual way. Each one of your students will answer questions and create a unique colorful shapes caterpillar. Place these caterpillars on a bulletin board and help your students learn to graph the results while they have fun and work with following directions. You can even choose to add one of my three cute caterpillar writing prompts. Each prompt comes created for three writing levels. Plus, your students will have fun as they pretend to be caterpillars and answer the caterpillar glyph questions while they work with shapes and colors. This is a great integration tool.

Your packet will include the following resources:

page 1- cover page and picture of caterpillar craftivity

pages 2-4 teacher tips and time saving techniques

page 5 student example with directions

pages 6-13 patterns (multiple like items of each shape are on each page to help save you paper.)

pages 14-15 student glyph questions

Pages 16-21 If you choose, you can post a poster with each question on it on your board or chart instead of printing the questions for each student.

pages 22-28 graphs for teachers to complete with students if you choose

pages 29-30 cute caterpillar key poster to display on bulletin board (everything you need for a great learning bulletin board is here)

pages 31-42 I've included three different writing prompts. Each prompt comes in three different writing levels. You also will get an additional set of blank templates where students can choose their own caterpillar writing idea. These are cute posted beside the caterpillars!
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Spring Butterfly glyph for art, math and literacy fun*...Glyphs are fun ways to display data in a visual way. Each one of your students will answer questions and create a unique colorful shapes butterfly. Place these butterflies on a bulletin board and help your students learn to graph the results while they have fun and work with following directions. You can even choose to add one of my three cute butterfly writing prompts. Each prompt comes created for three writing levels. Plus, your students will have fun as they pretend to be butterflies and answer the butterfly glyph questions while they work with shapes and colors.

Your packet will include the following resources:
--cover page and picture of butterfly craftivity
--teacher tips and time saving techniques
--student example with directions
--patterns (multiple like items of each shape are on each page to help save you paper.)
--student glyph questions
--If you choose, you can post a poster with each question on it on your board or chart instead of printing the questions for each student.
--graphs for teachers to complete with students if you choose
-- cute butterfly key poster to display on bulletin board (everything you need for a great learning bulletin board is here)
-- I've included three different writing prompts. Each prompt comes in three different writing levels. You also will get an additional set of blank templates where students can choose their own butterfly writing idea. These are cute posted beside the butterflies!

Check out my Kite Glyph too.
Thanks so much,
Robin @ Little Blogfish

Butterfly Glyph

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 19:20:00 +0000

How can you celebrate Spring without a Butterfly Glyph? I'm happy to share about my Colorful Shapes Butterfly Glyph.

Butterfly Glyph

You'll enjoy this Spring Butterfly glyph for art, math and literacy fun. Glyphs are fun ways to display data in a visual way. Each one of your students will answer questions and create a unique colorful shapes butterfly. Place these butterflies on a bulletin board and help your students learn to graph the results while they have fun and work with following directions. You can even choose to add one of my three cute butterfly writing prompts. Each prompt comes created for three writing levels. Plus, your students will have fun as they pretend to be butterflies and answer the butterfly glyph questions while they work with shapes and colors. Click here to visit my shop.

Your packet will include the following resources:

--cover page and picture of butterfly craftivity

--teacher tips and time saving techniques

--student example with directions

--patterns (multiple like items of each shape are on each page to help save you paper.)

--student glyph questions

--If you choose, you can post a poster with each question on it on your board or chart instead of printing the questions for each student.

--graphs for teachers to complete with students if you choose

-- cute butterfly key poster to display on bulletin board (everything you need for a great learning bulletin board is here)

-- I've included three different writing prompts. Each prompt comes in three different writing levels. You also will get an additional set of blank templates where students can choose their own butterfly writing idea. These are cute posted beside the butterflies!

**This packet is now available as a combo deal. Look for my Life Cycle of a Butterfly combo with additional bonus patterns. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Life-Cycle-of-a-Butterfly-Glyph

Caterpillar Glyph

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 19:11:00 +0000

How can you learn about shapes, colors, and caterpillars? You can use my Colorful Shapes Caterpillar Glyph Fun!

