Posts Tagged ‘Crafts’
Big Universe Learning "hearts" Valentine's Day.
It’s been decades since I decorated a shoebox for Valentine’s Day. All you needed was some shiny paper, a box, scissors to cut construction paper hearts and some paste to make things stick. Of course you couldn’t forget to cut a hole in the lid. If you were an optimist you cut a mailbox slot wide enough to receive a heart-shaped lollipop or a small box of chalk-flavored candy conversation hearts…and maybe, just maybe, a chocolate heart.
Years have flown by since those elementary school days, and somehow the holiday has fallen by the wayside. As I’ve gotten older I’ve tried to sidestep blatant commercialism of holidays, but I think Cupid had me in the crosshairs of his bow this year. If I’d been paying closer attention, I probably would have heard the “Twang!” as he released his arrow.
Several valentines arrived in the mail. I got invited to a Valentine’s Day luncheon out of the blue. An extraordinary bouquet of brilliant pink carnations caught my eye at the grocery store, and soon it and two heart-adorned tea towels landed in my cart – along with some chocolate strawberry truffles. A few days later I heard the legend of Valentinus read by a librarian with a knack for storytelling.
Joy bubbled to the surface. Heart-shaped memories woke up. The kid in me responded.
Rose-colored glasses? Perhaps. But, wearing them is a lot more fun than being cynical and jaded and grumpy about gray February skies.
Valentine’s Day can be really fun if you let it be. And, it’s not too late to share time with the little ones in your life, read a book, send a note, give a hug, eat some chocolate, and tell someone you really love them.
Valentine’s Day Printables
I adore the printables for kids at the Super Teacher Worksheets website, so they get my Valentine’s Day vote of approval.
Activity Village has several cute activities too, including card and stationery templates to practice writing.
AmazingMoms.com also has some good Valentine’s Day games and party ideas. Take a look.
And, don’t forget BigUniverse.com’s Author Tool, which is the perfect vehicle for writing your own Valentine’s Day story. Use the website’s “Write” tab and click on the “Create and Publish Books!” box. To illustrate your text, simply go to the “Occasions” category in the clipart library and select “Holidays,” “Celebrations” or “Valentines.”
XOXO, Suzan
The best gifts come from the heart – far removed from Rodeo Drive glitz or the cloying clichés repeated over and over in holiday ads.
Forget the tinsel. Give me the belly laugh of a baby, the crushed flower proffered by a toddler, the unexpected hug from a teenager, a chance meeting with an old friend, or a “love ya” note stuck in the bathroom mirror beside the inevitable toothpaste spatters.
Last week, I was volunteering in the nursery on the kindergarten wing at school, when a first-grade teacher peaked through the nursery window. She caught my eye and backtracked to the door.
“I haven’t seen you for ages! How are your girls?” she cried. “I remember when you came in to my class to read ‘The Rainbow Fish’ and did that craft. Then, you came back to read ‘The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey’ to the kids and the Easter lily story. I still have those crafts in my classroom.”
Her enthusiasm was heartwarming. The funny thing is that I didn’t read those stories last year …or even five years ago. No, it was 13 years ago! I invested a little time over a decade ago in my daughter’s first grade classroom, and that teacher still remembered it!
I think her memory is quite impressive, but her heart-felt appreciation after all these years really hit home. So, let me suggest a few alternatives to the teacher mugs, candles and boxes of chocolate that we so often give as tokens of appreciation to our hard-working teachers.
Giving Back
- An excellent book for the classroom library.
- A hand-written note of encouragement. Include a positive quote or anecdote.
- A coupon offering to read books aloud to the class.
- A sincere offer to help with parties, field trips or room decorations.
- Good attendance at PTA meetings, back-to-school nights and parent-teacher conferences.
- Gift certificates to book stores, school supply shops AND the coffee shop most convenient to your teacher’s route to and from school.
- A commitment to send well-fed and rested children to school – on time.
- And, of course, consider a year’s subscription to Big Universe, which has almost 3,000 nonfiction and fiction picture books for children at all levels in all subject areas.
Teachers, what should I add to this list? I’d love your suggestions, so comment below.
Autumn has been my favorite time of year for as long as I can remember. Scuffing through fallen leaves, sipping pumpkin spice lattes, enjoying fall sports and receiving a jar of my mother-in-law’s homemade applesauce are just a few of the season’s charms.
Even the earth joins the chorus. Tomorrow the northern hemisphere will experience the autumn equinox, which heralds the change of seasons from summer to fall. The sun will rise directly in the east and set precisely in the west – thanks to the positioning of the earth’s axis, which will tilt neither toward nor away from the sun.
Fall provides a rich harvest of vocabulary words, obvious themes for bulletin boards and interesting topics for classroom lessons. Today’s online resources make it easy to flesh out lessons in multiple ways. Here are some poems and a few links to get you started.
Poems
Leaves
By Elsie N. Brady
How silently they tumble down
And come to rest upon the ground
To lay a carpet, rich and rare,
Beneath the trees without a care,
Content to sleep, their work well done,
Colors gleaming in the sun.
At other times, they wildly fly
Until they nearly reach the sky.
Twisting, turning through the air
Till all the trees stand stark and bare.
Exhausted, drop to earth below
To wait, like children, for the snow.
A Funny Pumpkin Poem
One day I found two pumpkin seeds.
I planted one and pulled the weeds.
It sprouted roots and a big long vine.
A pumpkin grew; I called it mine.
The pumpkin was quite round and fat.
(I really am quite proud of that.)
But there is something I’ll admit
That has me worried just a bit.
I ate the other seed, you see.
