HeidiSongs Teaching Resource

Creepy Crayon: Free Craft Template!

2022-10-12T08:36:00.007-07:00

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Today, I am going to give you a link to our free Creepy Crayon craft that we made to accompany the book Creepy Crayon by Aaron Reynolds! Yay! If you are a fan of Creepy Carrots and A Creepy Pair of Underwear, then you were probably just as excited as I was for the next book in the series, Creepy Crayon! And so by popular demand, we have have included the Creepy Crayon craft here as a free download! We have also included links to our other crafts for Aaron Reynold's creepy books, too. They are such fun!

The Illustrations are FAB!

I definitely need to give a shout out to illustrator Peter Brown, whose wonderful illustrations play a huge part in the popularity of these books! I love the way he made almost all of it in gray tones, except for the crayon, of course! The illustrations really give the story a creepy, but friendly tone. I know I'll be a Peter Brown fan forever!

This is a photo of my Creepy Carrots crafts samples in my classroom before I retired.

Check Out Our Educational Videos!

By the way, be sure to check out our internet video streaming service on HeidiSongs.tv for the BEST in educational and fun songs that are teacher preferred and loved by both kids and parents! Here is sample video from our YouTube channel:

Creepy Crayon Synopsis

If you haven't read Creepy Crayon yet, I'll give you a brief synopsis. (Spoiler alert!) Our hero, Jasper Rabbit, is struggling in school; the only subject he isn't failing is art. Enter the Creepy Crayon, which shows up unexpectedly to lend Jasper a hand. Jasper finds that when he uses that creepy purple crayon, he can't fail! He gets both his spelling and his math tests 100% correct. But things take a turn when the crayon decides to also "correct" Jasper's art work. The crayon redraws the whole thing perfectly in purple, and Jasper wins the poster contest. But Jasper really wanted to do it himself.

He then finally realizes that he doesn't like getting credit for the crayon's work, so he tries to get rid of it. Just as in the other books, Jasper has to try several times before he finally gets rid of the creepy thing permanently, this time by flushing it down the toilet. Jasper decides that he would prefer to study and try a little harder to do well in school, and do it on his own. Meanwhile, the crayon floats out into the ocean where someone else finds him, and... well, you can guess what would happen after that!

These are my former students' Creepy Underwear Crafts! They were in Transitional Kindergarten, so they were older four year olds or young fives.

It's Child Approved

In my opinion, this story has a bit more of a mature theme than the previous two books. I'm not really sure if the author's point will be understood completely by the four and five year old children that I used to teach. And older grade school kids may be puzzled that Jasper did NOT want the crayon to do his work! But my five year old grandson, Elliot, pronounced it "The Most Hilarious Book in the Whole World," so what can I say? He is quite artistic, so he may really understand that Jasper did not want someone else changing his artwork. ❤️ We have read it more times together than I remember. So while I was a little bit disappointed in the Creepy Crayon plot, it seems to be just fine with the young ones.

Here is my five year old grandson working on his Creepy Crayon crafts. He wanted to do as many as we had supplies for!

In any case, here is the link for our Creepy Crayon Craft. And yes, it goes very well with the previous ones we created. Now that I am retired, I am just a little disappointed that I won't be able to decorate a classroom with all of those creepy crafts!

Here is a link to our blog post and craft to accompany Creepy Carrots.

And here is a link to our blog post and craft to accompany A Creepy Pair of Underwear.

Questions? You can email us at info@heidisongs.com. Thanks!

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10 Simple Memory Tricks to Help Kids Learn the Alphabet

2022-02-28T10:42:00.001-08:00

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Sometimes, kids have trouble learning the alphabet. And when this happens, teachers and parents will use anything and everything to help them learn. And often, inventing a mnemonic device (also known as a memory trick, a memory booster, or even a gimmick) about the more difficult letters can really help! In this article, I'm going to share the little tricks I use to help my kids that struggle remember the letter NAMES. If you are looking for a way to help your kids learn the letter SOUNDS, then please see my post here!

I always start by teaching the letter sounds, and I do this with my trusty Zoo Phonics cards. This is relatively easy because it is an active way of teaching and kids love it! To find out more, please read the post I just mentioned above. This sound and letter name connection is EXTREMELY HELPFUL and makes the crossover from letter sounds to names easy for MOST of the children- but they have to have some good phonemic awareness skills in place. That is, they have to be aware that the sound of the letter is the same of the sound of the letter name. If they are unaware, then using this technique to teach the letter names will take longer because the relationship is not as obvious to them. Until they develop the phonemic awareness that they need, the song “Sounds to Letters” on the Letters and Sounds Animated Video (shown below) can be very helpful for establishing the connection so that they can learn the letter names.

Below is one sample movie of the Animated Alphabet Video, available on Vimeo for streaming online, and also on DVD.

Since many children needed more than just the Zoo Phonics cards, I developed a few tricks to help the children remember some of the letter names that have no connection to the letter sound, such as the letter Y. I have included a tip for every letter. Often times, just a motion will help!

C: I have the kids make a sign language C, which is also in my C song on the video. So the children start singing the C song, which includes sign language for the letter C, and then a second or two later they have already said the letter name, just like magic! “To make a letter C, C, C, it’s half a circle, C, C, C….”

D: We trace the tummy on the capital D and start singing the beginning of the D song, which goes, "I've got a great big tummy like a capital D. D!"

G:   For the lowercase G, I have them trace it in the air, but when they get to the “tail” of the G, they turn it into a “pirate-like” motion, and say, “GEE, I wish I could remember!”

H: I have them make the H sound and start running, just like they do at the beginning of my H song. Once they start singing the song, the lyrics of the song itself will lead them to the letter name. "Hop, hop, hop! Make an H and stop!"

I: We start singing the beginning of the I song, and that’s it! “/i/, /i/, I! /i/, /i/, I!”

J: The children usually really like the J song, so when I show it to them, I have them shout out the end of the song, which ends just like “John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt,” but it goes “J, J, J, J, J, J, J, J!” They raise their hands up in the air and bring them down to the ground as they do it, so it makes it fun.

Q: The beginning of the Q song has the children making cuckoo clock motions, which the kids seem to remember, but I tell them to say “Q, Q!” instead of “cuckoo!” (with my head popping forward and back, of COURSE!) They think that is hilarious, too, and anything that tickles a kids’ funny bones is more likely to help them remember something, at least according to research.

U:  I draw a couple of eyes on top of it and say, “Its YOU!” And then we sing a snippet from the U song: “It’s a smiley, smiley, letter U!” I always tell them that if the letter is a smile, then it's a U. But if it's not, then it's an N.

W: I have them draw a W in the air and start to sing the W song, which goes with the motion of drawing the W. “It’s a W, a W! Everybody make a W!”

Y:  For this letter, I tell them to throw their hands up in the air and make a letter Y with their bodies. Then they should say, “WHY can’t I remember????” This always makes them laugh, and they usually remember it from that point on.

To help the children practice these letters, I use fluency charts, which are also known as Rapid Automatic Naming Boards (RAN Boards). These fluency charts are just papers with grids on them with just a few letters on them repeated over and over again for children to practice. Below are some examples. You can find them on TpT here, or on our own website here.

The idea is that you teach your child just a couple of letters that he/she is struggling with, and then work on them on the chart. Have your child find each one and then point to it, and say the letter name each time he finds it. Kids sometimes like to color letter box a designated color. And this week, I had my kids put a rubber stamp on each letter as they told me the letter name. They loved it! In this case, I had made customized fluency boards for them so that they could each work on specifically the words that the child needed.

I also send these charts home with the children for homework. I find that they are more useful than a stack of flashcards! I think that if parents get flashcards, they may go through them once, or twice if we are lucky. But if they go through the chart just once, they would HAVE to have reviewed the three or four letters on it several times! And I think that would be much more effective for a child that is struggling to learn the alphabet!

I hope that these tips were helpful to you!

- Heidi :)

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Managing the Merry-Go-Round: Virtual, Hybrid, In Person, REPEAT!

2022-01-07T15:28:00.002-08:00

See you there!

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Hello everyone! Today I am going to explain how you can efficiently switch back and forth from in person to virtual learning to Hybrid, etc., and then back again, etc. I will also explain how I managed hybrid instruction as well. This was in Transitional Kindergarten (TK), but I believe that the ideas should apply to any elementary grade level. At the time I taught TK, the students needed to turn five by December 2 in order to start school.

In my district, families may choose to Zoom from home or send the children in for in person school, and we were required to teach both groups concurrently. We sent home printed packets for the children to use at home every other week, and had to post it online, too! Children often spent unexpected days at home when they were scheduled to be at school, and this is how I managed this situation.

A Little More Background Info

In the district where I taught in Southern CA, we taught virtually for nearly the entire school year, from August 26, 2020 until the end of March, 2021. At that point, we brought back half of the students on alternating days beginning on April 5, 2021, using the AB Model and attempting to keep the children six feet apart, with all of us wearing masks. So, in my class of 25 children, I had ten Group A students that attended in person school on Mondays and Tuesdays, and nine more students in Group B that attended in person school on Thursdays and Fridays. I had six children whose parents chose to keep them home every day for virtual instruction, so I had to TEACH THE VIRTUAL STUDENTS CONCURRENTLY! All classes were taught virtually on Wednesdays while the classrooms were deep cleaned.

On May 10th, 2021, our Covid virus numbers in Los Angeles County decreased enough to allow all children to attend school in person if their parents wished it. At that point, we were allowed to keep them just three feet apart instead of six, with masks on everyone. Families were still able to choose to keep children home for virtual instruction. Once we settled in, we had twenty students at school for in person instruction, and five children Zooming along at home. Parents were able to keep children at home any day that they choose for any reason, so materials had to be sent home and then brought back again each day. This means that we have had varying numbers of in person students each day, but for me, it was never fewer than 18 children.

In addition, my WONDERFUL district provided a para-educator to help out in ALL TK (Transitional Kindergarten) and K classes during in person instruction! When a para-educator could not be found, they provided credentialed substitute teachers instead! (WOW. Just WOW!!!) I wound up with a wonderful para-educator with a substitute credential in my room each day. She was an amazing help! Even so, I believe this schedule would work even if I had to teach without help. It just would have taken longer to get to everyone.