Caterpillar Glyph

This Spring Caterpillar glyph for math and literacy fun will be a hit in your classroom.Glyphs are fun ways to display data in a visual way. Each one of your students will answer questions and create a unique colorful shapes caterpillar. Place these caterpillars on a bulletin board and help your students learn to graph the results while they have fun and work with following directions. You can even choose to add one of my three cute caterpillar writing prompts. Each prompt comes created for three writing levels. Plus, your students will have fun as they pretend to be caterpillars and answer the caterpillar glyph questions while they work with shapes and colors. This is a great integration tool. Click here to learn more about my caterpillar glyph.

Your packet will include the following resources:
page 1- cover page and picture of caterpillar craftivity

pages 2-4 teacher tips and time saving techniques

page 5 student example with directions

pages 6-13 patterns (multiple like items of each shape are on each page to help save you paper.)

pages 14-15 student glyph questions

Pages 16-21 If you choose, you can post a poster with each question on it on your board or chart instead of printing the questions for each student.

pages 22-28 graphs for teachers to complete with students if you choose

pages 29-30 cute caterpillar key poster to display on bulletin board (everything you need for a great learning bulletin board is here)

pages 31-42 I've included three different writing prompts. Each prompt comes in three different writing levels. You also will get an additional set of blank templates where students can choose their own caterpillar writing idea. These are cute posted beside the caterpillars!
*This packet is not part of my combo packet titled Life Cycle of a Butterfly that includes a butterfly glyph and additional patterns to create the life cycle of a butterfly. Click Here

Check out my Kite Glyph, Bunny Glyph, and Easter Chick Glyph too.

Kite Glyph and 2D Shapes Lesson

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:46:00 +0000

It's National Kite Month! I'm excited about my Spring Shapes Kite Glyph for Math and Literacy Fun (HERE). I wanted a fun way to teach about 2D shapes, throw in an art project, and add some graphing and writing fun. I think you'll like it too.

Kite Glyph

You can use this spring glyph for spring fun while you meet common core standards. Your students will learn to recognize shapes including the oval, circle, square, rectangle, parallelogram, trapezoid, hexagon, pentagon, triangle, and rhombus while they create spring kite glyphs full of colors from the rainbow for your bulletin board.

This glyph is easy on you too--just print the patterns on white copy paper and your students will follow directions to color each shape with colors from the rainbow. You can even make choices to allow for differentiated instruction. The fun doesn't stop there! Next, your students will work as a class or in small groups to graph the kite glyph data that is represented in visual form on the kites. Then tie in a literacy connection with three writing prompts based on the glyph and one additional prompt that uses a Venn diagram connection. This packet includes the following items. Please check it out at my Teachers Pay Teachers store HERE.

Page 1 Title page
Page 2-3 Teaching Suggestions
Page 4 Students Example of the Kite Glyph
Page 5 Kite Patterns
Page 6-7 Labeled Shape Mats
Pages 8-9 Shape Mats that Students Label (for differentiated instruction)
Page 10 List of Shapes for Students to use
Pages 11-12 Two Sets of Instructions for Coloring the Shapes (for differentiated instruction)
Page 13 Kite Coloring Directions
Pages 14-15 Shape Mat Poster/ Answer Key (you could also print this page for student use and skip the coloring of the shapes)
Pages 16-17 Kite Glyph Questions
Pages 18-23 Corresponding Graphs and one Blank Graph
Pages 24-25 Kite Key Glyph Poster for your Bulletin Board
Pages 26-28 Writing Prompts
Pages 29-30 Venn Diagram Writing Prompt

Thanks,

Robin @ Little Blogfish

Earth Day Education Linky Party

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 15:01:00 +0000

It's an Earth Day Education Linky Party!! Come join the fun and check out the links for some great education-related Earth Day crafts, Earth Day craftivities, Earth Day art, Earth Day lessons, Earth Day fun for children and more. Add your links too and we'll all share great ideas for how we teach our children to heart the Earth!

