Christmas Writing Crafts

Quick Crafts are one page pictures to cut. There is no gluing or assembly required! A perfect display option for kindergarten and first grade!

Each pack includes cute characters for your students to color or paint. They can then trim around the dashed line and glue on colored paper if you choose!

Each design is provided in a lined and unlined version - ask students to write a sentence or two.

They could also:

• draw a picture
• copy a sentence
• write collaboratively with the class
• research and record a fact

This newly released Christmas set includes:

• Santa
• gift
• Santa's sack
• tree
• elf
• snowman
• gingerbread man
• baby Jesus
• Santa hat
• reindeer
• holly
• angel

Find them in our store today!

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Christmas, Craft for Kids

Winter Robin Shape Craft

We added a new shape craft to our collection - Winter Bird! This cute little robin with a Santa hat can help your little learners integrate their knowledge of 2D shapes with creativity. 

From this activity you can choose to tech or review:

• identifying and naming 2D shapes
• flipping, rotating and arranging shapes to create a picture
• fine motor - coloring, cutting, layering shapes, gluing
• reading and writing - labelling and recording the shapes used

More Ideas

Artwork

After students have created their little bird, ask them to tear paper. From torn white paper they can create a snow covered ground for robin to walk on and snowflakes. 

Show them how to use their thumb and pointer to tear paper carefully and create a shape. 

Step by Step

The pack includes a step-by-step guide. Project this on your board to help guide students. 

• ask a student to describe the next step to the class - this will encourage the language of position and order
• use it as a directed drawing

Tracing

For your youngest of learners, use the tracing page. There is no cutting or gluing - just a focus on pen control. 

Use crayon and watercolors for a lovely art experience. 

One Page Craft

Our One Page Crafts are a favorite because they are super fast to prep. Just one page per students and everything is ready. Your learners can use pencil or markers to color each section. 

Traditional Template Version

Use these pages to copy for more than one student. They are great if you would like to use colored paper - e.g. copying 24 bird beaks on orange paper. These will just need to be roughly cut up before you start your lesson. 

Have a student helper distribute a different section around the class desks to ensure everyone has all the pieces they need. 

Find this new shape craft over in our store!

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2D Shapes, Craft for Kids

Teaching Consonant Digraphs

Have you met Happy Letter H? He helps some other letter friends make new sounds!

Our pack of engaging printables helps you introduce consonant digraphs in a fun and engaging way!

Included in our pack are:

• letter character shapes - make stick puppets or use as posters
• consonant digraph letter characters - ch, sh, th, wh, ph
• word cards (all decodable)
• all-in-one poster for reference
• 5 review worksheets - students read words and write from the word bank into the letter shapes

Use the visuals as posters or puppets to teach your students how Happy H combines with his friends c, s, t and p to make new sounds!

• make stick puppets with the letters to show how they play and make sounds
• use the digraph cards to show how a new sound is made when Happy H is with his friend
• teach one at a time or all at once
• lesson details provide to guide you

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Digraphs

Left and Right Math Craft

Did you see our new rhyming text, finger play - A Kind Bee?

In it bee flies to the left and right.

Today I thought I would share with you a few ideas for teaching positional language so you can extend upon the rhyme into your math lessons.

Ideas for Left & Right

• Left and right days - have a special day where students wear something on their left or right wrist (ribbon, tie, bracelet etc) - perhaps red for right and yellow (lemon) for left
• Tapping Sticks - if you use tapping sticks in your percussion or music activities, paint a red strip around some and yellow around the others - encourage your students to hold the red in their right hand and yellow in their left. Here they'll be integrating movement, sound, beat and a math concept to build powerful memories of left and right!
• Passing Game - play a passing game with a ball and students can only pass with their left hand or foot
• Do the Hokey Pokey - need I say more? It's always a favorite!
• Picture Talks - use a clear picture or photo to encourage a math talk. Encourage students to describe the picture in terms of where the objects are positioned. Perhaps you may like to scribe their sentences and display them with the picture.
• Make a classroom visual by tracing your hands

Kind Bee Picture Talk

Use the picture from our finger play printable for a math talk. 