The Basics

1. Stick with ONE Routine, whether virtual, hybrid, or in person as much as possible.

Once I decided to continue with the routine I had established online, I felt SO much less stress! I displayed everything on the screen for the in person kids (Roomies) and on Zoom for my virtual kids (Zoomies.) And on Wednesdays, when everyone was virtual, it just didn't matter! Sticking to the routine truly helped a great deal, since children always knew what to expect, whether they were at home or in person. (That's less stress for them, too, and stress affects student behavior!) It made transitioning back and forth fairly easy for all of us. In fact, I credit much of my intact sanity to the fact that I stuck to the schedule every day. 🤪

2. Plan ALL lessons so that they could be done both at home and in person.

This is VITALLY IMPORTANT! You can see my lesson plans on TpT at this link. I taught Transitional Kindergarten (TK) in a relatively high performing district, so these plans might work for you if you teach Kindergarten to an average or low SES population.

3. Give all instructions to everyone at once, then check for understanding.

When virtual, I used to ask kids to tip their Chromebooks cameras down so that I could see them work. I could usually see when kids were struggling, and would offer help. My Roomies needed MUCH MORE SUPPORT than those at home, and so when teaching hybrid, everything took much longer. So, I told parents at home to have books or activities that the kids could do if they finished early. They also had optional activities on Seesaw and on Starfall, but most kids did not do them. Usually, only my most advanced students' parents actually put them online to do that.

4. Set a timer for each activity or assignment and display it on the screen.

The online timer helped the Zoomies at home know how much longer they had to wait if they were finished. I used to hear some of them say, "Alexa, please set a timer for 20 minutes!" 😃 I sat with the in person students that needed the most help. If a child didn't finish, we would decide whether or not that child had done their best, or if they appeared to have dawdled to avoid the work. The "dawdlers" had to finish those assignments during our inside playtime.

5. Let independent centers go.

We did not have centers for kids to do while I worked with kids in small groups. Instead, kids that finished early could use their play dough (stored in their cubby trays) or choose a book, but both activities had to be done at their own desks. They also each had a baggie of one inch blocks (for counting) that they would often play with. I felt bad that the kids missed out on some of those fun center activities, but in the end, I think that they learned about the same amount with centers as without them. And it was actually less time work for me! (Shh!) 🤷🏻‍♀️

6. Give everyone a dry erase board (or sleeve) and a marker.

I managed to give all students a dry erase board, markers, and an eraser in their cubbies and at home. I think this was my best investment, along with a tray with magnetic letters. This helped me keep children engaged by having everyone reply to my questions either by writing, holding up a letter, or with a movement/action. This is the easiest and quickest way to increase engagement, and that is SO important!

7. Divide Work Among Teammates.

This is just SO important! You can accomplish so much more working as a team. If you are in the unfortunate position of being the only person in your grade level at your school, see if a teacher in the same grade at another local school would like to team up to plan and prep activities.

8. Stay well ahead of your planning and prep work.

I tried to stay two weeks ahead, all the time. That way, if we suddenly had to switch to all virtual instruction, I could easily send everything home quickly. And that meant less stress all the way around.

9. Find some "pre-packaged" daily or weekly lesson plans, if possible.

Using lesson plans that are already condensed into just one file means that sub plans are a breeze, also! Check out mine here, or search for some, or create your own. When I needed a sub, it was so easy just to direct her to the online printable packet I had posted for families. Then all I needed to do was provide links to other online lessons.

10. Have a back-up plan with online activities and the browser tab ready.

We used HeidiSongs.tv online videos to absorb extra time, plus they were already embedded into many of our Google Slides lessons. My kids always loved requesting their favorite songs, and it's super easy to jump from one song to another online!

11. Give yourself some grace.

Remember that you are not expected to be an expert at everything. You just need to do your best. Also, I asked parents to let me know if something wasn't showing up on Zoom like it was supposed to be, or if they couldn't hear me, etc. Each time someone mentioned a problem, I replied, "Thank you for helping me, I appreciate it!" I gave all of them my cell number to text me, just in case we couldn't communicate online. This helped tremendously, especially on those few days when the school's internet connection went down.

12. Give Students and Families Some Grace

Acknowledge that the situation is unique and difficult. Tell parents and kids that they are doing well when you can see that they are trying! I always used to say, "If you forgive me for my mistakes, I'll forgive you for yours!" When parents miss a message, remind kids that their parents are trying to handle a lot at once, and to be patient. I remember saying to the kids, "Even the BEST of parents will miss a message some of the time!"

Challenges and Solutions

1. Watch the Teacher, or the Screen?
Because we were Zooming concurrently while I taught in person, the children were expected to watch the projector SCREEN rather than "the real me." This proved quite challenging for five year olds! I often found them watching the real me rather than the screen, and then they missed things when I was using the document camera or an online resource. So once we opened up fully, I moved my teacher station to be at the front of the classroom, so that I was sitting right next to and underneath the screen. That way, I could keep pointing at the screen when it's important for them to look at it. (Previously, I had been off to the side to avoid blocking the screen.)
2. Ants in Their Pants
One of the biggest challenges with our classroom set up was that the students on the floor often picked up, played with, drummed on, or hugged their lap desks! They also sometimes raised them up over their heads into the air, and pushed them around the floor. And, being social little beings, they somehow keep getting closer and closer to each other as the day goes on. Also, backpacks with their materials wound up everywhere, rather than on the backs of chairs. I wound up moving those kids to tables.
I also made use of music videos with movement to help me teach. This was a TREMENDOUS help! Be sure to check out HeidiSongs.tv Video Streaming Site. You can subscribe to one video or the whole collection. Prices start at $1 per month with a three month minimum for one video collection (like one DVD), and go up to $9.99/month for all access to more than 1000 instructional videos and ZERO ADS.

3. Oops!
Another issue was that the cubby trays were often dropped and spilled, and even stepped on or tripped over if the tray was on the floor. A few times per week, all of the contents of a cubby tray would go flying across the room when a child accidentally stepped on it as they walked through the maze of lap desks and students on the floor. 🤪 The only good way to deal with this is to constantly remind them to watch their step, and ask kids to always put crayons and markers back into their boxes. And, read below about how we managed to keep our backpacks on hooks right outside the door rather than in the classroom.
4. Forgotten Supplies at Home
Because we were required to send everything home in advance, I usually had three to five students per day that would forget or lose their materials for the day that we had sent home. And, those that did bring them in often could not find what they needed. And, those that did find their materials would often lose something before an assignment was completed. This happened because they were FIVE, (not because they were careless,) so what could I say? I am not a fan of the "send everything home, and then bring it all back daily" routine, even though the great majority of the parents in my class were very responsible and truly did their best.
If you've ever tried to send home a permission slip to get it signed and returned, I'm sure you'll appreciate the issue here. So, my teammate and I prepped extra materials to keep on hand daily. Finally by the last month of school, I decided to break the rules and send home materials ONLY with the "Zoomies" at home, and not the in person "Roomies."  (Apologies to any former colleagues reading this!)
I checked with each Roomie's parents to ask if they would like me to keep the materials at school rather than at home. Then, they would need to be willing to print or pick up what was needed if their child had to stay home. They were ALL so relieved!  Not one family wanted to pick up everything and then send it back each day. I decided that if we all go on quarantine, I would drive it over to any family that needed me to, and leave it on their doorstep. I figured that if I got "a strike on my record," I would just smile and apologize, since I knew I was going to retire in June anyways! 😝
Everything was MUCH easier in the classroom after that, because I had control of the materials. Backpacks could stay outside the door on the hooks, and I didn't have to scold kids for searching for supplies while I was giving directions. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Classroom Setup for Hybrid Instruction

I chose to keep the tables in my room that I have always used rather than try to get desks. When all of the children were allowed to return, they had to be three feet apart "from mouth to mouth." We also put shields between every other student. I wound up with five tables with two or three children at each one, plus two individual student desks. This leaves five or six children sitting on the floor in front of the screen, using plastic lap desks.
I had tubs in their cubbies that were filled with their individual supplies, since sharing materials was not allowed. When they entered the class, the children grabbed their tubs, or "cubby trays" and bring them to their assigned seats. Below is a map of how I had my class set up, with a number next to each spot that a child could sit in. Luckily, my room was fairly large, and I always had five or six at home anyway, at least!

My Schedule (Half Day Synchronous Instruction for TK)

Note: for longer schedules, simply give longer assignments and/or schedule longer activities.

Here is a BRIEF overview of my schedule. My district required that all instruction be done live and in person, rather than pre-recorded lessons. You can find a more in depth description on this blog post here.

*I highly recommend that you open all tabs in your browser in advance and in order, from left to right. That way if you forget what comes next, you select the next tab and begin.

8:00-8:05 AM: Attendance, etc.

- Take roll, greetings, etc.

8:05-8:10 AM: Calendar/School Day Count/Weather Graph

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A post shared by HeidiSongs (Heidi Butkus) (@heidisongs) on Oct 25, 2020 at 1:33pm PDT

8:10-8:15 Science or Social Studies (or Social Emotional) Video and Discussion

Each week, I focused on one theme for either science or social studies, such as spring, fall, insects, holidays, etc. So for this time, I used videos found online. I did have to preview all of these ahead of time each evening. I found it best to show these early in the day in order to motivate children to get to school on time. The children seemed to truly love these!

8:15- 8:25: Story Time- (with Science & Social Studies Themes)

I used mainly digital books found on YouTube, or ebooks checked out free online from the county library via Overdrive.com. This made it easier for everyone to see the pictures and text. There are also many libraries that will allow you to check out ebooks even if you live out of their geographic area- and especially if you're an educator! Just search online. Kindle Unlimited is also a good source of ebooks; I used them until my free trial ran out. 😬

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A post shared by HeidiSongs (Heidi Butkus) (@heidisongs) on Sep 12, 2020 at 7:01am PDT

8:25 AM: Letter of the Day/Week Google Slides

These are interactive activities that include music and movement.

Note: we do as much of this as we have time for, otherwise I skip some of the slides.

8:32 AM: Number of the Day/Week Google Slides Alternated with Shape of the Week Google Slides

I usually did the Shape of the Week twice a week and the Number of the Week three times, depending on class needs. These are interactive activities that include music and movement.

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A post shared by HeidiSongs (Heidi Butkus) (@heidisongs) on Aug 18, 2020 at 6:14am PDT

8:37 AM: Sight Word of the Day/Week Google Slides

These are interactive activities that include music and movement.