Check back soon to see some of my favorite Earth Day ideas featured here on my blog soon too.

Enjoy!
Robin @ Little Blogfish

Earth Day Freebie

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 14:59:00 +0000

Here's an Earth Day freebie just for you. I think you and your kiddos will enjoy this Earth Day Word Challenge. Just be sure to conserve paper and let students work in groups and, of course, reuse it next year to promote good Earth Day practices. Click HERE to get your free copy.

Earth Day Freebie for Kids

Earth Day Activity: This packet contains the resources to play three word challenge games.

For each game, cut out the letter cards for each word (reduce, reuse, recycle). Use just those letters to create as many words as you can.

This can be an individual activity, partner activity, group activity, or entire class activity. Have fun!

Enjoy!
Robin @ Little Blogfish

Earth Day Activities for Children

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 14:50:00 +0000

Are you looking for an Earth Day craft that helps you integrate subjects like social studies, writing, math, and art? If so, I think you'll like my latest Earth Day Glyph. I wanted to create a craft that demonstrated good Earth Day practices, and I developed this glyph that students create using items from your recycling bin.

Earth Day Recycle Glyph and Craftivity

This glyph includes Earth Day activities and fun with real Earth Day practices-- This glyph lets you demonstrate how to reduce, reuse, and recycle! In order to reduce the amount of pages you print, I have created a flippy book.

Images of Earth Day Flippy Book and patterns for two age levels

Your students will use this book to learn about reducing, reusing, and recycling for Earth Day in April. Then they will create an Earth Day Glyph as they reuse everyday items like newspaper and magazines. To reduce the pages that you will copy, five writing prompts are included but students are asked to reuse paper to write their response. You can also use the glyph questions to create a class graph on your board too. Happy Earth Day. I hope you enjoy this Earth Day craftivity that let's students show how the really heart the earth. Check it out at my Teachers Pay Teachers store HERE.

Thanks!
Robin @ Little Blogfish

Geometric Easter Eggs for Art and Fun Craft

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 16:15:00 +0000

How great is it when your kids beg to do work? We've been busy creating geometric Easter eggs. We've colored one a day and reviewed the shapes on each one. Here's what my 2nd grader created during our "fun" school time. I love integrating math and art. Throw in a holiday and you've got a hit!

Geometric Easter Eggs

We used all sorts of eggs with different shapes on them like ovals, pentagons, circles, and rectangles. You can do the same. The key is to overlap the shapes and notice the shapes that are created. You color the parts that overlap a different color. Notice how my 2nd grader didn't color each large rectangle. He colored the smaller shapes that were created.

You can make your own eggs too, or if you're interested, this is part Geometric Eggs for Art and Fun packet of 11 shapes that's available at my TpT store for just $1 now.

Enjoy!
Robin @ Little Blogfish

Chick Glyph

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:20:00 +0000

How can you have a Bunny Glyph without a Chick Glyph? After I created my Spring Bunny Glyph, I realized that we needed another puppet. That's when the Chick Glyph was born...or maybe I should say hatched.

I thought kids would have a great time writing puppet shows with their Bunnies and Chicks too. Here's an example of a my Chick Glyph. Check out the egg on his belly. I even added a little bit of art with shapes!

Chick Glyph

For this glyph, students answer questions about chickens, spring, and bunnies. This glyph will work well for spring topics like the life cycle of a chicken. In fact, the questions the students answer will relate to what they've observed regarding baby chicks. The top feather, beak, wings, and tail all tell a story. Data analysis is FUN!! You can check out my Chick Glyph HERE and there is also a bundle deal HERE. Thanks!

