Thanksgiving Common and Proper Nouns Freebies

If you are working on learning about proper and common nouns (or just need a bit of review) you will love these freebies from Squarehead Teachers. These worksheets focus on identifying proper and common nouns. This free worksheet is appropriate for 2nd grade and up. Click here for the first free printable PDF: Thanksgiving common vs proper nouns PDF  

 Click here for the second free PDF: Thanksgiving common vs proper nouns 2

Halloween Parts of Speech Freebie

Teaching parts of speech isn't what I would particularly call fun, but these adorable Halloween parts of speech printables  from Squarehead Teachers do add a bit of fun to the process! Print them out and help your kiddos practice nouns, adjectives, and more!

Halloween Parts of Speech

Labor Day Math and Language Arts Freebie

If you are looking for a fun way to keep your kiddos busy this Labor Day, you may want to download this adorable freebie from 24/7Teacher.

This freebie includes an original Labor Day text, creativity, glyph, writing, math to include coin counting, graphing, addition, subtraction, and multiplication by 2's and 10's, counting by 5's and 10's and 100's chart fill in. The unit also includes centers for word building, sorting, homophones, prefixes and suffixes and so much more!

Labor Day Freebie

Thanksgiving Mad Libs Freebie

I absolutely LOVED Mad Libs when I was a kid, and I am happy to say that my kids love them too. I think it is a great way to sneak in some grammar skills while having some fun.  I love this Thanksgiving Mad Libs freebie from My Sister's Suitcase ! I think it will be a great activity for the boys to do while we are waiting to eat our yummy feast on Thanksgiving.  I bet it would be a great activity in your house as well!

Thanksgiving Mad Libs

Thanksgiving ABC Order Freebie

I found an adorable alphabetizing activity with a Thanksgiving theme for you to use with your kiddos this week!  This freebie is a color, cut, and paste activity that includes a Thanksgiving theme where students place Thanksgiving words in ABC order.


Thanksgiving ABC Order

Pumpkin Mini-Unit

To me, nothing means Fall more than the good old pumpkin!  From Halloween to tasty Thanksgiving treats - the pumpkin is definately the symbol of the season!  You can incorporate pumpkins into your lessons with this great mini pumpkin theme that includes: poetry, science, math, language arts, vocabulary, art projects, and yummy recipes!

Mini-pumpkin unit

Out of This World Similes

I love this adorable simile packet from The Peanut Gallery! Not only is it cute, but it contains tons of activities to teach your child about similes. 

The pages included are:

1. Simile Definition Poster
2. I Sense a Simile- student activity and sample
3. It Came From Planet Simile- simile/art activity (includes three different versions to suit grade/ability level)
4. Simile, Sweet Simile- identifying similes
5. Simile Haiku Poetry- writing haiku
6. Strange Similes- correcting mixed-up similes
7. Simile Scrambles- two different versions included

Free Educational Movies For Kids

I just stumbled across this amazing site that features free educational videos. You can browse tons of different subjects from language arts, to science, to math and there is sure to be a fun video for your kiddo to enjoy.  My boys especially liked the beating heart.

Free Educational Videos

Marshmallow Subtraction Activity

With colder days coming our way - I love this idea for marshmallow subtraction with a marshmallow theme from ABC and 123!  You can print out the worksheet and use it as is like above, or laminate it for a fun re-usable activity. 

Here are some more hot chocolate themed activities:

Hot Chocolate Odd and Even 

Addition Practice with a hot chocolate theme

Hot Chocolate Plural and Singular Nouns


Hot Chocolate Comparing Numbers

Paper Chains for Learning

 

My boys love making paper chains for counting down the days to special events (Christmas, birthdays, vacations, etc.), so I love this idea from the Mailbox for using paper chains for learning.  Their suggestion was to use them to sequence events in a story, but my wheels started spinning with lots of other ideas as well:

Math Facts: Why not have your child write a series of math facts on the chains?  For example write 9 X 1 = 9 on one, 9X2 =18 on another and so on for all the facts of 9s (or whatever fact they are working on).

Steps in a Math Problem: As your kiddos get older, math problems get more complex with more steps.  Why not have them write each step on one of the chains.  The steps of long division would be a great idea for this.

Life Cycles: Why not have your child write each of the stages of a life cycle on each of the chains? (Butterflies, frogs, etc.)

Parts of Speech: If you are learning parts of speech, have your child make noun chains, verb chains, adjective chains, or adverb chains.  As they encounter these in their reading they can add to the chain.

Book Report: Turn a paper chain into a book report with one chain for the title, one chain for the author, one for the genre, several for main characters, and several for their thoughts on the book.

What other ideas can you think of?