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A post shared by HeidiSongs (Heidi Butkus) (@heidisongs) on Sep 19, 2020 at 12:02pm PDT

8:42 AM: Written Practice for Number/Letter/Sight Word/Shape of the Week

We did this with dry erase boards and markers.

8:45 AM Daily Academic Activities:

This was usually a short craft, since the kids really needed a break after sitting for instruction for 45 minutes! If the craft was going to take longer than 15 minutes, I shortened the previous slide decks in order to start a bit earlier. I refer to these as academic activities because they build fine motor, following directions, and art skills. You can find my lesson plans on TpT at this link.

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A post shared by HeidiSongs (Heidi Butkus) (@heidisongs) on Oct 28, 2020 at 3:03pm PDT

9:00 AM: Recess

9:20- 9:30 AM: Phonemic Awareness and Zoo Phonics

We tried to go through our Zoo Phonics cards every day, but sometimes ran out of time. The cards are sold on ZooPhonics.com, but you can also find practice videos on YouTube. I used these phonemic awareness Google Slide decks designed to give a visual aid and movement cue for each response. I could easily see which children were not engaged, so this worked quite well! You can try the slide deck for the -at family free here at this link.

9:30-10:00 Language Arts Instruction

Each day, I planned a game, worksheet, or activity to help teach the alphabet, sight words, writing, or rhyming words, etc. I sat at a table with those that needed extra help to finish. The rest worked independently and then read a book or played with play dough until the timer went off at 10:00. Kids at home could do the same, or do activities on Seesaw or Starfall, to which the school provided a subscription.

Here is an example of one of our Language Arts Activities.

We learned to read and find sight words in books like this nearly every week.

10:00-10:30 Math Instruction

Each day, I planned a game, worksheet, or activity to help teach the number sense, counting, addition, place value, etc. I sat at a table with those that needed extra help to finish. The rest worked independently and then read a book or played with play dough until the timer went off at 10:30. Zoomies at home knew that our play time would come last, so they were able to log off when finished. I had them show me their work first, then they could play at home. Sometimes they went into Breakout Rooms together to chat or "play together".

This is one of our math activities done with dice. We sent home printable dice.

Here's another game that we played with dice! Kids can also use torn paper for markers. Most kids at home played against their parents or siblings.

10:30- 10:35 Clean Up etc.

I trained the kids to put everything away into their cubbies and make sure their backpacks were loaded up and ready to go home. Kids were not allowed to go play until they did both. Having them get ready to go home BEFORE PLAYTIME worked especially well, since they were super motivated to move quickly.

10:35-10:55 Inside Playtime or Finish Work

Once children finished cleaning up, etc., they asked permission to go choose a toy. At that point, I usually had in my possession any papers that kids needed to finish instead of playtime- but this didn't happen all that often. My rule was that if the child appeared to be working hard during instructional time, I would declare them "finished" and let them play. Anyone that was observed to be avoiding the work or dawdling had to finish up during playtime. I explained this policy to parents in advance.

10:55-11:00 Clean Up, Dismissal

If there was any extra time, I read a book or we played a quick game.

In the afternoons, we were allowed to meet with students on Zoom for progress checking and do prep work. Sometimes there were also staff meetings. Honestly, we were first told to meet with the children after lunch to do some tutoring, but then our admin realized that that would have been a longer day for the children than during a normal in person day! They decided that more than three hours per day for our TKs was more than was needed. I was SO GRATEFUL! And I think that the parents were too. :)

Questions? You can email us at info@heidisongs.com. Thanks!

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TK Distance Learning Packet: SPRING - LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL - Week 13!

2021-05-14T12:42:00.002-07:00

See you there!

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Here's my Distance Learning packet for TK for the LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL! My packet this week is filled with SUMMER FUN THEME!! In this file, you will find all of the work for one week of school for TK, with some worksheets that will work for Kindergarten, for both Math and Language Arts subjects. We've included a variety of worksheets and activities, so feel free to use any or all of it with your students!

These packets have continued to help me during this time! Whether you're doing hybrid teaching like me, all online teaching, or all in-person teaching, I hope you find these packets helpful as well! :)

This week focuses on: Reviewing Letters A-Z, Reviewing Numbers 0-20, Letter fluency practice for letters A-Z, Summer Sun Alphabet Writing A-Z, Number Fluency Chart: 0-20, Circle, square, oval, triangle, rectangle, hexagon fluency chart, Summer Graph, Finger Counting addition worksheet - Sums to 7, Sticker or Dot patterns page, Roll a Sight Word page

Hands on activities include: Shell Sorting cut & glue, CD Spinner Optical Illusion craft, Write the Words Sight Words hunt and find activity, Playdough Marble Maze, Straw Rocket craft, Number Writing with Shaving cream, Cup & Balloon Pompom shooter craft, Sight Word Bingo, Pail & Shovel Thaumatrope craft

In my experiences, children in TK generally need much more time to learn, and even more developmentally appropriate, hands-on activities than are necessary for most children in Kindergarten. A list of recommended HeidiSongs music videos for the week is also included, and it links to our HeidiSongs internet video site. However, a subscription to our internet video streaming site is not included. You are welcome to eliminate this page as needed.

We've divided everything up by day of the week, (Monday-Friday) so you have the option of sending this entire packet to students, with everything labeled out on what to do each day! Permission is granted to distribute to families/students in your classroom. We've also included an editable Weekly Lesson Plan page, for those who may want to only include bits and pieces from our packet, or add in worksheets of their own. Each item in this packet is the very similar to the ones I would have done in the classroom. In fact, I am just using my lesson plans from both TK and K to create it!

You may notice that there are lots of hands-on activities for math included. However, on each of these “worksheets,” (which are more like parent handouts), I have stated on it that it is fine to substitute another type of toy or manipulative, such as Lego bricks, etc.

Again, many have asked, so I wrote a blog all about my daily virtual schedule! I talk about the schedule I try and keep to most days, along with any other resources I use, where to get them, and how I use a variety of tools to help support my teaching and my students learning as much as possible! Some of the most valuable resources I use daily is our Letter of the Week via Google Slides and Number of the Day via Google Slides.

Click here to get my Last Week of School - Week 13 packet from my Teachers Pay Teachers store! And here are the links to the previous weeks of packets for you:

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-4

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 5-8

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 9-12

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - St. Patrick's Day Theme - Week 1

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Rainbow Theme - Week 2

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Spring Theme - Week 3

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Insects Theme - Week 4

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Frog Theme - Week 5

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Earth Day Theme - Week 6

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Food Groups Theme - Week 7

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Flowers Theme - Week 8

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Farm Animals Theme - Week 9

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Chicks Theme - Week 10

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Zoo Animals Theme - Week 11

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Sea Life Theme - Week 12

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter/Second Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Fall/First Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

Don't want them bundled? You can get them all individually on my Teachers Pay Teachers store or on HeidiSongs.com!

As always, please don't hesitate to call or email in with any questions you may have!! Email info@heidisongs.com! :)

Happy Teaching!

- Heidi

P.S. Don't forget all our videos are available to STREAM on UScreen, FREE for the first 30 days! It's an awesome way to bring some EASY, active learning to your students during this time, and they can always cancel right before they are ever charged, like on day 29! Check out the info page on our website for more info!

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TK Distance Learning Packet: SPRING - SEA LIFE - Week 12!

2021-05-04T10:45:00.002-07:00

See you there!

__________________________________________________________________________

Here's my Spring Week 12 Distance Learning packet for TK! My packet this week is filled with SEA LIFE THEME!! In this file, you will find all of the work for one week of school for TK, with some worksheets that will work for Kindergarten, for both Math and Language Arts subjects. We've included a variety of worksheets and activities, so feel free to use any or all of it with your students!

This week focuses on: Reviewing Letters A-Z, Reviewing Numbers 0-20, Letter fluency practice for letters A-T (capitals), Sea Life Alphabet Writing A-Z*, Number Fluency Chart: 1-19 (odds), Square, oval, triangle, rectangle fluency chart, Sentence Writing practice, Sea Life Number Writing & Graph*, Rhyming Sea Life worksheet*, Sea Life Word Problems addition worksheet, Shark Teeth Addition worksheet, Under the Sea color words worksheet*, Shark Word Families worksheet*

Hands on activities include: Starfish craft, Jellyfish craft with tissue paper/streamers, Clownfish paint with watercolors, Spinner Dolphin plate craft, Shark craft, Count the Room: Sea Life number hunt, Sea Life Sorting worksheet cut & glue*

*Note: This packet contains a few worksheets and activities from our Distance Learning TK/Kinder: Sea Life packet, which was created in Spring 2020 when COVID-19 and distance learning first happened. The pages from this worksheet are indicated by the * in the list above.

Click here to get Spring Week 12 packet from my Teachers Pay Teachers store! And here are the links to the previous weeks of packets for you:

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-4

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 5-8

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 9-12

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - St. Patrick's Day Theme - Week 1

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Rainbow Theme - Week 2

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Spring Theme - Week 3

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Insects Theme - Week 4

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Frog Theme - Week 5

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Earth Day Theme - Week 6

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Food Groups Theme - Week 7

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Flowers Theme - Week 8

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Farm Animals Theme - Week 9

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Chicks Theme - Week 10

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Zoo Animals Theme - Week 11

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter/Second Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Fall/First Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

Don't want them bundled? You can get them all individually on my Teachers Pay Teachers store or on HeidiSongs.com!

As always, please don't hesitate to call or email in with any questions you may have!! Email info@heidisongs.com! :)

Happy Teaching!

- Heidi

TK Distance Learning Packet: SPRING - ZOO ANIMALS - Week 11!

2021-04-26T11:25:00.005-07:00

See you there!

__________________________________________________________________________

Here's my Spring Week 11 Distance Learning packet for TK! My packet this week is filled with ZOO ANIMALS!! In this file, you will find all of the work for one week of school for TK, with some worksheets that will work for Kindergarten, for both Math and Language Arts subjects. We've included a variety of worksheets and activities, so feel free to use any or all of it with your students!