Thanks,

Robin @ Little Blogfish

Bunny Glyph: My Easter Craft For Kids

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Easter is right around the corner and it's time for some fun Spring crafts with an educational connection. We love using glyphs. I enjoy them because I like to integrate subjects instead of keeping every subject separate. When we use glyphs, we cover art, math, writing, and even science. Glyphs are visual ways to represent data.

This Easter, we worked on my Spring Bunny Glyph. I've been busy creating glyphs because the kiddos love them and beg to do them, and I just love how they make learning fun! I created this one so that all I had to do was run a few pages of white paper (or any color) through the printer for each student. The patterns and the questions are on the same page. For example, for the first question, a boy colors the insides of the ears blue and a girl colors them pink. Here's a bunny a kiddo created using the glyph questions. The size of the nose, the length of the arms, and the tail on the bunny all represent how this student answered questions about spring and bunnies.

Bunny Glyph

I added a frame to this bunny and options where the kiddos can write a poem or add some artwork. This kiddo decided to draw and color an Easter egg. Did you notice that the bunny is on a paper bag? We had been creating some paper bag puppets and I got inspired. Not only is this a glyph, but it's a puppet too.

This Spring Bunny Glyph is available at my Teachers Pay Teachers store HERE. It's also part of a Spring Glyph Bundle Deal with another glyph HERE.

Did you use this glyph in your classroom? Feel free to add your link here. I'd love to see how it turned out.

Thanks,

Robin @ Little Blogfish

Kid's Co-op Linky Party: Post #2

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:26:00 +0000

It's a Kid's Co-op Linky PaRtY!! Let's share some kid-friendly fun for the week of March 30th. This Little Blogfish is a happy girl to be a new Kid's Co-op host along with many other great bloggers! I hope that you'll bookmark Little Blogfish and follow me here and on Pinterest too.

Please stop by again next week and in between too. Join this fun collection of family & kids play-based ideas and more. Scroll down and check out all the great stuff being shared or add your ideas too.

One favorite from last week was The Artsy Craftsy Mom's Kandinsky's Water Color Circles. Here is what she linked up last week.

Another favorite was Kitchen Counter Chronicle's Spring Flowers for the Front Door. Here's she linked up last week.

Be sure to follow the links and check out these posts. I plan to feature some of my favorite kid-centered ideas here next week too.

I hope that a few of you will be excited to be featured here next week. I look forward to checking out your links and following and discovering some new blogs...even little blogs like this one.

Please stop by and like the Kid's Co-op! Facebook page.

Enjoy and thanks for joining the "school" at Little Blogfish!

How To Add a Pinterest Pin it Button to Blogger Posts Video Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 18:55:00 +0000

Would you like to add a Pin it button to your Blogger posts? I have created a video just for you that explains how to add a Pinterest Pin it button to your Blogger posts. I hope you enjoy my video.

If you enjoyed this video, Pin it, follow my blog, and follow me on, Pinterest, of course.
Robin @ Little Blogfish

Kid's Co-op Linky Party Fun: Post #1

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 04:07:00 +0000

It's a Kid's Co-op Linky PaRtY!! Let's share some kid-friendly fun. This Little Blogfish is a happy girl to be a new Kid's Co-op host along with many other great bloggers! I hope that you'll bookmark Little Blogfish and follow me here and on Pinterest too.

Please stop by again next week and in between too. Join this fun collection of family & kids play-based ideas and more. Scroll down and check out all the great stuff being shared or add your ideas too.

I plan to feature some of my favorite kid-centered ideas here next week. I was so excited to featured on B.Inspired, Mama and Toddler Approved last week. Check out my son's O'Keeffe inspired flowers and tips for making them too Here.

I hope that a few of you will be excited to be featured here too. I look forward to checking out your links and following and discovering some new blogs...even little blogs like this one.

Now, let’s see what fun this week brings. The Kid's Co-Op link up is co-hosted by these awesome bloggers and will show up on their blogs as well. Don't forget to add a link back to this The Kid's Co-op party somewhere in your post and include our button somewhere on your blog.