• seat students in front of you
• tell them that you would like them to describe the picture
• ask them to look carefully at the picture and name the things they see - e.g. Here is a bee, a cloud, a flower, a hive and clouds.
• review some positional language if needed - e.g. above, across, behind, below, forward, further, close, center, down, in, in front of, inside, left, low, middle, near, next to, on, onto, top, under, underneath
• model your expectation for them by saying a few - e.g. There is a hive near the flowers
• ask for students to share some observations, scaffolding some support where necessary
• record some of your students sentences on strips of paper to display with the picture

Math Craft

Combine creativity with math using bee in the flower garden! After learning about positional language, your students will love making a cute bee friend to record their learning visually.

Find it in our TpT store and the Apple Tree bundle!

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A Math Focus Wall

Do you have a math wall or display to incorporate a number talk into your morning routine?

I just shared a photo on Instagram of a magnetic whiteboard that you can easily use as a base for your math wall. You can easily switch out posters, visuals and teaching aids as your students' needs change. 

Here are some links to some of our printables featured in these photos!

Let me know if there is something I can create for your math wall or focus board!

 

Big Numbers

Number of the Day Wall Poster

Number of the Day Display

Ten Frame Kids Posters

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Classroom Displays

Early Addition on a 5 Frame

Are you teaching addition in kindergarten? Our new activity mats are perfect for hands-on learning - or digital! 

Print them out to use at your small group table or send them digitally to your students with TpT Easel.

With our little crow friend, your learners will learn to count and begin addition with the support of a five frame. These engaging and age appropriate activity mats are clear, uncluttered and perfect for little hands!

There are 26 different activity mats in the pack. 

• Use them printed with a dry erase marker or play dough.
• Send them digitally to your students with Easel.
• Project one onto your class electronic board to complete and chat about together as a math talk or warm up!

To help you differentiate, we have included 2 styles of mat:

• count and write the total
• count the red apples, green apples and record the total

No addition symbol is featured '.... and .... makes......' math sentence structure is used.

Find them in our TpT store HERE

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Turkey and Friends Tracing Pages

We've added a new Big Shape Tracing pack to our growing collection - Turkey and Friends. Perfect for November, your little emerging-writers can trace the big shapes and color their page for display.  

Choose from one of 10 page designs.

Your students can trace in pencils, crayon or marker - let them choose something that gives them confidence in writing. If they enjoy the activity, they will want to write more and that is what we should aim for at this early stage. 

After tracing let students color or paint the pages - watercolor looks especially effective, as does glitter glue if you are brave! 

Find this new pack in our store today! 

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Tracing

2 More for Addition

Learning to count-on is an essential strategy for addition. Students will identify the larger number in a math problem and count froward the smaller number to find the total. 

We have a pack of 4 printable games perfect for Autumn that will help students master counting-on in kindergarten or first grade. 

Use them in centers, workshop, math groups or in your whole group lesson to ignite learning and get students excited to solve addition.

More for Fall

More for Fall is one of the 4 printable games in the pack and it includes 4 differentiation options - count on 1, 2, 3 or 4.

Students will add 1, 2, 3 or 4 to a dice throw and find the total on their board. This game is super fast to prep as there is no cutting.

Get the full pack on sale today!

Add 2 more coloring page

To complement this game, we have added a fun coloring page to our free coloring club library today! Your students can review the skills they have learnt in the game to write the totals and then color their page!

If you are not a member of the club yet, we'd love to have you. It is super simple to join, just sign up with your email. Find the details over on the website!

Hands-on help

Provide counters or a number line for students to assist their addition when completing the worksheet. Encourage a developing fluency in being able to quickly add 2 to any number. Remind students that it is very close to the 'one more' fact they most likely already know. 

2 more to the floor

A quick review activity for the end of your lesson can be to play a whole class game of 2 More to the Floor.

To play give every student a number card between 3 and 20. Call numbers between 1 and 18 and students must listen for the number that is 2 more than the number they are holding. Once they hear it, the 'hit the floor' (sit down). The last child/ren to remain standing may be declared the winners. It is fast pace game so play several rounds and get your students up and moving! 

2 More on the Board

Another fast-prep whole class game is 2 More on the Board. Give each student a number between 1 and 6 to remember. Roll a die in the middle of your group of students. When they see their number they 'race' to the board to write their number (their given number +2) on the board. Keep it fast, safe and fun with careful instructions and support.

If you are looking for more fun ideas for addition in your math program, find our growing collection through the website.

Just Released

To further support your teaching of this concept I have a set of Math Warm Up Slides that will delight your learners. Clear, uncluttered visuals will help your students build from their hands-on learning to the beginnings of a mental strategy. 

Simply click through the slides and have them call the number that is '2 more'.

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Addition