If you've been following along, you'll know I now have a few weeks of hybrid instructions under my belt! I teach virtually and in-person - simultaneously. Like I said before, the first day was a complete disaster, but it got better. The first week was a tough week, but again, so wonderful to have some of my babies in the room with me! And let me tell you, AGAIN because I know I've said it before - these packets are a LIFE SAVER during this time! So, whether you're also doing hybrid teaching, all online teaching, or all in-person teaching, I hope you find these packets helpful as well! :)

This week focuses on: Reviewing Letters A-Z (lowercase), Reviewing Numbers 0-20, Letter fluency practice for letters A-Y (capitals), Zoo Animal Alphabet Writing A-Z, lowercase*, Number Fluency Chart: 2-20 (evens), Hearts/Stars fluency chart, Sentence Writing practice, Number Zoo Writing & Graph*, The Rhyming Zoo worksheet*, Count the Zoo Animals worksheet*, Zoo Word Problems Addition worksheet*, and Zoo Patterns worksheet*

Hands on activities include: Monkey craft, Elephant Ears Hat craft, Tiger Mask craft, Zoo Animal: Write the Room activity, Snake Pattern craft, Rainbow Parrot craft, Zoo Animal Sorting cut and glue*

*Note: This packet contains a few worksheets and activities from our Distance Learning TK/Kinder: Zoo Animals packet, which was created in Spring 2020 when COVID-19 and distance learning first happened. The pages from this worksheet are indicated by the * in the list above.

Click here to get Spring Week 11 packet from my Teachers Pay Teachers store! And here are the links to the previous weeks of packets for you:

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-4

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 5-8

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - St. Patrick's Day Theme - Week 1

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Rainbow Theme - Week 2

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Spring Theme - Week 3

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Insects Theme - Week 4

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Frog Theme - Week 5

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Earth Day Theme - Week 6

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Food Groups Theme - Week 7

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Flowers Theme - Week 8

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Farm Animals Theme - Week 9

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Chicks Theme - Week 10

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter/Second Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Fall/First Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

Don't want them bundled? You can get them all individually on my Teachers Pay Teachers store or on HeidiSongs.com!

As always, please don't hesitate to call or email in with any questions you may have!! Email info@heidisongs.com! :)

Happy Teaching!

- Heidi

TK Distance Learning Packet: SPRING - CHICK Theme - Week 10!

2021-04-16T09:56:00.005-07:00

See you there!

__________________________________________________________________________

Here's my Spring Week 10 Distance Learning packet for TK! My packet this week has a CHICK theme!! In this file, you will find all of the work for one week of school for TK, with some worksheets that will work for Kindergarten, for both Math and Language Arts subjects. We've included a variety of worksheets and activities, so feel free to use any or all of it with your students!

My first week of hybrid instruction is now under my belt! I’m supposed to be teaching virtual and in-person simultaneously. I won’t lie- the first day was a complete disaster, and the second day was not as bad but still a dumpster fire. BUT then things started to improve after Wednesday. It was a tough week, but so wonderful to have some of my babies in the room with me! And let me tell you, AGAIN because I know I've said it before - these packets are a LIFE SAVER in trying to maintain my sanity! So, again, whether you're also doing hybrid teaching, all online teaching, or all in-person teaching, I hope you find these packets helpful as well!

This week focuses on: Reviewing Letters A-Z, lowercase, Reviewing Numbers 0-20, Letter fluency practice for letters W, X, Y, Z mix capital & lowercase, Hatching Chick Alphabet Writing A-Z, lowercase*, Number Fluency Chart: 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, Trapezoid/Rectangle fluency chart, Sentence Writing practice, Crazy Chick Number Writing*, Rhymes Chicks worksheet*, Finger Counting Addition & Workmat, Concepts of Print: Read & Count the Words worksheet, What Goes Together? Chick themed Classification worksheet*, Chicken & the Egg patterns

Hands on activities include: How a Chick Grows sequencing craft, Chick Craft, Hen Craft, Rooster - crayon resist with watercolor, Add the Room Chicks activity*, Fishing for Sight Words, Hatching Chicks Addition craft

*Note: This packet contains a few worksheets and activities from our Distance Learning TK/Kinder: Chicks packet, which was created in Spring 2020 when COVID-19 and distance learning first happened. The pages from this worksheet are indicated by the * in the list above.

Click here to get Spring Week 10 packet from my Teachers Pay Teachers store! And here are the links to the previous weeks of packets for you:

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-4

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 5-8

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - St. Patrick's Day Theme - Week 1

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Rainbow Theme - Week 2

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Spring Theme - Week 3

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Insects Theme - Week 4

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Frog Theme - Week 5

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Earth Day Theme - Week 6

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Food Groups Theme - Week 7

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Flowers Theme - Week 8

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Farm Animals Theme - Week 9

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter/Second Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Fall/First Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

Don't want them bundled? You can get them all individually on my Teachers Pay Teachers store or on HeidiSongs.com!

As always, please don't hesitate to call or email in with any questions you may have!! Email info@heidisongs.com! :)

Happy Teaching!

- Heidi

TK Distance Learning Packet: SPRING - FARM ANIMALS Theme - Week 9

2021-04-09T09:24:00.004-07:00

See you there!

__________________________________________________________________________

Here's my Spring Week 9 Distance Learning packet for TK! My packet this week has a FARM ANIMALS theme, including a cow, sheep, goat, pig, and horse! !! In this file, you will find all of the work for one week of school for TK, with some worksheets that will work for Kindergarten, for both Math and Language Arts subjects. We've included a variety of worksheets and activities, so feel free to use any or all of it with your students!

In case you didn't see my last post, I'm BACK in the classroom! We are doing a hybrid model in my district - I have kids in the classroom (my Roomies) and kids on Zoom (my Zoomies) being taught by me at the same time, and, like I said last week, these packets are going to be a LIFE SAVER in trying to maintain my sanity for the rest of this school year. So, again, whether you're also doing hybrid teaching, all online teaching, or all in-person teaching, I hope you find these packets helpful as well!

This week focuses on: Reviewing Letters A-Z (lowercase), Reviewing Numbers 0-20, Letter fluency practice for letters E, F, G, H (mix capital & lowercase), Farm Alphabet Writing A-Z, lowercase*, Number Fluency Chart: 16-20, Rhombus search and trace page*, Addition page, "The Farm" Easy Reader, Sentence Writing practice with the word "the", Farm Rhymes worksheet*, Pig Pen Round Up number writing 11-20*, What Goes Together? Classification worksheet.

Hands on activities include: Cow craft, Pig craft, Horse craft, Goat craft, Sheep Guided Drawing, Farm Patterns cut & glue*, Connect the Dots Farm Animals*, Farm Color Word Worksheet*

*Note: This packet contains a few worksheets and activities from our Distance Learning TK/Kinder: Farm Animals packet, which was created in Spring 2020 when COVID-19 and distance learning first happened. The pages from this worksheet are indicated by the * in the list above.

Click here to get Spring Week 9 packet from my Teachers Pay Teachers store! And here are the links to the previous weeks of packets for you:

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-4

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 5-8

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - St. Patrick's Day Theme - Week 1

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Rainbow Theme - Week 2

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Spring Theme - Week 3

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Insects Theme - Week 4

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Frog Theme - Week 5

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Earth Day Theme - Week 6

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Food Groups Theme - Week 7

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Flowers Theme - Week 8

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter/Second Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Fall/First Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

Don't want Winter or Fall as a bundle? You can get them individually on my Teachers Pay Teachers store or on HeidiSongs.com!

As always, please don't hesitate to call or email in with any questions you may have!! Email info@heidisongs.com! :)

Happy Teaching!

- Heidi

TK Distance Learning Packet: SPRING - FLOWERS + MOTHER'S DAY Theme - Week 8

2021-04-05T12:26:00.003-07:00

See you there!

__________________________________________________________________________

My friends! I'm BACK in the classroom, starting TODAY! We are doing a hybrid model in my district - I have kids in the classroom (my Roomies) and kids on Zoom (my Zoomies) being taught my me at the same time, and these packets are going to be a LIFE SAVER in trying to maintain my sanity coming up. LOL! So, whether you're also doing hybrid teaching, all online teaching, or all in-person teaching, here's my Spring Week 8 Distance Learning packet for TK! My packet this week has a FLOWERS & MOTHER'S DAY theme!! In this file, you will find all of the work for one week of school for TK, with some worksheets that will work for Kindergarten, for both Math and Language Arts subjects. We've included a variety of worksheets and activities, so feel free to use any or all of it with your students!

This week focuses on: Reviewing Letters A-Z, lowercase, reviewing numbers 0-20, letter fluency practice for letters M, N, O, P mix capital & lowercase, Tulip Alphabet Writing A-Z, lowercase*, Number Fluency Chart: 0-20, Rhombus Maze page, Flower Addition with pennies activity, "Flowers!" Easy Reader, Sentence Writing practice with the word "and", Sight Word review worksheets for the word "and", Rhyming Flowers worksheet*

Hands on activities include: Sunflower craft, Play Dough number worksheet & activity*, Flower and Bee, and "I Love You" Optical Illusion Spinners craft, Flower Sorting* cut & glue, Mother's Day Card - Guided Drawing, Flower Petal Addition craft with dice, Flower Patterns* - cut & glue

*Note: This packet contains a few worksheets and activities from our Distance Learning TK/Kinder: Flowers packet, which was created in Spring 2020 when COVID-19 and distance learning first happened. The pages from this worksheet are indicated by the * in the list above.

Click here to get Spring Week 8 packet from my Teachers Pay Teachers store! And here are the links to the previous weeks of packets for you:

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-4

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 5-8

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - St. Patrick's Day Theme - Week 1

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Rainbow Theme - Week 2

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Spring Theme - Week 3

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Insects Theme - Week 4

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Frog Theme - Week 5

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Earth Day Theme - Week 6

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Food Groups Theme - Week 7

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter/Second Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Fall/First Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

Don't want Winter or Fall as a bundle? You can get them individually on my Teachers Pay Teachers store or on HeidiSongs.com!

As always, please don't hesitate to call or email in with any questions you may have!! Email info@heidisongs.com! :)

Happy Teaching!

- Heidi

TK Distance Learning Packet: SPRING - FOOD GROUPS Theme - Week 7

2021-03-29T11:05:00.004-07:00

See you there!

__________________________________________________________________________

Here's my Spring Week 7 Distance Learning packet for TK! My packet this week has a FOOD GROUP theme!! In this file, you will find all of the work for one week of school for TK, with some worksheets that will work for Kindergarten, for both Math and Language Arts subjects. We've included a variety of worksheets and activities, so feel free to use any or all of it with your students!