Please stop by and like the Kid's Co-op! Facebook page.

Enjoy and thanks for joining the "school" at Little Blogfish!

Our School's Georgia O'Keeffe Art Lesson

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 20:52:00 +0000

Art lessons from the classroom: With spring blooming at our backdoor, we tossed most of our textbooks aside for a while and decided it was time for some spring art. We've had fun learning about Georgia O'Keeffe and her artwork. I thought I'd share an art technique with you that will help your budding artists.

Our lesson started with a whirlwind tour of The Georgia O'Keefe museum HERE. I've said it before, but I don't know if I'd make it as a homeschool teacher without the internet. We were able to tour this museum from our home. Now that's great!! I sorted the artwork by category first, so we were just looking at the flowers. You'll need to do the same because not all of her work is for the kiddos.

We talked about the colors and her techniques. My student was interested and ready to go.

Next, I armed him with his camera and sent him outside with simple directions. Take pictures of the flowers in our yard the same way a bird or bee would see them. The images to the right of the post are my 2nd graders O'Keeffe inspired collection of what's blooming in our neck of the woods.

This is the picture that I liked the best. While it's not a flower, my kiddo still followed my directions. This is from a bird's eye view. Can you guess what it is?

With our photos ready, it was time to work on some art of our own. This is a simple technique that can have great results in your classroom.

1. Ask your kiddos to place one dot on their paper. No matter where they put this dot, it becomes the middle of the flower.

2. Now, for the next set of directions. Choose either Wide or Narrow. This choice will determine the width of the petals. My kiddo chose narrow and I chose wide.

3. Next, draw the narrow or wide petals out from the middle of the flower with pencil. The only rule is that the petals must go off the edge of the paper on all four sides. This is what gives us the bird's eye view.

4. Then we traced our pencil lines with colorful permanent markers.

5. We finished up our flowers with your standard water colors. I really loved the results.

My Kiddo's Flower

My Flower

I hope you're able to use this technique in your classroom no matter where your classroom may be.

Enjoy!

Robin @ Little Blogfish

Spring Education Linky Party and Spring Egg Printable Freebie

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 19:04:00 +0000

Happy Spring! Welcome to the Spring Education Resources Linky Party 2012. I'm looking forward to teaching about spring and sharing some fun classroom and educational ideas. We're gearing up for our local 4-H science fair and already have lots of spring topics on our To-do education list including spring crafts, spring life cycle projects, and glyphs.

Printable Geometric Eggs Freebie
I've been busy working designing more products for the classroom, and I created these printable geometric Easter eggs. Your kiddos can use paint, color, use ink or markers. It's your choice with these geometric coloring eggs. This packet contains 11 geometric eggs created with 2D shapes. Use the eggs to help review shapes in your geometry units and add a Spring and Easter fun twist. Your students can be creative as they color these eggs in their own unique way. Let them try coloring the sections where shapes overlap with one color and the other shapes another color for their own masterpiece. These are free for a limited time. Head on over to my Teachers Pay Teachers store to download your copy: Click Here As a favor, please follow my store and rate this product for me while you're there, and check out my Kite Glyph, Bunny Glyph, and Easter Chick Glyph too.

Spring Education 2012 Linky Party: Join the FUN!

Pin It One of the best things about being an educator whether you're teaching in a classroom, online, or at home is sharing with other educators and parents. So, join my Spring Education Linky Party or check out the resources below. If you're blogging about spring and it's educational, please add your link. Add your spring educational products, spring crafts, spring lessons, spring word work, spring math, spring craft ideas, spring art, spring Easter egg hunt, spring printables. If it's about education and spring, link up---I'm not picky! Please Pin our Spring Linky Party so that others can join the fun!

St. Patrick's Day Fun and Linky Party

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 00:50:00 +0000

It's time for some St. Patrick's Day Fun with leprechaun traps, St. Patrick's Day word challenges, leprechaun glyphs, shamrock glyphs, and if that's not enough...add a St. Patrick's Day Education Link Up!!!

