Crafty Thanksgiving Plates

For Thanksgiving, we made turkey plates.  I wanted something fun and cute for them to take home, but most importantly I wanted something that they wouldn't toss into the trash as soon as they got there.  The kids LOVED this craft, and the parents have enjoyed it too!!

Materials:  orange paint, green paint, yellow paint, brown paint, red paint, black paint, sharpies, plates (I got mine from the Dollar Tree for $1!!!), and high gloss finishing spray.

I brought the students back to my table one at a time.  I painted their palm and thumb brown and the other fingers orange, red, yellow, and green.  I placed their hand on the plate and pressed down.  Once the hand print dried, I had them write Happy Thanksgiving and their name in a sharpie.  Then they put their finishing touches on their turkeys. I let these dry for a day or so and then sprayed them with the finishing spray.

I am really excited about how these turned out!! I was also surprised with how excited the kids were.  I can't wait to start our Cookies For Santa plates!!!

Cyber Monday Sale

Teachers Pay Teachers is throwing a huge sale on Monday, November 28th.  They will be offering 10% off on top of products that are already on sale.  I will be participating in the sale.  All my products will be 20% off.  So, that is 30% off products!!  Just be sure to use the code below!

Daily 5 Tasks

 I wanted a cute and organized way to display which task of the Daily 5 the students would be visiting.  I found these cute task cards somewhere online over the summer.  I printed and laminated them.  Then I taped them to a metal strip that is under the board in the classroom.  I put magnets on the back of the monkeys that I used at the beginning of the year. {You can see that post HERE}  This helps the students and me know what task they are suppose to be doing. 

Drug Free Week

I needed a door decorating idea for Drug Free Week.  I actually got this idea from Sunny Days in 2nd Grade.  It was too cute to pass up.  Just like the author from Sunny Days, I saw this cute spider on pinterest.   I did not know how I wanted to incorporate it in my classroom, but with the help of Sunny Days I do now!! I even used her sign that she has posted on her site for free!!  The only difference is I painted a web on my door and then taped the spiders up!

For the door sign click HERE.  To get the spider template, click HERE.

Pumpkin Art

We made these before Open House this year.  The kids did a really good job with them and followed directions really well.  They were a quick, easy, and fun art for them.  This is also a great activity to teach symmetry. 

Materials:  Black paper, orange paper, glue stick, scissors, and a pencil.

Step 1:  Cute the orange paper in half.  Give each student 1 piece of black paper and a 1/2 piece of orange paper.

Step 2:  Draw half of a pumpkin on the orange paper.

Step 3:  Cut out the pumpkin.

Step 4:  Glue the outline of the pumpkin onto the black paper.

Step 5:  Glue the pumpkin half on the black paper.  Be sure to match it up with the orange outline.

Step 6:  Glue the mouth, eye, and other half of the nose on to the black side.

Scaredy Cat Stories

Every year for open house I have the students write a "Scaredy Cat Story."  This is just a scary story that they make up.  I use the graphic organizer below to help them organize their ideas.  This is the first big writing project of the year.  So, the graphic organizer really helps them to develop their ideas.  They always enjoy writing the stories as I play the spooky music. The Scaredy Cat template comes from the October Idea Book I purchased from Scholastic a few years ago. Click HERE for the Scary Story packet.  (The Scaredy Cat is not included in the packet due to copyright)

AR Record Sheet

This is a sheet I give the students to keep track of how many AR tests they pass each month and 9weeks.  As soon as they pass a test, they put a check mark under the month and 9weeks.  This really cuts down on "How many tests have I passed?"  The kids also enjoy keeping track of their progress.

AR Year Sheet