Now will it grow inside of me?
(I’m so relieved since I have found
That pumpkins only grow in the ground!)
Picture Books
Big Universe features an online autumn counting book with verses by Fran Hawk and colorful pictures by Sherry Neidigh. It’s titled “Count Down to Fall” (Sylvan Dell). Other picture book selections from Big Universe include “Fall” by Ann Herriges (Bellwether), “Migrating Animals of the Air” (Weekly Reader) and “My Calendar: Seasons” (Rourke). Click on the links to read a few pages. (Premium members can read the whole thing anywhere, any time.)
The Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Ind., provides an extensive list of children’s books about fall topics – complete with call number and author. Thank you, Teresa Walls, for putting together this LIST.
Another midwestern library lists autumn books in a user-friendly manner. Visit Kansas Public Library‘s suggested readings, which include author, title and a helpful synopsis. Thank you, Brenda. (Argentine Branch, Kansas City).
Word Search Puzzles
BusyBeeKids.com offers several fall word search printables that would make nice companion pieces after reading. Though they are marked “easy,” the word search puzzles will require a certain level of reading skills. The puzzles – Autumn, Fall Harvest and Deciduous Trees – include word banks.
First-School.ws has a Fall Word Search and Trace printable designed for preschool and kindergarten students.
Games for Fall
I liked the Scarecrow Memory Game printable found on BusyBeeKids, too. The game pieces have vividly colored graphics. Simply print them on heavy cardstock paper, laminate and cut apart. Readers and pre-readers can play this game together.
ClassroomJr.com has a few fall-themed mad lib sheets that will reinforce lessons about parts of speech: Pumpkin Picking, Apples and Scarecrow.
Fall Crafts
For the pre-K to first grade set, consider some of BusyBee’s crafts ideas. There’s a Finger Print Corncob craft and a Paper Bag Scarecrow art project that look fun. DLTK.com provides templates for simple lacing crafts.
Coloring Pages
Movement Song
“I’m a Flippy Floppy Scarecrow” (See YouTube clip)
When all the cows were sleeping
And the sun had gone to bed
Up jumped the scarecrow
And this is what he said!
I’m a dingle, dangle scarecrow
With a flippy floppy hat
I can shake my hands like this
And shake my feet like that
When all the hens were roosting
And the moon behind the cloud
Up jumped the scarecrow
And shouted very loud
I’m a dingle, dangle scarecrow
With a flippy floppy hat
I can shake my hands like this
And shake my feet like that
When the dogs were in the kennels
And the doves were in the loft
Up jumped the scarecrow
And whispered very soft
I’m a dingle, dangle scarecrow
With a flippy floppy hat
I can shake my hands like this
And shake my feet like that
I’m a dingle, dangle scarecrow
With a flippy floppy hat
I can shake my hands like this
And shake my feet like that
Enjoy.
*Note: Both of the poems above were found on the FANtabulous DLTK-kids.com website. If you haven’t visited, put it on your to-do list.
My dad used to call my sister “Miss Fingers,” because she was always touching things. I now know that she was a tactile learner – driven by curiosity and the desire to understand and experience objects up close and in person.
Today she is a renaissance woman of many talents: school teacher, mother, tennis whiz, quilter, seamstress, great cook, scrapbooker and home decorator extraordinaire.
My youngest daughter takes after her creative aunt. When she was really little, I would have my “Miss Fingers” roll up her hands in the front of her shirt, when we walked through stores with lots of breakables. She just could not resist “looking at” all the pretty things with her busy little digits.
She now spends her free time cutting, pasting, gluing, stringing and knitting things together. Her collages cover her bedroom walls, and her friends have been the recipients of homemade cards, picture frames, scarves, jewelry and one-of-a-kind posters.
If you have a child with a hunger for hobbies, check out the craft series by Big Universe’s partner, Rourke Publishing. Written by Tracy Maurer, these well-illustrated books are aimed at the Grade 3-6 crowd. Following the directions for each project strengthens reading comprehension skills and vocabulary – while fostering artistic creativity.
Paula Willey of the Baltimore County Public Library in Towson, Md., reviewed this series for the November 2009 issue of School Library Journal. Here is what she had to say:
“The crafts in these cheery books are not too hard, but not so simple as to be boring, and are made with a minimum of specialty supplies. Lively, upbeat covers feature photos of regular girls with big smiles. Inside, the subject of each book is first put into context and then illustrated with seven to eight crafts. There is an emphasis on safety and on getting permission and on responsibility. Many projects incorporate reuse of household items that might otherwise be discarded (worn-out jeans, buttons, jars, newspapers).”
Rourke Publishing also offers an “Explore and Draw” series, which would have been up my other daughter’s alley when she was younger – a combination of reading and sketching! Titles include:
Update: (Sept. 24, 2010) While exploring online, I found another superb crafts book by Kathy Ross, a teacher and nursery school program director with more than 30 years of experience on the front lines. “Crafts for Kids Who are Learning About Weather” caught my eye because Jan Barger’s illustrations are simply darling. The pair also has written a crafts book titled “Crafts for Kids Who are Learning About Community Workers.” Ross has several dozen additional crafts book titles under her belt with other illustrators.
Update: (Oct. 4, 2010) Big Universe has added the book “Crafty Kids ” to its online library shelf. Written by Char Benjamin, this Teacher Created Materials book helps early readers expand their vocabulary and explore mathematical principles (patterns) in a tangible way – making crafts for a school sale.
Update: (March 10, 2011) It’s National Craft Month, and I found a good article by Sherri Osborn at About.com with loads of craft tutorial links to explore with your children.