Set a Leprechaun trap

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all! Are you decked out in green? Are you prepared to catch a leprechaun?

Here is a fun, free way to enjoy this Saint Patrick’s Day with your children: Create a leprechaun trap!

Sounds fun, right? Avoid hearing, “I’m bored.” Challenge your children to build a leprechaun trap. Arm the kids with the recycling bin, access to kitchen drawers (depending on their age), natural resources outdoors (this could be a green activity), or even craft supplies. You may want to provide some rope or string if the trap will need to be set by pulling.

Then send your children outdoors. Let them be creative and come up with their own leprechaun bait. What would lure Leprechauns in? Perhaps rainbows, marshmallow cereal pieces, shiny coins, or special shiny rocks would do the trick.

Then your students build the trap. This is a great idea for a group project or even a team event. Perhaps you could include the concept of using simple machines. Can they design a trap that uses a lever, wedge, or pulley?

Then, set the trap in motion. If no leprechauns show up near your trap, use an item like a tennis ball and see if the leprechaun trap can hold it. Good luck! But I’ve heard that sometimes we never see them. We only see the gold dust or glitter that they leave behind!

Do your kids need some inspiration? Check out these links:

Family Fun

To Catch a Leprechaun

http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/to-catch-a-leprechaun-710897/

Flickr

Image of Leprechaun trap

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42873250@N00/3360068961/

Scholastic

Leprechaun Traps (teacher tip)

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3746825

Have a Word Challenge

See who can make a word using the most letters from LEPRECHAUN or ST. PATRICK'S DAY. Click HERE to go to my free St. Patrick's Day Word Challenge Freebie. It include letter tiles for each letter in the words above and a record sheet to list the words you make.

Pin It
Create a St. Patrick's Day Glyph

Glyphs are great classroom tools that teach students about following directions and using a glyph (or in this case a pattern of a St. Patrick's Day shamrock and leprechaun) to represent ideas. For example, if a child's favorite color is green, their leprechaun will wear a green vest. If it is another color, they will put a yellow vest on the leprechaun. Then, they can work together and use their shamrock or leprechaun glyphs to create graphs. Please come by my Teachers Pay Teachers Store to check out my Leprechaun Glyph and my Shamrock Glyph for St. Patrick's Day.

Click here to learn about my Leprechaun Glyph

Click here to learn about my Shamrock Glyph.

Join the St. Patrick's Day 2012 Linky Party or Check Out More Ideas Below

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Are you looking for an St. Patrick's lesson for the classroom? Would you like to find a St. Patrick's Day craft? Perhaps you're looking for a St. Patrick's Day writing project. Perhaps you have one of these items to offer. If your St. Patrick's item has to do with education, link up. Please add your link or check out a link below. Have fun and happy St. Patrick's Day 2012!

Robin @ Little Blogfish

Click the blue add your link button to get started.

{FREE} Teaching Short A and Long A Vowel Sounds Game: Literacy Center

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 16:33:00 +0000

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Ready to Learn Short and Long Vowel Sounds

Is your child ready to learn about vowel sounds? Let's start at the beginning and teach about the long A and short A sound. First, the short A makes the sound you hear in words like back, ban, bank, and bat. The long A sound is heard in words like bake and bay.

Play a Game to Learn the Sounds

I use a dice game that I created to teach more about these vowel sounds. Download my FREE Short A and Long A Vowel Sounds Literacy Pack HERE from my Teachers Pay Teachers store. If you like this freebie, please follow my Teachers Pay Teachers store and rate my product.

This literacy game and packet will help your students learn to recognize short A and long A vowel sounds in a creative and fun way. Students enjoy games, so they will have fun when learning. This material is intended for students in 1st-3th grade, and it can be used as a literacy center activity. Your packet will include a letter to the teacher, Teacher Directions, a Literacy Center Folder Cover, Student Directions, one set of Student Score Forms for three students, Dice Pages to print and assemble five playing dice, and one blank Student Achievement Certificate.

