Fall Mobiles: Easy No-Fail Fall Craft

Need an easy no-fail fall craft? 

Your kids will have fun making this simple nature mobile. I was awestruck by the simplicity and beauty of what I thought were going to be VERY tacky art pieces!  We did not have real fall leaves that had changed color at the time we made these. 

With some regular hangers, we used bark, twigs, and pine cones, tied on by yarn. We had some interesting pieces...and they had a blast making them. 

From kindergartners to fourth graders...EVERYONE felt successful...and festive with Nature's works. This is a wire hanger, but Walmart had bundles of colored ones for less than $2!  Check out my free Fall Nature Trail Book below, too!

FREE! 

Fall Nature Trail Book and Scavenger Hunt List

Bat Photo Frames and Fun Clip Art

Show off your cuties in little bat bodies! For your bat study, for Halloween, for any time! Your back to school bulletin board would look "batastic" with all of your little bats swooping across it! Stretch 'em, resize 'em, add bows, borders, and stars...fun borders are included.

Studying bats? 

Writing a report or a narrative? 

This set is a great resource for creating fun writing papers.

Note: Clip art and bat frames can be used for personal or commercial clip art. No credit needed, but please read the friendly terms of use in the file.

BAT FRAMES --EDITABLE PHOTO FRAMES AND CLIP ART


Here's something else you might like: 
FREE BAT WORD SEARCH AND WRITING PAPER!

Ocean Animals Language Arts Packet

Dear Parents and Teachers,
          If you haven't already tried "I Have..Who Has" games with your kids, you are missing out on some learning fun!

Kids LOVE this "I have..who has" game! This one is on OCEAN ANIMALS, and it comes in two skill levels. The first level is with text and picture cues.  The second (harder) level is with text only. Check this fun little learning packet and try it out this summer. If not this summer, over the school year is just as fun...especially when everyone's wishing for winter to end! 

It's games like this that levels out the "playing field" in a classroom. Regardless of a child's reading level, or fluency level, this gives everyone a chance to read and play along---and have FUN!

By the way, since I can't just create one activity in a product, you will find a wordsearch for each level (with answer keys). Great for first and second graders, but I guarantee that third graders will have fun with this, too!

Best wishes for a Happy Summer!

Karen

Growing Smart Readers

OCEAN ANIMALS GAME AND WRITING FUN

Here's preview of a few pages.

To find this fun learning resource, please here:

OCEAN ANIMALS GAME AND WRITING FUN

Lovin' Little Free Libraries

I just discovered this on the Long Trail today! This is such a great idea! What hiker wouldn't want to relax with the company of a book? I plan to add some books to it. Thought I'd share for those of you who are true bibliophiles, and especially for those of you who are hiking bibliophiles!

Karen :)

Fun with Trioramas --- Dinoramas!

My second grade crew ended their dinosaur unit with dinoramas! These were so easy to make! You can make them for any thematic unit or story!

Start with a square (cardstock is best). Fold the square corner to corner so that you see 4 triangular sections. Cut the bottom in two on the fold and overlap. Glue or staple. This forms the base or foreground. 

Have the kids color in the background habitat scene. Add a few cut out dinosaurs with stand up tabs. Or, of course the kids can draw their own. Volcanoes and nests filled with dinosaur eggs are a must! Kids will LOVE these when completed. 

The following link is a great template for a triorama. Check it out! 

https://www.lakeshorelearning.com/media/images/free_resources/teachers_corner/projects/trioramaDramaTemplate.pdf

Fossil Fun

Fossils are fun every year -- especially for second graders! We had a great time wrapping up our dinosaur studies last week.  I am always amazed at how a simple flour and salt dough recipe can make such realistic fossil imprints. A little paint and Modge Podge also add a special flair. Here are a few examples of our artifacts! 

Hand-made Swatters for Sight Words

Swattin' Words? But what do you do when you need fly swatters for a word game, and you can't get your hands on any?

Make your own word grabbers! Instead of fly swatters, we rolled up construction paper and stapled a paper hand to each rolled "arm" or stick.  I used Krista Wallden's free dotty hand clip art (from teachers pay teachers) for the hands. You can find her great clip art here: Creative Clips, and her dotty hands are here: Handful of Dots.

This was easy and fun. I set out several sight word flash cards at a time. Then I called out words for them to smack. My boys were competitive but could not stop laughing as they read their words. This is an old favorite activity for word recognition. I have done all kinds of versions of this. If you haven't tried it, you've got to! And if you don't have any fly swatters on hand, make your own!