Learning With Playdough

My boys love playdough, both the store kind and the homemade kind.  But besides playing with it, did you know that you could use playdough for learning as well?  Here are a few ideas:


Learning the letters of the alphabet - Have your child create the letters of the alphabet with playdough.  If they are passed this, you could also say, "Show me the beginning sound of dog" and have your child create the letter d.

Retell the story - Have your child use playdough to retell a story they have just read (or that you have read to them).

Math Facts - Your child can model math sentences using playdough.

Science- Have your child use playdough to model life cycles of animals such as a frog or a butterfly.

Geography - Have your child use the playdough to make a map of your state.

Using the Newspaper as a Learning/Teaching Tool

Having your child read the daily newspaper is a great way to encourage them to read authentically!  I found this great calendar that can be used to extend the learning opportunities.  The calendar gives ideas for language arts, math, science, social studies, and life skills.

Learning calendar

Paper Plates Make Great Venn Diagrams!

If your child is working on comparing and contrasting two of anything (books, math concepts, habitats, etc.) you may want to try using two paper plates for a fun way to present a venn diagram.

Print and Use Gameboard Pattern

Games are always a fun way to review concepts previously learned, and the kiddos don't even realize they are learning!  Print the gameboard pattern.  You can add a clever titel or decorate it to make it more interesting.  Program the spaces with vocabulary words, sight words, math facts, or other curriculum focused questions.  Then laminate the board and provide your child with the board, a die and a few markers and let the games begin! 

Fun Free Fall Worksheets

All Kids Network has a variety of fun fall worksheets to download here.  Includes  the following worksheets:

Fall Matching Worksheet


Counting Worksheet

Word Scramble

Cryptogram Puzzle

Same/Different

Beginning Letters

Alexander Who Used To Be Rich Last Sunday Lesson Plan

Alexander feels very rich after receiving a dollar from his grandmother, but after a series of spending choices, he learns about the value of saving rather than spending money.  This is a great story for teaching your child about economics, spending choices, choices in general, and counting coins.  Here are some ideas to get you started!

Before Reading


ASK: How much money would you need to feel rich? Do you like to feel rich? If so, why?

 Look through the book at the pictures of Alexander. Pay attention to his face and the range of feelings he goes through. Look at the cover and talk about what kind of face he is making and what words might go along with that face.


During Reading


Look carefully at the details in the pictures as you read. Talk about what is happening in the background.


Look at the pictures of Alexander after he spends money. Is he pleased with the ways he spends his money?

After Reading


ASK: For what toy does Alexander really want to save his money (a walkie-talkie)? Why can’t he save it if it is important to him?


Journal:  Name some purchases you have made that seem kind of silly now. Tell about things you have bought in the past that you wish you hadn’t and why you think you made a bad choice.

Reading

Learn about statements and questions with this Alexander Who Used to Be Rich worksheet.

Alexander Who Used to Be Rich Scavenger Hunt

Alexander Who Used To Be Rich Sequencing

Alexander Who Used To Be Rich Reading Response Summary

Alexander Who Used to Be Rich Locate A Sentence

Alexander Who Used to Be Rich Reading Response - Humor

Alexander Who Used to Be Rich Reading Response

Cause and Effect Activity

Fact and Opinion

Main Idea Activity

Check your child's understanding of the book with this Alexander Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday Reading Assessment.

Spelling:

Alexander Who Used to Be Rich Spelling Words

Language Arts:

Practice editing with this Alexander Who Used to Be Rich Daily Fix-it.

Math:

Keep track of the money Alexander spent with this math activity.

Free On-line Grammar and Writing Textbooks

Scott Foresman has free online grammar and writing handbooks for Grades 1 - 6 on their website.  Simply click on the grade level, select a lesson, and print out the pdf file associated with that lesson.  This resource will make your lesson planning easy and will also save you money! Love it!

Lowercase Alphabet Color by Number Pages

To download these color by number pages, simply head over here then follow the directions to download the entire file or individual letters.


If you'd like to re-use these coloring pages over and over without reprinting, simply slide them into a page protectors and have your child(ren) use dry-erase crayons to color.

Martin Luther King Lesson Plan

Here are some resources for honoring and celebrating Martin Luther King Day!






Martin Luther King Character Map 

Martin Luther King Math Facts
Martin Luther King Multiplication

I Have a Dream Writing Prompt. 

Martin Luther King Jr. themed word problems to solve 4-8th grade

Martin Luther King Jr. themed word problems to solve K-3rd grade

Martin Luther King vocabulary

Test your proofreading skills as you learn about Martin Luther King Jr

Subject and Predicate Lesson Plan

If your kiddos are learning about subjects and predicates, you may want to introduce them to this old School House Rock video, The Tale of Mr. Morton.  After watching the video, they can practice with these worksheets:

Learn about sentence subjects with this worksheet.

Add the subject to these incomplete sentences.