Letter Dice A Fun

With your child, toss all five dice. Each of you should work for a set amount of time (depending on the child, set your own time limit), and try to create as many words as possible with the letters that land facing up. You and your child should each write these words on a sheet of paper. Then, to determine who wins the game, each person gets one point for each word. Then, if the child correctly identifies the word as having a long A or short A sound, the child gets an additional point. before the game, plan to play until one player get to a particular point value. We like to play to 25.

For example, if you roll an ACK, AKE, B, T, and V, a child may list words like back, bake, tack, and take. He's get 4 points for the words with 4 bonus points for identifying back and tack as having a short A sound and bake and take having a long A sound.That's eight points for the first round.

Extra Practice

If you'd like to work with some long A and short A words before you begin the game, here's the list of ending sounds from the dice. We used these ending for writing practice and spelling tests when we added letters to the beginning.

Short A Sounds

ack
an
ank
ap
at

Long A Sounds

ail
ake
ate
ay

I hope you enjoy this lesson. Be sure to check back to my follow my blog and my Pinterest page for more classroom tools and tips.

Recommended Fun Read-- Suzy Mule: Teaches Long Vowel Sounds

Enjoy,
Robin at Little Blogfish
www.littleblogfish.blogspot.com

Pinterest in the Classroom--Two Pinteresting Classroom Lessons

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 18:29:00 +0000

Is Pinterest an educational tool? Should you use Pinterest in the Classroom? I gave it a test run, and my answer is, “YES.”

Pinterest is a must for teachers.
• Teachers can find educational resources.

Pinterest is an amazing education tool for teachers. All we need to do is click on the Education category, and we can view little pictures of tons of educational ideas and techniques. Just click on the picture (see the note below), and we’re off to the website where the picture originated from.

• Teachers can network with other teachers.

If teachers find pins that they’re interested in, the can follow that person’s Pinterest boards. Teachers can begin to follow teachers who may teach the same subject or grade level. While these teachers may not know each other, they are sharing ideas. They are sharing classroom techniques. They are sharing! That’s the key.

So, what about Pinterest for students? How can we make it work in the classroom? Can it be an educational tool for teachers? Yes, it will, but it will take some work.

Pinterest will work for small groups of students with some Pinterest prep work.

• Choose your categories wisely. I stick to the education category and don’t visit the humor category.
• View the images, but don’t click on the link until you've read the web address at the top of the pin. I’ve clicked on a picture of rock candy for a recipe and an image of children in Halloween costumes and ended up at adult sites!! This could happen in your classroom too. If I had read the web address at the top of the pin, in both cases, I would have realized where I was headed. Ask students not to click on the links. (Unless you preview where all the links go, I suggest this policy.)
• Follow your friends and other educational pinners. In a previous post here, I’ve asked educators to add their Pinterest education boards to my post. This is a good place to start. Click HERE to locate educational pinners.
• Think small. I suggest using Pinterest in small groups or individual settings. Homeschool is great option since parents can observe their children.
• You may wish to use your account and modify who you are following or set up an account just for your students (it’s still your account, but you limit who you are following).
• Choose to view pins only from the people you follow when students are using Pinterest with students. Preview all of the pins (you don’t need to click them since students will not follow the links, but make sure that the images are student friendly pins.)

Two Pinteresting Lessons
Lesson One- What I Want to Do in School

I’ve moved from the classroom to the homeschool room and decided to try out a small Pinterest lesson with my son. Before our lesson, I created two new boards for my son. They are named My Child’s What I Want to Do in School and My Child’s Dr. Seuss Project.

We started with what my child wanted to do in school. I follow friends and educational pinners, so I reviewed all of the pins that were coming up. I decided the best option was just to use posts from the pinners that I followed.

