Paper Bag Puppet Fun!

      Our Kindergarten class had more fun making paper bag puppets and using them with songs and poems.  The puppets were made with a small paper bag, just right for a child's  arm and hand.  Here are some of the puppets we made and the poems we used them with.

   Buzz, Buzz, Buzz!  Here's a song and a  cute little bee Puppet!        

    This cute butterfly would need to be colored yellow and black!

  Ten little kittens, a counting poem.  We also have kitten stick puppets.

    Five Little Lions!  Another counting poem.  We have lion stick puppets, too!

  These puppets are especially fun because the kids get to make and  take!  As in home to play with them for hours!

Class Pointers

                                                     

One of the best things we did in Kindergarten was make a pointer the children could use to point out words, letters, and phrases. The pointers that I made were from small dowel sticks.  I wanted the pointers long enough to reach words on the board or on posters. I also wanted the children to have something fun to 'read the room' with. I got most of my ideas from Dr. Jean Feldman's website,   dr.jean.org 

 

The following are some fun ideas:

 

 

1. Stuff a cotton garden glove with cotton batting, sew three fingers and thumb to the glove and leaving the pointer finger extended.
2. Spread glue on the last 3 inches of the stick and roll it in glitter to make a magic wand.
3. Tie curly ribbons to the end of the stick to make a princess wand.
4. Glue or tape a seasonal toy on the end of the stick.  Toys can be changed with the season .    
5. Use a small, but bright flashlight to highlight the word or phrase.                                  
6. Cut a hole in the middle of a new fly swatter to swat and frame the word or letter.       
7. Get a fake, green witch finger from the novelty store and stick it to the end of the dowel stick for the month of October.     
8. Tape a bubble wand on the end of the dowel stick.                                                       
9. Glue glittered hearts on the dowel for February.                                                            
10. A large wiggly eye glued to the end of the dowel would be fun for the kids to 'see' the word.
11. Glue or tape a lion or a lamb on the stick for the month of March. Use the one that pertains to the weather for the day.                                 

Smaller pointers can be made with craft sticks, novelty pencils, wooden spoons and rulers.

 

As a Kindergarten teacher, I loved making the pointers, and the children loved using them!



 

 

A View of a Snowman

Well, it happened again.  It snowed!  That may not sound like a big deal, but when you've spent the last 5 years in the Seattle area, and then you move to Maryland, you get a little excited every time you see snow!  

 Last Sunday, we even got enough snow to make a little snowman.  Complete with a baby carrot nose and a bun (hey. . . we have all girls in our house).

And again today, Friday, it snowed!  It has even stayed cold enough all week that our little snowman friend is still there. . . Well, almost. . . 

Seeing our poor little snowman friend reminds me of my all-time favorite snowman art project: 

A View of a Snowman!

I did this project with 4th graders.  I think it would be best for 3-5th.  We started by talking about perspective and point of view in art.  The goal was to draw the same snowman from 2 different perspectives.  I gave each student two 8x8 squares of paper.  I told them to imagine what their snowman looks like, including some details like a scarf, hat, or earmuffs.  Then they got to work drawing with oil pastels.  

This was such a fun project, and the finished products were as unique as the kids were!  

Group Mural Inspired by Kelsey Montague: What Lifts You?

Kelsey Montague is a street artist who creates A W E S O M E  and interactive art.   Kids love it!  Check her out on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/kelseymontagueart/?hl=en

I decided to do a 5th grade group mural inspired by Kelsey's art, and it turned out so beautiful and colorful!  We displayed it at our Art Walk so that people could take a picture in front of it.  

We started out by looking at Kelsey's artwork.  (Seriously, go follow her on Instagram. . ) We talked about zentangle and the use of patterns and lines to create variety.  Then the fun began!

Each 5th grader was given a strip of paper (6x18).  I assigned tables to paint tints and shades of a variety of colors.  Each student then painted the middle of their paper with the color, then mixed the color with white for one end, and black for the other.  The goal was to make an ombre effect. 

After letting the paint dry, each student used a tracer to cut out a feather.  (You could easily have the kids make their own feather, but I made several unique feather tracers for them to make them all about the same size.  I told the kids to make sure the tips of the feather were the dark part.  

Next we rounded up as many white colored pencils as we could find.  White colored pencils are the most under-utilized color, so we were able to round up a lot of them. 

 Each student used white pencil to draw zentangle designs on their feather.  We found that this worked best on the darker colors (of course), and yellow didn't really show the pencil. Oh well! We drew patterns on the yellow anyway!  

Next was the hard part. . . Arranging the feathers to look like giant wings.  I did this by hanging black butcher paper and using spray adhesive to attach the feathers.  The spray adhesive didn't work as well as I hoped, so I had to use tape and/or glue to get them to stick.  If you are hanging the mural onto a wall that can be stapled on, definitely use staples!

And finally the mural was ready to go!  In addition to hanging it at the school for the Art Walk, I took a picture of each 5th grader with it to make a collage for the fifth grade teachers.  

