Tons of St. Patrick's Day Freebies!

St. Patrick's Day is such a fun holiday to share with your kiddos!  Here are a few freebies I have found to celebrate with a bit of luck of the Irish!



2 Teaching Moms has a packet of freebies perfect for your preschooler or kindergartener! You might also find some great ideas for your first grader as well.

 Your kiddos will love stretching their imagination with this fun writing prompt about the day they found a leprechaun.

 Here is a fun color by number activity to practice odd and even numbers.

Your kiddos will love practicing reading with this fun game!

Fun Alien Writing Prompt

Here is a fun writing prompt for your kiddos:

Write a story about a young space alien who is separated from the mother ship when he wanders off in search of earthling friends.



What does he do?

Who does he meet?

How does he feel about being away from his family?

How does he adjust?

Post Card Pattern

Mailbox has a great postcard template that would be great for teaching about letter writing.  You could also use it as a quick book report, response to reading, or lesson response.


Postcard Template

What's The Scoop Graphic Organizer

I love this What's The Scoop? Graphic Organizer from Laura Candler!  You can have your child use it as they read a newspaper or magazine article, when they find an article on the web, or while reading a book.

I See You Cat - Fun Writing Prompt

I am a big fan of using photos or pictures as writing prompts - you never can tell where your child's imagination can lead them!  Have your child write a story about this adorable cat - he almost looks like a super hero with a mask on!

Bing Images for Writing Prompts

A few months ago I noticed some amazing pictures from Bing every time I logged onto my internet.  As I became more and more fascinated by them I came to the realization that they would make awesome writing prompts for my kiddos.  Above are just a few of our favorites so far, but you can find a collection of them here in the Bing Image Archive for your kiddos to use as writing prompts.  Happy writing!

Scary Story Map

If your kiddos are fans of scary stories like Goosebumps like my boys are, you may want to try giving them this Scary Story Map to help them write their own scary story.  The graphic organizer is a great way to get them brainstorming their way to a fun and spooky story!

Candy Corn Math Activity

There is something about combining candy with math that makes math a little more enticing for kids.  My boys absolutely LOVE candy corn, so I decided to make a math activity that incorporated this fall favorite.

Supplies:

* 1 package of mixed candy corn (I grabbed the wrong one at the store, but we made it work anyway)

* Candy Corn Tasting Math Activity Worksheet

Directions:

1. Print out the Candy Corn Tasting Math Activity Worksheet here.

2. Give your child a handful of mixed candy corn and have them determine the fractions of each kind and graph.

There are also some writing activities included as well.

Here are some more candy corn activities:

Candy Corn Multiplication

Candy Corn Template

The Candy Corn Contest Reading Comprehension Test

Handwriting Tracing Rings

Here is a fun way for your kiddos to practice writing the letters of the alphabet!  Simply print out the cards below, laminate, punch holes, and add to a binder ring.  Your child can re-use them if they use a dry erase or wet erase (vis a vis) marker to complete them.  I am having Luke practice these each day.

Uppercase Tracing Cards

Lowercase Tracing Cards

Ice Cream Lesson Plan

In honor of National Ice Cream Month (July) and National Ice Cream Day (July 17th), I thought I'd share a few ice cream related learning activities for your homeschooling use!

Handwriting

I is for Ice-Cream!  Practice writing the letter I here.

Math

You Scream For Ice- Cream Math Journal Topic


Try your hand at the word problems on this worksheet:  scrumptious ice cream math

Science
Learn about the Chemistry of Ice Cream with this fun science activity.

Writing
How do you make ice cream?  Write about it with this writing prompt.

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!

Journals

I am a big believer in having my kids keep journals.  I believe that the more you practice writing (just like any other skill) the better you get at it.  Luke (age 5) has been drawing journals for almost two years, but is really starting to take off with writing in them as you can see below:

Sorry for the bad picture, but it says "He has fire."  As you can see, he still writes a lot of capitals (which is a skill we are working on, but he has just started adding periods to the end of his sentences.  He noticed as we were reading that sentences had periods at the end of them, and he asked why.  Ever since then he has become fascinated with periods!

This page says "He had long nails."

My older boys often use journals to respond to books they are reading as well as to write stories or about their day.  They also write math journals as responses to multi-step math problems.

Do your kiddos use journals? If so, in what ways?

Comic and Cartoon Writing Prompts

Whether you have a reluctant writer or a prolific writer who fills up pages and pages of notebooks, you are bound to find wonderful inspiration with the comic writing prompts at MakeBeliefComix.  Artist, Bob Zimmerman has created over 100 free printable comic writing prompts guaranteed to get the creative juices flowing.  My boys are loving these!

Giggle Poetry Writing Prompt

My boys absolutely love the poems at Giggle Poetry so I knew they would make a great writing prompt.  I had them choose a poem and then finish these sentences:


1. I like/dislike this poem because….
2. This poem reminds me of…. because….
3. When I read this poem I felt…..
4. Some interesting or strong words that the author used were… I liked them because…
5. I would recommend this poem to…

Christmas Handwriting Worksheet

Here is a great printable Christmas handwriting worksheet for practicing both handwriting and spelling Christmas words.  Would work great for journal writing as well!

This Little Dog Writing Prompt

 

Have your child write a story about this adorable little dog.  Where is he going? What or who is he looking at?  What is he thinking?

Christmas Journal Writing Prompts

If your kiddos are at a loss of what to write about in their journals, you may want to give these Christmas writing prompts a try.

Shape book patterns for writing

Here are some shape book patterns to use with writing prompts:

• Apple with lines | without lines
• Barn with lines | without lines
• Baseball Diamond with lines | without lines
• Bell with lines | without lines
• Bread Slice with lines | without lines
• Child with lines | without lines
• Circle with lines | without lines
• Emergency Vehicle with lines | without lines
• Fish with lines | without lines
• Flower 1 with lines | without lines
• Flower 2 with lines | without lines
• Garden Gate with lines | without lines
• House with lines | without lines
• Ice-Cream Cone with lines | without lines
• Kite with lines | without lines
• Ladder with lines | without lines
• Lion with lines | without lines
• Menagerie without lines
• Minivan with lines | without lines
• Mirror with lines | without lines
• Mittens with lines | without lines
• Moon with lines | without lines
• Nest without lines
• Pig with lines | without lines
• Rainbow with lines | without lines
• Raindrop with lines | without lines
• Shell with lines | without lines
• Sock with lines | without lines
• T-shirt with lines | without lines
• Taxicab with lines | without lines
• Ticktacktoe without lines
• Tooth without lines | without lines
• Train Car with lines | without lines
• Train Engine with lines | without lines
• Treasure Chest with lines | without lines
• Umbrella with lines | without lines

How I Would Spend $100 Writing Prompt

This engaging writing activity will get kids thinking and talking…plus, it reinforces number concepts!

You will need:

• $100 Bill Template Reproducible
• Extra writing paper

What Is Thanksgiving? Writing Prompt

The kids in this video are so cute!  Have your child watch it, and then write their own definition of Thanksgiving!