Even though we call them Distance Learning packets, if you're transitioning back into in-person teaching, or have a hybrid method going, these packets will be helpful and useful for you! :)

This week focuses on reviewing Letters A-Z, reviewing Numbers 0-20, letter fluency practice for letters M-Z lowercase, Cow Udder Alphabet Writing A-Z, capitals*, Food Matching Sets worksheet 10-20, Number Fluency Chart: 13-17, Shapes fluency practice, Dice Addition activity, "I Like Vegetables!" Easy Reader, Sorting: Dairy vs. Non-Dairy*, Sound Sort E vs. U worksheet*, Sentence Writing practice, Graph: Food Groups

Hands on activities include Food Group Plate activity/craft, Salad craft, Peas in a Pod craft, Mr. Potato Head craft, The Sentence Game for CVC practice, Food Patterns - make your own pattern!, Guided Drawing: Fruits & Veggies.

*Note: This packet contains a few worksheets and activities from our Distance Learning TK/Kinder: Cows & Dairy packet, which was created in Spring 2020 when COVID-19 and distance learning first happened. The pages from this worksheet are indicated by the * in the lists above.

Click here to get Spring Week 7 packet from my Teachers Pay Teachers store! And here are the links to the previous weeks of packets for you:

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-4

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - St. Patrick's Day Theme - Week 1

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Rainbow Theme - Week 2

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Spring Theme - Week 3

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Insects Theme - Week 4

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Frog Theme - Week 5

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Earth Day Theme - Week 6

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter/Second Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Fall/First Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

Don't want them as a bundle? You can get them individually on my Teachers Pay Teachers store or on HeidiSongs.com!

As always, please don't hesitate to call or email in with any questions you may have!! Email info@heidisongs.com! :)

Happy Teaching!

- Heidi

TK Distance Learning Packet: SPRING - EARTH DAY Theme - Week 6

2021-03-23T10:33:00.004-07:00

See you there!

__________________________________________________________________________

Week 6 already? YUP! Spring Week 6 Distance Learning packet for TK is done and ready! My packet this week has an EARTH DAY theme!! In this file, you will find all of the work for one week of school for TK, with some worksheets that will work for Kindergarten, for both Math and Language Arts subjects. We've included a variety of worksheets and activities, so feel free to use any or all of it with your students!

Even though we call them Distance Learning packets, if you're transitioning back into in-person teaching, or have a hybrid method going, these packets will be helpful and useful for you! :)

This week focuses on reviewing letters A-Z, reviewing numbers 0-20, Letter fluency practice for letters a-l lowercase, Earth Day Alphabet Writing A-Z, upper & lowercase*, Earth Matching Sets worksheet 10-20, Number Fluency Chart: 0-15, Shapes practice: octagon find & count, Addition worksheet - Creatures, "We Can!" Recycling Easy Reader, Earth Day Sorting: Trash vs. Recycling*, Sound Sort Y vs. U worksheet, and the Recycling Position Words worksheet*!

Hands on activities include Recycling Symbol sign craft, Our Beautiful Earth craft with blue & green tissue paper, Plants that grow ABOVE ground craft, Plants that grow BELOW ground craft, Earth Day Patterns cut & glue*, Grow a Bean in a Bag activity, and a How a Bean Grows cut & glue* activity.

*Note: This packet contains a few worksheets and activities from our Distance Learning TK/Kinder: Earth Day packet, which was created in Spring 2020 when COVID-19 and distance learning first happened. The pages from this worksheet are indicated by the * in the list above.

Click here to get Spring Week 6 packet from my Teachers Pay Teachers store! And here are the links to the previous weeks of packets for you:

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-4

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - St. Patrick's Day Theme - Week 1

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Rainbow Theme - Week 2

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Spring Theme - Week 3

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Insects Theme - Week 4

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Frog Theme - Week 5

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter/Second Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Fall/First Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

Don't want them as a bundle? You can get them individually on my Teachers Pay Teachers store or on HeidiSongs.com!

As always, please don't hesitate to call or email in with any questions you may have!! Email info@heidisongs.com! :)

Happy Teaching!

- Heidi

TK Distance Learning Packet: SPRING - FROG Theme - Week 5

2021-03-15T14:12:00.003-07:00

See you there!

__________________________________________________________________________

This year is FLYING! Here's my Spring Week 5 Distance Learning packet for TK, done and ready! This packet has a cute FROG theme!! In this file, you will find all of the work for one week of school for TK, with some worksheets that will work for Kindergarten, for both Math and Language Arts subjects. We've included a variety of worksheets and activities, so feel free to use any or all of it with your students!

This week focuses on reviewing letters A-Z, Sight word "brown", Letter fluency practice for letters a-z lowercase, Lily Pad Alphabet Writing A-Z, lowercase, Spring Matching Sets worksheet 10-20, Number Fluency Chart: 0-20, Shapes practice: hexagon maze, Addition worksheets - frog addition, Hang Man Game for Sight Words, and a "Frog Food" easy reader!

Hands on activities include: Frog craft, Tadpole craft, Frog Life Cycle sequencing cut & glue, Five Frogs on a Log guided drawing, Frog Patterns cut & glue, Poison Dart Frogs coloring page, Frog Sizes sorting page, Frog Sock Puppet & "Fishing" for sight words activity

Click here to get Spring Week 5 packet from my Teachers Pay Teachers store! And here are the links to the previous weeks of packets for you:

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-4

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - St. Patrick's Day Theme - Week 1

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Rainbow Theme - Week 2

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Spring Theme - Week 3

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Insects Theme - Week 4

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter/Second Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Fall/First Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

Don't want them as a bundle? You can get them individually on my Teachers Pay Teachers store or on HeidiSongs.com!

As always, please don't hesitate to call or email in with any questions you may have!! Email info@heidisongs.com! :)

Happy Teaching!

- Heidi

TK Distance Learning Packet: SPRING - Insects Theme - Week 4

2021-03-08T13:45:00.004-08:00

See you there!

__________________________________________________________________________

Another week, another packet! My Spring Week 4 Distance Learning packet for TK is done and ready for you! In this file, you will find all of the work for one week of school for TK, with some worksheets that will work for Kindergarten, for both Math and Language Arts subjects. We've included a variety of worksheets and activities, so feel free to use any or all of it with your students!

This week focuses on the letter Z, number 19, sight word "black", Letter Ladder fluency practice for letters M-Z, Insect Alphabet Writing A-Z*, Number Bug Writing 0-20*, Number Fluency Chart: 10-20, Shapes practice: rectangle, hexagon, square, Addition worksheets - ladybug and butterfly theme, Hidden Numbers Insects - sets of 10*, Letter, Number, Word, or Sentence? How Many Words per Sentence? worksheets*!

Hands on activities include: Ladybug craft, Bee craft, Caterpillar craft, Butterfly Coffee Filter craft, Guided Drawing Insects: butterfly, bee, ladybug, caterpillar, Rhyming Bugs cut & glue*, Write the Room Insects activity*, Is It an Insect? Sorting*

*Note: This packet contains a few worksheets and activities from our Distance Learning TK/Kinder: Insects packet, which was created in Spring 2020 when COVID-19 and distance learning first happened. The pages from this worksheet are indicated by the * in the list above.

Click here to get Spring Week 4 packet from my Teachers Pay Teachers store! And here are the links to the previous weeks of packets for you:

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-4

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - St. Patrick's Day Theme - Week 1

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Rainbow Theme - Week 2

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Spring Theme - Week 3

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter/Second Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Fall/First Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

Don't want them as a bundle? You can get them individually on my Teachers Pay Teachers store or on HeidiSongs.com!

As always, please don't hesitate to call or email in with any questions you may have!! Email info@heidisongs.com! :)

Happy Teaching!

- Heidi

TK Distance Learning Packet: SPRING - Spring Theme - Week 3

2021-02-26T12:38:00.002-08:00

See you there!

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Another week, another packet! My Spring Week 3 Distance Learning packet for TK is done and ready for you! In this file, you will find all of the work for one week of school for TK, with some worksheets that will work for Kindergarten, for both Math and Language Arts subjects. We've included a variety of worksheets and activities, so feel free to use any or all of it with your students!

This week focuses on the Letter Y, Number 18, Sight word "white", Letter Ladder fluency practice for letters L-Y, Number Fluency Chart: 14-18, Shapes practice: oval & circle, Easy Reader practice: Bunny Book, Bunny Counting 10-20*, Bunny Number Writing 0-20, Addition Practice: Egg addition sums to 8*, Do They Rhyme? worksheet!

Hands on activities include: Triangle Bunny art project, Hatching Chick art project, Spring Patterns - cut & glue to make a pattern, Bunny Ears Hat craft, Connect Four - Numbers game, and Pushpin Bunny & Egg activity!

*Note: This packet contains a few worksheets and activities from our Distance Learning TK/Kinder: Eggs & Bunnies!, which was created in Spring 2020 when COVID-19 and distance learning first happened. The pages from this worksheet are indicated by the * in the list above!

Click here to get Spring Week 3 packet from my Teachers Pay Teachers store! And here are the links to the previous weeks of packets for you:

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - St. Patrick's Day Theme - Week 1

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - Rainbow Theme - Week 2

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter/Second Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Fall/First Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

Don't want them as a bundle? You can get them individually on my Teachers Pay Teachers store or on HeidiSongs.com!

As always, please don't hesitate to call or email in with any questions you may have!! Email info@heidisongs.com! :)

Happy Teaching!

- Heidi

TK Distance Learning Packet: SPRING - Rainbow Theme - Week 2

2021-02-22T12:54:00.003-08:00

See you there!

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Here we go! My Spring Week 2 Distance Learning packet for TK is done! In this file, you will find all of the work for one week of school for TK, with some worksheets that will work for Kindergarten, for both Math and Language Arts subjects. We've included a variety of worksheets and activities, so feel free to use any or all of it with your students!

This week focuses on the letter X, number 17, and the sight word "purple". There are worksheets/activities including Letter Ladder fluency practice for letters A-X, Number Fluency Chart: 7-17, Shapes practice: rectangle & rhombus, Easy Reader practice: We Like Rainbows, Addition Practice: Raindrop Addition sums to 7*, Rainy Position Words*, Rhyming Words Worksheets*, and a Similarities & Differences sheet*!