Then, I taught my son how to use Pinterest and he scrolled through the page and pinned the pins that he liked and wanted to do in school.

It’s been about a week since he started the board, and he’s asked a few times when we’re going to get to try some more items from the board.

I’ve also installed the Pin it button, so when we are online and he finds something he’d like to learn more about, we add it to his board. I like this activity because it gives me a chance to see what my student is interested in. It also makes him involved in the learning process and gives him input.

Lesson Two— Pinterest Literature Connection

Next, I tried a more academic approach. I knew my educational pinners would be pinning away about Dr. Seuss on his birthday, so I figured that I could tie Pinterest into our lesson that day.

We read several Seuss books including the Lorax since the movie was coming out. Then we discussed Dr. Seuss’s characters and settings and talked about those items in our books.

Then, I sent my son to Pinterest (I had previewed the pins) and gave him some freedom. I observed but didn’t dictate what he should pin. I asked him to pin images that showed characters from Seuss books or settings from Seuss books.

He enjoyed this process. He even wanted to add some of these items to his What I Want to Do in School board. Technology really seems to get students involved, and we had a fun time learning about Seuss characters and settings using Pinterest.

So, yes, you can and should use Pinterest in the classroom, but you need to do some legwork, and in this case, small groups or individual learning is the best way.

Have you used Pinterest with your students? Please add a comment and share. Enjoy and, of course, come follow me on Pinterest:

Robin of Little Blogfish

I also teach Integrating Technology in the Classroom online through Ed2Go. Learn more about my class here:

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Linky Party for Teacher Pinterest Boards

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 04:31:00 +0000

All teachers (homeschool teachers too) of all subjects, join the Teacher Pinterest Linky Party 2012 and add your Student-Friendly Teacher Pinterest Boards to the Link Up. Anyone who teaches can link up. Just make sure that your boards (list up to THREE) contain material that would be appropriate for students of all ages. This will be a great resource for so many teachers who may choose to let their students use Pinterest too! Join the fun and feel free to share this post too.Pin It

Just click the link below to add up to THREE of your individual Pinterest Boards--don't link to the main page in case you also pin other topics. Select a few of the boards that are the most appropriate for education and represent boards that students could view too. For example, if you are a science teacher, perhaps you could add your board on a specific scientific topic that you pin. If any of you should happen to run across a board listed in our Teacher Pinterest Board Linky Party that's not suitable for students, please add a comment below so that I can remove the link from the list.

Thanks to everyone! Please follow my Pinterest Board too:

Robin of Little Blogfish

Manic Monday Leprechaun Glyph Giveway

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 20:36:00 +0000

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UPDATE.. See the Winners Below

Hi, here's my newest project-- A Leprechaun Glyph with Math and Literacy Connections at my TeachersPayTeachers store. I'm giving away five digital downloads of this product today (03/05/12). Learn more about this Leprechaun Glyph HERE.

To enter the contest, you must follow my TeachersPayTeachers store HERE. Then fill out the form below. You are only allowed one entry per person. The contest ends tonight at 11:59 EST. Any entries after that time are void. I'll announce the winners tomorrow.

And the winners are:

parris...

khadd....

nparr....

debbie...

and

melissa...

Congratulations!! I will send your Leprechaun Glyph packet to you by e-mail today. Thank you to everyone who entered!

&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Loading...&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;

Free Spring Origami Frog Pattern and Directions

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:09:00 +0000

Enjoy this FREEBIE! Click the link to go to my Free Origami Jumping Frog Instructions with frog pattern. This spring, combine it with your frog studies or even use it to help students work with following directions. You could even use it in math and students could measure how far their frogs will jump or conduct an experiment and let them predict if using a certain type of paper will help the frog jump the most.

Free Origami Frog Image

This link will take you to this FREE download at my TeachersPayTeachers store: Click HERE to Download your free origami frog pattern. Please follow my store while you are there.

Enjoy,