This project was definitely a lot of work, but it was all easy work. :)  And the results were worth it!

Let's Talk Color!

When my kids were babies, we read books about colors.  We talked about what colors they saw as we walked through the neighborhood.  We pointed at colors in our home.  Color is one of the earliest concepts we teach kids.  So what better place to start teaching art than with color? 

I like to display this poster as a visual reminder of the elements of art, and of course, color is listed first!  

Let's start with a few lessons to get you started with primary and secondary colors!  

 OK Go has made a fun and catchy video that teaches the primary colors, and goes into the secondary colors that can be made from each:  https://youtu.be/yu44JRTIxSQ

Deep Space Sparkle is my go-to website for art lessons.  You can search the website by theme, grade level, or concept.  Here are a few primary color lessons from that site:

https://www.deepspacesparkle.com/primary-and-secondary-colors-art-lesson/

https://www.deepspacesparkle.com/colorwheel-clowns/

As a rule, I don't like mice, but I love the book Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh.  Here is an art project to go with it:

https://www.theartofed.com/lesson-plans/mouse-paint-color-wheel-free-lesson-plan-download/

This art project from Art Projects for Kids turns out so cute!

https://artprojectsforkids.org/mixing-colors-2/

Here's a hands-on activity to teach color mixing for preschoolers: 

https://www.giftofcuriosity.com/color-theory-activity-for-preschoolers/

Last, but not least, is a simple primary color project inspired by Piet Mondrian.  I cut the shapes out of red, yellow and blue paper.  The kids then picked some shapes and glued them onto their paper.  They finished the project off by painting black lines to separate the shapes.  

Here's to adding a little color to a Rainy Day!

Maud Lewis Winter Scenes

Well, here I am again!  It's only been 5 years since I last blogged.  In that time, I spent my time taking care of my 3 girls and working in the school as an Art Docent.  This was the perfect hobby for me.  It enabled me to be in the classroom, but I didn't have to do any grades, data, assessments, or filing. . .

So now it is almost December.  We just moved from Seattle, Washington, to central Maryland.  Something tells me I'll be getting some real snow this year.  And to be honest, I'm kind of excited about it!  There's something so peaceful about snow. . . Playing in it, using it to build snowmen, taking pictures of your kids playing in it.  Well, maybe not driving in it!

Here's a fun snow-themed lesson that I did with 5th grade about a folk artist named Maud Lewis.  She is such an inspirational person.  She suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and had no formal art training.  Her mother introduced her to art the art of making watercolor Christmas cards to sell.  When she got married, she lived in a tiny little house and painted almost every surface that she could find.

My inspiration for this project came from Deep Space Sparkle (https://www.deepspacesparkle.com/maud-lewis-folk-art-projects/)   Kids love folk art, because it doesn't seem so daunting.  Maud's artwork seems childlike and attainable.  Kids at any age can be successful with this art project!

Daily 5 (Part 2)

As I was trying to type on the computer, my 3-year-old kept climbing onto my lap begging me to read to her.  (Wow, what a problem, right?!)  I kept telling her that I couldn't read to her right now.  She said, "But I can't read the book!"  My reply brought me back to Daily 5.  I said, "Read the pictures!"

In Daily 5, students are taught there are 3 ways to read a book:
-Read the words
-Read the pictures
-Retell a story

I like to keep an anchor chart with those 3 ways to read up on the wall in the classroom to remind students, no matter what reading level, that they can read!

Here is a freebie:
                
 3 Ways to Read a Book   

Happy teaching!

Turkey Day!

I've been so busy! Doing what, I can't really say. But at the end of the day, I can honestly say that I am exhausted! I have been having fun planning for our little preschool group. I guess you can take the teacher out of the school, but you can't take school out of the teacher!

This week we've been leaning about the letter T. I found a few cute crafts on Pinterest. I also found that after working with 2nd graders, I have to drastically lower my expectations of what a 3-year-old can be expected to do! We started with a turkey T, and also frosted some yummy cookies and decorated them like turkeys. We are also working on a handprint ABC book, so the kids each made a turkey handprint.

I am so thankful that I have been given the opportunity to spend more time working with Goobs. She is a character, and there is never a dull moment, but I wouldn't change it for the world! Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Boo to You!

Well, hello folks!  Life has been crazy!  Between a baby who does not want to nap, a 3-year-old who recently got "lasered" by an outlet, and a 6-going-on-16-year-old, I have had a hard time keeping up with anything other than "mommy work".  (And I'm even struggling with that!)   I've also started working on a playgroup/pre-school for my 3-year-old with a few other moms.  Yes, my life is darn-right scary lately!

Our first day of "school" is tomorrow!  We are going to have a Halloween party, complete with gory grub, spooky read-alouds, and a few games to get their little hearts and minds excited for our new adventure.  Here is a link to our Bats Everywhere e-book, one of our most popular books, complete with printables, songs, poems, and ideas.  I'm going to have the kids make the bat puppets.  I think that will be the perfect craft!                                                                            
Bats Everywhere   

More information to come- and hopefully some pictures of our little Halloween party!