Hands on activities include: Count & Write Numbers in Shaving cream, sugar, ketchup, etc, Rainbow Watercolor Painting, Rainbow Color by color word*, Lightning & Thundercloud Shaker craft, Rainbow on Coffee Filter painting/color mixing, Rainbow Number Cover Up game*, Rainbow Trace & Paint Numbers 15-18, and an Umbrella Pencil Topper craft!

*Note: This packet contains a few worksheets and activities from our Distance Learning TK/Kinder: Rainbows & Weather!, which was created in Spring 2020 when COVID-19 and distance learning first happened. The pages from this worksheet are indicated by the * in the list above!

Click here to get Spring Week 2 packet from my Teachers Pay Teachers store! And here are the links to the previous weeks of packets for you:

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Spring/Third Trimester - St. Patrick's Day Theme - Week 1

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter/Second Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Fall/First Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

Don't want them as a bundle? You can get them individually on my Teachers Pay Teachers store or on HeidiSongs.com!

As always, please don't hesitate to call or email in with any questions you may have!! Email info@heidisongs.com! :)

Happy Teaching!

- Heidi

TK Distance Learning Packet: SPRING - St. Patrick's Day Theme - Week 1

2021-02-17T09:43:00.011-08:00

See you there!

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Who blinked??? Spring?? Already?? YEP! My Spring Week 1 Distance Learning packet for TK or Kindergarten is HERE! This is a great packet for use around St. Patrick's Day! In this file, you will find all of the work for one week of school for TK, with some worksheets that will work for Kindergarten, for both Math and Language Arts subjects. We've included a variety of worksheets and activities, so feel free to use any or all of it with your students!

This week focuses on the letter W, number 16, and the sight word "green". There are worksheets/activities including Letter Ladder fluency practice for letters A-W, Number Fluency Chart: 10-16, Shapes practice: circle, triangle, square, rectangle, oval, Easy Reader practice: Orange and Green, Addition Practice: Addition Creatures sums to 6, St. Patrick's Day graph, and a Shamrock counting page.

Hands on activities include Roll a Leprechaun activity, Rainbow Chain with Pot of Gold art project, Fishing for Numbers & Shapes activity, Checkerboard Shamrock painting, Rainbow Trace and Paint sight words, Connect Four game with sight words, and a Guided Drawing: Leprechaun!

Click here to get Spring Week 1 packet from my Teachers Pay Teachers store! And here are the links to the previous weeks of packets for you:

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter/Second Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Fall/First Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

Don't want them as a bundle? You can get them individually on my Teachers Pay Teachers store or on HeidiSongs.com!

As always, please don't hesitate to call or email in with any questions you may have!! Email info@heidisongs.com! :)

Happy Teaching!

- Heidi

Second Trimester Distance Learning Packet BUNDLE for TK - Weeks 1-12!

2021-02-02T12:45:00.004-08:00

See you there!

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Hey, All! This is my Second Trimester WINTER BUNDLE Weeks 1-12 Distance Learning packet set for TK! That's right, the second 12 weeks of school, or the 2nd trimester for Heidi! In this bundle you will find everything you need for one week of school in each packet, for TK for Math and Language Arts, and arts and crafts. We've included a variety of hands-on activities and worksheets, so you can use just part of it or all of it with your students! Worksheets and activities include practice with letter recognition and letter writing, rhyming, sight words, beginning sounds, counting, number writing, patterning, and scissor practice.

This trimester set focuses on letters K-V, number review 1-10, plus 11-15, shapes review all they've learned so far, plus Trapezoid and Hexagon!

Hands on activities and themes include:

- 3 weeks of Holiday art projects and themed worksheets/activities

- 4 weeks of Winter/January art projects and themed worksheets/activities,

- 2 weeks of Valentines/Heart themed art projects/worksheets/activities,

- 1 week of Presidents' Day themed art projects/worksheets/activities

- 1 week of 100th Day of School themed art projects/worksheets/activities

- 1 week of Read Across America themed art projects/worksheets/activities

Many have asked, so I wrote a blog all about my daily virtual schedule! I talk about the schedule I try and keep to most days, along with any other resources I use, where to get them, and how I use a variety of tools to help support my teaching and my students learning as much as possible! Some of the most valuable resources I use daily is our Letter of the Week via Google Slides and Number of the Day via Google Slides, as well as my Heggerty Phonemic Awareness & CVC Words Google Slides!

Click here to get K/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter/Second Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12 set from my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

Looking for the first trimester?? Here's my TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Fall/First Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12!

Don't want them as a bundle? You can get them individually on my Teachers Pay Teachers store or on HeidiSongs.com!

As always, please don't hesitate to call or email in with any questions you may have!! Email info@heidisongs.com! :)

Happy Teaching!

- Heidi

HUNDREDS DAY THEME! Distance Learning Packets for TK - Winter WEEK 10!

2021-01-18T10:33:00.003-08:00

See you there!

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Ready for some HUNDREDS DAY activities??? This is my Winter Week 10 Distance Learning packet for TK! This is a great packet to use for the 100th Day of School week! In this file, you will find all of the work for one week of school for TK, with some worksheets that will work for Kindergarten, for both Math and Language Arts subjects. We've included a variety of worksheets and activities, so feel free to use any or all of it with your students!

This week focuses on the letter T, Number 100, for the 100th day of school, the sight word "orange", Letter Ladder fluency practice for letters A-T, Number Fluency Chart: 10-13, Shapes practice: trapezoid & hexagon fluency practice, Sentence Writing Practice: "I can eat 100...", and Rhyming Number Writing 2-13.

Hands on activities include Shape Memory Game with cups, One hundred dots craft, Hundred's Day Ten, Frames and Stamps, Torn paper 100 craft, Hundred's Day Easy Reader, Paint or Color 100 Flower Petals, Put 100 things in groups of ten for 100, One hundred stickers picture, 100 Tally Marks strip: trace, cut, and glue, and a Hundredth Day Hat craft!

Click here to get Winter Week 10 packet from my Teachers Pay Teachers store! And here are the links to the previous weeks of packets for you:

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter Week 9
TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter Week 8
TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter BUNDLE Weeks 4-7

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter Holiday BUNDLE Weeks 1-3
TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Fall BUNDLE Weeks 1-4
TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Fall BUNDLE Weeks 5-8
TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Fall BUNDLE Weeks 9-12

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Fall/First Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

Don't want them as a bundle? You can get them individually on my Teachers Pay Teachers store or on HeidiSongs.com!

As always, please don't hesitate to call or email in with any questions you may have!! Email info@heidisongs.com! :)

Happy Teaching!

- Heidi

Distance Learning Packets for TK - Winter BUNDLE Weeks 4-7!

2021-01-13T11:47:00.004-08:00

See you there!

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It's been a few weeks with the holidays, but here we go! This is our Winter BUNDLE Weeks 4-7 Distance Learning packets for TK! That's 4 weeks, perfect for all of January with winter themed worksheets, games, hands-on activities, and art projects! (This could also be a great alternative for December if you do not want to cover any Christmas themed items like Santa, Reindeer, Elves, and Candy Canes!) You will find everything you need for one week of school for each packet, for TK for Math and Language Arts, and arts and crafts. We've included a variety of hands-on activities and worksheets, so you can use just part of it or all of it with your students! Worksheets and activities include practice with letter recognition and letter writing, rhyming, sight words, beginning sounds, counting, number writing, patterning, and scissor practice. :)

These 4 weeks include January winter themed games, worksheets, or art projects: New Year's Party Hat craft, Snowflakes, Snowman, Snow, Fall vs. Winter, Penguin, Polar Bear!

They cover the following Letters, Numbers, and Sight Words: Letters N, O, P, Q, Review Numbers 0-11, Sight Words: for, play, me, here, and introduces addition!

Click here to get Winter BUNDLE Weeks 4-7 from my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

Here are the links to the previous weeks of packets for you:

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter Week 9
TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter Week 8
TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter BUNDLE Weeks 4-7

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter Week 7
TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter Week 6
TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter Week 5
TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter Week 4

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Fall/First Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

Don't want them as a bundle? You can get them individually on my Teachers Pay Teachers store or on HeidiSongs.com!

As always, please don't hesitate to call or email in with any questions you may have!! Email info@heidisongs.com! :)

Happy Teaching!

- Heidi

Positive/Negative Spray Painted Snowflakes Tutorial

2021-01-06T06:00:00.007-08:00

See you there!

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Happy New Year! Here's a FUN winter themed post from a few years ago when I wasn't teaching remotely. I hope you love it! :)

In this post, I am going to share how to make some beautiful positive/negative spray painted snowflakes! I adapted this idea from something similar I saw done on Instagram, but with fall leaves instead of snowflakes. I absolutely LOVED the idea, (I even pinned it here!) so I thought it would be fun to adapt it and see if I could come up with something new to put on our wall for winter. It’s about time I changed that bulletin board, anyway!

For this project, I had to purchase some snowflake stencils on Amazon. This set by Roylco came with twelve different plastic snowflake stencils in it for about fifteen bucks. I was tempted to purchase the leaf stencils just to have for next year, but somehow I managed to resist. In any case, I think it’s important that the stencils are made of plastic so that you can rinse them off and reuse them after painting. Otherwise, if they are cardboard, you will probably end up ruining them by spraying the paint over them, and that’s no good!

The process itself is pretty easy. All you need to do is measure the size of your stencils and cut the paper so that it is even with the stencils as shown in the picture. Cut one paper for each child. We put the names on the backs of the papers in advance, because that helps me remember to do one for each child without missing anyone, even if they are absent the day we do them. It’s important to me to have everyone represented on my bulletin boards!

Now comes the only time consuming part: someone needs to tape down the snowflake stencils in advance. I had volunteers help me with that part, but if you don’t have any volunteers, I bet that some fifth graders would be happy to help. The fifth grade teacher at my school is always happy to give her faster workers projects like this, as long as I give her plenty of time to get it done! Now, one problem is that I had ten stencils to work with and 19 kids, so I had to do half of the class one week and half of the class the next week. Of course, some of the kids were a little confused about this even after I explained it, but they understood why they had to wait in the end!

You’ll need to get your paint ready, too! We were going to use liquid watercolors, but that limited us to only the one color of blue that I had on hand, and I really wanted to mix light blue with dark blue. So we decided to get some tempera paint and add a lot of water until it looked like liquid watercolors! We used the bright blue aqua tempera and the regular darker blue the kids normally paint with, mixing it with a LOT of water! Note that the original Instagram post with the fall leaves indicates that this can be done with food coloring and water as well! Once both colors are prepared, just put them into a couple of spray bottles and spray them into the sink until the consistency of the paint looks correct. Then try it on some paper to make a sample. If it works well, you’re good to go!

Now comes the fun part: doing it with the kids! My favorite way to do this is to call the kids back two at a time, with one watching and the other painting. That way, I only have to explain things once for every two kids. (You could probably do three at a time just as easily.) Then they switch! The spraying takes almost no time at all, and it’s fun for them! They just needed to be coached to spray quickly, pulling the handle back fast, which made the tiny droplets. I had my kids practice spraying into the sink, which really helped a lot, and also got them “over it” a little bit, if you know what I mean! Once they had it, they were able to spray their snowflake. One child sprayed sooooo much that he saturated his paper and had to redo his snowflake later. So, I recommend that you give them a certain number of sprays and then tell them that they MUST stop after that.

Next, just let the papers dry for a couple of hours. Once they are completely dry and there is no chance of any paint dripping or spreading, then you can pull off the stencils. The kids LOVED to see the paintings as the stencils were removed! If you have the time, it’s really a nice thing to call each child back and let them watch as an adult pulls their stencil off.

A video posted by Heidi Butkus (@heidisongs) on Jan 5, 2017 at 1:53pm PST

Of course, they don’t NEED to be “framed” with paper on the back as I did, but the white snowflake papers weren’t showing up very well on my white wall, so the framing seemed necessary to me.

I hope that you enjoyed this post and may even try it yourself! Let me know how it goes, and I would LOVE to see a picture if you make some! Happy New Year!

-Heidi

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How to Make Clay Snowmen with Young Children

2020-12-28T06:00:00.001-08:00

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Teaching children to make snowmen out of clay is really not that hard! Here are step by step instructions on how to make kiln fired clay snowmen with children as young as four or five years old in small groups.

You will need access to a kiln and about ten to fifteen pounds of white clay for a class of twenty-four children. (Do not buy the red clay for white snowmen!) You will also need at least one week for the snowmen to dry before they can be fired in the kiln, and then another day to glaze them in the classroom before they can be fired again. So the absolute minimum amount of time needed to complete this clay project is a week and a half, but it can be completed more comfortably in two weeks. I always try to give myself a month, just so that if anyone is absent on the day that we make the clay project, I have a few days to make it up, and then plenty of the “wiggle room” I always need to find the time to get the snowmen loaded and unloaded in the kiln. At my school, we also have to take into account that there may be other teachers using the kiln as well, so it’s best not to put things like this off 'til the last minute.

Child-Made Clay Snowmen, Waiting to Be Glazed

The snowmen in the picture above the title for this section are my teacher made samples. The snowmen in the picture to the left that are still to be glazed are strictly child made, and I think you can really see the difference. I think that the child made ones are really adorable! The snowmen below with the hats on them were made by the class next door. They have a retired teacher come in and do them with the children one at a time. You can see that these snowmen have had a LOT more adult intervention, and they all tend to come out looking the same. In fact, it is hard to tell that a child ever laid hands on them, in my opinion! I really respect this particular retired teacher, but she and I do not share the same opinion about children's artwork, and especially about clay projects. I really want my students' gifts of clay artwork to look like their work at the age of five, not the teacher's work when they were five. The fact that the child made it him or herself is what makes the gift special, and I believe that it should be treasured as such! Behind the three finished sample snowmen that I made, you can see the whole class' snowmen, ready to be fired.

Snowmen Made with One-On-One Teacher Help

To begin, all you have to do is just have the kids roll three balls of clay, and then have them line them up by size, choosing the largest for the bottom of the snowman. The smallest is for the head, and the medium sized one is for the middle. The bottom of the snowman should be about the size of a golf ball, and the middle should be about the size of a ping pong ball. The head should be slightly smaller than the ping pong ball, and maybe a bit larger than a marble shooter. You have to show the kids how to score the clay and then put on the slip (slip is a little clay mixed with water. I tell the kids that it is "wet clay" that acts like glue). For those of you that are unfamiliar with the word “scoring,” in reference to clay, this is what it is: when you score the clay, all you have to do is scratch it up and make it a little rough. I usually tell them to make a Tic Tac Toe board on it! I also show them how two balls of clay without the scoring and slip fall apart very easily, but two balls of clay that have been scored and have slip between then stick together pretty well.

So, the children score the clay and put the slip between all of the balls of clay. Then they use the fat eraser side of a pencil to poke holes in the sides of the snowman for the arms. (The arm holes only need to be about 1/4 inch long.) Then they roll some primary pencil sized "snakes" for the arms and put some slip inside the arm holes. Then they put the arms inside the arm holes. The arms should be no longer than an inch or two, and about the width of a fat primary pencil. Then they use the sharpened side of a pencil to make the snowman's face. They use the eraser side for the buttons. If you want to add a hat, then they need to roll out another ball of clay, and then squish it flat with the palm of their hand, but no thinner than 1/4 of an inch or it will be too fragile. Score it and add some slip, and do the same to the head, and then put it on the snowman's head. That will be the brim of the hat. Then add another ball of clay to the top of the flattened clay, and that will form the "stove-pipe" part of the top of the hat. Of course, that has to be scored and it needs slip in order for it to stick.

My Snowmen in Front, Drying Student Snowmen in Back

We usually put the snowman's nose on for the children, because it has to be small and delicate. You have to make a hole with the sharpened pencil side of a pencil, and then add some slip to the hole. Then make a tiny little nose out of a leftover piece of clay, and stick it in the hole. Caution: warn the kids that most of the noses will break. That's just life. One little tip over in the kiln or anywhere else, and that little nose will break right off!

Here are another couple of tips. I NEVER let them scratch their names into the bottom of the snowman, because very often they push too hard and ruin the whole thing by squishing it and have to start over. If you don't have time to get to everybody, have them write their names on a paper towel, and have them leave their snowmen on the paper towel with their name on it.

I ALWAYS make a couple of extra snowmen, and I just scratch an X lightly on the bottom. Somebody's snowman will probably break in the kiln, and somebody is going to be heartbroken. All it takes is one little air bubble inside the middle of one snowman, and that air will expand and the snowman will explode in the kiln! BUT... I can usually substitute my snowman for theirs and just tell them that their name got rubbed off, and they never know. Also, if you get a new student, there will be a snowman for that child when it's time to glaze them. By the way, if your snowmen seem large and heavy to you, and you are afraid that they might have air bubbles or something like that in them, you can always stick the fat eraser side of a pencil up the bottom of the middle of the snowman to help it dry. BUT, this must be done while they are still wet, of course. Hint: if you make 24 snowmen out of ten pounds of clay, then they will probably dry just fine without the extra hole in the bottom middle. If your snowmen are a lot bigger than that, then you may need to poke that extra hole in them to help them dry. Watch out for the names, though! You’ll have to write the names in the bottom of the snowmen going around the edges of them rather than across the middle.

The snowmen have to air dry for about a week before going into the kiln to be fired at Cone 4. Then they have to be glazed, and we usually fire them at Cone 5 or 6, depending on the glaze. If you are not sure, just look at the bottle of glaze and it will tell you what temperature to fire them at. I always go with the higher of the temperatures. Of course, they can't be glazed on the bottom of the snowmen, or they stick to the kiln and you have to break them to get them off.

I always lay them down flat on their backs in a tub on some dish towels when I am ready to take them over to the kiln, because if one of them tips over when they are standing up, then a whole bunch of them tip over, domino style. They are at their most fragile at this point, when they are ready for their first firing. Also, I always dry them way up high OUT OF REACH of the children, because the temptation to lift them up to read the names and check to see which snowman is theirs is totally overwhelming! They lift them up, touch them, and break them. And sadly, the one they break is almost NEVER theirs! So I put them up on top of a cupboard where nobody, (not even a volunteer,) can easily touch them to investigate.

When we get ready to glaze them, we give them toothpicks to put the black paint into the very tiny holes that they made with the sharp end of the pencil. That works much better than a paintbrush because it is easier to control. I always remind them that the more they cover the whole thing with glaze, the shiner their snowman will be. A thin coat of glaze will result in a barely shiny snowman. Sometimes, I go over their finished, glazed, snowmen with a coat of clear glaze, just to help them wind up shinier!

To wrap our gifts, the children sponge paint a wreath on a white lunch bag, and use a Q-tip to put on holly berries. Then we wrap the snowmen in tissue paper and send them home, with lots of stern reminders about the hazards of stuffing them in their backpacks and then throwing the backpacks on the ground. If possible, I prefer to hand these treasures straight to into the hand of the adult that picks them up after school!

These are my teacher made sample clay snowmen.

If you decide to make these clay snowmen, I would love to hear from you! Have fun!

-Heidi :)

P.S. Don't forget all our videos are available to STREAM on UScreen, FREE for the first 30 days! It's an awesome way to bring some EASY, active learning to your students during this time, and they can always cancel right before they are ever charged, like on day 29! Check out the info page on our website for more info!

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Holiday Traditions Around the World & Guided Drawing!

2020-12-16T12:11:00.001-08:00

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Here is a fun and FREE guided drawing lesson that you can do along with your Holiday Traditions Around the World unit! We learned how to draw France's version of Santa, known as "Pere Noel," and the donkey that he rides on when he brings his gifts! I did this with my first and second graders this week, and I'm so pleased with the results! I hope you get a chance to make use of it and enjoy it, too!

To begin, I got out my trusty Holiday Traditions Around the World book and flipped to the page on France. We discussed how this tradition is different and how it is the same as ours here in the United States. We also discussed how it is different from or similar to some of the other countries' traditions we have learned about so far.

This book can be purchased in print or as a download. Above are the student coloring pages.

After we finished with this part of the lesson, we were ready for the guided drawing portion. In case you are not familiar with the story, in France, Santa is known as Pere Noel (AKA "Father Christmas.") Instead of coming to town in a sleigh drawn by flying reindeer, he comes in riding a donkey! Children leave treats for the donkey in their shoes, such as carrots! In return, Pere Noel leaves presents in their shoes!