Have a wonderfully spooktacular Halloween!

Daily 5!

I've decided to spend my time making things that I've made as a teacher, but add my own clip art and publish them for other teachers to use.  It always takes a big chunk of time to cut and paste to make charts, posters, labels, etc.  My goal is to do the work for you- adding a touch of originality.

I'm going to start with Daily 5.  For those of you who have never used this program, or maybe never even heard of it, check out the book:

The Daily 5 at Amazon.com

I've started working on anchor charts, posters, and signs to correlate with the Daily 5.  Here is a sample.  Check back soon for more!

Daily 5 signs page 1

    Daily 5 signs page 2

Back to School!

Looking for back-to-school ideas, songs, poems and worksheets?  Check out our "Back to School" unit.   It is full of fun activities to use at the beginning of the year. Activities like songs and poems, graphic organizers, class book with cover and student pages, 100 chart, reading log, leveled mini-books to make and take, simple math worksheets, and more.

Back to School Unit


Happy teaching!

Getting to Know You

Back to school!  No matter how prepared you (think you) are, there is still a wave of panic that comes over you when your new students walk in through the classroom door.  What will they be like?  Will they go home saying they had a wonderful day?  Will they like me and be excited about the school year?  The first week of school is all about getting to know each other and getting familiar with the classroom and routines.  I always like to have a few fun things for the kids to do to get to know each other on that first day:

 * "Get to know" Dr. Jean.  I don't know what I would have done without her creative songs and ideas.  Check out this link for cool name games to play with little ones so that when they go home, and their parents ask, "Who did you sit by/play with/meet?", they will be able to actually give a name. 
http://www.drjean.org/html/monthly_act/act_2010/07_Jul/index.html

* A friend I worked with my first year of teaching taught me a variation on "Willoughby Walloby Woo" that helped me "get to know" my students, while praising good behavior.  It went something like this:
                     Willoughby, Walloby, Wace,
                     I like how you're sitting, Grace,
                     and Willoughby, Walloby, Waddy,
                     Thank you for listening, Maddy!
The kids loved this song, and it also helped them learn each other's names by identifying the rhyming words.  Check out this YouTube video for the tune: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dakz5lmEwR8&noredirect=1

*Another song idea:  I'm not sure where I got this, or if I made it up!  Have the kids sit in a circle, and teach them the rhyme to "Itsy Bitsy Spider".  Walk around as you are singing it and point at one of the students to sing about.   Kids love being the center of attention, and this gives them the opportunity to be in a song!  You can use the song in their poetry folder or as a class book by having them write their name and draw a picture of themselves under the spider.
Itsy Bitsy Spider


*K-2 students are all about Me! Me! Me!  So give them a chance to talk about themselves while finding friends who have things in common with them.  Here is a variation of a sheet that I've used a lot.   First have the kids color their hair and eye color and their favorite color, then draw their pet (if they have one) and their family.  Then let them walk around and find friends to sign their names on the paper. 
Find a Friend

Enjoy getting to know your little ones!  Before you know it, they (and you) will all be the best of friends!

"How I Spent My Summer Vacation" by Lorane

Who had an action-packed summer?  Me! Me! Me!

How did I spend my summer vacation?  Oh, doing nothing really, except. . . .  having our 3rd baby girl while taking care of our other two children while on maternity leave after teaching 2nd grade while my husband was away at training for 12 weeks. (Big breath)  Oh, and no big deal, but we also moved across the country where we know nobody.  Not much really. . . How was your summer?

While the events I just described were hectic to say the least, the silver lining is that now that we are in Seattle, I have the opportunity to stay at home with my 3 little girls!  I am so excited to be on the other side of things- I sent my 1st grader off to school this year instead of welcoming first-graders to my own classroom.  I am also looking forward to working with my Mom on our resources for teachers and spending more time on my blog (I mean, really, 8 months in between posts?!?). 

In the upcoming months, I'm planning on posting some ideas and links to Rainy Day Learning resources to help keep your classroom running smoothly.  Welcome back to school, and check back often to take advantage of freebies and ideas!

Hello Blog World!

Hey ya'll!  I am new to this blogging thing. . . I mean, really new, like I am figuring it out as I go.  But I am excited to start this new adventure!

I am a teacher in Northern Virginia, and this is my 7th year of teaching.  I have taught grades K-2, and in the middle of all of that teaching, I have had two beautiful daughters.  Life has been hectic to say the least, and I'm always looking for good resources to make my life easier, both at home and at school.

A few years ago, my mom (who had taught for many years) and I had a crazy idea.  We decided we wanted to put our heads together and make teacher resources and e-books.  After a LOT of hard work and dedication by my mother, I am so excited that we are finally up and running!  We are currently selling theme-based e-books for teachers of students in PreK - 2nd Grade.  Check back soon for more info and postings about our books!!