Now you may be wondering why should anyone bother with guided drawing. What purpose does it serve? Well, besides being a wonderful, NO PREP art project, it is a GREAT way to practice these skills:
- following directions
- shape formation
- direction and positional vocabulary
- fine motor skills
- visual perception skills
- self-regulation skills (they must wait, be patient, and sit quietly, and not "draw ahead" of the teacher.)
- perseverance through difficult tasks

Oh, and did I mention that this is a NO PREP art project? LOL!

I have been doing guided drawing with my class since the beginning of the year. I have always done it when I taught Kindergarten, and now I still am enjoying it with my first and second graders just as much! If you read my posts in the past, you may remember that most of my students started the year with barely any experience with guided drawing. In fact, their "No David" drawings at the beginning of the year looked almost identical to my former Kindergarten students' drawings, and I was pretty shocked.

Well, BOY, have things changed. Just LOOK at these drawings!

One thing I learned about my current class is that they REALLY need a point of reference to begin with when we start our drawings. It seems to make all the difference! They need to have the first circle or square lightly drawn onto the paper in the correct size and location before we begin. They have a really tough time figuring out how large or small an object should be, or where it should go. Because the biggest issue with guided drawing is that if you start off by making that first shape the wrong size, you often just can't continue.

For example, if the first shape to make is the head, and the child makes the head too small, then there will be no room for the eyes, nose, or mouth. If the child makes the head too low on the paper, then there will be no room for the rest of the body. And if he makes it in the center of the paper after I told them to put it on the side, then there will be no room for the second object on the other side of the paper.

That sort of problem is terribly frustrating for my students this year, so I decided to go ahead and give them the starting points pre-traced on to the paper for our Holidays Around the World Guided Drawing project. So I penciled in the beard and the part of the head that goes below the hat. Then I started the shoulders but stopped there. I knew that the donkey would be a totally different issue, so I drew the shape of the head, leaving a space for the ears and a line where the neck would start going down. Then xeroxed one copy for each child, plus a copy for myself.

When I do guided drawing, I always try to draw in front of the children using a paper of the very same size as theirs, because I think it helps them keep the perception and size straight. And then in addition to that, I also enlarge some of the smaller parts on my whiteboard, as you can see in the photo. I have also, at times, used my document camera. But I prefer to draw "live and in person" right in front of them rather than off to the side by my doc cam. That way, I can really see what they are doing and can better explain the parts that they are not getting.

Anyway, long story short- the lesson went great, and the kids were super pleased with their drawings! You can see for yourself how pretty they are! Both the first and second graders were so happy!

Click here to download the instructions!

-Heidi :)

P.S. Don't forget all our videos are available to STREAM on UScreen, FREE for the first 30 days! It's an awesome way to bring some EASY, active learning to your students during this time, and they can always cancel right before they are ever charged, like on day 29! Check out the info page on our website for more info!

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Distance Learning Packets for TK - Winter WEEK 6!

2020-12-11T08:57:00.005-08:00

See you there!

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It's here! Winter Week 6 Distance Learning packet for TK! This is a great packet to use for one of the first few weeks back after the new year, or your final weeks before the December Holiday break! In this file, you will find all of the work for one week of school for TK, with some worksheets that will work for Kindergarten, for both Math and Language Arts subjects. We've included a variety of worksheets and activities, so feel free to use any or all of it with your students!

This week focuses on the letter P, reviewing numbers 0-10, and the sight word "me". There are worksheets/activities including Letter Ladder fluency practice for letters A-P, Number Ladder Fluency: 0-10, Shapes practice: oval and circle, Sentence Writing Practice, Polar Bear and Penguin Number Writing 0-10, and Penguin Color by Number.

Hands on activities include Rainbow People Painting Concepts of Print Path Game: What Is It? (numbers, shapes, letters, words), Number Memory Game Penguin Craft, Spin and Match Game: Capitals vs Lowercase Letters, Polar Bear Craft, War Game: More and Less, Penguin Guided Drawing, Sight Word Bingo, and Trapezoid Robot Pattern Blocks!

Click here to get Winter Week 6 packet from my Teachers Pay Teachers store! And here are the links to the previous weeks of packets for you:

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter Week 5
TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter Week 4

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Fall/First Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

Don't want them as a bundle? You can get them individually on my Teachers Pay Teachers store or on HeidiSongs.com!

As always, please don't hesitate to call or email in with any questions you may have!! Email info@heidisongs.com! :)

Happy Teaching!

- Heidi

Gingerbread Man Time! FREEBIES

2020-12-07T06:00:00.001-08:00

See you there!

__________________________________________________________________________

Happy December!!!!! I have SOO many gingerbread man resources, I thought I’d take this week to throw them all together in one place for easy access!! From my Tale of the Gingerbread Man Read-Along Storybook, and Tale of the Gingerbread Man primary play, to FREE gingerbread man-themed worksheets, I’ve got them here just waiting to be utilized by you and your kiddos this holiday season!!

Alright, enough yacking! Here you go!

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The Tale of the Gingerbread Man – Picture Book and Read-Along

The Tale of the Gingerbread Man – Musical Play for Primary Children

Here’s the video of the play!

Freebies:

Gingerbread House Card

CVC Spinners For Word Building – Gingerbread Man

Gingerbread Man Ten Frames

Count the Gumdrops Gingerbread Man Matching Sets Activity

Teaching Children to Follow Directions with the Gingerbread Man

Gingerbread Man Secret Code Worksheet

Decorate Your Own Gingerbread Man Page

Hidden Gingerbread Man Color Words

Gingerbread Man and House Color Words Worksheet

Hidden Gingerbread Man with Numbers Worksheet

Draw the Numbered Gumdrops on the Gingerbread Men

Gingerbread Man Graph Worksheet

Gingerbread Man Color by Number Worksheets

Have fun!!

- Heidi

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Follow me! Did you enjoy this post? Do me a favor and share it with your friends! And follow this blog by signing up for my email updates here, and follow me on TPT! I'm also on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, too! Don't forget to sign up for our email newsletter for special deals and promo codes that you won't find out about anywhere else.

Distance Learning Packets for TK - Winter WEEK 5!

2020-12-05T06:00:00.004-08:00

See you there!

__________________________________________________________________________

Another week, another Distance Learning packet!! This is Winter Week 5 Distance Learning packet for TK! This is a great packet to use for one of the first few weeks back after the new year, or your final weeks before the December Holiday break! In this file, you will find all of the work for one week of school for TK, with some worksheets that will work for Kindergarten, for both Math and Language Arts subjects. We've included a variety of worksheets and activities, so feel free to use any or all of it with your students!

This week focuses on the letter O, reviewing numbers 0-10, and the sight word "for". There are worksheets/activities for the letter O, along with a new fun "Number Ladder" fluency practice for numbers 0-10. We have a shapes trace practice page for triangle and rectangle, a hidden numbers worksheet for number 10, and a sentence writing page.

Hands on activities include Number Hunt Game, Let's Build a Snowman Book, Spin a Beginning Sound Game, Hexagon Dinosaur Project, Pattern Jenga Game, Draw & Tell Curious Mouse - guided drawing & story, Sight Word Path Game, Fall vs. Winter Season Sort, and a Marshmallow Snowman STEM project. Directions and some templates for art projects are included, along with photos of each completed project. Please note that this packet is appropriate for either TK or Kindergarten, but can be used in Kindergarten depending on your class needs.

Click here to get Winter Week 5 packet from my Teachers Pay Teachers store! And here are the links to the previous weeks of packets for you:

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Winter Week 4

TK/Kinder Distance Learning Packet: Fall/First Trimester BUNDLE Weeks 1-12

Don't want them as a bundle? You can get them individually on my Teachers Pay Teachers store or on HeidiSongs.com!

As always, please don't hesitate to call or email in with any questions you may have!! Email info@heidisongs.com! :)

Happy Teaching!

- Heidi

HeidiSongs Teaching Resource

Creepy Crayon: Free Craft Template!

The Illustrations are FAB!

Check Out Our Educational Videos!

Creepy Crayon Synopsis

It's Child Approved

Questions? You can email us at info@heidisongs.com. Thanks!

10 Simple Memory Tricks to Help Kids Learn the Alphabet

Managing the Merry-Go-Round: Virtual, Hybrid, In Person, REPEAT!

A Little More Background Info

The Basics

Challenges and Solutions

Classroom Setup for Hybrid Instruction

My Schedule (Half Day Synchronous Instruction for TK)

8:37 AM: Sight Word of the Day/Week Google Slides

8:42 AM: Written Practice for Number/Letter/Sight Word/Shape of the Week

We did this with dry erase boards and markers.

9:00 AM: Recess9:20- 9:30 AM: Phonemic Awareness and Zoo Phonics

10:35-10:55 Inside Playtime or Finish Work

10:55-11:00 Clean Up, Dismissal

TK Distance Learning Packet: SPRING - LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL - Week 13!

TK Distance Learning Packet: SPRING - SEA LIFE - Week 12!

TK Distance Learning Packet: SPRING - ZOO ANIMALS - Week 11!

TK Distance Learning Packet: SPRING - CHICK Theme - Week 10!

TK Distance Learning Packet: SPRING - FARM ANIMALS Theme - Week 9

TK Distance Learning Packet: SPRING - FLOWERS + MOTHER'S DAY Theme - Week 8

TK Distance Learning Packet: SPRING - FOOD GROUPS Theme - Week 7

TK Distance Learning Packet: SPRING - EARTH DAY Theme - Week 6

TK Distance Learning Packet: SPRING - FROG Theme - Week 5

TK Distance Learning Packet: SPRING - Insects Theme - Week 4

TK Distance Learning Packet: SPRING - Spring Theme - Week 3

TK Distance Learning Packet: SPRING - Rainbow Theme - Week 2

TK Distance Learning Packet: SPRING - St. Patrick's Day Theme - Week 1

Second Trimester Distance Learning Packet BUNDLE for TK - Weeks 1-12!

HUNDREDS DAY THEME! Distance Learning Packets for TK - Winter WEEK 10!

Distance Learning Packets for TK - Winter BUNDLE Weeks 4-7!

Positive/Negative Spray Painted Snowflakes Tutorial

How to Make Clay Snowmen with Young Children

Holiday Traditions Around the World & Guided Drawing!

Distance Learning Packets for TK - Winter WEEK 6!

Gingerbread Man Time! FREEBIES

Freebies:

Distance Learning Packets for TK - Winter WEEK 5!

9:00 AM: Recess

9:20- 9:30 AM: Phonemic Awareness and Zoo Phonics